[MPlayer-users] Alan Cox says gcc 2.96 is not buggy

[Nilmoni Deb]

This is to warn that not all is well with gcc-2.96-latest.
I have used all three systems (redhat-7.1, mandrake-8.0 and 8.1)
that come with gcc-2.96-xy. 

mandrake-8.0 : this one sucked bigtime when it came to compiling and
running mplayer on amd k6-2. The kernel for this was compiled with
egcs-1.1.2 for obvious reasons.

mandrake-8.1 : The one thats shipped with this does compile and run mplayer
without any *known* problems on my amd duron. Also, the kernel is compiled
with mandrake's own 2.96-0.62mdk which means folks have started relying on
the later releases of gcc-2.96. 

However, even the latest gcc-2.96 has some subtle problems when it comes
to playing video. The libs that come compiled with gcc-2.96-xy of
mandrake-8.0/8.1 don't  allow proper greyscale output for atleast one
common media player videolan (vlc). I gave it as a bug report in mandrake

https://qa.mandrakesoft.com/cgi-bin/show_bug.cgi?id=5583

Please note the very interesting reply I got from one of their developers.



Also, gcc-2.96 has some performance issues as highlighted by this url:

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~rwhaley/ATLAS/gcc30.html

thanks
- Nil