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Could anyone please explain what exactly bootstrapping is?
As far as i know it is something related to "the compiler for C itself wriiten in C"

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Member Avatar for griswolf

The story is that if you try to pull on your boots (which you do by holding the bootstraps and pulling upward), and the boots are a 'perfect fit' (very tight), then you might pull yourself up into the air by your bootstraps. Hence the name 'bootstrapping': A compiler that is written in its own language (pulls itself up into usefulness without outside support). If you think about it, you will realize that only the first compiler of a particular language is problematic. Thereafter, you compile version N+1 using version N, then you recompile version N+1 using itself, partly as a test. When I was working with the GNU C++ compiler, as I recall it, that step was repeated until you were satisfied that the executables and libraries were the same after a round of recompilation as they had been before.

Edited by griswolf because: n/a
Member Avatar for DJSAN10

May i know the procedure in brief if possible

Member Avatar for griswolf

Say you invent Your Language (call it y ). You write a minimal y compiler using C. It is pretty rough, but it is enough to compile an object file that your linker can link; and it recognizes all the y syntax that you need to replicate the behavior of the initial C-based compiler. Call that C-based compiler "y version 0.0"

  1. Using the usual compile, test, fix, recompile sequence, get y v 0.0 working
  2. Now, rewrite the very same compiler using y for the language.
  3. compile, test, fix, recompile until satisfied. You have bootstrapped y , and your version is 0.1

From this point on, you add features using the y language, to the y compiler. At each step, you follow this pattern (if you do it a GNU used to do it):

  1. The usual compile, test, fix, recompile, using version N-1 (the current one)
  2. When ready for production test: Using version N-1, compile the version N compiler as y0
  3. Using version y0, compile the version N compiler as y1
  4. Using version y1, compile the version N compiler as y2
  5. Using version y2, compile the version N compiler as y3
  6. Compare the bits of y2 and y3 If they are the same (except time stamps) then you are done. Rename y2 to y and be happy
  7. If not the same, you need to figure out what caused the difference. Repeat from step 1.
Edited by griswolf because: n/a
Member Avatar for DJSAN10

That ws grt..thanx :)

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