Description

The official Rust compiler supports multiple code generation backends to create machine-dependent code.

The default backend is based on LLVM and called rustc_codegen_llvm.

Alternative code generation backends are rustc_codegen_gcc which is based on GCC or rustc_codegen_cranelift which is a backend written from scratch in Rust.

The major disadvantage of rustc_codegen_llvm is the architecture support which is limited to the architectures supported by LLVM. This spurred interest into creating rustc_codegen_gcc which can enable the official Rust compiler to support many more architectures than the ones that LLVM supports.

These are, for example:

• alpha
• hppa
• m68k
• sh4

Currently, rustc_codegen_gcc is part of the official source tree of the Rust compiler but still under heavy development with some GCC patches not having been upstreamed yet.

Goals

Modify the rust1.91 package in openSUSE to build itself using the rustc_codegen_gcc backend instead of the default rustc_codegen_llvm backend. Initially enable support for x86_64 only, later enable support for more architectures.

Resources

• rustc_codegen_gcc project page
• Github issue on enabling rustc_codegen_gcc for DEC Alpha