Planned for implementation in Fedora 33. the rules for using compilers in the distribution, according to which the compiler for building a package can be selected based on the recommendations and preferences of the upstream project. Currently, Fedora strictly mandates the use of GCC for building all packages, except in cases where a package can only be built using Clang/LLVM.
The motivation for providing the ability to build using Clang is that some projects, for example, and , use Clang as their main compiler, and builds based on it have been more thoroughly tested. Using Clang for such packages will help avoid issues that arise when building with GCC, as well as coordinating fixes for these issues with the upstream project. Building with GCC positively impacts the portability of code developed using Clang, but places a greater burden on maintainers and delays the publication of updates (for example, Mozilla uses the Firefox trademark when applying third-party patches, so it is necessary to first achieve inclusion of the patches in the main set and only release updates after the fixes appear in upstream).
It is noted that it would be logical to use Clang for packages for which this compiler is more suitable and is used in the main project. For such packages, the maintenance load could be reduced if package preparation is done by representatives of the main project. If a package is built by a community representative, the choice of compiler should be offered to the maintainer. For packages whose main projects do not prefer one compiler over another, it is recommended to maintain the status quo (build in GCC as before). The proposal's author is Jeff Law from Red Hat, who is one of the maintainers of GCC and Binutils.
Source: opennet.ru
