RFR: 8016780: (xs) README-builds.html misses crucial requirement on bootstrap JDK

[David Holmes]

I thought the only rule was "must be buildable by N-1", not that you 
must not try to use N!

Can the problem preventing a build using JDK8 as the boot JDK not be 
corrected? I'm assuming it is one of the more unusual parts of the build 
where we mess with bootclasspath etc?

David

On 18/06/2013 10:21 AM, Stuart Marks wrote:
> On 6/17/13 4:02 PM, Kelly O'Hair wrote:
>> Rule #1 Nobody reads the README
>> Rule #2 When things go wrong, blame the README
>>
>> I of course have no objection to the change, however, I'm not
>> convinced it will
>> help much the next time someone runs into this. :^(
>
> Hi Kelly! You still read this stuff here? :-)
>
> Yeah, I have no illusions that changing the README will prevent many, if
> any, future occurrences of this problem. However, we had an internal
> discussion on this incident where the N-1 rule was asserted. There was
> no dispute about the rule, but I went off to find where it was
> documented, and found only the fairly weak statement in the README. So,
> at the very least, that ought to be fixed.
>
> A stronger step would be to modify configure to check the version of the
> boot JDK and to complain if it doesn't match N-1. Or perhaps even N-1
> and update >= 7. What do you think? I was considering filing an RFE.
>
> A restriction in configure would probably be more effective at
> preventing these kinds of errors.
>
> s'marks