Re: precompiled headers and includeDB*

On Mar 15, 2007, at 11:12 AM, steve goldman wrote:

> No that is not the reason it exists at all. The original reason it  
> existed was because the original developers of hotspot intended to  
> license different parts of the source base as different products.  
> includeDB was the database used to manage which pieces were sent  
> with which products.
...
> I think the consensus view is that if we didn't have MakeDeps we  
> wouldn't go out and invent it.

True.  There are other ways to manage this information, some of which  
would be more pleasant or familiar to some people.
But  in the big picture there are many more profitable changes needed.

It's probably a matter of personal preference, but I and others enjoy  
managing the inter-file dependencies in a centralized way.
And (and Ken Russell and others said last time the topic came up)  
checking the dependencies for circularity up front is handy.
This is the more valuable because there are "build flavors" of VM  
(C1, C2).

A final bit of consensus:  This is only a minor part of the learning  
curve for working on Hotspot.

-- John