Ah, interesting. But can this implementation actually be built for architectures not supported by LLVM? I looked at the build instructions and the first build step involves building parts with the standard Rust compiler.
I also just realized that it's not the same backend as the one written by "redbrain" here [1].
gcc-rust currently needs LLVM to build because that's the only good way to build Rust code, and gcc-rust (unlike, say, mrustc) uses Rust code. Once gcc-rust is on track, Rust code used by gcc-rust can be built by gcc-rust, and LLVM becomes unnecessary.
Sounds very good. I'll keep an eye on the project. I would love to see such a frontend merged into GCC upstream and I would definitely shell out some money for a Bountysource campaign to support the effort.
Interesting. This is the first I've heard of Cranelift being used as anything other than a code generator for wasm runtimes. When would Cranelift be used instead of LLVM, and vice versa?
I also just realized that it's not the same backend as the one written by "redbrain" here [1].
> [1] https://github.com/redbrain/gccrs