[webkit-dev] Build slave for JSCOnly Linux MIPS

[Eric Wing]

I mentioned a few months ago that I had similar struggles with the gcc
4.9 requirement. I've been trying to build JavaScriptCore in a way
that it is redistributable for Steam Linux/SteamOS (aka "Steam
Runtime"). For those that don't know, building redistributable
binaries is a nightmare in the Linux eco-system. (Linus Torvalds has
ranted about this...see Debconf 14 as an example.) Steam is one of the
most ambitious attempt to address/solve this problem, where Steam
developers can actually just compile their application in Steam
Runtime and their binaries should work everywhere Steam works (and
interestingly some other places.)

I won't go into all the details, but this means being tied to Steam
Runtime's toolchain, so they are effectively another distro. I
previously mentioned they ship gcc 4.8.1 and clang 3.6.0. I had a lot
of problems with the gcc 4.9 requirement and consider myself lucky
clang 3.6 didn't have any problems. But I'm worried this current
mentality of ditching 3 year old compilers is going to break me at
some point and leave me stranded. I am not a distro maintainer so I
have no say in what gets shipped. And if I want to distribute binaries
that work on other platforms, I can't simply upgrade my compiler.

Updating everything in general is not easy or fast. I can turn this on
WebKit and criticize why doesn't WebKit compile under Visual Studio
2015? Cross-platform takes care and time.

Thanks,
Eric