Maturing MesCC
C bootstrapping C compiler for Full-Source Bootstrap for x86_64, x86, Aarch64
GNU Mes and MesCC are essential ingredients of the Full-Source Bootstrap, as implement by GNU Guix. Such a full-source bootstrap addresses the "Trusting Trust" problem as laid out by Ken Thompson in 1984: persistent hidden backdoors can be added to software in the toolchain used to bring up the system. The solution is to drastically reduce the footprint of that toolchain, so there is only code that can be understood and no place to hide anything else. Maturing MesCC to support a native Linux-x86_64 bootstrap using an unpatched TinyCC instead of an ancient, heavily patched fork ("bootstrappable-tcc") will greatly enhance the inspectability, transparency and malleability (hackability) of this important bootstrap work.
- The project's own website: https://joyofsource.com
This project was funded through the NGI0 Commons Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 101135429. Additional funding is made available by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
