[Mono-list] Gcc front-end?

[John Zedlewski]

Hi folks,
  On the roadmap, it seems to imply that y'all are working on a
completely new "JIT" compiler for the CLI.  I'm curious about why this
is a better plan than writing a Gcc front-end for CLI bytecode.  As soon
as a Linux x86 "JIT" comes out, somebody's going to complain about the
lack of optimizations, somebody else will bitch about not having a Linux
Alpha port, and ten more users will want ports to Solaris and IA-64.  At
least, that's been my experience with OSS projects in the past ;)  Some
old posts from the Mercury folks implied that they were able to do the
Mercury->gcc interface in under 8,000 LOC.

  Also, am I correct in believing that CLI is designed for more of an
Ahead-Of-Time compiler with local caching of native code?  That's what
all the MS marketing-speak seemed to imply (no interepreter or
mixed-mode).

Thanks!
--JRZ