Re: Claude AI code audit of GNUstep core stack — 1 50 fixes, 12 perf optimizations, all available for upstream

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Richard,

Good to hear from you - I wasn't sure if you were still maintaining things
(you and I spoke back in the late 1990s) !

I will see what I can do with Claude, it is currently working through a
bunch of optimizations on the code base and instrumenting some other
performance gains, should take another couple of days, then I will see if I
can get it to produce the portable code per the repression
testing framework.

Will let you know what we can do, and my colleague Tom MacSween is
reverifying everything on Ubuntu (I was working on Windows through MINGW
which has it's own set of issues as you know).

Regards,

Todd

*Todd White*
Managing Director


177 Huntington Avenue, 17th Floor
Boston, MA 02115
Telephone: +1 617 237-2835 Ext. 101
EIN: 33-2228263

Website <https://www.thalion.global/> | Twitter/X <https://x.com/TTIScience=
> |
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On Mon, Apr 13, 2026 at 10:39=E2=80=AFAM R Frith-Macdonald <
[email protected]> wrote:

>
> On 13/04/2026 04:35, Todd White wrote:
> > Hi GNUstep Team,
> >
> > As an exercise to test out the latest Claude AI capabilities, we
> > recently completed a comprehensive, bottom-up code audit of the
> > GNUstep core stack =E2=80=94 all seven repositories =E2=80=94 covering =
libobjc2,
> > libs-base, libs-corebase, libs-opal, libs-quartzcore, libs-gui, and
> > libs-back.
>
> Thanks for that, it looks like very worthwhile work.  I can't really
> comment on other packages, but I'd certainly like to incorporate a lot
> of that into GNUstep-base.  In the areas of the base library I can see
> quite a mixture of stuff, some of which is already known, other parts
> are quite new.  For instance, at one extreme having server verification
> off by default was a decision from many years back, but one where a
> change was long overdue, while at the other extreme the check for
> cross-thread autorelease pool draining deals with such a perverse
> situation (I find it hard to concieve of any way to accidentally do
> that) that it's quite delightful to have a check/fix for it (though
> classifying it as a critical issue seems silly).
>
> In an ideal world, I'd want to see an individual patch for each issue.
> The patch would contain the source code change, the corresponding
> testcases, and a ChangeLog entry, but the cloned repos contain only the
> first of those.
>
> Can the LLM take the testcases it has generated and rewrite them as
> portable (excluding objc2 and/or platform specific features or
> controlling them with preprocessor macros) code as used by the gnustep
> regression testing framework, and add them to the regression tests in
> each package?
>
> Thanks
>
>
>

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sa=
ns-serif">Richard,</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:a=
rial,sans-serif"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-famil=
y:arial,sans-serif">Good to hear from you - I wasn&#39;t sure if you were s=
till maintaining things (you and I spoke back in the late 1990s) !</div><di=
v class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></div>=
<div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">I will =
see what I can do with Claude, it is currently working through a bunch of o=
ptimizations on the code base and instrumenting some other performance gain=
s, should take another couple of days, then I will see if I can get it to p=
roduce the portable code per the repression testing=C2=A0framework.</div><d=
iv class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></div=
><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">Will l=
et you know what we can do, and my colleague Tom MacSween is reverifying ev=
erything on Ubuntu (I was working on Windows through MINGW which has it&#39=
;s own set of issues as you know).</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=
=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" st=
yle=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">Regards,</div><div class=3D"gmail_defa=
ult" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_d=
efault" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">Todd</div><div class=3D"gmai=
l_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></div><div><div dir=
=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_signature" data-smartmail=3D"gmail_signature"><div =
dir=3D"ltr"><b>Todd White</b><div>Managing Director</div><div><br></div><di=
v></div><div><img src=3D"https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4x=
w08RqGgDKsHOD8XqEYb6-GgGIJIf1cRrXVWqgRb0R08UESMvMdTT1W33NqQlLRUIicyduuegMbb=
IF" width=3D"96" height=3D"71"><br></div><div>177 Huntington Avenue, 17th F=
loor</div><div>Boston, MA 02115</div><div>Telephone: +1 617 237-2835 Ext. 1=
01</div><div>EIN: 33-2228263</div><div><br></div><div><a href=3D"https://ww=
w.thalion.global/" target=3D"_blank">Website</a>=C2=A0| <a href=3D"https://=
x.com/TTIScience" target=3D"_blank">Twitter/X</a>=C2=A0| <a href=3D"https:/=
/www.youtube.com/@TTIScience" target=3D"_blank">YouTube</a></div><div><br><=
/div><div><a href=3D"https://app.candid.org/profile/16308928/the-thalion-in=
itiative-us-inc/?pkId=3D39bf89e9-f544-478c-a3fe-e157e345181d&amp;isActive=
=3Dtrue" target=3D"_blank"><img src=3D"https://cdn.candid.org/seals-of-tran=
sparency/2026/candid-seal-gold-2026.png" width=3D"96" height=3D"96" alt=3D"=
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28263/?pkId=3D39bf89e9-f544-478c-a3fe-e157e345181d"></a><br></div></div></d=
iv></div></div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div di=
r=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Mon, Apr 13, 2026 at 10:39=E2=80=AFAM R F=
rith-Macdonald &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">richard@=
frithmacdonald.me.uk</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quo=
te" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204=
);padding-left:1ex"><br>
On 13/04/2026 04:35, Todd White wrote:<br>
&gt; Hi GNUstep Team,<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; As an exercise to test out the latest Claude AI capabilities, we <br>
&gt; recently completed a comprehensive, bottom-up code audit of the <br>
&gt; GNUstep core stack =E2=80=94 all seven repositories =E2=80=94 covering=
 libobjc2, <br>
&gt; libs-base, libs-corebase, libs-opal, libs-quartzcore, libs-gui, and <b=
r>
&gt; libs-back.<br>
<br>
Thanks for that, it looks like very worthwhile work.=C2=A0 I can&#39;t real=
ly <br>
comment on other packages, but I&#39;d certainly like to incorporate a lot =
<br>
of that into GNUstep-base.=C2=A0 In the areas of the base library I can see=
 <br>
quite a mixture of stuff, some of which is already known, other parts <br>
are quite new.=C2=A0 For instance, at one extreme having server verificatio=
n <br>
off by default was a decision from many years back, but one where a <br>
change was long overdue, while at the other extreme the check for <br>
cross-thread autorelease pool draining deals with such a perverse <br>
situation (I find it hard to concieve of any way to accidentally do <br>
that) that it&#39;s quite delightful to have a check/fix for it (though <br=
>
classifying it as a critical issue seems silly).<br>
<br>
In an ideal world, I&#39;d want to see an individual patch for each issue.=
=C2=A0 <br>
The patch would contain the source code change, the corresponding <br>
testcases, and a ChangeLog entry, but the cloned repos contain only the <br=
>
first of those.<br>
<br>
Can the LLM take the testcases it has generated and rewrite them as <br>
portable (excluding objc2 and/or platform specific features or <br>
controlling them with preprocessor macros) code as used by the gnustep <br>
regression testing framework, and add them to the regression tests in <br>
each package?<br>
<br>
Thanks<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote></div>

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