How often does a GNU package actually work?

I am experiencing a lot of problems building GNU packages. In the past, I didn't have such problems. And now I feel like things are getting worse with each release. To evaluate this, I will log each attempt, failed or successful, at building a GNU package. Here is that log:

Date Package Host Result Reason
2005-05-10 gcc-4.0.0 i386-pc-freebsd5.3 FAIL
2005-05-10 gcc-4.0.0 ia64-unknown-linux-gnu FAIL Miscompilation
2005-05-10 gcc-4.0.0 alpha-unknown-linux-gnu FAIL Miscompilation
2005-05-19 gdb-6.3 alpha-dec-osf4.0 FAIL Incorrect linking of -lcurses
2005-07-19 gcc-4.0.1 i386-pc-freebsd4.9 FAIL /usr/libexec/elf/ld: cannot find -lintl
2005-07-20 gcc-4.0.1 i386-pc-freebsd5.4 PASS
2005-07-20 gcc-4.0.1 amd64-unknown-freebsd5.3 PASS

In order to be classified as PASS, the package has to build and work. For gcc, I demand that it compiles a certain set of programs correctly. For gdb, I demand that fundamental operations work (breakpoints, printing variables and registers).

Torbjörn Granlund
Long-term GNU volunteer