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Re: [PATCH] Fix type inconsistencies in stdint.h


Christopher Faylor wrote:

  Ah, I could address a bit more to these two questions as well:

> Isn't a long 32 bits?  What would be the ABI breakage in changing that
> one typedef rather than lots of #defines?  

  Yes, a long is 32 bits, but while that makes for binary ABI
(calling-convention) compatibility it isn't the same thing in the C and C++
types system.  Therefore the underlying types are an inextricably woven part
of the overall C-language ABI as well as their physical bit sizes.  Changing
them certainly has the potential to change the ABI, particularly in C++, but I
think it also might potentially render some of the compiler's aliasing
assumptions invalid when linking code using the new definitions against
objects or libraries using the old.

  Changing the limits #defines, OTOH, is absolutely guaranteed ABI neutral.
They really are "just constants" at runtime, and constants don't get mangled
or alias anything.  So I reckon it's a safer way to proceed and I don't yet
see any potential 64-bit problems down the line if we leave everything as it
currently stands.

  Can you see anything I've overlooked in this analysis?

    cheers,
      DaveK


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