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Re: C99? No, portability.
- From: Doug Evans <dje at google dot com>
- To: John Kearney <jokearney at qnx dot com>
- Cc: John Gilmore <gnu at toad dot com>, Mark Kettenis <mark dot kettenis at xs4all dot nl>, Tom Tromey <tromey at redhat dot com>, gdb <gdb at sourceware dot org>
- Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 10:39:24 -0700
- Subject: Re: C99? No, portability.
- References: <87wqoqi5yf dot fsf at fleche dot redhat dot com> <201307162122 dot r6GLMlMx012078 at glazunov dot sibelius dot xs4all dot nl> <201307170811 dot r6H8BagN018382 at new dot toad dot com> <CADPb22RucqKtyGhFG6z50ycaoYepwa+9HG_ejbK0Yg1OQTFtfg at mail dot gmail dot com> <EB26764861B30844B7F1D96A90B269E23A1B712F at exmbx4 dot ott dot qnx dot com>
The things that are unsupported seem pretty esoteric as far as gdb is concerned.
And at any rate, I'm sure we can find a useful subset.
I can imagine we did the same thing when we transitioned to C89
(especially with respect to library support).
I can also imagine we're still avoiding things added in C89 (for
portability reasons), but I'm glad we transitioned.
On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 8:26 AM, John Kearney <jokearney@qnx.com> wrote:
> Well c99 may be 14 years old but it still isn't fully supported.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C99
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gdb-owner@sourceware.org [mailto:gdb-owner@sourceware.org] On Behalf Of Doug Evans
> Sent: Donnerstag, 18. Juli 2013 00:38
> To: John Gilmore
> Cc: Mark Kettenis; Tom Tromey; gdb
> Subject: Re: C99? No, portability.
>
> On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 1:11 AM, John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com> wrote:
>>> > So, I'd like to propose we allow the use of C99 in gdb. In
>>> > particular I think we ought to require a C99 preprocessor --
>>> > enabling this particular patch to go in and also allowing the use of "//" comments.
>>>
>>> Perhaps it is time to move on and start requiring a C99 compiler for GDB.
>>
>> Mark said it correctly. This change would "require" a C99 compiler.
>> Not just "allow the use of C99 in GDB".
>>
>> I recommend that you NOT break compatability with older compilers for
>> gratuitous reasons. For example, I still run systems based on Red Hat
>> 7.3, which use gcc-2.96. I can still compile modern GDB's on that
>> system. (With the few portability patches below :-).)
>
> gdb successfully moved from K&R to C89, so it's not like we haven't been through this before.
>
> C99 is 14 years old. How many people still require C89 vs how many have long since moved on?