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<TITLE>Using and Porting the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC): Trouble</TITLE>
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<H1> 7. Known Causes of Trouble with GCC </H1>
<!--docid::SEC118::-->
<P>
This section describes known problems that affect users of GCC. Most
of these are not GCC bugs per se--if they were, we would fix them.
But the result for a user may be like the result of a bug.
</P><P>
Some of these problems are due to bugs in other software, some are
missing features that are too much work to add, and some are places
where people's opinions differ as to what is best.
</P><P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC119" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC119">7.1 Actual Bugs We Haven't Fixed Yet</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Bugs we will fix later.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC120" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC120">7.2 Installation Problems</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Problems that manifest when you install GCC.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC121" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC121">7.3 Cross-Compiler Problems</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Common problems of cross compiling with GCC.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC122" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC122">7.4 Interoperation</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Problems using GCC with other compilers,
and with certain linkers, assemblers and debuggers.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC123" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC123">7.5 Problems Compiling Certain Programs</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Problems compiling certain programs.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC124" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC124">7.6 Incompatibilities of GCC</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">GCC is incompatible with traditional C.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC125" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC125">7.7 Fixed Header Files</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">GNU C uses corrected versions of system header files.
This is necessary, but doesn't always work smoothly.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC126" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC126">7.8 Standard Libraries</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">GNU C uses the system C library, which might not be
compliant with the ISO/ANSI C standard.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC127" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC127">7.9 Disappointments and Misunderstandings</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Regrettable things we can't change, but not quite bugs.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC128" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC128">7.10 Common Misunderstandings with GNU C++</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Common misunderstandings with GNU C++.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC132" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC132">7.11 Caveats of using <CODE>protoize</CODE></A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Things to watch out for when using <CODE>protoize</CODE>.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC133" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC133">7.12 Certain Changes We Don't Want to Make</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Things we think are right, but some others disagree.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC134" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC134">7.13 Warning Messages and Error Messages</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Which problems in your code get warnings,
and which get errors.</TD></TR>
</TABLE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
<A NAME="Actual Bugs"></A>
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<H2> 7.1 Actual Bugs We Haven't Fixed Yet </H2>
<!--docid::SEC119::-->
<P>
<UL>
<LI>
The <CODE>fixincludes</CODE> script interacts badly with automounters; if the
directory of system header files is automounted, it tends to be
unmounted while <CODE>fixincludes</CODE> is running. This would seem to be a
bug in the automounter. We don't know any good way to work around it.
<P>
<LI>
The <CODE>fixproto</CODE> script will sometimes add prototypes for the
<CODE>sigsetjmp</CODE> and <CODE>siglongjmp</CODE> functions that reference the
<CODE>jmp_buf</CODE> type before that type is defined. To work around this,
edit the offending file and place the typedef in front of the
prototypes.
<P>
<LI>
There are several obscure case of mis-using struct, union, and
enum tags that are not detected as errors by the compiler.
<P>
<LI>
When <SAMP>`-pedantic-errors'</SAMP> is specified, GCC will incorrectly give
an error message when a function name is specified in an expression
involving the comma operator.
<P>
<LI>
Loop unrolling doesn't work properly for certain C++ programs. This is
a bug in the C++ front end. It sometimes emits incorrect debug info, and
the loop unrolling code is unable to recover from this error.
</UL>
<P>
<A NAME="Installation Problems"></A>
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<H2> 7.2 Installation Problems </H2>
<!--docid::SEC120::-->
<P>
This is a list of problems (and some apparent problems which don't
really mean anything is wrong) that show up during installation of GNU
CC.
</P><P>
<UL>
<LI>
On certain systems, defining certain environment variables such as
<CODE>CC</CODE> can interfere with the functioning of <CODE>make</CODE>.
<P>
<LI>
If you encounter seemingly strange errors when trying to build the
compiler in a directory other than the source directory, it could be
because you have previously configured the compiler in the source
directory. Make sure you have done all the necessary preparations.
See section <A HREF="gcc_3.html#SEC49" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_3.html#SEC49">3.3 Compilation in a Separate Directory</A>.
<P>
<LI>
If you build GCC on a BSD system using a directory stored in a System
V file system, problems may occur in running <CODE>fixincludes</CODE> if the
System V file system doesn't support symbolic links. These problems
result in a failure to fix the declaration of <CODE>size_t</CODE> in
<TT>`sys/types.h'</TT>. If you find that <CODE>size_t</CODE> is a signed type and
that type mismatches occur, this could be the cause.
<P>
The solution is not to use such a directory for building GCC.
</P><P>
<LI>
In previous versions of GCC, the <CODE>gcc</CODE> driver program looked for
<CODE>as</CODE> and <CODE>ld</CODE> in various places; for example, in files
beginning with <TT>`/usr/local/lib/gcc-'</TT>. GCC version 2 looks for
them in the directory
<TT>`/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/<VAR>target</VAR>/<VAR>version</VAR>'</TT>.
<P>
Thus, to use a version of <CODE>as</CODE> or <CODE>ld</CODE> that is not the system
default, for example <CODE>gas</CODE> or GNU <CODE>ld</CODE>, you must put them in
that directory (or make links to them from that directory).
</P><P>
<LI>
Some commands executed when making the compiler may fail (return a
non-zero status) and be ignored by <CODE>make</CODE>. These failures, which
are often due to files that were not found, are expected, and can safely
be ignored.
<P>
<LI>
It is normal to have warnings in compiling certain files about
unreachable code and about enumeration type clashes. These files' names
begin with <SAMP>`insn-'</SAMP>. Also, <TT>`real.c'</TT> may get some warnings that
you can ignore.
<P>
<LI>
Sometimes <CODE>make</CODE> recompiles parts of the compiler when installing
the compiler. In one case, this was traced down to a bug in
<CODE>make</CODE>. Either ignore the problem or switch to GNU Make.
<P>
<LI>
If you have installed a program known as purify, you may find that it
causes errors while linking <CODE>enquire</CODE>, which is part of building
GCC. The fix is to get rid of the file <CODE>real-ld</CODE> which purify
installs--so that GCC won't try to use it.
<P>
<LI>
On GNU/Linux SLS 1.01, there is a problem with <TT>`libc.a'</TT>: it does not
contain the obstack functions. However, GCC assumes that the obstack
functions are in <TT>`libc.a'</TT> when it is the GNU C library. To work
around this problem, change the <CODE>__GNU_LIBRARY__</CODE> conditional
around line 31 to <SAMP>`#if 1'</SAMP>.
<P>
<LI>
On some 386 systems, building the compiler never finishes because
<CODE>enquire</CODE> hangs due to a hardware problem in the motherboard--it
reports floating point exceptions to the kernel incorrectly. You can
install GCC except for <TT>`float.h'</TT> by patching out the command to
run <CODE>enquire</CODE>. You may also be able to fix the problem for real by
getting a replacement motherboard. This problem was observed in
Revision E of the Micronics motherboard, and is fixed in Revision F.
It has also been observed in the MYLEX MXA-33 motherboard.
<P>
If you encounter this problem, you may also want to consider removing
the FPU from the socket during the compilation. Alternatively, if you
are running SCO Unix, you can reboot and force the FPU to be ignored.
To do this, type <SAMP>`hd(40)unix auto ignorefpu'</SAMP>.
</P><P>
<LI>
On some 386 systems, GCC crashes trying to compile <TT>`enquire.c'</TT>.
This happens on machines that don't have a 387 FPU chip. On 386
machines, the system kernel is supposed to emulate the 387 when you
don't have one. The crash is due to a bug in the emulator.
<P>
One of these systems is the Unix from Interactive Systems: 386/ix.
On this system, an alternate emulator is provided, and it does work.
To use it, execute this command as super-user:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>ln /etc/emulator.rel1 /etc/emulator
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
and then reboot the system. (The default emulator file remains present
under the name <TT>`emulator.dflt'</TT>.)
</P><P>
Try using <TT>`/etc/emulator.att'</TT>, if you have such a problem on the
SCO system.
</P><P>
Another system which has this problem is Esix. We don't know whether it
has an alternate emulator that works.
</P><P>
On NetBSD 0.8, a similar problem manifests itself as these error messages:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>enquire.c: In function `fprop':
enquire.c:2328: floating overflow
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
<LI>
On SCO systems, when compiling GCC with the system's compiler,
do not use <SAMP>`-O'</SAMP>. Some versions of the system's compiler miscompile
GCC with <SAMP>`-O'</SAMP>.
<P>
<A NAME="IDX360"></A>
<LI>
Sometimes on a Sun 4 you may observe a crash in the program
<CODE>genflags</CODE> or <CODE>genoutput</CODE> while building GCC. This is said to
be due to a bug in <CODE>sh</CODE>. You can probably get around it by running
<CODE>genflags</CODE> or <CODE>genoutput</CODE> manually and then retrying the
<CODE>make</CODE>.
<P>
<LI>
On Solaris 2, executables of GCC version 2.0.2 are commonly
available, but they have a bug that shows up when compiling current
versions of GCC: undefined symbol errors occur during assembly if you
use <SAMP>`-g'</SAMP>.
<P>
The solution is to compile the current version of GCC without
<SAMP>`-g'</SAMP>. That makes a working compiler which you can use to recompile
with <SAMP>`-g'</SAMP>.
</P><P>
<LI>
Solaris 2 comes with a number of optional OS packages. Some of these
packages are needed to use GCC fully. If you did not install all
optional packages when installing Solaris, you will need to verify that
the packages that GCC needs are installed.
<P>
To check whether an optional package is installed, use
the <CODE>pkginfo</CODE> command. To add an optional package, use the
<CODE>pkgadd</CODE> command. For further details, see the Solaris
documentation.
</P><P>
For Solaris 2.0 and 2.1, GCC needs six packages: <SAMP>`SUNWarc'</SAMP>,
<SAMP>`SUNWbtool'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`SUNWesu'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`SUNWhea'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`SUNWlibm'</SAMP>, and
<SAMP>`SUNWtoo'</SAMP>.
</P><P>
For Solaris 2.2, GCC needs an additional seventh package: <SAMP>`SUNWsprot'</SAMP>.
</P><P>
<LI>
On Solaris 2, trying to use the linker and other tools in
<TT>`/usr/ucb'</TT> to install GCC has been observed to cause trouble.
For example, the linker may hang indefinitely. The fix is to remove
<TT>`/usr/ucb'</TT> from your <CODE>PATH</CODE>.
<P>
<LI>
If you use the 1.31 version of the MIPS assembler (such as was shipped
with Ultrix 3.1), you will need to use the -fno-delayed-branch switch
when optimizing floating point code. Otherwise, the assembler will
complain when the GCC compiler fills a branch delay slot with a
floating point instruction, such as <CODE>add.d</CODE>.
<P>
<LI>
If on a MIPS system you get an error message saying "does not have gp
sections for all it's [sic] sectons [sic]", don't worry about it. This
happens whenever you use GAS with the MIPS linker, but there is not
really anything wrong, and it is okay to use the output file. You can
stop such warnings by installing the GNU linker.
<P>
It would be nice to extend GAS to produce the gp tables, but they are
optional, and there should not be a warning about their absence.
</P><P>
<LI>
In Ultrix 4.0 on the MIPS machine, <TT>`stdio.h'</TT> does not work with GNU
CC at all unless it has been fixed with <CODE>fixincludes</CODE>. This causes
problems in building GCC. Once GCC is installed, the problems go
away.
<P>
To work around this problem, when making the stage 1 compiler, specify
this option to Make:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>GCC_FOR_TARGET="./xgcc -B./ -I./include"
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
When making stage 2 and stage 3, specify this option:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>CFLAGS="-g -I./include"
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
<LI>
Users have reported some problems with version 2.0 of the MIPS
compiler tools that were shipped with Ultrix 4.1. Version 2.10
which came with Ultrix 4.2 seems to work fine.
<P>
Users have also reported some problems with version 2.20 of the
MIPS compiler tools that were shipped with RISC/os 4.x. The earlier
version 2.11 seems to work fine.
</P><P>
<LI>
Some versions of the MIPS linker will issue an assertion failure
when linking code that uses <CODE>alloca</CODE> against shared
libraries on RISC-OS 5.0, and DEC's OSF/1 systems. This is a bug
in the linker, that is supposed to be fixed in future revisions.
To protect against this, GCC passes <SAMP>`-non_shared'</SAMP> to the
linker unless you pass an explicit <SAMP>`-shared'</SAMP> or
<SAMP>`-call_shared'</SAMP> switch.
<P>
<LI>
On System V release 3, you may get this error message
while linking:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>ld fatal: failed to write symbol name <VAR>something</VAR>
in strings table for file <VAR>whatever</VAR>
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
This probably indicates that the disk is full or your ULIMIT won't allow
the file to be as large as it needs to be.
</P><P>
This problem can also result because the kernel parameter <CODE>MAXUMEM</CODE>
is too small. If so, you must regenerate the kernel and make the value
much larger. The default value is reported to be 1024; a value of 32768
is said to work. Smaller values may also work.
</P><P>
<LI>
On System V, if you get an error like this,
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>/usr/local/lib/bison.simple: In function `yyparse':
/usr/local/lib/bison.simple:625: virtual memory exhausted
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
that too indicates a problem with disk space, ULIMIT, or <CODE>MAXUMEM</CODE>.
</P><P>
<LI>
Current GCC versions probably do not work on version 2 of the NeXT
operating system.
<P>
<LI>
On NeXTStep 3.0, the Objective C compiler does not work, due,
apparently, to a kernel bug that it happens to trigger. This problem
does not happen on 3.1.
<P>
<LI>
On the Tower models 4<VAR>n</VAR>0 and 6<VAR>n</VAR>0, by default a process is not
allowed to have more than one megabyte of memory. GCC cannot compile
itself (or many other programs) with <SAMP>`-O'</SAMP> in that much memory.
<P>
To solve this problem, reconfigure the kernel adding the following line
to the configuration file:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>MAXUMEM = 4096
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
<LI>
On HP 9000 series 300 or 400 running HP-UX release 8.0, there is a bug
in the assembler that must be fixed before GCC can be built. This
bug manifests itself during the first stage of compilation, while
building <TT>`libgcc2.a'</TT>:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>_floatdisf
cc1: warning: `-g' option not supported on this version of GCC
cc1: warning: `-g1' option not supported on this version of GCC
./xgcc: Internal compiler error: program as got fatal signal 11
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
A patched version of the assembler is available by anonymous ftp from
<CODE>altdorf.ai.mit.edu</CODE> as the file
<TT>`archive/cph/hpux-8.0-assembler'</TT>. If you have HP software support,
the patch can also be obtained directly from HP, as described in the
following note:
</P><P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
This is the patched assembler, to patch SR#1653-010439, where the
assembler aborts on floating point constants.
<P>
The bug is not really in the assembler, but in the shared library
version of the function "cvtnum(3c)". The bug on "cvtnum(3c)" is
SR#4701-078451. Anyway, the attached assembler uses the archive
library version of "cvtnum(3c)" and thus does not exhibit the bug.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
This patch is also known as PHCO_4484.
</P><P>
<LI>
On HP-UX version 8.05, but not on 8.07 or more recent versions,
the <CODE>fixproto</CODE> shell script triggers a bug in the system shell.
If you encounter this problem, upgrade your operating system or
use BASH (the GNU shell) to run <CODE>fixproto</CODE>.
<P>
<LI>
Some versions of the Pyramid C compiler are reported to be unable to
compile GCC. You must use an older version of GCC for
bootstrapping. One indication of this problem is if you get a crash
when GCC compiles the function <CODE>muldi3</CODE> in file <TT>`libgcc2.c'</TT>.
<P>
You may be able to succeed by getting GCC version 1, installing it,
and using it to compile GCC version 2. The bug in the Pyramid C
compiler does not seem to affect GCC version 1.
</P><P>
<LI>
There may be similar problems on System V Release 3.1 on 386 systems.
<P>
<LI>
On the Intel Paragon (an i860 machine), if you are using operating
system version 1.0, you will get warnings or errors about redefinition
of <CODE>va_arg</CODE> when you build GCC.
<P>
If this happens, then you need to link most programs with the library
<TT>`iclib.a'</TT>. You must also modify <TT>`stdio.h'</TT> as follows: before
the lines
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>#if defined(__i860__) &#38;&#38; !defined(_VA_LIST)
#include &#60;va_list.h&#62;
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
insert the line
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>#if __PGC__
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
and after the lines
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>extern int vprintf(const char *, va_list );
extern int vsprintf(char *, const char *, va_list );
#endif
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
insert the line
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>#endif /* __PGC__ */
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
These problems don't exist in operating system version 1.1.
</P><P>
<LI>
On the Altos 3068, programs compiled with GCC won't work unless you
fix a kernel bug. This happens using system versions V.2.2 1.0gT1 and
V.2.2 1.0e and perhaps later versions as well. See the file
<TT>`README.ALTOS'</TT>.
<P>
<LI>
You will get several sorts of compilation and linking errors on the
we32k if you don't follow the special instructions. See section <A HREF="gcc_3.html#SEC48" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_3.html#SEC48">3.2 Configurations Supported by GNU CC</A>.
<P>
<LI>
A bug in the HP-UX 8.05 (and earlier) shell will cause the fixproto
program to report an error of the form:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>./fixproto: sh internal 1K buffer overflow
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
To fix this, change the first line of the fixproto script to look like:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>#!/bin/ksh
</pre></td></tr></table></UL>
<P>
<A NAME="Cross-Compiler Problems"></A>
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<H2> 7.3 Cross-Compiler Problems </H2>
<!--docid::SEC121::-->
<P>
You may run into problems with cross compilation on certain machines,
for several reasons.
</P><P>
<UL>
<LI>
Cross compilation can run into trouble for certain machines because
some target machines' assemblers require floating point numbers to be
written as <EM>integer</EM> constants in certain contexts.
<P>
The compiler writes these integer constants by examining the floating
point value as an integer and printing that integer, because this is
simple to write and independent of the details of the floating point
representation. But this does not work if the compiler is running on
a different machine with an incompatible floating point format, or
even a different byte-ordering.
</P><P>
In addition, correct constant folding of floating point values
requires representing them in the target machine's format.
(The C standard does not quite require this, but in practice
it is the only way to win.)
</P><P>
It is now possible to overcome these problems by defining macros such
as <CODE>REAL_VALUE_TYPE</CODE>. But doing so is a substantial amount of
work for each target machine.
See section <A HREF="gcc_17.html#SEC249" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_17.html#SEC249">17.18 Cross Compilation and Floating Point</A>.
</P><P>
<LI>
At present, the program <TT>`mips-tfile'</TT> which adds debug
support to object files on MIPS systems does not work in a cross
compile environment.
</UL>
<P>
<A NAME="Interoperation"></A>
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<H2> 7.4 Interoperation </H2>
<!--docid::SEC122::-->
<P>
This section lists various difficulties encountered in using GNU C or
GNU C++ together with other compilers or with the assemblers, linkers,
libraries and debuggers on certain systems.
</P><P>
<UL>
<LI>
Objective C does not work on the RS/6000.
<P>
<LI>
GNU C++ does not do name mangling in the same way as other C++
compilers. This means that object files compiled with one compiler
cannot be used with another.
<P>
This effect is intentional, to protect you from more subtle problems.
Compilers differ as to many internal details of C++ implementation,
including: how class instances are laid out, how multiple inheritance is
implemented, and how virtual function calls are handled. If the name
encoding were made the same, your programs would link against libraries
provided from other compilers--but the programs would then crash when
run. Incompatible libraries are then detected at link time, rather than
at run time.
</P><P>
<LI>
Older GDB versions sometimes fail to read the output of GCC version
2. If you have trouble, get GDB version 4.4 or later.
<P>
<LI>
<A NAME="IDX361"></A>
DBX rejects some files produced by GCC, though it accepts similar
constructs in output from PCC. Until someone can supply a coherent
description of what is valid DBX input and what is not, there is
nothing I can do about these problems. You are on your own.
<P>
<LI>
The GNU assembler (GAS) does not support PIC. To generate PIC code, you
must use some other assembler, such as <TT>`/bin/as'</TT>.
<P>
<LI>
On some BSD systems, including some versions of Ultrix, use of profiling
causes static variable destructors (currently used only in C++) not to
be run.
<P>
<LI>
Use of <SAMP>`-I/usr/include'</SAMP> may cause trouble.
<P>
Many systems come with header files that won't work with GCC unless
corrected by <CODE>fixincludes</CODE>. The corrected header files go in a new
directory; GCC searches this directory before <TT>`/usr/include'</TT>.
If you use <SAMP>`-I/usr/include'</SAMP>, this tells GCC to search
<TT>`/usr/include'</TT> earlier on, before the corrected headers. The
result is that you get the uncorrected header files.
</P><P>
Instead, you should use these options (when compiling C programs):
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>-I/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/<VAR>target</VAR>/<VAR>version</VAR>/include -I/usr/include
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
For C++ programs, GCC also uses a special directory that defines C++
interfaces to standard C subroutines. This directory is meant to be
searched <EM>before</EM> other standard include directories, so that it
takes precedence. If you are compiling C++ programs and specifying
include directories explicitly, use this option first, then the two
options above:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>-I/usr/local/lib/g++-include
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
<LI>
On some SGI systems, when you use <SAMP>`-lgl_s'</SAMP> as an option,
it gets translated magically to <SAMP>`-lgl_s -lX11_s -lc_s'</SAMP>.
Naturally, this does not happen when you use GCC.
You must specify all three options explicitly.
<P>
<LI>
On a Sparc, GCC aligns all values of type <CODE>double</CODE> on an 8-byte
boundary, and it expects every <CODE>double</CODE> to be so aligned. The Sun
compiler usually gives <CODE>double</CODE> values 8-byte alignment, with one
exception: function arguments of type <CODE>double</CODE> may not be aligned.
<P>
As a result, if a function compiled with Sun CC takes the address of an
argument of type <CODE>double</CODE> and passes this pointer of type
<CODE>double *</CODE> to a function compiled with GCC, dereferencing the
pointer may cause a fatal signal.
</P><P>
One way to solve this problem is to compile your entire program with GNU
CC. Another solution is to modify the function that is compiled with
Sun CC to copy the argument into a local variable; local variables
are always properly aligned. A third solution is to modify the function
that uses the pointer to dereference it via the following function
<CODE>access_double</CODE> instead of directly with <SAMP>`*'</SAMP>:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>inline double
access_double (double *unaligned_ptr)
{
union d2i { double d; int i[2]; };
union d2i *p = (union d2i *) unaligned_ptr;
union d2i u;
u.i[0] = p-&#62;i[0];
u.i[1] = p-&#62;i[1];
return u.d;
}
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
Storing into the pointer can be done likewise with the same union.
</P><P>
<LI>
On Solaris, the <CODE>malloc</CODE> function in the <TT>`libmalloc.a'</TT> library
may allocate memory that is only 4 byte aligned. Since GCC on the
Sparc assumes that doubles are 8 byte aligned, this may result in a
fatal signal if doubles are stored in memory allocated by the
<TT>`libmalloc.a'</TT> library.
<P>
The solution is to not use the <TT>`libmalloc.a'</TT> library. Use instead
<CODE>malloc</CODE> and related functions from <TT>`libc.a'</TT>; they do not have
this problem.
</P><P>
<LI>
Sun forgot to include a static version of <TT>`libdl.a'</TT> with some
versions of SunOS (mainly 4.1). This results in undefined symbols when
linking static binaries (that is, if you use <SAMP>`-static'</SAMP>). If you
see undefined symbols <CODE>_dlclose</CODE>, <CODE>_dlsym</CODE> or <CODE>_dlopen</CODE>
when linking, compile and link against the file
<TT>`mit/util/misc/dlsym.c'</TT> from the MIT version of X windows.
<P>
<LI>
The 128-bit long double format that the Sparc port supports currently
works by using the architecturally defined quad-word floating point
instructions. Since there is no hardware that supports these
instructions they must be emulated by the operating system. Long
doubles do not work in Sun OS versions 4.0.3 and earlier, because the
kernel emulator uses an obsolete and incompatible format. Long doubles
do not work in Sun OS version 4.1.1 due to a problem in a Sun library.
Long doubles do work on Sun OS versions 4.1.2 and higher, but GCC
does not enable them by default. Long doubles appear to work in Sun OS
5.x (Solaris 2.x).
<P>
<LI>
On HP-UX version 9.01 on the HP PA, the HP compiler <CODE>cc</CODE> does not
compile GCC correctly. We do not yet know why. However, GCC
compiled on earlier HP-UX versions works properly on HP-UX 9.01 and can
compile itself properly on 9.01.
<P>
<LI>
On the HP PA machine, ADB sometimes fails to work on functions compiled
with GCC. Specifically, it fails to work on functions that use
<CODE>alloca</CODE> or variable-size arrays. This is because GCC doesn't
generate HP-UX unwind descriptors for such functions. It may even be
impossible to generate them.
<P>
<LI>
Debugging (<SAMP>`-g'</SAMP>) is not supported on the HP PA machine, unless you use
the preliminary GNU tools (see section <A HREF="gcc_3.html#SEC46" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_3.html#SEC46">3. Installing GNU CC</A>).
<P>
<LI>
Taking the address of a label may generate errors from the HP-UX
PA assembler. GAS for the PA does not have this problem.
<P>
<LI>
Using floating point parameters for indirect calls to static functions
will not work when using the HP assembler. There simply is no way for GCC
to specify what registers hold arguments for static functions when using
the HP assembler. GAS for the PA does not have this problem.
<P>
<LI>
In extremely rare cases involving some very large functions you may
receive errors from the HP linker complaining about an out of bounds
unconditional branch offset. This used to occur more often in previous
versions of GCC, but is now exceptionally rare. If you should run
into it, you can work around by making your function smaller.
<P>
<LI>
GCC compiled code sometimes emits warnings from the HP-UX assembler of
the form:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>(warning) Use of GR3 when
frame &#62;= 8192 may cause conflict.
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
These warnings are harmless and can be safely ignored.
</P><P>
<LI>
The current version of the assembler (<TT>`/bin/as'</TT>) for the RS/6000
has certain problems that prevent the <SAMP>`-g'</SAMP> option in GCC from
working. Note that <TT>`Makefile.in'</TT> uses <SAMP>`-g'</SAMP> by default when
compiling <TT>`libgcc2.c'</TT>.
<P>
IBM has produced a fixed version of the assembler. The upgraded
assembler unfortunately was not included in any of the AIX 3.2 update
PTF releases (3.2.2, 3.2.3, or 3.2.3e). Users of AIX 3.1 should request
PTF U403044 from IBM and users of AIX 3.2 should request PTF U416277.
See the file <TT>`README.RS6000'</TT> for more details on these updates.
</P><P>
You can test for the presense of a fixed assembler by using the
command
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>as -u &#60; /dev/null
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
If the command exits normally, the assembler fix already is installed.
If the assembler complains that "-u" is an unknown flag, you need to
order the fix.
</P><P>
<LI>
On the IBM RS/6000, compiling code of the form
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>extern int foo;
<small>...</small> foo <small>...</small>
static int foo;
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
will cause the linker to report an undefined symbol <CODE>foo</CODE>.
Although this behavior differs from most other systems, it is not a
bug because redefining an <CODE>extern</CODE> variable as <CODE>static</CODE>
is undefined in ANSI C.
</P><P>
<LI>
AIX on the RS/6000 provides support (NLS) for environments outside of
the United States. Compilers and assemblers use NLS to support
locale-specific representations of various objects including
floating-point numbers ("." vs "," for separating decimal fractions).
There have been problems reported where the library linked with GCC does
not produce the same floating-point formats that the assembler accepts.
If you have this problem, set the LANG environment variable to "C" or
"En_US".
<P>
<LI>
Even if you specify <SAMP>`-fdollars-in-identifiers'</SAMP>,
you cannot successfully use <SAMP>`$'</SAMP> in identifiers on the RS/6000 due
to a restriction in the IBM assembler. GAS supports these
identifiers.
<P>
<LI>
On the RS/6000, XLC version 1.3.0.0 will miscompile <TT>`jump.c'</TT>. XLC
version 1.3.0.1 or later fixes this problem. You can obtain XLC-1.3.0.2
by requesting PTF 421749 from IBM.
<P>
<LI>
There is an assembler bug in versions of DG/UX prior to 5.4.2.01 that
occurs when the <SAMP>`fldcr'</SAMP> instruction is used. GCC uses
<SAMP>`fldcr'</SAMP> on the 88100 to serialize volatile memory references. Use
the option <SAMP>`-mno-serialize-volatile'</SAMP> if your version of the
assembler has this bug.
<P>
<LI>
On VMS, GAS versions 1.38.1 and earlier may cause spurious warning
messages from the linker. These warning messages complain of mismatched
psect attributes. You can ignore them. See section <A HREF="gcc_3.html#SEC58" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_3.html#SEC58">3.6 Installing GNU CC on VMS</A>.
<P>
<LI>
On NewsOS version 3, if you include both of the files <TT>`stddef.h'</TT>
and <TT>`sys/types.h'</TT>, you get an error because there are two typedefs
of <CODE>size_t</CODE>. You should change <TT>`sys/types.h'</TT> by adding these
lines around the definition of <CODE>size_t</CODE>:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>#ifndef _SIZE_T
#define _SIZE_T
<VAR>actual typedef here</VAR>
#endif
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
<A NAME="IDX362"></A>
<LI>
On the Alliant, the system's own convention for returning structures
and unions is unusual, and is not compatible with GCC no matter
what options are used.
<P>
<A NAME="IDX363"></A>
<A NAME="IDX364"></A>
<LI>
On the IBM RT PC, the MetaWare HighC compiler (hc) uses a different
convention for structure and union returning. Use the option
<SAMP>`-mhc-struct-return'</SAMP> to tell GCC to use a convention compatible
with it.
<P>
<A NAME="IDX365"></A>
<A NAME="IDX366"></A>
<LI>
On Ultrix, the Fortran compiler expects registers 2 through 5 to be saved
by function calls. However, the C compiler uses conventions compatible
with BSD Unix: registers 2 through 5 may be clobbered by function calls.
<P>
GCC uses the same convention as the Ultrix C compiler. You can use
these options to produce code compatible with the Fortran compiler:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>-fcall-saved-r2 -fcall-saved-r3 -fcall-saved-r4 -fcall-saved-r5
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
<LI>
On the WE32k, you may find that programs compiled with GCC do not
work with the standard shared C library. You may need to link with
the ordinary C compiler. If you do so, you must specify the following
options:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=smallexample><FONT SIZE=-1><pre>-L/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/we32k-att-sysv/2.8.1 -lgcc -lc_s
</FONT></pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
The first specifies where to find the library <TT>`libgcc.a'</TT>
specified with the <SAMP>`-lgcc'</SAMP> option.
</P><P>
GCC does linking by invoking <CODE>ld</CODE>, just as <CODE>cc</CODE> does, and
there is no reason why it <EM>should</EM> matter which compilation program
you use to invoke <CODE>ld</CODE>. If someone tracks this problem down,
it can probably be fixed easily.
</P><P>
<LI>
On the Alpha, you may get assembler errors about invalid syntax as a
result of floating point constants. This is due to a bug in the C
library functions <CODE>ecvt</CODE>, <CODE>fcvt</CODE> and <CODE>gcvt</CODE>. Given valid
floating point numbers, they sometimes print <SAMP>`NaN'</SAMP>.
<P>
<LI>
On Irix 4.0.5F (and perhaps in some other versions), an assembler bug
sometimes reorders instructions incorrectly when optimization is turned
on. If you think this may be happening to you, try using the GNU
assembler; GAS version 2.1 supports ECOFF on Irix.
<P>
Or use the <SAMP>`-noasmopt'</SAMP> option when you compile GCC with itself,
and then again when you compile your program. (This is a temporary
kludge to turn off assembler optimization on Irix.) If this proves to
be what you need, edit the assembler spec in the file <TT>`specs'</TT> so
that it unconditionally passes <SAMP>`-O0'</SAMP> to the assembler, and never
passes <SAMP>`-O2'</SAMP> or <SAMP>`-O3'</SAMP>.
</UL>
<P>
<A NAME="External Bugs"></A>
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<H2> 7.5 Problems Compiling Certain Programs </H2>
<!--docid::SEC123::-->
<P>
Certain programs have problems compiling.
</P><P>
<UL>
<LI>
Parse errors may occur compiling X11 on a Decstation running Ultrix 4.2
because of problems in DEC's versions of the X11 header files
<TT>`X11/Xlib.h'</TT> and <TT>`X11/Xutil.h'</TT>. People recommend adding
<SAMP>`-I/usr/include/mit'</SAMP> to use the MIT versions of the header files,
using the <SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP> switch to turn off ANSI C, or fixing the
header files by adding this:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>#ifdef __STDC__
#define NeedFunctionPrototypes 0
#endif
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
<LI>
If you have trouble compiling Perl on a SunOS 4 system, it may be
because Perl specifies <SAMP>`-I/usr/ucbinclude'</SAMP>. This accesses the
unfixed header files. Perl specifies the options
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>-traditional -Dvolatile=__volatile__
-I/usr/include/sun -I/usr/ucbinclude
-fpcc-struct-return
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
most of which are unnecessary with GCC 2.4.5 and newer versions. You
can make a properly working Perl by setting <CODE>ccflags</CODE> to
<SAMP>`-fwritable-strings'</SAMP> (implied by the <SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP> in the
original options) and <CODE>cppflags</CODE> to empty in <TT>`config.sh'</TT>, then
typing <SAMP>`./doSH; make depend; make'</SAMP>.
</P><P>
<LI>
On various 386 Unix systems derived from System V, including SCO, ISC,
and ESIX, you may get error messages about running out of virtual memory
while compiling certain programs.
<P>
You can prevent this problem by linking GCC with the GNU malloc
(which thus replaces the malloc that comes with the system). GNU malloc
is available as a separate package, and also in the file
<TT>`src/gmalloc.c'</TT> in the GNU Emacs 19 distribution.
</P><P>
If you have installed GNU malloc as a separate library package, use this
option when you relink GCC:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>MALLOC=/usr/local/lib/libgmalloc.a
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
Alternatively, if you have compiled <TT>`gmalloc.c'</TT> from Emacs 19, copy
the object file to <TT>`gmalloc.o'</TT> and use this option when you relink
GCC:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>MALLOC=gmalloc.o
</pre></td></tr></table></UL>
<P>
<A NAME="Incompatibilities"></A>
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<H2> 7.6 Incompatibilities of GCC </H2>
<!--docid::SEC124::-->
<P>
There are several noteworthy incompatibilities between GNU C and most
existing (non-ANSI) versions of C. The <SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP> option
eliminates many of these incompatibilities, <EM>but not all</EM>, by
telling GNU C to behave like the other C compilers.
</P><P>
<UL>
<A NAME="IDX367"></A>
<A NAME="IDX368"></A>
<A NAME="IDX369"></A>
<LI>
GCC normally makes string constants read-only. If several
identical-looking string constants are used, GCC stores only one
copy of the string.
<P>
<A NAME="IDX370"></A>
One consequence is that you cannot call <CODE>mktemp</CODE> with a string
constant argument. The function <CODE>mktemp</CODE> always alters the
string its argument points to.
</P><P>
<A NAME="IDX371"></A>
<A NAME="IDX372"></A>
<A NAME="IDX373"></A>
Another consequence is that <CODE>sscanf</CODE> does not work on some systems
when passed a string constant as its format control string or input.
This is because <CODE>sscanf</CODE> incorrectly tries to write into the string
constant. Likewise <CODE>fscanf</CODE> and <CODE>scanf</CODE>.
</P><P>
The best solution to these problems is to change the program to use
<CODE>char</CODE>-array variables with initialization strings for these
purposes instead of string constants. But if this is not possible,
you can use the <SAMP>`-fwritable-strings'</SAMP> flag, which directs GCC
to handle string constants the same way most C compilers do.
<SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP> also has this effect, among others.
</P><P>
<LI>
<CODE>-2147483648</CODE> is positive.
<P>
This is because 2147483648 cannot fit in the type <CODE>int</CODE>, so
(following the ANSI C rules) its data type is <CODE>unsigned long int</CODE>.
Negating this value yields 2147483648 again.
</P><P>
<LI>
GCC does not substitute macro arguments when they appear inside of
string constants. For example, the following macro in GCC
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>#define foo(a) "a"
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
will produce output <CODE>"a"</CODE> regardless of what the argument <VAR>a</VAR> is.
</P><P>
The <SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP> option directs GCC to handle such cases
(among others) in the old-fashioned (non-ANSI) fashion.
</P><P>
<A NAME="IDX374"></A>
<A NAME="IDX375"></A>
<LI>
When you use <CODE>setjmp</CODE> and <CODE>longjmp</CODE>, the only automatic
variables guaranteed to remain valid are those declared
<CODE>volatile</CODE>. This is a consequence of automatic register
allocation. Consider this function:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>jmp_buf j;
foo ()
{
int a, b;
a = fun1 ();
if (setjmp (j))
return a;
a = fun2 ();
/* <CODE>longjmp (j)</CODE> may occur in <CODE>fun3</CODE>. */
return a + fun3 ();
}
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
Here <CODE>a</CODE> may or may not be restored to its first value when the
<CODE>longjmp</CODE> occurs. If <CODE>a</CODE> is allocated in a register, then
its first value is restored; otherwise, it keeps the last value stored
in it.
</P><P>
If you use the <SAMP>`-W'</SAMP> option with the <SAMP>`-O'</SAMP> option, you will
get a warning when GCC thinks such a problem might be possible.
</P><P>
The <SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP> option directs GNU C to put variables in
the stack by default, rather than in registers, in functions that
call <CODE>setjmp</CODE>. This results in the behavior found in
traditional C compilers.
</P><P>
<LI>
Programs that use preprocessing directives in the middle of macro
arguments do not work with GCC. For example, a program like this
will not work:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>foobar (
#define luser
hack)
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
ANSI C does not permit such a construct. It would make sense to support
it when <SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP> is used, but it is too much work to
implement.
</P><P>
<A NAME="IDX376"></A>
<A NAME="IDX377"></A>
<A NAME="IDX378"></A>
<LI>
Declarations of external variables and functions within a block apply
only to the block containing the declaration. In other words, they
have the same scope as any other declaration in the same place.
<P>
In some other C compilers, a <CODE>extern</CODE> declaration affects all the
rest of the file even if it happens within a block.
</P><P>
The <SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP> option directs GNU C to treat all <CODE>extern</CODE>
declarations as global, like traditional compilers.
</P><P>
<LI>
In traditional C, you can combine <CODE>long</CODE>, etc., with a typedef name,
as shown here:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>typedef int foo;
typedef long foo bar;
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
In ANSI C, this is not allowed: <CODE>long</CODE> and other type modifiers
require an explicit <CODE>int</CODE>. Because this criterion is expressed
by Bison grammar rules rather than C code, the <SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP>
flag cannot alter it.
</P><P>
<A NAME="IDX379"></A>
<LI>
PCC allows typedef names to be used as function parameters. The
difficulty described immediately above applies here too.
<P>
<A NAME="IDX380"></A>
<LI>
PCC allows whitespace in the middle of compound assignment operators
such as <SAMP>`+='</SAMP>. GCC, following the ANSI standard, does not
allow this. The difficulty described immediately above applies here
too.
<P>
<A NAME="IDX381"></A>
<A NAME="IDX382"></A>
<LI>
GCC complains about unterminated character constants inside of
preprocessing conditionals that fail. Some programs have English
comments enclosed in conditionals that are guaranteed to fail; if these
comments contain apostrophes, GCC will probably report an error. For
example, this code would produce an error:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>#if 0
You can't expect this to work.
#endif
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
The best solution to such a problem is to put the text into an actual
C comment delimited by <SAMP>`/*<small>...</small>*/'</SAMP>. However,
<SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP> suppresses these error messages.
</P><P>
<LI>
Many user programs contain the declaration <SAMP>`long time ();'</SAMP>. In the
past, the system header files on many systems did not actually declare
<CODE>time</CODE>, so it did not matter what type your program declared it to
return. But in systems with ANSI C headers, <CODE>time</CODE> is declared to
return <CODE>time_t</CODE>, and if that is not the same as <CODE>long</CODE>, then
<SAMP>`long time ();'</SAMP> is erroneous.
<P>
The solution is to change your program to use <CODE>time_t</CODE> as the return
type of <CODE>time</CODE>.
</P><P>
<A NAME="IDX383"></A>
<LI>
When compiling functions that return <CODE>float</CODE>, PCC converts it to
a double. GCC actually returns a <CODE>float</CODE>. If you are concerned
with PCC compatibility, you should declare your functions to return
<CODE>double</CODE>; you might as well say what you mean.
<P>
<A NAME="IDX384"></A>
<A NAME="IDX385"></A>
<LI>
When compiling functions that return structures or unions, GCC
output code normally uses a method different from that used on most
versions of Unix. As a result, code compiled with GCC cannot call
a structure-returning function compiled with PCC, and vice versa.
<P>
The method used by GCC is as follows: a structure or union which is
1, 2, 4 or 8 bytes long is returned like a scalar. A structure or union
with any other size is stored into an address supplied by the caller
(usually in a special, fixed register, but on some machines it is passed
on the stack). The machine-description macros <CODE>STRUCT_VALUE</CODE> and
<CODE>STRUCT_INCOMING_VALUE</CODE> tell GCC where to pass this address.
</P><P>
By contrast, PCC on most target machines returns structures and unions
of any size by copying the data into an area of static storage, and then
returning the address of that storage as if it were a pointer value.
The caller must copy the data from that memory area to the place where
the value is wanted. GCC does not use this method because it is
slower and nonreentrant.
</P><P>
On some newer machines, PCC uses a reentrant convention for all
structure and union returning. GCC on most of these machines uses a
compatible convention when returning structures and unions in memory,
but still returns small structures and unions in registers.
</P><P>
You can tell GCC to use a compatible convention for all structure and
union returning with the option <SAMP>`-fpcc-struct-return'</SAMP>.
</P><P>
<A NAME="IDX386"></A>
<A NAME="IDX387"></A>
<LI>
GNU C complains about program fragments such as <SAMP>`0x74ae-0x4000'</SAMP>
which appear to be two hexadecimal constants separated by the minus
operator. Actually, this string is a single <EM>preprocessing token</EM>.
Each such token must correspond to one token in C. Since this does not,
GNU C prints an error message. Although it may appear obvious that what
is meant is an operator and two values, the ANSI C standard specifically
requires that this be treated as erroneous.
<P>
A <EM>preprocessing token</EM> is a <EM>preprocessing number</EM> if it
begins with a digit and is followed by letters, underscores, digits,
periods and <SAMP>`e+'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`e-'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`E+'</SAMP>, or <SAMP>`E-'</SAMP> character
sequences.
</P><P>
To make the above program fragment valid, place whitespace in front of
the minus sign. This whitespace will end the preprocessing number.
</UL>
<P>
<A NAME="Fixed Headers"></A>
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<H2> 7.7 Fixed Header Files </H2>
<!--docid::SEC125::-->
<P>
GCC needs to install corrected versions of some system header files.
This is because most target systems have some header files that won't
work with GCC unless they are changed. Some have bugs, some are
incompatible with ANSI C, and some depend on special features of other
compilers.
</P><P>
Installing GCC automatically creates and installs the fixed header
files, by running a program called <CODE>fixincludes</CODE> (or for certain
targets an alternative such as <CODE>fixinc.svr4</CODE>). Normally, you
don't need to pay attention to this. But there are cases where it
doesn't do the right thing automatically.
</P><P>
<UL>
<LI>
If you update the system's header files, such as by installing a new
system version, the fixed header files of GCC are not automatically
updated. The easiest way to update them is to reinstall GCC. (If
you want to be clever, look in the makefile and you can find a
shortcut.)
<P>
<LI>
On some systems, in particular SunOS 4, header file directories contain
machine-specific symbolic links in certain places. This makes it
possible to share most of the header files among hosts running the
same version of SunOS 4 on different machine models.
<P>
The programs that fix the header files do not understand this special
way of using symbolic links; therefore, the directory of fixed header
files is good only for the machine model used to build it.
</P><P>
In SunOS 4, only programs that look inside the kernel will notice the
difference between machine models. Therefore, for most purposes, you
need not be concerned about this.
</P><P>
It is possible to make separate sets of fixed header files for the
different machine models, and arrange a structure of symbolic links so
as to use the proper set, but you'll have to do this by hand.
</P><P>
<LI>
On Lynxos, GCC by default does not fix the header files. This is
because bugs in the shell cause the <CODE>fixincludes</CODE> script to fail.
<P>
This means you will encounter problems due to bugs in the system header
files. It may be no comfort that they aren't GCC's fault, but it
does mean that there's nothing for us to do about them.
</UL>
<P>
<A NAME="Standard Libraries"></A>
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<H2> 7.8 Standard Libraries </H2>
<!--docid::SEC126::-->
<P>
GCC by itself attempts to be what the ISO/ANSI C standard calls a
<EM>conforming freestanding implementation</EM>. This means all ANSI
C language features are available, as well as the contents of
<TT>`float.h'</TT>, <TT>`limits.h'</TT>, <TT>`stdarg.h'</TT>, and
<TT>`stddef.h'</TT>. The rest of the C library is supplied by the
vendor of the operating system. If that C library doesn't conform to
the C standards, then your programs might get warnings (especially when
using <SAMP>`-Wall'</SAMP>) that you don't expect.
</P><P>
For example, the <CODE>sprintf</CODE> function on SunOS 4.1.3 returns
<CODE>char *</CODE> while the C standard says that <CODE>sprintf</CODE> returns an
<CODE>int</CODE>. The <CODE>fixincludes</CODE> program could make the prototype for
this function match the Standard, but that would be wrong, since the
function will still return <CODE>char *</CODE>.
</P><P>
If you need a Standard compliant library, then you need to find one, as
GCC does not provide one. The GNU C library (called <CODE>glibc</CODE>)
has been ported to a number of operating systems, and provides ANSI/ISO,
POSIX, BSD and SystemV compatibility. You could also ask your operating
system vendor if newer libraries are available.
</P><P>
<A NAME="Disappointments"></A>
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<H2> 7.9 Disappointments and Misunderstandings </H2>
<!--docid::SEC127::-->
<P>
These problems are perhaps regrettable, but we don't know any practical
way around them.
</P><P>
<UL>
<LI>
Certain local variables aren't recognized by debuggers when you compile
with optimization.
<P>
This occurs because sometimes GCC optimizes the variable out of
existence. There is no way to tell the debugger how to compute the
value such a variable "would have had", and it is not clear that would
be desirable anyway. So GCC simply does not mention the eliminated
variable when it writes debugging information.
</P><P>
You have to expect a certain amount of disagreement between the
executable and your source code, when you use optimization.
</P><P>
<A NAME="IDX388"></A>
<A NAME="IDX389"></A>
<LI>
Users often think it is a bug when GCC reports an error for code
like this:
<P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>int foo (struct mumble *);
struct mumble { <small>...</small> };
int foo (struct mumble *x)
{ <small>...</small> }
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
This code really is erroneous, because the scope of <CODE>struct
mumble</CODE> in the prototype is limited to the argument list containing it.
It does not refer to the <CODE>struct mumble</CODE> defined with file scope
immediately below--they are two unrelated types with similar names in
different scopes.
</P><P>
But in the definition of <CODE>foo</CODE>, the file-scope type is used
because that is available to be inherited. Thus, the definition and
the prototype do not match, and you get an error.
</P><P>
This behavior may seem silly, but it's what the ANSI standard specifies.
It is easy enough for you to make your code work by moving the
definition of <CODE>struct mumble</CODE> above the prototype. It's not worth
being incompatible with ANSI C just to avoid an error for the example
shown above.
</P><P>
<LI>
Accesses to bitfields even in volatile objects works by accessing larger
objects, such as a byte or a word. You cannot rely on what size of
object is accessed in order to read or write the bitfield; it may even
vary for a given bitfield according to the precise usage.
<P>
If you care about controlling the amount of memory that is accessed, use
volatile but do not use bitfields.
</P><P>
<LI>
GCC comes with shell scripts to fix certain known problems in system
header files. They install corrected copies of various header files in
a special directory where only GCC will normally look for them. The
scripts adapt to various systems by searching all the system header
files for the problem cases that we know about.
<P>
If new system header files are installed, nothing automatically arranges
to update the corrected header files. You will have to reinstall GCC
to fix the new header files. More specifically, go to the build
directory and delete the files <TT>`stmp-fixinc'</TT> and
<TT>`stmp-headers'</TT>, and the subdirectory <CODE>include</CODE>; then do
<SAMP>`make install'</SAMP> again.
</P><P>
<LI>
<A NAME="IDX390"></A>
On 68000 and x86 systems, for instance, you can get paradoxical results
if you test the precise values of floating point numbers. For example,
you can find that a floating point value which is not a NaN is not equal
to itself. This results from the fact that the floating point registers
hold a few more bits of precision than fit in a <CODE>double</CODE> in memory.
Compiled code moves values between memory and floating point registers
at its convenience, and moving them into memory truncates them.
<P>
You can partially avoid this problem by using the <SAMP>`-ffloat-store'</SAMP>
option (see section <A HREF="gcc_2.html#SEC10" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_2.html#SEC10">2.8 Options That Control Optimization</A>).
</P><P>
<LI>
On the MIPS, variable argument functions using <TT>`varargs.h'</TT>
cannot have a floating point value for the first argument. The
reason for this is that in the absence of a prototype in scope,
if the first argument is a floating point, it is passed in a
floating point register, rather than an integer register.
<P>
If the code is rewritten to use the ANSI standard <TT>`stdarg.h'</TT>
method of variable arguments, and the prototype is in scope at
the time of the call, everything will work fine.
</P><P>
<LI>
On the H8/300 and H8/300H, variable argument functions must be
implemented using the ANSI standard <TT>`stdarg.h'</TT> method of
variable arguments. Furthermore, calls to functions using <TT>`stdarg.h'</TT>
variable arguments must have a prototype for the called function
in scope at the time of the call.
</UL>
<P>
<A NAME="C++ Misunderstandings"></A>
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<H2> 7.10 Common Misunderstandings with GNU C++ </H2>
<!--docid::SEC128::-->
<P>
<A NAME="IDX391"></A>
<A NAME="IDX392"></A>
<A NAME="IDX393"></A>
C++ is a complex language and an evolving one, and its standard
definition (the ISO C++ standard) was only recently completed. As a
result, your C++ compiler may occasionally surprise you, even when its
behavior is correct. This section discusses some areas that frequently
give rise to questions of this sort.
</P><P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC129" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC129">7.10.1 Declare <EM>and</EM> Define Static Members</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Static member declarations are not definitions</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC130" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC130">7.10.2 Temporaries May Vanish Before You Expect</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Temporaries may vanish before you expect</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="gcc_7.html#SEC131" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_7.html#SEC131">7.10.3 Implicit Copy-Assignment for Virtual Bases</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP">Copy Assignment operators copy virtual bases twice</TD></TR>
</TABLE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
<A NAME="Static Definitions"></A>
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<H3> 7.10.1 Declare <EM>and</EM> Define Static Members </H3>
<!--docid::SEC129::-->
<P>
<A NAME="IDX394"></A>
<A NAME="IDX395"></A>
<A NAME="IDX396"></A>
<A NAME="IDX397"></A>
When a class has static data members, it is not enough to <EM>declare</EM>
the static member; you must also <EM>define</EM> it. For example:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>class Foo
{
<small>...</small>
void method();
static int bar;
};
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
This declaration only establishes that the class <CODE>Foo</CODE> has an
<CODE>int</CODE> named <CODE>Foo::bar</CODE>, and a member function named
<CODE>Foo::method</CODE>. But you still need to define <EM>both</EM>
<CODE>method</CODE> and <CODE>bar</CODE> elsewhere. According to the draft ANSI
standard, you must supply an initializer in one (and only one) source
file, such as:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>int Foo::bar = 0;
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
Other C++ compilers may not correctly implement the standard behavior.
As a result, when you switch to <CODE>g++</CODE> from one of these compilers,
you may discover that a program that appeared to work correctly in fact
does not conform to the standard: <CODE>g++</CODE> reports as undefined
symbols any static data members that lack definitions.
</P><P>
<A NAME="Temporaries"></A>
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<H3> 7.10.2 Temporaries May Vanish Before You Expect </H3>
<!--docid::SEC130::-->
<P>
<A NAME="IDX398"></A>
<A NAME="IDX399"></A>
It is dangerous to use pointers or references to <EM>portions</EM> of a
temporary object. The compiler may very well delete the object before
you expect it to, leaving a pointer to garbage. The most common place
where this problem crops up is in classes like string classes,
especially ones that define a conversion function to type <CODE>char *</CODE>
or <CODE>const char *</CODE> -- which is one reason why the standard
<CODE>string</CODE> class requires you to call the <CODE>c_str</CODE> member
function. However, any class that returns a pointer to some internal
structure is potentially subject to this problem.
</P><P>
For example, a program may use a function <CODE>strfunc</CODE> that returns
<CODE>string</CODE> objects, and another function <CODE>charfunc</CODE> that
operates on pointers to <CODE>char</CODE>:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>string strfunc ();
void charfunc (const char *);
void
f ()
{
const char *p = strfunc().c_str();
...
charfunc (p);
...
charfunc (p);
}
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
In this situation, it may seem reasonable to save a pointer to the C
string returned by the <CODE>c_str</CODE> member function and use that rather
than call <CODE>c_str</CODE> repeatedly. However, the temporary string
created by the call to <CODE>strfunc</CODE> is destroyed after <CODE>p</CODE> is
initialized, at which point <CODE>p</CODE> is left pointing to freed memory.
</P><P>
Code like this may run successfully under some other compilers,
particularly obsolete cfront-based compilers that delete temporaries
along with normal local variables. However, the GNU C++ behavior is
standard-conforming, so if your program depends on late destruction of
temporaries it is not portable.
</P><P>
The safe way to write such code is to give the temporary a name, which
forces it to remain until the end of the scope of the name. For
example:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>string&#38; tmp = strfunc ();
charfunc (tmp.c_str ());
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
<A NAME="Copy Assignment"></A>
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<H3> 7.10.3 Implicit Copy-Assignment for Virtual Bases </H3>
<!--docid::SEC131::-->
<P>
When a base class is virtual, only one subobject of the base class
belongs to each full object. Also, the constructors and destructors are
invoked only once, and called from the most-derived class. However, such
objects behave unspecified when being assigned. For example:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>struct Base{
char *name;
Base(char *n) : name(strdup(n)){}
Base&#38; operator= (const Base&#38; other){
free (name);
name = strdup (other.name);
}
};
struct A:virtual Base{
int val;
A():Base("A"){}
};
struct B:virtual Base{
int bval;
B():Base("B"){}
};
struct Derived:public A, public B{
Derived():Base("Derived"){}
};
void func(Derived &#38;d1, Derived &#38;d2)
{
d1 = d2;
}
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
The C++ standard specifies that <SAMP>`Base::Base'</SAMP> is only called once
when constructing or copy-constructing a Derived object. It is
unspecified whether <SAMP>`Base::operator='</SAMP> is called more than once when
the implicit copy-assignment for Derived objects is invoked (as it is
inside <SAMP>`func'</SAMP> in the example).
</P><P>
g++ implements the "intuitive" algorithm for copy-assignment: assign all
direct bases, then assign all members. In that algorithm, the virtual
base subobject can be encountered many times. In the example, copying
proceeds in the following order: <SAMP>`val'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`name'</SAMP> (via
<CODE>strdup</CODE>), <SAMP>`bval'</SAMP>, and <SAMP>`name'</SAMP> again.
</P><P>
If application code relies on copy-assignment, a user-defined
copy-assignment operator removes any uncertainties. With such an
operator, the application can define whether and how the virtual base
subobject is assigned.
</P><P>
<A NAME="Protoize Caveats"></A>
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<H2> 7.11 Caveats of using <CODE>protoize</CODE> </H2>
<!--docid::SEC132::-->
<P>
The conversion programs <CODE>protoize</CODE> and <CODE>unprotoize</CODE> can
sometimes change a source file in a way that won't work unless you
rearrange it.
</P><P>
<UL>
<LI>
<CODE>protoize</CODE> can insert references to a type name or type tag before
the definition, or in a file where they are not defined.
<P>
If this happens, compiler error messages should show you where the new
references are, so fixing the file by hand is straightforward.
</P><P>
<LI>
There are some C constructs which <CODE>protoize</CODE> cannot figure out.
For example, it can't determine argument types for declaring a
pointer-to-function variable; this you must do by hand. <CODE>protoize</CODE>
inserts a comment containing <SAMP>`???'</SAMP> each time it finds such a
variable; so you can find all such variables by searching for this
string. ANSI C does not require declaring the argument types of
pointer-to-function types.
<P>
<LI>
Using <CODE>unprotoize</CODE> can easily introduce bugs. If the program
relied on prototypes to bring about conversion of arguments, these
conversions will not take place in the program without prototypes.
One case in which you can be sure <CODE>unprotoize</CODE> is safe is when
you are removing prototypes that were made with <CODE>protoize</CODE>; if
the program worked before without any prototypes, it will work again
without them.
<P>
You can find all the places where this problem might occur by compiling
the program with the <SAMP>`-Wconversion'</SAMP> option. It prints a warning
whenever an argument is converted.
</P><P>
<LI>
Both conversion programs can be confused if there are macro calls in and
around the text to be converted. In other words, the standard syntax
for a declaration or definition must not result from expanding a macro.
This problem is inherent in the design of C and cannot be fixed. If
only a few functions have confusing macro calls, you can easily convert
them manually.
<P>
<LI>
<CODE>protoize</CODE> cannot get the argument types for a function whose
definition was not actually compiled due to preprocessing conditionals.
When this happens, <CODE>protoize</CODE> changes nothing in regard to such
a function. <CODE>protoize</CODE> tries to detect such instances and warn
about them.
<P>
You can generally work around this problem by using <CODE>protoize</CODE> step
by step, each time specifying a different set of <SAMP>`-D'</SAMP> options for
compilation, until all of the functions have been converted. There is
no automatic way to verify that you have got them all, however.
</P><P>
<LI>
Confusion may result if there is an occasion to convert a function
declaration or definition in a region of source code where there is more
than one formal parameter list present. Thus, attempts to convert code
containing multiple (conditionally compiled) versions of a single
function header (in the same vicinity) may not produce the desired (or
expected) results.
<P>
If you plan on converting source files which contain such code, it is
recommended that you first make sure that each conditionally compiled
region of source code which contains an alternative function header also
contains at least one additional follower token (past the final right
parenthesis of the function header). This should circumvent the
problem.
</P><P>
<LI>
<CODE>unprotoize</CODE> can become confused when trying to convert a function
definition or declaration which contains a declaration for a
pointer-to-function formal argument which has the same name as the
function being defined or declared. We recommand you avoid such choices
of formal parameter names.
<P>
<LI>
You might also want to correct some of the indentation by hand and break
long lines. (The conversion programs don't write lines longer than
eighty characters in any case.)
</UL>
<P>
<A NAME="Non-bugs"></A>
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<H2> 7.12 Certain Changes We Don't Want to Make </H2>
<!--docid::SEC133::-->
<P>
This section lists changes that people frequently request, but which
we do not make because we think GCC is better without them.
</P><P>
<UL>
<LI>
Checking the number and type of arguments to a function which has an
old-fashioned definition and no prototype.
<P>
Such a feature would work only occasionally--only for calls that appear
in the same file as the called function, following the definition. The
only way to check all calls reliably is to add a prototype for the
function. But adding a prototype eliminates the motivation for this
feature. So the feature is not worthwhile.
</P><P>
<LI>
Warning about using an expression whose type is signed as a shift count.
<P>
Shift count operands are probably signed more often than unsigned.
Warning about this would cause far more annoyance than good.
</P><P>
<LI>
Warning about assigning a signed value to an unsigned variable.
<P>
Such assignments must be very common; warning about them would cause
more annoyance than good.
</P><P>
<LI>
Warning about unreachable code.
<P>
It's very common to have unreachable code in machine-generated
programs. For example, this happens normally in some files of GNU C
itself.
</P><P>
<LI>
Warning when a non-void function value is ignored.
<P>
Coming as I do from a Lisp background, I balk at the idea that there is
something dangerous about discarding a value. There are functions that
return values which some callers may find useful; it makes no sense to
clutter the program with a cast to <CODE>void</CODE> whenever the value isn't
useful.
</P><P>
<LI>
Assuming (for optimization) that the address of an external symbol is
never zero.
<P>
This assumption is false on certain systems when <SAMP>`#pragma weak'</SAMP> is
used.
</P><P>
<LI>
Making <SAMP>`-fshort-enums'</SAMP> the default.
<P>
This would cause storage layout to be incompatible with most other C
compilers. And it doesn't seem very important, given that you can get
the same result in other ways. The case where it matters most is when
the enumeration-valued object is inside a structure, and in that case
you can specify a field width explicitly.
</P><P>
<LI>
Making bitfields unsigned by default on particular machines where "the
ABI standard" says to do so.
<P>
The ANSI C standard leaves it up to the implementation whether a bitfield
declared plain <CODE>int</CODE> is signed or not. This in effect creates two
alternative dialects of C.
</P><P>
The GNU C compiler supports both dialects; you can specify the signed
dialect with <SAMP>`-fsigned-bitfields'</SAMP> and the unsigned dialect with
<SAMP>`-funsigned-bitfields'</SAMP>. However, this leaves open the question of
which dialect to use by default.
</P><P>
Currently, the preferred dialect makes plain bitfields signed, because
this is simplest. Since <CODE>int</CODE> is the same as <CODE>signed int</CODE> in
every other context, it is cleanest for them to be the same in bitfields
as well.
</P><P>
Some computer manufacturers have published Application Binary Interface
standards which specify that plain bitfields should be unsigned. It is
a mistake, however, to say anything about this issue in an ABI. This is
because the handling of plain bitfields distinguishes two dialects of C.
Both dialects are meaningful on every type of machine. Whether a
particular object file was compiled using signed bitfields or unsigned
is of no concern to other object files, even if they access the same
bitfields in the same data structures.
</P><P>
A given program is written in one or the other of these two dialects.
The program stands a chance to work on most any machine if it is
compiled with the proper dialect. It is unlikely to work at all if
compiled with the wrong dialect.
</P><P>
Many users appreciate the GNU C compiler because it provides an
environment that is uniform across machines. These users would be
inconvenienced if the compiler treated plain bitfields differently on
certain machines.
</P><P>
Occasionally users write programs intended only for a particular machine
type. On these occasions, the users would benefit if the GNU C compiler
were to support by default the same dialect as the other compilers on
that machine. But such applications are rare. And users writing a
program to run on more than one type of machine cannot possibly benefit
from this kind of compatibility.
</P><P>
This is why GCC does and will treat plain bitfields in the same
fashion on all types of machines (by default).
</P><P>
There are some arguments for making bitfields unsigned by default on all
machines. If, for example, this becomes a universal de facto standard,
it would make sense for GCC to go along with it. This is something
to be considered in the future.
</P><P>
(Of course, users strongly concerned about portability should indicate
explicitly in each bitfield whether it is signed or not. In this way,
they write programs which have the same meaning in both C dialects.)
</P><P>
<LI>
Undefining <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> when <SAMP>`-ansi'</SAMP> is not used.
<P>
Currently, GCC defines <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> as long as you don't use
<SAMP>`-traditional'</SAMP>. This provides good results in practice.
</P><P>
Programmers normally use conditionals on <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> to ask whether
it is safe to use certain features of ANSI C, such as function
prototypes or ANSI token concatenation. Since plain <SAMP>`gcc'</SAMP> supports
all the features of ANSI C, the correct answer to these questions is
"yes".
</P><P>
Some users try to use <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> to check for the availability of
certain library facilities. This is actually incorrect usage in an ANSI
C program, because the ANSI C standard says that a conforming
freestanding implementation should define <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> even though it
does not have the library facilities. <SAMP>`gcc -ansi -pedantic'</SAMP> is a
conforming freestanding implementation, and it is therefore required to
define <CODE>__STDC__</CODE>, even though it does not come with an ANSI C
library.
</P><P>
Sometimes people say that defining <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> in a compiler that
does not completely conform to the ANSI C standard somehow violates the
standard. This is illogical. The standard is a standard for compilers
that claim to support ANSI C, such as <SAMP>`gcc -ansi'</SAMP>---not for other
compilers such as plain <SAMP>`gcc'</SAMP>. Whatever the ANSI C standard says
is relevant to the design of plain <SAMP>`gcc'</SAMP> without <SAMP>`-ansi'</SAMP> only
for pragmatic reasons, not as a requirement.
</P><P>
GCC normally defines <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> to be 1, and in addition
defines <CODE>__STRICT_ANSI__</CODE> if you specify the <SAMP>`-ansi'</SAMP> option.
On some hosts, system include files use a different convention, where
<CODE>__STDC__</CODE> is normally 0, but is 1 if the user specifies strict
conformance to the C Standard. GCC follows the host convention when
processing system include files, but when processing user files it follows
the usual GNU C convention.
</P><P>
<LI>
Undefining <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> in C++.
<P>
Programs written to compile with C++-to-C translators get the
value of <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> that goes with the C compiler that is
subsequently used. These programs must test <CODE>__STDC__</CODE>
to determine what kind of C preprocessor that compiler uses:
whether they should concatenate tokens in the ANSI C fashion
or in the traditional fashion.
</P><P>
These programs work properly with GNU C++ if <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> is defined.
They would not work otherwise.
</P><P>
In addition, many header files are written to provide prototypes in ANSI
C but not in traditional C. Many of these header files can work without
change in C++ provided <CODE>__STDC__</CODE> is defined. If <CODE>__STDC__</CODE>
is not defined, they will all fail, and will all need to be changed to
test explicitly for C++ as well.
</P><P>
<LI>
Deleting "empty" loops.
<P>
Historically, GCC has not deleted "empty" loops under the
assumption that the most likely reason you would put one in a program is
to have a delay, so deleting them will not make real programs run any
faster.
</P><P>
However, the rationale here is that optimization of a nonempty loop
cannot produce an empty one, which holds for C but is not always the
case for C++.
</P><P>
Moreover, with <SAMP>`-funroll-loops'</SAMP> small "empty" loops are already
removed, so the current behavior is both sub-optimal and inconsistent
and will change in the future.
</P><P>
<LI>
Making side effects happen in the same order as in some other compiler.
<P>
<A NAME="IDX400"></A>
<A NAME="IDX401"></A>
It is never safe to depend on the order of evaluation of side effects.
For example, a function call like this may very well behave differently
from one compiler to another:
</P><P>
<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>void func (int, int);
int i = 2;
func (i++, i++);
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>
There is no guarantee (in either the C or the C++ standard language
definitions) that the increments will be evaluated in any particular
order. Either increment might happen first. <CODE>func</CODE> might get the
arguments <SAMP>`2, 3'</SAMP>, or it might get <SAMP>`3, 2'</SAMP>, or even <SAMP>`2, 2'</SAMP>.
</P><P>
<LI>
Not allowing structures with volatile fields in registers.
<P>
Strictly speaking, there is no prohibition in the ANSI C standard
against allowing structures with volatile fields in registers, but
it does not seem to make any sense and is probably not what you wanted
to do. So the compiler will give an error message in this case.
</UL>
<P>
<A NAME="Warnings and Errors"></A>
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<H2> 7.13 Warning Messages and Error Messages </H2>
<!--docid::SEC134::-->
<P>
<A NAME="IDX402"></A>
<A NAME="IDX403"></A>
<A NAME="IDX404"></A>
The GNU compiler can produce two kinds of diagnostics: errors and
warnings. Each kind has a different purpose:
</P><P>
<UL>
<LI>
<EM>Errors</EM> report problems that make it impossible to compile your
program. GCC reports errors with the source file name and line
number where the problem is apparent.
<P>
<LI>
<EM>Warnings</EM> report other unusual conditions in your code that
<EM>may</EM> indicate a problem, although compilation can (and does)
proceed. Warning messages also report the source file name and line
number, but include the text <SAMP>`warning:'</SAMP> to distinguish them
from error messages.
</UL>
<P>
Warnings may indicate danger points where you should check to make sure
that your program really does what you intend; or the use of obsolete
features; or the use of nonstandard features of GNU C or C++. Many
warnings are issued only if you ask for them, with one of the <SAMP>`-W'</SAMP>
options (for instance, <SAMP>`-Wall'</SAMP> requests a variety of useful
warnings).
</P><P>
GCC always tries to compile your program if possible; it never
gratuitously rejects a program whose meaning is clear merely because
(for instance) it fails to conform to a standard. In some cases,
however, the C and C++ standards specify that certain extensions are
forbidden, and a diagnostic <EM>must</EM> be issued by a conforming
compiler. The <SAMP>`-pedantic'</SAMP> option tells GCC to issue warnings in
such cases; <SAMP>`-pedantic-errors'</SAMP> says to make them errors instead.
This does not mean that <EM>all</EM> non-ANSI constructs get warnings
or errors.
</P><P>
See section <A HREF="gcc_2.html#SEC8" tppabs="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/gcc_2.html#SEC8">Options to Request or Suppress Warnings</A>, for
more detail on these and related command-line options.
</P><P>
<A NAME="Bugs"></A>
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