This is Info file ./gpc.info, produced by Makeinfo version 1.67 from
the input file ./gpc.texi.

   This file documents the use and the internals of the GNU Pascal
compiler.

   Copyright (C) 1988, 1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
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File: gpc.info,  Node: Interoperation,  Next: External Bugs,  Prev: Cross-Compiler Problems,  Up: Trouble

Interoperation
==============

   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.

   * Objective C does not work on the RS/6000.

   * 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.

     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.

   * Older GDB versions sometimes fail to read the output of GNU CC
     version 2.  If you have trouble, get GDB version 4.4 or later.

   * DBX rejects some files produced by GNU CC, 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.

   * The GNU assembler (GAS) does not support PIC.  To generate PIC
     code, you must use some other assembler, such as `/bin/as'.

   * 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.

   * Use of `-I/usr/include' may cause trouble.

     Many systems come with header files that won't work with GNU CC
     unless corrected by `fixincludes'.  The corrected header files go
     in a new directory; GNU CC searches this directory before
     `/usr/include'.  If you use `-I/usr/include', this tells GNU CC to
     search `/usr/include' earlier on, before the corrected headers.
     The result is that you get the uncorrected header files.

     Instead, you should use these options (when compiling C programs):

          -I/usr/local/lib/gpc-lib/TARGET/VERSION/include -I/usr/include

     For C++ programs, GNU CC also uses a special directory that
     defines C++ interfaces to standard C subroutines.  This directory
     is meant to be searched *before* 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:

          -I/usr/local/lib/g++-include

   * On some SGI systems, when you use `-lgl_s' as an option, it gets
     translated magically to `-lgl_s -lX11_s -lc_s'.  Naturally, this
     does not happen when you use GNU CC.  You must specify all three
     options explicitly.

   * On a Sparc, GNU CC aligns all values of type `double' on an 8-byte
     boundary, and it expects every `double' to be so aligned.  The Sun
     compiler usually gives `double' values 8-byte alignment, with one
     exception: function arguments of type `double' may not be aligned.

     As a result, if a function compiled with Sun CC takes the address
     of an argument of type `double' and passes this pointer of type
     `double *' to a function compiled with GNU CC, dereferencing the
     pointer may cause a fatal signal.

     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 `access_double' instead of directly with
     `*':

          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->i[0];
            u.i[1] = p->i[1];
          
            return u.d;
          }

     Storing into the pointer can be done likewise with the same union.

   * On Solaris, the `malloc' function in the `libmalloc.a' library may
     allocate memory that is only 4 byte aligned.  Since GNU CC 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
     `libmalloc.a' library.

     The solution is to not use the `libmalloc.a' library.  Use instead
     `malloc' and related functions from `libc.a'; they do not have
     this problem.

   * Sun forgot to include a static version of `libdl.a' with some
     versions of SunOS (mainly 4.1).  This results in undefined symbols
     when linking static binaries (that is, if you use `-static').  If
     you see undefined symbols `_dlclose', `_dlsym' or `_dlopen' when
     linking, compile and link against the file `mit/util/misc/dlsym.c'
     from the MIT version of X windows.

   * 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 GNU CC does not enable them
     by default.  Long doubles appear to work in Sun OS 5.x (Solaris
     2.x).

   * On HP-UX version 9.01 on the HP PA, the HP compiler `cc' does not
     compile GNU CC correctly.  We do not yet know why.  However, GNU CC
     compiled on earlier HP-UX versions works properly on HP-UX 9.01
     and can compile itself properly on 9.01.

   * On the HP PA machine, ADB sometimes fails to work on functions
     compiled with GNU CC.  Specifically, it fails to work on functions
     that use `alloca' or variable-size arrays.  This is because GNU CC
     doesn't generate HP-UX unwind descriptors for such functions.  It
     may even be impossible to generate them.

   * Debugging (`-g') is not supported on the HP PA machine, unless you
     use the preliminary GNU tools (*note Installation::.).

   * Taking the address of a label may generate errors from the HP-UX
     PA assembler.  GAS for the PA does not have this problem.

   * 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.

   * 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 GNU CC, but is now exceptionally rare.  If
     you should run into it, you can work around by making your
     function smaller.

   * GNU CC compiled code sometimes emits warnings from the HP-UX
     assembler of the form:

          (warning) Use of GR3 when
            frame >= 8192 may cause conflict.

     These warnings are harmless and can be safely ignored.

   * The current version of the assembler (`/bin/as') for the RS/6000
     has certain problems that prevent the `-g' option in GCC from
     working.  Note that `Makefile.in' uses `-g' by default when
     compiling `libgpc2.c'.

     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 `README.RS6000' for more
     details on these updates.

     You can test for the presense of a fixed assembler by using the
     command

          as -u < /dev/null

     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.

   * On the IBM RS/6000, compiling code of the form

          extern int foo;
          
          ... foo ...
          
          static int foo;

     will cause the linker to report an undefined symbol `foo'.
     Although this behavior differs from most other systems, it is not a
     bug because redefining an `extern' variable as `static' is
     undefined in ANSI C.

   * 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".

   * Even if you specify `-fdollars-in-identifiers', you cannot
     successfully use `$' in identifiers on the RS/6000 due to a
     restriction in the IBM assembler.  GAS supports these identifiers.

   * On the RS/6000, XLC version 1.3.0.0 will miscompile `jump.c'.  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.

   * There is an assembler bug in versions of DG/UX prior to 5.4.2.01
     that occurs when the `fldcr' instruction is used.  GNU CC uses
     `fldcr' on the 88100 to serialize volatile memory references.  Use
     the option `-mno-serialize-volatile' if your version of the
     assembler has this bug.

   * 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.

   * On NewsOS version 3, if you include both of the files `stddef.h'
     and `sys/types.h', you get an error because there are two typedefs
     of `size_t'.  You should change `sys/types.h' by adding these
     lines around the definition of `size_t':

          #ifndef _SIZE_T
          #define _SIZE_T
          ACTUAL TYPEDEF HERE
          #endif

   * On the Alliant, the system's own convention for returning
     structures and unions is unusual, and is not compatible with GNU
     CC no matter what options are used.

   * On the IBM RT PC, the MetaWare HighC compiler (hc) uses a different
     convention for structure and union returning.  Use the option
     `-mhc-struct-return' to tell GNU CC to use a convention compatible
     with it.

   * 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.

     GNU CC uses the same convention as the Ultrix C compiler.  You can
     use these options to produce code compatible with the Fortran
     compiler:

          -fcall-saved-r2 -fcall-saved-r3 -fcall-saved-r4 -fcall-saved-r5

   * On the WE32k, you may find that programs compiled with GNU CC 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:

          -L/usr/local/lib/gpc-lib/we32k-att-sysv/2.7.1 -lgpc -lc_s

     The first specifies where to find the library `libgpc.a' specified
     with the `-lgpc' option.

     GNU CC does linking by invoking `ld', just as `cc' does, and there
     is no reason why it *should* matter which compilation program you
     use to invoke `ld'.  If someone tracks this problem down, it can
     probably be fixed easily.

   * 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 `ecvt', `fcvt' and `gcvt'.  Given valid
     floating point numbers, they sometimes print `NaN'.

   * 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.

     Or use the `-noasmopt' option when you compile GNU CC 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
     `specs' so that it unconditionally passes `-O0' to the assembler,
     and never passes `-O2' or `-O3'.


File: gpc.info,  Node: External Bugs,  Next: Incompatibilities,  Prev: Interoperation,  Up: Trouble

Problems Compiling Certain Programs
===================================

   Certain programs have problems compiling.

   * 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 `X11/Xlib.h' and `X11/Xutil.h'.  People recommend adding
     `-I/usr/include/mit' to use the MIT versions of the header files,
     using the `-traditional' switch to turn off ANSI C, or fixing the
     header files by adding this:

          #ifdef __STDC__
          #define NeedFunctionPrototypes 0
          #endif

   * If you have trouble compiling Perl on a SunOS 4 system, it may be
     because Perl specifies `-I/usr/ucbinclude'.  This accesses the
     unfixed header files.  Perl specifies the options

          -traditional -Dvolatile=__volatile__
          -I/usr/include/sun -I/usr/ucbinclude
          -fpcc-struct-return

     most of which are unnecessary with GCC 2.4.5 and newer versions.
     You can make a properly working Perl by setting `ccflags' to
     `-fwritable-strings' (implied by the `-traditional' in the
     original options) and `cppflags' to empty in `config.sh', then
     typing `./doSH; make depend; make'.

   * 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.

     You can prevent this problem by linking GNU CC 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
     `src/gmalloc.c' in the GNU Emacs 19 distribution.

     If you have installed GNU malloc as a separate library package,
     use this option when you relink GNU CC:

          MALLOC=/usr/local/lib/libgmalloc.a

     Alternatively, if you have compiled `gmalloc.c' from Emacs 19, copy
     the object file to `gmalloc.o' and use this option when you relink
     GNU CC:

          MALLOC=gmalloc.o


File: gpc.info,  Node: Incompatibilities,  Next: Fixed Headers,  Prev: External Bugs,  Up: Trouble

Incompatibilities of GNU CC
===========================

   There are several noteworthy incompatibilities between GNU C and most
existing (non-ANSI) versions of C.  The `-traditional' option
eliminates many of these incompatibilities, *but not all*, by telling
GNU C to behave like the other C compilers.

   * GNU CC normally makes string constants read-only.  If several
     identical-looking string constants are used, GNU CC stores only one
     copy of the string.

     One consequence is that you cannot call `mktemp' with a string
     constant argument.  The function `mktemp' always alters the string
     its argument points to.

     Another consequence is that `sscanf' does not work on some systems
     when passed a string constant as its format control string or
     input.  This is because `sscanf' incorrectly tries to write into
     the string constant.  Likewise `fscanf' and `scanf'.

     The best solution to these problems is to change the program to use
     `char'-array variables with initialization strings for these
     purposes instead of string constants.  But if this is not possible,
     you can use the `-fwritable-strings' flag, which directs GNU CC to
     handle string constants the same way most C compilers do.
     `-traditional' also has this effect, among others.

   * `-2147483648' is positive.

     This is because 2147483648 cannot fit in the type `int', so
     (following the ANSI C rules) its data type is `unsigned long int'.
     Negating this value yields 2147483648 again.

   * GNU CC does not substitute macro arguments when they appear inside
     of string constants.  For example, the following macro in GNU CC

          #define foo(a) "a"

     will produce output `"a"' regardless of what the argument A is.

     The `-traditional' option directs GNU CC to handle such cases
     (among others) in the old-fashioned (non-ANSI) fashion.

   * When you use `setjmp' and `longjmp', the only automatic variables
     guaranteed to remain valid are those declared `volatile'.  This is
     a consequence of automatic register allocation.  Consider this
     function:

          jmp_buf j;
          
          foo ()
          {
            int a, b;
          
            a = fun1 ();
            if (setjmp (j))
              return a;
          
            a = fun2 ();
            /* `longjmp (j)' may occur in `fun3'. */
            return a + fun3 ();
          }

     Here `a' may or may not be restored to its first value when the
     `longjmp' occurs.  If `a' is allocated in a register, then its
     first value is restored; otherwise, it keeps the last value stored
     in it.

     If you use the `-W' option with the `-O' option, you will get a
     warning when GNU CC thinks such a problem might be possible.

     The `-traditional' option directs GNU C to put variables in the
     stack by default, rather than in registers, in functions that call
     `setjmp'.  This results in the behavior found in traditional C
     compilers.

   * Programs that use preprocessing directives in the middle of macro
     arguments do not work with GNU CC.  For example, a program like
     this will not work:

          foobar (
          #define luser
                  hack)

     ANSI C does not permit such a construct.  It would make sense to
     support it when `-traditional' is used, but it is too much work to
     implement.

   * 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.

     In some other C compilers, a `extern' declaration affects all the
     rest of the file even if it happens within a block.

     The `-traditional' option directs GNU C to treat all `extern'
     declarations as global, like traditional compilers.

   * In traditional C, you can combine `long', etc., with a typedef
     name, as shown here:

          typedef int foo;
          typedef long foo bar;

     In ANSI C, this is not allowed: `long' and other type modifiers
     require an explicit `int'.  Because this criterion is expressed by
     Bison grammar rules rather than C code, the `-traditional' flag
     cannot alter it.

   * PCC allows typedef names to be used as function parameters.  The
     difficulty described immediately above applies here too.

   * PCC allows whitespace in the middle of compound assignment
     operators such as `+='.  GNU CC, following the ANSI standard, does
     not allow this.  The difficulty described immediately above
     applies here too.

   * GNU CC 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, GNU CC will probably report an
     error.  For example, this code would produce an error:

          #if 0
          You can't expect this to work.
          #endif

     The best solution to such a problem is to put the text into an
     actual C comment delimited by `/*...*/'.  However, `-traditional'
     suppresses these error messages.

   * Many user programs contain the declaration `long time ();'.  In the
     past, the system header files on many systems did not actually
     declare `time', so it did not matter what type your program
     declared it to return.  But in systems with ANSI C headers, `time'
     is declared to return `time_t', and if that is not the same as
     `long', then `long time ();' is erroneous.

     The solution is to change your program to use `time_t' as the
     return type of `time'.

   * When compiling functions that return `float', PCC converts it to a
     double.  GNU CC actually returns a `float'.  If you are concerned
     with PCC compatibility, you should declare your functions to return
     `double'; you might as well say what you mean.

   * When compiling functions that return structures or unions, GNU CC
     output code normally uses a method different from that used on most
     versions of Unix.  As a result, code compiled with GNU CC cannot
     call a structure-returning function compiled with PCC, and vice
     versa.

     The method used by GNU CC 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 `STRUCT_VALUE' and
     `STRUCT_INCOMING_VALUE' tell GNU CC where to pass this address.

     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.  GNU CC does
     not use this method because it is slower and nonreentrant.

     On some newer machines, PCC uses a reentrant convention for all
     structure and union returning.  GNU CC 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.

     You can tell GNU CC to use a compatible convention for all
     structure and union returning with the option
     `-fpcc-struct-return'.

   * GNU C complains about program fragments such as `0x74ae-0x4000'
     which appear to be two hexadecimal constants separated by the minus
     operator.  Actually, this string is a single "preprocessing token".
     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.

     A "preprocessing token" is a "preprocessing number" if it begins
     with a digit and is followed by letters, underscores, digits,
     periods and `e+', `e-', `E+', or `E-' character sequences.

     To make the above program fragment valid, place whitespace in
     front of the minus sign.  This whitespace will end the
     preprocessing number.


File: gpc.info,  Node: Fixed Headers,  Next: Standard Libraries,  Prev: Incompatibilities,  Up: Trouble

Fixed Header Files
==================

   GNU CC 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 GNU CC unless they are changed.  Some have bugs, some
are incompatible with ANSI C, and some depend on special features of
other compilers.

   Installing GNU CC automatically creates and installs the fixed header
files, by running a program called `fixincludes' (or for certain
targets an alternative such as `fixinc.svr4').  Normally, you don't
need to pay attention to this.  But there are cases where it doesn't do
the right thing automatically.

   * If you update the system's header files, such as by installing a
     new system version, the fixed header files of GNU CC are not
     automatically updated.  The easiest way to update them is to
     reinstall GNU CC.  (If you want to be clever, look in the makefile
     and you can find a shortcut.)

   * 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.

     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.

     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.

     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.

   * On Lynxos, GNU CC by default does not fix the header files.  This
     is because bugs in the shell cause the `fixincludes' script to
     fail.

     This means you will encounter problems due to bugs in the system
     header files.  It may be no comfort that they aren't GNU CC's
     fault, but it does mean that there's nothing for us to do about
     them.


File: gpc.info,  Node: Standard Libraries,  Next: Disappointments,  Prev: Fixed Headers,  Up: Trouble

Standard Libraries
==================

   GNU CC by itself attempts to be what the ISO/ANSI C standard calls a
"conforming freestanding implementation".  This means all ANSI C
language features are available, as well as the contents of `float.h',
`limits.h', `stdarg.h', and `stddef.h'.  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 `-Wall') that you don't expect.

   For example, the `sprintf' function on SunOS 4.1.3 returns `char *'
while the C standard says that `sprintf' returns an `int'.  The
`fixincludes' program could make the prototype for this function match
the Standard, but that would be wrong, since the function will still
return `char *'.

   If you need a Standard compliant library, then you need to find one,
as GNU CC does not provide one.  The GNU C library (called `glibc') 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.


File: gpc.info,  Node: Disappointments,  Next: C++ Misunderstandings,  Prev: Standard Libraries,  Up: Trouble

Disappointments and Misunderstandings
=====================================

   These problems are perhaps regrettable, but we don't know any
practical way around them.

   * Certain local variables aren't recognized by debuggers when you
     compile with optimization.

     This occurs because sometimes GNU CC 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 GNU CC simply does not mention the
     eliminated variable when it writes debugging information.

     You have to expect a certain amount of disagreement between the
     executable and your source code, when you use optimization.

   * Users often think it is a bug when GNU CC reports an error for code
     like this:

          int foo (struct mumble *);
          
          struct mumble { ... };
          
          int foo (struct mumble *x)
          { ... }

     This code really is erroneous, because the scope of `struct
     mumble' in the prototype is limited to the argument list
     containing it.  It does not refer to the `struct mumble' defined
     with file scope immediately below--they are two unrelated types
     with similar names in different scopes.

     But in the definition of `foo', 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.

     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 `struct mumble' above the prototype.
     It's not worth being incompatible with ANSI C just to avoid an
     error for the example shown above.

   * 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.

     If you care about controlling the amount of memory that is
     accessed, use volatile but do not use bitfields.

   * GNU CC 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 GNU CC 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.

     If new system header files are installed, nothing automatically
     arranges to update the corrected header files.  You will have to
     reinstall GNU CC to fix the new header files.  More specifically,
     go to the build directory and delete the files `stmp-fixinc' and
     `stmp-headers', and the subdirectory `include'; then do `make
     install' again.

   * On 68000 systems, 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 the floating point
     registers hold a few more bits of precision than fit in a `double'
     in memory.  Compiled code moves values between memory and floating
     point registers at its convenience, and moving them into memory
     truncates them.

     You can partially avoid this problem by using the `-ffloat-store'
     option (*note Optimize Options::.).

   * On the MIPS, variable argument functions using `varargs.h' 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.

     If the code is rewritten to use the ANSI standard `stdarg.h'
     method of variable arguments, and the prototype is in scope at the
     time of the call, everything will work fine.


File: gpc.info,  Node: C++ Misunderstandings,  Next: Protoize Caveats,  Prev: Disappointments,  Up: Trouble

Common Misunderstandings with GNU C++
=====================================

   C++ is a complex language and an evolving one, and its standard
definition (the ANSI C++ draft standard) is also evolving.  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.

* Menu:

* Static Definitions::  Static member declarations are not definitions
* Temporaries::         Temporaries may vanish before you expect


File: gpc.info,  Node: Static Definitions,  Next: Temporaries,  Up: C++ Misunderstandings

Declare *and* Define Static Members
-----------------------------------

   When a class has static data members, it is not enough to *declare*
the static member; you must also *define* it.  For example:

     class Foo
     {
       ...
       void method();
       static int bar;
     };

   This declaration only establishes that the class `Foo' has an `int'
named `Foo::bar', and a member function named `Foo::method'.  But you
still need to define *both* `method' and `bar' elsewhere.  According to
the draft ANSI standard, you must supply an initializer in one (and
only one) source file, such as:

     int Foo::bar = 0;

   Other C++ compilers may not correctly implement the standard
behavior.  As a result, when you switch to `g++' from one of these
compilers, you may discover that a program that appeared to work
correctly in fact does not conform to the standard: `g++' reports as
undefined symbols any static data members that lack definitions.


File: gpc.info,  Node: Temporaries,  Prev: Static Definitions,  Up: C++ Misunderstandings

Temporaries May Vanish Before You Expect
----------------------------------------

   It is dangerous to use pointers or references to *portions* 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 the libg++ `String'
class, that define a conversion function to type `char *' or `const
char *'.  However, any class that returns a pointer to some internal
structure is potentially subject to this problem.

   For example, a program may use a function `strfunc' that returns
`String' objects, and another function `charfunc' that operates on
pointers to `char':

     String strfunc ();
     void charfunc (const char *);

In this situation, it may seem natural to write
`charfunc (strfunc ());' based on the knowledge that class `String' has
an explicit conversion to `char' pointers.  However, what really
happens is akin to `charfunc (strfunc ().convert ());', where the
`convert' method is a function to do the same data conversion normally
performed by a cast.  Since the last use of the temporary `String'
object is the call to the conversion function, the compiler may delete
that object before actually calling `charfunc'.  The compiler has no
way of knowing that deleting the `String' object will invalidate the
pointer.  The pointer then points to garbage, so that by the time
`charfunc' is called, it gets an invalid argument.

   Code like this may run successfully under some other compilers,
especially those that delete temporaries relatively late.  However, the
GNU C++ behavior is also standard-conforming, so if your program depends
on late destruction of temporaries it is not portable.

   If you think this is surprising, you should be aware that the ANSI
C++ committee continues to debate the lifetime-of-temporaries problem.

   For now, at least, 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:

     String& tmp = strfunc ();
     charfunc (tmp);


File: gpc.info,  Node: Protoize Caveats,  Next: Non-bugs,  Prev: C++ Misunderstandings,  Up: Trouble

Caveats of using `protoize'
===========================

   The conversion programs `protoize' and `unprotoize' can sometimes
change a source file in a way that won't work unless you rearrange it.

   * `protoize' can insert references to a type name or type tag before
     the definition, or in a file where they are not defined.

     If this happens, compiler error messages should show you where the
     new references are, so fixing the file by hand is straightforward.

   * There are some C constructs which `protoize' cannot figure out.
     For example, it can't determine argument types for declaring a
     pointer-to-function variable; this you must do by hand.  `protoize'
     inserts a comment containing `???' 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.

   * Using `unprotoize' 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 `unprotoize' is safe is when you
     are removing prototypes that were made with `protoize'; if the
     program worked before without any prototypes, it will work again
     without them.

     You can find all the places where this problem might occur by
     compiling the program with the `-Wconversion' option.  It prints a
     warning whenever an argument is converted.

   * 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.

   * `protoize' cannot get the argument types for a function whose
     definition was not actually compiled due to preprocessing
     conditionals.  When this happens, `protoize' changes nothing in
     regard to such a function.  `protoize' tries to detect such
     instances and warn about them.

     You can generally work around this problem by using `protoize' step
     by step, each time specifying a different set of `-D' 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.

   * 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.

     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.

   * `unprotoize' 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.

   * 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.)


File: gpc.info,  Node: Non-bugs,  Next: Warnings and Errors,  Prev: Protoize Caveats,  Up: Trouble

Certain Changes We Don't Want to Make
=====================================

   This section lists changes that people frequently request, but which
we do not make because we think GNU CC is better without them.

   * Checking the number and type of arguments to a function which has
     an old-fashioned definition and no prototype.

     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.

   * Warning about using an expression whose type is signed as a shift
     count.

     Shift count operands are probably signed more often than unsigned.
     Warning about this would cause far more annoyance than good.

   * Warning about assigning a signed value to an unsigned variable.

     Such assignments must be very common; warning about them would
     cause more annoyance than good.

   * Warning about unreachable code.

     It's very common to have unreachable code in machine-generated
     programs.  For example, this happens normally in some files of GNU
     C itself.

   * Warning when a non-void function value is ignored.

     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 `void'
     whenever the value isn't useful.

   * Assuming (for optimization) that the address of an external symbol
     is never zero.

     This assumption is false on certain systems when `#pragma weak' is
     used.

   * Making `-fshort-enums' the default.

     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.

   * Making bitfields unsigned by default on particular machines where
     "the ABI standard" says to do so.

     The ANSI C standard leaves it up to the implementation whether a
     bitfield declared plain `int' is signed or not.  This in effect
     creates two alternative dialects of C.

     The GNU C compiler supports both dialects; you can specify the
     signed dialect with `-fsigned-bitfields' and the unsigned dialect
     with `-funsigned-bitfields'.  However, this leaves open the
     question of which dialect to use by default.

     Currently, the preferred dialect makes plain bitfields signed,
     because this is simplest.  Since `int' is the same as `signed int'
     in every other context, it is cleanest for them to be the same in
     bitfields as well.

     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.

     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.

     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.

     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.

     This is why GNU CC does and will treat plain bitfields in the same
     fashion on all types of machines (by default).

     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 GNU CC to go along with
     it.  This is something to be considered in the future.

     (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.)

   * Undefining `__STDC__' when `-ansi' is not used.

     Currently, GNU CC defines `__STDC__' as long as you don't use
     `-traditional'.  This provides good results in practice.

     Programmers normally use conditionals on `__STDC__' to ask whether
     it is safe to use certain features of ANSI C, such as function
     prototypes or ANSI token concatenation.  Since plain `gpc' supports
     all the features of ANSI C, the correct answer to these questions
     is "yes".

     Some users try to use `__STDC__' 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 `__STDC__'
     even though it does not have the library facilities.  `gpc -ansi
     -pedantic' is a conforming freestanding implementation, and it is
     therefore required to define `__STDC__', even though it does not
     come with an ANSI C library.

     Sometimes people say that defining `__STDC__' 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 `gpc
     -ansi'--not for other compilers such as plain `gpc'.  Whatever the
     ANSI C standard says is relevant to the design of plain `gpc'
     without `-ansi' only for pragmatic reasons, not as a requirement.

   * Undefining `__STDC__' in C++.

     Programs written to compile with C++-to-C translators get the
     value of `__STDC__' that goes with the C compiler that is
     subsequently used.  These programs must test `__STDC__' 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.

     These programs work properly with GNU C++ if `__STDC__' is defined.
     They would not work otherwise.

     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 `__STDC__' is defined.  If
     `__STDC__' is not defined, they will all fail, and will all need
     to be changed to test explicitly for C++ as well.

   * Deleting "empty" loops.

     GNU CC does not delete "empty" loops because the most likely reason
     you would put one in a program is to have a delay.  Deleting them
     will not make real programs run any faster, so it would be
     pointless.

     It would be different if optimization of a nonempty loop could
     produce an empty one.  But this generally can't happen.

   * Making side effects happen in the same order as in some other
     compiler.

     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:

          void func (int, int);
          
          int i = 2;
          func (i++, i++);

     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.  `func'
     might get the arguments `2, 3', or it might get `3, 2', or even
     `2, 2'.

   * Not allowing structures with volatile fields in registers.

     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.

