RE: RFC: __cxa_atexit for mingw32

[Danny Smith <dannysmith at clear dot net dot nz>]

> From: Ranjit Mathew
> Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2006 1:28 PM
> Danny Smith wrote:
> > Adding a real __cxa_atexit to mingw runtime is of course also
> > possible, but I thought I'd attempt the easy options first.
> 
> When you say "runtime", do you mean libstdc++ or something like 
> libmingwex.a in "mingw-runtime"? If you mean the former, you can add 
> this in for GCC 4.2 and work on a real
> __cxa_atexit() for GCC 4.3, if you want.
>

A real __cxa_atexit solution needs to be integrated into the
"mingw-runtime". The initialization and finalization of the at-exit
tables needs to be handled by mainCRTStartup/DllMainCRTStartup and the C
runtime functions _onexit, atexit and possibly dllonexit need to
rewritten as wrappers around cxa_atexit.  As it turns out, that is
fairly simple: eg.,  the version of __cxa_atexit and friends that is in
the STLPort library translate to mingw quite easily with a few minor
tweaks to accomodate the win32 API.  And  integrating atexit/_onexit
into cxa_atexit is facilitated by the fact that the msvcrt versions of
these functions are exported only as "_imp__"   prefixed indirect
references, so that we can avoid getting mixed up with MS version of
these functions.    I have tested all that with a basic single-threaded
implementation and no problems.

But that won't happen before 4.2 is released.  I don't know how
difficult it will be  to convince other mingw developers that this idea
is a good thing: replace an ISO standard-conformant and perfectly
adequate  atexit function already supplied by OS vendor with a new
version, perhaps with some licensing strings attached.  I expect the
fake cxa_atexit hack I illustrated earlier would meet less resistance,
and that is why I considered it the easier option.

Me?  The __cxa_atexit behaviour is documented.  AFAICT, the
msvcrt-specific behaviour of the atexit and dllonexit functions is not,
and was 'discovered' by a lot of trial and error. So, today, I'd prefer
to implement a real __cxa_atexit and point users to the ABI specs.  

Thanks for replying to this thread, Ranjit.  We'll see if any other
mingw developers read this list.

Danny
 
> Thanks,
> Ranjit.
> 
>