Re: explanation (was Re: gcc std namespace bug)

[Levente Farkas <lfarkas at mindmaker dot hu>]

Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> 
> On Aug 10, 2000, Levente Farkas <lfarkas@mindmaker.hu> wrote:
> 
> > -fhonor-std is an option for gcc so I when I use gcc I could have to
> > use BOTH version (with AND without) -fhonor-std.
> 
> It's not the only GCC option that changes the ABI and requires
> libraries to be compiled with it.  -fvtable-thunks and -fnew-abi are
> other such options.

which libraries ? what I try to explain that there is no library at all!
or may be I misunderstood something. could you point me some url, info
about the old and new abi ?

> I agree it's not obvious for users that this is the case (I myself
> have fallen victim of -fvtable-thunks, many years ago, when I started
> using g++).  But the alternatives are no better:
> 
> (i) not offer these options, hard-wiring the selection at GCC build
> time.  People willing to enable them would have to change the sources
> before the build.
> 
> (ii) create an additional set of multilibs for each alternative, i.e.,
> one with -fhonor-std, one without it; one with -fnew-abi, one without
> it, one with -fvtable-thunks, one without it, etc.  If you bear in
> mind that the number of multilibs grows exponentially on the number of
> options, you'll agree this is very impractical, in terms of build time
> and disk space use, considering that few people use these options.
> 
> (iii) arrange for the linker to refuse to link together object files
> generated with incompatible sets of flags.  This would certainly be a
> good thing, but it would only work on platforms in which the GNU
> linker is in use.
> 
> Which of these are you volunteering to implement? :-) :-)

may be the bast one:-)

 -- Levente
 "The only thing worse than not knowing the truth is
  ruining the bliss of ignorance."