RE: -std's (was Re: v3 link failures analyzed)

[David Korn <dkorn at pixelpower dot com>]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Joseph S. Myers [mailto:jsm28@cam.ac.uk]

>> Well, if you feel that '-std' is a better name than '-iso' then that
>> is OK with me. But, IMNHO there ought be a way to suppress GNU extensions
>> without requiring esoteric command lines.  It is about practicality.
>
>I'm not saying that such an option should not be provided - but that it
>would get misused for warm feelings about portability as much as it would
>get properly used as a shortcut by users who know what standard version it
>refers to with their compiler and are familiar with its limitations.

  I'm always in favour of giving users enough rope to hang themselves if
that's really what they want to do.  I get annoyed with software from M$
and Apple that patronizes me by trying to hide technical details of what's
actually going on (eg. 'there has been an error but I won't tell you what'
sort of messages, or M$ email software trying to hide those scary strings
of characters with @ and . in them behind a user-friendly screen name),
and if people want to fumble around in the dark by trying to adhere to a
standard that they don't actually have hardcopy of, that's their business.

  As to how the flag should be named, what about "-std=latest" ?

      DaveK
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