Re: va_list question

[Andreas Schwab <schwab at suse dot de>]

"Bob Boz" <gcc_compiler@yahoo.ca> writes:

|> First off, I hope this isn't off topic here.
|> Is the code below supposed to work in general? I mean regardless of the
|> compiler/platform (although the compiler used is gcc):
|> 
|> void f1 (const char *format, ...)
|> {
|>   int i=0;
|>   va_list args;
|>   va_start (args, format);
|>   f2 (format, (va_list *)args);
|>   i = va_arg (args, int);
|>   va_end (args);
|> }
|> 
|> void f2 (const char *format, va_list * arg)
|> {
|> 
|>    int j = va_arg (*arg, int);
|> 
|> }
|> 
|> My main point of worry is type casting 'arg' to 'va_list *' and then calling
|> *arg inside f2.
|> Specially that in gcc for ppc (now I can talk about compiler/platform)
|> va_list is an array.

The C standard says in 7.15[#3]:

    The object ap may be passed as an argument to another function; if
    that function invokes the va_arg macro with parameter ap, the value of
    ap in the calling function is indeterminate and shall be passed to the
    va_end macro prior to any further reference to ap.212)

Footnote 212:
    It is permitted to create a pointer to a va_list and pass that pointer
    to another function, in which case the original function may make
    further use of the original list after the other function returns.


|> Using gcc.2.95.3 the above code crashes. However, when I change it to :
|> 
|> void f1 (const char *format, ...)
|> {
|>   int i=0;
|>   va_list args;
|>   va_start (args, format);
|>   f2 (format, args);	<======
|>   i = va_arg (args, int);
|>   va_end (args);
|> }
|> 
|> void f2 (const char *format, va_list arg)
|> {
|>    va_list ap;
|>    __va_copy (ap, arg);
|> 
|>    int j = va_arg (ap, int);
|> 
|> }

7.15.3[#2]:

    The va_end macro facilitates a normal return from the function whose
    variable argument list was referred to by the expansion of the
    va_start macro, or the function containing the expansion of the
    va_copy macro, that initialized the va_list ap. The va_end macro may
    modify ap so that it is no longer usable (without being reinitialized
    by the va_start or va_copy macro). If there is no corresponding
    invocation of the va_start or va_copy macro, or if the va_end macro is
    not invoked before the return, the behavior is undefined.

In other words, none of your examples is supported by the C standard.

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, SuSE Labs, schwab@suse.de
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