bootstrap/3653: -fmessage-length=72 with g++ makes no sense

Wed Jul 11 14:56:00 GMT 2001

>Number:         3653
>Category:       bootstrap
>Synopsis:       -fmessage-length=72 with g++ makes no sense
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    unassigned
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Wed Jul 11 14:56:00 PDT 2001
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Enrico Scholz <enrico.scholz@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de>
>Release:        gcc version 3.0.1 20010710
>Organization:
>Environment:

>Description:
By default, g++ assumes -fmessage-length=72. I think this is not a good
idea because:

0. Former g++ versions do not do it. Therefore there should be a good reason for the change.

1. It breaks existing tools. E.g. Emacs awaits a "<location>:<line>
<error-msg>" format and gets confused by the current behavior

2. It makes error-messages completely unreadable. E.g. if there are
messages saying something about templates, it is not unusual that the
template-parameter-list is splitted over several lines.

3. The value of 72 is IMHO obsoleted. Are there still existing C++
programmers  which are writing code on an 80-column console? I think most ones are using xterms or framebuffer-screens with 100 or more columns.

4. Only the g++ frontend defaults to this linebreak. This is inconsequentlally.

>How-To-Repeat:

>Fix:

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: