Order of initialization of global/static variables

[Ian Lance Taylor]

On Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 8:08 PM, Yaron Dayagi <yarondayagi@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> In gcc 4.4.6 we had no problem with the order of initialization.
> In gcc 4.7.2 we do have a problem.
> A CPP file defined GlobalObj_1 (declared extern in the H file):
> CMyClass GlobalObj_1.
> Another CPP file declared GlobalObj_2 (also declared extern in the H
> file).=  The CPP file used copy constructor:
> CMyClass GlobalObj_2(GlobalObj_1).
> In 4.4.6 GlobalObj_1 was initialized first. Now GlobalObj_2 is
> initialized = first.
> Is this intentional?
> How do I revert to old behavior?
> The problem is that we have many files with many global variables (const).

The C++ language does not define the order in which global variables
in different files are initialized.  Any such dependency in your
program is a potential bug.

That said, yes, GCC 4.7 did change the order.  See
http://gcc.gnu.org/PR46770 .  You may be able to change back by
configuring with --disable-initfini-array.  That said, this solution
is likely to be only temporary.  The only permanent fix will be to
remove the unsupported dependency in your C++ program.

Ian