GCC 3.0 Status Report

[Fergus Henderson]

On 19-Apr-2001, John David Anglin <dave@hiauly1.hia.nrc.ca> wrote:
> Here is a fix for the undefined reference std::errno.  The language
> experts can debate whether it is the right thing to do.
...
> 	* mangle.c (mangle_decl_string): Don't mangle variables with
> 	extern "C" linkage.

That's the right thing to do.

The relevant text in the C++ standard is 7.5 [dcl.link] paragraph 2:

 | Two declarations for an object with C language linkage with the same
 | name (ignoring the namespace names that qualify it) that appear in
 | different namespace scopes refer to the same object.

Personally I don't think this one was a particularly good decision
(e.g. because it will cause trouble if a future extension of C
adds namespaces...), but that's what the committee decided.

-- 
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
                                    |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: < http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh >  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.