[PATCH] C undefined behavior fix

[Robert Lipe]

Florian Weimer wrote:

> The C standard is not free documentation, and historically, only few
> GCC users have access to it.  This is changing only slowly.  As a

The C standard costs $18 from webstore.ansi.org.  But becuase it's not
"free enough" we can't mention it in the doc.  Anybody that's truly
interested in understanding the language they use has no reason not to
have access to the formal definition of it.

> But if we look back at the current problem and how it was presented
> first (especially the proposed "fix"), I think we have got a more
> fundamental problem: C code is considered to be correct if it compiles
> to the expected machine code.  Unless a drastic change in attitude
> takes place, we will get lost in the swamps at the borders of the C
> standard over and over again, and there isn't much we can do about it.

I don't think that's a very good position to take at all.  Teaching
people C -even the subtle points- really isn't the job of the compiler
vendors; not even the free ones.

RJL