problem in nested include -- missing a definition?

[Linda A. Walsh]

I'm getting the following error:
In file included from /usr/include/features.h:364:0,
                 from /usr/include/limits.h:25,
                 from 
/usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/4.8/include-fixed/limits.h:168,
                 from 
/usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/4.8/include-fixed/syslimits.h:7,
                 from 
/usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/4.8/include-fixed/limits.h:34,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.8/climits:41,
                 from fieldmetergraph.h:13,
                 from fieldmetergraph.cc:11:
/usr/include/assert.h:64:1: error: expected unqualified-id before string 
constant
 __BEGIN_DECLS
 ^
In file included from fieldmetergraph.h:17:0,
                 from fieldmetergraph.cc:11:
----
lines from assert.h:

(#48)#ifdef    NDEBUG
...
(#62)#else /* Not NDEBUG.  */
(#63)
(#64)__BEGIN_DECLS
(#65)
(#66)/* This prints an "Assertion failed" message and aborts.  */
(#67)extern void __assert_fail (const char *__assertion, const char *__file,
               unsigned int __line, const char *__function)
     __THROW __attribute__ ((__noreturn__));
...
(#83)__END_DECLS
============

What should __BEGIN_DECLS expand to and where should it be defined?

You can see the include chain from the error message.  The
only oddity I saw was

At features.h#364, I see:

(#361)/* This is here only because every header file already includes 
this one.  */
(#362)#ifndef __ASSEMBLER__
(#363)# ifndef _SYS_CDEFS_H
(#364)#  include <sys/cdefs.h>
(#365)# endif

I don't see an inclusion of "/usr/include/assert.h"

Also odd is a double inclusion of the include file:
/usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/4.8/include-fixed/limits.h
at 2 places in the include-chain -- not this is a problem, just
uncommon.

More odd, at limits.h:168:
#include_next <limits.h>        /* recurse down to the real one */

(not a standard include statement)


Of minor note, these headers come from these packages:


/usr/include/c++/4.8/climits        
libstdc++48-devel-4.8.1_20130909-3.2.1.x86_64
/usr/include/features.h             glibc-devel-2.18-4.4.1.x86_64
/usr/include/limits.h               glibc-devel-2.18-4.4.1.x86_64

/usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/4.8/include-fixed/limits.h +
/usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/4.8/include-fixed/syslimits.h

from  gcc48-4.8.1_20130909-3.2.1.x86_64

--------------
Should something else be getting included here so that "__BEGIN_DECLS"
is defined to something?

using gcc-4.8 if not clear from above.