Using and Porting GNU CC

7.11: Certain Changes We Don't Want to Make

This section lists changes that people frequently request, but which we do not make because we think GNU CC is better without them.

• Checking the number and type of arguments to a function which has an old-fashioned definition and no prototype.

  Such a feature would work only occasionally---only for calls that appear in the same file as the called function, following the definition. The only way to check all calls reliably is to add a prototype for the function. But adding a prototype eliminates the motivation for this feature. So the feature is not worthwhile.

• Warning about using an expression whose type is signed as a shift count.

  Shift count operands are probably signed more often than unsigned. Warning about this would cause far more annoyance than good.

• Warning about assigning a signed value to an unsigned variable.

  Such assignments must be very common; warning about them would cause more annoyance than good.

• Warning about unreachable code.

  It's very common to have unreachable code in machine-generated programs. For example, this happens normally in some files of GNU C itself.

• Warning when a non-void function value is ignored.

  Coming as I do from a Lisp background, I balk at the idea that there is something dangerous about discarding a value. There are functions that return values which some callers may find useful; it makes no sense to clutter the program with a cast to void whenever the value isn't useful.

• Assuming (for optimization) that the address of an external symbol is never zero.

  This assumption is false on certain systems when `#pragma weak' is used.

• Making `-fshort-enums' the default.

  This would cause storage layout to be incompatible with most other C compilers. And it doesn't seem very important, given that you can get the same result in other ways. The case where it matters most is when the enumeration-valued object is inside a structure, and in that case you can specify a field width explicitly.

• Making bitfields unsigned by default on particular machines where ``the ABI standard'' says to do so.

  The ANSI C standard leaves it up to the implementation whether a bitfield declared plain int is signed or not. This in effect creates two alternative dialects of C.

  The GNU C compiler supports both dialects; you can specify the signed dialect with `-fsigned-bitfields' and the unsigned dialect with `-funsigned-bitfields'. However, this leaves open the question of which dialect to use by default.

  Currently, the preferred dialect makes plain bitfields signed, because this is simplest. Since int is the same as signed int in every other context, it is cleanest for them to be the same in bitfields as well.

  Some computer manufacturers have published Application Binary Interface standards which specify that plain bitfields should be unsigned. It is a mistake, however, to say anything about this issue in an ABI. This is because the handling of plain bitfields distinguishes two dialects of C. Both dialects are meaningful on every type of machine. Whether a particular object file was compiled using signed bitfields or unsigned is of no concern to other object files, even if they access the same bitfields in the same data structures.

  A given program is written in one or the other of these two dialects. The program stands a chance to work on most any machine if it is compiled with the proper dialect. It is unlikely to work at all if compiled with the wrong dialect.

  Many users appreciate the GNU C compiler because it provides an environment that is uniform across machines. These users would be inconvenienced if the compiler treated plain bitfields differently on certain machines.

  Occasionally users write programs intended only for a particular machine type. On these occasions, the users would benefit if the GNU C compiler were to support by default the same dialect as the other compilers on that machine. But such applications are rare. And users writing a program to run on more than one type of machine cannot possibly benefit from this kind of compatibility.

  This is why GNU CC does and will treat plain bitfields in the same fashion on all types of machines (by default).

  There are some arguments for making bitfields unsigned by default on all machines. If, for example, this becomes a universal de facto standard, it would make sense for GNU CC to go along with it. This is something to be considered in the future.

  (Of course, users strongly concerned about portability should indicate explicitly in each bitfield whether it is signed or not. In this way, they write programs which have the same meaning in both C dialects.)

• Undefining __STDC__ when `-ansi' is not used.

  Currently, GNU CC defines __STDC__ as long as you don't use `-traditional'. This provides good results in practice.

  Programmers normally use conditionals on __STDC__ to ask whether it is safe to use certain features of ANSI C, such as function prototypes or ANSI token concatenation. Since plain `gcc' supports all the features of ANSI C, the correct answer to these questions is ``yes''.

  Some users try to use __STDC__ to check for the availability of certain library facilities. This is actually incorrect usage in an ANSI C program, because the ANSI C standard says that a conforming freestanding implementation should define __STDC__ even though it does not have the library facilities. `gcc -ansi -pedantic' is a conforming freestanding implementation, and it is therefore required to define __STDC__, even though it does not come with an ANSI C library.

  Sometimes people say that defining __STDC__ in a compiler that does not completely conform to the ANSI C standard somehow violates the standard. This is illogical. The standard is a standard for compilers that claim to support ANSI C, such as `gcc -ansi'---not for other compilers such as plain `gcc'. Whatever the ANSI C standard says is relevant to the design of plain `gcc' without `-ansi' only for pragmatic reasons, not as a requirement.

• Undefining __STDC__ in C++.

  Programs written to compile with C++-to-C translators get the value of __STDC__ that goes with the C compiler that is subsequently used. These programs must test __STDC__ to determine what kind of C preprocessor that compiler uses: whether they should concatenate tokens in the ANSI C fashion or in the traditional fashion.

  These programs work properly with GNU C++ if __STDC__ is defined. They would not work otherwise.

  In addition, many header files are written to provide prototypes in ANSI C but not in traditional C. Many of these header files can work without change in C++ provided __STDC__ is defined. If __STDC__ is not defined, they will all fail, and will all need to be changed to test explicitly for C++ as well.

• Deleting ``empty'' loops.

  GNU CC does not delete ``empty'' loops because the most likely reason you would put one in a program is to have a delay. Deleting them will not make real programs run any faster, so it would be pointless.

  It would be different if optimization of a nonempty loop could produce an empty one. But this generally can't happen.

• Making side effects happen in the same order as in some other compiler.

  It is never safe to depend on the order of evaluation of side effects. For example, a function call like this may very well behave differently from one compiler to another:

  void func (int, int);
  
  int i = 2;
  func (i++, i++);
  

  There is no guarantee (in either the C or the C++ standard language definitions) that the increments will be evaluated in any particular order. Either increment might happen first. func might get the arguments `3, 4', or it might get `4, 3', or even `3, 3'.

• Using the ``canonical'' form of the target configuration name as the directory for installation.

  This would be an improvement in some respects, but it would also cause problems. For one thing, users might expect to use in the `-b' option the same name specified at installation; if installation used the canonical form, that would not work. What's more, the canonical name might be too long for certain file systems.

  We suggest you make a link to the installation directory under the canonical name, if you want to use that name in the `-b' option.