From owner-freebsd-hackers Sat Aug 8 14:05:25 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA24753 for freebsd-hackers-outgoing; Sat, 8 Aug 1998 14:05:25 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from austin.polstra.com (austin.polstra.com [206.213.73.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA24744 for ; Sat, 8 Aug 1998 14:05:21 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jdp@austin.polstra.com) Received: from austin.polstra.com (jdp@localhost) by austin.polstra.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA20050; Sat, 8 Aug 1998 14:04:51 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jdp) Message-Id: <199808082104.OAA20050@austin.polstra.com> To: Thomas David Rivers cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: C and static initialization with unions In-reply-to: Your message of "Fri, 07 Aug 1998 10:11:00 EDT." <199808071411.KAA23820@lakes.dignus.com> Date: Sat, 08 Aug 1998 14:04:51 -0700 From: John Polstra Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > Let me add to this discussion my (now somewhat tired) song regarding > compiling older pre-ANSI software. > > It's very nice that we can 'turn off' "const", "volatile", > prototypes in the header files; just for this purpose... > > Every now-and-then, a stray "const" seems to slip into the headers; > which breaks some of my older software... How could that happen? We don't change your old software. We change FreeBSD. FreeBSD is built using the FreeBSD compiler. That compiler is not K&R, and it never will be K&R again. If you are using an old compiler to compile FreeBSD header files, then I can only say, "Don't do that." We have explicitly abandoned the goal of being compatible with K&R compilers. If you mean that your old software isn't const-correct, then (a) that's a compiler warning under FreeBSD, not an error, and (b) isn't it about time you fixed your software? The ANSI/ISO C standard was ratified almost 10 years ago. Surely everybody has had ample time to get used to the idea by now. -- John Polstra jdp@polstra.com John D. Polstra & Co., Inc. Seattle, Washington USA "Self-knowledge is always bad news." -- John Barth To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message