Re: Getting AC_PROG_CC_C99

[Gary V. Vaughan]

Hi Bruno,

On 29 Sep 2011, at 16:14, Bruno Haible wrote:
>> I'm still curious why gnulib doesn't try to put the compiler into
>> c99 mode when the client project has chosen some gnulib c99 compliance
>> modules?  After all, it might be that with the compiler in c99 mode
>> fewer of the gnulib modules are needed to fix up non-compliances than
>> when the compiler is in default mode.
> 
> This is true. But switching the compiler to a different standards-compliance
> mode is a global effect. I was not sure whether it would have some negative
> side effects on some platforms.
> 
> On the other hand, we do it in module 'stdarg' for 5 years now, and it has
> not caused bug reports.
> 
> So, yes, that is something we could do to reduce the number of workarounds
> we have in gnulib. Do you have some specific modules in mind which could
> be simplified by use of AC_REQUIRE([AC_PROG_CC_STDC])?

I hadn't even considered the possibility of simplifying any specific macros,
I was thinking entirely about whether whole modules could be skipped by
putting the compiler into an appropriate mode.  For example, I'm sure there
must be circumstances where you can put the compiler in C99 mode and not
need to use stdbool.

Cheers,
-- 
Gary V. Vaughan (gary AT gnu DOT org)