lynx-dev The whole CTRACE thing

[John Bley]

Again, not advocating doing anything drastic for 2.8.2, but I do think 
CTRACE needs to be replaced eventually.  Here's why:

  CTRACE(...);
  if (TRACE) fprintf(...);
                    ^^^^^^ literal text from the original line

So what happens with this?
  if (warning_cond)    /* Note lack of {}s */
      CTRACE(... "Warning: blah blah");
  else
     do_safe_stuff();

becomes (to the compiler):

  if(warning_cond)
      if (TRACE) fprintf(... "Warning: blah blah");
      else /* bound to the if (TRACE), not the if (warning_cond) */
         do_safe_stuff();

Now, I don't think this has happened in the lynx source as far as I can see.
People have been careful to wrap if/elses using CTRACE with {}s.
That doesn't mean it isn't an accident waiting to happen.

-- 
John Bley - address@hidden
Duke '99 - English/Computer Science
  Since English is a mess, it maps well onto the problem space,
  which is also a mess, which we call reality.     - Larry Wall