Re: [patch] Get coreutils 6.1 to build on a ANSI 89 compiler

[Bob Proulx]

mwoehlke wrote:
> Right. Most likely I will build the next "stable" coreutils across the 
> board, at which point I expect I will probably file a few bug reports 
> (or one, with many parts) detailing how to detect and enable c99 for 
> various platforms (particularly on systems where the answer is an 
> esoteric compiler option rather than 'c99').

Hmm...  You have stated what is often a common circular dependency.
When the code becomes perfect and won't change anymore then try it on
all of the peripheral platforms.  But those platforms are bound to
expose issues that we won't know about until you try it there.  A
circular dependency.  I am guilty of that myself at times.  But it
would be better for the project if you could try it while it is
developing and then report problems before it is declared to be
perfect.  Then the stable release really will work on that platform.

This testing does not have to be all of the platforms across the board
all at once.  That can be very time consuming, although it would
always be appreciated.  Instead I suggest picking one platform every
so often and then compiling and testing there.  That way you won't
burn out while doing this.  Reporting problems early will ensure
better support there when the stable release happens.  Every little
bit helps.

> As mentioned above, once there is a "stable" release out (sounds
> like it will be relatively soon), I expect to do a round of builds,
> at which point I'll be able to tell you what broke and (hopefully)
> how to fix it.

I think you are are asking for is an announcement of feature freeze
and then for a time until stable release only add portability fixes.
I abstain from the discussion here and will only interpret and
paraphrase your request.

> Checking the two most likely suspects, however; I don't see a 'c99' on 
> NSK/OSS, and the help for 'cc' mentions 'c89', which is not a good sign. 
> Irix however has a 'c99', and I *think* the rest of my set probably have 
> some means of compiling c99.

As Paul noted gcc 3.x is enough and in the cases that I know about the
commercial vendor native C compilers also support declarations after
statements.  On HP-UX I build with the native C compiler and it
supports it.  On some platforms you may want to update gcc.  On others
you may have to use the patch.

Bob