Re: [patch/rfc] Eliminate char buf[MAX_REGISTER_RAW_SIZE]

[Michael Elizabeth Chastain <mec@shout.net>]

Michael Snyder writes:

> Some compilers will not allow a function call in an auto initializer.

I think you are thinking of

  static int i = foo ();  /* not legal in any C standard that I know */

Rather than

  auto int i = foo ();  /* been legal since K&R C */

Static and global initializers have to be resolved by link time so they
have to be constants or nearly constant (address expressions like
'&array' or '&function).  Auto initializers can be any expression
including function calls.  It's been that way since K&R C.

It would take a really deficient compiler to screw that up.  I
acknowledge that there is no limit to how messed up a vendor C compiler
can actually be.  So I took a quick look at utils.c (at random) to see
if gdb uses this construct anywhere else.  And it does:

  /* gdb 5.2.1 utils.c */
  struct cleanup *
  make_cleanup_close (int fd)
  {
    int *saved_fd = xmalloc (sizeof (fd));
    ...
  }

  void
  quit (void)
  {
    struct serial *gdb_stdout_serial = serial_fdopen (1);
    ...
  }

So we are safe on this point.

Michael C