RE: C99? No, portability.

John Kearney
2013-07-18T15:27:23Z

Well c99 may be 14 years old but it still isn't fully supported.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C99

-----Original Message-----
From: gdb-owner@sourceware.org [mailto:gdb-owner@sourceware.org] On Behalf Of Doug Evans
Sent: Donnerstag, 18. Juli 2013 00:38
To: John Gilmore
Cc: Mark Kettenis; Tom Tromey; gdb
Subject: Re: C99? No, portability.

On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 1:11 AM, John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com> wrote:
>> > So, I'd like to propose we allow the use of C99 in gdb. In
>> > particular I think we ought to require a C99 preprocessor --
>> > enabling this particular patch to go in and also allowing the use of "//" comments.
>>
>> Perhaps it is time to move on and start requiring a C99 compiler for GDB.
>
> Mark said it correctly. This change would "require" a C99 compiler.
> Not just "allow the use of C99 in GDB".
>
> I recommend that you NOT break compatability with older compilers for
> gratuitous reasons. For example, I still run systems based on Red Hat
> 7.3, which use gcc-2.96. I can still compile modern GDB's on that
> system. (With the few portability patches below :-).)

gdb successfully moved from K&R to C89, so it's not like we haven't been through this before.

C99 is 14 years old. How many people still require C89 vs how many have long since moved on?