linux-kernel - Re: why test for "__GNUC_

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Message-ID: <20061030033834.GJ27968@stusta.de>
Date:	Mon, 30 Oct 2006 04:38:34 +0100
From:	Adrian Bunk <bunk@...sta.de>
To:	"Robert P. J. Day" <rpjday@...dspring.com>
Cc:	LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Oleg Verych <olecom@...wer.upol.cz>
Subject: Re: why test for "__GNUC__"?

On Sun, Oct 29, 2006 at 12:37:36PM -0500, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> On Sun, 29 Oct 2006, Adrian Bunk wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, Oct 29, 2006 at 04:17:51PM +0000, Oleg Verych wrote:
> > >...
> > > On 2006-10-29, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > >>...
> > > And if you can, please, help with development or bugs, not this.
> >
> > Cleanup of the kernel source is also a valuable task (and as a side
> > effect it even sometimes finds bugs).
> 
> on that note, i realize that most of my postings are addressing
> nitpicky/aesthetic issues that don't actually *hurt* anything, but for
> someone who's clawing his way through the kernel code for the first
> time, a lot of it is unnecessarily confusing.
> 
> for better or worse, i generally assume that whatever i'm looking at
> is there for a *reason* and i might spend some time puzzling over a
> bit of code until it finally dawns on me that it's just historical
> cruft that has no value.  it's not a bug, it just doesn't *do*
> anything anymore.
> 
> in my case, it's sometimes easier to spot things like this since i'm
> following along in some book, like r. love's "linux kernel
> development."  so when he writes that the linux kernel is wedded to
> gcc, and yet i see tests for "__GNUC__" throughout the code, my little
> antenna stalks perk up a bit.
>...

Looking at it, it seems I might look through them - some of them seem to 
be really pointless.

> in any event, i'm most emphatically *not* (yet) at the level where i'm
> going to be able to contribute bleeding-edge code.  but i'm certainly
> capable of poring over the *existing* code and pointing out the places
> that might lead someone to mutter, "what the hell...?"
> 
> maybe there's a better forum for me to make these observations.  i'm
> open to suggestions.  i've made a list of these observations and i'd
> be happy to send them to the right person.

There's also the kernelnewbies list.

But your emails are not as bad as you think - the email starting this 
thread as well as your earlier emails regarding menu structure etc. have 
some value (and they are better than many other questions that hit 
this list...).

> rday

cu
Adrian

-- 

       "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
                                       Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

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