linux-kernel - Re: Linux Kernel include files

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Message-ID: <20070622150038.GN23017@stusta.de>
Date:	Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:00:38 +0200
From:	Adrian Bunk <bunk@...sta.de>
To:	David Woodhouse <dwmw2@...radead.org>
Cc:	Joerg Schilling <Joerg.Schilling@...us.fraunhofer.de>,
	david@...g.hm, schilling@...us.fraunhofer.de,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Linux Kernel include files

On Fri, Jun 22, 2007 at 11:38:47AM +0800, David Woodhouse wrote:
> On Fri, 2007-06-22 at 01:38 +0200, Joerg Schilling wrote:
> > The main problems are not really hard to fix......
> > 
> > -	Most problems eem to be related to the fact that Linux does not
> > 	use C-99 based types in the kernel and the related type definitions 
> > 	are not written in plain C. This is something that should be fixed
> > 	with a source consolidation program or by defining aliases to 
> > 	C-99 types in case the compiler is not GCC.
> 
> 
> The argument has been made that the standard C99 types are _optional_,
> and anything included from a C library's headers without _explicitly_
> being included by the user shouldn't define those types.
> 
> Personally, I think that's a load of bollocks. And it certainly doesn't
> apply to Linux-specific files like <linux/cdrom.h>, which are perfectly
> entitled to use a C standard from last millennium, regardless of
> namespace 'pollution' issues. That's why we continue to use the crappy
> __u32 types. Can you be more specific about why this is a problem? Don't
> we mostly define those crappy types using arch-specific knowledge, as
> 'int', 'long', etc?
>...

It would certainly help if Joerg would tell what exactly breaks, but I 
spot one likely problem in include/asm-i386/types.h:

#if defined(__GNUC__) && !defined(__STRICT_ANSI__)
typedef __signed__ long long __s64;
typedef unsigned long long __u64;
#endif

It might make sense to remove the #if and simply require that
a C compiler under Linux must know about the C99 "long long"?

> dwmw2

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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