From: Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>
To: Frank da Cruz <fdc@columbia.edu>
Cc: Liam Stitt <stittl@cuug.ab.ca>,
GNU C Library <libc-alpha@sourceware.org>,
Mike <michael@rmrco.com>
Subject: Re: C-kermit fails
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2020 18:59:58 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <e5a4071f-38f5-01d9-c387-aa6da1b7b6a0@cs.ucla.edu> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAKqtx9_MuOj0wm_aTNakkSu_JsaMLagzoH_XQ1Xo2WBzQ_bv+w@mail.gmail.com>
On 7/24/20 4:45 PM, Frank da Cruz wrote:
> Unix is supposed to be a family of operating systems
> among which software source code is portable, allowing a degree of freedom
> in computer purchases.
Sure, but only if developers do their job properly. A developer can easily write
and run C code that is unportable by assuming a particular memory-management
algorithm, or particular stdio.h internals, or whatever. If that happens and the
application fails to run on a different OS or OS release, the problem is with
the app, not with the library it's built upon.
Besides, the particular code we're talking about isn't portable even among Unix
variants. It won't run on 7th Edition Unix (1979), for example. Nor will it run
on the stdio.h implementation described in K&R's classic 2nd edition (1978). The
code is a deliberately unportable hack, and the only way that it can stay
relevant is if it's continually maintained as platforms evolve. If such
maintenance is too heavy a lift then a better way to go is to follow Zack's
suggestion and use standard interfaces as defined by POSIX.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2020-07-25 2:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 16+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2020-07-24 16:29 C-kermit fails Mike
2020-07-24 16:33 ` Florian Weimer
2020-07-24 17:36 ` Zack Weinberg
2020-07-24 18:47 ` Paul Eggert
2020-07-24 19:41 ` Frank da Cruz
2020-07-24 19:45 ` Frank da Cruz
2020-07-24 20:05 ` Zack Weinberg
2020-07-27 8:10 ` Florian Weimer via Libc-alpha
2020-07-24 21:07 ` Paul Eggert
2020-07-24 23:45 ` Frank da Cruz
2020-07-25 1:59 ` Paul Eggert [this message]
2020-07-31 12:41 ` Maciej W. Rozycki
2020-07-31 18:22 ` Frank da Cruz
2020-07-31 20:23 ` Paul Eggert
2020-08-01 0:17 ` Frank da Cruz
2020-08-01 8:07 ` Paul Eggert
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