| 1 | <html>
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| 2 | 
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| 3 | <head>
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| 4 | <title>GCC Bugs</title>
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| 5 | </head>
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| 6 | 
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| 7 | <body>
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| 8 | <h1>GCC Bugs</h1>
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| 9 | 
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| 10 | <p>The latest version of this document is always available at
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| 11 | <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs.html">http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs.html</a>.</p>
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| 12 | 
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| 13 | <hr />
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| 14 | 
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| 15 | <h2>Table of Contents</h2>
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| 16 | <ul>
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| 17 | <li><a href="#report">Reporting Bugs</a>
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| 18 |   <ul>
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| 19 |   <li><a href="#need">What we need</a></li>
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| 20 |   <li><a href="#dontwant">What we DON'T want</a></li>
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| 21 |   <li><a href="#where">Where to post it</a></li>
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| 22 |   <li><a href="#detailed">Detailed bug reporting instructions</a></li>
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| 23 |   <li><a href="#gnat">Detailed bug reporting instructions for GNAT</a></li>
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| 24 |   <li><a href="#pch">Detailed bug reporting instructions when using a precompiled header</a></li>
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| 25 |   </ul>
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| 26 | </li>
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| 27 | <li><a href="#known">Frequently Reported Bugs in GCC</a>
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| 28 |   <ul>
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| 29 |   <li><a href="#cxx">C++</a>
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| 30 |     <ul>
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| 31 |     <li><a href="#missing">Missing features</a></li>
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| 32 |     <li><a href="#fixed34">Bugs fixed in the 3.4 series</a></li>
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| 33 |     </ul>
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| 34 |   </li>
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| 35 |   <li><a href="#fortran">Fortran</a></li>
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| 36 |   </ul>
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| 37 | </li>
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| 38 | <li><a href="#nonbugs">Non-bugs</a>
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| 39 |   <ul>
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| 40 |   <li><a href="#nonbugs_general">General</a></li>
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| 41 |   <li><a href="#nonbugs_c">C</a></li>
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| 42 |   <li><a href="#nonbugs_cxx">C++</a>
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| 43 |     <ul>
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| 44 |     <li><a href="#upgrading">Common problems when upgrading the compiler</a></li>
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| 45 |     </ul>
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| 46 |   </li>
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| 47 |   </ul>
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| 48 | </li>
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| 49 | </ul>
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| 50 | 
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| 51 | <hr />
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| 52 | 
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| 53 | <h1><a name="report">Reporting Bugs</a></h1>
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| 54 | 
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| 55 | <p>The main purpose of a bug report is to enable us to fix the bug. The
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| 56 | most important prerequisite for this is that the report must be complete and
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| 57 | self-contained, which we explain in detail below.</p>
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| 58 | 
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| 59 | <p>Before you report a bug, please check the 
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| 60 | <a href="#known">list of well-known bugs</a> and, <strong>if possible
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| 61 | in any way, try a current development snapshot</strong>.
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| 62 | If you want to report a bug with versions of GCC before 3.1 we strongly
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| 63 | recommend upgrading to the current release first.</p>
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| 64 | 
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| 65 | <p>Before reporting that GCC compiles your code incorrectly, please
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| 66 | compile it with <code>gcc -Wall</code> and see whether this shows
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| 67 | anything wrong with your code that could be the cause instead of a bug
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| 68 | in GCC.</p>
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| 69 | 
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| 70 | <h2>Summarized bug reporting instructions</h2>
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| 71 | 
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| 72 | <p>After this summary, you'll find detailed bug reporting
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| 73 | instructions, that explain how to obtain some of the information
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| 74 | requested in this summary.</p>
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| 75 | 
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| 76 | <h3><a name="need">What we need</a></h3>
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| 77 | 
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| 78 | <p>Please include in your bug report all of the following items, the first
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| 79 | three of which can be obtained from the output of <code>gcc -v</code>:</p>
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| 80 | 
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| 81 | <ul>
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| 82 |   <li>the exact version of GCC;</li> 
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| 83 |   <li>the system type;</li>
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| 84 |   <li>the options given when GCC was configured/built;</li>
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| 85 |   <li>the complete command line that triggers the bug;</li>
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| 86 |   <li>the compiler output (error messages, warnings, etc.); and</li>
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| 87 |   <li>the <em>preprocessed</em> file (<code>*.i*</code>) that triggers the
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| 88 |   bug, generated by adding <code>-save-temps</code> to the complete
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| 89 |   compilation command, or, in the case of a bug report for the GNAT front end,
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| 90 |   a complete set of source files (see below).</li>
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| 91 | </ul>
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| 92 | 
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| 93 | <h3><a name="dontwant">What we do <strong>not</strong> want</a></h3>
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| 94 | 
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| 95 | <ul>
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| 96 |   <li>A source file that <code>#include</code>s header files that are left
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| 97 |   out of the bug report (see above)</li>
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| 98 | 
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| 99 |   <li>That source file and a collection of header files.</li>
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| 100 | 
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| 101 |   <li>An attached archive (tar, zip, shar, whatever) containing all
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| 102 |   (or some :-) of the above.</li>
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| 103 | 
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| 104 |   <li>A code snippet that won't cause the compiler to produce the
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| 105 |   exact output mentioned in the bug report (e.g., a snippet with just
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| 106 |   a few lines around the one that <b>apparently</b> triggers the bug,
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| 107 |   with some pieces replaced with ellipses or comments for extra
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| 108 |   obfuscation :-)</li>
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| 109 | 
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| 110 |   <li>The location (URL) of the package that failed to build (we won't
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| 111 |   download it, anyway, since you've already given us what we need to
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| 112 |   duplicate the bug, haven't you? :-)</li>
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| 113 | 
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| 114 |   <li>An error that occurs only some of the times a certain file is
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| 115 |   compiled, such that retrying a sufficient number of times results in
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| 116 |   a successful compilation; this is a symptom of a hardware problem,
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| 117 |   not of a compiler bug (sorry)</li>
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| 118 | 
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| 119 |   <li>E-mail messages that complement previous, incomplete bug
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| 120 |   reports. Post a new, self-contained, full bug report instead, if
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| 121 |   possible as a follow-up to the original bug report</li>
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| 122 | 
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| 123 |   <li>Assembly files (<code>*.s</code>) produced by the compiler, or any
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| 124 |   binary files, such as object files, executables, core files, or
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| 125 |   precompiled header files</li>
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| 126 | 
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| 127 |   <li>Duplicate bug reports, or reports of bugs already fixed in the
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| 128 |   development tree, especially those that have already been reported
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| 129 |   as fixed last week :-)</li>
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| 130 | 
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| 131 |   <li>Bugs in the assembler, the linker or the C library.  These are
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| 132 |   separate projects, with separate mailing lists and different bug
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| 133 |   reporting procedures</li>
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| 134 | 
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| 135 |   <li>Bugs in releases or snapshots of GCC not issued by the GNU
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| 136 |   Project.  Report them to whoever provided you with the release</li>
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| 137 | 
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| 138 |   <li>Questions about the correctness or the expected behavior of
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| 139 |   certain constructs that are not GCC extensions.  Ask them in forums
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| 140 |   dedicated to the discussion of the programming language</li>
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| 141 | </ul>
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| 142 | 
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| 143 | <h3><a name="where">Where to post it</a></h3>
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| 144 | 
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| 145 | <p>Please submit your bug report directly to the
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| 146 | <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/">GCC bug database</a>.
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| 147 | Alternatively, you can use the <code>gccbug</code> script that mails your bug
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| 148 | report to the bug database.
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| 149 | <br />
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| 150 | Only if all this is absolutely impossible, mail all information to
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| 151 | <a href="mailto:gcc-bugs@gcc.gnu.org">gcc-bugs@gcc.gnu.org</a>.</p>
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| 152 | 
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| 153 | <h2><a name="detailed">Detailed bug reporting instructions</a></h2>
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| 154 | 
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| 155 | <p>Please refer to the <a href="#gnat">next section</a> when reporting
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| 156 | bugs in GNAT, the Ada compiler, or to the <a href="#pch">one after
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| 157 | that</a> when reporting bugs that appear when using a precompiled header.</p>
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| 158 | 
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| 159 | <p>In general, all the information we need can be obtained by
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| 160 | collecting the command line below, as well as its output and the
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| 161 | preprocessed file it generates.</p>
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| 162 | 
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| 163 | <blockquote><p><code>gcc -v -save-temps <i>all-your-options
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| 164 | source-file</i></code></p></blockquote>
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| 165 | 
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| 166 | <p>Typically the preprocessed file (extension <code>.i</code> for C or
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| 167 | <code>.ii</code> for C++, and <code>.f</code> if the preprocessor is used on
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| 168 | Fortran files) will be large, so please compress the
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| 169 | resulting file with one of the popular compression programs such as
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| 170 | bzip2, gzip, zip or compress (in
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| 171 | decreasing order of preference).  Use maximum compression
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| 172 | (<code>-9</code>) if available.  Please include the compressed
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| 173 | preprocessor output in your bug report, even if the source code is
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| 174 | freely available elsewhere; it makes the job of our volunteer testers
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| 175 | much easier.</p>
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| 176 | 
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| 177 | <p>The <b>only</b> excuses to not send us the preprocessed sources are
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| 178 | (i) if you've found a bug in the preprocessor, (ii) if you've reduced
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| 179 | the testcase to a small file that doesn't include any other file or
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| 180 | (iii) if the bug appears only when using precompiled headers.  If you
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| 181 | can't post the preprocessed sources because they're proprietary code,
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| 182 | then try to create a small file that triggers the same problem.</p>
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| 183 | 
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| 184 | <p>Since we're supposed to be able to re-create the assembly output
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| 185 | (extension <code>.s</code>), you usually should not include
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| 186 | it in the bug report, although you may want to post parts of it to
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| 187 | point out assembly code you consider to be wrong.</p>
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| 188 | 
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| 189 | <p>Whether to use MIME attachments or <code>uuencode</code> is up to
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| 190 | you.  In any case, make sure the compiler command line, version and
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| 191 | error output are in plain text, so that we don't have to decode the
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| 192 | bug report in order to tell who should take care of it.  A meaningful
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| 193 | subject indicating language and platform also helps.</p>
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| 194 | 
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| 195 | <p>Please avoid posting an archive (.tar, .shar or .zip); we generally
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| 196 | need just a single file to reproduce the bug (the .i/.ii/.f preprocessed
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| 197 | file), and, by storing it in an archive, you're just making our
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| 198 | volunteers' jobs harder.  Only when your bug report requires multiple
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| 199 | source files to be reproduced should you use an archive.  This is, for example,
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| 200 | the case if you are using <code>INCLUDE</code> directives in Fortran code,
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| 201 | which are not processed by the preprocessor, but the compiler.  In that case,
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| 202 | we need the main file and all <code>INCLUDE</code>d files.  In any case,
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| 203 | make sure the compiler version, error message, etc, are included in
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| 204 | the body of your bug report as plain text, even if needlessly
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| 205 | duplicated as part of an archive.</p>
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| 206 | 
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| 207 | <p>If you fail to supply enough information for a bug report to be
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| 208 | reproduced, someone will probably ask you to post additional
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| 209 | information (or just ignore your bug report, if they're in a bad day,
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| 210 | so try to get it right on the first posting :-).  In this case, please
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| 211 | post the additional information to the bug reporting mailing list, not
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| 212 | just to the person who requested it, unless explicitly told so.  If
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| 213 | possible, please include in this follow-up all the information you had
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| 214 | supplied in the incomplete bug report (including the preprocessor
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| 215 | output), so that the new bug report is self-contained.</p>
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| 216 | 
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| 217 | <h2><a name="gnat">Detailed bug reporting instructions for GNAT</a></h2>
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| 218 | 
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| 219 | <p>See the <a href="#detailed">previous section</a> for bug reporting
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| 220 | instructions for GCC language implementations other than Ada.</p>
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| 221 | 
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| 222 | <p>Bug reports have to contain at least the following information in
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| 223 | order to be useful:</p>
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| 224 | 
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| 225 | <ul>
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| 226 | <li>the exact version of GCC, as shown by "<code>gcc -v</code>";</li>
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| 227 | <li>the system type;</li>
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| 228 | <li>the options when GCC was configured/built;</li>
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| 229 | <li>the exact command line passed to the <code>gcc</code> program
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| 230 | triggering the bug
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| 231 | (not just the flags passed to <code>gnatmake</code>, but
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| 232 | <code>gnatmake</code> prints the parameters it passed to <code>gcc</code>)</li>
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| 233 | <li>a collection of source files for reproducing the bug,
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| 234 | preferably a minimal set (see below);</li>
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| 235 | <li>a description of the expected behavior;</li>
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| 236 | <li>a description of actual behavior.</li>
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| 237 | </ul>
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| 238 | 
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| 239 | <p>If your code depends on additional source files (usually package
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| 240 | specifications), submit the source code for these compilation units in
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| 241 | a single file that is acceptable input to <code>gnatchop</code>,
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| 242 | i.e. contains no non-Ada text.  If the compilation terminated
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| 243 | normally, you can usually obtain a list of dependencies using the
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| 244 | "<code>gnatls -d <i>main_unit</i></code>" command, where
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| 245 | <code><i>main_unit</i></code> is the file name of the main compilation
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| 246 | unit (which is also passed to <code>gcc</code>).</p>
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| 247 | 
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| 248 | <p>If you report a bug which causes the compiler to print a bug box,
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| 249 | include that bug box in your report, and do not forget to send all the
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| 250 | source files listed after the bug box along with your report.</p>
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| 251 | 
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| 252 | <p>If you use <code>gnatprep</code>, be sure to send in preprocessed
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| 253 | sources (unless you have to report a bug in <code>gnatprep</code>).</p>
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| 254 | 
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| 255 | <p>When you have checked that your report meets these criteria, please
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| 256 | submit it according to our <a href="#where">generic instructions</a>.
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| 257 | (If you use a mailing list for reporting, please include an
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| 258 | "<code>[Ada]</code>" tag in the subject.)</p>
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| 259 | 
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| 260 | <h2><a name="pch">Detailed bug reporting instructions when using a
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| 261 | precompiled header</a></h2>
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| 262 | 
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| 263 | <p>If you're encountering a bug when using a precompiled header, the
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| 264 | first thing to do is to delete the precompiled header, and try running
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| 265 | the same GCC command again.  If the bug happens again, the bug doesn't
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| 266 | really involve precompiled headers, please report it without using
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| 267 | them by following the instructions <a href="#detailed">above</a>.</p>
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| 268 | 
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| 269 | <p>If you've found a bug while <i>building</i> a precompiled header
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| 270 | (for instance, the compiler crashes), follow the usual instructions
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| 271 | <a href="#detailed">above</a>.</p>
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| 272 | 
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| 273 | <p>If you've found a real precompiled header bug, what we'll need to
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| 274 | reproduce it is the sources to build the precompiled header (as a
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| 275 | single <code>.i</code> file), the source file that uses the
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| 276 | precompiled header, any other headers that source file includes, and
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| 277 | the command lines that you used to build the precompiled header and to
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| 278 | use it.</p>
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| 279 | 
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| 280 | <p>Please <strong>don't</strong> send us the actual precompiled
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| 281 | header.  It is likely to be very large and we can't use it to
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| 282 | reproduce the problem.</p>
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| 283 | 
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| 284 | <hr />
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| 285 | 
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| 286 | <h1><a name="known">Frequently Reported Bugs in GCC</a></h1>
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| 287 | 
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| 288 | <p>This is a list of bugs in GCC that are reported very often, but not
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| 289 | yet fixed. While it is certainly better to fix bugs instead of documenting
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| 290 | them, this document might save people the effort of writing a bug report
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| 291 | when the bug is already well-known.</p>
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| 292 | 
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| 293 | <p>There are many reasons why a reported bug doesn't get fixed.
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| 294 | It might be difficult to fix, or fixing it might break compatibility.
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| 295 | Often, reports get a low priority when there is a simple work-around.
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| 296 | In particular, bugs caused by invalid code have a simple work-around:
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| 297 | <em>fix the code</em>.</p>
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| 298 | 
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| 299 | <hr />
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| 300 | 
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| 301 | <h2><a name="cxx">C++</a></h2>
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| 302 | 
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| 303 | <h3><a name="missing">Missing features</a></h3>
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| 304 | 
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| 305 | <dl>
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| 306 | 
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| 307 | <dt>The <code>export</code> keyword is not implemented.</dt>
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| 308 | <dd><p>Most C++ compilers (G++ included) do not yet implement
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| 309 | <code>export</code>, which is necessary for separate compilation of
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| 310 | template declarations and definitions. Without <code>export</code>, a
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| 311 | template definition must be in scope to be used. The obvious
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| 312 | workaround is simply to place all definitions in the header
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| 313 | itself. Alternatively, the compilation unit containing template
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| 314 | definitions may be included from the header.</p></dd>
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| 315 | 
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| 316 | </dl>
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| 317 | 
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| 318 | <h3><a name="fixed34">Bugs fixed in the 3.4 series</a></h3>
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| 319 | 
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| 320 | <p>The following bugs are present up to (and including) GCC 3.3.x.
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| 321 | They have been fixed in 3.4.0.</p>
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| 322 | 
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| 323 | <dl>
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| 324 | 
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| 325 | <dt>Two-stage name-lookup.</dt>
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| 326 | 
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| 327 | <dd><p>GCC did not implement two-stage name-lookup (also see
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| 328 | <a href="#new34">below</a>).</p></dd>
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| 329 | 
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| 330 | <dt>Covariant return types.</dt>
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| 331 | 
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| 332 | <dd><p>GCC did not implement non-trivial covariant returns.</p></dd>
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| 333 | 
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| 334 | <dt>Parse errors for "simple" code.</dt>
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| 335 | 
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| 336 | <dd><p>GCC gave parse errors for seemingly simple code, such as</p>
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| 337 | 
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| 338 | <blockquote><pre>
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| 339 | struct A
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| 340 | {
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| 341 |   A();
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| 342 |   A(int);
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| 343 | };
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| 344 | 
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| 345 | struct B
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| 346 | {
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| 347 |   B(A);
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| 348 |   B(A,A);
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| 349 |   void foo();
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| 350 | };
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| 351 | 
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| 352 | A bar()
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| 353 | {
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| 354 |   B b(A(),A(1));  // Variable b, initialized with two temporaries
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| 355 |   B(A(2)).foo();  // B temporary, initialized with A temporary
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| 356 |   return (A());   // return A temporary
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| 357 | }
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| 358 | </pre></blockquote>
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| 359 | 
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| 360 | <p>Although being valid code, each of the three lines with a comment was
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| 361 | rejected by GCC.  The work-arounds for older compiler versions proposed
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| 362 | below do not change the semantics of the programs at all.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 363 | 
 | 
|---|
| 364 | <p>The problem in the first case was that GCC started to parse the
 | 
|---|
| 365 | declaration of <code>b</code> as a function called <code>b</code> returning
 | 
|---|
| 366 | <code>B</code>, taking a function returning <code>A</code> as an argument.
 | 
|---|
| 367 | When it encountered the <code>1</code>, it was too late.  To show the
 | 
|---|
| 368 | compiler that this should be really an expression, a comma operator with
 | 
|---|
| 369 | a dummy argument could be used:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 370 | 
 | 
|---|
| 371 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 372 | B b((0,A()),A(1));
 | 
|---|
| 373 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 374 | 
 | 
|---|
| 375 | <p>The work-around for simpler cases like the second one was to add
 | 
|---|
| 376 | additional parentheses around the expressions that were mistaken as
 | 
|---|
| 377 | declarations:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 378 | 
 | 
|---|
| 379 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 380 | (B(A(2))).foo();
 | 
|---|
| 381 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 382 | 
 | 
|---|
| 383 | <p>In the third case, however, additional parentheses were causing
 | 
|---|
| 384 | the problems: The compiler interpreted <code>A()</code> as a function
 | 
|---|
| 385 | (taking no arguments, returning <code>A</code>), and <code>(A())</code>
 | 
|---|
| 386 | as a cast lacking an expression to be casted, hence the parse error.
 | 
|---|
| 387 | The work-around was to omit the parentheses:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 388 | 
 | 
|---|
| 389 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 390 | return A();
 | 
|---|
| 391 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 392 | 
 | 
|---|
| 393 | <p>This problem occurred in a number of variants; in <code>throw</code>
 | 
|---|
| 394 | statements, people also frequently put the object in parentheses.</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 395 | 
 | 
|---|
| 396 | </dl>
 | 
|---|
| 397 | 
 | 
|---|
| 398 | <hr />
 | 
|---|
| 399 | 
 | 
|---|
| 400 | <h2><a name="fortran">Fortran</a></h2>
 | 
|---|
| 401 | 
 | 
|---|
| 402 | <p>Fortran bugs are documented in the G77 manual rather than
 | 
|---|
| 403 | explicitly listed here.  Please see 
 | 
|---|
| 404 | <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/g77/Trouble.html">Known Causes of
 | 
|---|
| 405 | Trouble with GNU Fortran</a> in the G77 manual.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 406 | 
 | 
|---|
| 407 | <hr />
 | 
|---|
| 408 | 
 | 
|---|
| 409 | <h1><a name="nonbugs">Non-bugs</a></h1>
 | 
|---|
| 410 | 
 | 
|---|
| 411 | <p>The following are not actually bugs, but are reported often
 | 
|---|
| 412 | enough to warrant a mention here.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 413 | 
 | 
|---|
| 414 | <p>It is not always a bug in the compiler, if code which "worked" in a
 | 
|---|
| 415 | previous version, is now rejected.  Earlier versions of GCC sometimes were
 | 
|---|
| 416 | less picky about standard conformance and accepted invalid source code.
 | 
|---|
| 417 | In addition, programming languages themselves change, rendering code
 | 
|---|
| 418 | invalid that used to be conforming (this holds especially for C++).
 | 
|---|
| 419 | In either case, you should update your code to match recent language
 | 
|---|
| 420 | standards.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 421 | 
 | 
|---|
| 422 | <hr />
 | 
|---|
| 423 | 
 | 
|---|
| 424 | <h2><a name="nonbugs_general">General</a></h2>
 | 
|---|
| 425 | 
 | 
|---|
| 426 | <dl>
 | 
|---|
| 427 | <dt>Problems with floating point numbers - the
 | 
|---|
| 428 | <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/PR323">most often reported non-bug</a>.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 429 | <dd><p>In a number of cases, GCC appears to perform floating point
 | 
|---|
| 430 | computations incorrectly. For example, the C++ program</p>
 | 
|---|
| 431 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 432 | #include <iostream>
 | 
|---|
| 433 | 
 | 
|---|
| 434 | int main()
 | 
|---|
| 435 | {
 | 
|---|
| 436 |   double a = 0.5;
 | 
|---|
| 437 |   double b = 0.01;
 | 
|---|
| 438 |   std::cout << (int)(a / b) << std::endl;
 | 
|---|
| 439 |   return 0;
 | 
|---|
| 440 | }
 | 
|---|
| 441 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 442 | <p>might print 50 on some systems and optimization levels, and 49 on
 | 
|---|
| 443 | others.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 444 | 
 | 
|---|
| 445 | <p>This is the result of <em>rounding</em>: The computer cannot
 | 
|---|
| 446 | represent all real numbers exactly, so it has to use
 | 
|---|
| 447 | approximations. When computing with approximation, the computer needs
 | 
|---|
| 448 | to round to the nearest representable number.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 449 | 
 | 
|---|
| 450 | <p>This is not a bug in the compiler, but an inherent limitation of
 | 
|---|
| 451 | the floating point types. Please study
 | 
|---|
| 452 | <a href="http://www.validlab.com/goldberg/paper.ps">this paper</a>
 | 
|---|
| 453 | for more information.</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 454 | </dl>
 | 
|---|
| 455 | 
 | 
|---|
| 456 | <hr />
 | 
|---|
| 457 | 
 | 
|---|
| 458 | <h2><a name="nonbugs_c">C</a></h2>
 | 
|---|
| 459 | 
 | 
|---|
| 460 | <dl>
 | 
|---|
| 461 | <dt>Increment/decrement operator (<code>++</code>/<code>--</code>) not
 | 
|---|
| 462 | working as expected - a <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/PR11751">problem with
 | 
|---|
| 463 | many variations</a>.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 464 | 
 | 
|---|
| 465 | <dd><p>The following expressions have unpredictable results:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 466 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 467 | x[i]=++i
 | 
|---|
| 468 | foo(i,++i)
 | 
|---|
| 469 | i*(++i)                 /* special case with foo=="operator*" */
 | 
|---|
| 470 | std::cout << i << ++i   /* foo(foo(std::cout,i),++i)          */
 | 
|---|
| 471 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 472 | <p>since the <code>i</code> without increment can be evaluated before or
 | 
|---|
| 473 | after <code>++i</code>.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 474 | 
 | 
|---|
| 475 | <p>The C and C++ standards have the notion of "sequence points". Everything
 | 
|---|
| 476 | that happens between two sequence points happens in an unspecified order,
 | 
|---|
| 477 | but it has to happen after the first and before the second sequence point.
 | 
|---|
| 478 | The end of a statement and a function call are examples for sequence points,
 | 
|---|
| 479 | whereas assignments and the comma between function arguments are not.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 480 | 
 | 
|---|
| 481 | <p>Modifying a value twice between two sequence points as shown in the
 | 
|---|
| 482 | following examples is even worse:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 483 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 484 | i=++i
 | 
|---|
| 485 | foo(++i,++i)
 | 
|---|
| 486 | (++i)*(++i)               /* special case with foo=="operator*" */
 | 
|---|
| 487 | std::cout << ++i << ++i   /* foo(foo(std::cout,++i),++i)        */
 | 
|---|
| 488 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 489 | <p>This leads to undefined behavior (i.e. the compiler can do
 | 
|---|
| 490 | anything).</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 491 | 
 | 
|---|
| 492 | 
 | 
|---|
| 493 | <dt>Casting does not work as expected when optimization is turned on.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 494 | 
 | 
|---|
| 495 | <dd><p>This is often caused by a violation of aliasing rules, which are part
 | 
|---|
| 496 | of the ISO C standard.  These rules say that a program is invalid if you try
 | 
|---|
| 497 | to access a variable through a pointer of an incompatible type.  This is
 | 
|---|
| 498 | happening in the following example where a short is accessed through a
 | 
|---|
| 499 | pointer to integer (the code assumes 16-bit <code>short</code>s and 32-bit
 | 
|---|
| 500 | <code>int</code>s):</p>
 | 
|---|
| 501 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 502 | #include <stdio.h>
 | 
|---|
| 503 | 
 | 
|---|
| 504 | int main()
 | 
|---|
| 505 | {
 | 
|---|
| 506 |   short a[2];
 | 
|---|
| 507 | 
 | 
|---|
| 508 |   a[0]=0x1111;
 | 
|---|
| 509 |   a[1]=0x1111;
 | 
|---|
| 510 | 
 | 
|---|
| 511 |   *(int *)a = 0x22222222; /* violation of aliasing rules */
 | 
|---|
| 512 | 
 | 
|---|
| 513 |   printf("%x %x\n", a[0], a[1]);
 | 
|---|
| 514 |   return 0;
 | 
|---|
| 515 | }
 | 
|---|
| 516 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 517 | <p>The aliasing rules were designed to allow compilers more aggressive
 | 
|---|
| 518 | optimization.  Basically, a compiler can assume that all changes to variables
 | 
|---|
| 519 | happen through pointers or references to variables of a type compatible to
 | 
|---|
| 520 | the accessed variable.  Dereferencing a pointer that violates the aliasing
 | 
|---|
| 521 | rules results in undefined behavior.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 522 | 
 | 
|---|
| 523 | <p>In the case above, the compiler may assume that no access through an
 | 
|---|
| 524 | integer pointer can change the array <code>a</code>, consisting of shorts.
 | 
|---|
| 525 | Thus, <code>printf</code> may be called with the original values of
 | 
|---|
| 526 | <code>a[0]</code> and <code>a[1]</code>.  What really happens is up to
 | 
|---|
| 527 | the compiler and may change with architecture and optimization level.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 528 | 
 | 
|---|
| 529 | <p>Recent versions of GCC turn on the option <code>-fstrict-aliasing</code>
 | 
|---|
| 530 | (which allows alias-based optimizations) by default with <code>-O2</code>.
 | 
|---|
| 531 | And some architectures then really print "1111 1111" as result.  Without
 | 
|---|
| 532 | optimization the executable will generate the "expected" output
 | 
|---|
| 533 | "2222 2222".</p>
 | 
|---|
| 534 | 
 | 
|---|
| 535 | <p>To disable optimizations based on alias-analysis for faulty legacy code,
 | 
|---|
| 536 | the option <code>-fno-strict-aliasing</code> can be used as a work-around.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 537 | 
 | 
|---|
| 538 | <p>The option <code>-Wstrict-aliasing</code> (which is included in
 | 
|---|
| 539 | <code>-Wall</code>) warns about some - but not all - cases of violation
 | 
|---|
| 540 | of aliasing rules when <code>-fstrict-aliasing</code> is active.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 541 | 
 | 
|---|
| 542 | <p>To fix the code above, you can use a <code>union</code> instead of a
 | 
|---|
| 543 | cast (note that this is a GCC extension which might not work with other
 | 
|---|
| 544 | compilers):</p>
 | 
|---|
| 545 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 546 | #include <stdio.h>
 | 
|---|
| 547 | 
 | 
|---|
| 548 | int main()
 | 
|---|
| 549 | {
 | 
|---|
| 550 |   union
 | 
|---|
| 551 |   {
 | 
|---|
| 552 |     short a[2];
 | 
|---|
| 553 |     int i;
 | 
|---|
| 554 |   } u;
 | 
|---|
| 555 | 
 | 
|---|
| 556 |   u.a[0]=0x1111;
 | 
|---|
| 557 |   u.a[1]=0x1111;
 | 
|---|
| 558 | 
 | 
|---|
| 559 |   u.i = 0x22222222;
 | 
|---|
| 560 | 
 | 
|---|
| 561 |   printf("%x %x\n", u.a[0], u.a[1]);
 | 
|---|
| 562 |   return 0;
 | 
|---|
| 563 | }
 | 
|---|
| 564 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 565 | <p>Now the result will always be "2222 2222".</p>
 | 
|---|
| 566 | 
 | 
|---|
| 567 | <p>For some more insight into the subject, please have a look at
 | 
|---|
| 568 | <a href="http://mail-index.NetBSD.org/tech-kern/2003/08/11/0001.html">this
 | 
|---|
| 569 | article</a>.</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 570 | 
 | 
|---|
| 571 | 
 | 
|---|
| 572 | <dt>Cannot use preprocessor directive in macro arguments.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 573 | <dd><p>Let me guess... you used an older version of GCC to compile code
 | 
|---|
| 574 | that looks something like this:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 575 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 576 |   memcpy(dest, src,
 | 
|---|
| 577 | #ifdef PLATFORM1
 | 
|---|
| 578 |          12
 | 
|---|
| 579 | #else
 | 
|---|
| 580 |          24
 | 
|---|
| 581 | #endif
 | 
|---|
| 582 |         );
 | 
|---|
| 583 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 584 | <p>and you got a whole pile of error messages:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 585 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 586 | test.c:11: warning: preprocessing directive not recognized within macro arg
 | 
|---|
| 587 | test.c:11: warning: preprocessing directive not recognized within macro arg
 | 
|---|
| 588 | test.c:11: warning: preprocessing directive not recognized within macro arg
 | 
|---|
| 589 | test.c: In function `foo':
 | 
|---|
| 590 | test.c:6: undefined or invalid # directive
 | 
|---|
| 591 | test.c:8: undefined or invalid # directive
 | 
|---|
| 592 | test.c:9: parse error before `24'
 | 
|---|
| 593 | test.c:10: undefined or invalid # directive
 | 
|---|
| 594 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 595 | 
 | 
|---|
| 596 | <p>This is because your C library's <code><string.h></code> happens
 | 
|---|
| 597 | to define <code>memcpy</code> as a macro - which is perfectly legitimate.
 | 
|---|
| 598 | In recent versions of glibc, for example, <code>printf</code> is among those
 | 
|---|
| 599 | functions which are implemented as macros.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 600 | 
 | 
|---|
| 601 | <p>Versions of GCC prior to 3.3 did not allow you to put <code>#ifdef</code>
 | 
|---|
| 602 | (or any other preprocessor directive) inside the arguments of a macro.  The
 | 
|---|
| 603 | code therefore would not compile.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 604 | 
 | 
|---|
| 605 | <p>As of GCC 3.3 this kind of construct is always accepted and the
 | 
|---|
| 606 | preprocessor will probably do what you expect, but see the manual for
 | 
|---|
| 607 | detailed semantics.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 608 | 
 | 
|---|
| 609 | <p>However, this kind of code is not portable.  It is "undefined behavior"
 | 
|---|
| 610 | according to the C standard; that means different compilers may do
 | 
|---|
| 611 | different things with it.  It is always possible to rewrite code which
 | 
|---|
| 612 | uses conditionals inside macros so that it doesn't.  You could write
 | 
|---|
| 613 | the above example</p>
 | 
|---|
| 614 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 615 | #ifdef PLATFORM1
 | 
|---|
| 616 |    memcpy(dest, src, 12);
 | 
|---|
| 617 | #else
 | 
|---|
| 618 |    memcpy(dest, src, 24);
 | 
|---|
| 619 | #endif
 | 
|---|
| 620 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 621 | <p>This is a bit more typing, but I personally think it's better style
 | 
|---|
| 622 | in addition to being more portable.</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 623 | 
 | 
|---|
| 624 | 
 | 
|---|
| 625 | <dt>Cannot initialize a static variable with <code>stdin</code>.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 626 | <dd><p>This has nothing to do with GCC, but people ask us about it a
 | 
|---|
| 627 | lot.  Code like this:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 628 | 
 | 
|---|
| 629 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 630 | #include <stdio.h>
 | 
|---|
| 631 | 
 | 
|---|
| 632 | FILE *yyin = stdin;
 | 
|---|
| 633 | </pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 634 | 
 | 
|---|
| 635 | <p>will not compile with GNU libc, because <code>stdin</code> is not a
 | 
|---|
| 636 | constant.  This was done deliberately, to make it easier to maintain
 | 
|---|
| 637 | binary compatibility when the type <code>FILE</code> needs to be changed.
 | 
|---|
| 638 | It is surprising for people used to traditional Unix C libraries, but it
 | 
|---|
| 639 | is permitted by the C standard.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 640 | 
 | 
|---|
| 641 | <p>This construct commonly occurs in code generated by old versions of
 | 
|---|
| 642 | lex or yacc.  We suggest you try regenerating the parser with a
 | 
|---|
| 643 | current version of flex or bison, respectively.  In your own code, the
 | 
|---|
| 644 | appropriate fix is to move the initialization to the beginning of
 | 
|---|
| 645 | main.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 646 | 
 | 
|---|
| 647 | <p>There is a common misconception that the GCC developers are
 | 
|---|
| 648 | responsible for GNU libc.  These are in fact two entirely separate
 | 
|---|
| 649 | projects; please check the
 | 
|---|
| 650 | <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/">GNU libc web pages</a>
 | 
|---|
| 651 | for details.
 | 
|---|
| 652 | </p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 653 | </dl>
 | 
|---|
| 654 | 
 | 
|---|
| 655 | <hr />
 | 
|---|
| 656 | 
 | 
|---|
| 657 | <h2><a name="nonbugs_cxx">C++</a></h2>
 | 
|---|
| 658 | 
 | 
|---|
| 659 | <dl>
 | 
|---|
| 660 | <dt>Nested classes can access private members and types of the containing
 | 
|---|
| 661 | class.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 662 | 
 | 
|---|
| 663 | <dd><p>Defect report 45 clarifies that nested classes are members of the
 | 
|---|
| 664 | class they are nested in, and so are granted access to private members of
 | 
|---|
| 665 | that class.</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 666 | 
 | 
|---|
| 667 | <dt>G++ emits two copies of constructors and destructors.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 668 | 
 | 
|---|
| 669 | <dd><p>In general there are <em>three</em> types of constructors (and
 | 
|---|
| 670 | destructors).</p>
 | 
|---|
| 671 | <ol>
 | 
|---|
| 672 | <li>The complete object constructor/destructor.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 673 | <li>The base object constructor/destructor.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 674 | <li>The allocating constructor/deallocating destructor.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 675 | </ol>
 | 
|---|
| 676 | <p>The first two are different, when virtual base classes are involved.
 | 
|---|
| 677 | </p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 678 | 
 | 
|---|
| 679 | <dt>Global destructors are not run in the correct order.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 680 | 
 | 
|---|
| 681 | <dd><p>Global destructors should be run in the reverse order of their
 | 
|---|
| 682 | constructors <em>completing</em>. In most cases this is the same as
 | 
|---|
| 683 | the reverse order of constructors <em>starting</em>, but sometimes it
 | 
|---|
| 684 | is different, and that is important. You need to compile and link your
 | 
|---|
| 685 | programs with <code>--use-cxa-atexit</code>. We have not turned this
 | 
|---|
| 686 | switch on by default, as it requires a <code>cxa</code> aware runtime
 | 
|---|
| 687 | library (<code>libc</code>, <code>glibc</code>, or equivalent).</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 688 | 
 | 
|---|
| 689 | <dt>Classes in exception specifiers must be complete types.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 690 | 
 | 
|---|
| 691 | <dd><p>[15.4]/1 tells you that you cannot have an incomplete type, or
 | 
|---|
| 692 | pointer to incomplete (other than <code><i>cv</i> void *</code>) in
 | 
|---|
| 693 | an exception specification.</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 694 | 
 | 
|---|
| 695 | <dt>Exceptions don't work in multithreaded applications.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 696 | 
 | 
|---|
| 697 | <dd><p>You need to rebuild g++ and libstdc++ with
 | 
|---|
| 698 | <code>--enable-threads</code>.  Remember, C++ exceptions are not like
 | 
|---|
| 699 | hardware interrupts. You cannot throw an exception in one thread and
 | 
|---|
| 700 | catch it in another. You cannot throw an exception from a signal
 | 
|---|
| 701 | handler and catch it in the main thread.</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 702 | 
 | 
|---|
| 703 | <dt>Templates, scoping, and digraphs.</dt>
 | 
|---|
| 704 | 
 | 
|---|
| 705 | <dd><p>If you have a class in the global namespace, say named <code>X</code>,
 | 
|---|
| 706 | and want to give it as a template argument to some other class, say
 | 
|---|
| 707 | <code>std::vector</code>, then <code>std::vector<::X></code>
 | 
|---|
| 708 | fails with a parser error.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 709 | 
 | 
|---|
| 710 | <p>The reason is that the standard mandates that the sequence
 | 
|---|
| 711 | <code><:</code> is treated as if it were the token <code>[</code>.
 | 
|---|
| 712 | (There are several such combinations of characters - they are called
 | 
|---|
| 713 | <em>digraphs</em>.) Depending on the version, the compiler then reports
 | 
|---|
| 714 | a parse error before the character <code>:</code> (the colon before
 | 
|---|
| 715 | <code>X</code>) or a missing closing bracket <code>]</code>.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 716 | 
 | 
|---|
| 717 | <p>The simplest way to avoid this is to write <code>std::vector<
 | 
|---|
| 718 | ::X></code>, i.e. place a space between the opening angle bracket
 | 
|---|
| 719 | and the scope operator.</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 720 | 
 | 
|---|
| 721 | 
 | 
|---|
| 722 | <dt><a name="cxx_rvalbind">Copy constructor access check while 
 | 
|---|
| 723 | initializing a reference.</a></dt>
 | 
|---|
| 724 | 
 | 
|---|
| 725 | <dd><p>Consider this code:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 726 | 
 | 
|---|
| 727 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 728 | class A 
 | 
|---|
| 729 | {
 | 
|---|
| 730 | public:
 | 
|---|
| 731 |   A();
 | 
|---|
| 732 | 
 | 
|---|
| 733 | private:
 | 
|---|
| 734 |   A(const A&);   // private copy ctor
 | 
|---|
| 735 | };
 | 
|---|
| 736 | 
 | 
|---|
| 737 | A makeA(void);
 | 
|---|
| 738 | void foo(const A&);
 | 
|---|
| 739 | 
 | 
|---|
| 740 | void bar(void)
 | 
|---|
| 741 | {
 | 
|---|
| 742 |   foo(A());       // error, copy ctor is not accessible
 | 
|---|
| 743 |   foo(makeA());   // error, copy ctor is not accessible
 | 
|---|
| 744 | 
 | 
|---|
| 745 |   A a1;
 | 
|---|
| 746 |   foo(a1);        // OK, a1 is a lvalue
 | 
|---|
| 747 | }</pre></blockquote>
 | 
|---|
| 748 | 
 | 
|---|
| 749 | <p>Starting with GCC 3.4.0, binding an rvalue to a const reference requires
 | 
|---|
| 750 | an accessible copy constructor. This might be surprising at first sight, 
 | 
|---|
| 751 | especially since most popular compilers do not correctly implement this 
 | 
|---|
| 752 | rule.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 753 | 
 | 
|---|
| 754 | <p>The C++ Standard says that a temporary object should be created in 
 | 
|---|
| 755 | this context and its contents filled with a copy of the object we are 
 | 
|---|
| 756 | trying to bind to the reference; it also says that the temporary copy 
 | 
|---|
| 757 | can be elided, but the semantic constraints (eg. accessibility) of the 
 | 
|---|
| 758 | copy constructor still have to be checked.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 759 | 
 | 
|---|
| 760 | <p>For further information, you can consult the following paragraphs of
 | 
|---|
| 761 | the C++ standard: [dcl.init.ref]/5, bullet 2, sub-bullet 1, and
 | 
|---|
| 762 | [class.temporary]/2.</p></dd>
 | 
|---|
| 763 | </dl>
 | 
|---|
| 764 | 
 | 
|---|
| 765 | <h3><a name="upgrading">Common problems when upgrading the compiler</a></h3>
 | 
|---|
| 766 | 
 | 
|---|
| 767 | <h4>ABI changes</h4>
 | 
|---|
| 768 | 
 | 
|---|
| 769 | <p>The C++ application binary interface (ABI) consists of two
 | 
|---|
| 770 | components: the first defines how the elements of classes are laid
 | 
|---|
| 771 | out, how functions are called, how function names are mangled, etc;
 | 
|---|
| 772 | the second part deals with the internals of the objects in libstdc++.
 | 
|---|
| 773 | Although we strive for a non-changing ABI, so far we have had to
 | 
|---|
| 774 | modify it with each major release.  If you change your compiler to a
 | 
|---|
| 775 | different major release <em>you must recompile all libraries that
 | 
|---|
| 776 | contain C++ code</em>.  If you fail to do so you risk getting linker
 | 
|---|
| 777 | errors or malfunctioning programs.  Some of our Java support libraries
 | 
|---|
| 778 | also contain C++ code, so you might want to recompile all libraries to
 | 
|---|
| 779 | be safe.  It should not be necessary to recompile if you have changed
 | 
|---|
| 780 | to a bug-fix release of the same version of the compiler; bug-fix
 | 
|---|
| 781 | releases are careful to avoid ABI changes. See also the
 | 
|---|
| 782 | <a href="onlinedocs/gcc/Compatibility.html">compatibility section</a>
 | 
|---|
| 783 | of the GCC manual.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 784 | 
 | 
|---|
| 785 | <p>Remark: A major release is designated by a change to the first or second
 | 
|---|
| 786 | component of the two- or three-part version number.  A minor (bug-fix)
 | 
|---|
| 787 | release is designated by a change to the third component only.  Thus GCC
 | 
|---|
| 788 | 3.2 and 3.3 are major releases, while 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 are bug-fix releases
 | 
|---|
| 789 | for GCC 3.3.  With the 3.4 series we are introducing a new naming scheme;
 | 
|---|
| 790 | the first release of this series is 3.4.0 instead of just 3.4.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 791 | 
 | 
|---|
| 792 | <h4>Standard conformance</h4>
 | 
|---|
| 793 | 
 | 
|---|
| 794 | <p>With each release, we try to make G++ conform closer to the ISO C++ standard
 | 
|---|
| 795 | (available at
 | 
|---|
| 796 | <a href="http://www.ncits.org/cplusplus.htm">http://www.ncits.org/cplusplus.htm</a>).
 | 
|---|
| 797 | We have also implemented some of the core and library defect reports
 | 
|---|
| 798 | (available at
 | 
|---|
| 799 | <a href="http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/cwg_defects.html">http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/cwg_defects.html</a>
 | 
|---|
| 800 | &
 | 
|---|
| 801 | <a href="http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/lwg-defects.html">http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/lwg-defects.html</a>
 | 
|---|
| 802 | respectively).</p>
 | 
|---|
| 803 | 
 | 
|---|
| 804 | <p>Non-conforming legacy code that worked with older versions of GCC may be
 | 
|---|
| 805 | rejected by more recent compilers.  There is no command-line switch to ensure
 | 
|---|
| 806 | compatibility in general, because trying to parse standard-conforming and
 | 
|---|
| 807 | old-style code at the same time would render the C++ frontend unmaintainable.
 | 
|---|
| 808 | However, some non-conforming constructs are allowed when the command-line
 | 
|---|
| 809 | option <code>-fpermissive</code> is used.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 810 | 
 | 
|---|
| 811 | <p>Two milestones in standard conformance are GCC 3.0 (including a major
 | 
|---|
| 812 | overhaul of the standard library) and the 3.4.0 version (with its new C++
 | 
|---|
| 813 | parser).</p>
 | 
|---|
| 814 | 
 | 
|---|
| 815 | <h4>New in GCC 3.0</h4>
 | 
|---|
| 816 | 
 | 
|---|
| 817 | <ul>
 | 
|---|
| 818 | 
 | 
|---|
| 819 | <li>The standard library is much more conformant, and uses the
 | 
|---|
| 820 | <code>std::</code> namespace (which is now a real namespace, not an
 | 
|---|
| 821 | alias for <code>::</code>).</li>
 | 
|---|
| 822 | 
 | 
|---|
| 823 | <li>The standard header files for the c library don't end with
 | 
|---|
| 824 | <code>.h</code>, but begin with <code>c</code> (i.e.
 | 
|---|
| 825 | <code><cstdlib></code> rather than <code><stdlib.h></code>).
 | 
|---|
| 826 | The <code>.h</code> names are still available, but are deprecated.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 827 | 
 | 
|---|
| 828 | <li><code><strstream></code> is deprecated, use
 | 
|---|
| 829 | <code><sstream></code> instead.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 830 | 
 | 
|---|
| 831 | <li><code>streambuf::seekoff</code> &
 | 
|---|
| 832 | <code>streambuf::seekpos</code> are private, instead use
 | 
|---|
| 833 | <code>streambuf::pubseekoff</code> &
 | 
|---|
| 834 | <code>streambuf::pubseekpos</code> respectively.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 835 | 
 | 
|---|
| 836 | <li>If <code>std::operator << (std::ostream &, long long)</code>
 | 
|---|
| 837 | doesn't exist, you need to recompile libstdc++ with
 | 
|---|
| 838 | <code>--enable-long-long</code>.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 839 | 
 | 
|---|
| 840 | </ul>
 | 
|---|
| 841 | 
 | 
|---|
| 842 | <p>If you get lots of errors about things like <code>cout</code> not being
 | 
|---|
| 843 | found, you've most likely forgotten to tell the compiler to look in the
 | 
|---|
| 844 | <code>std::</code> namespace.  There are several ways to do this:</p>
 | 
|---|
| 845 | 
 | 
|---|
| 846 | <ul>
 | 
|---|
| 847 | 
 | 
|---|
| 848 | <li>Say <code>std::cout</code> at the call.  This is the most explicit
 | 
|---|
| 849 | way of saying what you mean.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 850 | 
 | 
|---|
| 851 | <li>Say <code>using std::cout;</code> somewhere before the call.  You
 | 
|---|
| 852 | will need to do this for each function or type you wish to use from the
 | 
|---|
| 853 | standard library.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 854 | 
 | 
|---|
| 855 | <li>Say <code>using namespace std;</code> somewhere before the call.
 | 
|---|
| 856 | This is the quick-but-dirty fix. This brings the <em>whole</em> of the
 | 
|---|
| 857 | <code>std::</code> namespace into scope.  <em>Never</em> do this in a
 | 
|---|
| 858 | header file, as every user of your header file will be affected by this
 | 
|---|
| 859 | decision.</li>
 | 
|---|
| 860 | 
 | 
|---|
| 861 | </ul>
 | 
|---|
| 862 | 
 | 
|---|
| 863 | <h4><a name="new34">New in GCC 3.4.0</a></h4>
 | 
|---|
| 864 | 
 | 
|---|
| 865 | <p>The new parser brings a lot of improvements, especially concerning
 | 
|---|
| 866 | name-lookup.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 867 | 
 | 
|---|
| 868 | <ul>
 | 
|---|
| 869 | 
 | 
|---|
| 870 | <li>The "implicit typename" extension got removed (it was already deprecated
 | 
|---|
| 871 | since GCC 3.1), so that the following code is now rejected, see [14.6]:
 | 
|---|
| 872 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 873 | template <typename> struct A
 | 
|---|
| 874 | {
 | 
|---|
| 875 |     typedef int X;
 | 
|---|
| 876 | };
 | 
|---|
| 877 | 
 | 
|---|
| 878 | template <typename T> struct B
 | 
|---|
| 879 | {
 | 
|---|
| 880 |     A<T>::X          x;  // error
 | 
|---|
| 881 |     typename A<T>::X y;  // OK
 | 
|---|
| 882 | };
 | 
|---|
| 883 | 
 | 
|---|
| 884 | B<void> b;
 | 
|---|
| 885 | </pre></blockquote></li>
 | 
|---|
| 886 | 
 | 
|---|
| 887 | <li>For similar reasons, the following code now requires the
 | 
|---|
| 888 | <code>template</code> keyword, see [14.2]:
 | 
|---|
| 889 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 890 | template <typename> struct A
 | 
|---|
| 891 | {
 | 
|---|
| 892 |     template <int> struct X {};
 | 
|---|
| 893 | };
 | 
|---|
| 894 | 
 | 
|---|
| 895 | template <typename T> struct B
 | 
|---|
| 896 | {
 | 
|---|
| 897 |     typename A<T>::X<0>          x;  // error
 | 
|---|
| 898 |     typename A<T>::template X<0> y;  // OK
 | 
|---|
| 899 | };
 | 
|---|
| 900 | 
 | 
|---|
| 901 | B<void> b;
 | 
|---|
| 902 | </pre></blockquote></li>
 | 
|---|
| 903 | 
 | 
|---|
| 904 | <li>We now have two-stage name-lookup, so that the following code is
 | 
|---|
| 905 | rejected, see [14.6]/9:
 | 
|---|
| 906 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 907 | template <typename T> int foo()
 | 
|---|
| 908 | {
 | 
|---|
| 909 |     return i;  // error
 | 
|---|
| 910 | }
 | 
|---|
| 911 | </pre></blockquote></li>
 | 
|---|
| 912 | 
 | 
|---|
| 913 | <li>This also affects members of base classes, see [14.6.2]:
 | 
|---|
| 914 | <blockquote><pre>
 | 
|---|
| 915 | template <typename> struct A
 | 
|---|
| 916 | {
 | 
|---|
| 917 |     int i, j;
 | 
|---|
| 918 | };
 | 
|---|
| 919 | 
 | 
|---|
| 920 | template <typename T> struct B : A<T>
 | 
|---|
| 921 | {
 | 
|---|
| 922 |     int foo1() { return i; }       // error
 | 
|---|
| 923 |     int foo2() { return this->i; } // OK
 | 
|---|
| 924 |     int foo3() { return B<T>::i; } // OK
 | 
|---|
| 925 |     int foo4() { return A<T>::i; } // OK
 | 
|---|
| 926 | 
 | 
|---|
| 927 |     using A<T>::j;
 | 
|---|
| 928 |     int foo5() { return j; }       // OK
 | 
|---|
| 929 | };
 | 
|---|
| 930 | </pre></blockquote></li>
 | 
|---|
| 931 | 
 | 
|---|
| 932 | </ul>
 | 
|---|
| 933 | 
 | 
|---|
| 934 | <p>In addition to the problems listed above, the manual contains a section on
 | 
|---|
| 935 | <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/C---Misunderstandings.html">Common
 | 
|---|
| 936 | Misunderstandings with GNU C++</a>.</p>
 | 
|---|
| 937 | 
 | 
|---|
| 938 | </body>
 | 
|---|
| 939 | </html>
 | 
|---|