Re: Drop the K&R requirement from binutils?

[Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>]

Hi Guys,

  Sorry the long delay in responding to this.  Guess I chose the wrong
  week to go on vacation. :-)

  After reading all of the emails posted on this subject here is what
  I am proposing we should do:

    1. Send an email to the GCC Steering Committee stating that the
       binutils project has no objections to dropping its
       requirement to be build-able with a K&R compiler, but that it
       would like to do so in concert with a similar change in GCC's
       policy.

    2. Allow the limited use of ISO C features in the mainline
       binutils sources (and releases after 2.13).  Specifically ISO
       would only be allowed in target specific files, not generic
       files.  (Obviously this would exclude any HP/UX targeted
       files).

       I can see people objecting to this idea on the grounds that
       mixing source dialects would be confusing and goes against the
       of having a uniform coding standard and style.  So I am opening
       to suggestions as to whether this is actually a good idea.

    3. Fix any current non-K&R isms in the 2.13 branch, with the
       intention that this branch will always be available to allow
       bootstrapping in K&R based systems.  (Given this, it may not be
       necessary to fix K&R problems in gprof, since that is not
       needed for bootstrapping).  A source tarball can be maintained
       on the binutil's web sites for those who do not want to use CVS
       to extract a specific branch.

    4. At some point in the future, in concert with GCC, change the
       requirement that the sources be compilable with a K&R compliant
       compiler to the requirement that they be compilable with an ISO
       C compiler.

  Comments ?

Cheers
        Nick