Re: RFC: obstack_mark() and obstack_release()

[Roland McGrath <roland at hack dot frob dot com>]

I'm quite dubious that the interface complexity of these new functions
is the wise course.  It seems like quite an arcane solution.  Is the
situation really so common that it wouldn't be better to do something
far simpler like using a new obstack for the inner "temporary" uses?

At any rate, I think we need to clean up the maintenance situation
with the obstack code before we consider any API changes whatsoever.

Despite the comment at the top of the file, GCC people have made
changes to obstack.[ch] without coordinating with libc.  The gnulib
version has also diverged, though it is still vastly closer to the
libc version than the GCC one is.

We need to harmonize all three versions so there is again exactly one
canonical source, residing in libc.  GCC and gnulib must regain the
discipline of having all changes made in libc first and just taking
updates of the verbatim source files (modulo license text).

I realize it's rather far afield from your own work to deal with all
that, and it's entirely understandable if you don't want to wade into
the quagmire yourself.  But I don't know who is the best person to
take that on.


Thanks,
Roland