GNU bug report logs - #9380
Compilation problems with coreutils-8.9

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Package: coreutils;

Reported by: Rob McMahon <Rob.McMahon <at> warwick.ac.uk>

Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:12:02 UTC

Severity: normal

Tags: notabug

Done: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Rob McMahon <Rob.McMahon <at> warwick.ac.uk>
Subject: bug#9380: closed (Re: bug#9380: Compilation problems with
 coreutils-8.9)
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:21:03 +0000
[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]
Your bug report

#9380: Compilation problems with coreutils-8.9

which was filed against the coreutils package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to 9380 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.

-- 
9380: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=9380
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems
[Message part 2 (message/rfc822, inline)]
From: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>
To: Rob McMahon <Rob.McMahon <at> warwick.ac.uk>
Cc: 9380-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#9380: Compilation problems with coreutils-8.9
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:17:13 -0600
tag 9380 notabug
thanks

On 08/26/2011 08:58 AM, Rob McMahon wrote:
> I suspect you're going to say "upgrade to a more modern compiler" for
> most of these patches, but I had cause to install a later coreutils on
> an old box where this is not a viable option,

Thanks for the efforts; and hopefully by posting to the list, you have 
made life for someone else in the same situation.  However, you are 
correct that we will not take these patches into the upstream 
repository.  According to README, coreutils intentionally requires 
minimal C99 features from your compiler, one of which is supporting 
declaration-after-statement, and we are unwilling to take on the 
maintenance burden of uglifying the code just to support super-old C89 
compilers.

You may also want to try building the latest release (coreutils is 
currently at 8.12), although you will have to make the same manual C89 
patches on your own, as it will not be supported upstream.

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake <at> redhat.com    +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org

[Message part 3 (message/rfc822, inline)]
From: Rob McMahon <Rob.McMahon <at> warwick.ac.uk>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Compilation problems with coreutils-8.9
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:58:25 +0100
[Message part 4 (text/plain, inline)]
I suspect you're going to say "upgrade to a more modern compiler" for 
most of these patches, but I had cause to install a later coreutils on 
an old box where this is not a viable option, running

cc: Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 C 5.3 Patch 111679-12 2003/05/18

There are many uses of later C compilers to accept declarations 
intermingled with statements, which are not supported by this compiler.  
The attached diffs fix all these problems.  Many of them are just 
swapping a couple of lines, which is probably worth it in the interests 
of compatibility.

Rob

-- 
E-Mail:	Rob.McMahon <at> warwick.ac.uk		PHONE:  +44 24 7652 3037
Rob McMahon, IT Services, Warwick University, Coventry, CV4 7AL, England

[diffs (text/plain, attachment)]

This bug report was last modified 13 years and 249 days ago.

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