Re: Should we define _GNU_SOURCE (was Re: GNOME CVS: gnome-commonkmaraas)

[Joel Klecker <jk espy org>]

At 21:35 -0500 1998-05-11, Miguel de Icaza wrote:
>> Perhaps this doesn't matter too much for GNOME, though, since
>> its portability goals are fairly limited.
>
>Wonder where did you hear this.  Portability is very important for
>GNOME.

The following might make it a bit more clear what the glibc "feature test"
macros actually do (it's the 'NOTES' file from glibc):

<<
Feature Test Macros
-------------------

   The exact set of features available when you compile a source file
is controlled by which "feature test macros" you define.

   If you compile your programs using `gcc -ansi', you get only the
ANSI C library features, unless you explicitly request additional
features by defining one or more of the feature macros.  *Note GNU CC
Command Options: (gcc.info)Invoking GCC, for more information about GCC
options.

   You should define these macros by using `#define' preprocessor
directives at the top of your source code files.  These directives
*must* come before any `#include' of a system header file.  It is best
to make them the very first thing in the file, preceded only by
comments.  You could also use the `-D' option to GCC, but it's better
if you make the source files indicate their own meaning in a
self-contained way.

 - Macro: _POSIX_SOURCE
     If you define this macro, then the functionality from the POSIX.1
     standard (IEEE Standard 1003.1) is available, as well as all of the
     ANSI C facilities.

 - Macro: _POSIX_C_SOURCE
     If you define this macro with a value of `1', then the
     functionality from the POSIX.1 standard (IEEE Standard 1003.1) is
     made available.  If you define this macro with a value of `2',
     then both the functionality from the POSIX.1 standard and the
     functionality from the POSIX.2 standard (IEEE Standard 1003.2) are
     made available.  This is in addition to the ANSI C facilities.

 - Macro: _BSD_SOURCE
     If you define this macro, functionality derived from 4.3 BSD Unix
     is included as well as the ANSI C, POSIX.1, and POSIX.2 material.

     Some of the features derived from 4.3 BSD Unix conflict with the
     corresponding features specified by the POSIX.1 standard.  If this
     macro is defined, the 4.3 BSD definitions take precedence over the
     POSIX definitions.

     Due to the nature of some of the conflicts between 4.3 BSD and
     POSIX.1, you need to use a special "BSD compatibility library"
     when linking programs compiled for BSD compatibility.  This is
     because some functions must be defined in two different ways, one
     of them in the normal C library, and one of them in the
     compatibility library.  If your program defines `_BSD_SOURCE', you
     must give the option `-lbsd-compat' to the compiler or linker when
     linking the program, to tell it to find functions in this special
     compatibility library before looking for them in the normal C
     library.

 - Macro: _SVID_SOURCE
     If you define this macro, functionality derived from SVID is
     included as well as the ANSI C, POSIX.1, POSIX.2, and X/Open
     material.

 - Macro: _XOPEN_SOURCE
     If you define these macro, functionality described in the X/Open
     Portability Guide is included.  This is an superset of the POSIX.1
     and POSIX.2 functionality and in fact `_POSIX_SOURCE' and
     `_POSIX_C_SOURCE' get automatically be defined.

     But as the great unifaction of all Unices there is also
     functionality only available in BSD and SVID is included.

     If the macro `_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED' is also defined, even more
     functionality is available.  The extra functions will make all
     functions available which are necessary for the X/Open Unix brand.

 - Macro: _GNU_SOURCE
     If you define this macro, everything is included: ANSI C, POSIX.1,
     POSIX.2, BSD, SVID, X/Open, and GNU extensions.  In the cases where
     POSIX.1 conflicts with BSD, the POSIX definitions take precedence.

     If you want to get the full effect of `_GNU_SOURCE' but make the
     BSD definitions take precedence over the POSIX definitions, use
     this sequence of definitions:

          #define _GNU_SOURCE
          #define _BSD_SOURCE
          #define _SVID_SOURCE

     Note that if you do this, you must link your program with the BSD
     compatibility library by passing the `-lbsd-compat' option to the
     compiler or linker.  *Note:* If you forget to do this, you may get
     very strange errors at run time.

 - Macro: _REENTRANT,_THREAD_SAFE
     If you define one this macro, reentrant versions of several
     functions get declared.  Some of the functions are specified in
     POSIX.1c but many others are only available on a few other systems
     or are unique to GNU libc.  The problem is that the
     standardization of the thread safe C library interface still is
     behind.

     Unlike on some other systems no special version of the C library
     must be used for linking.  There is only one version but while
     compiling this it must have been specified to compile as thread
     safe.

   We recommend you use `_GNU_SOURCE' in new programs.  If you don't
specify the `-ansi' option to GCC and don't define any of these macros
explicitly, the effect is the same as defining `_POSIX_C_SOURCE' to 2
and `_POSIX_SOURCE', `_SVID_SOURCE', and `_BSD_SOURCE' to 1.

   When you define a feature test macro to request a larger class of
features, it is harmless to define in addition a feature test macro for
a subset of those features.  For example, if you define
`_POSIX_C_SOURCE', then defining `_POSIX_SOURCE' as well has no effect.
Likewise, if you define `_GNU_SOURCE', then defining either
`_POSIX_SOURCE' or `_POSIX_C_SOURCE' or `_SVID_SOURCE' as well has no
effect.

   Note, however, that the features of `_BSD_SOURCE' are not a subset of
any of the other feature test macros supported.  This is because it
defines BSD features that take precedence over the POSIX features that
are requested by the other macros.  For this reason, defining
`_BSD_SOURCE' in addition to the other feature test macros does have an
effect: it causes the BSD features to take priority over the conflicting
POSIX features.
>>

Sorry for the late reply, I read the gnome lists infrequently.

--
Joel "Espy" Klecker    <mailto:jk@espy.org>    <http://web.espy.org/>
Debian GNU/Linux Developer...................<http://www.debian.org/>