[patch] [libcxx] #warning

G M gmisocpp at gmail.com
Mon Sep 16 20:49:37 PDT 2013


Hello Everyone

Attached is a patch to libcxx to remove the errors relating to the use of
#warning when compiling using MS's compiler cl.exe

It introduces a macro to __config _LIBCPP_WARNING for use with the MS
compiler and updates all references of #warning to use it when compiling
with the real MS compiler.

The macro is compatible with clang++ and g++ and can be used there too
if you understand and accept the slight incompatibilities, which I'll
explain. From my investigations, if I am correct, the limitations of this
macro and #warning and #pragma message are:

* #warning doesn't work on any version of visual studio. In fact it means
something different to MS and it's used extensively; so they will likely
never standardize on the use case here as they can't IMHO.

* #pragma message DOES work for clang++/g++/cl, BUT not completely
compatibly:

The differences in #pragma message are:

* For g++, it generates a note, which is logical to me on the basis that if
you want a warning, you have #warning from gcc's perspective.
* For MSVC, it generates a note like gcc (or appears to) at the command
line, but the message does show up in the warning lists of Visual Studio
but as far as I can tell it's not really a true warning. The message
doesn't include a file or line number on the command line (and that may be
to too true in the IDE I forgot to check) but on the command line, it's too
brief and is easy to miss if used in a raw way.

* For clang++, #pragma message generates a warning not a message/note like
g++/cl. This is a very practical implementation, but a little
misleading given the name and isn't quite as compatible with gcc as one
might expect. Given these aspects, it's arguable that clang++ should be
changed to issue a note instead of warning to match gcc, but I'm not
advocating that change.

* clang++ is however quite verbose in it's formatting of #pragma message
and #warning compared to g++. I think too verbose. It's so verbose when
used as a macro in fact that I think it's undesirable. IMHO, I think in
this formatting aspect, clang++ should be changed to match g++.

It would be better IMHO if it was tuned to remove the macro info and show
it only if there is an actual error or problem in the formulation and use
in the macro. If not, I think the use of the macro should appear in
indistinguishable in use as it is in g++. And only be expanded in full if
there is a real error, or another option is applied to force it for
debugging purposes or something. For my purpose, it's arguable that the
verbosity makes it somewhat useless. clang++ is just a little too helpful
here, love it as I do. That is part of the reason I don't use this macro
for anything other than VS.

I've reported this verbosity as a undesirable feature to Richard Smith to
see if he agrees but I (and I'm sure he) would be interested in
seeing other opinions on here on the subject. I hope that "someone" will
"fix" it and make clang++ match g++ more here.

I've tested the attached patch with clang, Visual Studio and mingw / g++.
Thanks for your thoughts.
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