gcc/libstdc++-v3/docs/17_intro/porting-howto.html
Felix Natter e0b7ed05b2 porting-howto.html: New version.
2000-09-08  Felix Natter  <fnatter@gmx.net>

	* docs/17_intro/porting-howto.html:  New version.

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<html>
<head>
<title>Libstdc++-porting-howto</title>
<meta content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.16" name="generator">
</head>
<body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF">
<div class="article" id="libstdporting">
<div class="titlepage">
<h1 class="title">
<a name="libstdporting">Libstdc++-porting-howto</a>
</h1>
<h3 class="author">Felix Natter</h3>
<p>
This document can be distributed under the FDL
(<a href="http://www.gnu.org">www.gnu.org</a>)
</p>
<p class="pubdate">what kind of a date ? I don't drink !</p>
<div class="revhistory">
<table width="100%" border="1">
<tr>
<th colspan="3" valign="top" align="left"><b>Revision History</b></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Revision 0.5</td><td align="left">Thu Jun 1 13:06:50 2000</td><td align="left">fnatter</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="left">First docbook-version.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Revision 0.8</td><td align="left">Sun Jul 30 20:28:40 2000</td><td align="left">fnatter</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="left">First released version using docbook-xml
+ second upload to libstdc++-page.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Revision 0.9</td><td align="left">Wed Sep 6 02:59:32 2000</td><td align="left">fnatter</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="left">5 new sections.</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<div class="abstract">
<p>
<a name="N2688"></a><b>Abstract</b>
</p>
<p>
Some notes on porting applications from libstdc++-2.90 (or earlier
versions) to libstdc++-v3. Not speaking in terms of the GNU libstdc++
implementations, this means porting from earlier versions of the
C++-Standard to ISO 14882.
</p>
</div>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="toc">
<p>
<b>Table of Contents</b>
</p>
<dl>
<dt>1. <a href="#sec-nsstd">Namespace std::</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>1.1.1. <a href="#sec-gtkmm-hack">Using <i>namespace
composition</i> if the project uses a separate
namespace</a>
</dt>
<dt>1.1.2. <a href="#sec-emptyns">Defining an empty namespace std</a>
</dt>
<dt>1.1.3. <a href="#sec-avoidfqn">Avoid to use fully qualified names
(i.e. std::string)</a>
</dt>
<dt>1.1.4. <a href="#sec-osprojects">How some open-source-projects deal
with this</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>2. <a href="#sec-nocreate">there is no ios::nocreate/ios::noreplace
in ISO 14882</a>
</dt>
<dt>3. <a href="#sec-stream::attach"><b>stream::attach(int
fd)</b> is not in the standard any more</a>
</dt>
<dt>4. <a href="#sec-headers">The new headers</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>4.4.1. <a href="#sec-cheaders">New headers replacing C-headers</a>
</dt>
<dt>4.4.2. <a href="#sec-fstream-header">
<tt>&lt;fstream&gt;</tt> does
not define <b>std::cout</b>,
<b>std::cin</b> etc.</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>5. <a href="#sec-iterators">Iterators</a>
</dt>
<dt>6. <a href="#sec-macros">
Libc-macros (i.e. <b>isspace</b> from
<tt>&lt;cctype&gt;</tt>)</a>
</dt>
<dt>7. <a href="#sec-stream-state">
State of streams
</a>
</dt>
<dt>8. <a href="#sec-vector-at">vector::at is missing (i.e. gcc 2.95.2)</a>
</dt>
<dt>9. <a href="#sec-eof">Using std::char_traits&lt;char&gt;::eof()</a>
</dt>
<dt>10. <a href="#sec-string-clear">Using string::clear()/string::erase()</a>
</dt>
<dt>11. <a href="#sec-stringstream">Using stringstream's</a>
</dt>
<dt>12. <a href="#sec-about">About...</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</div>
<p>
In the following, when I say portable, I will refer to "portable among ISO
14882-implementations". On the other hand, if I say "backportable" or
"conservative", I am talking about "compiles with older
libstdc++-implementations".
</p>
<div class="section" id="sec-nsstd">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-nsstd"><b>1. Namespace std::</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
The latest C++-standard (ISO-14882) requires that the standard
C++-library is defined in namespace std::. Thus, in order to use
classes from the standard C++-library, you can do one of three
things:
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul>
<li>
<a name="N2712"></a>
<p>wrap your code in <b>namespace std {
... }</b> =&gt; This is not an option because only symbols
from the standard c++-library are defined in namespace std::.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<a name="N2721"></a>
<p>put a kind of
<i>using-declaration</i> in your source (either
<b>using namespace std;</b> or i.e. <b>using
std::string;</b>) =&gt; works well for source-files, but
cannot be used in header-files.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<a name="N2736"></a>
<p>use a <i>fully qualified name</i> for
each libstdc++-symbol (i.e. <b>std::string</b>,
<b>std::cout</b>) =&gt; can always be used
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</p>
<p>
Because there are many compilers which still use an implementation
that does not have the standard C++-library in namespace
<b>std::</b>, some care is required to support these as
well.
</p>
<p>
Namespace back-portability-issues are generally not a problem with
g++, because versions of g++ that do not have libstdc++ in
<b>std::</b> use <b>-fno-honor-std</b>
(ignore <b>std::</b>, <b>:: = std::</b>) by
default. That is, the responsibility for enabling or disabling
<b>std::</b> is on the user; the maintainer does not have
to care about it. This probably applies to some other compilers as
well.
</p>
<p>
The following sections list some possible solutions to support compilers
that cannot ignore std::.
</p>
<div class="section" id="sec-gtkmm-hack">
<h3 class="title">
<a name="sec-gtkmm-hack"><b>1.1.1. Using <i>namespace
composition</i> if the project uses a separate
namespace</b></a>
</h3>
<p>
<a href="http://gtkmm.sourceforge.net">Gtk--</a> defines
most of its classes in namespace Gtk::. Thus, it was possible to
adapt Gtk-- to namespace std:: by using a C++-feature called
<i>namespace composition</i>. This is what happens if
you put a <i>using</i>-declaration into a
namespace-definition: the imported symbol(s) gets imported into the
currently active namespace(s). For example:
<pre class="programlisting">
namespace Gtk {
using std::string;
class Window { ... }
}
</pre>
In this example, <b>std::string</b> gets imported into
namespace Gtk::. The result is that you don't have to use
<b>std::string</b> in this header, but still
<b>std::string</b> does not get imported into
user-space (the global namespace ::) unless the user does
<b>using namespace Gtk;</b> (which is not recommended
practice for Gtk--, so it is not a problem). Additionally, the
<b>using</b>-declarations are wrapped in macros that
are set based on autoconf-tests to either "" or i.e. <b>using
std::string;</b> (depending on whether the system has
libstdc++ in <b>std::</b> or not). (ideas from
<tt>&lt;<a href="mailto:llewelly@dbritsch.dsl.xmission.com">llewelly@dbritsch.dsl.xmission.com</a>&gt;</tt>, Karl Nelson
<tt>&lt;<a href="mailto:kenelson@ece.ucdavis.edu">kenelson@ece.ucdavis.edu</a>&gt;</tt>)
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-emptyns">
<h3 class="title">
<a name="sec-emptyns"><b>1.1.2. Defining an empty namespace std</b></a>
</h3>
<p>
By defining an (empty) namespace <b>std::</b> before
using it, you avoid getting errors on systems where no part of the
library is in namespace std:
<pre class="programlisting">
namespace std { }
using namespace std;
</pre>
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-avoidfqn">
<h3 class="title">
<a name="sec-avoidfqn"><b>1.1.3. Avoid to use fully qualified names
(i.e. std::string)</b></a>
</h3>
<p>
If some compilers complain about <b>using
std::string;</b>, and if the "hack" for gtk-- mentioned above
does not work, then it might be a good idea to define a macro
NS_STD, which is defined to either "" or "std"
based on an autoconf-test. Then you should be able to use
<b>NS_STD::string</b>, which will evaluate to
<b>::string</b> ("string in the global namespace") on
systems that do not put string in std::. (This is untested)
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-osprojects">
<h3 class="title">
<a name="sec-osprojects"><b>1.1.4. How some open-source-projects deal
with this</b></a>
</h3>
<p>
This information was gathered around May 2000. It may not be correct
by the time you read this.
</p>
<div class="table">
<p>
<a name="N2901"></a><b>Table 1. Namespace std:: in Open-Source programs</b>
</p>
<table border="1">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://www.clanlib.org">clanlib</a></td><td>usual</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://pingus.seul.org">pingus</a></td><td>usual</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://www.mozilla.org">mozilla</a></td><td>usual</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://www.mnemonic.org">mnemonic</a></td><td>none</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://libsigc.sourceforge.net">
libsigc++</a></td><td>conservative-impl</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="table">
<p>
<a name="N2978"></a><b>Table 2. Notations for categories</b>
</p>
<table border="1">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>usual</td><td>mostly fully qualified names and some
using-declarations (but not in headers)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>none</td><td>no namespace std at all</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>conservative-impl</td><td>wrap all
namespace-handling in macros to support compilers without
namespace-support (no libstdc++ used in headers)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p>
As you can see, this currently lacks an example of a project which
uses libstdc++-symbols in headers in a back-portable way (except
for Gtk--: see the <a href="#"></a>).
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-nocreate">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-nocreate"><b>2. there is no ios::nocreate/ios::noreplace
in ISO 14882</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
I have seen <b>ios::nocreate</b> being used for input-streams,
most probably because the authors thought it would be more correct
to specify nocreate "explicitly". So you can simply leave it out
for input-streams.
</p>
<p>
For output streams, "nocreate" is probably the default, unless you
specify <b>std::ios::trunc</b> ? To be safe, you can open
the file for reading, check if it has been opened, and then decide
whether you want to create/replace or not. To my knowledge, even
older implementations support <b>app</b>,
<b>ate</b> and <b>trunc</b> (except for
<b>app</b> ?).
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-stream::attach">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-stream::attach"><b>3. <b>stream::attach(int
fd)</b> is not in the standard any more</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
When using libstdc++-v3, you can use
<div id="N3082" class="funcsynopsis">
<p>
</p>
<a name="N3082"></a>
<pre class="funcsynopsisinfo">
#include &lt;fstream&gt;
</pre>
<p>
<code><code class="funcdef">int <b class="fsfunc">basic_filebuf</b></code>(<var class="pdparam">__fd</var>, <var class="pdparam">__name</var>, <var class="pdparam">__mode</var>);<br>int <var class="pdparam">__fd</var>;<br>const char* <var class="pdparam">__name</var>;<br>ios_base::openmode <var class="pdparam">__mode</var>;</code>
</p>
<p>
</p>
</div>
For a portable solution (if there is one), you need to implement a
subclass of <b>streambuf</b> which opens a file given a
descriptor, and then pass an instance of this to the
stream-constructor (from the Josuttis-book).
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-headers">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-headers"><b>4. The new headers</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
All new headers can be seen in this <a href="../../testsuite/17_intro/headers.cc">source-code</a>.
</p>
<p>
I think it is a problem for libstdc++-v3 to add links or wrappers
for the old headers, because the implementation has changed, and
the header name-changes indicate this. It might be preferable to
use the new headers and tell users of old compilers that they
should create links (which is what they will have to do sometime
anyway).
</p>
<div class="section" id="sec-cheaders">
<h3 class="title">
<a name="sec-cheaders"><b>4.4.1. New headers replacing C-headers</b></a>
</h3>
<p>
You should not use the C-headers (except for system-level headers)
from C++ programs. Instead, you should use a set of headers that
are named by prepending 'c' and, as usual, ommiting the extension
(.h). For example, instead of using <tt>&lt;math.h&gt;</tt>, you should use <tt>&lt;cmath&gt;</tt>. The standard
specifies that if you include the C-style header (<tt>&lt;math.h&gt;</tt> in this case), the symbols
will be available both in the global namespace and in namespace
<b>std::</b> (libstdc++-v3, version 2.90.8 currently
puts them in <b>std::</b> only) On the other hand, if
you include only the new header (i.e. <tt>&lt;pcmath&gt;</tt>), the symbols will only be
defined in namespace <b>std::</b> (and macros will be
converted to inline-functions).
</p>
<p>
For more information on this, and for information on how the GNU
C++ implementation reuses ("shadows") the C library-functions, have
a look at <a href="http://www.cantrip.org/cheaders.html">
www.cantrip.org</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-fstream-header">
<h3 class="title">
<a name="sec-fstream-header"><b>4.4.2.
<tt>&lt;fstream&gt;</tt> does
not define <b>std::cout</b>,
<b>std::cin</b> etc.</b></a>
</h3>
<p>
In previous versions of the standard, <tt>&lt;fstream.h&gt;</tt>, <tt>&lt;ostream.h&gt;</tt> and <tt>&lt;istream.h&gt;</tt> used to define
<b>cout</b>, <b>cin</b> and so on. Because
of the templatized iostreams in libstdc++-v3, you need to include
<tt>&lt;iostream&gt;</tt>
explicitly to define these.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-iterators">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-iterators"><b>5. Iterators</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
The following are not proper uses of iterators, but may be working
fixes for existing uses of iterators.
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul>
<li>
<a name="N3282"></a>
<p>you cannot do
<b>ostream::operator&lt;&lt;(iterator)</b> to
print the address of the iterator =&gt; use
<b>operator&lt;&lt; &amp;*iterator</b> instead ?
</p>
</li>
<li>
<a name="N3303"></a>
<p>you cannot clear an iterator's reference
(<b>iterator = 0</b>) =&gt; use
<b>iterator = iterator_type();</b> ?
</p>
</li>
<li>
<a name="N3316"></a>
<p>
<b>if (iterator)</b> won't work any
more =&gt; use <b>if (iterator != iterator_type())</b>
?</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-macros">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-macros"><b>6.
Libc-macros (i.e. <b>isspace</b> from
<tt>&lt;cctype&gt;</tt>)</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
Glibc 2.0.x and 2.1.x define the <tt>&lt;ctype.h&gt;</tt> -functionality as
macros (isspace, isalpha etc.). Libstdc++-v3 "shadows" these macros
as described in the <a href="#"></a>.
</p>
<p>
Older implementations of libstdc++ (g++-2 for egcs 1.x and g++-3
for gcc 2.95.2), however, keep these functions as macros, and so it
is not back-portable to use fully qualified names. For example:
<pre class="programlisting">
#include &lt;cctype&gt;
int main() { std::isspace('X'); }
</pre>
will result in something like this (unless using g++-v3):
<pre class="programlisting">
std:: (__ctype_b[(int) ( ( 'X' ) )] &amp; (unsigned short int)
_ISspace ) ;
</pre>
</p>
<p>
One solution I can think of is to test for -v3 using
autoconf-macros, and define macros for each of the C-functions
(maybe that is possible with one "wrapper" macro as well ?).
</p>
<p>
Another solution which would fix g++ is to tell the user to modify a
header-file so that g++-2 (egcs 1.x) and g++-3 (gcc 2.95.2) define a
macro which tells <tt>&lt;ctype.h&gt;</tt> to define functions
instead of macros:
<pre class="programlisting">
// This keeps isalnum, et al from being propagated as macros.
#if __linux__
#define __NO_CTYPE 1
#endif
[ now include &lt;ctype.h&gt; ]
</pre>
</p>
<p>
Another problem arises if you put a <b>using namespace
std;</b> declaration at the top, and include <tt>&lt;ctype.h&gt;</tt>. This will result in
ambiguities between the definitions in the global namespace
(<tt>&lt;ctype.h&gt;</tt>) and the
definitions in namespace <b>std::</b>
(<b>&lt;cctype&gt;</b>).
</p>
<p>
The solution to this problem was posted to the libstdc++-v3
mailing-list:
Benjamin Kosnik <tt>&lt;<a href="mailto:bkoz@redhat.com">bkoz@redhat.com</a>&gt;</tt> writes:
"
--enable-cshadow-headers is currently broken. As a result, shadow
headers are not being searched....
"
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-stream-state">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-stream-state"><b>7.
State of streams
</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
At least some older implementations don't have
<b>std::ios_base</b>, so you should use
<b>std::ios::badbit</b>, <b>std::ios::failbit</b>
and <b>std::ios::eofbit</b> and
<b>std::ios::goodbit</b>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-vector-at">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-vector-at"><b>8. vector::at is missing (i.e. gcc 2.95.2)</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
For my use, I added it to
<tt>prefix/include/g++-3/stl_vector.h</tt>:
<pre class="programlisting">
reference operator[](size_type __n) { return *(begin() + __n); }
reference at(size_type __n) {
if (begin() + __n &gt;= end())
throw out_of_range("vector::at");
return *(begin() + __n);
}
const_reference operator[](size_type __n) const { return *(begin() + __n); }
const_reference at(size_type __n) const {
if (begin() + __n &gt;= end())
throw out_of_range("vector::at");
return *(begin() + __n);
}
</pre>
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-eof">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-eof"><b>9. Using std::char_traits&lt;char&gt;::eof()</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
<pre class="programlisting">
#ifdef HAVE_CHAR_TRAITS
#define CPP_EOF std::char_traits&lt;char&gt;::eof()
#else
#define CPP_EOF EOF
#endif
</pre>
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-string-clear">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-string-clear"><b>10. Using string::clear()/string::erase()</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
There are two functions for deleting the contents of a string:
<b>clear</b> and <b>erase</b> (the latter
returns the string).
<pre class="programlisting">
void
clear() { _M_mutate(0, this-&gt;size(), 0); }
</pre>
<pre class="programlisting">
basic_string&amp;
erase(size_type __pos = 0, size_type __n = npos)
{
return this-&gt;replace(_M_check(__pos), _M_fold(__pos, __n),
_M_data(), _M_data());
}
</pre>
The implementation of <b>erase</b> seems to be more
complicated (from libstdc++-v3), but <b>clear</b> is not
implemented in gcc 2.95.2's libstdc++, so you should use
<b>erase</b> (which is probably faster than
<b>operator=(charT*)</b>).
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-stringstream">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-stringstream"><b>11. Using stringstream's</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
Libstdc++-v3 includes the new
<b>i/ostringstream</b>-classes, (<tt>&lt;sstream&gt;</tt>), but with older
implementations you still have to use <b>i/ostrstream</b>
(<tt>&lt;strstream&gt;</tt>):
<pre class="programlisting">
#ifdef HAVE_SSTREAM
#include &lt;sstream&gt;
#else
#include &lt;strstream&gt;
#endif
</pre>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul>
<li>
<a name="N3595"></a>
<p> <b>strstream</b> is considered to be
deprecated
</p>
</li>
<li>
<a name="N3603"></a>
<p> <b>strstream</b> is limited to
<b>char</b>
</p>
</li>
<li>
<a name="N3614"></a>
<p> with <b>ostringstream</b> you don't
have to take care of terminating the string or freeing its
memory
</p>
</li>
<li>
<a name="N3622"></a>
<p> <b>istringstream</b> can be re-filled
(clear(); str(input);)
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</p>
<p>
You can then use output-stringstreams like this:
<pre class="programlisting">
#ifdef HAVE_SSTREAM
std::ostringstream oss;
#else
std::ostrstream oss;
#endif
oss &lt;&lt; "Name=" &lt;&lt; m_name &lt;&lt; ", number=" &lt;&lt; m_number &lt;&lt; std::endl;
...
#ifndef HAVE_SSTREAM
oss &lt;&lt; std::ends; // terminate the char*-string
#endif
// str() returns char* for ostrstream and a string for ostringstream
// this also causes ostrstream to think that the buffer's memory
// is yours
m_label.set_text(oss.str());
#ifndef HAVE_SSTREAM
// let the ostrstream take care of freeing the memory
oss.freeze(false);
#endif
</pre>
</p>
<p>
Input-stringstreams can be used similarly:
<pre class="programlisting">
std::string input;
...
#ifdef HAVE_SSTREAM
std::istringstream iss(input);
#else
std::istrstream iss(input.c_str());
#endif
int i;
iss &gt;&gt; i;
</pre>
One (the only?) restriction is that an istrstream cannot be re-filled:
<pre class="programlisting">
std::istringstream iss(numerator);
iss &gt;&gt; m_num;
// this is not possible with istrstream
iss.clear();
iss.str(denominator);
iss &gt;&gt; m_den;
</pre>
If you don't care about speed, you can put these conversions in
a template-function:
<pre class="programlisting">
template &lt;class X&gt;
void fromString(const string&amp; input, X&amp; any)
{
#ifdef HAVE_SSTREAM
std::istringstream iss(input);
#else
std::istrstream iss(input.c_str());
#endif
X temp;
iss &gt;&gt; temp;
if (iss.fail())
throw runtime_error(..)
any = temp;
}
</pre>
</p>
<p>
I have read the Josuttis book on Standard C++, so some information
comes from there. Additionally, there is information in
"info iostream", which covers the old implementation that gcc 2.95.2
uses.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sec-about">
<h2 class="title" style="clear: all">
<a name="sec-about"><b>12. About...</b></a>
</h2>
<p>
Please send any experience, additions, corrections or questions to
<a href="mailto:fnatter@gmx.net">fnatter@gmx.net</a> or for
discussion to the libstdc++-v3-mailing-list.
</p>
</div>
</div>
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