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Diffstat (limited to 'manual')
| -rw-r--r-- | manual/creature.texi | 14 |
1 files changed, 14 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/manual/creature.texi b/manual/creature.texi index 00e3aada90..f88a6d9615 100644 --- a/manual/creature.texi +++ b/manual/creature.texi @@ -19,6 +19,20 @@ comments. You could also use the @samp{-D} option to GCC, but it's better if you make the source files indicate their own meaning in a self-contained way. +This system exists to allow the library to conform to multiple standards. +Although the different standards are often described as supersets of each +other, they are usually incompatible because larger standards require +functions with names that smaller ones reserve to the user program. This +is not mere pedantry --- it has been a problem in practice. For instance, +some non-GNU programs define functions named @code{getline} that have +nothing to do with this library's @code{getline}. They would not be +compilable if all features were enabled indescriminantly. + +This should not be used to verify that a program conforms to a limited +standard. It is insufficent for this purpose, as it will not protect you +from including header files outside the standard, or relying on semantics +undefined within the standard. + @comment (none) @comment POSIX.1 @defvr Macro _POSIX_SOURCE |