Re:Moving the Linux Kernel to Modern C
by Jtsummers on Thursday February 24, 2022 @03:56PM
(#30460166)
That would make the code (and the compiler) non-C89 compliant. At which point, why not move to a different standard rather than bork both the kernel and the compiler if it can meet the needs better?
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Re:Moving the Linux Kernel to Modern C
by electroly on Thursday February 24, 2022 @04:17PM
(#30460423)
The Linux kernel requires GNU extensions; it's already not ANSI C89.
Re:Moving the Linux Kernel to Modern C
by Jtsummers on Thursday February 24, 2022 @04:28PM
(#30460545)
Alright, making it more non-compliant, then. Still creates problems for everyone and also necessitates a larger jump in the GCC version to support (unless you're going to back port the new extensions to every version that the kernel currently works with). Currently you can compile the Linux kernel with GCC 5.1. If you changed the compiler to support this one feature (or any other) you'd either need to back port it several versions (potentially back to 5) or abandon all of them. Which is probably a no-go with a project that's overall as conservative as the Linux kernel project.