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[Python-Dev] Should Python compile as C++?

M.-A. Lemburg mal@lemburg.com
Tue, 05 Feb 2002 13:22:48 +0100 
Mark Hammond wrote:
> 
> > > I vote for #3 -- if enough software can't compiled with mingw32 the
> > > compiler will be fixed, as it should, and I'm happy to help encourage
> > > this.
> >
> > I'm not quite sure if was really a bug in mingw32, but the fact that the
> > compiler accepts the code when compiled as C++ is at least inconsistent.
> 
> IIRC, msvc has the exact same problem, and that is turns out that the error
> is actually correct.  <jeez I hate saying anything like this when I know Tim
> is listening :)>  I believe the problem is that C does not guarantee the
> initialization order of static objects across object modules.  The Python
> idiom of taking the address of a global variable in one module to initialize
> another global variable in another module is not guaranteed to do what you
> expect.  OTOH, C++ does make such a guarantee.
> 
> The good news is that if msvc has the same problem, wherever the blame lies,
> you can be fairly sure that something will be done so msvc works (and has
> indeed been done for a few modules).  Therefore you get mingw for free :)

If the initialization of type objects is all that needs fixing to
get Python compile to on MinGW32, why not simply fix it ? MSVC has had
the same problem for years. What's strange is that in some cases,
MSVC does seem to get it right where in others it fails with an
error -- probably a DLL vs. EXE thing.

Or am I missing something here :-?

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
CEO eGenix.com Software GmbH
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