rcrsn51 wrote:WIckedWitch wrote:Given that stddef.h is a standard header defined by the ISO C standards, I find it bizarre that a gcc package may not itself come with it.
I don't understand this. Are you trying to load multiple gcc's into the same environment?
I do have multiple gcc's in one environment, but that is not the problem with which I am concerned. In the UK I am qualified as an assessor for compiler testing for UKAS, the body that provides accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 for measurement and test laboratories. To meet that standard, all assessed testing and measurement must be both repeatable and reproducible.
For compiler testing to be repeatable, it must be possible to set up a test system that has
exactly the same compiler configuration as in a previous test and that matches the configuration in the user's development and build environments. If an installed gcc relies on picking up header files that it does not itself define, then how can I show that the gcc I am testing on one occasion is the same gcc that I test on a subsequent occasion? If I cannot be sure of or otherwise demonstrate this, then I have no hope of making testing repeatable.
If an installation image is complete in itself and is simply a directory structure subject to simple scalar parameterisation, then I can provide the necessary assurance of repeatability by recursively checksumming the directory tree. Otherwise I'm not sure how I can obtain such an assurance.
This is not academic quibbling. I have already had to pull out from validation assignments for gcc-based C compilers because the clients were not able to demonstrate that a cleanly installed gcc configuration is the same as they use in their development and build environments. It is because of these difficulties that I am currently developing a suite of test programs that attempt to determine by testing what the installed configuration actually is. This is also an essential precursor to configuring static analysis tools to verify C programs compiled with gcc.
Sometimes I post mindfully, sometimes not mindfully, and sometimes both mindfully and not mindfully. It all depends on whether and when my mind goes walkies while I'm posting :?