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-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>Frequently Asked Questions</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.74.0" /><link rel="home" href="spine.html" title="The GNU C++ Library Documentation" /><link rel="up" href="bk03.html" title="" /><link rel="prev" href="bk03.html" title="" /></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Frequently Asked Questions</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="bk03.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center"></th><td width="20%" align="right"> </td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="article" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="faq"></a>Frequently Asked Questions</h2></div><div><p class="copyright">Copyright ©
- 2008
-
- <a class="ulink" href="http://fsf.org" target="_top">FSF</a>
- </p></div></div><hr /></div><div class="qandaset"><dl><dt>1. <a href="faq.html#faq.info">General Information</a></dt><dd><dl><dt>1.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.what">
- What is libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>1.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.why">
- Why should I use libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>1.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.who">
- Who's in charge of it?
- </a></dt><dt>1.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.when">
- When is libstdc++ going to be finished?
- </a></dt><dt>1.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.how">
- How do I contribute to the effort?
- </a></dt><dt>1.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.whereis_old">
- What happened to the older libg++? I need that!
- </a></dt><dt>1.7. <a href="faq.html#faq.more_questions">
- What if I have more questions?
- </a></dt></dl></dd><dt>2. <a href="faq.html#faq.license">License</a></dt><dd><dl><dt>2.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.license.what">
- What are the license terms for libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>2.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.license.any_program">
- So any program which uses libstdc++ falls under the GPL?
- </a></dt><dt>2.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.license.lgpl">
- How is that different from the GNU {Lesser,Library} GPL?
- </a></dt><dt>2.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.license.what_restrictions">
- I see. So, what restrictions are there on programs that use the library?
- </a></dt></dl></dd><dt>3. <a href="faq.html#faq.installation">Installation</a></dt><dd><dl><dt>3.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.how_to_install">How do I install libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>3.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.how_to_get_sources">How does one get current libstdc++ sources?
- </a></dt><dt>3.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.how_to_test">How do I know if it works?
- </a></dt><dt>3.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.how_to_set_paths">How do I insure that the dynamically linked library will be found?
- </a></dt><dt>3.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.what_is_libsupcxx">
- What's libsupc++?
- </a></dt><dt>3.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.size">
- This library is HUGE!
- </a></dt></dl></dd><dt>4. <a href="faq.html#faq.platform-specific">Platform-Specific Issues</a></dt><dd><dl><dt>4.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.other_compilers">
- Can libstdc++ be used with non-GNU compilers?
- </a></dt><dt>4.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.solaris_long_long">
- No 'long long' type on Solaris?
- </a></dt><dt>4.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.predefined">
- _XOPEN_SOURCE and _GNU_SOURCE are always defined?
- </a></dt><dt>4.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.darwin_ctype">
- Mac OS X ctype.h is broken! How can I fix it?
- </a></dt><dt>4.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.threads_i386">
- Threading is broken on i386?
- </a></dt><dt>4.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.atomic_mips">
- MIPS atomic operations
- </a></dt><dt>4.7. <a href="faq.html#faq.linux_glibc">
- Recent GNU/Linux glibc required?
- </a></dt><dt>4.8. <a href="faq.html#faq.freebsd_wchar">
- Can't use wchar_t/wstring on FreeBSD
- </a></dt></dl></dd><dt>5. <a href="faq.html#faq.known_bugs">Known Bugs</a></dt><dd><dl><dt>5.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.what_works">
- What works already?
- </a></dt><dt>5.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.standard_bugs">
- Bugs in the ISO C++ language or library specification
- </a></dt><dt>5.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.compiler_bugs">
- Bugs in the compiler (gcc/g++) and not libstdc++
- </a></dt></dl></dd><dt>6. <a href="faq.html#faq.known_non-bugs">Known Non-Bugs</a></dt><dd><dl><dt>6.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.stream_reopening_fails">
- Reopening a stream fails
- </a></dt><dt>6.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.wefcxx_verbose">
- -Weffc++ complains too much
- </a></dt><dt>6.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.ambiguous_overloads">
- Ambiguous overloads after including an old-style header
- </a></dt><dt>6.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.v2_headers">
- The g++-3 headers are not ours
- </a></dt><dt>6.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.boost_concept_checks">
- Errors about *Concept and
- constraints in the STL
- </a></dt><dt>6.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.dlopen_crash">
- Program crashes when using library code in a
- dynamically-loaded library
- </a></dt><dt>6.7. <a href="faq.html#faq.memory_leaks">
- “Memory leaks” in containers
- </a></dt><dt>6.8. <a href="faq.html#faq.list_size_on">
- list::size() is O(n)!
- </a></dt><dt>6.9. <a href="faq.html#faq.easy_to_fix">
- Aw, that's easy to fix!
- </a></dt></dl></dd><dt>7. <a href="faq.html#faq.misc">Miscellaneous</a></dt><dd><dl><dt>7.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.iterator_as_pod">
- string::iterator is not char*; vector&lt;T&gt;::iterator is not T*
- </a></dt><dt>7.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.what_is_next">
- What's next after libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>7.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.sgi_stl">
- What about the STL from SGI?
- </a></dt><dt>7.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.extensions_and_backwards_compat">
- Extensions and Backward Compatibility
- </a></dt><dt>7.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.tr1_support">
- Does libstdc++ support TR1?
- </a></dt><dt>7.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.get_iso_cxx">How do I get a copy of the ISO C++ Standard?
- </a></dt><dt>7.7. <a href="faq.html#faq.what_is_abi">
- What's an ABI and why is it so messy?
- </a></dt><dt>7.8. <a href="faq.html#faq.size_equals_capacity">
- How do I make std::vector&lt;T&gt;::capacity() == std::vector&lt;T&gt;::size?
- </a></dt></dl></dd></dl><table border="0" summary="Q and A Set"><col align="left" width="1%" /><tbody><tr class="qandadiv"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><h3 class="title"><a id="faq.info"></a>1. General Information</h3></td></tr><tr class="toc"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><dl><dt>1.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.what">
- What is libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>1.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.why">
- Why should I use libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>1.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.who">
- Who's in charge of it?
- </a></dt><dt>1.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.when">
- When is libstdc++ going to be finished?
- </a></dt><dt>1.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.how">
- How do I contribute to the effort?
- </a></dt><dt>1.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.whereis_old">
- What happened to the older libg++? I need that!
- </a></dt><dt>1.7. <a href="faq.html#faq.more_questions">
- What if I have more questions?
- </a></dt></dl></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.what"></a><a id="faq.what.q"></a><p><b>1.1.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- What is libstdc++?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.what.a"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- The GNU Standard C++ Library v3 is an ongoing project to
- implement the ISO 14882 Standard C++ library as described in
- chapters 17 through 27 and annex D. For those who want to see
- exactly how far the project has come, or just want the latest
- bleeding-edge code, the up-to-date source is available over
- anonymous SVN, and can even be browsed over
- the <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/svn.html" target="_top">web</a>.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.why"></a><a id="q-why"></a><p><b>1.2.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Why should I use libstdc++?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-why"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- The completion of the ISO C++ standardization gave the C++
- community a powerful set of reuseable tools in the form of the C++
- Standard Library. However, all existing C++ implementations are
- (as the Draft Standard used to say) “<span class="quote">incomplet and
- incorrekt</span>”, and many suffer from limitations of the compilers
- that use them.
- </p><p>
- The GNU compiler collection
- (<span class="command"><strong>gcc</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>g++</strong></span>, etc) is widely
- considered to be one of the leading compilers in the world. Its
- development is overseen by the
- <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/" target="_top">GCC team</a>. All of
- the rapid development and near-legendary
- <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/buildstat.html" target="_top">portability</a>
- that are the hallmarks of an open-source project are being
- applied to libstdc++.
- </p><p>
- That means that all of the Standard classes and functions will be
- freely available and fully compliant. (Such as
- <code class="classname">string</code>,
- <code class="classname">vector&lt;&gt;</code>, iostreams, and algorithms.)
- Programmers will no longer need to “<span class="quote">roll their own</span>”
- nor be worried about platform-specific incompatibilities.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.who"></a><a id="q-who"></a><p><b>1.3.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Who's in charge of it?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-who"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- The libstdc++ project is contributed to by several developers
- all over the world, in the same way as GCC or Linux.
- Benjamin Kosnik, Gabriel Dos Reis, Phil Edwards, Ulrich Drepper,
- Loren James Rittle, and Paolo Carlini are the lead maintainers of
- the SVN archive.
- </p><p>
- Development and discussion is held on the libstdc++ mailing
- list. Subscribing to the list, or searching the list
- archives, is open to everyone. You can read instructions for
- doing so on the <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++/" target="_top">homepage</a>.
- If you have questions, ideas, code, or are just curious, sign up!
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.when"></a><a id="q-when"></a><p><b>1.4.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- When is libstdc++ going to be finished?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-when"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Nathan Myers gave the best of all possible answers, responding to
- a Usenet article asking this question: <span class="emphasis"><em>Sooner, if you
- help.</em></span>
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.how"></a><a id="q-how"></a><p><b>1.5.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- How do I contribute to the effort?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-how"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Here is <a class="link" href="manual/appendix_contributing.html" title="Appendix A.  Contributing">a page devoted to
- this topic</a>. Subscribing to the mailing list (see above, or
- the homepage) is a very good idea if you have something to
- contribute, or if you have spare time and want to
- help. Contributions don't have to be in the form of source code;
- anybody who is willing to help write documentation, for example,
- or has found a bug in code that we all thought was working and is
- willing to provide details, is more than welcome!
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.whereis_old"></a><a id="q-whereis_old"></a><p><b>1.6.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- What happened to the older libg++? I need that!
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-whereis_old"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- The most recent libg++ README states that libg++ is no longer
- being actively maintained. It should not be used for new
- projects, and is only being kicked along to support older code.
- </p><p>
- More information in the <a class="link" href="manual/backwards.html" title="Backwards Compatibility">backwards compatibility documentation</a>
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.more_questions"></a><a id="q-more_questions"></a><p><b>1.7.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- What if I have more questions?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-more_questions"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- If you have read the README file, and your question remains
- unanswered, then just ask the mailing list. At present, you do not
- need to be subscribed to the list to send a message to it. More
- information is available on the homepage (including how to browse
- the list archives); to send a message to the list,
- use <code class="email">&lt;<a class="email" href="mailto:libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org">libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org</a>&gt;</code>.
- </p><p>
- If you have a question that you think should be included
- here, or if you have a question <span class="emphasis"><em>about</em></span> a question/answer
- here, please send email to the libstdc++ mailing list, as above.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="qandadiv"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><h3 class="title"><a id="faq.license"></a>2. License</h3></td></tr><tr class="toc"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><dl><dt>2.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.license.what">
- What are the license terms for libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>2.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.license.any_program">
- So any program which uses libstdc++ falls under the GPL?
- </a></dt><dt>2.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.license.lgpl">
- How is that different from the GNU {Lesser,Library} GPL?
- </a></dt><dt>2.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.license.what_restrictions">
- I see. So, what restrictions are there on programs that use the library?
- </a></dt></dl></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.license.what"></a><a id="q-license.what"></a><p><b>2.1.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- What are the license terms for libstdc++?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-license.what"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- See <a class="link" href="manual/license.html" title="License">our license description</a>
- for these and related questions.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.license.any_program"></a><a id="q-license.any_program"></a><p><b>2.2.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- So any program which uses libstdc++ falls under the GPL?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-license.any_program"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- No. The special exception permits use of the library in
- proprietary applications.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.license.lgpl"></a><a id="q-license.lgpl"></a><p><b>2.3.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- How is that different from the GNU {Lesser,Library} GPL?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-license.lgpl"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- The LGPL requires that users be able to replace the LGPL code with a
- modified version; this is trivial if the library in question is a C
- shared library. But there's no way to make that work with C++, where
- much of the library consists of inline functions and templates, which
- are expanded inside the code that uses the library. So to allow people
- to replace the library code, someone using the library would have to
- distribute their own source, rendering the LGPL equivalent to the GPL.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.license.what_restrictions"></a><a id="q-license.what_restrictions"></a><p><b>2.4.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- I see. So, what restrictions are there on programs that use the library?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-license.what_restrictions"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- None. We encourage such programs to be released as open source,
- but we won't punish you or sue you if you choose otherwise.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="qandadiv"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><h3 class="title"><a id="faq.installation"></a>3. Installation</h3></td></tr><tr class="toc"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><dl><dt>3.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.how_to_install">How do I install libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>3.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.how_to_get_sources">How does one get current libstdc++ sources?
- </a></dt><dt>3.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.how_to_test">How do I know if it works?
- </a></dt><dt>3.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.how_to_set_paths">How do I insure that the dynamically linked library will be found?
- </a></dt><dt>3.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.what_is_libsupcxx">
- What's libsupc++?
- </a></dt><dt>3.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.size">
- This library is HUGE!
- </a></dt></dl></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.how_to_install"></a><a id="q-how_to_install"></a><p><b>3.1.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>How do I install libstdc++?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-how_to_install"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Often libstdc++ comes pre-installed as an integral part of many
- existing Linux and Unix systems, as well as many embedded
- development tools. It may be necessary to install extra
- development packages to get the headers, or the documentation, or
- the source: please consult your vendor for details.
- </p><p>
- To build and install from the GNU GCC sources, please consult the
- <a class="link" href="manual/setup.html" title="Chapter 2. Setup">setup
- documentation</a> for detailed
- instructions. You may wish to browse those files ahead
- of time to get a feel for what's required.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.how_to_get_sources"></a><a id="q-how_to_get_sources"></a><p><b>3.2.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>How does one get current libstdc++ sources?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-how_to_get_sources"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Libstdc++ sources for all official releases can be obtained as
- part of the GCC sources, available from various sites and
- mirrors. A full <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/mirrors.html" target="_top">list of
- download sites</a> is provided on the main GCC site.
- </p><p>
- Current libstdc++ sources can always be checked out of the main
- GCC source repository using the appropriate version control
- tool. At this time, that tool
- is <span class="application">Subversion</span>.
- </p><p>
- <span class="application">Subversion</span>, or <acronym class="acronym">SVN</acronym>, is
- one of several revision control packages. It was selected for GNU
- projects because it's free (speech), free (beer), and very high
- quality. The <a class="ulink" href="http://subversion.tigris.org" target="_top"> Subversion
- home page</a> has a better description.
- </p><p>
- The “<span class="quote">anonymous client checkout</span>” feature of SVN is
- similar to anonymous FTP in that it allows anyone to retrieve
- the latest libstdc++ sources.
- </p><p>
- For more information
- see <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/svn.html" target="_top"><acronym class="acronym">SVN</acronym>
- details</a>.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.how_to_test"></a><a id="q-how_to_test"></a><p><b>3.3.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>How do I know if it works?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-how_to_test"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Libstdc++ comes with its own validation testsuite, which includes
- conformance testing, regression testing, ABI testing, and
- performance testing. Please consult the
- <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/install/test.html" target="_top">testing
- documentation</a> for more details.
- </p><p>
- If you find bugs in the testsuite programs themselves, or if you
- think of a new test program that should be added to the suite,
- <span class="emphasis"><em>please</em></span> write up your idea and send it to the list!
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.how_to_set_paths"></a><a id="q-how_to_set_paths"></a><p><b>3.4.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>How do I insure that the dynamically linked library will be found?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-how_to_set_paths"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Depending on your platform and library version, the error message might
- be similar to one of the following:
- </p><pre class="screen">
- ./a.out: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
-
- /usr/libexec/ld-elf.so.1: Shared object "libstdc++.so.6" not found
- </pre><p>
- This doesn't mean that the shared library isn't installed, only
- that the dynamic linker can't find it. When a dynamically-linked
- executable is run the linker finds and loads the required shared
- libraries by searching a pre-configured list of directories. If
- the directory where you've installed libstdc++ is not in this list
- then the libraries won't be found. The simplest way to fix this is
- to use the <code class="literal">LD_LIBRARY_PATH</code> environment variable,
- which is a colon-separated list of directories in which the linker
- will search for shared libraries:
- </p><pre class="screen">
- LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${prefix}/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
- export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
- </pre><p>
- The exact environment variable to use will depend on your
- platform, e.g. DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH for Darwin,
- LD_LIBRARY_PATH_32/LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64 for Solaris 32-/64-bit,
- LD_LIBRARYN32_PATH/LD_LIBRARY64_PATH for Irix N32/64-bit ABIs and
- SHLIB_PATH for HP-UX.
- </p><p>
- See the man pages for <span class="command"><strong>ld</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>ldd</strong></span>
- and <span class="command"><strong>ldconfig</strong></span> for more information. The dynamic
- linker has different names on different platforms but the man page
- is usually called something such as <code class="filename">ld.so/rtld/dld.so</code>.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.what_is_libsupcxx"></a><a id="q-what_is_libsupcxx"></a><p><b>3.5.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- What's libsupc++?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-what_is_libsupcxx"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- If the only functions from <code class="filename">libstdc++.a</code>
- which you need are language support functions (those listed in
- <a class="link" href="manual/support.html" title="Part II.  Support">clause 18</a> of the
- standard, e.g., <code class="function">new</code> and
- <code class="function">delete</code>), then try linking against
- <code class="filename">libsupc++.a</code>, which is a subset of
- <code class="filename">libstdc++.a</code>. (Using <span class="command"><strong>gcc</strong></span>
- instead of <span class="command"><strong>g++</strong></span> and explicitly linking in
- <code class="filename">libsupc++.a</code> via <code class="literal">-lsupc++</code>
- for the final link step will do it). This library contains only
- those support routines, one per object file. But if you are
- using anything from the rest of the library, such as IOStreams
- or vectors, then you'll still need pieces from
- <code class="filename">libstdc++.a</code>.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.size"></a><a id="q-size"></a><p><b>3.6.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- This library is HUGE!
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-size"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Usually the size of libraries on disk isn't noticeable. When a
- link editor (or simply “<span class="quote">linker</span>”) pulls things from a
- static archive library, only the necessary object files are copied
- into your executable, not the entire library. Unfortunately, even
- if you only need a single function or variable from an object file,
- the entire object file is extracted. (There's nothing unique to C++
- or libstdc++ about this; it's just common behavior, given here
- for background reasons.)
- </p><p>
- Some of the object files which make up libstdc++.a are rather large.
- If you create a statically-linked executable with
- <code class="literal">-static</code>, those large object files are suddenly part
- of your executable. Historically the best way around this was to
- only place a very few functions (often only a single one) in each
- source/object file; then extracting a single function is the same
- as extracting a single .o file. For libstdc++ this is only
- possible to a certain extent; the object files in question contain
- template classes and template functions, pre-instantiated, and
- splitting those up causes severe maintenance headaches.
- </p><p>
- On supported platforms, libstdc++ takes advantage of garbage
- collection in the GNU linker to get a result similar to separating
- each symbol into a separate source and object files. On these platforms,
- GNU ld can place each function and variable into its own
- section in a .o file. The GNU linker can then perform garbage
- collection on unused sections; this reduces the situation to only
- copying needed functions into the executable, as before, but all
- happens automatically.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="qandadiv"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><h3 class="title"><a id="faq.platform-specific"></a>4. Platform-Specific Issues</h3></td></tr><tr class="toc"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><dl><dt>4.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.other_compilers">
- Can libstdc++ be used with non-GNU compilers?
- </a></dt><dt>4.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.solaris_long_long">
- No 'long long' type on Solaris?
- </a></dt><dt>4.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.predefined">
- _XOPEN_SOURCE and _GNU_SOURCE are always defined?
- </a></dt><dt>4.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.darwin_ctype">
- Mac OS X ctype.h is broken! How can I fix it?
- </a></dt><dt>4.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.threads_i386">
- Threading is broken on i386?
- </a></dt><dt>4.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.atomic_mips">
- MIPS atomic operations
- </a></dt><dt>4.7. <a href="faq.html#faq.linux_glibc">
- Recent GNU/Linux glibc required?
- </a></dt><dt>4.8. <a href="faq.html#faq.freebsd_wchar">
- Can't use wchar_t/wstring on FreeBSD
- </a></dt></dl></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.other_compilers"></a><a id="q-other_compilers"></a><p><b>4.1.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Can libstdc++ be used with non-GNU compilers?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-other_compilers"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Perhaps.
- </p><p>
- Since the goal of ISO Standardization is for all C++
- implementations to be able to share code, libstdc++ should be
- usable under any ISO-compliant compiler, at least in theory.
- </p><p>
- However, the reality is that libstdc++ is targeted and optimized
- for GCC/g++. This means that often libstdc++ uses specific,
- non-standard features of g++ that are not present in older
- versions of proprietary compilers. It may take as much as a year or two
- after an official release of GCC that contains these features for
- proprietary tools support these constructs.
- </p><p>
- In the near past, specific released versions of libstdc++ have
- been known to work with versions of the EDG C++ compiler, and
- vendor-specific proprietary C++ compilers such as the Intel ICC
- C++ compiler.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.solaris_long_long"></a><a id="q-solaris_long_long"></a><p><b>4.2.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- No 'long long' type on Solaris?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-solaris_long_long"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- By default we try to support the C99 <span class="type">long long</span> type.
- This requires that certain functions from your C library be present.
- </p><p>
- Up through release 3.0.2 the platform-specific tests performed by
- libstdc++ were too general, resulting in a conservative approach
- to enabling the <span class="type">long long</span> code paths. The most
- commonly reported platform affected was Solaris.
- </p><p>
- This has been fixed for libstdc++ releases greater than 3.0.3.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.predefined"></a><a id="q-predefined"></a><p><b>4.3.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- <code class="constant">_XOPEN_SOURCE</code> and <code class="constant">_GNU_SOURCE</code> are always defined?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-predefined"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>On Solaris, g++ (but not gcc) always defines the preprocessor
- macro <code class="constant">_XOPEN_SOURCE</code>. On GNU/Linux, the same happens
- with <code class="constant">_GNU_SOURCE</code>. (This is not an exhaustive list;
- other macros and other platforms are also affected.)
- </p><p>These macros are typically used in C library headers, guarding new
- versions of functions from their older versions. The C++ standard
- library includes the C standard library, but it requires the C90
- version, which for backwards-compatibility reasons is often not the
- default for many vendors.
- </p><p>More to the point, the C++ standard requires behavior which is only
- available on certain platforms after certain symbols are defined.
- Usually the issue involves I/O-related typedefs. In order to
- ensure correctness, the compiler simply predefines those symbols.
- </p><p>Note that it's not enough to #define them only when the library is
- being built (during installation). Since we don't have an 'export'
- keyword, much of the library exists as headers, which means that
- the symbols must also be defined as your programs are parsed and
- compiled.
- </p><p>To see which symbols are defined, look for CPLUSPLUS_CPP_SPEC in
- the gcc config headers for your target (and try changing them to
- see what happens when building complicated code). You can also run
- <span class="command"><strong>g++ -E -dM - &lt; /dev/null"</strong></span> to display
- a list of predefined macros for any particular installation.
- </p><p>This has been discussed on the mailing lists
- <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/cgi-bin/htsearch?method=and&amp;format=builtin-long&amp;sort=score&amp;words=_XOPEN_SOURCE+Solaris" target="_top">quite a bit</a>.
- </p><p>This method is something of a wart. We'd like to find a cleaner
- solution, but nobody yet has contributed the time.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.darwin_ctype"></a><a id="q-darwin_ctype"></a><p><b>4.4.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Mac OS X <code class="filename">ctype.h</code> is broken! How can I fix it?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-darwin_ctype"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>This is a long-standing bug in the OS X support. Fortunately,
- the patch is quite simple, and well-known.
- <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2002-03/msg00817.html" target="_top"> Here's a
- link to the solution</a>.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.threads_i386"></a><a id="q-threads_i386"></a><p><b>4.5.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Threading is broken on i386?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-threads_i386"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- </p><p>Support for atomic integer operations is/was broken on i386
- platforms. The assembly code accidentally used opcodes that are
- only available on the i486 and later. So if you configured GCC
- to target, for example, i386-linux, but actually used the programs
- on an i686, then you would encounter no problems. Only when
- actually running the code on a i386 will the problem appear.
- </p><p>This is fixed in 3.2.2.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.atomic_mips"></a><a id="q-atomic_mips"></a><p><b>4.6.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- MIPS atomic operations
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-atomic_mips"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- The atomic locking routines for MIPS targets requires MIPS II
- and later. A patch went in just after the 3.3 release to
- make mips* use the generic implementation instead. You can also
- configure for mipsel-elf as a workaround.
- </p><p>
- The mips*-*-linux* port continues to use the MIPS II routines, and more
- work in this area is expected.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.linux_glibc"></a><a id="q-linux_glibc"></a><p><b>4.7.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Recent GNU/Linux glibc required?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-linux_glibc"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>When running on GNU/Linux, libstdc++ 3.2.1 (shared library version
- 5.0.1) and later uses localization and formatting code from the system
- C library (glibc) version 2.2.5. That version of glibc is over a
- year old and contains necessary bugfixes. Many GNU/Linux distros make
- glibc version 2.3.x available now.
- </p><p>The guideline is simple: the more recent the C++ library, the
- more recent the C library. (This is also documented in the main
- GCC installation instructions.)
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.freebsd_wchar"></a><a id="q-freebsd_wchar"></a><p><b>4.8.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Can't use wchar_t/wstring on FreeBSD
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-freebsd_wchar"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Older versions of FreeBSD's C library do not have sufficient
- support for wide character functions, and as a result the
- libstdc++ configury decides that wchar_t support should be
- disabled. In addition, the libstdc++ platform checks that
- enabled <span class="type">wchar_t</span> were quite strict, and not granular
- enough to detect when the minimal support to
- enable <span class="type">wchar_t</span> and C++ library structures
- like <code class="classname">wstring</code> were present. This impacted Solaris,
- Darwin, and BSD variants, and is fixed in libstdc++ versions post 4.1.0.
- </p><p>
- </p></td></tr><tr class="qandadiv"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><h3 class="title"><a id="faq.known_bugs"></a>5. Known Bugs</h3></td></tr><tr class="toc"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><dl><dt>5.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.what_works">
- What works already?
- </a></dt><dt>5.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.standard_bugs">
- Bugs in the ISO C++ language or library specification
- </a></dt><dt>5.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.compiler_bugs">
- Bugs in the compiler (gcc/g++) and not libstdc++
- </a></dt></dl></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.what_works"></a><a id="q-what_works"></a><p><b>5.1.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- What works already?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-what_works"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Short answer: Pretty much everything <span class="emphasis"><em>works</em></span>
- except for some corner cases. Support for localization
- in <code class="classname">locale</code> may be incomplete on non-GNU
- platforms. Also dependant on the underlying platform is support
- for <span class="type">wchar_t</span> and <span class="type">long
- long</span> specializations, and details of thread support.
- </p><p>
- Long answer: See the implementation status pages for
- <a class="link" href="manual/status.html#manual.intro.status.standard.1998" title="C++ 1998/2003">C++98</a>,
- <a class="link" href="manual/status.html#manual.intro.status.standard.tr1" title="C++ TR1">TR1</a>, and
- <a class="link" href="manual/status.html#manual.intro.status.standard.200x" title="C++ 200x">C++0x</a>.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.standard_bugs"></a><a id="q-standard_bugs"></a><p><b>5.2.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Bugs in the ISO C++ language or library specification
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-standard_bugs"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Unfortunately, there are some.
- </p><p>
- For those people who are not part of the ISO Library Group
- (i.e., nearly all of us needing to read this page in the first
- place), a public list of the library defects is occasionally
- published <a class="ulink" href="http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg21/" target="_top">here</a>.
- Some of these issues have resulted in code changes in libstdc++.
- </p><p>
- If you think you've discovered a new bug that is not listed,
- please post a message describing your problem
- to <code class="email">&lt;<a class="email" href="mailto:libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org">libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org</a>&gt;</code> or the Usenet group
- comp.lang.c++.moderated.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.compiler_bugs"></a><a id="q-compiler_bugs"></a><p><b>5.3.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Bugs in the compiler (gcc/g++) and not libstdc++
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-compiler_bugs"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- On occasion, the compiler is wrong. Please be advised that this
- happens much less often than one would think, and avoid jumping to
- conclusions.
- </p><p>
- First, examine the ISO C++ standard. Second, try another compiler
- or an older version of the GNU compilers. Third, you can find more
- information on the libstdc++ and the GCC mailing lists: search
- these lists with terms describing your issue.
- </p><p>
- Before reporting a bug, please examine the
- <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs.html" target="_top">bugs database</a> with the
- category set to “<span class="quote">g++</span>”.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="qandadiv"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><h3 class="title"><a id="faq.known_non-bugs"></a>6. Known Non-Bugs</h3></td></tr><tr class="toc"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><dl><dt>6.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.stream_reopening_fails">
- Reopening a stream fails
- </a></dt><dt>6.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.wefcxx_verbose">
- -Weffc++ complains too much
- </a></dt><dt>6.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.ambiguous_overloads">
- Ambiguous overloads after including an old-style header
- </a></dt><dt>6.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.v2_headers">
- The g++-3 headers are not ours
- </a></dt><dt>6.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.boost_concept_checks">
- Errors about *Concept and
- constraints in the STL
- </a></dt><dt>6.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.dlopen_crash">
- Program crashes when using library code in a
- dynamically-loaded library
- </a></dt><dt>6.7. <a href="faq.html#faq.memory_leaks">
- “Memory leaks” in containers
- </a></dt><dt>6.8. <a href="faq.html#faq.list_size_on">
- list::size() is O(n)!
- </a></dt><dt>6.9. <a href="faq.html#faq.easy_to_fix">
- Aw, that's easy to fix!
- </a></dt></dl></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.stream_reopening_fails"></a><a id="q-stream_reopening_fails"></a><p><b>6.1.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Reopening a stream fails
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-stream_reopening_fails"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- One of the most-reported non-bug reports. Executing a sequence like:
- </p><div class="literallayout"><p><br />
-    #include &lt;fstream&gt;<br />
-    ...<br />
-    std::fstream  fs(“<span class="quote">a_file</span>”);<br />
-    // .<br />
-    // . do things with fs...<br />
-    // .<br />
-    fs.close();<br />
-    fs.open(“<span class="quote">a_new_file</span>”);<br />
-    </p></div><p>
- All operations on the re-opened <code class="varname">fs</code> will fail, or at
- least act very strangely. Yes, they often will, especially if
- <code class="varname">fs</code> reached the EOF state on the previous file. The
- reason is that the state flags are <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> cleared
- on a successful call to open(). The standard unfortunately did
- not specify behavior in this case, and to everybody's great sorrow,
- the <a class="link" href="manual/bugs.html" title="Bugs">proposed LWG resolution in
- DR #22</a> is to leave the flags unchanged. You must insert a call
- to <code class="function">fs.clear()</code> between the calls to close() and open(),
- and then everything will work like we all expect it to work.
- <span class="emphasis"><em>Update:</em></span> for GCC 4.0 we implemented the resolution
- of <a class="link" href="manual/bugs.html" title="Bugs">DR #409</a> and open()
- now calls <code class="function">clear()</code> on success!
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.wefcxx_verbose"></a><a id="q-wefcxx_verbose"></a><p><b>6.2.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- -Weffc++ complains too much
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-wefcxx_verbose"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Many warnings are emitted when <code class="literal">-Weffc++</code> is used. Making
- libstdc++ <code class="literal">-Weffc++</code>-clean is not a goal of the project,
- for a few reasons. Mainly, that option tries to enforce
- object-oriented programming, while the Standard Library isn't
- necessarily trying to be OO.
- </p><p>
- We do, however, try to have libstdc++ sources as clean as possible. If
- you see some simple changes that pacify <code class="literal">-Weffc++</code>
- without other drawbacks, send us a patch.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.ambiguous_overloads"></a><a id="q-ambiguous_overloads"></a><p><b>6.3.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Ambiguous overloads after including an old-style header
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-ambiguous_overloads"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Another problem is the <code class="literal">rel_ops</code> namespace and the template
- comparison operator functions contained therein. If they become
- visible in the same namespace as other comparison functions
- (e.g., “<span class="quote">using</span>” them and the &lt;iterator&gt; header),
- then you will suddenly be faced with huge numbers of ambiguity
- errors. This was discussed on the -v3 list; Nathan Myers
- <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/2001-01/msg00247.html" target="_top">sums
- things up here</a>. The collisions with vector/string iterator
- types have been fixed for 3.1.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.v2_headers"></a><a id="q-v2_headers"></a><p><b>6.4.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- The g++-3 headers are <span class="emphasis"><em>not ours</em></span>
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-v2_headers"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- If you have found an extremely broken header file which is
- causing problems for you, look carefully before submitting a
- "high" priority bug report (which you probably
- shouldn't do anyhow; see the last paragraph of the page
- describing <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs.html" target="_top">the GCC
- bug database</a>).
- </p><p>
- If the headers are in <code class="filename">${prefix}/include/g++-3</code>, or
- if the installed library's name looks like
- <code class="filename">libstdc++-2.10.a</code> or
- <code class="filename">libstdc++-libc6-2.10.so</code>, then you are using the
- old libstdc++-v2 library, which is nonstandard and
- unmaintained. Do not report problems with -v2 to the -v3
- mailing list.
- </p><p>
- For GCC versions 3.0 and 3.1 the libstdc++ header files are
- installed in <code class="filename">${prefix}/include/g++-v3</code> (see the
- 'v'?). Starting with version 3.2 the headers are installed in
- <code class="filename">${prefix}/include/c++/${version}</code> as this prevents
- headers from previous versions being found by mistake.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.boost_concept_checks"></a><a id="q-boost_concept_checks"></a><p><b>6.5.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Errors about <span class="emphasis"><em>*Concept</em></span> and
- <span class="emphasis"><em>constraints</em></span> in the STL
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-boost_concept_checks"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- If you see compilation errors containing messages about
- <span class="errortext">foo Concept </span>and something to do with a
- <span class="errortext">constraints</span> member function, then most
- likely you have violated one of the requirements for types used
- during instantiation of template containers and functions. For
- example, EqualityComparableConcept appears if your types must be
- comparable with == and you have not provided this capability (a
- typo, or wrong visibility, or you just plain forgot, etc).
- </p><p>
- More information, including how to optionally enable/disable the
- checks, is available
- <a class="link" href="manual/bk01pt03ch08.html" title="Chapter 8. Concept Checking">here</a>.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.dlopen_crash"></a><a id="q-dlopen_crash"></a><p><b>6.6.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Program crashes when using library code in a
- dynamically-loaded library
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-dlopen_crash"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- If you are using the C++ library across dynamically-loaded
- objects, make certain that you are passing the correct options
- when compiling and linking:
- </p><div class="literallayout"><p><br />
-    // compile your library components<br />
-    g++ -fPIC -c a.cc<br />
-    g++ -fPIC -c b.cc<br />
-    ...<br />
-    g++ -fPIC -c z.cc<br />
-<br />
-    // create your library<br />
-    g++ -fPIC -shared -rdynamic -o libfoo.so a.o b.o ... z.o<br />
-<br />
-    // link the executable<br />
-    g++ -fPIC -rdynamic -o foo ... -L. -lfoo -ldl<br />
-    </p></div></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.memory_leaks"></a><a id="q-memory_leaks"></a><p><b>6.7.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- “<span class="quote">Memory leaks</span>” in containers
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-memory_leaks"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- A few people have reported that the standard containers appear
- to leak memory when tested with memory checkers such as
- <a class="ulink" href="http://valgrind.org/" target="_top">valgrind</a>.
- The library's default allocators keep free memory in a pool
- for later reuse, rather than returning it to the OS. Although
- this memory is always reachable by the library and is never
- lost, memory debugging tools can report it as a leak. If you
- want to test the library for memory leaks please read
- <a class="link" href="manual/debug.html#debug.memory" title="Memory Leak Hunting">Tips for memory leak hunting</a>
- first.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.list_size_on"></a><a id="q-list_size_on"></a><p><b>6.8.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- list::size() is O(n)!
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-list_size_on"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- See
- the <a class="link" href="manual/containers.html" title="Part VII.  Containers">Containers</a>
- chapter.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.easy_to_fix"></a><a id="q-easy_to_fix"></a><p><b>6.9.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Aw, that's easy to fix!
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-easy_to_fix"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- If you have found a bug in the library and you think you have
- a working fix, then send it in! The main GCC site has a page
- on <a class="ulink" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/contribute.html" target="_top">submitting
- patches</a> that covers the procedure, but for libstdc++ you
- should also send the patch to our mailing list in addition to
- the GCC patches mailing list. The libstdc++
- <a class="link" href="manual/appendix_contributing.html" title="Appendix A.  Contributing">contributors' page</a>
- also talks about how to submit patches.
- </p><p>
- In addition to the description, the patch, and the ChangeLog
- entry, it is a Good Thing if you can additionally create a small
- test program to test for the presence of the bug that your
- patch fixes. Bugs have a way of being reintroduced; if an old
- bug creeps back in, it will be caught immediately by the
- <a class="ulink" href="#2_4" target="_top">testsuite</a> -- but only if such a test exists.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="qandadiv"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><h3 class="title"><a id="faq.misc"></a>7. Miscellaneous</h3></td></tr><tr class="toc"><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><dl><dt>7.1. <a href="faq.html#faq.iterator_as_pod">
- string::iterator is not char*; vector&lt;T&gt;::iterator is not T*
- </a></dt><dt>7.2. <a href="faq.html#faq.what_is_next">
- What's next after libstdc++?
- </a></dt><dt>7.3. <a href="faq.html#faq.sgi_stl">
- What about the STL from SGI?
- </a></dt><dt>7.4. <a href="faq.html#faq.extensions_and_backwards_compat">
- Extensions and Backward Compatibility
- </a></dt><dt>7.5. <a href="faq.html#faq.tr1_support">
- Does libstdc++ support TR1?
- </a></dt><dt>7.6. <a href="faq.html#faq.get_iso_cxx">How do I get a copy of the ISO C++ Standard?
- </a></dt><dt>7.7. <a href="faq.html#faq.what_is_abi">
- What's an ABI and why is it so messy?
- </a></dt><dt>7.8. <a href="faq.html#faq.size_equals_capacity">
- How do I make std::vector&lt;T&gt;::capacity() == std::vector&lt;T&gt;::size?
- </a></dt></dl></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.iterator_as_pod"></a><a id="faq.iterator_as_pod_q"></a><p><b>7.1.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- string::iterator is not char*; vector&lt;T&gt;::iterator is not T*
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.iterator_as_pod_a"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- If you have code that depends on container&lt;T&gt; iterators
- being implemented as pointer-to-T, your code is broken. It's
- considered a feature, not a bug, that libstdc++ points this out.
- </p><p>
- While there are arguments for iterators to be implemented in
- that manner, A) they aren't very good ones in the long term,
- and B) they were never guaranteed by the Standard anyway. The
- type-safety achieved by making iterators a real class rather
- than a typedef for <span class="type">T*</span> outweighs nearly all opposing
- arguments.
- </p><p>
- Code which does assume that a vector iterator <code class="varname">i</code>
- is a pointer can often be fixed by changing <code class="varname">i</code> in
- certain expressions to <code class="varname">&amp;*i</code>. Future revisions
- of the Standard are expected to bless this usage for
- vector&lt;&gt; (but not for basic_string&lt;&gt;).
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.what_is_next"></a><a id="q-what_is_next"></a><p><b>7.2.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- What's next after libstdc++?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-what_is_next"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Hopefully, not much. The goal of libstdc++ is to produce a
- fully-compliant, fully-portable Standard Library. After that,
- we're mostly done: there won't <span class="emphasis"><em>be</em></span> any
- more compliance work to do.
- </p><p>
- There is an effort underway to add significant extensions to
- the standard library specification. The latest version of
- this effort is described in
- <a class="ulink" href="http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2005/n1836.pdf" target="_top">
- The C++ Library Technical Report 1</a>.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.sgi_stl"></a><a id="q-sgi_stl"></a><p><b>7.3.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- What about the STL from SGI?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-sgi_stl"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- The <a class="ulink" href="http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/" target="_top">STL from SGI</a>,
- version 3.3, was the final merge of the STL codebase. The
- code in libstdc++ contains many fixes and changes, and
- the SGI code is no longer under active
- development. We expect that no future merges will take place.
- </p><p>
- In particular, <code class="classname">string</code> is not from SGI and makes no
- use of their "rope" class (which is included as an
- optional extension), nor is <code class="classname">valarray</code> and some others.
- Classes like <code class="classname">vector&lt;&gt;</code> are, but have been
- extensively modified.
- </p><p>
- More information on the evolution of libstdc++ can be found at the
- <a class="link" href="manual/api.html" title="API Evolution and Deprecation History">API
- evolution</a>
- and <a class="link" href="manual/backwards.html" title="Backwards Compatibility">backwards
- compatibility</a> documentation.
- </p><p>
- The FAQ for SGI's STL (one jump off of their main page) is
- still recommended reading.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.extensions_and_backwards_compat"></a><a id="q-extensions_and_backwards_compat"></a><p><b>7.4.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Extensions and Backward Compatibility
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-extensions_and_backwards_compat"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- See the <a class="link" href="manual/backwards.html" title="Backwards Compatibility">link</a> on backwards compatibility and <a class="link" href="manual/api.html" title="API Evolution and Deprecation History">link</a> on evolution.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.tr1_support"></a><a id="q-tr1_support"></a><p><b>7.5.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Does libstdc++ support TR1?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-tr1_support"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Yes.
- </p><p>
- The C++ Standard Library Technical Report adds many new features to
- the library. The latest version of this effort is described in
- <a class="ulink" href="http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2005/n1836.pdf" target="_top">
- Technical Report 1</a>.
- </p><p>
- The implementation status of TR1 in libstdc++ can be tracked <a class="link" href="manual/status.html#manual.intro.status.standard.tr1" title="C++ TR1">on the TR1 status
- page</a>.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.get_iso_cxx"></a><a id="q-get_iso_cxx"></a><p><b>7.6.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>How do I get a copy of the ISO C++ Standard?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-get_iso_cxx"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Copies of the full ISO 14882 standard are available on line via
- the ISO mirror site for committee members. Non-members, or those
- who have not paid for the privilege of sitting on the committee
- and sustained their two-meeting commitment for voting rights, may
- get a copy of the standard from their respective national
- standards organization. In the USA, this national standards
- organization is ANSI and their website is
- right <a class="ulink" href="http://www.ansi.org" target="_top">here</a>. (And if
- you've already registered with them, clicking this link will take
- you to directly to the place where you can
- <a class="ulink" href="http://webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/product.asp?sku=ISO%2FIEC+14882%3A2003" target="_top">buy the standard on-line</a>.
- </p><p>
- Who is your country's member body? Visit the
- <a class="ulink" href="http://www.iso.ch/" target="_top">ISO homepage</a> and find out!
- </p><p>
- The 2003 version of the standard (the 1998 version plus TC1) is
- available in print, ISBN 0-470-84674-7.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.what_is_abi"></a><a id="q-what_is_abi"></a><p><b>7.7.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- What's an ABI and why is it so messy?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-what_is_abi"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- <acronym class="acronym">ABI</acronym> stands for “<span class="quote">Application Binary
- Interface</span>”. Conventionally, it refers to a great
- mass of details about how arguments are arranged on the call
- stack and/or in registers, and how various types are arranged
- and padded in structs. A single CPU design may suffer
- multiple ABIs designed by different development tool vendors
- who made different choices, or even by the same vendor for
- different target applications or compiler versions. In ideal
- circumstances the CPU designer presents one ABI and all the
- OSes and compilers use it. In practice every ABI omits
- details that compiler implementers (consciously or
- accidentally) must choose for themselves.
- </p><p>
- That ABI definition suffices for compilers to generate code so a
- program can interact safely with an OS and its lowest-level libraries.
- Users usually want an ABI to encompass more detail, allowing libraries
- built with different compilers (or different releases of the same
- compiler!) to be linked together. For C++, this includes many more
- details than for C, and CPU designers (for good reasons elaborated
- below) have not stepped up to publish C++ ABIs. The details include
- virtual function implementation, struct inheritance layout, name
- mangling, and exception handling. Such an ABI has been defined for
- GNU C++, and is immediately useful for embedded work relying only on
- a “<span class="quote">free-standing implementation</span>” that doesn't include (much
- of) the standard library. It is a good basis for the work to come.
- </p><p>
- A useful C++ ABI must also incorporate many details of the standard
- library implementation. For a C ABI, the layouts of a few structs
- (such as FILE, stat, jmpbuf, and the like) and a few macros suffice.
- For C++, the details include the complete set of names of functions
- and types used, the offsets of class members and virtual functions,
- and the actual definitions of all inlines. C++ exposes many more
- library details to the caller than C does. It makes defining
- a complete ABI a much bigger undertaking, and requires not just
- documenting library implementation details, but carefully designing
- those details so that future bug fixes and optimizations don't
- force breaking the ABI.
- </p><p>
- There are ways to help isolate library implementation details from the
- ABI, but they trade off against speed. Library details used in
- inner loops (e.g., getchar) must be exposed and frozen for all
- time, but many others may reasonably be kept hidden from user code,
- so they may later be changed. Deciding which, and implementing
- the decisions, must happen before you can reasonably document a
- candidate C++ ABI that encompasses the standard library.
- </p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="faq.size_equals_capacity"></a><a id="q-size_equals_capacity"></a><p><b>7.8.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- How do I make std::vector&lt;T&gt;::capacity() == std::vector&lt;T&gt;::size?
- </p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><a id="a-size_equals_capacity"></a></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- The standard idiom for deallocating a <code class="classname">vector&lt;T&gt;</code>'s
- unused memory is to create a temporary copy of the vector and swap their
- contents, e.g. for <code class="classname">vector&lt;T&gt; v</code>
- </p><div class="literallayout"><p><br />
-     std::vector&lt;T&gt;(v).swap(v);<br />
-    </p></div><p>
- The copy will take O(n) time and the swap is constant time.
- </p><p>
- See <a class="link" href="manual/bk01pt05ch13s05.html" title="Shrink to Fit">Shrink-to-fit
- strings</a> for a similar solution for strings.
- </p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="bk03.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="bk03.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> </td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top"> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="spine.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> </td></tr></table></div></body></html>