Subject: Re: bin/578: cc's -Wformat doesn't grok q modifier
To: Ted Nolan SRI Ft Gordon <ted@ags.ga.erg.sri.com>
From: Ted Lemon <mellon@ipd.wellsfargo.com>
List: netbsd-bugs
Date: 11/18/1994 16:57:36
> I realize this would break a lot of code (including much of my own,
> I'm sure), but it seems it will have to be done eventually.  Is
> there any other reason for not doing it?

Perhaps a more interesting question would be, do we need another
reason not to do it?   A change that requires a major rehack of most
of the code that's in current use everywhere and introduces subtle
bugs where none existed before is best approached gingerly.   Adding a
new type specifier is a lot easier and less painful.

Why does this change have to be made eventually?   And if it does, why
shouldn't int be 64 bits on 64-bit machines?   Int is supposed to be
the natural word size of the machine.   In fact, I think DEC C has
ints as 64 bits and longs as 32 bits (although they may not have gone
with this - it's just what I remember being talked about three years ago).

Making the printf format/argument checker recognize %qd doesn't seem
unreasonable, and you certainly can't justify breaking the world in
order to avoid it.

			       _MelloN_


--
Ted Lemon		      Wells Fargo Bank, Information Protection Division
mellon@ipd.wellsfargo.com					+1 415 477 5045