re: introducing flags_t

[matthew green <mrg%eterna.com.au@localhost>]

   In many places we use 'int' for flags.
   Also in most places, the flag is checked this way:
   
      if (flags & FLAGX)
          do_something();
   
   This is problematic when the top-most bit is used.


i'm curious what the actual problem is here.  afaict, the
code generated for the above test is the same no matter
the type of 'flags', on several platforms.



.mrg.