> > (NB: i'm just recycling RMS' arguemnt from the early 90s.)
> 
> What RMS never noticed - or at least never seemed to notice - is that
> exactly the same argument applies to __attribute__.  Or any other
> nonstandard extension.
> 

No, he never said that.  What he did say, and it's in the gcc manual is:

   Some people object to the `__attribute__' feature, suggesting that
  ANSI C's `#pragma' should be used instead.  There are two reasons for
  not doing this.

  1. It is impossible to generate `#pragma' commands from a macro.

  2. There is no telling what the same `#pragma' might mean in another
     compiler.

So, his argument is that it is not worse than a pragma, and has at least 
one significant benefit.