Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!cmcl2!lanl!jlg
From: jlg@lanl.gov (Jim Giles)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Answers, Chapter 1: TeX
Message-ID: <5240@lanl.gov>
Date: 8 Nov 90 00:18:47 GMT
References: <11854:Nov723:28:2490@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Organization: Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, N.M.
Lines: 17

From article <11854:Nov723:28:2490@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>, by brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein):
> In article <5224@lanl.gov> jlg@lanl.gov (Jim Giles) writes:
> [...]
> As I said, the compiler checks the validity of the .h file against each
> c file when it compiles the .c file. If the vendor has sent along a .o,
> then obviously the compiler has compiled the vendor's .c, so it had the
> chance to check at that point.

Well, as I said, mistakes happen.  You might have compiled your
main code with (say) version x.y of their .h files.  They might have
sent you copies of version a.b of their .o files.  The first tool
that _can_ test this kind of mismatch is the loader.  The fact that
version x.y .h files match the version x.y .o files doesn't help.
Clearly, all you have found is an even _more_ efficient way for
my loader test to be implemented - compare version numbers.

J. Giles