Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!taumet!steve
From: steve@taumet.com (Stephen Clamage)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Making all compilers happy with include files
Message-ID: <590@taumet.com>
Date: 6 Feb 91 16:55:51 GMT
References: <73975@bu.edu.bu.edu>
Organization: Taumetric Corporation, San Diego
Lines: 29

eap@bu-pub.bu.edu (Eric A Pearce) writes:

>How have people been getting all these compilers to co-exist on the same
>system? ... [several C and C++ compilers listed]

>This is what I've done in /usr/include/sys/stdtypes.h
[ uses #ifdef's to get the typedefs needed for the various compilers ]

>Is there a cleaner way to do this?

Apart from being ugly, it makes adding a new compiler or updating an
existing one very difficult.

We solve the problem by using a different include file directory tree
for each compiler.  The standard system includes would usually be in
/usr/include, for example.  When you add the XYZ compiler, put its
supplied include files in /usr/local/XYZ/include.  When you use the
XYZ compiler, configure it to search /usr/local/XYZ/include first,
then /usr/include.

This causes problems when you need a standard system include which
conflicts with the XYZ compiler's include files.  You then add a
customized version of the system include file to the XYZ include
directory tree.  In your example, you would have a version of
stdtypes.h in /usr/local/XYZ/include/sys customized for the XYZ
compiler.
-- 

Steve Clamage, TauMetric Corp, steve@taumet.com