Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!pyramid!athertn!paul
From: paul@athertn.Atherton.COM (Paul Sander)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aux
Subject: Re: A/UX cc -- a ghost from the past
Summary: A/UX is old, too
Message-ID: <34441@athertn.Atherton.COM>
Date: 13 Feb 91 19:56:39 GMT
References: <1991Feb13.122652.14565@helios.physics.utoronto.ca>
Reply-To: paul@Atherton.COM (Paul Sander)
Organization: Atherton Technology, Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 42

In article <1991Feb13.122652.14565@helios.physics.utoronto.ca> sysmark@physics.utoronto.ca (Mark Bartelt) writes:
[some other guy writes:]
>| Horror of horrors!  After converting all my beautifully prototyped
>| mac interface programs to port over to AUX, I find that the AUX
>| compiler is some prehistoric monster that doesn't respect the ANSI
>| 'standard'.  Is there some kind of filter available to convert programs
>| from ANSI to old format?
>
>So, a couple of questions (aside from the obvious one, namely how does
>Apple expect to be taken seriously if a recent major release of their
>UNIX product doesn't even contain an X3J11 compliant compiler) ...

[stuff omitted]

>(2)  Apple folks:  Are there plans to step into the 1990s with the
>next release of A/UX?  Will a "modern" C compiler come with 2.0.1,
>or will we have to wait for 2.1 (or 3.0; or ...)?

Please remember that A/UX is a port of System V Release 2, which is older
than the X3J11 standard.  Until Apple can support a release of Unix that is
more recent than X3J11, I think we'll be stuck with old compilers.  I
understand that System V Release 4 supplies an X3J11 compliant compiler.

Since some of Apple's lower-priced competition (i.e. Amiga) is rumored to
support post-beta SVR4 in March, I suspect we won't have to wait too long
before we start seeing software that is a little bit more modern.

>(3)  As to the question of converting an ANSI C program, complete
>with function prototypes, into something that can be shoved through
>an old-fashioned C compiler:  I could probably cobble together some
>sort of shell script, with judicious use of awk/sed/whatever, that
>would do the job.  But, before I embark on this silly exercise, it
>seems worth inquiring as to whether anyone else already has such a
>tool.  If so, I'd appreciate hearing about it/them.

GhostScript, the Free Software Foundation's PostScript clone, supplies a
program that converts ANSI compliant C programs to K&R as part of its build
and install tools.
-- 
Paul Sander        (408) 734-9822  | "Passwords are like underwear," she said,
paul@Atherton.COM                  | "Both should be changed often."
{decwrl,pyramid,sun}!athertn!paul  | -- Bennett Falk in "Mom Meets Unix"