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From: keesan@bbncca.ARPA (Morris Keesan)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: storage class ambiguity
Message-ID: <245@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 2-Nov-83 12:03:11 EST
Article-I.D.: bbncca.245
Posted: Wed Nov  2 12:03:11 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Nov-83 08:08:22 EST
References: <223@aecom.UUCP>
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 28

The key to the apparent ambiguity is found on the following page (p. 206) of
Kernighan & Ritchie, in section 11.2, entitled "Scope of externals".  I quote:

	If a function refers to an identifier declared to be extern, then
    somewhere among the files or libraries cnstituting the complete
    program there must be an external definition for the identifier.
				.
				.
				.
	The appearance of the extern keyword in an external definition
    indicates that strage for the identifiers being declared will be
    allocated in another file.  Thus in a multi-file program, an external
    data definition without the extern specifier must appear in exactly
    one of the files.  Any other files which wish to give an external
    definition for the identifier must include the extern in the
    definition.  The identifier can be initialized only in the declaration
    where storage is allocated.


    Thus, there is no real ambiguity, and though the storage class of both
types of definition is extern, the distinction is between a definition which
reserves space and one which doesn't.  It is then obviously incorrect for
there to be two declarations without the extern keyword, since space is being
reserved twice, but most compilers/loaders should be able to handle the case
where all the declarations for an external identifier have the extern keyword,
by recognizing the special case of an undefined external, and allotting space
for it, similar to the way Fortran COMMONs are handled when there is no BLOCK
DATA subprogram for them.