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From: kvm@basser.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re:  is "extern" ambiguous
Message-ID: <257@basser.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Apr-84 20:51:19 EST
Article-I.D.: basser.257
Posted: Tue Apr  3 20:51:19 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Apr-84 04:09:51 EST
References: <441@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Lines: 27

no

"extern" always means "externally visible".

extern int	i;

declares an externally visible int with name i, it doesn't matter where
the declaration appears.  remember, the default storage class is "extern"
(section 10.2 of the C reference manual) so this is equivalent to

int	i;

similarly

extern int	poot();

or

int	poot();

declares an externally visible function returning int named poot, the
absence of a function body requires that one appear elsewhere.

the ambiguity is in the C compilers which float around.  some compilers
adopt the "restricted environment" (where the explicit appearance of
"extern" means that storage is allocated elsewhere), some just do
incorrect things.