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From: mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: bug (?) in 4.(2,3)?
Message-ID: <896@mcgill-vision.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 22-Sep-87 01:21:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: mcgill-v.896
Posted: Tue Sep 22 01:21:58 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Oct-87 06:09:13 EDT
References: <462@eplrx7.UUCP>
Organization: McGill University, Montreal
Lines: 24
Keywords: external declaration of a system call

In article <462@eplrx7.UUCP>, lad@eplrx7.UUCP (Lawrence Dziegielewski) writes:
> [re conflict between a variable "fstat" and the syscall]
> [program with fstat variable dies: stdio uses fstat() the syscall]

You are using a reserved identifier (fstat) in a way which does not
match what it is reserved to mean.  Sometimes you will get away with
this (eg, same program, change "fstat" to "mknod" and it will probably
work), sometimes you won't.  (By a "reserved" identifier I mean one
which has a meaning assigned by the system, not reserved in the sense
of a language keyword like "sizeof" or "while".)

> If this is indeed a problem for Berkley, then the compiler ought flag
> the external declaration as a redeclaration,

Why?  You haven't redeclared fstat.  The *loader* should warn, but
currently can't because all it sees in stdio is "reference to external
undefined" which it can't check against "definition of external data" -
it doesn't know it should be "...external text".  If the compiler and
loader cooperated, the loader could complain about satisfying a text
segment reference with a data segment symbol.

					der Mouse

				(mouse@mcgill-vision.uucp)