Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!cmcl2!adm!smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: libpw.a
Keywords: alloca()
Message-ID: <10071@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Date: 18 Apr 89 14:10:25 GMT
References: <157@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> <10013@smoke.BRL.MIL> <8184@chinet.chi.il.us> <1250@frog.UUCP> <564@aablue.UUCP>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 9

In article <564@aablue.UUCP> jb@aablue.UUCP (John B Scalia) writes:
>OK, I agree that libpw.a is pretty much worthless, but after your statement
>about alloca(), I've got another question. If programmers shouldn't use it,
>why did GNU require it for installing their grep facility?

Apparently RMS and possibly others on the GNU project think that there
should be some form of garbage collection (LISP heritage showing?) and
decided on alloca() as a way to get it.  I argued from the start that
it was a mistake to rely on alloca()...