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From: news@linus.UUCP (USENET NEWS)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Are C++ translators usable under Xenix?
Message-ID: <53174@linus.UUCP>
Date: 12 May 89 16:15:14 GMT
Reply-To: nsds@mbunix.mitre.org (Neil Smith)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, Mass.
Lines: 57

Here's a nice juicy implementation-related topic (just when you
thought the language lawyers were having all the fun).  I'm working on
porting some C++ code (developed using an AT&T-derived translator under
Ultrix) to Xenix-386.  The Xenix C++ development environment (also
using an AT&T-derived translator) naturally uses the native Xenix C
compiler to generate object files from the translated C++.  As it
turns out, that C compiler recognizes unique identifiers only through
the first 31 characters.  This causes compiles to fail, since cfront
transforms C++ identifiers into rather long C identifiers.
From: nsds@mbunix.mitre.org (Neil S. Smith)
Path: mbunix!nsds

An example: the code fragment

#include <stream.hxx>
istream *qin;
ostream *qout;

int foo(streambuf *sba, streambuf *sbb) {
	qin = new istream(sba);
	qout = new ostream(sbb);
	return 0;
}

causes the generation of (among other things):

...
register struct istream
*_au0__Xthis__ctorFPCstreambuf__I_PC_ostream___istream = 0;

struct ostream *_au0__Xthis__ctorFPCstreambuf___ostream ;
...

Both of these declarations are identical in the first 31 characters,
so the C compiler chokes when trying to process this code.  The Ultrix
C++ translator has no problems with this; I believe that its cc can
handle identifers out to 256 characters.

Now for the questions:

Am I up the proverbial creek (I believe so)?

Has anyone else run into this problem, and/or found a workaround?  

Please don't tell me to re-write the code so that cfront generates an 
identifier of < 31 characters.  Considering the simplicity
of the constructs involved, this problem represents a significant
limitation with the IMPLEMENTATION of cfront-style C++ translators
that use compilers with (relatively) short identifier lengths.
I should think that MSDOS-hosted translators using Microsoft C would
suffer from the same problem...

Sigh...maybe this will convince the powers-that-be go to sys V...
---------------------
Neil Smith                              "Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew!"
The MITRE Corporation   M/S B310    Burlington Road         Bedford, MA  01730
Ma Bell:  (617) 271-8278                             Internet:  nsds@mitre.org