Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucsd!cacilj!paul
From: paul@cacilj.UUCP (Paul Close)
Newsgroups: gnu.gcc
Subject: initializer for static variable is not constant
Message-ID: <1346@cacilj.UUCP>
Date: 21 Dec 89 19:53:48 GMT
Reply-To: paul@cacilj.UUCP (Paul Close)
Distribution: gnu
Organization: CACI Products Company, La Jolla, CA
Lines: 35

That's the error I get: "initializer for static variable is not constant".
This is gcc version 1.36 on a sun-3 running SunOS-4.0.3.  It doesn't work any
better on other machines.  Here's the code:

test.c:
================
struct {const long t_hdr; const char t6[7];} T_473={0x17000006,"INSERT"};

struct {const long e_hdr; const long e[5];} E_473={0x19000000,0x00000000,
T_473.t6[0],0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00008000};
================
^^^^^^^^^^^---- Here's what gcc complains about, line 4.

here's a transcript:

% gcc -v -c -traditional test.c
gcc version 1.36
 /usr/local/lib/gcc-cpp -v -undef -D__GNUC__ -Dmc68000 -Dsun -Dunix -D__mc68000__ -D__sun__ -D__unix__ -D__HAVE_68881__ -Dmc68020 test.c /usr/tmp/cca14501.cpp
GNU CPP version 1.36
 /usr/local/lib/gcc-cc1 /usr/tmp/cca14501.cpp -quiet -dumpbase test.c -version -o /usr/tmp/cca14501.s
GNU C version 1.36 (68k, MIT syntax) compiled by GNU C version 1.36.
default target switches: -m68020 -mc68020 -m68881 -mbitfield
test.c:4: initializer for static variable is not constant

This code works fine using pcc, but not even gcc -traditional will compile it
(without the 'const', of course).  I've seen this with other ANSI compilers,
too.  The error message is clear enough, but I have a real need to do this,
and under pcc it worked fine.

How can I make a large, static (and constant), linked table using portable
C constructs?
-- 
Paul Close	paul@cacilj.CTS.COM 	...!{uunet, ucsd, crash}!cacilj!paul

    The Obi-wan Kenobi method:  "Use the Source, Luke"	-Jim Fulton