I am trying to test the version of libstdc++ because std::regex is implemented, but largely broken, in the versions of libstdc++ distributed with GCC before version 4.9.0.
Note that:
I need to test the version of libstdc++, not GCC because Clang also supports using libstdc++ as the standard library. This rules out testing the __GNUC_PATCHLEVEL__, __GNUC__, and __GNUC_MINOR__ macros.
The __GLIBCXX__ macro is a date, not a version number and does not increase monotonically. For example, GCC 4.8.4 ships with #define __GLIBCXX__ 20150426, which is newer than the release date of GCC 4.9.0.
Is there any portable way to test the version of libstdc++ that does not depend on using GCC my compiler?
In my opinion the problem is sufficiently small to be solved by brute force.
In a header file called machine.hpp or similar I would test that the version of the C++ Standard is at least what I need it to be (the __cplusplus macro). Then I would add the various macro checks to reject any library that I know to be flawed.
In other words, I would take a black-list approach instead of a white-list approach.
For example:
#pragma once
#ifndef MACHINE_HPP_HEADER_GUARDS
#define MACHINE_HPP_HEADER_GUARDS
#if __cplusplus < 201103L
// Library is incompatible if it does not implement at least the C++11
// standard.
#error "I need a library that supports at least C++11."
#else
// Load an arbitrary header to ensure that the pre-processor macro is
// defined. Otherwise you will need to load this header AFTER you
// #include the header you care about.
#include <iosfwd>
#endif
#if __GLIBCXX__ == 20150422
#error "This version of GLIBCXX (20150422) has flaws in it"
#endif
// ...repeat for other versions of GLIBCXX that you know to be flawed
#endif // MACHINE_HPP_HEADER_GUARDS
I have some code that requires a certain gcc compiler option (otherwise it won't compile). Of course, I can make sure in the makefile that for this particular source file the required option is set. However, it would much more helpful, if this option could be set for the respective compilation unit (or part of it) from within the source_file.cpp.
I know that warning messages can be switched on or off using #pragma GCC diagnostic, but what about the -fsomething type of options? I take it from this question that this is impossible.
But perhaps there is at least a way to check from within the code whether a certain -f option is on or not?
Note I'm not interested in finding the compiler flags from the binary, as was asked previously, nor from the command line.
In my experience, no. This is not the way you go about this. Instead, you put compiler/platform/OS specific code in your source, and wrap it with the appropriate ifdef statements. These include:
#ifdef __GNUC__
/*code for GNU C compiler */
#elif _MSC_VER
/*usually has the version number in _MSC_VER*/
/*code specific to MSVC compiler*/
#elif __BORLANDC__
/*code specific to borland compilers*/
#elif __MINGW32__
/*code specific to mingw compilers*/
#endif
Within this, you can have version-specific requirements and code:
#ifdef __GNUC__
# include <features.h>
# if __GNUC_PREREQ(4,0)
// If gcc_version >= 4.0
# elif __GNUC_PREREQ(3,2)
// If gcc_version >= 3.2
# else
// Else
# endif
#else
// If not gcc
#endif
From there, you have your makefile pass the appropriate compiler flags based on the compiler type, version, etc, and you're all set.
You can try using some #pragma. See GCC diagnostic pragmas & GCC function specific pragmas.
Otherwise, develop your GCC plugin or your MELT extension and have it provide a pragma which sets the appropriate variables or compiler state inside GCC (actually cc1plus)
I need a function that can clear the screen in both Linux and Windows. To do this, I want to know if there are some instructions that can tell me what operating system I'm working with.
I have searched for solution and I found the following code:
void clear_screen()
{
#ifdef WINDOWS
std::system ( "CLS" );
#else
// Assume POSIX
std::system("clear");
#endif
}
There are two problems with this function:
I don't understand it.
-> for #ifdef WINDOWS, where is WINDOWS defined?
This code works in Linux but it doesn't work in Windows.
Note :
I'm using Windows XP.
I don't want any non-standard functionality ... such "curses"
Macros such as _WIN32, __gnu_linux__, __linux__ are defined by the compiler in question. You can find a comprehensive list of pre-defined compiler macros here.
_WIN32 is defined for both 32-bit and 64-bit environments of Windows.
You're looking for
// Windows, all variants (including 64-bit and ARM)
#ifdef _WIN32
or
#ifdef __unix__
These are defined by your compiler, and are not stored in a header file. Because of that, you don't need to #include a file first, and these #ifdefs will always give the correct result (unless you mess with the compiler)
WINDOWS is defined by your compiler, so this defines can be compiler-dependant. It's usefull in order to compile specific code depending on your OS.
There are various compiler-dependant macros. Unfortunately, they are not particularly useful, because they are not standardized and a C compiler for a particular OS does not necessarily #define them. I also suspect that they actually violate the C standard C11 7.1.3.
The 100% portable solution, which will compile on all C compilers, is to create such a constant yourself. Since C is a compiled language, you will have to compile your code differently for each OS anyhow. Simply add a file called os.c where you put a relevant #define or constant, then link this to your program. The only thing you need to change when compiling for a different OS is the make file path to your OS-specific os.c.
I want to show error when someone try to compile my code under other system than WIN32 and LINUX. But this code:
#ifdef WIN32
// Some code here for windows
#elif LINUX
// Some code for linux
#else
#error OS unsupported!
#endif
But this gives me an error:
#error OS unsupported
and compiler doesn't say anything else, just error.
What is wrong?
Two issues here:
your #elif does not test for the mere existence of the symbol, but for its truth (ie. defined and non-zero). You should use #elif defined(...) and, to be consistent, #if defined(...) at the start.
the symbols you are matching for are wrong. You should use, respectively, _WIN32 and __linux__. See this reference for more platforms.
LINUX is not a standard predefined macro. You probably want to check for __linux not LINUX
I know some code checks for _WIN32 but I don't know what's correct on Windows.
I often see __WIN32, WIN32 or __WIN32__. I assume that this depends on the used preprocessor (either one from visual studio, or gcc etc).
Do I now have to check first for os and then for the used compiler? We are using here G++ 4.4.x, Visual Studio 2008 and Xcode (which I assume is a gcc again) and ATM we are using just __WIN32__, __APPLE__ and __LINUX__.
This article answers your question:
C/C++ tip: How to detect the operating system type using compiler predefined macros (plus archive.org link in case it vanishes).
The article is quite long, and includes tables that are hard to reproduce, but here's the essence:
You can detect Unix-style OS with:
#if !defined(_WIN32) && (defined(__unix__) || defined(__unix) || (defined(__APPLE__) && defined(__MACH__)))
/* UNIX-style OS. ------------------------------------------- */
#endif
Once you know it's Unix, you can find if it's POSIX and the POSIX version with:
#include <unistd.h>
#if defined(_POSIX_VERSION)
/* POSIX compliant */
#endif
You can check for BSD-derived systems with:
#if defined(__unix__) || (defined(__APPLE__) && defined(__MACH__))
#include <sys/param.h>
#if defined(BSD)
/* BSD (DragonFly BSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD). ----------- */
#endif
#endif
and Linux with:
#if defined(__linux__)
/* Linux */
#endif
and Apple's operating systems with
#if defined(__APPLE__) && defined(__MACH__)
/* Apple OSX and iOS (Darwin) */
#include <TargetConditionals.h>
#if TARGET_IPHONE_SIMULATOR == 1
/* iOS in Xcode simulator */
#elif TARGET_OS_IPHONE == 1
/* iOS on iPhone, iPad, etc. */
#elif TARGET_OS_MAC == 1
/* OS X */
#endif
#endif
Windows with Cygwin
#if defined(__CYGWIN__) && !defined(_WIN32)
/* Cygwin POSIX under Microsoft Windows. */
#endif
And non-POSIX Windows with:
#if defined(_WIN64)
/* Microsoft Windows (64-bit) */
#elif defined(_WIN32)
/* Microsoft Windows (32-bit) */
#endif
The full article lists the following symbols, and shows which systems define them and when: _AIX, __APPLE__, __CYGWIN32__, __CYGWIN__, __DragonFly__, __FreeBSD__, __gnu_linux, hpux, __hpux, linux, __linux, __linux__, __MACH__, __MINGW32__, __MINGW64__, __NetBSD__, __OpenBSD__, _POSIX_IPV6, _POSIX_MAPPED_FILES, _POSIX_SEMAPHORES, _POSIX_THREADS, _POSIX_VERSION, sun, __sun, __SunOS, __sun__, __SVR4, __svr4__, TARGET_IPHONE_SIMULATOR, TARGET_OS_EMBEDDED, TARGET_OS_IPHONE, TARGET_OS_MAC, UNIX, unix, __unix, __unix__, WIN32, _WIN32, __WIN32, __WIN32__, WIN64, _WIN64, __WIN64, __WIN64__, WINNT, __WINNT, __WINNT__.
A related article (archive.org link) covers detecting compilers and compiler versions. It lists the following symbols: __clang__, __GNUC__, __GNUG__, __HP_aCC, __HP_cc, __IBMCPP__, __IBMC__, __ICC, __INTEL_COMPILER, _MSC_VER, __PGI, __SUNPRO_C, __SUNPRO_CC for detecting compilers, and __clang_major__, __clang_minor__, __clang_patchlevel__, __clang_version__, __GNUC_MINOR__, __GNUC_PATCHLEVEL__, __GNUC__, __GNUG__, __HP_aCC, __HP_cc, __IBMCPP__, __IBMC__, __ICC, __INTEL_COMPILER, __INTEL_COMPILER_BUILD_DATE, _MSC_BUILD, _MSC_FULL_VER, _MSC_VER, __PGIC_MINOR__, __PGIC_PATCHLEVEL__, __PGIC__, __SUNPRO_C, __SUNPRO_CC, __VERSION__, __xlC_ver__, __xlC__, __xlc__ for detecting compiler versions.
It depends what you are trying to do. You can check the compiler if your program wants to make use of some specific functions (from the gcc toolchain for example). You can check for operating system ( _WINDOWS, __unix__ ) if you want to use some OS specific functions (regardless of compiler - for example CreateProcess on Windows and fork on unix).
Macros for Visual C
Macros for gcc
You must check the documentation of each compiler in order to be able to detect the differences when compiling. I remember that the gnu toolchain(gcc) has some functions in the C library (libc) that are not on other toolchains (like Visual C for example). This way if you want to use those functions out of commodity then you must detect that you are using GCC, so the code you must use would be the following:
#ifdef __GNUC__
// do my gcc specific stuff
#else
// ... handle this for other compilers
#endif
Don't see why you have to. You might have to remember to specify the definition manually on your compiler's commandline, but that's all. For the record, Visual Studio's definition is _WIN32 (with one underscore) rather than __WIN32. If it's not defined then it's not defined, and it won't matter.
I've rebuild my answer... Damn, editing berserk :P:
You don't need to use partical one. And probably for MacOSX, Linux and other Unix-likes you don't need to use any at all.
Most popular one is (as far as Google tells the truth) is _WIN32.
You never define it "by hand" in your source code. It is defined in one of these ways:
as a commandline preprocessor/compiler flag (like g++ -D _WIN32)
or it is predefined by compiler itself (most of Windows compilers predefine _WIN32, and sometimes other like WIN32 or _WIN32_ too. -- Then you don't need to worry about defining it at all, compiler does the whole work.
And my old answer:
You don't 'have to' anything. It's just for multi-platform compatibility. Often version of code for all Unix-likes (including Linux, MacOSX, BSD, Solaris...) and other POSIX platform will be completely the same and there must be some changes for Windows. So people write their code generally for Unix-likes and put some Windows-only (eg. DirectX instructions, Windows-like file paths...) parts between #ifdef _WIN32 and #endif.
If you have some parts eg. X-Window-system only, or MacOS-only, you do similar with something like #ifdef X_WINDOW or #ifdef MACOS. Then, you need set a proper preprocessor definition while compiling (with gcc using -D flag, like eg. gcc -D _WIN32).
If you don't write any platform-dependent code, then you don't need to care for such a #ifdef, #else, #endif blocks. And most of Windows compilers/preprocessors AFAIK have predefined some symbols like _WIN32 (most popular, as far as google tells the truth), WIN32, _WIN32_, etc. So compiling it on Windows most probably you don't need to make anything else than just compiling.
Sigh - don't rely on compiler anything - specify which platform you are building for in your Makefile. Simply put, anything beginning with _ is implementation dependent and not portable.
I tried your method once upon a time, on a very large project, and in between bouncing around between Sun-C++ and GCC we just decided to go with Makefile control rather than trying to deduce what the compilers were going to do.