How to run program written for old compiler? - c++

Question

I'm looking for an implementation of Hybrid Tree(not important), and find an "old" one here.
The author said they have tried this code on the SUN Sparc platform (running Solaris 2.6) and with gcc-2.8.1 compiler. And my environment is gcc version 4.4.3 (Ubuntu 10.10).
The problem is:
I run "make" with the makefile he provides, but it gives me lots of error message as follows:
g++ -c Node.C
g++ -c DataNode.C
In file included from DataNode.h:18,
from DataNode.C:17:
Query.h:9:20: error: vector.h: No such file or directory
Query.h:10:19: error: stack.h: No such file or directory
Query.h:13:22: error: function.h: No such file or directory
Query.h:14:22: error: iostream.h: No such file or directory
DataNode.C:283:8: warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive
In file included from DataNode.h:18,
from DataNode.C:17:
Query.h:29: warning: ‘typedef’ was ignored in this declaration
Query.h:44: warning: ‘typedef’ was ignored in this declaration
Query.h:86: error: expected initializer before ‘<’ token
Query.h:118: error: ISO C++ forbids declaration of ‘PQ’ with no type
Query.h:118: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘*’ token
Query.h:122: error: ISO C++ forbids declaration of ‘PQ’ with no type
Query.h:122: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘*’ token
Query.h:126: error: ISO C++ forbids declaration of ‘PQ’ with no type
Query.h:126: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘*’ token
Query.h:135: error: expected initializer before ‘<’ token
DataNode.C: In member function ‘void DataNode::DisconnectBranch(int)’:
DataNode.C:80: error: ‘memmove’ was not declared in this scope
make: *** [DataNode.o] Error 1
I know I need to modify the souce code so as to agree with the morden compiler, such as change vector.h to vector. But I find it's just endless.
So my question is: is there any convienent method to run this program, no matter automatically converting this code to "modern-style" or using a standalone "old-style" compiler ?
Any suggestions?
===Update:===
Thank you all, I installed gcc2.8.1 in a different dir using --prefix=/usr/local/gcc-2.8.1 and modify the "makefile" to use this old-version gcc(/usr/local/gcc-2.8.1/bin/gcc). But when I run "make", it still gives me errors of not finding the headers:
/usr/local/gcc-2.8.1/bin/gcc -c DataNode.C
In file included from DataNode.h:18,
from DataNode.C:17:
Query.h:9: vector.h: No such file or directory
Query.h:10: stack.h: No such file or directory
Query.h:11: deque: No such file or directory
Query.h:12: algorithm: No such file or directory
Query.h:13: function.h: No such file or directory
Query.h:14: iostream.h: No such file or directory
make: *** [DataNode.o] Error 1
Then I tried to find these heads in /usr/local/gcc-2.8.1 using find /usr/local/gcc-2.8.1 -name "*vector*", but got nothing.
So where are these heads for the old-version gcc?

Answer 1

You can make a vertor.h yourself which includes vector. This way you can fix the incompatibilities noninvasively.
Edit:
You may also need to add a
using namespace std;
in the header file(s). This is
generally a bad idea but this is one situation where i'd do it anyway.
Once you get it working i would reccomend rewriting it to use the new style header files and namespaces.

Answer 2

Debian Lenny (oldstable) has gcc 3.4. This might have a better backward compatibility. Try to make compatibility headers for the rest of the issues and include them via an extra -I directory, e.g. a vector.h header file that includes vector.
Do yourself the favor and try not to touch the old code. It is easy to break legacy code in unforeseen ways.

Answer 3

You could try running the program on QEMU which supports Solaris 2.6. The only problem might be hunting for the install disc/image. Also, there are people that sells old Solaris boxes on eBay for cheap, you might be able to grab one.
GCC provides download for very old versions, you might be able to get better chance if you try older version of the compiler.

Answer 4

gcc has -fpermissive option: try it and see whether at least some errors disappear. Also: try making a single header file that will include all requisite headers with using directives. For example, make stdinc.h containing:
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
#include <stack>
...
using std::vector;
using std::fstream;
...
Replace all mentions of legacy C++ header files with a single include of stdinc.h. Old C++ didn't have namespaces, so even if you replace individual directives with just using namespace std;, clashes are unlikely.

Answer 5

If the only thing is
#include <vector.h>
to
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
Why not try sed?
grep for all includes to see if there are other includes than the c++ headers. If not your lucky.
Another thing that is more tricky is that there is old code that relies on accessing data through iterators in a non-standard way. I saw that in a Doom map editor for linux. Then you may need to do manual stuff.