[Cobolforgcc-devel] Building Old Source - Questions

[Tom B. <tom...@gm...>]

Tim, I've run into a stumbling block that I think I can fix but the
question is what is the best way to do it.

The problem is when the build process gets into the gcc/cobol
directory and starts compiling some cob_* programs and we soon run
into missing dependencies.

One situation as an example:

+ one or more files include gcc/system.h which has a macro that
redefines abort() as fancy_abort() which is NOT in any internal
library but is defined in gcc/gcc.o

+ solutions I can think of:

 - start a gcc/libfrontend.a library to capture such functions for use
by cobol and other front ends (that would require some
approval/coordination with gcc)

 - add a macro in gcc/system.h to undef the abort macro for COBOL
(that would also require coop of gcc)

 - start a cobol run time library and include the function (overkill?)

 - start a cobol build time library and include necessary function dependencies

 - make a copy of gcc/system.h as gcc/cobol/system.h and modify it as
necessary for the abort case (but there may be other dependencies)

I don't know which, if any, solution is best.   What I'm going to try
first is modifying gcc/system.h to undef the abort macro and see how
far I get.

In the words of Bill O'Reilly, "What say you?"

-Tom

Tom Browder
Niceville, Florida
USA