Re: Discussion about why GNU/Linux system upgrades cause old programs to break

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  > I've seen some projects do the following for C++:

  >   AC_DEFUN([NMS_CXX_11],
  >   [AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether $CXX is for C++11])
  >   AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([
  >   [#if __cplusplus != 201103
  >   #error "C++11 is required"
  >   #endif
  >   ]])],
  >   [AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])],
  >   [CXX_ORIG="$CXX"
  >   CXX="$CXX -std=c++11"
  >   AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([
  >   [#if __cplusplus != 201103
  >   #error "C++11 is required"
  >   #endif
  >   ]])],
  >   AC_MSG_RESULT([adding -std=c++11]),
  >   [CXX="$CXX_ORIG"
  >   AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([
  >   [#if __cplusplus > 201103
  >   #error "C++11 is required"
  >   #endif
  >   ]])],
  >   AC_MSG_RESULT([> C++11]),
  >   AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
  >   AC_MSG_ERROR([C++11 is required])]))
  >   unset CXX_ORIG])])

That sounds clean in principle, but I think it would break compilation
on the platforms, and the individual machines, that don't have a C11
compiler.  (Maybe running an old system version which doesn't have one
at all.  Maybe that user can't, or doesn't dare, upgrade.)  That would
cause trouble for a lot of users.

It would be wrong for us to do that to Emacs.  It is not a solution.


-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)