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1 20 jlechner
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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<!DOCTYPE html
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          PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
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          "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
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<head>
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   <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
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   <meta name="KEYWORDS" content="libstdc++, libstdc++-v3, GCC, g++, libg++, STL" />
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   <meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="FAQ for the GNU libstdc++ effort." />
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   <title>libstdc++-v3 FAQ</title>
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<link rel="StyleSheet" href="../lib3styles.css" />
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<link rel="Start" rev="Help" href="../documentation.html" type="text/html"
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 title="GNU C++ Standard Library" />
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<link rel="Copyright" href="../17_intro/license.html" type="text/html" />
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</head>
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<body>
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19
<h1 class="centered">libstdc++ Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
20
 
21
<p class="fineprint"><em>
22
   The latest version of this document is always available at
23
   <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/faq/">
24
   http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/faq/</a>.  The main documentation
25
   page is at
26
   <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/documentation.html">
27
   http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/documentation.html</a>.
28
</em></p>
29
 
30
<p><em>
31
   To the <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++/">libstdc++-v3 homepage</a>.
32
</em></p>
33
 
34
<!-- ####################################################### -->
35
<hr />
36
<h1>Questions</h1>
37
<ol>
38
   <li><a href="#1_0">General Information</a>
39
   <!-- I suspect these will mostly be links to/into existing documents. -->
40
   <ol>
41
      <li><a href="#1_1">What is libstdc++-v3?</a> </li>
42
      <li><a href="#1_2">Why should I use libstdc++?</a> </li>
43
      <li><a href="#1_3">Who's in charge of it?</a> </li>
44
      <li><a href="#1_4">How do I get libstdc++?</a> </li>
45
      <li><a href="#1_5">When is libstdc++ going to be finished?</a> </li>
46
      <li><a href="#1_6">How do I contribute to the effort?</a> </li>
47
      <li><a href="#1_7">What happened to libg++?  I need that!</a> </li>
48
      <li><a href="#1_8">What if I have more questions?</a> </li>
49
      <li><a href="#1_9">What are the license terms for libstdc++-v3?</a> </li>
50
   </ol>
51
   </li>
52
 
53
   <li><a href="#2_0">Installation</a>
54
      <ol>
55
         <li><a href="#2_1">How do I install libstdc++-v3?</a> </li>
56
         <li><a href="#2_2">[removed]</a> </li>
57
         <li><a href="#2_3">What is this CVS thing that you keep
58
                            mentioning?</a> </li>
59
         <li><a href="#2_4">How do I know if it works?</a> </li>
60
         <li><a href="#2_5">This library is HUGE!  And what's libsupc++?</a> </li>
61
         <li><a href="#2_6">Why do I get an error saying
62
                            <code>libstdc++.so.X</code> is missing when I
63
                            run my program?</a> </li>
64
      </ol>
65
   </li>
66
 
67
   <li><a href="#3_0">Platform-Specific Issues</a>
68
      <ol>
69
         <li><a href="#3_1">Can libstdc++-v3 be used with &lt;my
70
                            favorite compiler&gt;?</a> </li>
71
         <li><a href="#3_2">[removed]</a> </li>
72
         <li><a href="#3_3">[removed]</a> </li>
73
         <li><a href="#3_4">I can't use 'long long' on Solaris</a> </li>
74
         <li><a href="#3_5"><code>_XOPEN_SOURCE</code> /
75
                            <code>_GNU_SOURCE</code> / etc is always defined</a>
76
         </li>
77
         <li><a href="#3_6">OS X ctype.h is broken!  How can I hack it?</a></li>
78
         <li><a href="#3_7">Threading is broken on i386</a></li>
79
         <li><a href="#3_8">Recent GNU/Linux glibc required?</a></li>
80
         <li><a href="#3_9">Can't use wchar_t/wstring on FreeBSD</a></li>
81
         <li><a href="#3_10">MIPS atomic operations</a></li>
82
      </ol>
83
   </li>
84
 
85
   <li><a href="#4_0">Known Bugs and Non-Bugs</a>
86
      <ol>
87
         <li><a href="#4_1">What works already?</a> </li>
88
         <li><a href="#4_2">Bugs in gcc/g++ (not libstdc++-v3)</a> </li>
89
         <li><a href="#4_3">Bugs in the C++ language/lib specification</a> </li>
90
         <li><a href="#4_4">Things in libstdc++ that only look like bugs</a><ul>
91
           <li><a href="#4_4_iostreamclear">reopening a stream fails</a> </li>
92
           <li><a href="#4_4_Weff">-Weffc++ complains too much</a> </li>
93
           <li><a href="#4_4_rel_ops">&quot;ambiguous overloads&quot;
94
                               after including an old-style header</a> </li>
95
           <li><a href="#4_4_interface">The g++-3 headers are
96
                               <strong>not ours</strong></a> </li>
97
           <li><a href="#4_4_glibc">compilation errors from streambuf.h</a> </li>
98
           <li><a href="#4_4_checks">errors about <em>*Concept</em> and
99
                               <em>constraints</em> in the STL...</a> </li>
100
           <li><a href="#4_4_dlsym">program crashes when using library code
101
                               in a dynamically-loaded library</a> </li>
102
           <li><a href="#4_4_leak">"memory leaks" in containers</a> </li>
103
         </ul>
104
         </li>
105
         <li><a href="#4_5">Aw, that's easy to fix!</a> </li>
106
      </ol>
107
   </li>
108
 
109
   <li><a href="#5_0">Miscellaneous</a>
110
      <ol>
111
         <li><a href="#5_1">string::iterator is not char*;
112
                            vector&lt;T&gt;::iterator is not T*</a> </li>
113
         <li><a href="#5_2">What's next after libstdc++-v3?</a> </li>
114
         <li><a href="#5_3">What about the STL from SGI?</a> </li>
115
         <li><a href="#5_4">Extensions and Backward Compatibility</a> </li>
116
         <li><a href="#5_5">Does libstdc++ support TR1?</a> </li>
117
         <li><a href="#5_6">Is libstdc++-v3 thread-safe?</a> </li>
118
         <li><a href="#5_7">How do I get a copy of the ISO C++ Standard?</a> </li>
119
         <li><a href="#5_8">What's an ABI and why is it so messy?</a> </li>
120
         <li><a href="#5_9">How do I make std::vector&lt;T&gt;::capacity()
121
                            == std::vector&lt;T&gt;::size?</a> </li>
122
      </ol>
123
   </li>
124
 
125
</ol>
126
 
127
<hr />
128
 
129
<!-- ####################################################### -->
130
 
131
<h1><a name="1_0">1.0 General Information</a></h1>
132
<!-- I suspect these will mostly be links to/into existing documents. -->
133
   <h2><a name="1_1">1.1 What is libstdc++-v3?</a></h2>
134
      <p>The GNU Standard C++ Library v3 is an
135
         ongoing project to implement the ISO 14882 Standard C++ library
136
         as described in chapters 17 through 27 and annex D.
137
         For those who want to see exactly how
138
         far the project has come, or just want the latest
139
         bleeding-edge code, the up-to-date source is available over
140
         anonymous CVS, and can even be browsed over the Web (see
141
         <a href="#1_4">1.4</a> below).
142
      </p>
143
      <p>The older libstdc++-v2 project is no longer maintained; the code
144
         has been completely replaced and rewritten.
145
         <a href="#4_4_interface">If you are using V2</a>, then you need to
146
         report bugs to your system vendor, not to the V3 list.
147
      </p>
148
      <p>A more formal description of the V3 goals can be found in the
149
         official <a href="../17_intro/DESIGN">design document</a>.
150
      </p>
151
 
152
<hr />
153
   <h2><a name="1_2">1.2 Why should I use libstdc++?</a></h2>
154
      <p>The completion of the ISO C++ standardization gave the
155
         C++ community a powerful set of reuseable tools in the form
156
         of the C++ Standard Library.  However, all existing C++
157
         implementations are (as the Draft Standard used to say)
158
         &quot;incomplet and incorrekt,&quot; and many suffer from
159
         limitations of the compilers that use them.
160
      </p>
161
      <p>The GNU C/C++/FORTRAN/&lt;pick-a-language&gt; compiler
162
         (<code>gcc</code>, <code>g++</code>, etc) is widely considered to be
163
         one of the leading compilers in the world.  Its development
164
         is overseen by the
165
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/">GCC team</a>.  All of
166
         the rapid development and near-legendary
167
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-3.3/buildstat.html">portability</a>
168
         that are the hallmarks of an open-source project are being
169
         applied to libstdc++.
170
      </p>
171
      <p>That means that all of the Standard classes and functions
172
         (such as <code>string</code>, <code>vector&lt;&gt;</code>, iostreams,
173
         and algorithms) will be freely available and fully compliant.
174
         Programmers will no longer need to &quot;roll their own&quot;
175
         nor be worried about platform-specific incompatibilities.
176
      </p>
177
 
178
<hr />
179
   <h2><a name="1_3">1.3 Who's in charge of it?</a></h2>
180
      <p>The libstdc++ project is contributed to by several developers
181
         all over the world, in the same way as GCC or Linux.
182
         Benjamin Kosnik, Gabriel Dos Reis, Phil Edwards, Ulrich Drepper,
183
         Loren James Rittle, and Paolo Carlini are the lead maintainers of
184
         the CVS archive.
185
      </p>
186
      <p>Development and discussion is held on the libstdc++ mailing
187
         list.  Subscribing to the list, or searching the list
188
         archives, is open to everyone.  You can read instructions for
189
         doing so on the <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++/">homepage</a>.
190
         If you have questions, ideas, code, or are just curious, sign up!
191
      </p>
192
 
193
<hr />
194
   <h2><a name="1_4">1.4 How do I get libstdc++?</a></h2>
195
      <p>The <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++/">homepage</a>
196
         has instructions for retrieving the latest CVS sources, and for
197
         browsing the CVS sources over the web.
198
      </p>
199
      <p>Stable versions of libstdc++-v3 are included with releases of
200
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/releases.html">the GCC compilers</a>.
201
      </p>
202
      <p>The subset commonly known as the Standard Template Library
203
         (chapters 23 through 25, mostly) is adapted from the final release
204
         of the SGI STL, with extensive changes.
205
      </p>
206
 
207
<hr />
208
   <h2><a name="1_5">1.5 When is libstdc++ going to be finished?</a></h2>
209
<!--      <p>Nathan Myers gave the best of all possible answers in <a
210
         href="http://www.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=469581698&fmt=text">a
211
         Usenet article</a>.</p>
212
which is no longer available, thanks deja...-->
213
      <p>Nathan Myers gave the best of all possible answers, responding to a
214
         Usenet article asking this question:  <em>Sooner, if you help.</em>
215
      </p>
216
 
217
<hr />
218
   <h2><a name="1_6">1.6 How do I contribute to the effort?</a></h2>
219
      <p>Here is <a href="../17_intro/contribute.html">a
220
         page devoted to this topic</a>.  Subscribing to the mailing
221
         list (see above, or the homepage) is a very good idea if you
222
         have something to contribute, or if you have spare time and
223
         want to help.  Contributions don't have to be in the form of
224
         source code; anybody who is willing to help write
225
         documentation, for example, or has found a bug in code that
226
         we all thought was working, is more than welcome!
227
      </p>
228
 
229
<hr />
230
   <h2><a name="1_7">1.7 What happened to libg++?  I need that!</a></h2>
231
      <p>The most recent libg++ README states that libg++ is no longer
232
         being actively maintained.  It should not be used for new
233
         projects, and is only being kicked along to support older code.
234
      </p>
235
      <p>The libg++ was designed and created when there was no Standard
236
         to provide guidance.  Classes like linked lists are now provided
237
         for by <code>list&lt;T&gt;</code> and do not need to be created by
238
         <code>genclass</code>.  (For that matter, templates exist now and
239
         are well-supported, whereas genclass (mostly) predates them.)
240
      </p>
241
      <p>There are other classes in libg++ that are not specified in the
242
         ISO Standard (e.g., statistical analysis).  While there are a
243
         lot of really useful things that are used by a lot of people
244
         (e.g., statistics :-), the Standards Committee couldn't include
245
         everything, and so a lot of those &quot;obvious&quot; classes
246
         didn't get included.
247
      </p>
248
      <p>Since libstdc++ is an implementation of the Standard Library, we
249
         have no plans at this time to include non-Standard utilities
250
         in the implementation, however handy they are.  (The extensions
251
         provided in the SGI STL aren't maintained by us and don't get
252
         a lot of our attention, because they don't require a lot of our
253
         time.)  It is entirely plausable that the &quot;useful stuff&quot;
254
         from libg++ might be extracted into an updated utilities library,
255
         but nobody has started such a project yet.
256
      </p>
257
      <p>(The <a href="http://www.boost.org/">Boost</a> site houses free
258
         C++ libraries that do varying things, and happened to be started
259
         by members of the Standards Committee.  Certain &quot;useful
260
         stuff&quot; classes will probably migrate there.)
261
      </p>
262
      <p>For the bold and/or desperate, the
263
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/extensions.html">GCC extensions page</a>
264
         describes where to find the last libg++ source.
265
      </p>
266
 
267
<hr />
268
   <h2><a name="1_8">1.8 What if I have more questions?</a></h2>
269
      <p>If you have read the README and RELEASE-NOTES files, and your
270
         question remains unanswered, then just ask the mailing list.
271
         At present, you do not need to be subscribed to the list to
272
         send a message to it.  More information is available on the
273
         homepage (including how to browse the list archives); to send
274
         to the list, use <a href="mailto:libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org">
275
         <code>libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org</code></a>.
276
      </p>
277
      <p>If you have a question that you think should be included here,
278
         or if you have a question <em>about</em> a question/answer here,
279
         contact <a href="mailto:pme@gcc.gnu.org">Phil Edwards</a>
280
         or <a href="mailto:gdr@gcc.gnu.org">Gabriel Dos Reis</a>.
281
      </p>
282
 
283
<hr />
284
   <h2><a name="1_9">1.9 What are the license terms for libstdc++-v3?</a></h2>
285
      <p>See <a href="../17_intro/license.html">our license description</a>
286
         for these and related questions.
287
      </p>
288
 
289
<hr />
290
<h1><a name="2_0">2.0 Installation</a></h1>
291
   <h2><a name="2_1">2.1 How do I install libstdc++-v3?</a></h2>
292
      <p>Complete instructions are not given here (this is a FAQ, not
293
         an installation document), but the tools required are few:
294
      </p>
295
         <ul>
296
            <li> A 3.x release of GCC.  Note that building GCC is much
297
                 easier and more automated than building the GCC 2.[78]
298
                 series was.  If you are using GCC 2.95, you can still
299
                 build earlier snapshots of libstdc++.
300
            </li>
301
            <li> GNU Make is required for GCC 3.4 and later.
302
            </li>
303
            <li> The GNU Autotools are needed if you are messing with
304
                 the configury or makefiles.
305
            </li>
306
         </ul>
307
      <p>The file <a href="../documentation.html">documentation.html</a>
308
         provides a good overview of the steps necessary to build, install,
309
         and use the library.  Instructions for configuring the library
310
         with new flags such as --enable-threads are there also, as well as
311
         patches and instructions for working with GCC 2.95.
312
      </p>
313
      <p>The top-level install.html and
314
         <a href="../17_intro/RELEASE-NOTES">RELEASE-NOTES</a> files contain
315
         the exact build and installation instructions.  You may wish to
316
         browse those files over CVSweb ahead of time to get a feel for
317
         what's required.  RELEASE-NOTES is located in the
318
         &quot;.../docs/17_intro/&quot; directory of the distribution.
319
      </p>
320
 
321
<hr />
322
   <h2><a name="2_2">2.2 [removed]</a></h2>
323
      <p>This question has become moot and has been removed.  The stub
324
         is here to preserve numbering (and hence links/bookmarks).
325
      </p>
326
 
327
<hr />
328
   <h2><a name="2_3">2.3 What is this CVS thing that you
329
                         keep mentioning?</a></h2>
330
      <p>The <em>Concurrent Versions System</em> is one of several revision
331
         control packages.  It was selected for GNU projects because it's
332
         free (speech), free (beer), and very high quality.  The <a
333
         href="http://www.gnu.org/software/cvs/cvs.html">CVS entry in
334
         the GNU software catalogue</a> has a better description as
335
         well as a
336
         <a href="http://www.cvshome.org/">link to the makers of CVS</a>.
337
      </p>
338
      <p>The &quot;anonymous client checkout&quot; feature of CVS is
339
         similar to anonymous FTP in that it allows anyone to retrieve
340
         the latest libstdc++ sources.
341
      </p>
342
      <p>After the first of April, American users will have a
343
         &quot;/pharmacy&quot; command-line option...
344
         <!-- wonder how long that'll live -->
345
      </p>
346
 
347
<hr />
348
   <h2><a name="2_4">2.4 How do I know if it works?</a></h2>
349
      <p>libstdc++-v3 comes with its own testsuite.  You do not need
350
         to actually install the library (&quot;<code>make
351
         install</code>&quot;) to run the testsuite, but you do need
352
         DejaGNU, as described
353
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/install/test.html">here</a>.
354
      </p>
355
      <p>To run the testsuite on the library after building it, use
356
         &quot;make check&quot; while in your build directory.  To run
357
         the testsuite on the library after building and installing it,
358
         use &quot;make check-install&quot; instead.
359
      </p>
360
      <p>If you find bugs in the testsuite programs themselves, or if you
361
         think of a new test program that should be added to the suite,
362
         <strong>please</strong> write up your idea and send it to the list!
363
      </p>
364
 
365
<hr />
366
   <h2><a name="2_5">2.5 This library is HUGE!  And what's libsupc++?</a></h2>
367
      <p>Usually the size of libraries on disk isn't noticeable.  When a
368
         link editor (or simply &quot;linker&quot;) pulls things from a
369
         static archive library, only the necessary object files are copied
370
         into your executable, not the entire library.  Unfortunately, even
371
         if you only need a single function or variable from an object file,
372
         the entire object file is extracted.  (There's nothing unique to C++
373
         or libstdc++-v3 about this; it's just common behavior, given here
374
         for background reasons.)
375
      </p>
376
      <p>Some of the object files which make up libstdc++.a are rather large.
377
         If you create a statically-linked executable with
378
         <code> -static</code>, those large object files are suddenly part
379
         of your executable.  Historically the best way around this was to
380
         only place a very few functions (often only a single one) in each
381
         source/object file; then extracting a single function is the same
382
         as extracting a single .o file.  For libstdc++-v3 this is only
383
         possible to a certain extent; the object files in question contain
384
         template classes and template functions, pre-instantiated, and
385
         splitting those up causes severe maintenance headaches.
386
      </p>
387
      <p>It's not a bug, and it's not really a problem.  Nevertheless, some
388
         people don't like it, so here are two pseudo-solutions:
389
      </p>
390
      <p>If the only functions from libstdc++.a which you need are
391
         language support functions (those listed in <a
392
         href="../18_support/howto.html">clause 18</a> of the
393
         standard, e.g., <code>new</code> and <code>delete</code>),
394
         then try linking against <code>libsupc++.a</code> (Using
395
         <code>gcc</code> instead of <code>g++</code> and explicitly
396
         linking in <code>-lsupc++</code> for the final link step will
397
         do it).  This library contains only those support routines,
398
         one per object file.  But if you are using anything from the
399
         rest of the library, such as IOStreams or vectors, then
400
         you'll still need pieces from <code>libstdc++.a</code>.
401
      </p>
402
      <p>The second method is one we hope to incorporate into the library
403
         build process.  Some platforms can place each function and variable
404
         into its own section in a .o file.  The GNU linker can then perform
405
         garbage collection on unused sections; this reduces the situation
406
         to only copying needed functions into the executable, as before,
407
         but all happens automatically.
408
      </p>
409
      <p>Unfortunately the garbage collection in GNU ld is buggy; sections
410
         (corresponding to functions and variables) which <em>are</em> used
411
         are mistakenly removed, leading to horrible crashes when your
412
         executable starts up.  For the time being, this feature is not used
413
         when building the library.
414
      </p>
415
 
416
<hr />
417
   <h2><a name="2_6">2.6 Why do I get an error saying
418
                         <code>libstdc++.so.X</code> is missing when I run
419
                         my program?</a></h2>
420
      <p>Depending on your platform and library version, the message might
421
         be similar to one of the following:
422
      </p>
423
      <pre>
424
    ./a.out: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
425
 
426
    /usr/libexec/ld-elf.so.1: Shared object "libstdc++.so.6" not found </pre>
427
 
428
      <p>This doesn't mean that the shared library isn't installed, only
429
         that the dynamic linker can't find it. When a dynamically-linked
430
         executable is run the linker finds and loads the required shared
431
         libraries by searching a pre-configured list of directories. If
432
         the directory where you've installed libstdc++ is not in this
433
         list then the libraries won't be found. The simplest way to fix
434
         this is to use the <code>LD_LIBRARY_PATH</code> environment
435
         variable, which is a colon-separated list of directories in which
436
         the linker will search for shared libraries:
437
      </p>
438
      <pre>
439
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${prefix}/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
440
    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH </pre>
441
      <p>The exact environment variable to use will depend on your platform,
442
         e.g. DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH for Darwin,
443
         LD_LIBRARY_PATH_32/LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64 for Solaris 32-/64-bit,
444
         LD_LIBRARYN32_PATH/LD_LIBRARY64_PATH for Irix N32/64-bit ABIs
445
         and SHLIB_PATH for HP-UX.
446
      </p>
447
      <p>See the man pages for <code>ld(1)</code>, <code>ldd(1)</code> and
448
         <code>ldconfig(8)</code> for more information. The dynamic linker
449
         has different names on different platforms but the man page is
450
         usually called something such as <code>ld.so / rtld / dld.so</code>.
451
      </p>
452
 
453
<hr />
454
<h1><a name="3_0">3.0 Platform-Specific Issues</a></h1>
455
   <h2><a name="3_1">3.1 Can libstdc++-v3 be used with &lt;my
456
                         favorite compiler&gt;?</a></h2>
457
      <p>Probably not.  Yet.</p>
458
      <p>Because GCC advances so rapidly, development and testing of
459
         libstdc++ is being done almost entirely under that compiler.
460
         If you are curious about whether other, lesser compilers
461
         (*grin*) support libstdc++, you are more than welcome to try.
462
         Configuring and building the library (see above) will still
463
         require certain tools, however.  Also keep in mind that
464
         <em>building</em> libstdc++ does not imply that your compiler
465
         will be able to <em>use</em> all of the features found in the
466
         C++ Standard Library.
467
      </p>
468
      <p>Since the goal of ISO Standardization is for all C++
469
         implementations to be able to share code, the final libstdc++
470
         should, in theory, be usable under any ISO-compliant
471
         compiler.  It will still be targeted and optimized for
472
         GCC/g++, however.
473
      </p>
474
 
475
<hr />
476
   <h2><a name="3_2">3.2 [removed]</a></h2>
477
      <p>This question has become moot and has been removed.  The stub
478
         is here to preserve numbering (and hence links/bookmarks).
479
      </p>
480
 
481
<hr />
482
   <h2><a name="3_3">3.3 [removed]</a></h2>
483
      <p>This question has become moot and has been removed.  The stub
484
         is here to preserve numbering (and hence links/bookmarks).
485
      </p>
486
 
487
<hr />
488
   <h2><a name="3_4">3.4 I can't use 'long long' on Solaris</a></h2>
489
      <p>By default we try to support the C99 <code>long long</code> type.
490
         This requires that certain functions from your C library be present.
491
      </p>
492
      <p>Up through release 3.0.2 the tests performed were too general, and
493
         this feature was disabled when it did not need to be.  The most
494
         commonly reported platform affected was Solaris.
495
      </p>
496
      <p>This has been fixed for 3.0.3 and onwards.
497
      </p>
498
 
499
<hr />
500
   <h2><a name="3_5">3.5 <code>_XOPEN_SOURCE</code> / <code>_GNU_SOURCE</code>
501
                         / etc is always defined</a></h2>
502
      <p>On Solaris, g++ (but not gcc) always defines the preprocessor
503
         macro <code>_XOPEN_SOURCE</code>.  On GNU/Linux, the same happens
504
         with <code>_GNU_SOURCE</code>.  (This is not an exhaustive list;
505
         other macros and other platforms are also affected.)
506
      </p>
507
      <p>These macros are typically used in C library headers, guarding new
508
         versions of functions from their older versions.  The C++ standard
509
         library includes the C standard library, but it requires the C90
510
         version, which for backwards-compatability reasons is often not the
511
         default for many vendors.
512
      </p>
513
      <p>More to the point, the C++ standard requires behavior which is only
514
         available on certain platforms after certain symbols are defined.
515
         Usually the issue involves I/O-related typedefs.  In order to
516
         ensure correctness, the compiler simply predefines those symbols.
517
      </p>
518
      <p>Note that it's not enough to #define them only when the library is
519
         being built (during installation).  Since we don't have an 'export'
520
         keyword, much of the library exists as headers, which means that
521
         the symbols must also be defined as your programs are parsed and
522
         compiled.
523
      </p>
524
      <p>To see which symbols are defined, look for CPLUSPLUS_CPP_SPEC in
525
         the gcc config headers for your target (and try changing them to
526
         see what happens when building complicated code).  You can also run
527
         <code>&quot;g++ -E -dM - &lt; /dev/null&quot;</code> to display
528
         a list of predefined macros for any particular installation.
529
      </p>
530
      <p>This has been discussed on the mailing lists
531
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/cgi-bin/htsearch?method=and&amp;format=builtin-long&amp;sort=score&amp;words=_XOPEN_SOURCE+Solaris">quite a bit</a>.
532
      </p>
533
      <p>This method is something of a wart.  We'd like to find a cleaner
534
         solution, but nobody yet has contributed the time.
535
      </p>
536
 
537
<hr />
538
   <h2><a name="3_6">3.6 OS X ctype.h is broken!  How can I hack it?</a></h2>
539
      <p>This is a long-standing bug in the OS X support.  Fortunately,
540
         the patch is quite simple, and well-known.
541
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2002-03/msg00817.html"> Here's a
542
         link to the solution.</a>
543
      </p>
544
 
545
<hr />
546
   <h2><a name="3_7">3.7 Threading is broken on i386</a></h2>
547
      <p>Support for atomic integer operations is/was broken on i386
548
         platforms.  The assembly code accidentally used opcodes that are
549
         only available on the i486 and later.  So if you configured GCC
550
         to target, for example, i386-linux, but actually used the programs
551
         on an i686, then you would encounter no problems.  Only when
552
         actually running the code on a i386 will the problem appear.
553
      </p>
554
      <p>This is fixed in 3.2.2.
555
      </p>
556
 
557
<hr />
558
   <h2><a name="3_8">3.8 Recent GNU/Linux glibc required?</a></h2>
559
      <p>When running on GNU/Linux, libstdc++ 3.2.1 (shared library version
560
         5.0.1) and later uses localization and formatting code from the system
561
         C library (glibc) version 2.2.5.  That version of glibc is over a
562
         year old and contains necessary bugfixes.  Many GNU/Linux distros make
563
         glibc version 2.3.x available now.
564
      </p>
565
      <p>The guideline is simple:  the more recent the C++ library, the
566
         more recent the C library.  (This is also documented in the main
567
         GCC installation instructions.)
568
      </p>
569
 
570
<hr />
571
   <h2><a name="3_9">3.9 Can't use wchar_t/wstring on FreeBSD</a></h2>
572
      <p>At the moment there are a few problems in FreeBSD's support for
573
         wide character functions, and as a result the libstdc++ configury
574
         decides that wchar_t support should be disabled.  Once the underlying
575
         problems are fixed in FreeBSD (soon), the library support will
576
         automatically enable itself.
577
      </p>
578
      <p>You can fix the problems yourself, and learn more about the situation,
579
         by reading
580
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/2003-02/subjects.html#00286">
581
         this short thread</a> (&quot;_GLIBCPP_USE_WCHAR_T undefined in
582
         FreeBSD's c++config.h?&quot;).
583
      </p>
584
 
585
<hr />
586
   <h2><a name="3_10">3.10 MIPS atomic operations</a></h2>
587
      <p>The atomic locking routines for MIPS targets requires MIPS II
588
         and later.  A patch went in just after the 3.3 release to
589
         make mips* use the generic implementation instead.  You can also
590
         configure for mipsel-elf as a workaround.
591
      </p>
592
      <p>mips*-*-linux* continues to use the MIPS II routines, and more
593
         work in this area is expected.
594
      </p>
595
 
596
<hr />
597
<h1><a name="4_0">4.0 Known Bugs and Non-Bugs</a></h1>
598
   <em>Note that this section can get rapdily outdated -- such is the
599
       nature of an open-source project.  For the latest information, join
600
       the mailing list or look through recent archives.   The RELEASE-
601
       NOTES and BUGS files are generally kept up-to-date.</em>
602
 
603
   <p>For 3.0.1, the most common &quot;bug&quot; is an apparently missing
604
      &quot;<code>../</code>&quot; in include/Makefile, resulting in files
605
      like gthr.h and gthr-single.h not being found.  Please read
606
      <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/install/configure.html">the configuration
607
      instructions for GCC</a>,
608
      specifically the part about configuring in a separate build directory,
609
      and how strongly recommended it is.  Building in the source directory
610
      is fragile, is rarely tested, and tends to break, as in this case.
611
      This was fixed for 3.0.2.
612
   </p>
613
 
614
   <p>For 3.1, the most common &quot;bug&quot; is a parse error when using
615
      <code>&lt;fstream&gt;</code>, ending with a message,
616
      &quot;<code>bits/basic_file.h:52: parse error before `{'
617
      token</code>.&quot;  Please read
618
      <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/install/">the installation instructions for
619
      GCC</a>, specifically the part about not installing newer versions on
620
      top of older versions.  If you install 3.1 over a 3.0.x release, then
621
      the wrong basic_file.h header will be found (its location changed
622
      between releases).
623
   </p>
624
 
625
   <p><strong>Please do not report these as bugs.  We know about them.</strong>
626
      Reporting this -- or any other problem that's already been fixed --
627
      hinders the development of GCC, because we have to take time to
628
      respond to your report.  Thank you.
629
   </p>
630
 
631
<hr />
632
   <h2><a name="4_1">4.1 What works already?</a></h2>
633
      <p>Short answer:  Pretty much everything <em>works</em> except for some
634
         corner cases.  Also, localization is incomplete.  For whether it works
635
         well, or as you expect it to work, see 5.2.
636
      </p>
637
      <p>Long answer:  See the docs/html/17_intro/CHECKLIST file, which is
638
         badly outdated...  Also see the RELEASE-NOTES file, which is kept
639
         more up to date.
640
      </p>
641
 
642
<hr />
643
   <h2><a name="4_2">4.2 Bugs in gcc/g++ (not libstdc++-v3)</a></h2>
644
      <p>This is by no means meant to be complete nor exhaustive, but
645
         mentions some problems that users may encounter when building
646
         or using libstdc++.  If you are experiencing one of these
647
         problems, you can find more information on the libstdc++ and
648
         the GCC mailing lists.
649
      </p>
650
      <p>Before reporting a bug, examine the
651
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs.html">bugs database</a> with the
652
         category set to &quot;libstdc++&quot;.  The BUGS file in the source
653
         tree also tracks known serious problems.
654
      </p>
655
      <ul>
656
         <li>Debugging is problematic, due to bugs in line-number generation
657
             (mostly fixed in the compiler) and gdb lagging behind the
658
             compiler (lack of personnel).  We recommend configuring the
659
             compiler using <code>--with-dwarf2</code> if the DWARF2
660
             debugging format is not already the default on your platform.
661
             Also,
662
<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/2002-02/msg00034.html">changing your
663
             GDB settings</a> can have a profound effect on your C++ debugging
664
             experiences.  :-)</li>
665
      </ul>
666
 
667
<hr />
668
   <h2><a name="4_3">4.3 Bugs in the C++ language/lib specification</a></h2>
669
      <p>Yes, unfortunately, there are some.  In a
670
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/1998/msg00006.html">message
671
         to the list</a>, Nathan Myers announced that he has started a list of
672
         problems in the ISO C++ Standard itself, especially with
673
         regard to the chapters that concern the library.  The list
674
         itself is
675
         <a href="http://www.cantrip.org/draft-bugs.txt">posted on his
676
         website</a>.  Developers who are having problems interpreting
677
         the Standard may wish to consult his notes.
678
      </p>
679
      <p>For those people who are not part of the ISO Library Group
680
         (i.e., nearly all of us needing to read this page in the first
681
         place :-), a public list of the library defects is occasionally
682
         published <a href="http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg21/">here</a>.
683
         Some of these have resulted in <a href="#5_2">code changes</a>.
684
      </p>
685
 
686
<hr />
687
   <h2><a name="4_4">4.4 Things in libstdc++ that only look like bugs</a></h2>
688
      <p>There are things which are not bugs in the compiler (4.2) nor
689
         the language specification (4.3), but aren't really bugs in
690
         libstdc++, either.  Really!  Please do not report these as bugs.
691
      </p>
692
      <p><a name="4_4_Weff"><strong>-Weffc++</strong></a>
693
         The biggest of these is the quadzillions of warnings about the
694
         library headers emitted when <code>-Weffc++</code> is used.  Making
695
         libstdc++ &quot;-Weffc++-clean&quot; is not a goal of the project,
696
         for a few reasons.  Mainly, that option tries to enforce
697
         object-oriented programming, while the Standard Library isn't
698
         necessarily trying to be OO.
699
      </p>
700
      <p><a name="4_4_iostreamclear"><strong>reopening a stream fails</strong>
701
         </a> Did I just say that -Weffc++ was our biggest false-bug report?
702
         I lied.  (It used to be.)  Today it seems to be reports that after
703
         executing a sequence like
704
      </p>
705
      <pre>
706
    #include &lt;fstream&gt;
707
    ...
708
    std::fstream  fs(&quot;a_file&quot;);
709
    // .
710
    // . do things with fs...
711
    // .
712
    fs.close();
713
    fs.open(&quot;a_new_file&quot;);</pre>
714
      <p>all operations on the re-opened <code>fs</code> will fail, or at
715
         least act very strangely.  Yes, they often will, especially if
716
         <code>fs</code> reached the EOF state on the previous file.  The
717
         reason is that the state flags are <strong>not</strong> cleared
718
         on a successful call to open().  The standard unfortunately did
719
         not specify behavior in this case, and to everybody's great sorrow,
720
         the <a href="../ext/howto.html#5">proposed LWG resolution in
721
         DR #22</a> is to leave the flags unchanged.  You must insert a call
722
         to <code>fs.clear()</code> between the calls to close() and open(),
723
         and then everything will work like we all expect it to work.
724
         <strong>Update:</strong> for GCC 4.0 we implemented the resolution
725
         of <a href="../ext/howto.html#5">DR #409</a> and open() now calls
726
         <code>clear()</code> on success!
727
      </p>
728
      <p><a name="4_4_rel_ops"><strong>rel_ops</strong></a>
729
         Another is the <code>rel_ops</code> namespace and the template
730
         comparison operator functions contained therein.  If they become
731
         visible in the same namespace as other comparison functions
732
         (e.g., '<code>using</code>' them and the &lt;iterator&gt; header),
733
         then you will suddenly be faced with huge numbers of ambiguity
734
         errors.  This was discussed on the -v3 list; Nathan Myers
735
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/2001-01/msg00247.html">sums
736
         things up here</a>.  The collisions with vector/string iterator
737
         types have been fixed for 3.1.  <!-- more links to email here -->
738
      </p>
739
      <h3><a name="4_4_interface">The g++-3 headers are <em>not ours</em></a></h3>
740
      <p>If you have found an extremely broken header file which is
741
         causing problems for you, look carefully before submitting a
742
         &quot;high&quot; priority bug report (which you probably shouldn't
743
         do anyhow; see the last paragraph of the page describing
744
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs.html">the GCC bug database</a>).
745
      </p>
746
      <p>If the headers are in <code>${prefix}/include/g++-3</code>, or if
747
         the installed library's name looks like <code>libstdc++-2.10.a</code>
748
         or <code>libstdc++-libc6-2.10.so</code>, then you are using the old
749
         libstdc++-v2 library, which is nonstandard and unmaintained.  Do not
750
         report problems with -v2 to the -v3 mailing list.
751
      </p>
752
      <p>For GCC versions 3.0 and 3.1 the libstdc++-v3 header files are
753
         installed in <code>${prefix}/include/g++-v3</code> (see the 'v'?).
754
         Starting with version 3.2 the headers are installed in
755
         <code>${prefix}/include/c++/${version}</code> as this prevents
756
         headers from previous versions being found by mistake.
757
      </p>
758
      <p><a name="4_4_glibc"><strong>glibc</strong></a>
759
         If you're on a GNU/Linux system and have just upgraded to
760
         glibc 2.2, but are still using gcc 2.95.2, then you should have
761
         read the glibc FAQ, specifically 2.34:
762
      </p>
763
      <pre>
764
2.34.   When compiling C++ programs, I get a compilation error in streambuf.h.
765
 
766
{BH} You are using g++ 2.95.2? After upgrading to glibc 2.2, you need to
767
apply a patch to the include files in /usr/include/g++, because the fpos_t
768
type has changed in glibc 2.2.  The patch is at
769
http://clisp.cons.org/~haible/gccinclude-glibc-2.2-compat.diff
770
   </pre>
771
      <p>Note that 2.95.x shipped with the
772
         <a href="#4_4_interface">old v2 library</a> which is no longer
773
         maintained.  Also note that gcc 2.95.3 fixes this problem, but
774
         requires a separate patch for libstdc++-v3.
775
      </p>
776
      <p><a name="4_4_checks"><strong>concept checks</strong></a>
777
         If you see compilation errors containing messages about
778
         <code> <em>foo</em>Concept </code>and a<code> constraints </code>
779
         member function, then most likely you have violated one of the
780
         requirements for types used during instantiation of template
781
         containers and functions.  For example, EqualityComparableConcept
782
         appears if your types must be comparable with == and you have not
783
         provided this capability (a typo, or wrong visibility, or you
784
         just plain forgot, etc).
785
      </p>
786
      <p>More information, including how to optionally enable/disable the
787
         checks, is available
788
         <a href="../19_diagnostics/howto.html#3">here</a>.
789
      </p>
790
      <p><a name="4_4_dlsym"><strong>dlopen/dlsym</strong></a>
791
         If you are using the C++ library across dynamically-loaded
792
         objects, make certain that you are passing the correct options
793
         when compiling and linking:
794
      </p>
795
      <pre>
796
    // compile your library components
797
    g++ -fPIC -c a.cc
798
    g++ -fPIC -c b.cc
799
    ...
800
    g++ -fPIC -c z.cc
801
 
802
    // create your library
803
    g++ -fPIC -shared -rdynamic -o libfoo.so a.o b.o ... z.o
804
 
805
    // link the executable
806
    g++ -fPIC -rdynamic -o foo ... -L. -lfoo -ldl</pre>
807
      <p><a name="4_4_leak"><strong>"memory leaks" in containers</strong></a>
808
         A few people have reported that the standard containers appear
809
         to leak memory when tested with memory checkers such as
810
         <a href="http://developer.kde.org/~sewardj/">valgrind</a>.
811
         The library's default allocators keep free memory in a pool
812
         for later reuse, rather than returning it to the OS.  Although
813
         this memory is always reachable by the library and is never
814
         lost, memory debugging tools can report it as a leak.  If you
815
         want to test the library for memory leaks please read
816
         <a href="../debug.html#mem">Tips for memory leak hunting</a>
817
         first.
818
      </p>
819
 
820
<hr />
821
   <h2><a name="4_5">4.5 Aw, that's easy to fix!</a></h2>
822
      <p>If you have found a bug in the library and you think you have
823
         a working fix, then send it in!  The main GCC site has a page
824
         on <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/contribute.html">submitting
825
         patches</a> that covers the procedure, but for libstdc++ you
826
         should also send the patch to our mailing list in addition to
827
         the GCC patches mailing list.  The libstdc++
828
         <a href="../17_intro/contribute.html">contributors' page</a>
829
         also talks about how to submit patches.
830
      </p>
831
      <p>In addition to the description, the patch, and the ChangeLog
832
         entry, it is a Good Thing if you can additionally create a small
833
         test program to test for the presence of the bug that your
834
         patch fixes.  Bugs have a way of being reintroduced; if an old
835
         bug creeps back in, it will be caught immediately by the
836
         <a href="#2_4">testsuite</a> -- but only if such a test exists.
837
      </p>
838
 
839
<hr />
840
<h1><a name="5_0">5.0 Miscellaneous</a></h1>
841
   <h2><a name="5_1">5.1 string::iterator is not char*;
842
                     vector&lt;T&gt;::iterator is not T*</a></h2>
843
      <p>If you have code that depends on container&lt;T&gt; iterators
844
         being implemented as pointer-to-T, your code is broken.
845
      </p>
846
      <p>While there are arguments for iterators to be implemented in
847
         that manner, A) they aren't very good ones in the long term,
848
         and B) they were never guaranteed by the Standard anyway.  The
849
         type-safety achieved by making iterators a real class rather
850
         than a typedef for <code>T*</code> outweighs nearly all opposing
851
         arguments.
852
      </p>
853
      <p>Code which does assume that a vector iterator <code> i </code>
854
         is a pointer can often be fixed by changing <code> i </code> in
855
         certain expressions to <code> &amp;*i </code>.  Future revisions
856
         of the Standard are expected to bless this usage for
857
         vector&lt;&gt; (but not for basic_string&lt;&gt;).
858
      </p>
859
 
860
<hr />
861
   <h2><a name="5_2">5.2 What's next after libstdc++-v3?</a></h2>
862
      <p>Hopefully, not much.  The goal of libstdc++-v3 is to produce
863
         a fully-compliant, fully-portable Standard Library.  After that,
864
         we're mostly done:  there won't <em>be</em> any more compliance
865
         work to do.  However:
866
      </p>
867
      <ol>
868
      <li><p>The ISO Committee will meet periodically to review Defect Reports
869
         in the C++ Standard.  Undoubtedly some of these will result in
870
         changes to the Standard, which will be reflected in patches to
871
         libstdc++.  Some of that is already happening, see <a href="#4_3">4.3</a>.  Some of
872
         those changes are being predicted by the library maintainers, and
873
         we add code to the library based on what the current proposed
874
         resolution specifies.  Those additions are listed in
875
         <a href="../ext/howto.html#5">the extensions page</a>.
876
      </p></li>
877
      <li><p>Performance tuning.  Lots of performance tuning.  This too is
878
         already underway for post-3.0 releases, starting with memory
879
         expansion in container classes and buffer usage in synchronized
880
         stream objects.
881
      </p></li>
882
      <li><p>An ABI for libstdc++ is being developed, so that
883
         multiple binary-incompatible copies of the library can be replaced
884
         with a single backwards-compatible library, like libgcc_s.so is.
885
      </p></li>
886
      <li><p>The current libstdc++ contains extensions to the Library which
887
         must be explicitly requested by client code (for example, the
888
         hash tables from SGI).  Other extensions may be added to
889
         libstdc++-v3 if they seem to be &quot;standard&quot; enough.
890
         (For example, the &quot;long long&quot; type from C99.)
891
         Bugfixes and rewrites (to improve or fix thread safety, for
892
         instance) will of course be a continuing task.
893
      </p></li>
894
      <li><p>There is an effort underway to add significant extensions to
895
         the standard library specification.  The latest version of this effort is
896
         described in
897
         <a href="http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2005/n1836.pdf">
898
         The C++ Library Technical Report 1</a>.
899
         See <a href="#5_5">5.5</a>.
900
      </p></li>
901
      </ol>
902
      <p><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/1999/msg00080.html">This
903
         question</a> about the next libstdc++ prompted some brief but
904
         interesting
905
         <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/1999/msg00084.html">speculation</a>.
906
      </p>
907
 
908
<hr />
909
   <h2><a name="5_3">5.3 What about the STL from SGI?</a></h2>
910
      <p>The <a href="http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/">STL from SGI</a>,
911
         version 3.3, was the final merge of the STL codebase.  The
912
         code in libstdc++ contains many fixes and changes, and
913
         the SGI code is no longer under active
914
         development.  We expect that no future merges will take place.
915
      </p>
916
      <p>In particular, <code>string</code> is not from SGI and makes no
917
         use of their &quot;rope&quot; class (which is included as an
918
         optional extension), nor is <code>valarray</code> and some others.
919
         Classes like <code>vector&lt;&gt;</code> are, however we have
920
         made significant changes to them since then.
921
      </p>
922
      <p>The FAQ for SGI's STL (one jump off of their main page) is
923
         recommended reading.
924
      </p>
925
 
926
<hr />
927
   <h2><a name="5_4">5.4 Extensions and Backward Compatibility</a></h2>
928
      <p>Headers in the <code>ext</code> and <code>backward</code>
929
         subdirectories should be referred to by their relative paths:
930
         <!-- Careful, the leading spaces in PRE show up directly. -->
931
      </p>
932
      <pre>
933
      #include &lt;ext/hash_map&gt; </pre>
934
      <p>rather than using <code>-I</code> or other options.  This is more
935
         portable and forward-compatible.  (The situation is the same as
936
         that of other headers whose directories are not searched directly,
937
         e.g., <code>&lt;sys/stat.h&gt;</code>, <code>&lt;X11/Xlib.h&gt;</code>.
938
      </p>
939
 
940
      <p>At this time most of the features of the SGI STL extension have been
941
         replaced by standardized libraries.
942
         In particular, the unordered_map and unordered_set containers of TR1
943
         are suitable replacement for the non-standard hash_map and hash_set
944
         containers in the SGI STL.  See <a href="#5_5">5.5</a> for more details.
945
      </p>
946
 
947
      <p>The extensions are no longer in the global or <code>std</code>
948
         namespaces, instead they are declared in the <code>__gnu_cxx</code>
949
         namespace. For maximum portability, consider defining a namespace
950
         alias to use to talk about extensions, e.g.:
951
      </p>
952
      <pre>
953
      #ifdef __GNUC__
954
      #if __GNUC__ &lt; 3
955
        #include &lt;hash_map.h&gt;
956
        namespace Sgi { using ::hash_map; }; // inherit globals
957
      #else
958
        #include &lt;ext/hash_map&gt;
959
        #if __GNUC_MINOR__ == 0
960
          namespace Sgi = std;               // GCC 3.0
961
        #else
962
          namespace Sgi = ::__gnu_cxx;       // GCC 3.1 and later
963
        #endif
964
      #endif
965
      #else      // ...  there are other compilers, right?
966
        namespace Sgi = std;
967
      #endif
968
 
969
      Sgi::hash_map&lt;int,int&gt; my_map; </pre>
970
      <p>This is a bit cleaner than defining typedefs for all the
971
         instantiations you might need.
972
      </p>
973
      <p><strong>Note:</strong> explicit template specializations must
974
         be declared in the same namespace as the original template.
975
         This means you cannot use a namespace alias when declaring
976
         an explicit specialization.
977
      </p>
978
      <p>Extensions to the library have
979
         <a href="../ext/howto.html">their own page</a>.
980
      </p>
981
 
982
<hr />
983
   <h2><a name="5_5">5.5 Does libstdc++ support TR1?</a></h2>
984
 
985
      <p>The C++ Standard Library Technical Report adds many new features to
986
         the library.  The latest version of this effort is described in
987
         <a href=
988
         "http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2005/n1836.pdf">
989
         Technical Report 1</a>.
990
      </p>
991
 
992
      <p>libstdc++ strives to implement all of TR1.
993
         An <a href="../ext/tr1.html">overview</a> of the implementation status
994
         is available.
995
      </p>
996
 
997
      <p>Briefly, the features of TR1 and the current status are:
998
      </p>
999
 
1000
      <p><strong>Reference_wrapper - Complete -</strong>
1001
         Useful to pass references to functions that take their parameters
1002
         by value.
1003
      </p>
1004
 
1005
      <p><strong>Reference-counted smart pointers - Complete -</strong>
1006
         The shared_ptr and weak_ptr allow several object to know about a
1007
         pointer and whether it is valid.  When the last reference to the
1008
         pointer is destroyed the pointer is freed.
1009
      </p>
1010
 
1011
      <p><strong>Function objects - Complete -</strong>
1012
         Function return types (i.e, result_of), the functions template
1013
         mem_fn (a generalization of mem_fun and mem_fun_red), function
1014
         object binders (e.g, bind, a generalization of bind1st and bind2nd),
1015
         and polymorhpic function wrappers (e.g, class template function).
1016
      </p>
1017
 
1018
      <p><strong>Type traits - Complete -</strong>
1019
         The type_traits class gives templates the ability to probe
1020
         information about the input type and enable type-dependent logic
1021
         to be performed without the need of template specializations.
1022
      </p>
1023
 
1024
      <p><strong>Fixed-size arrays - Complete -</strong>
1025
         The array class implements small fixed-sized arrays with container
1026
         semantics.
1027
      </p>
1028
 
1029
      <p><strong>Unordered containers - Complete -</strong>
1030
         The unordered_set, unordered_map, unordered_multiset, and
1031
         unordered_multimap containers are hashed versions of the map, set,
1032
         multimap, and multiset containers respectively.  These classes are
1033
         suitable replacements for the SGI STL hash_map and hash_set
1034
         extensions.
1035
      </p>
1036
 
1037
      <p><strong>Tuples - Complete -</strong>
1038
         The tuple class implements small heterogeneous arrays.  This is an
1039
         enhanced pair.  In fact, the standard pair is enhanced with a tuple
1040
         interface.
1041
      </p>
1042
 
1043
      <p><strong>C99 compatibility - Under construction - </strong>
1044
         There are many features designed to minimize the divergence of the C
1045
         and the C++ languages.
1046
      </p>
1047
 
1048
      <p><strong>Special functions - Under construction - </strong>
1049
         Twenty-three mathematical functions familiar to physicists and
1050
         engineers are included:  cylindrical and spherical Bessel and Neumann
1051
         functions, hypergeometric functions, Laguerre polynomials, Legendre
1052
         functions, elliptic integrals, exponential integrals and the Riemann
1053
         zeta function all for your computing pleasure.
1054
      </p>
1055
 
1056
      <p><strong>A regular expression engine</strong>
1057
         This library provides for regular expression objects with traversal
1058
         of text with return of subexpressions.
1059
      </p>
1060
 
1061
      <p><strong>A random number engine</strong>
1062
         This library contains randow number generators with several different
1063
         choices of distribution.
1064
      </p>
1065
 
1066
<hr />
1067
   <h2><a name="5_6">5.6 Is libstdc++-v3 thread-safe?</a></h2>
1068
      <p>libstdc++-v3 strives to be thread-safe when all of the following
1069
         conditions are met:
1070
      </p>
1071
      <ul>
1072
       <li>The system's libc is itself thread-safe,</li>
1073
       <li><code>gcc -v</code> reports a thread model other than 'single',</li>
1074
       <li>[pre-3.3 only] a non-generic implementation of atomicity.h
1075
           exists for the architecture in question.</li>
1076
      </ul>
1077
      <p>The user-code must guard against concurrent method calls which may
1078
         access any particular library object's state.  Typically, the
1079
         application programmer may infer what object locks must be held
1080
         based on the objects referenced in a method call.  Without getting
1081
         into great detail, here is an example which requires user-level
1082
         locks:
1083
      </p>
1084
      <pre>
1085
     library_class_a shared_object_a;
1086
 
1087
     thread_main () {
1088
       library_class_b *object_b = new library_class_b;
1089
       shared_object_a.add_b (object_b);   // must hold lock for shared_object_a
1090
       shared_object_a.mutate ();          // must hold lock for shared_object_a
1091
     }
1092
 
1093
     // Multiple copies of thread_main() are started in independent threads.</pre>
1094
      <p>Under the assumption that object_a and object_b are never exposed to
1095
         another thread, here is an example that should not require any
1096
         user-level locks:
1097
      </p>
1098
      <pre>
1099
     thread_main () {
1100
       library_class_a object_a;
1101
       library_class_b *object_b = new library_class_b;
1102
       object_a.add_b (object_b);
1103
       object_a.mutate ();
1104
     } </pre>
1105
      <p>All library objects are safe to use in a multithreaded program as
1106
         long as each thread carefully locks out access by any other
1107
         thread while it uses any object visible to another thread, i.e.,
1108
         treat library objects like any other shared resource.  In general,
1109
         this requirement includes both read and write access to objects;
1110
         unless otherwise documented as safe, do not assume that two threads
1111
         may access a shared standard library object at the same time.
1112
      </p>
1113
      <p>See chapters <a href="../17_intro/howto.html#3">17</a> (library
1114
         introduction), <a href="../23_containers/howto.html#3">23</a>
1115
         (containers), and <a href="../27_io/howto.html#9">27</a> (I/O) for
1116
         more information.
1117
      </p>
1118
 
1119
<hr />
1120
   <h2><a name="5_7">5.7 How do I get a copy of the ISO C++ Standard?</a></h2>
1121
      <p>Copies of the full ISO 14882 standard are available on line via the
1122
         ISO mirror site for committee members.  Non-members, or those who
1123
         have not paid for the privilege of sitting on the committee and
1124
         sustained their two-meeting commitment for voting rights, may get a
1125
         copy of the standard from their respective national standards
1126
         organization.  In the USA, this national standards organization is
1127
         ANSI and their website is right <a href="http://www.ansi.org">here</a>.
1128
         (And if you've already registered with them, clicking this link will
1129
         take you to directly to the place where you can
1130
<a href="http://webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/product.asp?sku=ISO%2FIEC+14882%3A2003">buy
1131
         the standard on-line</a>.
1132
      </p>
1133
      <p>Who is your country's member body?  Visit the
1134
         <a href="http://www.iso.ch/">ISO homepage</a> and find out!
1135
      </p>
1136
 
1137
<hr />
1138
   <h2><a name="5_8">5.8 What's an ABI and why is it so messy?</a></h2>
1139
      <p>&quot;ABI&quot; stands for &quot;Application Binary Interface.&quot;
1140
         Conventionally, it refers to a great mass of details about how
1141
         arguments are arranged on the call stack and/or in registers, and
1142
         how various types are arranged and padded in structs.  A single CPU
1143
         design may suffer multiple ABIs designed by different development
1144
         tool vendors who made different choices, or even by the same vendor
1145
         for different target applications or compiler versions.  In ideal
1146
         circumstances the CPU designer presents one ABI and all the OSes and
1147
         compilers use it.  In practice every ABI omits details that compiler
1148
         implementers (consciously or accidentally) must choose for themselves.
1149
      </p>
1150
      <p>That ABI definition suffices for compilers to generate code so a
1151
         program can interact safely with an OS and its lowest-level libraries.
1152
         Users usually want an ABI to encompass more detail, allowing libraries
1153
         built with different compilers (or different releases of the same
1154
         compiler!) to be linked together.  For C++, this includes many more
1155
         details than for C, and CPU designers (for good reasons elaborated
1156
         below) have not stepped up to publish C++ ABIs.  The details include
1157
         virtual function implementation, struct inheritance layout, name
1158
         mangling, and exception handling.  Such an ABI has been defined for
1159
         GNU C++, and is immediately useful for embedded work relying only on
1160
         a &quot;free-standing implementation&quot; that doesn't include (much
1161
         of) the standard library.  It is a good basis for the work to come.
1162
      </p>
1163
      <p>A useful C++ ABI must also incorporate many details of the standard
1164
         library implementation.  For a C ABI, the layouts of a few structs
1165
         (such as FILE, stat, jmpbuf, and the like) and a few macros suffice.
1166
         For C++, the details include the complete set of names of functions
1167
         and types used, the offsets of class members and virtual functions,
1168
         and the actual definitions of all inlines.  C++ exposes many more
1169
         library details to the caller than C does.  It makes defining
1170
         a complete ABI a much bigger undertaking, and requires not just
1171
         documenting library implementation details, but carefully designing
1172
         those details so that future bug fixes and optimizations don't
1173
         force breaking the ABI.
1174
      </p>
1175
      <p>There are ways to help isolate library implementation details from the
1176
         ABI, but they trade off against speed.  Library details used in
1177
         inner loops (e.g., getchar) must be exposed and frozen for all
1178
         time, but many others may reasonably be kept hidden from user code,
1179
         so they may later be changed.  Deciding which, and implementing
1180
         the decisions, must happen before you can reasonably document a
1181
         candidate C++ ABI that encompasses the standard library.
1182
      </p>
1183
 
1184
<hr />
1185
   <h2><a name="5_9">5.9 How do I make std::vector&lt;T&gt;::capacity()
1186
                     == std::vector&lt;T&gt;::size()?</a> </h2>
1187
   <!-- referenced by 21_strings/howto.html#6 -->
1188
   <p>The standard idiom for deallocating a <code>std::vector&lt;T&gt;</code>'s
1189
      unused memory is to create a temporary copy of the vector and swap their
1190
      contents, e.g. for <code>std::vector&lt;T&gt; v</code>
1191
   </p>
1192
   <pre>
1193
     std::vector&lt;T&gt;(v).swap(v);
1194
   </pre>
1195
   <p>The copy will take O(n) time and the swap is constant time.
1196
   </p>
1197
   <p>See <a href='../21_strings/howto.html#6'>Shrink-to-fit strings</a> for
1198
      a similar solution for strings.
1199
   </p>
1200
 
1201
<!-- ####################################################### -->
1202
 
1203
<hr />
1204
<p class="fineprint"><em>
1205
See <a href="../17_intro/license.html">license.html</a> for copying conditions.
1206
Comments and suggestions are welcome, and may be sent to
1207
<a href="mailto:libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org">the libstdc++ mailing list</a>.
1208
</em></p>
1209
 
1210
 
1211
</body>
1212
</html>
1213
 

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