If variable-length arrays are not supported by standard C++, why use them?
I'm sure you don't strictly need them, and by using them GNU-APL becomes
non-portable.
--blake
On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 12:06 PM Dr. Jürgen Sauermann via Bugs and
suggestions for GNU APL <bug-apl@gnu.org> wrote:
> Hi Louis,
>
> thanks, hopefully fixed in SVN 1880.
>
> I believe I have caught most of the C++ warnings. The warning about
> dynamic arrays is somewhat bogus since every C++ compiler that I know of
> supports dynamic arrays event though they are not standardised in C++ (and
> only god knows why not).
>
> I haven't touched the ld warnings; it seems like these linker flags are
> needed on
> some platforms. It might be that re-running *libtoolize* and/or *aclocal*
> gets rid of
> these warnings.
>
> Best Regards,
> Jürgen
>
>
> On 8/12/25 20:18, Louis Chretien wrote:
>
> Yes, it did. The build was successful despite the warnings.
>
> —
> Louis Chrétien
> lchret...@mac.com
>
> On Aug 12, 2025, at 13:18, Dr. Jürgen Sauermann <mail@jürgen-sauermann.de>
> <mail@jürgen-sauermann.de> wrote:
>
> Hi Louis,
>
> I will look into this. Did the build produce a working apl binary despite
> the warnings?
>
> Thanks,
> Jürgen
>
>
> On 7/21/25 18:33, Louis Chretien via Bugs and suggestions for GNU APL
> wrote:
>
> There is a bunch of warnings on the latest build of GNU APL for Mac OS
> 14.7.6:
>
> ==============================
>
> Backtrace.cc:1401:18: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a Clang
> extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 1401 | char si[strlen(const_si) + 1];
> | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Backtrace.cc:1401:25: note: read of non-constexpr variable 'const_si' is
> not allowed in a constant expression
> 1401 | char si[strlen(const_si) + 1];
> | ^
> Backtrace.cc:1400:23: note: declared here
> 1400 | const char * const_si = strings[size - i - 1];
> | ^
> 1 warning generated.
>
> Bif_F12_INDEX_OF.cc:75:22: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a
> Clang extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 75 | ShapeItem zz[rk_Z];
> | ^~~~
> Bif_F12_INDEX_OF.cc:75:22: note: initializer of 'rk_Z' is not a constant
> expression
> Bif_F12_INDEX_OF.cc:70:13: note: declared here
> 70 | const sRank rk_Z = Z->get_rank();
> | ^
> 1 warning generated.
>
> PrimitiveFunction.cc:538:20: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a
> Clang extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 538 | ShapeItem weight_Z[rank_Z];
> | ^~~~~~
> PrimitiveFunction.cc:538:20: note: read of non-const variable 'rank_Z' is
> not allowed in a constant expression
> PrimitiveFunction.cc:517:11: note: declared here
> 517 | ShapeItem rank_Z = 0;
> | ^
> 1 warning generated.
>
> Quad_CR.cc:1143:16: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a Clang
> extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 1143 | UTF8 bytes_utf[len_B + 10];
> | ^~~~~~~~~~
> Quad_CR.cc:1143:16: note: initializer of 'len_B' is not a constant
> expression
> Quad_CR.cc:1141:17: note: declared here
> 1141 | const ShapeItem len_B = B->element_count();
> | ^
> Quad_CR.cc:1723:32: warning: variable 'bi' set but not used
> [-Wunused-but-set-variable]
> 1723 | if (const APL_Integer bi = cell_B.get_near_int()) chunk
> |= bit;
> | ^
> 2 warnings generated.
>
> Quad_DLX.cc:465:16: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a Clang
> extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 465 | char rows_used[rows];
> | ^~~~
> Quad_DLX.cc:465:16: note: implicit use of 'this' pointer is only allowed
> within the evaluation of a call to a 'constexpr' member function
> Quad_DLX.cc:478:18: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a Clang
> extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 478 | int row[cols];
> | ^~~~
> Quad_DLX.cc:478:18: note: implicit use of 'this' pointer is only allowed
> within the evaluation of a call to a 'constexpr' member function
> 2 warnings generated.
>
> Tokenizer.cc:966:13: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a Clang
> extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 966 | char buffer[int_digits.size() + fract_digits.size() +
> expo_digits.size() + 20];
> |
> ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Tokenizer.cc:966:24: note: non-constexpr function 'size' cannot be used in
> a constant expression
> 966 | char buffer[int_digits.size() + fract_digits.size() +
> expo_digits.size() + 20];
> | ^
> /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/c++/v1/string:1284:65:
> note: declared here
> 1284 | _LIBCPP_HIDE_FROM_ABI _LIBCPP_CONSTEXPR_SINCE_CXX20 size_type
> size() const _NOEXCEPT {
> | ^
> 1 warning generated.
>
> UCS_string_vector.cc:228:25: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a
> Clang extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 228 | ShapeItem column_widths[column_count];
> | ^~~~~~~~~~~~
> UCS_string_vector.cc:228:25: note: function parameter 'column_count' with
> unknown value cannot be used in a constant expression
> UCS_string_vector.cc:225:59: note: declared here
> 225 | UCS_string_vector::print_table(std::ostream & out, size_t
> column_count) const
> | ^
> 1 warning generated.
>
> UserFunction.cc:638:13: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a Clang
> extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 638 | char status[get_text_size()]; status[0] = Function_header;
> | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> UserFunction.cc:638:13: note: implicit use of 'this' pointer is only
> allowed within the evaluation of a call to a 'constexpr' member function
> UserFunction.cc:731:13: warning: variable length arrays in C++ are a Clang
> extension [-Wvla-cxx-extension]
> 731 | char status[get_text_size()]; status[0] = Function_header;
> | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> UserFunction.cc:731:13: note: implicit use of 'this' pointer is only
> allowed within the evaluation of a call to a 'constexpr' member function
> UserFunction.cc:856:35: warning: variable 'ec' set but not used
> [-Wunused-but-set-variable]
> 856 | if (const ErrorCode ec = transform_new_multi_lines())
> | ^
> UserFunction.cc:875:35: warning: variable 'ec' set but not used
> [-Wunused-but-set-variable]
> 875 | if (const ErrorCode ec = transform_old_multi_lines())
> | ^
> UserFunction.cc:1414:24: warning: variable 'ec' set but not used
> [-Wunused-but-set-variable]
> 1414 | if (const ErrorCode ec = parser.parse(body_text, body, true))
> | ^
> 5 warnings generated.
>
> ==============================
>
> Also, there is an option on the ld command that should probably be removed
> in the makefile:
>
> ==============================
>
> checking for -single_module linker flag... ld: warning: -single_module is
> obsolete
> no
> ld: warning: -bind_at_load is deprecated on macOS
>
> ==============================
>
> ---
> Louis Chrétien
> lchret...@mac.com
>
>
>
>
