[Bug c/99978] New: attribute section rejected on an extern declaration in local scope

[msebor at gcc dot gnu.org via Gcc-bugs]

https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=99978

            Bug ID: 99978
           Summary: attribute section rejected on an extern declaration in
                    local scope
           Product: gcc
           Version: 11.0
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P3
         Component: c
          Assignee: unassigned at gcc dot gnu.org
          Reporter: msebor at gcc dot gnu.org
  Target Milestone: ---

GCC rejects a declaration of an extern variable with the section attribute in a
local scope.  The error it issues suggests it confuses the declaration with one
of a automatic variable.

Other Linux compilers (Clang and ICC) accept the code.

$ cat a.c && gcc -S -Wall a.c
extern __attribute__ ((section ("foo"))) int i_in_foo;

int f (void)
{
  extern __attribute__ ((section ("foo"))) int i_in_foo;
  return i_in_foo;
}
a.c: In function ‘f’:
a.c:5:48: error: section attribute cannot be specified for local variables
    5 |   extern __attribute__ ((section ("foo"))) int i_in_foo;
      |                                                ^~~~~~~~