Re: mark atexit, memchr, memcmp, memcpy, memmove, memset, raise, rmdir, strcspn, strpbrk as obsolete

[Jim Meyering]

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> wrote:
> The functions atexit, memchr, memcmp, memcpy, memmove, memset, raise, rmdir,
> strcspn, strpbrk are all present in systems newer than ca. 1998. They are
> not missing in systems as old as AIX 4.3.2, HP-UX 10.20, IRIX 6.2, OSF/1 4.0,
> Solaris 2.5.1, Interix 3.5.
>
> I propose to mark them obsolete, i.e. let gnulib-tool emit a notice about
> their obsolescense when they get used.
>
> Opinions? Objections?

IMHO, the rmdir module could have been listed as obsolete 5 or 10 years ago ;-)

However, I'm not so sure about the others.
Gnulib is more than a little about portability.
Do we really want to discourage creation of packages
that will work on IRIX 6.1 and AIX older than 4.3.2?
None of these modules is big in terms of size or
configure/run-time cost.  How about giving a more verbose
diagnostic (or referencing a URL) that lists the aging systems
on which they are still useful?

> 2008-10-19  Bruno Haible  <address@hidden>
>
>       * modules/atexit (Notice): Mark as obsolete.
>       * modules/memchr (Notice): Likewise.
>       * modules/memcmp (Notice): Likewise.
>       * modules/memcpy (Notice): Likewise.
>       * modules/memmove (Notice): Likewise.
>       * modules/memset (Notice): Likewise.
>       * modules/rmdir (Notice): Likewise.
>       * modules/strcspn (Notice): Likewise.
>       * modules/strpbrk (Notice): Likewise.
>       * modules/raise (Notice): Likewise.
>       (Include): Specify <signal.h>.
>
> --- modules/atexit.orig       2008-10-19 16:58:44.000000000 +0200
> +++ modules/atexit    2008-10-19 16:16:22.000000000 +0200
> @@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
>  Description:
>  atexit() function: register a function to be called at program termination.
>
> +Notice:
> +This module is obsolete.