Re: 329-gary-allow-RTLD_GLOBAL

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Mon, 9 Apr 2007, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> > The pthread interfaces don't assume that the object is a pointer so
> > they work differently than suggested.  Pointers are error prone so
> > they are best reserved for internal library interfaces if possible.
>
> Wait.  If you have a pointer to a struct, then you have as much type
> safety as you can get with C.

I don't see a 'struct' in my example.  What I see is 
implementation-defined types which could be anything at all. :-)

> > The implementation is free to embed pointers in the API object.
>
> If you don't pass pointers, then changing the object (e.g., its size)
> will incompatibly change the ABI.  Only the API will remain compatible.

Right.  The 'object' can be a container which contains only a pointer. 
The POSIX approach leaves the approach used completely up to the 
designer.  The designer could use malloc to allocate additional 
options space from the heap, or he could use a simple 'unsigned int' 
to store option flags and require no heap allocation.

Bob
======================================
Bob Friesenhahn
address@hidden, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer,    http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/