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[cpp,doc] Add a bit of background on assertions

Message ID alpine.LNX.2.00.1102180109040.7945@gerinyyl.fvgr
State New
Headers show

Commit Message

Gerald Pfeifer Feb. 18, 2011, 12:12 a.m. UTC 
RMS requested that we add some background on assertions, specifically
that we did not actually come up with the idea.

The patch just adds "we added them for compatibility with existing
compilers", the rest is reformatting.

I applied this to head and am thinking to also include it on the GCC 4.5
branch in a bit.

Gerald


2011-02-18  Gerald Pfeifer  <gerald@pfeifer.com>

	* doc/cpp.texi (Obsolete Features): Add background on the
	origin of assertions.
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Patch

Index: doc/cpp.texi
===================================================================
--- doc/cpp.texi	(revision 169771)
+++ doc/cpp.texi	(working copy)
@@ -4200,9 +4200,10 @@ 
 define them with preprocessing directives or command-line options.
 
 Assertions were intended to provide a more systematic way to describe
-the compiler's target system.  However, in practice they are just as
-unpredictable as the system-specific predefined macros.  In addition, they
-are not part of any standard, and only a few compilers support them.
+the compiler's target system and we added them for compatibility with
+existing compilers.  In practice they are just as unpredictable as the
+system-specific predefined macros.  In addition, they are not part of
+any standard, and only a few compilers support them.
 Therefore, the use of assertions is @strong{less} portable than the use
 of system-specific predefined macros.  We recommend you do not use them at
 all.