Re: [PATCH 1/6] fix ambiguous errno treating after mktime()

On Mon, Sep 01, 2008 at 06:07:42PM +1000, Giles Lean wrote:
 > Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the ISO C
 > standard to hand to check what it says for C99.

7.5 paragraph 2:

 : [...] and
 :        errno
 : which expands to a modifiable lvalue (175) that has type int, the value
 : of which is set to a positive error number by several library
 : functions.

(175) says

 : The macro errno need not be the identifier of an object. It might
 : expand to a modifiable lvalue resulting from a function call (for
 : example, *errno()).

One may also note in the context of this thread that 7.5 paragraph 3
says:

 : The value of errno is zero at program startup, but is never set to
 : zero by any library function. (176) The value of errno may be set
 : to nonzero by a library function call whether or not there is an
 : error, provided the use of errno is not documented in the description
 : of the function in this International Standard.

where (176) says

 : Thus, a program that uses errno for error checking should set it to
 : zero before a library function call, then inspect it before a
 : subsequent library function call. Of course, a library function can
 : save the value of errno on entry and then set it to zero, as long
 : as the original value is restored if errno's value is still zero
 : just before the return.

I'm aware that POSIX sets a lower standard, but I don't see what's
particularly desirable about it.

--

-- 
David A. Holland
dholland <at> netbsd.org