I think it's cleaner to do:

[PATCH] libdwfl: Make dwfl_error.c C99-kosher.

Signed-off-by: Roland McGrath <roland@hack.frob.com>
---
 libdwfl/ChangeLog    |  7 +++++++
 libdwfl/dwfl_error.c | 21 +++++++++++++++++----
 2 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/libdwfl/ChangeLog b/libdwfl/ChangeLog
index d4cd3f5..045adb0 100644
--- a/libdwfl/ChangeLog
+++ b/libdwfl/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2015-04-21  Roland McGrath  <roland@hack.frob.com>
+
+	* dwfl_error.c (struct msgtable): Break type definition out of
+	the 'msgtable' initializer.
+	(msgtable): Make it a union of struct msgtable and a char array.
+	(msgstr): Use the full-table char array rather than the msg_0 entry.
+
 2015-04-02  Mark Wielaard  <mjw@redhat.com>
 
 	* segment.c (insert): Check correct number of lookup_elts.
diff --git a/libdwfl/dwfl_error.c b/libdwfl/dwfl_error.c
index d9ca9e7..f46b160 100644
--- a/libdwfl/dwfl_error.c
+++ b/libdwfl/dwfl_error.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* Error handling in libdwfl.
-   Copyright (C) 2005-2010 Red Hat, Inc.
+   Copyright (C) 2005-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
    This file is part of elfutils.
 
    This file is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -54,18 +54,31 @@ dwfl_errno (void)
 INTDEF (dwfl_errno)
 
 
-static const struct msgtable
+struct msgtable
 {
 #define DWFL_ERROR(name, text) char msg_##name[sizeof text];
   DWFL_ERRORS
 #undef	DWFL_ERROR
+};
+
+static const union
+{
+  struct msgtable table;
+  char strings[
+#define DWFL_ERROR(name, text)	sizeof text +
+	       DWFL_ERRORS
+#undef	DWFL_ERROR
+	       + 0];
 } msgtable =
   {
+    .table =
+    {
 #define DWFL_ERROR(name, text) text,
-  DWFL_ERRORS
+      DWFL_ERRORS
 #undef	DWFL_ERROR
+    }
   };
-#define msgstr (&msgtable.msg_NOERROR[0])
+#define msgstr (msgtable.strings)
 
 static const uint_fast16_t msgidx[] =
 {