Re: c/7243: cannot declare an array at file level with constant expression for size

Re: c/7243: cannot declare an array at file level with constant expression for size

[nathan]

Synopsis: cannot declare an array at file level with constant expression for size

State-Changed-From-To: open->closed
State-Changed-By: nathan
State-Changed-When: Tue Jul  9 08:28:53 2002
State-Changed-Why:
    not a bug. The array dimension must be an integral constant
    expression.
    const int x = 1;
    int y[x]; /* not such an expression */
    
    refer to A7.19. 

http://gcc.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?cmd=view%20audit-trail&database=gcc&pr=7243

c/7243: cannot declare an array at file level with constant expression for size

[jonathan.ashley]

>Number:         7243
>Category:       c
>Synopsis:       cannot declare an array at file level with constant expression for size
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    unassigned
>State:          open
>Class:          rejects-legal
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Tue Jul 09 06:56:00 PDT 2002
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Jon Ashley
>Release:        3.1.1 20020706 (prerelease)
>Organization:
>Environment:
Cygwin on Windows 2000. (Also reproduced on version 2.8.1 on Solaris.)
>Description:
If an array is declared at file level with a size given by a named constant (declared as 'const int x = 5' for example), the compiler incorrectly rejects it with the message "variable-size type declared outside of any function". This conflicts with A8.6.2 from K&R2.
>How-To-Repeat:
const int x = 1;
int y[x];

gcc -c demo.c
>Fix:
Don't do this.
>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted:
----gnatsweb-attachment----
Content-Type: text/plain; name="demo.c"
Content-Disposition: inline; filename="demo.c"

const int x = 1;
int y[x];