Re: [Patch] Fix build problem with system call in compile/compile.c

["Maciej W. Rozycki" <macro@linux-mips.org>]

On Wed, 7 Jan 2015, Steve Ellcey wrote:

> > In that case, I have no objection to your patch either, provided
> > a small comment is added to explain why we allow ourselves to ignore
> > the return value (and since you'll be touching that code anyways,
> > I would also rename your variable to something more explicit, such
> > as "ignored" or "unused" for instance).
> > 
> > Thank you,
> 
> I am not sure why we allow ourselves to ignore the return value.  Maybe
> we shouldn't.  Chen Gang submitted a different patch where the return
> value is checked.  Should we use that instead?
> 
>         https://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2015-01/msg00011.html

 The best idea IMHO as well.

 However I have concerns about this function overall in the first place. 
GDB supports hosts that have no `rm' program.  It may support (although 
this I am less sure about) hosts that do not support the `system' C 
library call in a way we are used to; specifically there may not be a 
command processor available as noted in the ISO C document defining the 
API.

 Therefore I think it would be best to rewrite it to only use the relevant 
C library calls like `remove' and `rmdir' to recursively remove a 
directory; I wonder if actually we don't have something relevant already 
available in libiberty or gnulib.

 That of course does not mean we oughtn't to make a temporary fix to the 
immediate problem discussed here, I certainly don't object that.

 FWIW,

  Maciej