[Freeciv-Dev] (PR#3579) When stdarg.h should be included?

["Davide Pagnin" <nightmare@xxxxxxxxxx>]

        Hi all!

I've fallen into this question, just some days ago, because of a build
problem on my alpha Tru64 5.1B Platform.

(I have installed gcc 3.2.2 and cause of a partially wrong installation,
freeciv doesn't compile, issuing strange errors caused by va_list)

After resolving issues of the gcc 3.2.2 installation on my alpha
machine, the problem has been solved, and now freeciv compile cleanly,
but I'm not satisfied anyway with actual situation of headers inclusion
on freeciv.

There are 2 problems:

1) Coding style state that an alphabetical order should be used, but
this is not followed in many if all, the relevant files.

2) The subject question still applies.

AFAIK, stdarg.h is part of ANSI C standard, and should be included when
variable argument lists relevant macros are used.

There is a relevant exception to this rule, in the event that you
include stdio.h, it is not needed that you include stdarg.h, because
some POSIX standard, require that va_list macros are defined also in
that file.

 I think that we should state something on this, to prevent confusion
and perhaps, errors, in some broken system or on systems not fully
compliant to ANSI or POSIX standards.

All in all, it is acceptable to be one of this 2 solution:

1) Removing stdarg.h from all files where stdio.h is included and
va_list are used and also remove it from all files where va_list are not
used.

2) Including stdarg.h in all files where va_list are used, and remove it
from files that don't use va_list.

I personally vote for solution 2, because this choice plays friendly
with not fully ANSI compliants OS headers.

End of this analysis, this is a list of relevent files:

file that make use of va_list:
ai/ailog.c
amiga/config.h
amiga/vsnprintf.c
client/climisc.c
client/gui-gtk/dialogs.c
client/gui-gtk-2.0/dialogs.c
client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c
client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_stuff.c
client/gui-mui/muistuff.c
client/gui-win32/dialogs.c
client/gui-xaw/dialogs.c
common/ioz.c
common/log.c
common/log.h
common/registry.c
common/shared.c
common/support.c
common/support.h
server/console.c
server/gamelog.c
server/plrhand.c
server/stdinhand.c

file that does include stdarg.h
ai/ailog.c
amiga/config.h
amiga/vsnprintf.c
client/gui-gtk/cityrep.c
client/gui-gtk/dialogs.c
client/gui-gtk/inteldlg.c
client/gui-gtk-2.0/cityrep.c
client/gui-gtk-2.0/dialogs.c
client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_stuff.c
client/gui-gtk-2.0/inteldlg.c
client/gui-mui/citydlg.c
client/gui-mui/cityrep.c
client/gui-mui/dialogs.c
client/gui-mui/inteldlg.c
client/gui-mui/muistuff.c
client/gui-win32/cityrep.c
client/gui-win32/dialogs.c
client/gui-win32/inteldlg.c
client/gui-win32/messagedlg.c
client/gui-win32/ratesdlg.c
client/gui-xaw/cityrep.c
client/gui-xaw/dialogs.c
client/gui-xaw/inteldlg.c
client/gui-xaw/messagedlg.c
client/gui-xaw/optiondlg.c
client/gui-xaw/ratesdlg.c
client/gui-xaw/repodlgs.c
client/gui-sdl/cityrep.c
client/gui-sdl/inteldlg.c
common/ioz.c
common/log.c
common/log.h
common/registry.c
common/support.c
common/support.h
server/console.c
server/gamelog.c
server/stdinhand.c

There are, then, plenty of file that include stdarg.h and don't use
va_list (this is plain wrong, IMHO)

There are also some file that don't include stdarg.h and use va_list (as
some other that do include it, this "confusion" is also wrong, IMHO)
client/climisc.c
client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c
common/shared.c
server/plrhand.c

In particular, che case of server/plrhand.c is critical, because it does
not include stdio.h either, and va_list are included only cause "log.h"
is included (which includes stdarg.h), and expect that something used
directly by the file (va_list) is included by a not expected do to so
include file, is clearly wrong, IMHO.

If there are no objection, I will produce a patch that will implement
solution 2.

Comments are generally welcomed!

        Ciao, Davide