Should we compile Guile with -fno-strict-aliasing?

[Mark H Weaver]

Hello all,

For many years, Linux (the kernel) has used the -fno-strict-aliasing
compiler option to disable certain tricky optimizations that depend upon
a very strict reading of the aliasing rules of modern C standards.  It
turns out that it's quite difficult to write robust code in the presence
of those optimizations.  I have not researched this issue carefully, but
it seems that several Guile bugs may be related to this problem.

Perhaps we should simply add this compiler flag where its available, at
least in the short term.  What do you think?

Here are some links for more info:

http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/2/26/158
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-July/036898.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliasing_(computing)#Conflicts_with_optimization

     Mark