Re: [Libcdio-devel] Fix mmc_ll_cmds.c for use with MSVC compilers

[Pete Batard]

On 2012.01.30 14:53, Robert Fuller wrote:
> This brings up an important point.  MSVC
> does not support C99 and Microsoft has no stated plans to support it.

Unfortunately, that's absolutely true. That's also why trying to reuse 
C99/GNU99 code in an MSVC project can be a major PITA.

Besides limitations with zero sized arrays, even Visual Studio 2010's 
MSVC can still not use named initializers in structs, and despite the 
brand new addition of stdint.h at long last, it still lacks inttypes.h 
for instance.

> That was one reason I chose not to support MSVC in my own ripper.  I
> was taking advantage of some C99 features and the trade-off of
> removing them to support MSVC was not worth it, for my project.

As far as libcdio is concerned, not much was actually needed to achieve 
MSVC support. This MMC minor fix, for mixed var init and code, and the 
update for zero sized arrays are pretty much the only visible 
constraints that had to be applied to common code. But I guess most of 
this is due to the effort of people who kept existing code MSVC friendly 
until not so long ago. Other projects might not be so lucky...

If your MSVC user base is expected to be limited, and you have adequate 
support for MinGW, I can understand why ditching MSVC would make sense, 
as it will definitely save you time.

Regards,

/Pete