[Bug-readline] Re: [bug-inetutils] inetutils-1.8: ftp build error

[Chet Ramey]

On 7/25/10 2:38 PM, Paul Eggert wrote:
> xmalloc etc. are commonly used names in GNU applications, regardless of
> whether the apps are gnulib-based; for example, Emacs and GCC both have
> their own xmalloc, independent of gnulib.  It would be nicer if readline
> were compatible with this common usage, without application developers
> having to do something unusual in order to have their own xmalloc.
> 
> At the very least, if it's really intended for GNU readline to usurp
> common names like xmalloc, its documentation should explain how to
> work around the problem without having to rename the app's own xmalloc.

That's not the problem.  Bash has its own xmalloc, too.  The recommended
way to do this is to have the application supply its own xmalloc.

Readline is GNU software, and uses xmalloc/xrealloc in the same way as
other GNU software.  It supplies fallback implementations for those
applications that don't provide the functions.  Applications that do
can easily override the readline definitions.

Chet
-- 
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
                 ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, ITS, CWRU    address@hidden    http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/