Re: [Infiniband-general] Getting an Infiniband access layer in theLinux kernel

From: somenath
Date: Fri Feb 06 2004 - 13:58:58 EST


That's one of the many reasons of using do-while macros..
Other than compilation error, it may generate wrong code too!
this is a FAQ in kernel newbies , look at:
http://www.kernelnewbies.org/faq/index.php3#dowhile

thanks, som.

Roland Dreier wrote:

Richard> If some major changes are being considered, I think it's
Richard> time to get rid of the:

Richard> do { } while(0) stuff that permiates a lot of MACROS and
Richard> just use the { } as they were designed.

Richard> Before everybody screams, think. It's perfectly correct
Richard> to start a new "program unit" without a conditional
Richard> expression. You just add a curley-brace, then close the
Richard> brace when you are though.

This is totally, totally wrong. If you get rid of do { } while (0),
then you can't use the macro in an if statement. Read any C FAQ for
details, or try the following:

#define MAC(x) { x = x + 1; }

int main() {
int x = 0;

if (1)
MAC(x);
else
x = x - 1;
}

I get the following (correct) error:

$ gcc a.c
a.c: In function `main':
a.c:8: syntax error before "else"
$ gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 3.2.3 20030502 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.3-20)

because

if (1)
{ x = x + 1 } ; /* <-- note semicolon
else
x = x - 1;

is not correct C.

By the way, it is possible to use parentheses and commas for some
simple macros, so for example the following is OK:

#define MAC(x) ( x = x + 1, x = x * 2 )

int main() {
int x = 0;

if (1)
MAC(x);
else
x = x - 1;
}

However I don't see anything wrong with the perfectly standard "do { }
while (0)" idiom. Certainly if some compiler generates worse code for
that construct that just a plain { }, _that_ is a compiler bug that we
shouldn't have to work around.

- Roland


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