Need a strategy for dealing with OS X ported compilers

[noloader]

_Background_

Crypto++ 5.6.3 and above use GCC's init_priority in an effort to tame the C++ Static Initialization Order Fiasco. Its an optional feature that is disabled by default under 5.6.3. It can be enabled with CXXFLAGS="-DCRYPTOPP_INIT_PRIORITY=250" (or similar).

OS X has about 6 projects that provide Unix and Linux tools on OS X. The projects are called "ports' and they include:

• Fink
• Gentoo/Alt
• Homebrew
• MacPorts
• Pkgsrc
• Rudix

Some of the ports provide GCC, but they do not enable init_priority support and subsequently fail the compile. The compiler appears to be acting as a proxy for the linker, and assume init_priority is an error because the OS X linker does not offer a pubic interface to control the order. Or maybe more correctly, Apple did not respond to a GNU/Binutils bug report on the subject. (Its not clear if the linker would actually fail a link if the metadata was present).

As far as we know, Fink will accept init_priority, and MacPorts will reject init_priority. We don't know what the other ports are doing. Additionally, other compilers are OK, like Apple's GCC and Clang.

We attempted to acquire metrics to help gauge the impact of disabling init_priority among a ports collection, but MacPorts does not test its compilers. Also see Does MacPorts provide its Test/QA results online?

_Strategies_

We don't have a strategy for dealing with GCC-compatible compilers that refuse to compile a program. The two strategies being considered are:

1. disable init_priority for all non-Apple GCC compilers
2. disable init_priority for port compilers that refuse to compile the program

Strategy 1 disables init_priority for all GCC compilers since Apple no longer provides GCC. For example, if we detect any port like Fink (and not just a problematic port like MacPorts), then the code disables init_priority.

Strategy 2 disables init_priority on a per-need basis. For example, if we detect a problematic port like MacPorts (and not just any port like Fink), then the code disables init_priority.

[mouse07410]

If #2 is doable and not too fragile - it is more attractive. Otherwise, I'd say just do #1 and let's be done with this issue.

[noloader]

I think we cleared this issue.