http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=45977
--- Comment #2 from Konrad Schwarz <konrad.schwarz at siemens dot com> 2010-10-12 15:27:15 UTC --- (In reply to comment #1) > This is a coding style warning - the code is valid, but extremely > unidiomatic for C since "extern" is generally expected to mean that the > declaration is not providing a definition of the object. Following static > by extern, though valid, is also a C feature of doubtful value. I see the value of following static by extern -- the bug report provides an example. To restate, using extern in a definition allows overriding an object's or function's linkage, which can be useful in a translation unit consisting of files a user can change and files a user cannot. Whether or not this is idiomatic usage, or corresponds to what is generally expected, is not sufficient grounds for a warning. To the contrary, this warning promulgates incorrect assumptions about "extern". At the very least, there must be a way of turning this warning off.
