https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=91134
Bug ID: 91134
Summary: Confusing error message: error: ‘*server’ is a
pointer; did you mean to use ‘->’? when -> is used
Product: gcc
Version: 6.3.0
Status: UNCONFIRMED
Severity: normal
Priority: P3
Component: c
Assignee: unassigned at gcc dot gnu.org
Reporter: emil.fihlman at aalto dot fi
Target Milestone: ---
gcc -Wall -Werror -Wextra -O3 -flto -o program program.c -lm
program.c: In function ‘setupFunction’:
program.c:Y:X: error: ‘*server’ is a pointer; did you mean to use ‘->’?
if(setupThing(&(*server->thing), MAX_THINGY)==~0UL)
^~
server is of type struct Server ** in this context
The error message should probably change in this context to suggesting
parentheses.
fiesh on #gcc@Freenode gave these ideas regarding this:
2019-07-10 18:11:03 +0300 < fiesh> I think that `server->thing` is probably
replaced by `(*server.thing)` since they are semantically equivalent at some
stage before the error is produced
2019-07-10 18:11:45 +0300 < fiesh> then the parser sees that *server is a
pointer type and you're trying to access its contents with ., so it tells you
that doesn't work
2019-07-10 18:12:52 +0300 < fiesh> by ((*server).thing)
Emil
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/6/lto-wrapper
Target: x86_64-linux-gnu
Configured with: ../src/configure -v --with-pkgversion='Debian 6.3.0-18+deb9u1'
--with-bugurl=file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-6/README.Bugs
--enable-languages=c,ada,c++,java,go,d,fortran,objc,obj-c++ --prefix=/usr
--program-suffix=-6 --program-prefix=x86_64-linux-gnu- --enable-shared
--enable-linker-build-id --libexecdir=/usr/lib --without-included-gettext
--enable-threads=posix --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-nls --with-sysroot=/
--enable-clocale=gnu --enable-libstdcxx-debug --enable-libstdcxx-time=yes
--with-default-libstdcxx-abi=new --enable-gnu-unique-object
--disable-vtable-verify --enable-libmpx --enable-plugin --enable-default-pie
--with-system-zlib --disable-browser-plugin --enable-java-awt=gtk
--enable-gtk-cairo --with-java-home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-6-amd64/jre
--enable-java-home --with-jvm-root-dir=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-6-amd64
--with-jvm-jar-dir=/usr/lib/jvm-exports/java-1.5.0-gcj-6-amd64
--with-arch-directory=amd64 --with-ecj-jar=/usr/share/java/eclipse-ecj.jar
--with-target-system-zlib --enable-objc-gc=auto --enable-multiarch
--with-arch-32=i686 --with-abi=m64 --with-multilib-list=m32,m64,mx32
--enable-multilib --with-tune=generic --enable-checking=release
--build=x86_64-linux-gnu --host=x86_64-linux-gnu --target=x86_64-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
gcc version 6.3.0 20170516 (Debian 6.3.0-18+deb9u1)
