On 18 October 2010 22:04, Matt Fischer wrote: > I'm attempting to port some code to gcc, and in a couple of places > it's using a construct that it doesn't like. A simplified example is > the following (this is in global scope): > > static const int A = 1; > static const int B = A; > > This compiles fine with g++, but gcc says "error: initializer element > is not constant". The compiler this code used to use handles it fine, > and given that it's also legal in C++, I was wondering if anybody > could comment on the (il)legality of this construct. Does the C spec > simply say that one can never use a variable to initialize another > global variable, regardless of whether or not it's constant? Is there > some way to convince gcc to accept this syntax? I tried various > values for --std and couldn't seem to find any that worked.
This question is more suitable for the gcc-help mailing list, this list is about development *of* gcc, not development *with* gcc. Please take any further questions to gcc-help. The rules on what is allwoed in constant expressions differs between C and C++. Specifically, C++ allow const variables and static data members in a constant expression if they are initialized with a constant expression. In your example A is initialized with a constant expression, so A itself can be used in a constant expression in C++, but not in C.
