Re: [libvirt] [PATCH] util: Make virStringArrayHasString() const-correct

On 17/08/16 09:56, Andrea Bolognani wrote: > On Tue, 2016-08-16 at 22:31 +0200, Martin Kletzander wrote: >>>>> This change means we no longer have to cast arrays of >>>>> immutable strings to arrays of mutable strings; we still >>>>> have to do the opposite, though, but that's reasonable. >>>> >>>> Is it? I mean, we are restricting ourselves and compiler fails to see >>>> that. To me 'const char **' is more restrictive than 'char **' therefore >>>> there should be no typecast required. But this is the discussion I >>>> should have with gcc devels. For some reason, gcc does automatic >>>> typecasting to const just for the fist level pointers and not the second >>>> one. That's why compilers errors out. >>> >>> The reason for this behavior is explained in the C FAQ: >>> >>> http://c-faq.com/ansi/constmismatch.html >> >> Just FYI, so that you know why adding more consts (even to sensible >> places) doesn't help in C, I found the answer to my question on stack >> overflow [1] very satisfactory and explanatory. > > So the solution is simple: rewrite all of libvirt in C++! ;) >

Patches are welcome ;)...oh, wait... Or we could make a "libvirt rationale" and state that some char ** arrays are meant to be constant in a textual manner :). Erik PS: hopefully nobody took that one seriously.