Re: _GL_EXTERN_INLINE not defined correctly in config.h for macOS

[Paul Eggert]

On 1/17/22 10:37, Reuben Thomas wrote:

> "extern-inline" copies a stanza of code into
> config.h. That code includes a test of the preprocessor macro
> "__header_inline". That macro is defined in a system header on macOS.
> When config.h is #included, no other header has been included.
> Therefore, the symbol will never have been defined at the point where
> it is tested in config.h. Therefore, the test will always fail.

Thanks for explaining more. That part of Gnulib was introduced in 2013:

https://lists.gnu.org/r/bug-gnulib/2013-11/msg00045.html

and as I vaguely recall was in response to this macports ticket:

https://trac.macports.org/ticket/41033

Apparently until now nobody tested that part of Gnulib to make sure that 
it omits the workaround on newer Apple platforms where the underlying 
bug has been fixed. (The underlying bug was that <ctype.h> defined 
static functions to implement isalpha etc. on OS X 10.8 and earlier in 
C, but the C standard does not allow this and using static functions 
broke some GNU code.)

Although the workaround still functions on current macOS, it's better to 
use proper inline functions when available so I installed the attached 
patch into Gnulib. Please give it a try.

I don't know whether the macOS world has moved on and nobody cares about 
older Apple releases with the ctype.h bug. If so, we could simplify Gnulib.

0001-extern-inline-improve-macOS-port.patch
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