[fpc-pascal] Underscore prefix for external C functions

[Jonas Maebe]

On 07 Sep 2007, at 14:31, Adriaan van Os wrote:

> Jonas Maebe wrote:
>
>>> Is this just a mess or do I miss the true logic behind it ?
>> If you declare an external function/procedure as "cdecl", the  
>> compiler with /always/ add the necessary C-prefix (if any) to the  
>> external name.
>
> I see, so if I add
>
> {$ifdef FPC}
> {$calling cdecl}
> {$endif
>
> and skip the underscore, this results in multi-platform and gpc  
> compatible 'external name xxx" directives.

Yes (save for possibly const-related differences in parameter passing).

>> To make matters even more interesting (in the Chinese sense),  
>> there are also {$mode macpas} interface-only units (i.e., units  
>> without an implementation section, like many of the universal  
>> interfaces). Because this support was added solely for the purpose  
>> of supporting (older versions of) the universal interfaces, in  
>> that case any function without an explicitly specified external  
>> name also gets the C-prefix added (which does not apply to the  
>> universal interfaces units, since all functions/procedures there  
>> do have an explicitly specified external name).
>
> Are you saying that adding IMPLEMENTATION BEGIN changes the meaning  
> of the INTERFACE section. That is hardly a defendable compiler  
> feature, is it ?

Interface-only unit support was (and still is) only a quick hack  
added for allowing to compile the universal interfaces. There was  
(and still is) no other way to specify both a non-cdecl/cppdecl  
calling convention and get automatic addition of C-prefixes. It does  
the job for which it was introduced, and was never intended for any  
other use than easy porting of legacy interfaces to external (C)  
libraries.


Jonas