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			411 lines
		
	
	
		
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| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
 | ||
| <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>Design</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL-NS Stylesheets V1.78.1" /><meta name="keywords" content="C++, library, debug" /><meta name="keywords" content="ISO C++, library" /><meta name="keywords" content="ISO C++, runtime, library" /><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The GNU C++ Library" /><link rel="up" href="debug_mode.html" title="Chapter 17. Debug Mode" /><link rel="prev" href="debug_mode_using.html" title="Using" /><link rel="next" href="parallel_mode.html" title="Chapter 18. Parallel Mode" /></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Design</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="debug_mode_using.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 17. Debug Mode</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="parallel_mode.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="manual.ext.debug_mode.design"></a>Design</h2></div></div></div><p>
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|   </p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="debug_mode.design.goals"></a>Goals</h3></div></div></div><p>
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|     </p><p> The libstdc++ debug mode replaces unsafe (but efficient) standard
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|   containers and iterators with semantically equivalent safe standard
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|   containers and iterators to aid in debugging user programs. The
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|   following goals directed the design of the libstdc++ debug mode:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Correctness</em></span>: the libstdc++ debug mode must not change
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|     the semantics of the standard library for all cases specified in
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|     the ANSI/ISO C++ standard. The essence of this constraint is that
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|     any valid C++ program should behave in the same manner regardless
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|     of whether it is compiled with debug mode or release mode. In
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|     particular, entities that are defined in namespace std in release
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|     mode should remain defined in namespace std in debug mode, so that
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|     legal specializations of namespace std entities will remain
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|     valid. A program that is not valid C++ (e.g., invokes undefined
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|     behavior) is not required to behave similarly, although the debug
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|     mode will abort with a diagnostic when it detects undefined
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|     behavior.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Performance</em></span>: the additional of the libstdc++ debug mode
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|     must not affect the performance of the library when it is compiled
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|     in release mode. Performance of the libstdc++ debug mode is
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|     secondary (and, in fact, will be worse than the release
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|     mode).</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Usability</em></span>: the libstdc++ debug mode should be easy to
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|     use. It should be easily incorporated into the user's development
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|     environment (e.g., by requiring only a single new compiler switch)
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|     and should produce reasonable diagnostics when it detects a
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|     problem with the user program. Usability also involves detection
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|     of errors when using the debug mode incorrectly, e.g., by linking
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|     a release-compiled object against a debug-compiled object if in
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|     fact the resulting program will not run correctly.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Minimize recompilation</em></span>: While it is expected that
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|     users recompile at least part of their program to use debug
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|     mode, the amount of recompilation affects the
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|     detect-compile-debug turnaround time. This indirectly affects the
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|     usefulness of the debug mode, because debugging some applications
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|     may require rebuilding a large amount of code, which may not be
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|     feasible when the suspect code may be very localized. There are
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|     several levels of conformance to this requirement, each with its
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|     own usability and implementation characteristics. In general, the
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|     higher-numbered conformance levels are more usable (i.e., require
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|     less recompilation) but are more complicated to implement than
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|     the lower-numbered conformance levels.
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|       </p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Full recompilation</em></span>: The user must recompile his or
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| 	her entire application and all C++ libraries it depends on,
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| 	including the C++ standard library that ships with the
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| 	compiler. This must be done even if only a small part of the
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| 	program can use debugging features.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Full user recompilation</em></span>: The user must recompile
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| 	his or her entire application and all C++ libraries it depends
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| 	on, but not the C++ standard library itself. This must be done
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| 	even if only a small part of the program can use debugging
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| 	features. This can be achieved given a full recompilation
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| 	system by compiling two versions of the standard library when
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| 	the compiler is installed and linking against the appropriate
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| 	one, e.g., a multilibs approach.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Partial recompilation</em></span>: The user must recompile the
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| 	parts of his or her application and the C++ libraries it
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| 	depends on that will use the debugging facilities
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| 	directly. This means that any code that uses the debuggable
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| 	standard containers would need to be recompiled, but code
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| 	that does not use them (but may, for instance, use IOStreams)
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| 	would not have to be recompiled.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Per-use recompilation</em></span>: The user must recompile the
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| 	parts of his or her application and the C++ libraries it
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| 	depends on where debugging should occur, and any other code
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| 	that interacts with those containers. This means that a set of
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| 	translation units that accesses a particular standard
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| 	container instance may either be compiled in release mode (no
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| 	checking) or debug mode (full checking), but must all be
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| 	compiled in the same way; a translation unit that does not see
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| 	that standard container instance need not be recompiled. This
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| 	also means that a translation unit <span class="emphasis"><em>A</em></span> that contains a
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| 	particular instantiation
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| 	(say, <code class="code">std::vector<int></code>) compiled in release
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| 	mode can be linked against a translation unit <span class="emphasis"><em>B</em></span> that
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| 	contains the same instantiation compiled in debug mode (a
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| 	feature not present with partial recompilation). While this
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| 	behavior is technically a violation of the One Definition
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| 	Rule, this ability tends to be very important in
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| 	practice. The libstdc++ debug mode supports this level of
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| 	recompilation. </p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Per-unit recompilation</em></span>: The user must only
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| 	recompile the translation units where checking should occur,
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| 	regardless of where debuggable standard containers are
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| 	used. This has also been dubbed "<code class="code">-g</code> mode",
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| 	because the <code class="code">-g</code> compiler switch works in this way,
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| 	emitting debugging information at a per--translation-unit
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| 	granularity. We believe that this level of recompilation is in
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| 	fact not possible if we intend to supply safe iterators, leave
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| 	the program semantics unchanged, and not regress in
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| 	performance under release mode because we cannot associate
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| 	extra information with an iterator (to form a safe iterator)
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| 	without either reserving that space in release mode
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| 	(performance regression) or allocating extra memory associated
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| 	with each iterator with <code class="code">new</code> (changes the program
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| 	semantics).</p></li></ol></div><p>
 | ||
|     </p></li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="debug_mode.design.methods"></a>Methods</h3></div></div></div><p>
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|     </p><p>This section provides an overall view of the design of the
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|   libstdc++ debug mode and details the relationship between design
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|   decisions and the stated design goals.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="debug_mode.design.methods.wrappers"></a>The Wrapper Model</h4></div></div></div><p>The libstdc++ debug mode uses a wrapper model where the
 | ||
|   debugging versions of library components (e.g., iterators and
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|   containers) form a layer on top of the release versions of the
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|   library components. The debugging components first verify that the
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|   operation is correct (aborting with a diagnostic if an error is
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|   found) and will then forward to the underlying release-mode
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|   container that will perform the actual work. This design decision
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|   ensures that we cannot regress release-mode performance (because the
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|   release-mode containers are left untouched) and partially
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|   enables <a class="link" href="debug_mode_design.html#methods.coexistence.link" title="Link- and run-time coexistence of release- and debug-mode components">mixing debug and
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|   release code</a> at link time, although that will not be
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|   discussed at this time.</p><p>Two types of wrappers are used in the implementation of the debug
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|   mode: container wrappers and iterator wrappers. The two types of
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|   wrappers interact to maintain relationships between iterators and
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|   their associated containers, which are necessary to detect certain
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|   types of standard library usage errors such as dereferencing
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|   past-the-end iterators or inserting into a container using an
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|   iterator from a different container.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title"><a id="debug_mode.design.methods.safe_iter"></a>Safe Iterators</h5></div></div></div><p>Iterator wrappers provide a debugging layer over any iterator that
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|   is attached to a particular container, and will manage the
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|   information detailing the iterator's state (singular,
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|   dereferenceable, etc.) and tracking the container to which the
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|   iterator is attached. Because iterators have a well-defined, common
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|   interface the iterator wrapper is implemented with the iterator
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|   adaptor class template <code class="code">__gnu_debug::_Safe_iterator</code>,
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|   which takes two template parameters:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p><code class="code">Iterator</code>: The underlying iterator type, which must
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|     be either the <code class="code">iterator</code> or <code class="code">const_iterator</code>
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|     typedef from the sequence type this iterator can reference.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><code class="code">Sequence</code>: The type of sequence that this iterator
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|   references. This sequence must be a safe sequence (discussed below)
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|   whose <code class="code">iterator</code> or <code class="code">const_iterator</code> typedef
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|   is the type of the safe iterator.</p></li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title"><a id="debug_mode.design.methods.safe_seq"></a>Safe Sequences (Containers)</h5></div></div></div><p>Container wrappers provide a debugging layer over a particular
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|   container type. Because containers vary greatly in the member
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|   functions they support and the semantics of those member functions
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|   (especially in the area of iterator invalidation), container
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|   wrappers are tailored to the container they reference, e.g., the
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|   debugging version of <code class="code">std::list</code> duplicates the entire
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|   interface of <code class="code">std::list</code>, adding additional semantic
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|   checks and then forwarding operations to the
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|   real <code class="code">std::list</code> (a public base class of the debugging
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|   version) as appropriate. However, all safe containers inherit from
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|   the class template <code class="code">__gnu_debug::_Safe_sequence</code>,
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|   instantiated with the type of the safe container itself (an instance
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|   of the curiously recurring template pattern).</p><p>The iterators of a container wrapper will be
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|   <a class="link" href="debug_mode_design.html#debug_mode.design.methods.safe_iter" title="Safe Iterators">safe
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|   iterators</a> that reference sequences of this type and wrap the
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|   iterators provided by the release-mode base class. The debugging
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|   container will use only the safe iterators within its own interface
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|   (therefore requiring the user to use safe iterators, although this
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|   does not change correct user code) and will communicate with the
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|   release-mode base class with only the underlying, unsafe,
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|   release-mode iterators that the base class exports.</p><p> The debugging version of <code class="code">std::list</code> will have the
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|   following basic structure:</p><pre class="programlisting">
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| template<typename _Tp, typename _Allocator = allocator<_Tp>
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|   class debug-list :
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|     public release-list<_Tp, _Allocator>,
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|     public __gnu_debug::_Safe_sequence<debug-list<_Tp, _Allocator> >
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|   {
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|     typedef release-list<_Tp, _Allocator> _Base;
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|     typedef debug-list<_Tp, _Allocator>   _Self;
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| 
 | ||
|   public:
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|     typedef __gnu_debug::_Safe_iterator<typename _Base::iterator, _Self>       iterator;
 | ||
|     typedef __gnu_debug::_Safe_iterator<typename _Base::const_iterator, _Self> const_iterator;
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     // duplicate std::list interface with debugging semantics
 | ||
|   };
 | ||
| </pre></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="debug_mode.design.methods.precond"></a>Precondition Checking</h4></div></div></div><p>The debug mode operates primarily by checking the preconditions of
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|   all standard library operations that it supports. Preconditions that
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|   are always checked (regardless of whether or not we are in debug
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|   mode) are checked via the <code class="code">__check_xxx</code> macros defined
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|   and documented in the source
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|   file <code class="code">include/debug/debug.h</code>. Preconditions that may or
 | ||
|   may not be checked, depending on the debug-mode
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|   macro <code class="code">_GLIBCXX_DEBUG</code>, are checked via
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|   the <code class="code">__requires_xxx</code> macros defined and documented in the
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|   same source file. Preconditions are validated using any additional
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|   information available at run-time, e.g., the containers that are
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|   associated with a particular iterator, the position of the iterator
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|   within those containers, the distance between two iterators that may
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|   form a valid range, etc. In the absence of suitable information,
 | ||
|   e.g., an input iterator that is not a safe iterator, these
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|   precondition checks will silently succeed.</p><p>The majority of precondition checks use the aforementioned macros,
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|   which have the secondary benefit of having prewritten debug
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|   messages that use information about the current status of the
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|   objects involved (e.g., whether an iterator is singular or what
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|   sequence it is attached to) along with some static information
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|   (e.g., the names of the function parameters corresponding to the
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|   objects involved). When not using these macros, the debug mode uses
 | ||
|   either the debug-mode assertion
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|   macro <code class="code">_GLIBCXX_DEBUG_ASSERT</code> , its pedantic
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|   cousin <code class="code">_GLIBCXX_DEBUG_PEDASSERT</code>, or the assertion
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|   check macro that supports more advance formulation of error
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|   messages, <code class="code">_GLIBCXX_DEBUG_VERIFY</code>. These macros are
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|   documented more thoroughly in the debug mode source code.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="debug_mode.design.methods.coexistence"></a>Release- and debug-mode coexistence</h4></div></div></div><p>The libstdc++ debug mode is the first debug mode we know of that
 | ||
|   is able to provide the "Per-use recompilation" (4) guarantee, that
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|   allows release-compiled and debug-compiled code to be linked and
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|   executed together without causing unpredictable behavior. This
 | ||
|   guarantee minimizes the recompilation that users are required to
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|   perform, shortening the detect-compile-debug bug hunting cycle
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|   and making the debug mode easier to incorporate into development
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|   environments by minimizing dependencies.</p><p>Achieving link- and run-time coexistence is not a trivial
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|   implementation task. To achieve this goal we required a small
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|   extension to the GNU C++ compiler (since incorporated into the C++11 language specification, described in the GCC Manual for the C++ language as
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|   <a class="link" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Namespace-Association.html#Namespace-Association" target="_top">namespace
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|   association</a>), and a complex organization of debug- and
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|   release-modes. The end result is that we have achieved per-use
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|   recompilation but have had to give up some checking of the
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|   <code class="code">std::basic_string</code> class template (namely, safe
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|   iterators).
 | ||
| </p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title"><a id="methods.coexistence.compile"></a>Compile-time coexistence of release- and debug-mode components</h5></div></div></div><p>Both the release-mode components and the debug-mode
 | ||
|   components need to exist within a single translation unit so that
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|   the debug versions can wrap the release versions. However, only one
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|   of these components should be user-visible at any particular
 | ||
|   time with the standard name, e.g., <code class="code">std::list</code>. </p><p>In release mode, we define only the release-mode version of the
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|   component with its standard name and do not include the debugging
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|   component at all. The release mode version is defined within the
 | ||
|   namespace <code class="code">std</code>. Minus the namespace associations, this
 | ||
|   method leaves the behavior of release mode completely unchanged from
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|   its behavior prior to the introduction of the libstdc++ debug
 | ||
|   mode. Here's an example of what this ends up looking like, in
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|   C++.</p><pre class="programlisting">
 | ||
| namespace std
 | ||
| {
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|   template<typename _Tp, typename _Alloc = allocator<_Tp> >
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|     class list
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|     {
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|       // ...
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|      };
 | ||
| } // namespace std
 | ||
| </pre><p>In debug mode we include the release-mode container (which is now
 | ||
| defined in the namespace <code class="code">__cxx1998</code>) and also the
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| debug-mode container. The debug-mode container is defined within the
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| namespace <code class="code">__debug</code>, which is associated with namespace
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| <code class="code">std</code> via the C++11 namespace association language feature.  This
 | ||
| method allows the debug and release versions of the same component to
 | ||
| coexist at compile-time and link-time without causing an unreasonable
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| maintenance burden, while minimizing confusion. Again, this boils down
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| to C++ code as follows:</p><pre class="programlisting">
 | ||
| namespace std
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| {
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|   namespace __cxx1998
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|   {
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|     template<typename _Tp, typename _Alloc = allocator<_Tp> >
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|       class list
 | ||
|       {
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| 	// ...
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|       };
 | ||
|   } // namespace __gnu_norm
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   namespace __debug
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|   {
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|     template<typename _Tp, typename _Alloc = allocator<_Tp> >
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|       class list
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|       : public __cxx1998::list<_Tp, _Alloc>,
 | ||
| 	public __gnu_debug::_Safe_sequence<list<_Tp, _Alloc> >
 | ||
|       {
 | ||
| 	// ...
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|       };
 | ||
|   } // namespace __cxx1998
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   // namespace __debug __attribute__ ((strong));
 | ||
|   inline namespace __debug { }
 | ||
| }
 | ||
| </pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title"><a id="methods.coexistence.link"></a>Link- and run-time coexistence of release- and
 | ||
|     debug-mode components</h5></div></div></div><p>Because each component has a distinct and separate release and
 | ||
| debug implementation, there is no issue with link-time
 | ||
| coexistence: the separate namespaces result in different mangled
 | ||
| names, and thus unique linkage.</p><p>However, components that are defined and used within the C++
 | ||
| standard library itself face additional constraints. For instance,
 | ||
| some of the member functions of <code class="code"> std::moneypunct</code> return
 | ||
| <code class="code">std::basic_string</code>. Normally, this is not a problem, but
 | ||
| with a mixed mode standard library that could be using either
 | ||
| debug-mode or release-mode <code class="code"> basic_string</code> objects, things
 | ||
| get more complicated.  As the return value of a function is not
 | ||
| encoded into the mangled name, there is no way to specify a
 | ||
| release-mode or a debug-mode string. In practice, this results in
 | ||
| runtime errors. A simplified example of this problem is as follows.
 | ||
| </p><p> Take this translation unit, compiled in debug-mode: </p><pre class="programlisting">
 | ||
| // -D_GLIBCXX_DEBUG
 | ||
| #include <string>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| std::string test02();
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| std::string test01()
 | ||
| {
 | ||
|   return test02();
 | ||
| }
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| int main()
 | ||
| {
 | ||
|   test01();
 | ||
|   return 0;
 | ||
| }
 | ||
| </pre><p> ... and linked to this translation unit, compiled in release mode:</p><pre class="programlisting">
 | ||
| #include <string>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| std::string
 | ||
| test02()
 | ||
| {
 | ||
|   return std::string("toast");
 | ||
| }
 | ||
| </pre><p> For this reason we cannot easily provide safe iterators for
 | ||
|   the <code class="code">std::basic_string</code> class template, as it is present
 | ||
|   throughout the C++ standard library. For instance, locale facets
 | ||
|   define typedefs that include <code class="code">basic_string</code>: in a mixed
 | ||
|   debug/release program, should that typedef be based on the
 | ||
|   debug-mode <code class="code">basic_string</code> or the
 | ||
|   release-mode <code class="code">basic_string</code>? While the answer could be
 | ||
|   "both", and the difference hidden via renaming a la the
 | ||
|   debug/release containers, we must note two things about locale
 | ||
|   facets:</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem"><p>They exist as shared state: one can create a facet in one
 | ||
|   translation unit and access the facet via the same type name in a
 | ||
|   different translation unit. This means that we cannot have two
 | ||
|   different versions of locale facets, because the types would not be
 | ||
|   the same across debug/release-mode translation unit barriers.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>They have virtual functions returning strings: these functions
 | ||
|   mangle in the same way regardless of the mangling of their return
 | ||
|   types (see above), and their precise signatures can be relied upon
 | ||
|   by users because they may be overridden in derived classes.</p></li></ol></div><p>With the design of libstdc++ debug mode, we cannot effectively hide
 | ||
|   the differences between debug and release-mode strings from the
 | ||
|   user. Failure to hide the differences may result in unpredictable
 | ||
|   behavior, and for this reason we have opted to only
 | ||
|   perform <code class="code">basic_string</code> changes that do not require ABI
 | ||
|   changes. The effect on users is expected to be minimal, as there are
 | ||
|   simple alternatives (e.g., <code class="code">__gnu_debug::basic_string</code>),
 | ||
|   and the usability benefit we gain from the ability to mix debug- and
 | ||
|   release-compiled translation units is enormous.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title"><a id="methods.coexistence.alt"></a>Alternatives for Coexistence</h5></div></div></div><p>The coexistence scheme above was chosen over many alternatives,
 | ||
|   including language-only solutions and solutions that also required
 | ||
|   extensions to the C++ front end. The following is a partial list of
 | ||
|   solutions, with justifications for our rejection of each.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Completely separate debug/release libraries</em></span>: This is by
 | ||
|   far the simplest implementation option, where we do not allow any
 | ||
|   coexistence of debug- and release-compiled translation units in a
 | ||
|   program. This solution has an extreme negative affect on usability,
 | ||
|   because it is quite likely that some libraries an application
 | ||
|   depends on cannot be recompiled easily. This would not meet
 | ||
|   our <span class="emphasis"><em>usability</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>minimize recompilation</em></span> criteria
 | ||
|   well.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Add a <code class="code">Debug</code> boolean template parameter</em></span>:
 | ||
|   Partial specialization could be used to select the debug
 | ||
|   implementation when <code class="code">Debug == true</code>, and the state
 | ||
|   of <code class="code">_GLIBCXX_DEBUG</code> could decide whether the
 | ||
|   default <code class="code">Debug</code> argument is <code class="code">true</code>
 | ||
|   or <code class="code">false</code>. This option would break conformance with the
 | ||
|   C++ standard in both debug <span class="emphasis"><em>and</em></span> release modes. This would
 | ||
|   not meet our <span class="emphasis"><em>correctness</em></span> criteria. </p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Packaging a debug flag in the allocators</em></span>: We could
 | ||
|     reuse the <code class="code">Allocator</code> template parameter of containers
 | ||
|     by adding a sentinel wrapper <code class="code">debug<></code> that
 | ||
|     signals the user's intention to use debugging, and pick up
 | ||
|     the <code class="code">debug<></code> allocator wrapper in a partial
 | ||
|     specialization. However, this has two drawbacks: first, there is a
 | ||
|     conformance issue because the default allocator would not be the
 | ||
|     standard-specified <code class="code">std::allocator<T></code>. Secondly
 | ||
|     (and more importantly), users that specify allocators instead of
 | ||
|     implicitly using the default allocator would not get debugging
 | ||
|     containers. Thus this solution fails the <span class="emphasis"><em>correctness</em></span>
 | ||
|     criteria.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Define debug containers in another namespace, and employ
 | ||
|       a <code class="code">using</code> declaration (or directive)</em></span>: This is an
 | ||
|       enticing option, because it would eliminate the need for
 | ||
|       the <code class="code">link_name</code> extension by aliasing the
 | ||
|       templates. However, there is no true template aliasing mechanism
 | ||
|       in C++, because both <code class="code">using</code> directives and using
 | ||
|       declarations disallow specialization. This method fails
 | ||
|       the <span class="emphasis"><em>correctness</em></span> criteria.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em> Use implementation-specific properties of anonymous
 | ||
|     namespaces. </em></span>
 | ||
|     See <a class="link" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/2003-08/msg00004.html" target="_top"> this post
 | ||
|     </a>
 | ||
|     This method fails the <span class="emphasis"><em>correctness</em></span> criteria.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Extension: allow reopening on namespaces</em></span>: This would
 | ||
|     allow the debug mode to effectively alias the
 | ||
|     namespace <code class="code">std</code> to an internal namespace, such
 | ||
|     as <code class="code">__gnu_std_debug</code>, so that it is completely
 | ||
|     separate from the release-mode <code class="code">std</code> namespace. While
 | ||
|     this will solve some renaming problems and ensure that
 | ||
|     debug- and release-compiled code cannot be mixed unsafely, it ensures that
 | ||
|     debug- and release-compiled code cannot be mixed at all. For
 | ||
|     instance, the program would have two <code class="code">std::cout</code>
 | ||
|     objects! This solution would fails the <span class="emphasis"><em>minimize
 | ||
|     recompilation</em></span> requirement, because we would only be able to
 | ||
|     support option (1) or (2).</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Extension: use link name</em></span>: This option involves
 | ||
|     complicated re-naming between debug-mode and release-mode
 | ||
|     components at compile time, and then a g++ extension called <span class="emphasis"><em>
 | ||
|     link name </em></span> to recover the original names at link time. There
 | ||
|     are two drawbacks to this approach. One, it's very verbose,
 | ||
|     relying on macro renaming at compile time and several levels of
 | ||
|     include ordering. Two, ODR issues remained with container member
 | ||
|     functions taking no arguments in mixed-mode settings resulting in
 | ||
|     equivalent link names, <code class="code"> vector::push_back() </code> being
 | ||
|     one example.
 | ||
|     See <a class="link" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/2003-08/msg00177.html" target="_top">link
 | ||
|     name</a> </p></li></ul></div><p>Other options may exist for implementing the debug mode, many of
 | ||
|   which have probably been considered and others that may still be
 | ||
|   lurking. This list may be expanded over time to include other
 | ||
|   options that we could have implemented, but in all cases the full
 | ||
|   ramifications of the approach (as measured against the design goals
 | ||
|   for a libstdc++ debug mode) should be considered first. The DejaGNU
 | ||
|   testsuite includes some testcases that check for known problems with
 | ||
|   some solutions (e.g., the <code class="code">using</code> declaration solution
 | ||
|   that breaks user specialization), and additional testcases will be
 | ||
|   added as we are able to identify other typical problem cases. These
 | ||
|   test cases will serve as a benchmark by which we can compare debug
 | ||
|   mode implementations.</p></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="debug_mode.design.other"></a>Other Implementations</h3></div></div></div><p>
 | ||
|     </p><p> There are several existing implementations of debug modes for C++
 | ||
|   standard library implementations, although none of them directly
 | ||
|   supports debugging for programs using libstdc++. The existing
 | ||
|   implementations include:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p><a class="link" href="http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/faculty/horstman/safestl.html" target="_top">SafeSTL</a>:
 | ||
|   SafeSTL was the original debugging version of the Standard Template
 | ||
|   Library (STL), implemented by Cay S. Horstmann on top of the
 | ||
|   Hewlett-Packard STL. Though it inspired much work in this area, it
 | ||
|   has not been kept up-to-date for use with modern compilers or C++
 | ||
|   standard library implementations.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><a class="link" href="http://www.stlport.org/" target="_top">STLport</a>: STLport is a free
 | ||
|   implementation of the C++ standard library derived from the <a class="link" href="http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/" target="_top">SGI implementation</a>, and
 | ||
|   ported to many other platforms. It includes a debug mode that uses a
 | ||
|   wrapper model (that in some ways inspired the libstdc++ debug mode
 | ||
|   design), although at the time of this writing the debug mode is
 | ||
|   somewhat incomplete and meets only the "Full user recompilation" (2)
 | ||
|   recompilation guarantee by requiring the user to link against a
 | ||
|   different library in debug mode vs. release mode.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Metrowerks CodeWarrior: The C++ standard library
 | ||
|   that ships with Metrowerks CodeWarrior includes a debug mode. It is
 | ||
|   a full debug-mode implementation (including debugging for
 | ||
|   CodeWarrior extensions) and is easy to use, although it meets only
 | ||
|   the "Full recompilation" (1) recompilation
 | ||
|   guarantee.</p></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="debug_mode_using.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="debug_mode.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="parallel_mode.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Using </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Chapter 18. Parallel Mode</td></tr></table></div></body></html> |