Re: git: 6527682ab705 - main - src: Use gnu++17 as the default C++ standard

From: John Baldwin <jhb_at_FreeBSD.org>
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2025 18:40:25 UTC
On 4/11/25 13:14, Mark Millard wrote:
> John Baldwin <jhb_at_FreeBSD.org> wrote on
> Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2025 13:54:30 UTC :
> 
>> The branch main has been updated by jhb:
>>
>> URL: https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/src/commit/?id=6527682ab7058e5023a2a6dea01d51c15dca701f
>>
>> commit 6527682ab7058e5023a2a6dea01d51c15dca701f
>> Author: John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org>
>> AuthorDate: 2025-04-11 13:53:50 +0000
>> Commit: John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org>
>> CommitDate: 2025-04-11 13:53:50 +0000
>>
>> src: Use gnu++17 as the default C++ standard
>>
>> Previously the compiler's default C++ standard was used unlike C where
>> bsd.sys.mk explicitly sets a default language version. Setting an
>> explicit default version will give a more uniform experience across
>> different compilers and compiler versions.
>>
>> gnu++17 was chosen to match the default C standard. It is well
>> supported by a wide range of clang (5+) and GCC (9+) versions.
>>
>> gnu++17 is also the default C++ standard in recent versions of clang
>> (16+) and GCC (11+). As a result, many of the explicit CXXSTD
>> settings in Makefiles had the effect of lowering the C++ standard
>> instead of raising it as was originally intended and are removed.
>>
>> Note that the remaining explicit CXXSTD settings for atf and liblutok
>> explicitly lower the standard to C++11 due to use of the deprecated
>> auto_ptr<> template which is removed in later versions.
>>
>> Reviewed by: imp, asomers, dim, emaste
>> Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D49223
> 
> [The note below is just a thought prompted by this. It applies
> to the prior context as well.]
> 
> As I understand many C++ ports use the system c++ toolchain
> and libc++ to build and operate --and there is only one libc++
> available in some respects. If that is the case
> . . .
> 
> This ends ends up controlling the C++ library's features for
> any libc++ library material used via any of:

No, it does not.  libc++ is mostly templates and uses many #ifdef's
to provide support for multiple language standards.  For the actual
symbols required at runtime, we build libc++ such that it includes
all of them (in particular, we use a higher CXXSTD to build libc++
itself and have for a long time).  So, no, this doesn't change
anything in libc++ itself.  It merely changes the default C++
environment when using bsd.*.mk.

The same is true of libstdc++ use by GCC.  It also supports the
full range of C++ versions in the dynamic library and does not
require separate builds for different C++ versions.

-- 
John Baldwin