[vorbis-dev] alloca() problem with CodeWarrior

[Segher Boessenkool]

> The alloca() function is used throughout the Vorbis code base. In my Google
> searches, I saw many cases where alloca() caused problems on many machines.
> It is often implemented incorrectly by compilers.

A lot of things are implemented incorrectly by compilers.

> Plus it requires lots of stack space.

It does not waste stack space.  It *uses* stack space.  This is a *good* thing,
and exactly why alloca() is useful.  Variable length arrays would be even
better, but those are a C99 feature.  More compilers have trouble with
C99 than
with alloca().

> There was a discussion a while back about removing alloca()
> calls from Ogg Vorbis. I would like to add one vote for that mod.

I vote against.  People having trouble with alloca() can always use one of
the portable C implementations of it (like the one in libiberty, for example).

<p>Segher

<p>--- >8 ----
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