Re: [PATCH] eal: provide rte attribute macro for GCC attribute

[Thomas Monjalon <thomas@monjalon.net>]

18/02/2024 13:53, Morten Brørup:
> > From: Thomas Monjalon [mailto:thomas@monjalon.net]
> > Sent: Sunday, 18 February 2024 13.24
> > 
> > 15/02/2024 23:20, Tyler Retzlaff:
> > > Provide a new macro __rte_attribute(a) that when directly used
> > > compiles to empty for MSVC and to __attribute__(a) when using
> > GCC/LLVM.
> > >
> > > Replace direct use of __attribute__ in __rte_xxx macros where there
> > is
> > > existing empty expansion of the macro for MSVC allowing removal of
> > > repeated #ifdef RTE_TOOLCHAIN_MSVC per macro to expand empty.
> > 
> > I'm not sure it makes sense.
> > I prefer seeing clearly what is empty with MSVC.
> 
> This topic has previously been discussed in another context - adding external libraries [1].
> 
> Like you do here, I generally preferred #ifdefs in the code, but the majority preferred stubs "promoting improved code readability".

Stubs may make sense in many places,
but here we are talking about rte_common.h
where we abstract differences between arch and compilers,
so it is the right place to be explicit with compilers support.

> I might argue that Tyler is following that guidance here; and perhaps the decision should be reconsidered, now that we have a real-life example of how it affects code readability. ;-)
> 
> [1]: https://inbox.dpdk.org/dev/20240109141009.497807-1-jerinj@marvell.com/