John Maddock wrote:
How about something like:
BOOST_EXTENSION(x)
which expands to "__extension__ x" on gcc and "x" otherwise?
Then we can use BOOST_EXTENSION(long long) where necessary.
This is what I initially tried to do. However, it is difficult to make work. Consider: template<typename T> class myclass { }; __extension__ template<> class myclass<long long> { }; Note the placement of __extension__. This is the only place that __extension__ can be placed that it will make the error go away, and not trigger a parse error. Simply prefixing "long long" with __extension__ does not, in general, work. With complicated source lines, the placement of __extension__ may be entirely non-obvious. It is possible, for certain constructs, that there is no appropriate way that __extension__ might be added. In fact, the documentation is not clear on exactly how __extension__ is supposed to be placed, as (in my reading) its description does not correspond with actual usage: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-3.4.1/gcc/Alternate-Keywords.html Using __extension__ at each instance of long long would require anyone using long long in Boost headers to know particular characteristics of GCC in this regard, which I think is unacceptable. I think a typedef is the only way to shield the rest of Boost from this issue. Aaron W. LaFramboise