[Zlib-devel] zlib-1.2.3-cos1

[Andrei Polushin]

Cosmin Truta wrote:
> - Shut up annoying VS2005 warnings about standard C deprecation [Rowe, Truta]
> - Swap the order of #include <stdio.h> and #include "zlib.h" in
>   gzio.c, example.c and minigzip.c [Truta]
> 
> Both of these changes are here because much of the standard C library
> is "deprecated" in Visual C++ 8.
> Andrei Polushin made a point that the modification in zconf.h has side
> effects, and it's better to resort to using macros in VC makefiles and
> project files.
> His point is valid indeed, but I regard that as a "feature" rather than
> a "side effect". I mean, since zlib inherently depends on the standard
> C library, and the latter gets "deprecated", it implies the former also
> should be "deprecated" until that dependency is removed. Which (I bet)
> won't happen. zlib demands standard C, and anyone who demands zlib
> should also demand standard C.

Consider the opinion of Herb Sutter:
  http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Message/boost/2731073
where he says that "We are not removing *any* ISO C or C++ features from
our compiler or libraries. Period." And "We're just working (hard) to
help our customers write code that doesn't contain buffer overruns and
other security problems, and at that we emit only warnings so that
people can ignore them if they choose not to care about those issues."

In other words, zlib might choose to ignore those warnings, because the
authors know what they do exactly, but they should not ignore the demand
of Microsoft's customers for the slightly better security.

--
Andrei Polushin