[C++-SIG] Beginer questions

[Phil Austin]

Duncan Grisby writes:
 > On Monday 15 November, Geoffrey Furnish wrote:
 > 
 > [...]
 > 
 > >  > 2) No global objects as we are linking against a C compiled Python.
 > > 
 > > There is a patch posted on the C++ SIG website, which modifies the
 > > configure script for Python to allow you to get your main linked with
 > > C++, which ensoures that global ctors get run correctly.  If you use
 > > that, you don't need rule 2) above.
 > 
 > I'm intrigued by the assertion that you can't use global objects when
 > the Python executable is compiled with C. For which platforms is it
 > true?  I've successfully used global C++ objects with constructors on
 > Linux, Solaris and Windows NT, without compiling Python itself with
 > C++.
 > 

1. ((off topic) If you eat lunch with anyone who's responsible for
   http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc, pass on my thanks for a
   great piece of software)

2. I've been assuming that all implementations that use ELF-based
   shared libraries initialize global objects correctly.  This was
   mentioned in an article in Computing in Science and Engineering:

@Article{Gray99Shadow,
  author = 	 {M. C. Gray and R. M. Roberts and T. M. Evans},
  title = 	 {Shadow-object interface between Fortran95 and C++},
  journal = 	 {Comp. in Sci. and Engineer.},
  year = 	 1999,
  volume =	 1,
  number =	 2,
  pages =	 {63-70},
  annote =	 {http://computer.org}
}

They support their statment with a footnote to the Linker and
Libraries Guide, Solaris 2.6 Software Developer Collection vol 1.,
http:://docs.sun.com.

Phil