doc/extern-inline.texi

@c GNU extern-inline module documentation

@c Copyright (C) 2013--2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

@c Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
@c under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
@c any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
@c Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.  A
@c copy of the license is at <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.en.html>.

@c Written by Paul Eggert.

@node extern inline
@section Extern inline functions

@cindex extern inline
@cindex inline
@mindex extern-inline

The @code{extern-inline} module supports the use of C99-style
@code{extern inline} functions so that the code still runs on
compilers that do not support this feature correctly.

C code ordinarily should not use @code{inline}.  Typically it is
better to let the compiler figure out whether to inline, as compilers
are pretty good about optimization nowadays.  In this sense,
@code{inline} is like @code{register}, another keyword that is
typically no longer needed.

Functions defined (not merely declared) in headers are an exception,
as avoiding @code{inline} would commonly cause problems for these
functions.  Suppose @file{aaa.h} defines the function @code{aaa_fun},
and @file{aaa.c}, @file{bbb.c} and @file{ccc.c} all include
@file{aaa.h}.  If code is intended to portable to non-C99 compilers,
@code{aaa_fun} cannot be declared with the C99 @code{inline} keyword.
This problem cannot be worked around by making @code{aaa_fun} an
ordinary function, as it would be defined three times with external
linkage and the definitions would clash.  Although @code{aaa_fun}
could be a static function, with separate compilation if
@code{aaa_fun} is not inlined its code will appear in the executable
three times.

To avoid this code bloat, @file{aaa.h} can do this:

@example
/* aaa.h */
/* #include any other headers here */
#ifndef _GL_INLINE_HEADER_BEGIN
 #error "Please include config.h first."
#endif
_GL_INLINE_HEADER_BEGIN
#ifndef AAA_INLINE
# define AAA_INLINE _GL_INLINE
#endif
...
AAA_INLINE int
aaa_fun (int i)
@{
  return i + 1;
@}
...
_GL_INLINE_HEADER_END
@end example

@noindent
and @file{aaa.c} can do this:

@example
/* aaa.c */
#define AAA_INLINE _GL_EXTERN_INLINE
#include <config.h>
#include <aaa.h>
@end example

@noindent
whereas @file{bbb.c} and @file{ccc.c} can include @file{aaa.h} in the
usual way.  C99 compilers expand @code{AAA_INLINE} to C99-style
@code{inline} usage, where @code{aaa_fun} is declared @code{extern
inline} in @file{aaa.c} and plain @code{inline} in other modules.
Non-C99 compilers that are compatible with GCC use GCC-specific syntax
to accomplish the same ends.  Other non-C99 compilers use @code{static
inline} so they suffer from code bloat, but they are not mainline
platforms and will die out eventually.

In this coding idiom,
the compilation unit should define @code{AAA_INLINE} before
including the @file{aaa.h} header that conditionally defines it.
In the unusual and not-recommended case where @file{config.h}
itself includes @file{aaa.h}, the compilation unit should
define @code{AAA_INLINE} before including @file{config.h},
not merely before including @file{aaa.h}.  Also,
you need one @code{AAA_INLINE}-like macro per compilation unit,
not one per header file.
In other words, if the header file @file{aaa.h} defines functions
defined in @file{aaa-foo.c} and @file{aaa-bar.c},
you need different macros @code{AAA_FOO_INLINE} and @code{AAA_BAR_INLINE}.
Use @code{AAA_FOO_INLINE} for the functions defined in @file{aaa-foo.c},
and use @code{AAA_BAR_INLINE} for the functions defined in @file{aaa-bar.c}.

Functions defined in this way should not refer to identifiers with
static linkage, as C99 through C23 prohibit this.
Although a future C standard will likely relax this restriction,
it is still an issue on many practical platforms.

@findex _GL_INLINE
@code{_GL_INLINE} is a portable alternative to C99 plain @code{inline}.

@findex _GL_EXTERN_INLINE
@code{_GL_EXTERN_INLINE} is a portable alternative to C99 @code{extern inline}.

@findex _GL_INLINE_HEADER_BEGIN
Invoke @code{_GL_INLINE_HEADER_BEGIN} before all uses of
@code{_GL_INLINE} in an include file.  This suppresses some
bogus warnings in GCC versions before 5.1.  If an include file includes
other files, it is better to invoke this macro after including the
other files.

@findex _GL_INLINE_HEADER_END
Invoke @code{_GL_INLINE_HEADER_END} after all uses of
@code{_GL_INLINE} in an include file.