Void function declared in *.hxx, defined in *.cxx but undefined in *.c - c

I'm trying to declare a global function accessible through different *.c files.
I have declared it in param.hxx, defined it in param.cxx and I would like to access it in compute_grid.c.
Unfortunately, during the compilation I have the following error :
compute_grid.c:(.text+0x5) : undefined reference to « grid_create »
I'm not very familiar with such functions declarations in C. Actually I'm building a module part of a big program, I've copied those declaration from another file of the code witch seems to work ?!
Unfortunately, the program is hugely confidential, I don't have access to all the sources but I will do my best to give you expurged parts...
param.hxx :
typedef struct grid_t
{
int *test;
} grid_t;
void
grid_create(void);
extern grid_t *grid;
param.cxx :
#include <malloc.h>
#include "param.hxx"
grid_t *grid;
void grid_create(void)
{
grid = (grid_t*)malloc(sizeof(grid_t));
grid->test = (int*)malloc(sizeof(int));
*grid->test = 123;
}
compute_grid.c :
#include "param.hxx"
void
compute_grid()
{
grid_create();
return;
}
Thank you for your help !

.cxx is one of the extensions used for C++ files. Your compiler may be using the extension of the file to compile the source as C++. When the C file is compiled, it generates an unresolved reference to the C symbol grid_create, but the compiled C++ file defines grid_create as a C++ symbol. Thus, the linker will leave the C symbol reference to grid_create unresolved, since there is only a C++ symbol associated with void grid_create(void).
You can try to guard the header file so that the C++ compiler will generate a C symbol rather than a C++ one.
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif
void
grid_create(void);
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

Related

Unexpected Redefinition Error in CCS #10056 in Code Composer Studio

I have the problem, that in CCS I encounter unexpected redefenition errors if I include headers.
Minimal example:
// main.c
#include "test.h"
int main(void)
{
init();
return 0;
}
with
// test.h
#ifndef TEST_H_
#define TEST_H_
int var;
void init();
#endif /* TEST_H_ */
and
// test.c
#include "test.h"
void init()
{
var=0;
}
I get
error #10056: symbol "_var" redefined: first defined in "./main.obj";
redefined in "./test.obj"
on compilation. I'm pretty sure this should work in any C using IDE.
What do I miss?
" I'm pretty sure this should work in any C using IDE". No it doesn't.
Every time you include test.h in a C file, the variable var is not only declared but also defined, hence the compilation error.
Include guards are not designed to avoid multiple definitions across translation units, but more to adress multiple inclusions of the same header file in a single translation unit.
See for example https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Include_guard
The proper way to adress this issue is to only declare your variable in the header file:
extern int var;
and then define the variable only once in a C file (without extern).
int var;

how can I force the source file implement definition for a header file

below is the code:
//test.h
...
extern int globalVariable;
...
//test.c
#include "test.h"
...
int globalVariable = 2020;
...
//main.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include "test.h"
int main()
{
printf("Value is %d", globalVariable);
}
let's say in a scenario, there are hundreds of variables are declared in test.h and globalVariable is just one of them.
since there are two many variables, I easily makes a typo error in test.c as:
#include "test.h"
int globalVariables = 2020; //extra 's' in the name which contradicts the declaration of its counterpart in test.h
if I compile(only compile,not linking them) test.c, test.h and main.c, it compiles and shows no error. the unresolved error will only occur when linker involved in the linking stage.
But in a large application, I might just write some modules without the need of linking all existing to an executable file, so it would be better the compiler throw an error in the compile stage to indicate the error so I can correct them asap, so how can I let the compiler force the source file implement definition for a header file?
You could also use the preprocessor
test.h:
#ifndef TEST_C_IMPLEMENTATION
#define DEFINE_AND_INIT_VARIABLE(type, name, value) \
extern type name;
#else
#define DEFINE_AND_INIT_VARIABLE(type, name, value) \
type name = value;
#endif
DEFINE_AND_INIT_VARIABLE(int, globalVariable, 2020);
test.c:
#define TEST_C_IMPLEMENTATION
#include "test.h"
This technique can be taken even further - there are small utility libraries that are shipped as a single include file; you're just to set a macro in one of the translation units to force the implementation to be compiled in there.
The declaration extern int globalVariable; says that the variable exists somewhere, but not necessarily in the current translation unit. So any source file that includes the header containing this declaration will know that the variable exists without needing the full definition.
When you then get to the linking stage is when you'll get the error regarding glovalVariable being undefined. Since the variables is declared in test.h, convention would dictate that the definition would be in test.c. Upon inspecting that file, you would then find that no such variable exists and could then either add it or find the typo and fix it.

function declaration problem in multi file c project

I have a project that includes three files in codeblocks:
main.c :
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
int global = 10;
void f1(int);
void f1_1(int);
void f2(void);
int main()
{
int x = 5;
printf("inside main file");
getch();
f1(x);
f2();
getch();
return 0;
}
file1.c :
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void f1(int x)
{
printf("\ninside file1 >> f1 and x = %i", x);
getch();
f1_1(x);
}
void f1_1(int x)
{
printf("\ninside file1 >> f1 >> f1_1 and x = %i", x);
getch();
}
file2.c :
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
extern int global;
void f2()
{
printf("\ninside file2 >> f2 function , global var = %i", global);
getch();
}
When I compiled it, I got these warnings:
c|8|warning: implicit declaration of function 'f1_1'; did you mean 'f1'? [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
c|11|warning: conflicting types for 'f1_1'
What should I do for this?
void f1(int);
void f1_1(int);
void f2(void);
Should be:
extern void f1(int);
extern void f1_1(int);
extern void f2(void);
Or, as #kiranBiradar points out, you can declare them in header files
file1.h
#pragma once
extern void f1(int);
extern void f1_1(int);
file2.h
#pragma once
extern void f2(void);
Note the use of the extern keyword. When you forward declare a function in a file as void f(void), the symbol 'f' is public, meaning other compilation units can reference it. When you declare it as extern void f(void), then the compiler doesn't expect the function to be defined in that compilation unit and leaves it up to the linker to find that symbol.
This is the perfect time to learn about the important concept of translation units.
Each single source file, with all included header file, forms a single translation unit. Each translation unit is separate and distinct and compiled stand-alone without any knowledge of other translation units.
That means symbols declared in e.g. the main.c source file will not be known in the file1.c source file.
When you compile file1.c the compiler simply doesn't know about the f1_1 function declaration you have in the main.c source file, so you get a warning about that fact.
To solve your problem, you need to declare the f1_1 function in the file1.c file. Either by adding a forward declaration (like the one you have in main.c), or moving the whole function definition (implementation) of f1_1 above the f1 function.
Or you could create a single header file which contains all the declarations needed (for the f1, f1_1, f2 function, plus the global external variable declaration), and include this single header file in all your source files. This solution works best if you have multiple symbols (functions, variables, etc.) that are used in multiple translation units.
My personal recommendation is this: Since the f1_1 function is only used internally inside the file1.c source file, move its definition above f1, and make it static. Then remove its declaration from the main.c source file.
Regarding the "implicit declaration" and "conflicting types" warnings, it's because in older standards of C it was allowed to not declare functions and the compiler would create an implicit declaration by guessing the declaration based on the first call of the function.
The important part about the guessing is that only the arguments were guessed, the return type would always be int.
I don't know the exact wording in the specifications about this since it was removed in the C99 specification, but most compilers still allow this with only emitting a warning instead of an error. This is where the first warning comes from.
However, the return type of int is still being used. And since your f1_1 function is declared to return void later in the file1.c source file, there's a mismatch between the guessed declaration (int f1_1(int)) and the actual declaration (void f1_1(int)) which leads to the second warning.

extern void pointer in C file

i am making a program that i have decided to split in two .c files. the first program.c file has all the include files and declarations and the other unit.c file has a dozen functions and some extern declarations of global variables defined in the the main program.c
everything was working fine (compilation/linking) so far the extern variables declared in unit.c and defined in program.c are of the build in type like int or float. when i tried to use a variable of a new type from a header file that is included in program.c but not in unit.c normally the compiler complained.
to be specific the situation is like this:
program.c
#include "SDL.h"
int a;
SDL_Surface* sprite;
SDL_Surface* ghost;
unit.c
extern int a; //works fine
extern SDL_Surface* sprite; //compiler error
extern SDL_Surface* ghost; //compiler error
void funct1 (void)
{
if (sprite == ghost)
....
}
if i include SDL.h at the top of unit.c the problem is solved, but i don't want to include everything everywhere so i figured a round solution. i have declared sprite and ghost to be of type void pointer only in unit.c but the definition in program.c remains the same. like this:
unit.c
extern void* sprite;
extern void* ghost;
the compiler did not complain. i only need those extern pointers to test if they point to the same address. i did a very little bit of testing on the executable and it's working fine.
i am using the free command line Borland compiler ver 5.5.1
the question is, can this be considered legitimate in ANSI C or is it some quirk of the Borland compiler?
is the only true (best practice) solution to my situation to include SDL.h in unit.c or can you please point me to some other legitimate alternative?
No, it's not legal. You can convert any data pointer to void*, but you cannot pretend that existing pointer is void*.
Workaround is to create header program.h, and include that into unit.c:
#ifndef PROGRAM_H
#define PROGRAM_H
#include "SDL.h"
extern int a;
extern SDL_Surface* sprite;
extern SDL_Surface* ghost;
#endif
Don't try to avoid including headers into .c files at all cost; it's a standard practice in C, and best way to avoid problems.
SDL_Surface is not defined in unit.c.
Add
#include "SDL.h"
to unit.c

Duplicate symbol in C using Clang

I am currently working on my first "serious" C project, a 16-bit vm. When I split up the files form one big source file into multiple source files, the linker (whether invoked through clang, gcc, cc, or ld) spits out a the error:
ld: duplicate symbol _registers in register.o and main.o for inferred
architecture x86_64
There is no declaration of registers anywhere in the main file. It is a uint16_t array if that helps. I am on Mac OS 10.7.3 using the built in compilers (not GNU gcc). Any help?
It sounds like you've defined a variable in a header then included that in two different source files.
First you have to understand the distinction between declaring something (declaring that it exists somewhere) and defining it (actually creating it). Let's say you have the following files:
header.h:
void printIt(void); // a declaration.
int xyzzy; // a definition.
main.c:
#include "header.h"
int main (void) {
xyzzy = 42;
printIt();
return 0;
}
other.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include "header.h"
void printIt (void) { // a definition.
printf ("%d\n", xyzzy);
}
When you compile the C programs, each of the resultant object files will get a variable called xyzzy since you effectively defined it in both by including the header. That means when the linker tries to combine the two objects, it runs into a problem with multiple definitions.
The solution is to declare things in header files and define them in C files, such as with:
header.h:
void printIt(void); // a declaration.
extern int xyzzy; // a declaration.
main.c:
#include "header.h"
int xyzzy; // a definition.
int main (void) {
xyzzy = 42;
printIt();
return 0;
}
other.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include "header.h"
void printIt (void) { // a definition.
printf ("%d\n", xyzzy);
}
That way, other.c knows that xyzzy exists, but only main.c creates it.

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