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1 // Copyright (c) 2006, Google Inc.
2 // All rights reserved.
3 //
4 // Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5 // modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
6 // met:
7 //
8 //     * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
9 // notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
10 //     * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
11 // copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
12 // in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
13 // distribution.
14 //     * Neither the name of Google Inc. nor the names of its
15 // contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
16 // this software without specific prior written permission.
17 //
18 // THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
19 // "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
20 // LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
21 // A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
22 // OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
23 // SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
24 // LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
25 // DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
26 // THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
27 // (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
28 // OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
29 
30 // ---
31 // Author: Ray Sidney
32 // Revamped and reorganized by Craig Silverstein
33 //
34 // This is the file that should be included by any file which declares
35 // or defines a command line flag or wants to parse command line flags
36 // or print a program usage message (which will include information about
37 // flags).  Executive summary, in the form of an example foo.cc file:
38 //
39 //    #include "foo.h"         // foo.h has a line "DECLARE_int32(start);"
40 //
41 //    DEFINE_int32(end, 1000, "The last record to read");
42 //    DECLARE_bool(verbose);   // some other file has a DEFINE_bool(verbose, ...)
43 //
44 //    void MyFunc() {
45 //      if (FLAGS_verbose) printf("Records %d-%d\n", FLAGS_start, FLAGS_end);
46 //    }
47 //
48 // Then, at the command-line:
49 //    ./foo --noverbose --start=5 --end=100
50 //
51 // For more details, see
52 //    doc/gflags.html
53 //
54 // --- A note about thread-safety:
55 //
56 // We describe many functions in this routine as being thread-hostile,
57 // thread-compatible, or thread-safe.  Here are the meanings we use:
58 //
59 // thread-safe: it is safe for multiple threads to call this routine
60 //   (or, when referring to a class, methods of this class)
61 //   concurrently.
62 // thread-hostile: it is not safe for multiple threads to call this
63 //   routine (or methods of this class) concurrently.  In gflags,
64 //   most thread-hostile routines are intended to be called early in,
65 //   or even before, main() -- that is, before threads are spawned.
66 // thread-compatible: it is safe for multiple threads to read from
67 //   this variable (when applied to variables), or to call const
68 //   methods of this class (when applied to classes), as long as no
69 //   other thread is writing to the variable or calling non-const
70 //   methods of this class.
71 
72 #ifndef GOOGLE_GFLAGS_H_
73 #define GOOGLE_GFLAGS_H_
74 
75 #include <string>
76 #include <vector>
77 
78 // We care a lot about number of bits things take up.  Unfortunately,
79 // systems define their bit-specific ints in a lot of different ways.
80 // We use our own way, and have a typedef to get there.
81 // Note: these commands below may look like "#if 1" or "#if 0", but
82 // that's because they were constructed that way at ./configure time.
83 // Look at gflags.h.in to see how they're calculated (based on your config).
84 #if 1
85 #include <stdint.h>             // the normal place uint16_t is defined
86 #endif
87 #if 1
88 #include <sys/types.h>          // the normal place u_int16_t is defined
89 #endif
90 #if 1
91 #include <inttypes.h>           // a third place for uint16_t or u_int16_t
92 #endif
93 
94 namespace google {
95 
96 #if 1      // the C99 format
97 typedef int32_t int32;
98 typedef uint32_t uint32;
99 typedef int64_t int64;
100 typedef uint64_t uint64;
101 #elif 1   // the BSD format
102 typedef int32_t int32;
103 typedef u_int32_t uint32;
104 typedef int64_t int64;
105 typedef u_int64_t uint64;
106 #elif 0     // the windows (vc7) format
107 typedef __int32 int32;
108 typedef unsigned __int32 uint32;
109 typedef __int64 int64;
110 typedef unsigned __int64 uint64;
111 #else
112 #error Do not know how to define a 32-bit integer quantity on your system
113 #endif
114 
115 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
116 // To actually define a flag in a file, use DEFINE_bool,
117 // DEFINE_string, etc. at the bottom of this file.  You may also find
118 // it useful to register a validator with the flag.  This ensures that
119 // when the flag is parsed from the commandline, or is later set via
120 // SetCommandLineOption, we call the validation function.
121 //
122 // The validation function should return true if the flag value is valid, and
123 // false otherwise. If the function returns false for the new setting of the
124 // flag, the flag will retain its current value. If it returns false for the
125 // default value, InitGoogle will die.
126 //
127 // This function is safe to call at global construct time (as in the
128 // example below).
129 //
130 // Example use:
131 //    static bool ValidatePort(const char* flagname, int32 value) {
132 //       if (value > 0 && value < 32768)   // value is ok
133 //         return true;
134 //       printf("Invalid value for --%s: %d\n", flagname, (int)value);
135 //       return false;
136 //    }
137 //    DEFINE_int32(port, 0, "What port to listen on");
138 //    static bool dummy = RegisterFlagValidator(&FLAGS_port, &ValidatePort);
139 
140 // Returns true if successfully registered, false if not (because the
141 // first argument doesn't point to a command-line flag, or because a
142 // validator is already registered for this flag).
143 bool RegisterFlagValidator(const bool* flag,
144                            bool (*validate_fn)(const char*, bool));
145 bool RegisterFlagValidator(const int32* flag,
146                            bool (*validate_fn)(const char*, int32));
147 bool RegisterFlagValidator(const int64* flag,
148                            bool (*validate_fn)(const char*, int64));
149 bool RegisterFlagValidator(const uint64* flag,
150                            bool (*validate_fn)(const char*, uint64));
151 bool RegisterFlagValidator(const double* flag,
152                            bool (*validate_fn)(const char*, double));
153 bool RegisterFlagValidator(const std::string* flag,
154                            bool (*validate_fn)(const char*, const std::string&));
155 
156 
157 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
158 // These methods are the best way to get access to info about the
159 // list of commandline flags.  Note that these routines are pretty slow.
160 //   GetAllFlags: mostly-complete info about the list, sorted by file.
161 //   ShowUsageWithFlags: pretty-prints the list to stdout (what --help does)
162 //   ShowUsageWithFlagsRestrict: limit to filenames with restrict as a substr
163 //
164 // In addition to accessing flags, you can also access argv[0] (the program
165 // name) and argv (the entire commandline), which we sock away a copy of.
166 // These variables are static, so you should only set them once.
167 
168 struct CommandLineFlagInfo {
169   std::string name;           // the name of the flag
170   std::string type;           // the type of the flag: int32, etc
171   std::string description;    // the "help text" associated with the flag
172   std::string current_value;  // the current value, as a string
173   std::string default_value;  // the default value, as a string
174   std::string filename;       // 'cleaned' version of filename holding the flag
175   bool has_validator_fn;      // true if RegisterFlagValidator called on flag
176   bool is_default;            // true if the flag has default value
177 };
178 
179 extern void GetAllFlags(std::vector<CommandLineFlagInfo>* OUTPUT);
180 // These two are actually defined in commandlineflags_reporting.cc.
181 extern void ShowUsageWithFlags(const char *argv0);  // what --help does
182 extern void ShowUsageWithFlagsRestrict(const char *argv0, const char *restrict);
183 
184 // Create a descriptive string for a flag.
185 // Goes to some trouble to make pretty line breaks.
186 extern std::string DescribeOneFlag(const CommandLineFlagInfo& flag);
187 
188 // Thread-hostile; meant to be called before any threads are spawned.
189 extern void SetArgv(int argc, const char** argv);
190 // The following functions are thread-safe as long as SetArgv() is
191 // only called before any threads start.
192 extern const std::vector<std::string>& GetArgvs();  // all of argv as a vector
193 extern const char* GetArgv();               // all of argv as a string
194 extern const char* GetArgv0();              // only argv0
195 extern uint32 GetArgvSum();                 // simple checksum of argv
196 extern const char* ProgramInvocationName(); // argv0, or "UNKNOWN" if not set
197 extern const char* ProgramInvocationShortName();   // basename(argv0)
198 // ProgramUsage() is thread-safe as long as SetUsageMessage() is only
199 // called before any threads start.
200 extern const char* ProgramUsage();          // string set by SetUsageMessage()
201 
202 
203 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
204 // Normally you access commandline flags by just saying "if (FLAGS_foo)"
205 // or whatever, and set them by calling "FLAGS_foo = bar" (or, more
206 // commonly, via the DEFINE_foo macro).  But if you need a bit more
207 // control, we have programmatic ways to get/set the flags as well.
208 // These programmatic ways to access flags are thread-safe, but direct
209 // access is only thread-compatible.
210 
211 // Return true iff the flagname was found.
212 // OUTPUT is set to the flag's value, or unchanged if we return false.
213 extern bool GetCommandLineOption(const char* name, std::string* OUTPUT);
214 
215 // Return true iff the flagname was found. OUTPUT is set to the flag's
216 // CommandLineFlagInfo or unchanged if we return false.
217 extern bool GetCommandLineFlagInfo(const char* name,
218                                    CommandLineFlagInfo* OUTPUT);
219 
220 // Return the CommandLineFlagInfo of the flagname.  exit() if name not found.
221 // Example usage, to check if a flag's value is currently the default value:
222 //   if (GetCommandLineFlagInfoOrDie("foo").is_default) ...
223 extern CommandLineFlagInfo GetCommandLineFlagInfoOrDie(const char* name);
224 
225 enum FlagSettingMode {
226   // update the flag's value (can call this multiple times).
227   SET_FLAGS_VALUE,
228   // update the flag's value, but *only if* it has not yet been updated
229   // with SET_FLAGS_VALUE, SET_FLAG_IF_DEFAULT, or "FLAGS_xxx = nondef".
230   SET_FLAG_IF_DEFAULT,
231   // set the flag's default value to this.  If the flag has not yet updated
232   // yet (via SET_FLAGS_VALUE, SET_FLAG_IF_DEFAULT, or "FLAGS_xxx = nondef")
233   // change the flag's current value to the new default value as well.
234   SET_FLAGS_DEFAULT
235 };
236 
237 // Set a particular flag ("command line option").  Returns a string
238 // describing the new value that the option has been set to.  The
239 // return value API is not well-specified, so basically just depend on
240 // it to be empty if the setting failed for some reason -- the name is
241 // not a valid flag name, or the value is not a valid value -- and
242 // non-empty else.
243 
244 // SetCommandLineOption uses set_mode == SET_FLAGS_VALUE (the common case)
245 extern std::string SetCommandLineOption(const char* name, const char* value);
246 extern std::string SetCommandLineOptionWithMode(const char* name, const char* value,
247                                                 FlagSettingMode set_mode);
248 
249 
250 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
251 // Saves the states (value, default value, whether the user has set
252 // the flag, registered validators, etc) of all flags, and restores
253 // them when the FlagSaver is destroyed.  This is very useful in
254 // tests, say, when you want to let your tests change the flags, but
255 // make sure that they get reverted to the original states when your
256 // test is complete.
257 //
258 // Example usage:
259 //   void TestFoo() {
260 //     FlagSaver s1;
261 //     FLAG_foo = false;
262 //     FLAG_bar = "some value";
263 //
264 //     // test happens here.  You can return at any time
265 //     // without worrying about restoring the FLAG values.
266 //   }
267 //
268 // Note: This class is marked with __attribute__((unused)) because all the
269 // work is done in the constructor and destructor, so in the standard
270 // usage example above, the compiler would complain that it's an
271 // unused variable.
272 //
273 // This class is thread-safe.
274 
275 class FlagSaver {
276  public:
277   FlagSaver();
278   ~FlagSaver();
279 
280  private:
281   class FlagSaverImpl* impl_;   // we use pimpl here to keep API steady
282 
283   FlagSaver(const FlagSaver&);  // no copying!
284   void operator=(const FlagSaver&);
285 } __attribute__ ((unused));
286 
287 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
288 // Some deprecated or hopefully-soon-to-be-deprecated functions.
289 
290 // This is often used for logging.  TODO(csilvers): figure out a better way
291 extern std::string CommandlineFlagsIntoString();
292 // Usually where this is used, a FlagSaver should be used instead.
293 extern bool ReadFlagsFromString(const std::string& flagfilecontents,
294                                 const char* prog_name,
295                                 bool errors_are_fatal); // uses SET_FLAGS_VALUE
296 
297 // These let you manually implement --flagfile functionality.
298 // DEPRECATED.
299 extern bool AppendFlagsIntoFile(const std::string& filename, const char* prog_name);
300 extern bool SaveCommandFlags();  // actually defined in google.cc !
301 extern bool ReadFromFlagsFile(const std::string& filename, const char* prog_name,
302                               bool errors_are_fatal);   // uses SET_FLAGS_VALUE
303 
304 
305 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
306 // Useful routines for initializing flags from the environment.
307 // In each case, if 'varname' does not exist in the environment
308 // return defval.  If 'varname' does exist but is not valid
309 // (e.g., not a number for an int32 flag), abort with an error.
310 // Otherwise, return the value.  NOTE: for booleans, for true use
311 // 't' or 'T' or 'true' or '1', for false 'f' or 'F' or 'false' or '0'.
312 
313 extern bool BoolFromEnv(const char *varname, bool defval);
314 extern int32 Int32FromEnv(const char *varname, int32 defval);
315 extern int64 Int64FromEnv(const char *varname, int64 defval);
316 extern uint64 Uint64FromEnv(const char *varname, uint64 defval);
317 extern double DoubleFromEnv(const char *varname, double defval);
318 extern const char *StringFromEnv(const char *varname, const char *defval);
319 
320 
321 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
322 // The next two functions parse commandlineflags from main():
323 
324 // Set the "usage" message for this program.  For example:
325 //   string usage("This program does nothing.  Sample usage:\n");
326 //   usage += argv[0] + " <uselessarg1> <uselessarg2>";
327 //   SetUsageMessage(usage);
328 // Do not include commandline flags in the usage: we do that for you!
329 // Thread-hostile; meant to be called before any threads are spawned.
330 extern void SetUsageMessage(const std::string& usage);
331 
332 // Looks for flags in argv and parses them.  Rearranges argv to put
333 // flags first, or removes them entirely if remove_flags is true.
334 // If a flag is defined more than once in the command line or flag
335 // file, the last definition is used.
336 // See top-of-file for more details on this function.
337 #ifndef SWIG   // In swig, use ParseCommandLineFlagsScript() instead.
338 extern uint32 ParseCommandLineFlags(int *argc, char*** argv,
339                                     bool remove_flags);
340 #endif
341 
342 
343 // Calls to ParseCommandLineNonHelpFlags and then to
344 // HandleCommandLineHelpFlags can be used instead of a call to
345 // ParseCommandLineFlags during initialization, in order to allow for
346 // changing default values for some FLAGS (via
347 // e.g. SetCommandLineOptionWithMode calls) between the time of
348 // command line parsing and the time of dumping help information for
349 // the flags as a result of command line parsing.
350 // If a flag is defined more than once in the command line or flag
351 // file, the last definition is used.
352 extern uint32 ParseCommandLineNonHelpFlags(int *argc, char*** argv,
353                                            bool remove_flags);
354 // This is actually defined in commandlineflags_reporting.cc.
355 // This function is misnamed (it also handles --version, etc.), but
356 // it's too late to change that now. :-(
357 extern void HandleCommandLineHelpFlags();   // in commandlineflags_reporting.cc
358 
359 // Allow command line reparsing.  Disables the error normally
360 // generated when an unknown flag is found, since it may be found in a
361 // later parse.  Thread-hostile; meant to be called before any threads
362 // are spawned.
363 extern void AllowCommandLineReparsing();
364 
365 // Reparse the flags that have not yet been recognized.
366 // Only flags registered since the last parse will be recognized.
367 // Any flag value must be provided as part of the argument using "=",
368 // not as a separate command line argument that follows the flag argument.
369 // Intended for handling flags from dynamically loaded libraries,
370 // since their flags are not registered until they are loaded.
371 extern uint32 ReparseCommandLineNonHelpFlags();
372 
373 
374 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
375 // Now come the command line flag declaration/definition macros that
376 // will actually be used.  They're kind of hairy.  A major reason
377 // for this is initialization: we want people to be able to access
378 // variables in global constructors and have that not crash, even if
379 // their global constructor runs before the global constructor here.
380 // (Obviously, we can't guarantee the flags will have the correct
381 // default value in that case, but at least accessing them is safe.)
382 // The only way to do that is have flags point to a static buffer.
383 // So we make one, using a union to ensure proper alignment, and
384 // then use placement-new to actually set up the flag with the
385 // correct default value.  In the same vein, we have to worry about
386 // flag access in global destructors, so FlagRegisterer has to be
387 // careful never to destroy the flag-values it constructs.
388 //
389 // Note that when we define a flag variable FLAGS_<name>, we also
390 // preemptively define a junk variable, FLAGS_no<name>.  This is to
391 // cause a link-time error if someone tries to define 2 flags with
392 // names like "logging" and "nologging".  We do this because a bool
393 // flag FLAG can be set from the command line to true with a "-FLAG"
394 // argument, and to false with a "-noFLAG" argument, and so this can
395 // potentially avert confusion.
396 //
397 // We also put flags into their own namespace.  It is purposefully
398 // named in an opaque way that people should have trouble typing
399 // directly.  The idea is that DEFINE puts the flag in the weird
400 // namespace, and DECLARE imports the flag from there into the current
401 // namespace.  The net result is to force people to use DECLARE to get
402 // access to a flag, rather than saying "extern bool FLAGS_whatever;"
403 // or some such instead.  We want this so we can put extra
404 // functionality (like sanity-checking) in DECLARE if we want, and
405 // make sure it is picked up everywhere.
406 //
407 // We also put the type of the variable in the namespace, so that
408 // people can't DECLARE_int32 something that they DEFINE_bool'd
409 // elsewhere.
410 
411 class FlagRegisterer {
412  public:
413   FlagRegisterer(const char* name, const char* type,
414                  const char* help, const char* filename,
415                  void* current_storage, void* defvalue_storage);
416 };
417 
418 extern bool FlagsTypeWarn(const char *name);
419 
420 // If your application #defines STRIP_FLAG_HELP to a non-zero value
421 // before #including this file, we remove the help message from the
422 // binary file. This can reduce the size of the resulting binary
423 // somewhat, and may also be useful for security reasons.
424 
425 extern const char kStrippedFlagHelp[];
426 
427 }
428 
429 #ifndef SWIG  // In swig, ignore the main flag declarations
430 
431 #if defined(STRIP_FLAG_HELP) && STRIP_FLAG_HELP > 0
432 // Need this construct to avoid the 'defined but not used' warning.
433 #define MAYBE_STRIPPED_HELP(txt) (false ? (txt) : kStrippedFlagHelp)
434 #else
435 #define MAYBE_STRIPPED_HELP(txt) txt
436 #endif
437 
438 // Each command-line flag has two variables associated with it: one
439 // with the current value, and one with the default value.  However,
440 // we have a third variable, which is where value is assigned; it's a
441 // constant.  This guarantees that FLAG_##value is initialized at
442 // static initialization time (e.g. before program-start) rather than
443 // than global construction time (which is after program-start but
444 // before main), at least when 'value' is a compile-time constant.  We
445 // use a small trick for the "default value" variable, and call it
446 // FLAGS_no<name>.  This serves the second purpose of assuring a
447 // compile error if someone tries to define a flag named no<name>
448 // which is illegal (--foo and --nofoo both affect the "foo" flag).
449 #define DEFINE_VARIABLE(type, shorttype, name, value, help) \
450   namespace fL##shorttype {                                     \
451     static const type FLAGS_nono##name = value;                 \
452     type FLAGS_##name = FLAGS_nono##name;                       \
453     type FLAGS_no##name = FLAGS_nono##name;                     \
454     static ::google::FlagRegisterer o_##name(      \
455       #name, #type, MAYBE_STRIPPED_HELP(help), __FILE__,        \
456       &FLAGS_##name, &FLAGS_no##name);                          \
457   }                                                             \
458   using fL##shorttype::FLAGS_##name
459 
460 #define DECLARE_VARIABLE(type, shorttype, name) \
461   namespace fL##shorttype {                     \
462     extern type FLAGS_##name;                   \
463   }                                             \
464   using fL##shorttype::FLAGS_##name
465 
466 // For DEFINE_bool, we want to do the extra check that the passed-in
467 // value is actually a bool, and not a string or something that can be
468 // coerced to a bool.  These declarations (no definition needed!) will
469 // help us do that, and never evaluate From, which is important.
470 // We'll use 'sizeof(IsBool(val))' to distinguish. This code requires
471 // that the compiler have different sizes for bool & double. Since
472 // this is not guaranteed by the standard, we check it with a
473 // compile-time assert (msg[-1] will give a compile-time error).
474 namespace fLB {
475 struct CompileAssert {};
476 typedef CompileAssert expected_sizeof_double_neq_sizeof_bool[
477                       (sizeof(double) != sizeof(bool)) ? 1 : -1];
478 template<typename From> double IsBoolFlag(const From& from);
479 bool IsBoolFlag(bool from);
480 }  // namespace fLB
481 
482 #define DECLARE_bool(name)          DECLARE_VARIABLE(bool,B, name)
483 #define DEFINE_bool(name,val,txt)                                         \
484   namespace fLB {                                                         \
485     typedef CompileAssert FLAG_##name##_value_is_not_a_bool[              \
486             (sizeof(::fLB::IsBoolFlag(val)) != sizeof(double)) ? 1 : -1]; \
487   }                                                                       \
488   DEFINE_VARIABLE(bool,B, name, val, txt)
489 
490 #define DECLARE_int32(name)         DECLARE_VARIABLE(::google::int32,I, name)
491 #define DEFINE_int32(name,val,txt)  DEFINE_VARIABLE(::google::int32,I, name, val, txt)
492 
493 #define DECLARE_int64(name)         DECLARE_VARIABLE(::google::int64,I64, name)
494 #define DEFINE_int64(name,val,txt)  DEFINE_VARIABLE(::google::int64,I64, name, val, txt)
495 
496 #define DECLARE_uint64(name)        DECLARE_VARIABLE(::google::uint64,U64, name)
497 #define DEFINE_uint64(name,val,txt) DEFINE_VARIABLE(::google::uint64,U64, name, val, txt)
498 
499 #define DECLARE_double(name)        DECLARE_VARIABLE(double,D, name)
500 #define DEFINE_double(name,val,txt) DEFINE_VARIABLE(double,D, name, val, txt)
501 
502 // Strings are trickier, because they're not a POD, so we can't
503 // construct them at static-initialization time (instead they get
504 // constructed at global-constructor time, which is much later).  To
505 // try to avoid crashes in that case, we use a char buffer to store
506 // the string, which we can static-initialize, and then placement-new
507 // into it later.  It's not perfect, but the best we can do.
508 #define DECLARE_string(name)  namespace fLS { extern std::string& FLAGS_##name; } \
509                               using fLS::FLAGS_##name
510 
511 // We need to define a var named FLAGS_no##name so people don't define
512 // --string and --nostring.  And we need a temporary place to put val
513 // so we don't have to evaluate it twice.  Two great needs that go
514 // great together!
515 // The weird 'using' + 'extern' inside the fLS namespace is to work around
516 // an unknown compiler bug/issue with the gcc 4.2.1 on SUSE 10.  See
517 //    http://code.google.com/p/google-gflags/issues/detail?id=20
518 #define DEFINE_string(name, val, txt)                                     \
519   namespace fLS {                                                         \
520     static union { void* align; char s[sizeof(std::string)]; } s_##name[2]; \
521     const std::string* const FLAGS_no##name = new (s_##name[0].s) std::string(val); \
522     static ::google::FlagRegisterer o_##name(                \
523       #name, "string", MAYBE_STRIPPED_HELP(txt), __FILE__,                \
524       s_##name[0].s, new (s_##name[1].s) std::string(*FLAGS_no##name));   \
525     extern std::string& FLAGS_##name;                                     \
526     using fLS::FLAGS_##name;                                              \
527     std::string& FLAGS_##name = *(reinterpret_cast<std::string*>(s_##name[0].s));   \
528   }                                                                       \
529   using fLS::FLAGS_##name
530 
531 #endif  // SWIG
532 
533 #endif  // GOOGLE_GFLAGS_H_
534