6 char externs and the ANSI standard

[Dick Dunn]

> Here's another hot issue in the committee. Should the minimum character
> limit for external symbols be longer than 6 chars, case indistinct?
                                                     ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^

This one almost got past me.  What's this?  It seems that the matter of
case distinction is thornier than the 6-char business, unless I'm missing
something obvious.  What can the standard say?  I see:

	1.  Case matters in externals.  Breaks some systems which ignore
	case; standard-conforming programs would fail on these systems.
	2.  Case doesn't matter.  Breaks more systems which distinguish
	case; standard-conforming program would fail on these systems.
	3.  Case is not allowed to matter--i.e., a program is not standard-
	conforming if it contains externals which are distinguished only by
	case.

I suppose (3) is what we'll get?  I would certainly prefer (1) just on the
basis of C's case-sensitivity (about which I have mixed feelings but I'd
like the (foolish) consistency).
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...Relax...don't worry...have a homebrew.