Re: [boost] Current Guidance on Compiler Warnings?

Subject: Re: [boost] Current Guidance on Compiler Warnings?
From: Emil Dotchevski (emildotchevski_at_[hidden])
Date: 2018-11-19 23:30:46

On Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 1:02 PM Edward Diener via Boost <
boost_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> I do not think it
> is possible, or advisable timewise, to spend unnecessary time pleasing
> every compiler's notion of what these lint-like warnings entail.

+1

This can be done for an enumerated list of compiler versions and platforms,
but it can NOT be done in general. Another compiler (or the next version of
the same compiler) will introduce new warnings. The idea that warnings
always indicate potential problems is fundamentally flawed.

It follows that always running the compiler at the maximum warning setting
is fundamentally flawed, too. Its legitimate use is not as a shield against
bugs, but as a debugging tool: if you suspect that a source file contains a
subtle bug, you could compile it with maximum linting, examine every
warning closely, then turn it back off.