Re: Patch: Remove gcc dependency in definition of inline functions

Revised patch is attached (4th edition).
It's also available in my git repository in the "submitted" branch:
  http://git.postgresql.org/gitweb?p=users/harriman/share.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/submitted

With this patch, the "configure" script tests whether a static
inline function can be defined without incurring a warning when
not referenced.  If successful, the preprocessor symbol USE_INLINE
is defined to 1 in pg_config.h.  Otherwise USE_INLINE remains
undefined.

palloc.h and pg_list.h condition their inline function
definitions on USE_INLINE instead of the gcc-specific __GNUC__.
Thus the functions can be inlined on more platforms, not only gcc.

Ordinary out-of-line calls are still used if the compiler doesn't
recognize inline functions, or spews warnings when static inline
functions are defined but not referenced.

 From now on in cross-platform code, plain "inline" should be used
instead of compiler-specific alternate spellings such as __inline__,
because the configure script redefines "inline" to the appropriate
alternate spelling if necessary.  (This patch doesn't affect the
redefinition of "inline": that was already in place.)

Changes since the second and third editions of this patch:

- Renamed the new preprocessor symbol to USE_INLINE, following the
   advice of Tom Lane, instead of my earlier attempts PG_INLINE or
   inline_quietly.  It is used like this:

       /* include/utils/palloc.h */
       #ifdef USE_INLINE
       static inline MemoryContext
       MemoryContextSwitchTo(MemoryContext context)
       {
           MemoryContext old = CurrentMemoryContext;
           CurrentMemoryContext = context;
           return old;
       }
       #else
       extern MemoryContext MemoryContextSwitchTo(MemoryContext context);
       #endif   /* USE_INLINE */

       /* backend/utils/mmgr/mcxt.c */
       #ifndef USE_INLINE
       MemoryContext
       MemoryContextSwitchTo(MemoryContext context)
       {
           MemoryContext old;
           AssertArg(MemoryContextIsValid(context));
           old = CurrentMemoryContext;
           CurrentMemoryContext = context;
           return old;
       }
       #endif   /* ! USE_INLINE */

- Simplified the autoconf logic added to config/c-compiler.m4.

- Removed MSVC-related changes (__forceinline) from the autoconf
   stuff.  Instead, updated the manually-edited pg_config.h.win32
   file to define "inline" as __inline, and USE_INLINE as 1.

- Removed Windows-only misspelling of __inline__ in instr_time.h.
   This was the only occurrence of __inline__; therefore, deleted
   the no-longer-needed definition of __inline__ from port/win32.h.
   Also deleted the definition of inline from port/win32.h, since
   it is now defined in pg_config.h.win32, consistent with the
   other platforms.

Thanks again to all who have commented.

Regards,
... kurt