Unix C++ compilers that do not understand -c -o

Question

Autoconf/Automake are at pains to support ancient C compilers that didn't understand the simultaneous use of the -c and -o options (create an object file with this name). There's AM_PROG_CC_C_O and a special wrapper script, and the Automake manual warns you to use them if you want to use subdir-objects mode.

There isn't an AM_PROG_CXX_C_O. It is not hard to modify AM_PROG_CC_C_O to test the C++ compiler instead, but I wonder if it's necessary. Was there ever a Unix C++ compiler (Cfront, maybe?) that didn't support simultaneous use of -c and -o? Come to that, just how old are the C compilers that don't support it -- was there ever a C89-supporting compiler with this problem, for instance?

Answer 1

There are compilers, mainly those targeted at the embedded industry, where you must manually compile and link. In those cases, the -c option does not make sense.

Given that Linux is more and more used in embedded systems, you should definitely take those into account.