Redefine short long to use code analysis tools on embedded c code

Question

I'm attempting to use SourceTrails (https://www.sourcetrail.com/) to analyze embedded c from the MPLAB CX8 compiler. It's not entirely trouble-free, as the compiler uses a number of custom features, not found in the C standard.

One of these is the use of short long to indicate 24-bit variables in global includes, such as:

extern volatile unsigned short long     TBLPTR;

SourceTrail (using clang) shows this error: cannot combine with previous "short" declaration specifier.

For the analysis only, I'd like to specify something like on the top of the global include:

#define "short long" long

but obviously, this fails!

I might have to perform a search and replace, but it would be great if there were a simpler method?

Answer 1

You can use something like:

#define short int

short long variables will now be long, at least in mainstream compilers like gcc and clang.

Any short variables will now be int, the side effect is that short int declarations will now cause invalid combination error.

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The solution found by the OP was to use #define short which will effectively remove short from the type declaration making it long.

The side effect is that variables declared short will have no type or storage class, and as such, will default to int.

In compilers like clang or gcc the type int long will default to long effectively making both solutions possible, minding the different side effects.