Bug#285396: [ARM] wide chars don't work

[Jim Gettys <Jim.Gettys@hp.com>]

> Here are his remarks, recast a bit from IRC-speak into something more
> conventional.
> 
>   GCC on ARM is doing something different from every other C compiler I've
>   seen.  It may not deviate from what the C specification allows, but it
>   appears to deviate from common practice.  The ARM folks would find code
>   would work with fewer problems if they fixed GCC to behave like other C
>   compilers do.  Having an array of structs of a byte each usually forces
>   16 bit alignment only on other compilers I've seen.

I miss-spoke slightly, here's a correction: "Having an array of structs
of two individual bytes forces only 16 bit alignment on other compilers
we've seen."

> 
> I would like the input of the Debian ARM list and the Debian GCC
> maintenance team on this issue.
> 
> I'm also curious to know if xterm has always had this problem on Debian
> ARM, or if it has cropped up only with recent revisions of GCC.  Can anyone
> tell me?
> 

This isn't saying we wouldn't add such a patch to X, though patches for
a particular compiler on a particular architecture do get frowned on
quite a lot: I just suspect ARM would find more code "just worked" if
GCC behaved like other compilers in this case, and ARM would be better
off as a result.
					- Jim