Make static context const #1639

1. 
   purpleKarrot commented at 7:06 pm on November 23, 2024: none

   Fixes #1637
2. Make static context const bfc3ae0735
3. 
   real-or-random commented at 9:45 pm on November 24, 2024: contributor

   Looks good to me.

   The only caveat is that this is, strictly speaking, a breaking change. If we want to be strict, we’d need a 0.7.0 instead of a 0.6.1. But I don’t think we care?! I mean, any user code writing to the variable is most likely buggy… Hm.

4. real-or-random added the label bug on Nov 24, 2024
5. real-or-random removed the label bug on Nov 24, 2024
6. real-or-random added the label refactor/smell on Nov 24, 2024
7. 
   sipa commented at 9:50 pm on November 24, 2024: contributor

   Technically speaking, this is certainly an API change. A constant and non-constant variable are not compatible as far as the C language is concerned. A (buggy) program could fail to compile with this change, while it was fine before.

   But is it an ABI break? The symbol still exists, and has the same size and meaning. Linking will not fail for any reason, it is only at runtime that an attempt to modify the variable may (or may not) trigger a memory violation.

8. 
   real-or-random commented at 10:12 pm on November 24, 2024: contributor

   it is only at runtime that an attempt to modify the variable may (or may not) trigger a memory violation.

   The good thing is that a clean crash is probably the worst that can happen in practice…

   I think I’m okay with anything here. If you ask me, we can treat this as a breaking or a non-breaking chance, when it comes to both API and ABI.

9. real-or-random approved
10. 
    real-or-random commented at 5:39 pm on November 25, 2024: contributor

    In any case, I prefer this proper fix over introducing a second symbol just to keep backwards compatibility.

    utACK bfc3ae0735597b676a0472ab6cbd0f909ee30195

    We can debate at release time whether this is breaking or not.

11. real-or-random added the label needs-changelog on Nov 25, 2024

Contributors
purpleKarrot real-or-random sipa

Labels
needs-changelog refactor/smell