Issue 0011.04: Does an incomplete array get completed as a tentative definition?

This issue has been automatically converted from the original issue lists and some formatting may not have been preserved.

Authors: Rich Peterson, WG14
Date: 1992-12-10
Reference document: X3J11/90-008
Submitted against: C90
Status: Fixed
Fixed in: C90 TC1
Converted from: dr.htm, dr_011.html

Tentative definition of externally-linked object with incomplete type

If one writes the file-scope declaration

int i[];

then subclause 6.7.2 suggests that at the end of the translation unit the implicit declaration

int i[] = {0};

or equivalently

int i[1] = {0};

appears. This seems peculiar, since subclause 6.7.2, (page 83, lines 35-36) specifically forbids this case for internally linked identifiers.

Is this what is intended?

Comment from WG14 on 1997-09-23:

Correction

Add to subclause 6.7.2, page 84, a second Example:

If at the end of the translation unit containing

int i[];

the array i still has incomplete type, the array is assumed to have one element. This element is initialized to zero on program startup.