Freestanding and hosted implementations
From cppreference.com
There are two kinds of implementations defined by the C++ standard: hosted and freestanding implementations. For hosted implementations the set of standard library headers required by the C++ standard is much larger than for freestanding ones. In a freestanding implementation execution may happen without an operating system.
Requirements on multi-threaded executions and data races
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(since C++11) |
Requirements on the main function
| freestanding | hosted |
|---|---|
| In a freestanding implementation, it is implementation-defined whether a program is required to define a main function. Start-up and termination is implementation-defined; start-up contains the execution of constructors for objects of namespace scope with static storage duration; termination contains the execution of destructors for objects with static storage duration. | In a hosted implementation, a program must contain a global function called main. Executing a program starts a main thread of execution in which the main function is invoked, and in which variables of static storage duration might be initialized and destroyed.
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Requirements on standard library headers
A freestanding implementation has an implementation-defined set of headers. This set includes at least the headers in the following table:
| Types | <cstddef> |
| Implementation properties | <limits> <cfloat> <climits> (since C++11) <version> (since C++20) |
| Integer types | <cstdint> (since C++11) |
| Start and termination | <cstdlib> (partial)[1] |
| Dynamic memory management | <new> |
| Type identification | <typeinfo> |
| Source location | <source_location> (since C++20) |
| Exception handling | <exception> |
| Initializer lists | <initializer_list> (since C++11) |
| Comparisons | <compare> (since C++20) |
| Coroutines support | <coroutine> (since C++20) |
| Other runtime support | <cstdarg> |
| Fundamental library concepts | <concepts> (since C++20) |
| Type traits | <type_traits> (since C++11) |
| Bit manipulation | <bit> (since C++20) |
| Atomics | <atomic> (since C++11)[2] |
| <ciso646> (since C++11)(until C++20) | |
| Deprecated headers | <cstdalign> <cstdbool> (since C++11)(until C++20) |
- ↑ The supplied version of the header
<cstdlib>shall declare at least the functions std::abort, std::atexit, std::exit, std::at_quick_exit and std::quick_exit(since C++11). - ↑ Support for always lock-free integral atomic types and presence of type aliases std::atomic_signed_lock_free and std::atomic_unsigned_lock_free are implementation-defined in a freestanding implementation.(since C++20)
References
- C++20 standard (ISO/IEC 14882:2020):
- 4.1 Implementation compliance [intro.compliance] (p: 7)
- 6.9.2 Multi-threaded executions and data races [intro.multithread] (p: 77)
- 6.9.3.1 main function [basic.start.main] (p: 82)
- 16.5.1.3 Freestanding implementations [compliance] (p: 470)
- C++17 standard (ISO/IEC 14882:2017):
- 4.1 Implementation compliance [intro.compliance] (p: 5)
- 4.7 Multi-threaded executions and data races [intro.multithread] (p: 15)
- 6.6.1 main function [basic.start.main] (p: 66)
- 20.5.1.3 Freestanding implementations [compliance] (p: 458)
- C++14 standard (ISO/IEC 14882:2014):
- 1.4 Implementation compliance [intro.compliance] (p: 5)
- 1.10 Multi-threaded executions and data races [intro.multithread] (p: 11)
- 3.6.1 Main function [basic.start.main] (p: 62)
- 17.6.1.3 Freestanding implementations [compliance] (p: 441)
- C++11 standard (ISO/IEC 14882:2011):
- 1.4 Implementation compliance [intro.compliance] (p: 5)
- 1.10 Multi-threaded executions and data races [intro.multithread] (p: 11)
- 3.6.1 Main function [basic.start.main] (p: 58)
- 17.6.1.3 Freestanding implementations [compliance] (p: 408)
- C++03 standard (ISO/IEC 14882:2003):
- 1.4 Implementation compliance [intro.compliance] (p: 3)
- 3.6.1 Main function [basic.start.main] (p: 43)
- 17.4.1.3 Freestanding implementations [lib.compliance] (p: 326)
See also
| C documentation for Conformance
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