[usrnm]

> The C++ is absolutely ABI stable

C++ ABI doesn't even exist, there are several competing standards (much fewer now than there used to be) and nothing is guaranteed even between different compiler versions, let alone different compilers. Not that long ago we used to have two implementations of std::string in gcc you had to choose from and if the library you're linking with chose another one, you were out of luck.

[temac]

A thing that does not exist, still is leveraged to build whole distros, and its too high stability resulted in the creation of Carbon.

[spacechild1]

This happens to work on Linux where the two major compilers (gcc and clang) are (mostly?) compatible. Windows is a different story: C++ code build with MSCV is generally not compatible with GCC/clang and vice versa, the most notable differences being vtable layout and default 32-bit calling conventions.

[olliej]

[edit: and I just realized I replied to you elsewhere. sigh. keeping it classy :-/]

Windows is a different platform, so comparing it to linux isn't relevant, any more than saying I can't run the code I compiled for sparc on a ppc Mac.

[usrusr]

But "C++ on Linux" isn't "C++". It's a subset of C++ usage. The lack of competing compilers on some OS might be a feature of those OS, or in the eyes of some mabye even a failure of those OS, but it's certainly no feature of the language. ABI compatibility isn't about using the same binary on different OS, it's about running binaries from different compilers/compiler versions/compiler configurations in the same process.

[tsimionescu]

The point is: C++ libraries compiled for Windows with MSVC are not ABI compatible with C++ libraries compiled for Windows by GCC or clang.