My preferred workaround for this is to write C code that is accepted by a C++1x compiler under fairly strict warning settings, and use a few standard macros tha

My preferred workaround for this is to write C code that is accepted by a C++1x compiler under fairly strict warning settings, and use a few standard macros that compile to the usual unsafe constructs in C but allow the C++ compiler to enforce extra rules. E.g. I use {S,K,R}_CAST macros instead of plain C casts.