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Is a compiler "toolchain" package tooling? Is the standard library included with that "toolchain" tooling, or a library?

• bee_rider 4y ago
  So, I don't think it is really necessary for there to be a perfectly bright line between the two. But for the sake of argument, I'll say that my opinion is that the compiler, linker, etc are part of the tooling, while the standard library is a library. All of the libraries are linked to the project by some tooling, and a particular distribution of software could include any number of libraries (e.g., conda), I don't see why the standard library needs a special cutout. It will get even more blurry if you start asking about runtimes, macros, and all-template libraries.
  • SAI_Peregrinus 4y ago
    Often (parts of) the C standard library (those needed for a freestanding environment) are actually "baked in" to the compiler, and not actually separate header files at all (though equivalent headers may be provided as well). In C89, those are float.h, limits.h, iso646.h, stdarg.h, and stddef.h. C99 added stdbool.h, and stdint.h. C11 added stdalign.h, and stdnoreturn.h. So those headers are part of the standard library, but they're also usually part of the compiler. The line gets very blurry.