Porting VC++'s __try/__except EXCEPTION_STACK_OVERFLOW to MinGW

Question

I am trying to port some code using VC++\'s try-except statement to MinGW:

bool success = true;

__try {
    //...
} __except ((EXCEPTION_STACK_OVERFLOW == G         


        

Answer 1

MinGW doesn't support the keywords for structured exceptions; but, as Billy O'Neal says in his answer, you can call certain native functions to get the same effect.

The question is whether you want the same effect. I strongly believe that structured exceptions are a mistake. The list of structured exceptions that the operating system will tell you about include things like "tried to divide an integer by 0," "couldn't use the HANDLE parameter passed to a function," "tried to execute an illegal machine code instruction," and "tried to access memory without permission to do so." You really can't do anything intelligent about these errors, but structured exceptions give you the opportunity to (1) claim that you have and (2) allow the program to hobble along a little longer. It's far better to find out why the code tried to divide by 0, passed an invalid HANDLE parameter, tried to access memory without permission to do so, etc. and fix the code to never do that.

There is an argument that you could use structured exceptions to detect problems, display a dialog box, and exit. I'm not sure how this is better than letting the operating system display a dialog box and exit the program (especially if the operating system sends you a minidump in the process), which is the default behavior for unhandled exceptions.

Some errors aren't recoverable.