Off Topic: Deprecated functions

[Robert]

I just noticed that in the latest MS VC headers that a great many C functions have been tagged as

_CRT_INSECURE_DEPRECATE

Does anyone know what this means in practical terms?

When will my 'killer app' cease to function because of the deprecation?

Robert Wishlaw

[Pelle]

This really requires a statement from Microsoft - which I can't find.

Microsoft have cared much for compatibility for many years, so it seems unlikely that they will abandon the older CRT functions any time soon. I think they are just pointing out, in a strong fashion, that more secure functions exist.

Significant enhancements have been made to make the CRT more secure. Many CRT functions now have more secure versions. If a new secure function exists, the older, less secure version is marked as deprecated and the new version has the _s ("secure") suffix.

Pelle

[Robert]

Michael Howard documents the work going on to make the C runtime libraries more robust in the face of malicious data. The changes, available in Visual Studio 2005 affect the C runtime and the C++ standard template libraries.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dncode/html/secure03102004.asp

Robert Wishlaw