The current gcc warning for discarded qualifiers cannot be easily understood by beginners:
$ cat const.c int main(void) { const char *pcc; char *pc; pcc = "hello, world"; pc = pcc; return 0; } $ gcc -Wall -W const.c const.c: In function `main': const.c:7: warning: assignment discards qualifiers from pointer target type This warning doesn't give any hint to a programmer not familiar with the ISO standard's wording. Therefore I suggest to make a special case warning if the only qualifier that's discarded is ``const''. It would then show up like this: $ ~/pkg/gcc3/bin/gcc -Wall -W const.c const.c: In function `main': const.c:7: warning: assignment discards ``const'' qualifier from pointer target type -- Summary: suggestion: a special warning for discarding the ``const'' qualifier Product: gcc Version: 3.3.5 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: enhancement Priority: P3 Component: c AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org ReportedBy: roland dot illig at gmx dot de GCC build triplet: *-*-* GCC host triplet: *-*-* GCC target triplet: *-*-* http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=25880