But... this isn't about my own code using my preferred build system. Of course you can quickly change any flag if you know the build system works and hiw your project uses it. It will not take 5 seconds with no though to figure out how a build system you have never used before lets you change build flags. Besides, even if it did take just 5 seconds and no thought, I wouldn't know it's necessary before I've tried to compile, maybe noticed that it will take a while because it's a big project, gone away and done something else for a bit, and returned to a failed build because one file a couple of minutes in had an unnecessary set of parentheses somewhere.

I absolutely don't understand what stockholm syndrome has to do with anything. I haven't advocated for any particular build system.

If you can change build systems flags easily, without thought, very quickly. Do you still think Werror is a bad idea?

Assuming your answer to that is the same as mine. If you always have a build system where you can change flags easily, without thought very quickly, you do use Werror. We frequently (always?) don't have such a build system and we're used to that. We're prisoners of it. It sucks. C build systems are utterly terrible. We're captured by them. Whether it's autotools, cmake, scons, a bajillion make files used directly or whatever. I think acknowledging it is reasonable. I think claiming they are other than terrible is stockholm syndrome. (Note that they may not be capable of being improved, there may be nothing better, etc etc. - I make no claims about it).

Not using a flag because it makes life hard when the compiler is upgraded and the flag needs to be changed is a build system issue. Really.