Verilator

I had assumed $stime is really a backward compatibility thing that code shouldn't be using any more.

Can you give me an example where $stime is really needed and $time isn't more proper?

isn't a implementation for backward compability trivial (just casting to 32-biti in C/C++)? In verilog testcases either the testcases have to be modified (by using $time() and then selecting the lower 32 bits), or the reference patterns, so doing this on the C++ side sounds easier, especially since it makes verilator more standard-conformant..

Yes, it's easy. I find it's often good to ask "why" as the language has lots of "easy stuff" that isn't really needed, and if it IS needed I might learn something by asking. So why?

... if a language has a feature, someone will use it, copy'n'paste code will re-use it, it will spread. Some day you reach a point where it is easier to support it than to change the code you have...

I'm generally of the force-people-to-update-code mindset, but given it's just a few lines.

Fixed in the HEAD.