Re: Problem with procedure pointers

[Tobias Burnus <burnus at net-b dot de>]

On 03/10/2011 02:39 PM, Paul Richard Thomas wrote:
> However, I see no way in which adding an extra attribute to module
> files can do so.  Therefore, I think that this is entirely bomb-proof
> and could be applied.

I was wondering whether one should bump the version number. In a way I 
would prefer to be .mod compatible between slightly older 4.6 builds and 
the first 4.7 builds.

There should be no upward compatibility problem, i.e. reading with newer 
version older .mod files. But there is also no real problem when reading 
.mod files by newer compilers in older ones. The only exception are 
proc-pointer components for which the older compiler produces:

Fatal Error: Reading module proc_pointers at line 57 column 62: 
find_enum(): Enum not found

While I am inclined to not-bump the version number, I won't mind if you 
decide to bump it.

 * * *

Side remark: I had hoped that .mod files could be kept compatible 
between different minor (y) GCC x.y versions, but seemingly we only 
manage to keep them compatible for different releases (z) of one series 
(GCC version x.y.z). It would make life for distributors (Linux 
distributions, HPC sites, etc.) much easier if the .mod files were more 
compatible.
The idea of the text-based, lengthy format was that it makes it possible 
to do so, but it proved not to be the case, unfortunately.

Tobias