Re: Mainline in regression-fix only mode

[Mark Mitchell <mark at codesourcery dot com>]

Toon Moene wrote:
> Mark Mitchell wrote:
>
> > This message is a reminder that the mainline is now in regression-fix 
> > only mode.
> >
> > That means that (aside from documentation) no new features or cleanups 
> > should be committed, unless that's part of fixing a regression.
>
>
> May we, the Fortran maintainers, assume a wider mandate, as gfortran is 
> new with this release ?  Specifically, can we fix *all* bugs we manage, 
> even if this means overhauling large parts of the front end / run time 
> library ?

That's a hard question.  I understand that gfortran is new technology, 
and that people are assuming that distributors will ship g77 as well, 
for backwards compatibility.  That would argue in favor of letting you 
do anything you want.  At the same time, I think it's important that 
gfortran perform reasonably well in this release.  If it is in a really 
unstable state, then I think it will be hard to make the release.  And 
that will be a problem for everyone else.  Finally, it is in our 
collective best interest to eliminate the need to ship g77 as soon as 
possible.

I feel hesitant to confine you to regressions per se.  On the other 
hand, I don't think overhauling large parts of the system is a very good 
idea at this point.  I'd like to see you use your judgement to balance 
risk vs. reward carefully.

--
Mark Mitchell
CodeSourcery, LLC
mark@codesourcery.com
(916) 791-8304