Re: Revised release criteria for GCC 4.0

[Mark Mitchell <mark at codesourcery dot com>]

Giovanni Bajo wrote:

> > Since it's a new front end, it doesn't have regressions, per
> > se, unless you consider it in comparison to g77 (i.e., gfortran
> > failures to compile old g77-compatible code are regressions).
>
>
> When we speak of regression, we do not strictly speak of a techinical
> regression in the compiler code, rather a regression in the user experience
> of the product. If somebody was using GCC 3.4 for his Fortran code, and GCC
> 4.0 is unable to compile it because of a bug[*], then it is a regression,
> and will probably prevent the user from upgrading to the newer version. The
> fact that the frontend is brand new is a non-point.

I agree -- but, realistically, with a complete rewrite there are going 
to be regressions for years to come.  It's good to fix them, but when we 
made the choice to write a new front end, we also made the choice to 
accept bugs in return for features.

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