[Patch, fortran] PR23060 - %VAL, %LOC and %REF

[Brooks Moses]

Paul Thomas wrote:
> Jack is right - the patch does not apply to 4.2 because VALUE is not 
> implemented there.  I wonder if we should be applying %VAL to 4.2; by no 
> stretch of the imagination is this a bug fix :-)

Well, no, there's a good argument for it being a bug fix -- we have 
stated that gfortran is the replacement for g77 in the GNU toolchain, 
and on at least some occasions the idea has been put forth that any 
failure of gfortran to implement g77 functionality is thus a regression.

Thus, since g77 implemented %VAL, this is by that logic a regression, 
and fixing the regression is a bug fix.

Whether that outweighs the fact that this is a fairly large patch that 
could introduce other considerably more serious regressions within a few 
weeks of release is certainly a question to address, but I don't think 
it's all _that_ much of a stretch of imagination.  :)

- Brooks, who wouldn't mind a little clarity on our "official" position 
on this, since I'm editing the relevant manual section this week.