Anyone have a clue ...

[Steve Kargl]

what the code in lines 718-733 in decl.c are for?  If
I surround the block of code with #if 0 ... #endif, I
do not trigger a failure in the testsuite.  So, it appears
that the syntax error that is being tested is
not represented by a test case.

In looking at decl.c(char_len_param_value), this function
seems to be intended for enforcement of

F08: C417 (R422) A type-param-value in a char-length shall be a
     colon, asterisk, or specification-expr .

The colon and asterick are handled, but the rest of the 
char_len_param_value seems to be lacking in the requirements
for a specification-expr.

Now, if one looks in expr.c, one finds gfc_specification_expr().

-- 
Steve