Revised release criteria for GCC 4.0
Mark Mitchell
mark@codesourcery.com
Wed Dec 15 20:05:00 GMT 2004
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
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