There has been a few comments, recently, from vendor compiler engineers,
complaining that bug reports should be sent to the proper support
provided by the vendor, and not to comp-fortran-90.
I understand the frustration of the compiler engineers, when hearing of a
bug for the first time on a mailing list.
However, there is often another side of the story.
Most of the time, a dysfunction is not clearly identified as a bug.
Users do not always have a copy of the Standard, and even if they do,
it is not so easy to understand.
I had several cases in the last 2 or 3 years, where it took me some
time, and help from the contributors of this list, to decide whether
a problem was a compiler bug or not.
I even saw one case where different compilers where acting differently,
and the old-timer (the vendor that was present on my site for years) would
dismiss my bug report, while the new-kid-on-the-block (the company that had
just installed a new system on the site) was ready to "correct" its compiler
from standard-compliant to old-timer compliant!
This list permits developpers to ask the fortran community about
unclear issues, get a strong, if not authoritative, opinion, and
avoids us the embarassment of submitting a bug report when there is
no bug at all.
Bertrand MELTZ
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