----- Original Message -----
From: "Toon Moene" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: Suspected bugs... (fwd)
> Clive Page wrote:
>
> > > > Yes, of course. But in turn vendors should help potential bug
reporters
> > > > by giving them information on known bugs.
>
> > That's all I am asking. Some vendors used to do that so it's clearly
not
> > impossible and though some descriptions were too vague to be useful,
many
> > were not.
>
> The problem of listing "known bugs" is not that the descriptions might
> be too vague to be useful, but that they might be *misleading*.
> Misleading in giving a false impression of completeness.
>
> It is impossible, even for someone intimately acquainted with the
> internals of the compiler in question, to derive from the given
> (failing) example *and a complete description of the bug*, which _class_
> of source code constructions will be vulnerable to *that* bug. So
> certainly the users won't be able to do that.
>
> Therefore, such a list *won't* help you to "recognise" errant behaviour
> as a known bug _before_ you actually isolate the problematic code and
> hand it over to the compiler writer. It is not necessary for the
> failing code to be small - it just has to be self-contained.
>
> > But the number willing to list known bugs seems to be smaller
> > now, perhaps because they don't like washing their dirty linen in
public.
> > But I have much more confidence in vendors who are willing to admit to
> > their (fixed) past mistakes, than in those who prefer not to admit to
> > having any.
>
> Well, I can only encourage you to try GNU Fortran 77. We have a
> completely open bug report database (see the entry "GNATS" on the GCC
> home page http://gcc.gnu.org). For fixed past mistakes you can just
> look at the testsuite ...
>
> <evil grin>
>
> I'm sorry, Clive - I'm sympathetic to your wishes, but based on my
> experience they're completely unrealistic.
>
> --
> Toon Moene - mailto:[log in to unmask] - phoneto: +31 346 214290
> Saturnushof 14, 3738 XG Maartensdijk, The Netherlands
> GNU Fortran 77: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/g77_news.html
> GNU Fortran 95: http://g95.sourceforge.net/ (under construction)
>
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