Scott Robert Ladd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Consider, as an example, the bug/non-bug at http://gcc.gnu.org/PR323, > which was a matter of recent discussion on this list. Some rather > respectable people (e.g., Vincent Lefèvre) consider this a bug, and > have proposed solutions. Yet here's a quote from an earlier message by > Giovanni Bajo. > [...]
First of all, I would consider polite to CC: me on the mail if you quote and debate my statements. > The ISO Standard doesn't prevent GCC from being *better* than > specified, does it? Are we somehow breaking ISO compliance by doing > math right? Is it so wrong to try and fix a problem that frustrates > many people and makes GCC look bad? Where exactly do I say that it is wrong to provide a patch that makes GCC better in this regard? As a bugmaster, I just decided to consider this not a bug, in the strictest meaning of "bug". If you want to file in Bugzilla an enhancement proposal about adding options/modes about higher FPU precision, I would not object. Also, it seems you have the wrong belief that, if bug 323 were confirmed in Bugzilla, a patch would automatically appear. I think the two events are totally unrelated, especially for an issue which has been debated so much in the past years, and where most people have already a formed opinion on the matter. > With the attitude shown by Giovanni, there's really no point in > submitting a patch, is there? Dozens of people have reported this > problem, potential solutions exist, but any patch is going to be > ignored because the bug isn't considered a bug by the Powers That Be. You seem to believe that a patch can be accepted in GCC only if it fixes a bug. That is wrong: a valid patch can also add a new feature. While it is probably hard to convince the Powers That Be (which, by the way, are surely not me) that the default setting of GCC should be whatever Bug 323 requests, it is much much easier that a patch adding a new command line option to request higher FP accuracy be reviewed and accepted. Of course, people would have to *see* such a patch. And nobody is blocking people from writing it. I hope to have clarified my position. Giovanni Bajo
