On Thu, Jan 02, 2003 at 06:24:09PM +0100, Igor Sobrado wrote:
> It is practically dropped by GNU, they are developing a new compiler,

  The fact that they're developing a new compiler is very different from
being practically ready to drop g77.  It will be a long time before g95
is ready to use and even longer before it is good enough to replace g77.

> That compiler does not support
> FORTRAN-related standards.

  Fortran 77 is a standard, and g77 does support it rather well.  No, it's
not the current standard, but neither will Fortran 95 be when g95 is ready.

> A fully standards-compliant compiler will be nice.

  Yes.  But we don't have one available, and it will be a long time before
we do.

> It is not a high-quality product, it cannot be compared with gcc or g++.

  Why is this an issue?  It's the only alternative we have.

> And there are not a lot of users that need it.  A FORTRAN compiler is
> a nice compiler for a Unix system, but g77 is *not* the alternative.

  Yes it is.  It's the only alternative.

> Agreed.  There are not a lot of g77 users, and it is not required
> for NetBSD (it is not used to build the kernel or the entire system).
> It can be provided as a port.

  It can, but it's much more convenient to have it in the base system.
I would very much like it to stay there.

--Jim