Re: [Patch] Edit contrib/ files to download gfortran prerequisites

[Damian Rouson <damian@sourceryinstitute.org>]

On October 23, 2017 at 3:54:22 AM, Richard Biener (richard.guenther@gmail.com) wrote:

On Sat, Oct 21, 2017 at 2:26 AM, Damian Rouson 
<damian@sourceryinstitute.org> wrote: 
> 
> Hi Richard, 
> 
> Attached is a revised patch that makes the downloading of Fortran prerequisites optional via a new --no-fortran flag that can be passed to contrib/download_prerequisites as requested in your reply below. 
> 
> As Jerry mentioned in his response, he has been working on edits to the top-level build machinery, but we need additional guidance to complete his work. Given that there were no responses to his request for guidance and it’s not clear when that work will complete, I’m hoping this minor change can be approved independently so that this patch doesn’t suffer bit rot in the interim. 

But the change doesn't make sense without the build actually picking up things. 
Each prerequisite tar ball contains build scripts so the change is useful even without the ultimate integration into the GCC build system.  Our first step was to get the tar balls onto the GCC ftp server.  Our next step was to set up for the files to be downloaded automatically with this patch.  For now, users can use the build scripts in the prerequisite tar balls.  Our final step will be to finish the integration into the GCC build system.   Jerry has requested guidance on this mailing list, but I don’t think there have been any replies to his request.  In the interim, I’m stuck updating this patch indefinitely.  I’ve already updated it several times because the files it patches are changing.  

Most importantly, the features these prerequisites enable are part of the Fortran standard so they are necessary for full access to the language — namely access to any Fortran 2008 or Fortran 2015 parallel features.  I hope I’ve made a case for the benefit of the patch. Is there a way in which the patch is harmful?

Damian