I personally think it would be better if the variable 'SAGE_FORTRAN' was removed from SAGE, and replaced by the variable "FC".
The reason for that is that even if one defines 'SAGE_FORTRAN' to be a non-GNU Fortran compiler, a lot of "configure" scripts incorrectly report: checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes in the install.log. The reason this happens is that numerous "configure" scripts check the type of Fortran compiler, even though they do not Fortran at all. Whilst this does not actually break the build of these packages, seeing this is a bit annoying and confusing to users of non-GNU compilers. Some parts of Sage report the GNU Fortran compiler is used, whilst other parts report the compiler is not a GNU one. Defining 'F77' which would also avoid these messages, would not be wise, as we really want to define a Fortran compiler, not a Fortran 77 compiler. In the section about environment variables, in both POSIX 2004 http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap08.html and POSIX 2008 http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap08.html the definition of FC is not given, so FC is not a POSIX requirement. However, both standards do say: "It is unwise to conflict with certain variables that are frequently exported by widely used command interpreters and applications:" It then lists those 'widely used' environment variables, and includes FC' in that list. So given: 1) GNU configure scripts use 'FC' 2) POSIX says FC is widely used. why does Sage not use the 'widely used' variable name for a Fortran compiler, rather than use its own? It would be a bit unwise to define SAGE_C or SAGE_C_PLUS_PLUS, when CC and CXX are widely used variables for those. As such, I do not see why we should define SAGE_FORTRAN, when 'FC' is widely used to mean a Fortran compiler. I'd also suggest changing SAGE_FORTRAN_LIB to FC_LIB, though the arguments for doing that are less convincing. Comments? Dave --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send an email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to sage-devel-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URL: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
