[mpich-discuss] Is it okay to remove F77 support?

[Jeff Hammond]

Everybody wishing to have a serious opinion on ISO Fortran 77 should read
the following:

https://stevelionel.com/drfortran/2020/05/16/doctor-fortran-in-military-strength/

Also, Squyres is right about everything, as usual.

Jeff

On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 7:09 AM Jeff Squyres (jsquyres) via discuss <
discuss at mpich.org> wrote:

> On Jan 27, 2021, at 9:45 AM, Raffenetti, Kenneth J. via discuss <
> discuss at mpich.org> wrote:
> >
> > The MPICH team is asking if it would be OK to drop support for building
> MPICH with an F77 only compiler.
>
> MPI -- MPICH, Open MPI, etc. -- has never been able to be built with a
> F77-only compiler because the MPI standard has never adhered to the Fortran
> 77 standard.
>
> Additionally, MPI-3.1 17.1.1 quite clearly states that a conformant
> MPI-3.1 implementation must support either the mpi_f08 module (which
> implies support for much of the Fortran'08 standard) and/or mpif.h + the
> mpi module (which requires elements of the Fortran 90 standard).  This
> requirement has been there since MPI-3.0, published in 2012.
>
> Hence, it has not been possible to build any conformant MPI implementation
> with a "F77-only" compiler for nearly a decade.
>
> And let's not forget that Fortran 77 limits symbols -- variables,
> subroutines, and functions -- to 6 characters.  Hence, it has *never* been
> possible to build any MPI implementation or application with a Fortran
> 77-only compiler.
>
> Håkon's answer earlier in the thread was also quite correct: "fixed form
> Fortran" is not the same thing as "Fortran 77".  Please stop conflating the
> two.
>
> > MPICH will still support all standard Fortran language bindings: mpif.h,
> use mpi, and use mpi_f08. Does the code you speak of not build with modern
> Fortran compilers? If so, that is the kind of feedback we are looking for.
>
> That is a good question, much better formed than the original.  It's a
> question that the entire MPI Forum would benefit hearing answers to!
>
> --
> Jeff Squyres
> jsquyres at cisco.com
>
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-- 
Jeff Hammond
jeff.science at gmail.com
http://jeffhammond.github.io/
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