[fpc-devel] Need patch for bugs : 0011503 / 0009472

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Thu, 19 Jun 2008, Boian Mitov wrote:

>      Hi Jonas,
> 
> This functionality works in all versions of Delphi 5-2007. We support them
> all, and we have done so for years. We have no problems to compile with such
> optimizations turned off. We need proper reference counting. We have over 300
> Delphi components in 5 released and 3 libraries under current development,
> spreading over 4 million lines of code. We are looking to port it to Linux,
> and other platforms. The Lazarus looks like the natural solution. We have no
> problems creating a clone of it, or developing alternative compiler from
> scratch. We plan to allow C++ users to also use the library, as we provide
> C++/MFC and .NET component wrappers to our customers. If we need to we can
> simply fix the compiler for our needs and sell only compiled C++ supporting
> versions, or if you agree to allow some override to the behavior we can
> support the Lazarus and free Pascal too. We believe that as one of the biggest
> component vendors in the world, our support for Lazarus will help the project
> a lot. However for that we crucially need this problem fixed. CodeGear has
> done fixes for us in the past, in order to help us continue to support the
> platform, as they have done for other vendors, and we are very, very grateful
> for that, and have help them (convert) many of our .NET customers. We will be
> equally grateful for any help you can offer in our attempts to support
> Lazarus. We believe this will only help the community, and the popularity of
> the product.
> I have downloaded the source, and I will see if we can tweak it and add some
> compiler option to support this somehow.
> You can take a look at our currently available products here : www.mitov.com ,
> and yes, we are working to make all this available in Lazarus ;-) .

It should IMHO not be too hard to make a switch -Osomething which forces
immediate release of temps. That should ensure Delphi compatible 
behaviour - possibly at the cost of some performance.

If you can provide a patch to implement such a switch, I'm pretty confident
it will be included.

But Jonas is correct in his statement that you are relying on some
implementation detail which you should not rely on. That it works
for you in Delphi is pure luck, and the right thing to do is to
review your code.

Michael.