DEFAULT_VERSIONS=gcc=8 not recognised

[mexas]

DEFAULT_VERSIONS=gcc=8

seems to work fine in /etc/make.conf, i.e.
it forces ports which depend on GCC to require gcc8.
Putting this line inside

/usr/local/etc/synth/LiveSystem-make.conf

gives

# synth build net/mpich
Encountered issue with net/mpich or its dependencies
  => gfortran8:lang/gcc8 (required dependency of net/mpich) does not exist.

which is true, of course, the port is lang/gcc8-devel.

However, changing to

DEFAULT_VERSIONS=gcc=8-devel

results in

===>   mpich-3.2_4 depends on executable: gfortran8-devel - not found

which is true again, the executable is called simply gfortran8.

How can I make it work with synth?

[jrmarino]

This is not a synth issue.
see Mk/bsd.default-versions.mk
Possible values for default GCC are 4.8, 4.9, 5, 6 assuming the comment in that file is correct.

This is a ports framework issue.

See also Mk/bsd.gcc.mk.
It shows that only up to gcc-6 is supported.

You'll have to open a PR with the GCC maintainer for freebsd ports.

[mexas]

cool, thanks!
Please keep this PR open till I get a reply from gerald@.

[mexas]

FreeBSD PR:
https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=220738

[mexas]

gerald@ says this is not supported, see the FreeBSD PR above.

[jrmarino]

Well, GCC 7 was released, so even if the framework is designed for releases-only, it should include GCC 7. Right?

[mexas]

Yes, I'm not sure why GCC7 is still lang/gcc7-devel. Probably
gerald@ hasn't had the time to integrate it yet. Perhaps such
a change needs an exp build. Not sure.

[jrmarino]

It definitely does not need an exp build. There are probably zero ports that depend on gcc7-devel, plus adding lang/gcc7 would be an additional port (meaning it does not replace gcc7-devel).

The only explanation is that it just hasn't been done yet, but I definitely would have made that point on the PR, but based on the reply, there's still an issue with the currency of bsd.gcc.mk, etc.