option to just install latest version of a compiler

[danieljprice]

In the setup_fortran workflow there is a hardwired version of each compiler specified (currently gfortran-v13 on Mac OS). This caused me several days of headaches since notionally two workflow paths which both install gfortran via homebrew actually lead to incompatible compiler versions, e.g.:

danieljprice/phantom#709

The problem occurred because "brew install " uses the default "brew install gcc" whereas the setup-fortran workflow installs a specific (older) version, even though both install gfortran via homebrew.

While I have implemented a workaround (do not use setup-fortran at all, just manually symlink the homebrew-installed gfortran), it would be nice if there could be an option to setup-fortran to always install the latest available version of a compiler.

I would value this because it tests the "typical" use case for users, who typically type "brew install gcc" or "apt-get install gfortran" without specifying the version number.

Would it be possible to add an option to just install the default version available on each platform (e.g. for the Mac workflow just don't specify the compiler version in the brew call)? Or is this already ruled out on policy grounds?

[wpbonelli]

This was requested previously in #33 but solution was temporary as you have discovered. This is a community-maintained action so unfortunately it tends to get attention only when someone finds it fails to meet a need. Sorry for the headaches.

Your suggestion works for the toolchains installed via package manager but where a custom install is necessary e.g. Intel we need to manually track the latest version. So up to now we have done them all manually. As you can see it fell behind. If you'd like to submit a PR to default all the package manager friendly toolchains to latest, it'd be very welcome!