John Reid, The new features of Fortran 2008, chapter 5.5: A pointer may be initially associated with a target:
type (entry), target :: bottom type (entry), pointer :: top => bottom ***** Currently gfortran responds with: type (entry), pointer :: top => bottom 1 Error: Pointer initialization requires a NULL() at (1) ***** A look at the current draft of F08 seems to indicate that this is allowed for any kind of pointer: Data pointers and data pointer components as well as procedure pointers and procedure pointer components. See: R442 component-initialization R443 initial-data-target C460 R505 initialization C511 R1216 proc-pointer-init R1217 initial-proc-target Note: For procedure-pointer components I was not able to find any specific reference to non-NULL default initialization. However, chapter 4.5.4.6 ("Default initialization for components") explicitly mentions the possibility of having an initial-proc-target for a PPC. -- Summary: [F08] pointer initialization Product: gcc Version: 4.6.0 Status: UNCONFIRMED Keywords: rejects-valid Severity: normal Priority: P3 Component: fortran AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org ReportedBy: janus at gcc dot gnu dot org OtherBugsDependingO 39627 nThis: http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=45290