From: /interop

Subject: Disposition of 00-168

References: 00-121, 00-168

Paper 00-168 offers a possible solution to issues raised in 00-121, specifically it provides an intrinsic function which allows an object pointed to by a variable of type C_PTR to become the target of a Fortran pointer (and thus define the association status of the Fortran pointer. /interop has considered similar proposals in the past, and considered the issues from 00-121 which 00-168 attempts to solve. /interop, as in the past, does not believe the interaction of C and Fortran pointers should be permitted, as they are very different beasts. A C pointer is an address, a Fortran pointer carries much more information than an address.

This functionality has been considered many times over the course of several meetings, and the consensus was that this functionality should not be included in this revision of the Standard.

No further action on 00-168 is planned.