The reason for this is that this flag is used right now in 'cli-common'
to workaround the problem that this module is compiled with API version
1.4, but runs with stdlib of version 1.3 (bundled to Gradle). The same
problem would appear with adapted function references, since we use
kotlin/jvm/internal/AdaptedFunctionReference in the bytecode, only
available since 1.4.
The fix is to generate adapted references in this case as subclasses of
the already existing kotlin/jvm/internal/FunctionReference. This can
change behavior in some extreme corner cases (because such references
can now be observed to have reflection capabilities), but it's an -X
argument anyway.
Another option would be to introduce another compiler argument
specifically for this, but it looks like it would only complicate things
without much benefit.
This fixes the problem in JVM IR backend which didn't pass bound
receiver value of an adapted function reference to the superclass
(kotlin/jvm/internal/AdaptedFunctionReference), which caused equals to
work incorrectly on such references (see changes in box tests).
Previously, bound adapted function reference was represented as
IrFunctionExpression to an adapter function which calls the callee. The
value of the bound receiver in that case could only be found in the body
of that adapter function. This is not very convenient, so this change
makes psi2ir produce a block of the adapter function + reference to it.
The bound receiver value is then found in the reference. This is
basically similar to what ProvisionalFunctionExpressionLowering is doing
for all function expressions. And since this IR structure is already
supported in FunctionReferenceLowering, the problem in the JVM IR is
fixed without any additional modifications.
However, inliners do not support this IR structure yet, see KT-38535 and
KT-38536.
Alexander Udalov