Oracle Gurus,

I encountered a strange problem in my production environment today.

There is a procedure calling a certain SQL with an INDEX hint.
This SQL is called using DBMS_SQL (not native dynamic SQL, for whatever reason !!). However, Iam in no postition to contest the developers who have coded it right now.

My concern is:
The DBMS_SQL.PARSE uses various parameters, including language_flag.
We can pass 3 parameters viz., v6(0), native(1) and v7(2).
Oracle supplied PL/SQL packages documentation says =>

"Determines how Oracle handles the SQL statement. The following
options are recognized:
 V6 (or 0) specifies version 6 behavior.
 NATIVE (or 1) specifies normal behavior for the database to
which the program is connected.
 V7 (or 2) specifies Oracle7 behavior."
What does this mean?

The SQL I am concerned with, runs on a partitioned table with corresponding partitioned index (global).

My question is: If I use the "v7" language_flag, will it suppress any INDEX hint that might exist in the SQL statement being run?

If somebody helps me out fast, I can save a potential production embarassment (and face !)

Thanks in advance...

Regards,
Suhas