Default value of a message conflicts with the proto spec

[clarkdonald]

Hi,

In the ruby implementation, I've noticed that the default value of a message type is nil whereas in other languages the default value of a message type is the default instance. Other data types adhere to the proto spec - for example, the default value of a string field is an empty string rather than nil.

I've been burned by this conflicting behavior, and was wondering if this is the intended behavior for the ruby implementation?

[abrandoned]

Probably not intended behavior.... We will do some looking at the c and Java implementations and get the compat mode in line