type checker run-time error on character arrays

cat UTThornReal.sac 
module UTThornReal;
export {UTThornReal_testXXI};

use Array: all;
use ArrayFormat: all;
use StdIO:{show};

inline int UTThornReal_testXXI()
{ 
 A_48=format( -2.5);
show(A_48);

 return(1);
}

apex@medusa:/tmp/crud/XX$ cat UTThornReal.unittest.sac 
use UTThornReal: all;

int main()
{
 z  = UTThornReal_testXXI();
 return(z);
}
apex@medusa:/tmp/crud/XX$ sac2c UTThornReal.sac 
apex@medusa:/tmp/crud/XX$ sac2c UTThornReal.unittest.sac 
apex@medusa:/tmp/crud/XX$ a.out
 ___[] SACp_pinl_4385_z

*** SAC runtime error
*** //primarypool/dshome/apex/apexgit/Ancillary/benchmks/UnitTests/UTThornReal/src/UTThornReal.sac:385
Can not assign unsigned char[+] SACp_pinl_4385_z to unsigned char[.] SACp_pinl_4173_A_61 type mismatch

sac2c -V
sac2c 1.3.3-MijasCosta-782-g8e7b0
build-type: RELEASE
built-by: "sac" at 2022-03-01T09:11:54