Go to the first, previous, next, last section, table of contents.


GNU Fortran Command Options

The g77 command supports all the options supported by the gcc command. See section `GNU CC Command Options' in Using and Porting GNU CC, for information on the non-Fortran-specific aspects of the gcc command (and, therefore, the g77 command).

All gcc and g77 options are accepted both by g77 and by gcc (as well as any other drivers built at the same time, such as g++), since adding g77 to the gcc distribution enables acceptance of g77-specific options by all of the relevant drivers.

In some cases, options have positive and negative forms; the negative form of `-ffoo' would be `-fno-foo'. This manual documents only one of these two forms, whichever one is not the default.

Option Summary

Here is a summary of all the options specific to GNU Fortran, grouped by type. Explanations are in the following sections.

Overall Options
See section Options Controlling the Kind of Output.
-fversion  -fset-g77-defaults  -fno-silent
Shorthand Options
See section Shorthand Options.
-ff66  -fno-f66  -ff77  -fno-f77  -fno-ugly
Fortran Language Options
See section Options Controlling Fortran Dialect.
-ffree-form  -fno-fixed-form  -ff90
-fvxt  -fdollar-ok  -fno-backslash
-fno-ugly-args  -fno-ugly-assign  -fno-ugly-assumed
-fugly-comma  -fugly-complex  -fugly-init  -fugly-logint
-fonetrip  -ftypeless-boz
-fintrin-case-initcap  -fintrin-case-upper
-fintrin-case-lower  -fintrin-case-any
-fmatch-case-initcap  -fmatch-case-upper
-fmatch-case-lower  -fmatch-case-any
-fsource-case-upper -fsource-case-lower  -fsource-case-preserve
-fsymbol-case-initcap  -fsymbol-case-upper
-fsymbol-case-lower  -fsymbol-case-any
-fcase-strict-upper  -fcase-strict-lower
-fcase-initcap  -fcase-upper  -fcase-lower  -fcase-preserve
-ff2c-intrinsics-delete  -ff2c-intrinsics-hide
-ff2c-intrinsics-disable  -ff2c-intrinsics-enable
-fbadu77-intrinsics-delete  -fbadu77-intrinsics-hide
-fbadu77-intrinsics-disable  -fbadu77-intrinsics-enable
-ff90-intrinsics-delete  -ff90-intrinsics-hide
-ff90-intrinsics-disable  -ff90-intrinsics-enable
-fgnu-intrinsics-delete  -fgnu-intrinsics-hide
-fgnu-intrinsics-disable  -fgnu-intrinsics-enable
-fmil-intrinsics-delete  -fmil-intrinsics-hide
-fmil-intrinsics-disable  -fmil-intrinsics-enable
-funix-intrinsics-delete  -funix-intrinsics-hide
-funix-intrinsics-disable  -funix-intrinsics-enable
-fvxt-intrinsics-delete  -fvxt-intrinsics-hide
-fvxt-intrinsics-disable  -fvxt-intrinsics-enable
-ffixed-line-length-n  -ffixed-line-length-none
Warning Options
See section Options to Request or Suppress Warnings.
-fsyntax-only  -pedantic  -pedantic-errors  -fpedantic
-w  -Wno-globals  -Wimplicit -Wunused  -Wuninitialized
-Wall  -Wsurprising
-Werror  -W
Debugging Options
See section Options for Debugging Your Program or GNU Fortran.
-g
Optimization Options
See section Options That Control Optimization.
-malign-double
-ffloat-store  -fforce-mem  -fforce-addr  -fno-inline
-ffast-math  -fstrength-reduce  -frerun-cse-after-loop
-fexpensive-optimizations  -fdelayed-branch
-fschedule-insns  -fschedule-insn2  -fcaller-saves
-funroll-loops  -funroll-all-loops
-fno-move-all-movables  -fno-reduce-all-givs
-fno-rerun-loop-opt
Directory Options
See section Options for Directory Search.
-Idir  -I-
Code Generation Options
See section Options for Code Generation Conventions.
-fno-automatic  -finit-local-zero  -fno-f2c
-ff2c-library  -fno-underscoring  -fno-ident
-fpcc-struct-return  -freg-struct-return
-fshort-double  -fno-common  -fpack-struct
-fzeros  -fno-second-underscore
-fdebug-kludge  -femulate-complex
-falias-check  -fargument-alias
-fargument-noalias  -fno-argument-noalias-global
-fno-globals  -fflatten-arrays
-fbounds-check  -ffortran-bounds-check

Options Controlling the Kind of Output

Compilation can involve as many as four stages: preprocessing, code generation (often what is really meant by the term "compilation"), assembly, and linking, always in that order. The first three stages apply to an individual source file, and end by producing an object file; linking combines all the object files (those newly compiled, and those specified as input) into an executable file.

For any given input file, the file name suffix determines what kind of program is contained in the file--that is, the language in which the program is written is generally indicated by the suffix. Suffixes specific to GNU Fortran are listed below. See section Options Controlling the Kind of Output, for information on suffixes recognized by GNU CC.

file.f
file.for
file.FOR
Fortran source code that should not be preprocessed. Such source code cannot contain any preprocessor directives, such as #include, #define, #if, and so on. You can force `.f' files to be preprocessed by cpp by using `-x f77-cpp-input'. See section LEX.
file.F
file.fpp
file.FPP
Fortran source code that must be preprocessed (by the C preprocessor cpp, which is part of GNU CC). Note that preprocessing is not extended to the contents of files included by the INCLUDE directive--the #include preprocessor directive must be used instead.
file.r
Ratfor source code, which must be preprocessed by the ratfor command, which is available separately (as it is not yet part of the GNU Fortran distribution). One version in Fortran, adapted for use with g77, is at ftp://members.aol.com/n8tm/rat7.uue (of uncertain copyright status). Another, public domain version in C is at http://sepwww.stanford.edu/sep/prof/ratfor.shar.2.

UNIX users typically use the `file.f' and `file.F' nomenclature. Users of other operating systems, especially those that cannot distinguish upper-case letters from lower-case letters in their file names, typically use the `file.for' and `file.fpp' nomenclature.

Use of the preprocessor cpp allows use of C-like constructs such as #define and #include, but can lead to unexpected, even mistaken, results due to Fortran's source file format. It is recommended that use of the C preprocessor be limited to #include and, in conjunction with #define, only #if and related directives, thus avoiding in-line macro expansion entirely. This recommendation applies especially when using the traditional fixed source form. With free source form, fewer unexpected transformations are likely to happen, but use of constructs such as Hollerith and character constants can nevertheless present problems, especially when these are continued across multiple source lines. These problems result, primarily, from differences between the way such constants are interpreted by the C preprocessor and by a Fortran compiler.

Another example of a problem that results from using the C preprocessor is that a Fortran comment line that happens to contain any characters "interesting" to the C preprocessor, such as a backslash at the end of the line, is not recognized by the preprocessor as a comment line, so instead of being passed through "raw", the line is edited according to the rules for the preprocessor. For example, the backslash at the end of the line is removed, along with the subsequent newline, resulting in the next line being effectively commented out--unfortunate if that line is a non-comment line of important code!

Note: The `-traditional' and `-undef' flags are supplied to cpp by default, to help avoid unpleasant surprises. See section `Options Controlling the Preprocessor' in Using and Porting GNU CC. This means that ANSI C preprocessor features (such as the `#' operator) aren't available, and only variables in the C reserved namespace (generally, names with a leading underscore) are liable to substitution by C predefines. Thus, if you want to do system-specific tests, use, for example, `#ifdef __linux__' rather than `#ifdef linux'. Use the `-v' option to see exactly how the preprocessor is invoked.

Unfortunately, the `-traditional' flag will not avoid an error from anything that cpp sees as an unterminated C comment, such as:

C Some Fortran compilers accept /* as starting
C an inline comment.

See section Trailing Comment.

The following options that affect overall processing are recognized by the g77 and gcc commands in a GNU Fortran installation:

-fversion
Ensure that the g77-specific version of the compiler phase is reported, if run, and, starting in egcs version 1.1, that internal consistency checks in the `f771' program are run. This option is supplied automatically when `-v' or `--verbose' is specified as a command-line option for g77 or gcc and when the resulting commands compile Fortran source files.
-fset-g77-defaults
Version info: This option is obsolete in egcs as of version 1.1. The effect is instead achieved by the lang_init_options routine in `egcs/gcc/f/com.c'. Set up whatever gcc options are to apply to Fortran compilations, and avoid running internal consistency checks that might take some time. This option is supplied automatically when compiling Fortran code via the g77 or gcc command. The description of this option is provided so that users seeing it in the output of, say, `g77 -v' understand why it is there. Also, developers who run f771 directly might want to specify it by hand to get the same defaults as they would running f771 via g77 or gcc. However, such developers should, after linking a new f771 executable, invoke it without this option once, e.g. via ./f771 -quiet < /dev/null, to ensure that they have not introduced any internal inconsistencies (such as in the table of intrinsics) before proceeding---g77 will crash with a diagnostic if it detects an inconsistency.
-fno-silent
Print (to stderr) the names of the program units as they are compiled, in a form similar to that used by popular UNIX f77 implementations and f2c.

See section `Options Controlling the Kind of Output' in Using and Porting GNU CC, for information on more options that control the overall operation of the gcc command (and, by extension, the g77 command).

Shorthand Options

The following options serve as "shorthand" for other options accepted by the compiler:

-fugly
Note: This option is no longer supported. The information, below, is provided to aid in the conversion of old scripts. Specify that certain "ugly" constructs are to be quietly accepted. Same as:
-fugly-args -fugly-assign -fugly-assumed
-fugly-comma -fugly-complex -fugly-init
-fugly-logint
These constructs are considered inappropriate to use in new or well-maintained portable Fortran code, but widely used in old code. See section Distensions, for more information.
-fno-ugly
Specify that all "ugly" constructs are to be noisily rejected. Same as:
-fno-ugly-args -fno-ugly-assign -fno-ugly-assumed
-fno-ugly-comma -fno-ugly-complex -fno-ugly-init
-fno-ugly-logint
See section Distensions, for more information.
-ff66
Specify that the program is written in idiomatic FORTRAN 66. Same as `-fonetrip -fugly-assumed'. The `-fno-f66' option is the inverse of `-ff66'. As such, it is the same as `-fno-onetrip -fno-ugly-assumed'. The meaning of this option is likely to be refined as future versions of g77 provide more compatibility with other existing and obsolete Fortran implementations.
-ff77
Specify that the program is written in idiomatic UNIX FORTRAN 77 and/or the dialect accepted by the f2c product. Same as `-fbackslash -fno-typeless-boz'. The meaning of this option is likely to be refined as future versions of g77 provide more compatibility with other existing and obsolete Fortran implementations.
-fno-f77
The `-fno-f77' option is not the inverse of `-ff77'. It specifies that the program is not written in idiomatic UNIX FORTRAN 77 or f2c, but in a more widely portable dialect. `-fno-f77' is the same as `-fno-backslash'. The meaning of this option is likely to be refined as future versions of g77 provide more compatibility with other existing and obsolete Fortran implementations.

Options Controlling Fortran Dialect

The following options control the dialect of Fortran that the compiler accepts:

-ffree-form
-fno-fixed-form
Specify that the source file is written in free form (introduced in Fortran 90) instead of the more-traditional fixed form.
-ff90
Allow certain Fortran-90 constructs. This option controls whether certain Fortran 90 constructs are recognized. (Other Fortran 90 constructs might or might not be recognized depending on other options such as `-fvxt', `-ff90-intrinsics-enable', and the current level of support for Fortran 90.) See section Fortran 90, for more information.
-fvxt
Specify the treatment of certain constructs that have different meanings depending on whether the code is written in GNU Fortran (based on FORTRAN 77 and akin to Fortran 90) or VXT Fortran (more like VAX FORTRAN). The default is `-fno-vxt'. `-fvxt' specifies that the VXT Fortran interpretations for those constructs are to be chosen. See section VXT Fortran, for more information.
-fdollar-ok
Allow `$' as a valid character in a symbol name.
-fno-backslash
Specify that `\' is not to be specially interpreted in character and Hollerith constants a la C and many UNIX Fortran compilers. For example, with `-fbackslash' in effect, `A\nB' specifies three characters, with the second one being newline. With `-fno-backslash', it specifies four characters, `A', `\', `n', and `B'. Note that g77 implements a fairly general form of backslash processing that is incompatible with the narrower forms supported by some other compilers. For example, `'A\003B'' is a three-character string in g77, whereas other compilers that support backslash might not support the three-octal-digit form, and thus treat that string as longer than three characters. See section Backslash in Constants, for information on why `-fbackslash' is the default instead of `-fno-backslash'.
-fno-ugly-args
Disallow passing Hollerith and typeless constants as actual arguments (for example, `CALL FOO(4HABCD)'). See section Implicit Argument Conversion, for more information.
-fugly-assign
Use the same storage for a given variable regardless of whether it is used to hold an assigned-statement label (as in `ASSIGN 10 TO I') or used to hold numeric data (as in `I = 3'). See section Ugly Assigned Labels, for more information.
-fugly-assumed
Assume any dummy array with a final dimension specified as `1' is really an assumed-size array, as if `*' had been specified for the final dimension instead of `1'. For example, `DIMENSION X(1)' is treated as if it had read `DIMENSION X(*)'. See section Ugly Assumed-Size Arrays, for more information.
-fugly-comma
In an external-procedure invocation, treat a trailing comma in the argument list as specification of a trailing null argument, and treat an empty argument list as specification of a single null argument. For example, `CALL FOO(,)' is treated as `CALL FOO(%VAL(0), %VAL(0))'. That is, two null arguments are specified by the procedure call when `-fugly-comma' is in force. And `F = FUNC()' is treated as `F = FUNC(%VAL(0))'. The default behavior, `-fno-ugly-comma', is to ignore a single trailing comma in an argument list. So, by default, `CALL FOO(X,)' is treated exactly the same as `CALL FOO(X)'. See section Ugly Null Arguments, for more information.
-fugly-complex
Do not complain about `REAL(expr)' or `AIMAG(expr)' when expr is a COMPLEX type other than COMPLEX(KIND=1)---usually this is used to permit COMPLEX(KIND=2) (DOUBLE COMPLEX) operands. The `-ff90' option controls the interpretation of this construct. See section Ugly Complex Part Extraction, for more information.
-fno-ugly-init
Disallow use of Hollerith and typeless constants as initial values (in PARAMETER and DATA statements), and use of character constants to initialize numeric types and vice versa. For example, `DATA I/'F'/, CHRVAR/65/, J/4HABCD/' is disallowed by `-fno-ugly-init'. See section Ugly Conversion of Initializers, for more information.
-fugly-logint
Treat INTEGER and LOGICAL variables and expressions as potential stand-ins for each other. For example, automatic conversion between INTEGER and LOGICAL is enabled, for many contexts, via this option. See section Ugly Integer Conversions, for more information.
-fonetrip
Executable iterative DO loops are to be executed at least once each time they are reached. ANSI FORTRAN 77 and more recent versions of the Fortran standard specify that the body of an iterative DO loop is not executed if the number of iterations calculated from the parameters of the loop is less than 1. (For example, `DO 10 I = 1, 0'.) Such a loop is called a zero-trip loop. Prior to ANSI FORTRAN 77, many compilers implemented DO loops such that the body of a loop would be executed at least once, even if the iteration count was zero. Fortran code written assuming this behavior is said to require one-trip loops. For example, some code written to the FORTRAN 66 standard expects this behavior from its DO loops, although that standard did not specify this behavior. The `-fonetrip' option specifies that the source file(s) being compiled require one-trip loops. This option affects only those loops specified by the (iterative) DO statement and by implied-DO lists in I/O statements. Loops specified by implied-DO lists in DATA and specification (non-executable) statements are not affected.
-ftypeless-boz
Specifies that prefix-radix non-decimal constants, such as `Z'ABCD'', are typeless instead of INTEGER(KIND=1). You can test for yourself whether a particular compiler treats the prefix form as INTEGER(KIND=1) or typeless by running the following program:
EQUIVALENCE (I, R)
R = Z'ABCD1234'
J = Z'ABCD1234'
IF (J .EQ. I) PRINT *, 'Prefix form is TYPELESS'
IF (J .NE. I) PRINT *, 'Prefix form is INTEGER'
END
Reports indicate that many compilers process this form as INTEGER(KIND=1), though a few as typeless, and at least one based on a command-line option specifying some kind of compatibility.
-fintrin-case-initcap
-fintrin-case-upper
-fintrin-case-lower
-fintrin-case-any
Specify expected case for intrinsic names. `-fintrin-case-lower' is the default.
-fmatch-case-initcap
-fmatch-case-upper
-fmatch-case-lower
-fmatch-case-any
Specify expected case for keywords. `-fmatch-case-lower' is the default.
-fsource-case-upper
-fsource-case-lower
-fsource-case-preserve
Specify whether source text other than character and Hollerith constants is to be translated to uppercase, to lowercase, or preserved as is. `-fsource-case-lower' is the default.
-fsymbol-case-initcap
-fsymbol-case-upper
-fsymbol-case-lower
-fsymbol-case-any
Specify valid cases for user-defined symbol names. `-fsymbol-case-any' is the default.
-fcase-strict-upper
Same as `-fintrin-case-upper -fmatch-case-upper -fsource-case-preserve -fsymbol-case-upper'. (Requires all pertinent source to be in uppercase.)
-fcase-strict-lower
Same as `-fintrin-case-lower -fmatch-case-lower -fsource-case-preserve -fsymbol-case-lower'. (Requires all pertinent source to be in lowercase.)
-fcase-initcap
Same as `-fintrin-case-initcap -fmatch-case-initcap -fsource-case-preserve -fsymbol-case-initcap'. (Requires all pertinent source to be in initial capitals, as in `Print *,SqRt(Value)'.)
-fcase-upper
Same as `-fintrin-case-any -fmatch-case-any -fsource-case-upper -fsymbol-case-any'. (Maps all pertinent source to uppercase.)
-fcase-lower
Same as `-fintrin-case-any -fmatch-case-any -fsource-case-lower -fsymbol-case-any'. (Maps all pertinent source to lowercase.)
-fcase-preserve
Same as `-fintrin-case-any -fmatch-case-any -fsource-case-preserve -fsymbol-case-any'. (Preserves all case in user-defined symbols, while allowing any-case matching of intrinsics and keywords. For example, `call Foo(i,I)' would pass two different variables named `i' and `I' to a procedure named `Foo'.)
-fbadu77-intrinsics-delete
-fbadu77-intrinsics-hide
-fbadu77-intrinsics-disable
-fbadu77-intrinsics-enable
Specify status of UNIX intrinsics having inappropriate forms. `-fbadu77-intrinsics-enable' is the default. See section Intrinsic Groups.
-ff2c-intrinsics-delete
-ff2c-intrinsics-hide
-ff2c-intrinsics-disable
-ff2c-intrinsics-enable
Specify status of f2c-specific intrinsics. `-ff2c-intrinsics-enable' is the default. See section Intrinsic Groups.
-ff90-intrinsics-delete
-ff90-intrinsics-hide
-ff90-intrinsics-disable
-ff90-intrinsics-enable
Specify status of F90-specific intrinsics. `-ff90-intrinsics-enable' is the default. See section Intrinsic Groups.
-fgnu-intrinsics-delete
-fgnu-intrinsics-hide
-fgnu-intrinsics-disable
-fgnu-intrinsics-enable
Specify status of Digital's COMPLEX-related intrinsics. `-fgnu-intrinsics-enable' is the default. See section Intrinsic Groups.
-fmil-intrinsics-delete
-fmil-intrinsics-hide
-fmil-intrinsics-disable
-fmil-intrinsics-enable
Specify status of MIL-STD-1753-specific intrinsics. `-fmil-intrinsics-enable' is the default. See section Intrinsic Groups.
-funix-intrinsics-delete
-funix-intrinsics-hide
-funix-intrinsics-disable
-funix-intrinsics-enable
Specify status of UNIX intrinsics. `-funix-intrinsics-enable' is the default. See section Intrinsic Groups.
-fvxt-intrinsics-delete
-fvxt-intrinsics-hide
-fvxt-intrinsics-disable
-fvxt-intrinsics-enable
Specify status of VXT intrinsics. `-fvxt-intrinsics-enable' is the default. See section Intrinsic Groups.
-ffixed-line-length-n
Set column after which characters are ignored in typical fixed-form lines in the source file, and through which spaces are assumed (as if padded to that length) after the ends of short fixed-form lines. Popular values for n include 72 (the standard and the default), 80 (card image), and 132 (corresponds to "extended-source" options in some popular compilers). n may be `none', meaning that the entire line is meaningful and that continued character constants never have implicit spaces appended to them to fill out the line. `-ffixed-line-length-0' means the same thing as `-ffixed-line-length-none'. See section Source Form, for more information.

Options to Request or Suppress Warnings

Warnings are diagnostic messages that report constructions which are not inherently erroneous but which are risky or suggest there might have been an error.

You can request many specific warnings with options beginning `-W', for example `-Wimplicit' to request warnings on implicit declarations. Each of these specific warning options also has a negative form beginning `-Wno-' to turn off warnings; for example, `-Wno-implicit'. This manual lists only one of the two forms, whichever is not the default.

These options control the amount and kinds of warnings produced by GNU Fortran:

-fsyntax-only
Check the code for syntax errors, but don't do anything beyond that.
-pedantic
Issue warnings for uses of extensions to ANSI FORTRAN 77. `-pedantic' also applies to C-language constructs where they occur in GNU Fortran source files, such as use of `\e' in a character constant within a directive like `#include'. Valid ANSI FORTRAN 77 programs should compile properly with or without this option. However, without this option, certain GNU extensions and traditional Fortran features are supported as well. With this option, many of them are rejected. Some users try to use `-pedantic' to check programs for strict ANSI conformance. They soon find that it does not do quite what they want--it finds some non-ANSI practices, but not all. However, improvements to g77 in this area are welcome.
-pedantic-errors
Like `-pedantic', except that errors are produced rather than warnings.
-fpedantic
Like `-pedantic', but applies only to Fortran constructs.
-w
Inhibit all warning messages.
-Wno-globals
Inhibit warnings about use of a name as both a global name (a subroutine, function, or block data program unit, or a common block) and implicitly as the name of an intrinsic in a source file. Also inhibit warnings about inconsistent invocations and/or definitions of global procedures (function and subroutines). Such inconsistencies include different numbers of arguments and different types of arguments.
-Wimplicit
Warn whenever a variable, array, or function is implicitly declared. Has an effect similar to using the IMPLICIT NONE statement in every program unit. (Some Fortran compilers provide this feature by an option named `-u' or `/WARNINGS=DECLARATIONS'.)
-Wunused
Warn whenever a variable is unused aside from its declaration.
-Wuninitialized
Warn whenever an automatic variable is used without first being initialized. These warnings are possible only in optimizing compilation, because they require data-flow information that is computed only when optimizing. If you don't specify `-O', you simply won't get these warnings. These warnings occur only for variables that are candidates for register allocation. Therefore, they do not occur for a variable whose address is taken, or whose size is other than 1, 2, 4 or 8 bytes. Also, they do not occur for arrays, even when they are in registers. Note that there might be no warning about a variable that is used only to compute a value that itself is never used, because such computations may be deleted by data-flow analysis before the warnings are printed. These warnings are made optional because GNU Fortran is not smart enough to see all the reasons why the code might be correct despite appearing to have an error. Here is one example of how this can happen:
SUBROUTINE DISPAT(J)
IF (J.EQ.1) I=1
IF (J.EQ.2) I=4
IF (J.EQ.3) I=5
CALL FOO(I)
END
If the value of J is always 1, 2 or 3, then I is always initialized, but GNU Fortran doesn't know this. Here is another common case:
SUBROUTINE MAYBE(FLAG)
LOGICAL FLAG
IF (FLAG) VALUE = 9.4
...
IF (FLAG) PRINT *, VALUE
END
This has no bug because VALUE is used only if it is set.
-Wall
The `-Wunused' and `-Wuninitialized' options combined. These are all the options which pertain to usage that we recommend avoiding and that we believe is easy to avoid. (As more warnings are added to g77, some might be added to the list enabled by `-Wall'.)

The remaining `-W...' options are not implied by `-Wall' because they warn about constructions that we consider reasonable to use, on occasion, in clean programs.

-Wsurprising
Warn about "suspicious" constructs that are interpreted by the compiler in a way that might well be surprising to someone reading the code. These differences can result in subtle, compiler-dependent (even machine-dependent) behavioral differences. The constructs warned about include:
-Werror
Make all warnings into errors.
-W
Turns on "extra warnings" and, if optimization is specified via `-O', the `-Wuninitialized' option. (This might change in future versions of g77.) "Extra warnings" are issued for:

See section `Options to Request or Suppress Warnings' in Using and Porting GNU CC, for information on more options offered by the GBE shared by g77, gcc, and other GNU compilers.

Some of these have no effect when compiling programs written in Fortran:

-Wcomment
-Wformat
-Wparentheses
-Wswitch
-Wtraditional
-Wshadow
-Wid-clash-len
-Wlarger-than-len
-Wconversion
-Waggregate-return
-Wredundant-decls
These options all could have some relevant meaning for GNU Fortran programs, but are not yet supported.

Options for Debugging Your Program or GNU Fortran

GNU Fortran has various special options that are used for debugging either your program or g77.

-g
Produce debugging information in the operating system's native format (stabs, COFF, XCOFF, or DWARF). GDB can work with this debugging information. Support for this option in Fortran programs is incomplete. In particular, names of variables and arrays in common blocks or that are storage-associated via EQUIVALENCE are unavailable to the debugger. However, version 0.5.19 of g77 does provide this information in a rudimentary way, as controlled by the `-fdebug-kludge' option. See section Options for Code Generation Conventions, for more information.

See section `Options for Debugging Your Program or GNU CC' in Using and Porting GNU CC, for more information on debugging options.

Options That Control Optimization

Most Fortran users will want to use no optimization when developing and testing programs, and use `-O' or `-O2' when compiling programs for late-cycle testing and for production use. However, note that certain diagnostics--such as for uninitialized variables--depend on the flow analysis done by `-O', i.e. you must use `-O' or `-O2' to get such diagnostics.

The following flags have particular applicability when compiling Fortran programs:

-malign-double
(Intel x86 architecture only.) Noticeably improves performance of g77 programs making heavy use of REAL(KIND=2) (DOUBLE PRECISION) data on some systems. In particular, systems using Pentium, Pentium Pro, 586, and 686 implementations of the i386 architecture execute programs faster when REAL(KIND=2) (DOUBLE PRECISION) data are aligned on 64-bit boundaries in memory. This option can, at least, make benchmark results more consistent across various system configurations, versions of the program, and data sets. Note: The warning in the gcc documentation about this option does not apply, generally speaking, to Fortran code compiled by g77. See section Aligned Data, for more information on alignment issues. Also also note: The negative form of `-malign-double' is `-mno-align-double', not `-benign-double'.
-ffloat-store
Might help a Fortran program that depends on exact IEEE conformance on some machines, but might slow down a program that doesn't. This option is effective when the floating-point unit is set to work in IEEE 854 `extended precision'---as it typically is on x86 and m68k GNU systems--rather than IEEE 754 double precision. `-ffloat-store' tries to remove the extra precision by spilling data from floating-point registers into memory and this typically involves a big performance hit. However, it doesn't affect intermediate results, so that it is only partially effective. `Excess precision' is avoided in code like:
a = b + c
d = a * e
but not in code like:
      d = (b + c) * e
For another, potentially better, way of controlling the precision, see section Floating-point precision.
-fforce-mem
-fforce-addr
Might improve optimization of loops.
-fno-inline
Don't compile statement functions inline. Might reduce the size of a program unit--which might be at expense of some speed (though it should compile faster). Note that if you are not optimizing, no functions can be expanded inline.
-ffast-math
Might allow some programs designed to not be too dependent on IEEE behavior for floating-point to run faster, or die trying.
-fstrength-reduce
Might make some loops run faster.
-frerun-cse-after-loop
-fexpensive-optimizations
-fdelayed-branch
-fschedule-insns
-fschedule-insns2
-fcaller-saves
Might improve performance on some code.
-funroll-loops
Typically improves performance on code using iterative DO loops by unrolling them and is probably generally appropriate for Fortran, though it is not turned on at any optimization level. Note that outer loop unrolling isn't done specifically; decisions about whether to unroll a loop are made on the basis of its instruction count. Also, no `loop discovery'(1) is done, so only loops written with DO benefit from loop optimizations, including--but not limited to--unrolling. Loops written with IF and GOTO are not currently recognized as such. This option unrolls only iterative DO loops, not DO WHILE loops.
-funroll-all-loops
Probably improves performance on code using DO WHILE loops by unrolling them in addition to iterative DO loops. In the absence of DO WHILE, this option is equivalent to `-funroll-loops' but possibly slower.
-fno-move-all-movables
-fno-reduce-all-givs
-fno-rerun-loop-opt
Version info: These options are not supported by versions of g77 based on gcc version 2.8. Each of these might improve performance on some code. Analysis of Fortran code optimization and the resulting optimizations triggered by the above options were contributed by Toon Moene (toon@moene.indiv.nluug.nl). These three options are intended to be removed someday, once they have helped determine the efficacy of various approaches to improving the performance of Fortran code. Please let us know how use of these options affects the performance of your production code. We're particularly interested in code that runs faster when these options are disabled, and in non-Fortran code that benefits when they are enabled via the above gcc command-line options.

See section `Options That Control Optimization' in Using and Porting GNU CC, for more information on options to optimize the generated machine code.

Options Controlling the Preprocessor

These options control the C preprocessor, which is run on each C source file before actual compilation.

See section `Options Controlling the Preprocessor' in Using and Porting GNU CC, for information on C preprocessor options.

Some of these options also affect how g77 processes the INCLUDE directive. Since this directive is processed even when preprocessing is not requested, it is not described in this section. See section Options for Directory Search, for information on how g77 processes the INCLUDE directive.

However, the INCLUDE directive does not apply preprocessing to the contents of the included file itself.

Therefore, any file that contains preprocessor directives (such as #include, #define, and #if) must be included via the #include directive, not via the INCLUDE directive. Therefore, any file containing preprocessor directives, if included, is necessarily included by a file that itself contains preprocessor directives.

Options for Directory Search

These options affect how the cpp preprocessor searches for files specified via the #include directive. Therefore, when compiling Fortran programs, they are meaningful when the preprocessor is used.

Some of these options also affect how g77 searches for files specified via the INCLUDE directive, although files included by that directive are not, themselves, preprocessed. These options are:

-I-
-Idir
These affect interpretation of the INCLUDE directive (as well as of the #include directive of the cpp preprocessor). Note that `-Idir' must be specified without any spaces between `-I' and the directory name--that is, `-Ifoo/bar' is valid, but `-I foo/bar' is rejected by the g77 compiler (though the preprocessor supports the latter form). Also note that the general behavior of `-I' and INCLUDE is pretty much the same as of `-I' with #include in the cpp preprocessor, with regard to looking for `header.gcc' files and other such things. See section `Options for Directory Search' in Using and Porting GNU CC, for information on the `-I' option.

Options for Code Generation Conventions

These machine-independent options control the interface conventions used in code generation.

Most of them have both positive and negative forms; the negative form of `-ffoo' would be `-fno-foo'. In the table below, only one of the forms is listed--the one which is not the default. You can figure out the other form by either removing `no-' or adding it.

-fno-automatic
Treat each program unit as if the SAVE statement was specified for every local variable and array referenced in it. Does not affect common blocks. (Some Fortran compilers provide this option under the name `-static'.)
-finit-local-zero
Specify that variables and arrays that are local to a program unit (not in a common block and not passed as an argument) are to be initialized to binary zeros. Since there is a run-time penalty for initialization of variables that are not given the SAVE attribute, it might be a good idea to also use `-fno-automatic' with `-finit-local-zero'.
-fno-f2c
Do not generate code designed to be compatible with code generated by f2c; use the GNU calling conventions instead. The f2c calling conventions require functions that return type REAL(KIND=1) to actually return the C type double, and functions that return type COMPLEX to return the values via an extra argument in the calling sequence that points to where to store the return value. Under the GNU calling conventions, such functions simply return their results as they would in GNU C---REAL(KIND=1) functions return the C type float, and COMPLEX functions return the GNU C type complex (or its struct equivalent). This does not affect the generation of code that interfaces with the libg2c library. However, because the libg2c library uses f2c calling conventions, g77 rejects attempts to pass intrinsics implemented by routines in this library as actual arguments when `-fno-f2c' is used, to avoid bugs when they are actually called by code expecting the GNU calling conventions to work. For example, `INTRINSIC ABS;CALL FOO(ABS)' is rejected when `-fno-f2c' is in force. (Future versions of the g77 run-time library might offer routines that provide GNU-callable versions of the routines that implement the f2c-callable intrinsics that may be passed as actual arguments, so that valid programs need not be rejected when `-fno-f2c' is used.) Caution: If `-fno-f2c' is used when compiling any source file used in a program, it must be used when compiling all Fortran source files used in that program.
-ff2c-library
Specify that use of libg2c (or the original libf2c) is required. This is the default for the current version of g77. Currently it is not valid to specify `-fno-f2c-library'. This option is provided so users can specify it in shell scripts that build programs and libraries that require the libf2c library, even when being compiled by future versions of g77 that might otherwise default to generating code for an incompatible library.
-fno-underscoring
Do not transform names of entities specified in the Fortran source file by appending underscores to them. With `-funderscoring' in effect, g77 appends two underscores to names with underscores and one underscore to external names with no underscores. (g77 also appends two underscores to internal names with underscores to avoid naming collisions with external names. The `-fno-second-underscore' option disables appending of the second underscore in all cases.) This is done to ensure compatibility with code produced by many UNIX Fortran compilers, including f2c, which perform the same transformations. Use of `-fno-underscoring' is not recommended unless you are experimenting with issues such as integration of (GNU) Fortran into existing system environments (vis-a-vis existing libraries, tools, and so on). For example, with `-funderscoring', and assuming other defaults like `-fcase-lower' and that `j()' and `max_count()' are external functions while `my_var' and `lvar' are local variables, a statement like
I = J() + MAX_COUNT (MY_VAR, LVAR)
is implemented as something akin to:
i = j_() + max_count__(&my_var__, &lvar);
With `-fno-underscoring', the same statement is implemented as:
i = j() + max_count(&my_var, &lvar);
Use of `-fno-underscoring' allows direct specification of user-defined names while debugging and when interfacing g77-compiled code with other languages. Note that just because the names match does not mean that the interface implemented by g77 for an external name matches the interface implemented by some other language for that same name. That is, getting code produced by g77 to link to code produced by some other compiler using this or any other method can be only a small part of the overall solution--getting the code generated by both compilers to agree on issues other than naming can require significant effort, and, unlike naming disagreements, linkers normally cannot detect disagreements in these other areas. Also, note that with `-fno-underscoring', the lack of appended underscores introduces the very real possibility that a user-defined external name will conflict with a name in a system library, which could make finding unresolved-reference bugs quite difficult in some cases--they might occur at program run time, and show up only as buggy behavior at run time. In future versions of g77, we hope to improve naming and linking issues so that debugging always involves using the names as they appear in the source, even if the names as seen by the linker are mangled to prevent accidental linking between procedures with incompatible interfaces.
-fno-second-underscore
Do not append a second underscore to names of entities specified in the Fortran source file. This option has no effect if `-fno-underscoring' is in effect. Otherwise, with this option, an external name such as `MAX_COUNT' is implemented as a reference to the link-time external symbol `max_count_', instead of `max_count__'.
-fno-ident
Ignore the `#ident' directive.
-fzeros
Treat initial values of zero as if they were any other value. As of version 0.5.18, g77 normally treats DATA and other statements that are used to specify initial values of zero for variables and arrays as if no values were actually specified, in the sense that no diagnostics regarding multiple initializations are produced. This is done to speed up compiling of programs that initialize large arrays to zeros. Use `-fzeros' to revert to the simpler, slower behavior that can catch multiple initializations by keeping track of all initializations, zero or otherwise. Caution: Future versions of g77 might disregard this option (and its negative form, the default) or interpret it somewhat differently. The interpretation changes will affect only non-standard programs; standard-conforming programs should not be affected.
-fdebug-kludge
Emit information on COMMON and EQUIVALENCE members that might help users of debuggers work around lack of proper debugging information on such members. As of version 0.5.19, g77 offers this option to emit information on members of aggregate areas to help users while debugging. This information consists of establishing the type and contents of each such member so that, when a debugger is asked to print the contents, the printed information provides rudimentary debugging information. This information identifies the name of the aggregate area (either the COMMON block name, or the g77-assigned name for the EQUIVALENCE name) and the offset, in bytes, of the member from the beginning of the area. Using gdb, this information is not coherently displayed in the Fortran language mode, so temporarily switching to the C language mode to display the information is suggested. Use `set language c' and `set language fortran' to accomplish this. For example:
      COMMON /X/A,B
      EQUIVALENCE (C,D)
      CHARACTER XX*50
      EQUIVALENCE (I,XX(20:20))
      END

GDB is free software and you are welcome to distribute copies of it
 under certain conditions; type "show copying" to see the conditions.
There is absolutely no warranty for GDB; type "show warranty" for details.
GDB 4.16 (lm-gnits-dwim), Copyright 1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc...
(gdb) b MAIN__
Breakpoint 1 at 0t1200000201120112: file cd.f, line 5.
(gdb) r
Starting program: /home/user/a.out

Breakpoint 1, MAIN__ () at cd.f:5
Current language:  auto; currently fortran
(gdb) set language c
Warning: the current language does not match this frame.
(gdb) p a
$2 = "At (COMMON) `x_' plus 0 bytes"
(gdb) p b
$3 = "At (COMMON) `x_' plus 4 bytes"
(gdb) p c
$4 = "At (EQUIVALENCE) `__g77_equiv_c' plus 0 bytes"
(gdb) p d
$5 = "At (EQUIVALENCE) `__g77_equiv_c' plus 0 bytes"
(gdb) p i
$6 = "At (EQUIVALENCE) `__g77_equiv_xx' plus 20 bytes"
(gdb) p xx
$7 = "At (EQUIVALENCE) `__g77_equiv_xx' plus 1 bytes"
(gdb) set language fortran
(gdb)
Use `-fdebug-kludge' to generate this information, which might make some programs noticeably larger. Caution: Future versions of g77 might disregard this option (and its negative form). Current plans call for this to happen when published versions of g77 and gdb exist that provide proper access to debugging information on COMMON and EQUIVALENCE members.
-femulate-complex
Implement COMPLEX arithmetic via emulation, instead of using the facilities of the gcc back end that provide direct support of complex arithmetic. (gcc had some bugs in its back-end support for complex arithmetic, due primarily to the support not being completed as of version 2.8.1 and egcs 1.1.2.) Use `-femulate-complex' if you suspect code-generation bugs, or experience compiler crashes, that might result from g77 using the COMPLEX support in the gcc back end. If using that option fixes the bugs or crashes you are seeing, that indicates a likely g77 bugs (though, all compiler crashes are considered bugs), so, please report it. (Note that the known bugs, now believed fixed, produced compiler crashes rather than causing the generation of incorrect code.) Use of this option should not affect how Fortran code compiled by g77 works in terms of its interfaces to other code, e.g. that compiled by f2c. Caution: Future versions of g77 might ignore both forms of this option.
-falias-check
-fargument-alias
-fargument-noalias
-fno-argument-noalias-global
Version info: These options are not supported by versions of g77 based on gcc version 2.8. These options specify to what degree aliasing (overlap) is permitted between arguments (passed as pointers) and COMMON (external, or public) storage. The default for Fortran code, as mandated by the FORTRAN 77 and Fortran 90 standards, is `-fargument-noalias-global'. The default for code written in the C language family is `-fargument-alias'. Note that, on some systems, compiling with `-fforce-addr' in effect can produce more optimal code when the default aliasing options are in effect (and when optimization is enabled). See section Aliasing Assumed To Work, for detailed information on the implications of compiling Fortran code that depends on the ability to alias dummy arguments.
-fno-globals
Disable diagnostics about inter-procedural analysis problems, such as disagreements about the type of a function or a procedure's argument, that might cause a compiler crash when attempting to inline a reference to a procedure within a program unit. (The diagnostics themselves are still produced, but as warnings, unless `-Wno-globals' is specified, in which case no relevant diagnostics are produced.) Further, this option disables such inlining, to avoid compiler crashes resulting from incorrect code that would otherwise be diagnosed. As such, this option might be quite useful when compiling existing, "working" code that happens to have a few bugs that do not generally show themselves, but which g77 diagnoses. Use of this option therefore has the effect of instructing g77 to behave more like it did up through version 0.5.19.1, when it paid little or no attention to disagreements between program units about a procedure's type and argument information, and when it performed no inlining of procedures (except statement functions). Without this option, g77 defaults to performing the potentially inlining procedures as it started doing in version 0.5.20, but as of version 0.5.21, it also diagnoses disagreements that might cause such inlining to crash the compiler as (fatal) errors, and warns about similar disagreements that are currently believed to not likely to result in the compiler later crashing or producing incorrect code.
-fflatten-arrays
Use back end's C-like constructs (pointer plus offset) instead of its ARRAY_REF construct to handle all array references. Note: This option is not supported. It is intended for use only by g77 developers, to evaluate code-generation issues. It might be removed at any time.
-fbounds-check
-ffortran-bounds-check
Enable generation of run-time checks for array subscripts and substring start and end points against the (locally) declared minimum and maximum values. The current implementation uses the libf2c library routine s_rnge to print the diagnostic. However, whereas f2c generates a single check per reference for a multi-dimensional array, of the computed offset against the valid offset range (0 through the size of the array), g77 generates a single check per subscript expression. This catches some cases of potential bugs that f2c does not, such as references to below the beginning of an assumed-size array. g77 also generates checks for CHARACTER substring references, something f2c currently does not do. Use the new `-ffortran-bounds-check' option to specify bounds-checking for only the Fortran code you are compiling, not necessarily for code written in other languages. Note: To provide more detailed information on the offending subscript, g77 provides the libg2c run-time library routine s_rnge with somewhat differently-formatted information. Here's a sample diagnostic:
Subscript out of range on file line 4, procedure rnge.f/bf.
Attempt to access the -6-th element of variable b[subscript-2-of-2].
Aborted
The above message indicates that the offending source line is line 4 of the file `rnge.f', within the program unit (or statement function) named `bf'. The offended array is named `b'. The offended array dimension is the second for a two-dimensional array, and the offending, computed subscript expression was `-6'. For a CHARACTER substring reference, the second line has this appearance:
Attempt to access the 11-th element of variable a[start-substring].
This indicates that the offended CHARACTER variable or array is named `a', the offended substring position is the starting (leftmost) position, and the offending substring expression is `11'. (Though the verbage of s_rnge is not ideal for the purpose of the g77 compiler, the above information should provide adequate diagnostic abilities to it users.)

See section `Options for Code Generation Conventions' in Using and Porting GNU CC, for information on more options offered by the GBE shared by g77, gcc, and other GNU compilers.

Some of these do not work when compiling programs written in Fortran:

-fpcc-struct-return
-freg-struct-return
You should not use these except strictly the same way as you used them to build the version of libg2c with which you will be linking all code compiled by g77 with the same option.
-fshort-double
This probably either has no effect on Fortran programs, or makes them act loopy.
-fno-common
Do not use this when compiling Fortran programs, or there will be Trouble.
-fpack-struct
This probably will break any calls to the libg2c library, at the very least, even if it is built with the same option.

Environment Variables Affecting GNU Fortran

GNU Fortran currently does not make use of any environment variables to control its operation above and beyond those that affect the operation of gcc.

See section `Environment Variables Affecting GNU CC' in Using and Porting GNU CC, for information on environment variables.


Go to the first, previous, next, last section, table of contents.