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This manual documents how to run and install the GNU compiler, as well as its new features and incompatibilities, and how to report bugs. It corresponds to GCC version 2.96.
1. Compile C, C++, or Objective C You can compile C or C++ programs. 2. GNU CC Command Options Command options supported by `gcc'. 3. Extensions to the C Language Family GNU extensions to the C language family. 4. Extensions to the C++ Language GNU extensions to the C++ language. 5. Known Causes of Trouble with GNU CC If you have trouble installing GNU CC. 6. Reporting Bugs How, why and where to report bugs. 7. How To Get Help with GNU CC How to find suppliers of support for GNU CC. 8. Contributing to GNU CC Development How to contribute to testing and developing GNU CC.
Index Index of concepts and symbol names.
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The C, C++, and Objective C versions of the compiler are integrated; the GNU C compiler can compile programs written in C, C++, or Objective C.
"GCC" is a common shorthand term for the GNU C compiler. This is both the most general name for the compiler, and the name used when the emphasis is on compiling C programs.
When referring to C++ compilation, it is usual to call the compiler "G++". Since there is only one compiler, it is also accurate to call it "GCC" no matter what the language context; however, the term "G++" is more useful when the emphasis is on compiling C++ programs.
We use the name "GNU CC" to refer to the compilation system as a whole, and more specifically to the language-independent part of the compiler. For example, we refer to the optimization options as affecting the behavior of "GNU CC" or sometimes just "the compiler".
Front ends for other languages, such as Ada 9X, Fortran, Modula-3, and Pascal, are under development. These front-ends, like that for C++, are built in subdirectories of GNU CC and link to it. The result is an integrated compiler that can compile programs written in C, C++, Objective C, or any of the languages for which you have installed front ends.
In this manual, we only discuss the options for the C, Objective-C, and C++ compilers and those of the GNU CC core. Consult the documentation of the other front ends for the options to use when compiling programs written in other languages.
G++ is a compiler, not merely a preprocessor. G++ builds object code directly from your C++ program source. There is no intermediate C version of the program. (By contrast, for example, some other implementations use a program that generates a C program from your C++ source.) Avoiding an intermediate C representation of the program means that you get better object code, and better debugging information. The GNU debugger, GDB, works with this information in the object code to give you comprehensive C++ source-level editing capabilities (see section `C and C++' in Debugging with GDB).
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When you invoke GNU CC, it normally does preprocessing, compilation, assembly and linking. The "overall options" allow you to stop this process at an intermediate stage. For example, the `-c' option says not to run the linker. Then the output consists of object files output by the assembler.
Other options are passed on to one stage of processing. Some options control the preprocessor and others the compiler itself. Yet other options control the assembler and linker; most of these are not documented here, since you rarely need to use any of them.
Most of the command line options that you can use with GNU CC are useful for C programs; when an option is only useful with another language (usually C++), the explanation says so explicitly. If the description for a particular option does not mention a source language, you can use that option with all supported languages.
See section Compiling C++ Programs, for a summary of special options for compiling C++ programs.
The gcc program accepts options and file names as operands. Many
options have multiletter names; therefore multiple single-letter options
may not be grouped: `-dr' is very different from `-d
-r'.
You can mix options and other arguments. For the most part, the order you use doesn't matter. Order does matter when you use several options of the same kind; for example, if you specify `-L' more than once, the directories are searched in the order specified.
Many options have long names starting with `-f' or with `-W'---for example, `-fforce-mem', `-fstrength-reduce', `-Wformat' and so on. Most of these have both 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.
2.1 Option Summary Brief list of all options, without explanations. 2.2 Options Controlling the Kind of Output Controlling the kind of output: an executable, object files, assembler files, or preprocessed source. 2.3 Compiling C++ Programs Compiling C++ programs. 2.4 Options Controlling C Dialect Controlling the variant of C language compiled. 2.5 Options Controlling C++ Dialect Variations on C++. 2.6 Options to Request or Suppress Warnings How picky should the compiler be? 2.7 Options for Debugging Your Program or GNU CC Symbol tables, measurements, and debugging dumps. 2.8 Options That Control Optimization How much optimization? 2.9 Options Controlling the Preprocessor Controlling header files and macro definitions. Also, getting dependency information for Make. 2.10 Passing Options to the Assembler Passing options to the assembler. 2.11 Options for Linking Specifying libraries and so on. 2.12 Options for Directory Search Where to find header files and libraries. Where to find the compiler executable files. 2.13 Specifying Target Machine and Compiler Version Running a cross-compiler, or an old version of GNU CC. 2.14 Hardware Models and Configurations Specifying minor hardware or convention variations, such as 68010 vs 68020. 2.15 Options for Code Generation Conventions Specifying conventions for function calls, data layout and register usage. 2.16 Environment Variables Affecting GNU CC Env vars that affect GNU CC.
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Here is a summary of all the options, grouped by type. Explanations are in the following sections.
-c -S -E -o file -pipe -v --help -x language |
-ansi -flang-isoc9x -fallow-single-precision -fcond-mismatch -fno-asm -fno-builtin -ffreestanding -fhosted -fsigned-bitfields -fsigned-char -funsigned-bitfields -funsigned-char -fwritable-strings -traditional -traditional-cpp -trigraphs |
-fno-access-control -fcheck-new -fconserve-space -fdollars-in-identifiers -fno-elide-constructors -fexternal-templates -ffor-scope -fno-for-scope -fno-gnu-keywords -fguiding-decls -fhandle-signatures -fhonor-std -fhuge-objects -fno-implicit-templates -finit-priority -fno-implement-inlines -fname-mangling-version-n -fno-default-inline -foperator-names -fno-optional-diags -fpermissive -frepo -fstrict-prototype -fsquangle -ftemplate-depth-n -fthis-is-variable -fvtable-thunks -nostdinc++ -Wctor-dtor-privacy -Wno-deprecated -Weffc++ -Wno-non-template-friend -Wnon-virtual-dtor -Wold-style-cast -Woverloaded-virtual -Wno-pmf-conversions -Wreorder -Wsign-promo -Wsynth |
-fsyntax-only -pedantic -pedantic-errors -w -W -Wall -Waggregate-return -Wbad-function-cast -Wcast-align -Wcast-qual -Wchar-subscripts -Wcomment -Wconversion -Werror -Wformat -Wid-clash-len -Wimplicit -Wimplicit-int -Wimplicit-function-declaration -Wimport -Werror-implicit-function-declaration -Winline -Wlarger-than-len -Wlong-long -Wmain -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-noreturn -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmultichar -Wnested-externs -Wno-import -Wparentheses -Wpointer-arith -Wredundant-decls -Wreturn-type -Wshadow -Wsign-compare -Wstrict-prototypes -Wswitch -Wtraditional -Wtrigraphs -Wundef -Wuninitialized -Wunused -Wwrite-strings -Wunknown-pragmas |
-a -ax -dletters -fdump-unnumbered -fpretend-float -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage -g -glevel -gcoff -gdwarf -gdwarf-1 -gdwarf-1+ -gdwarf-2 -ggdb -gstabs -gstabs+ -gxcoff -gxcoff+ -p -pg -print-file-name=library -print-libgcc-file-name -print-prog-name=program -print-search-dirs -save-temps |
-fbranch-probabilities -foptimize-register-moves -fcaller-saves -fcse-follow-jumps -fcse-skip-blocks -fdelayed-branch -fexpensive-optimizations -ffast-math -ffloat-store -fforce-addr -fforce-mem -fdata-sections -ffunction-sections -fgcse -finline-functions -finline-limit-n -fkeep-inline-functions -fno-default-inline -fno-defer-pop -fno-function-cse -fno-inline -fno-peephole -fomit-frame-pointer -fregmove -frerun-cse-after-loop -frerun-loop-opt -fschedule-insns -fschedule-insns2 -fstrength-reduce -fthread-jumps -funroll-all-loops -funroll-loops -fmove-all-movables -freduce-all-givs -fstrict-aliasing -O -O0 -O1 -O2 -O3 -Os |
-Aquestion(answer) -C -dD -dM -dN -Dmacro[=defn] -E -H -idirafter dir -include file -imacros file -iprefix file -iwithprefix dir -iwithprefixbefore dir -isystem dir -isystem-c++ dir -M -MD -MM -MMD -MG -nostdinc -P -trigraphs -undef -Umacro -Wp,option |
-Wa,option |
object-file-name -llibrary -nostartfiles -nodefaultlibs -nostdlib -s -static -shared -symbolic -Wl,option -Xlinker option -u symbol |
-Bprefix -Idir -I- -Ldir -specs=file |
-b machine -V version |
M680x0 Options -m68000 -m68020 -m68020-40 -m68020-60 -m68030 -m68040 -m68060 -mcpu32 -m5200 -m68881 -mbitfield -mc68000 -mc68020 -mfpa -mnobitfield -mrtd -mshort -msoft-float -mpcrel -malign-int SPARC Options -mcpu=cpu type -mtune=cpu type -mcmodel=code model -malign-jumps=num -malign-loops=num -malign-functions=num -m32 -m64 -mapp-regs -mbroken-saverestore -mcypress -mepilogue -mflat -mfpu -mhard-float -mhard-quad-float -mimpure-text -mlive-g0 -mno-app-regs -mno-epilogue -mno-flat -mno-fpu -mno-impure-text -mno-stack-bias -mno-unaligned-doubles -msoft-float -msoft-quad-float -msparclite -mstack-bias -msupersparc -munaligned-doubles -mv8 ARM Options -mapcs-frame -mno-apcs-frame -mapcs-26 -mapcs-32 -mapcs-stack-check -mno-apcs-stack-check -mapcs-float -mno-apcs-float -mapcs-reentrant -mno-apcs-reentrant -msched-prolog -mno-sched-prolog -mlittle-endian -mbig-endian -mwords-little-endian -mshort-load-bytes -mno-short-load-bytes -mshort-load-words -mno-short-load-words -msoft-float -mhard-float -mfpe -mthumb-interwork -mno-thumb-interwork -mcpu= -march= -mfpe= -mstructure-size-boundary= -mbsd -mxopen -mno-symrename -mabort-on-noreturn -mno-sched-prolog -mlongcall -fbitfield-access-32bit Thumb Options -mtpcs-frame -mno-tpcs-frame -mtpcs-leaf-frame -mno-tpcs-leaf-frame -mlittle-endian -mbig-endian -mthumb-interwork -mno-thumb-interwork -mstructure-size-boundary= RS/6000 and PowerPC Options -mcpu=cpu type -mtune=cpu type -mpower -mno-power -mpower2 -mno-power2 -mpowerpc -mno-powerpc -mpowerpc-gpopt -mno-powerpc-gpopt -mpowerpc-gfxopt -mno-powerpc-gfxopt -mnew-mnemonics -mno-new-mnemonics -mfull-toc -mminimal-toc -mno-fop-in-toc -mno-sum-in-toc -maix64 -maix32 -mxl-call -mno-xl-call -mthreads -mpe -msoft-float -mhard-float -mmultiple -mno-multiple -mstring -mno-string -mupdate -mno-update -mfused-madd -mno-fused-madd -mbit-align -mno-bit-align -mstrict-align -mno-strict-align -mrelocatable -mno-relocatable -mrelocatable-lib -mno-relocatable-lib -mtoc -mno-toc -mlittle -mlittle-endian -mbig -mbig-endian -mcall-aix -mcall-sysv -mprototype -mno-prototype -msim -mmvme -mads -myellowknife -memb -msdata -msdata=opt -G num -mlongcall -fvec -fvec-eabi MIPS Options -mabicalls -mcpu=cpu type -membedded-data -membedded-pic -mfp32 -mfp64 -mgas -mgp32 -mgp64 -mgpopt -mhalf-pic -mhard-float -mint64 -mips1 -mips2 -mips3 -mips4 -mips5 -mips32 -mips64 -mlong64 -mlong32 -mlong-calls -mmemcpy -mmips-as -mmips-tfile -mno-abicalls -mno-embedded-data -mno-embedded-pic -mno-gpopt -mno-long-calls -mno-memcpy -mno-mips-tfile -mno-rnames -mno-stats -mrnames -msoft-float -m4650 -msingle-float -mmad -mstats -EL -EB -G num -nocpp -mabi=32 -mabi=n32 -mabi=64 -mabi=eabi i386 Options -mcpu=cpu type -march=cpu type -mieee-fp -mno-fancy-math-387 -mno-fp-ret-in-387 -msoft-float -msvr3-shlib -mno-wide-multiply -mrtd -malign-double -mreg-alloc=list -mregparm=num -malign-jumps=num -malign-loops=num -malign-functions=num -mpreferred-stack-boundary=num SH Options -ml -mb -m1 -m2 -m3 -m3e -m4single-only -m4-single -m4 -mrelax -mbigtable -mdalign -mfmovd -mhitachi -mieee -mno-ieee -misize -mpadstruct -mspace |
-fcall-saved-reg -fcall-used-reg -fexceptions -ffixed-reg -finhibit-size-directive -fcheck-memory-usage -fprefix-function-name -fno-common -fno-ident -fno-gnu-linker -fpcc-struct-return -fpic -fPIC -freg-struct-return -fshared-data -fshort-enums -fshort-double -fvolatile -fvolatile-global -fvolatile-static -fverbose-asm -fpack-struct -fstack-check -fargument-alias -fargument-noalias -fargument-noalias-global -fleading-underscore |
2.2 Options Controlling the Kind of Output Controlling the kind of output: an executable, object files, assembler files, or preprocessed source. 2.4 Options Controlling C Dialect Controlling the variant of C language compiled. 2.5 Options Controlling C++ Dialect Variations on C++. 2.6 Options to Request or Suppress Warnings How picky should the compiler be? 2.7 Options for Debugging Your Program or GNU CC Symbol tables, measurements, and debugging dumps. 2.8 Options That Control Optimization How much optimization? 2.9 Options Controlling the Preprocessor Controlling header files and macro definitions. Also, getting dependency information for Make. 2.10 Passing Options to the Assembler Passing options to the assembler. 2.11 Options for Linking Specifying libraries and so on. 2.12 Options for Directory Search Where to find header files and libraries. Where to find the compiler executable files. 2.13 Specifying Target Machine and Compiler Version Running a cross-compiler, or an old version of GNU CC.
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Compilation can involve up to four stages: preprocessing, compilation proper, 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 compilation is done:
file.c
file.i
file.ii
file.m
file.h
file.cc
file.cxx
file.cpp
file.C
file.s
file.S
other
You can specify the input language explicitly with the `-x' option:
-x language
c objective-c c++ c-header cpp-output c++-cpp-output assembler assembler-with-cpp |
-x none
If you only want some of the stages of compilation, you can use
`-x' (or filename suffixes) to tell gcc where to start, and
one of the options `-c', `-S', or `-E' to say where
gcc is to stop. Note that some combinations (for example,
`-x cpp-output -E' instruct gcc to do nothing at all.
-c
By default, the object file name for a source file is made by replacing the suffix `.c', `.i', `.s', etc., with `.o'.
Unrecognized input files, not requiring compilation or assembly, are ignored.
-S
By default, the assembler file name for a source file is made by replacing the suffix `.c', `.i', etc., with `.s'.
Input files that don't require compilation are ignored.
-E
Input files which don't require preprocessing are ignored.
-o file
Since only one output file can be specified, it does not make sense to use `-o' when compiling more than one input file, unless you are producing an executable file as output.
If `-o' is not specified, the default is to put an executable file in `a.out', the object file for `source.suffix' in `source.o', its assembler file in `source.s', and all preprocessed C source on standard output.
-v
-pipe
--help
gcc. If the -v option is also specified
then --help will also be passed on to the various processes
invoked by gcc, so that they can display the command line options
they accept. If the -W option is also specified then command
line options which have no documentation associated with them will also
be displayed.
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C++ source files conventionally use one of the suffixes `.C',
`.cc', `.cpp', `.c++', `.cp', or `.cxx';
preprocessed C++ files use the suffix `.ii'. GNU CC recognizes
files with these names and compiles them as C++ programs even if you
call the compiler the same way as for compiling C programs (usually with
the name gcc).
However, C++ programs often require class libraries as well as a
compiler that understands the C++ language--and under some
circumstances, you might want to compile programs from standard input,
or otherwise without a suffix that flags them as C++ programs.
g++ is a program that calls GNU CC with the default language
set to C++, and automatically specifies linking against the C++
library. On many systems, the script g++ is also
installed with the name c++.
When you compile C++ programs, you may specify many of the same command-line options that you use for compiling programs in any language; or command-line options meaningful for C and related languages; or options that are meaningful only for C++ programs. See section Options Controlling C Dialect, for explanations of options for languages related to C. See section Options Controlling C++ Dialect, for explanations of options that are meaningful only for C++ programs.
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The following options control the dialect of C (or languages derived from C, such as C++ and Objective C) that the compiler accepts:
-ansi
This turns off certain features of GNU C that are incompatible with ANSI
C, such as the asm, inline and typeof keywords, and
predefined macros such as unix and vax that identify the
type of system you are using. It also enables the undesirable and
rarely used ANSI trigraph feature, and it disables recognition of C++
style `//' comments.
The alternate keywords __asm__, __extension__,
__inline__ and __typeof__ continue to work despite
`-ansi'. You would not want to use them in an ANSI C program, of
course, but it is useful to put them in header files that might be included
in compilations done with `-ansi'. Alternate predefined macros
such as __unix__ and __vax__ are also available, with or
without `-ansi'.
The `-ansi' option does not cause non-ANSI programs to be rejected gratuitously. For that, `-pedantic' is required in addition to `-ansi'. See section 2.6 Options to Request or Suppress Warnings.
The macro __STRICT_ANSI__ is predefined when the `-ansi'
option is used. Some header files may notice this macro and refrain
from declaring certain functions or defining certain macros that the
ANSI standard doesn't call for; this is to avoid interfering with any
programs that might use these names for other things.
The functions alloca, abort, exit, and
_exit are not builtin functions when `-ansi' is used.
-flang-isoc9x
restrict keyword.
Even when this option is not specified, you can still use some C9X
features in so far as they do not conflict with previous C standards.
For example, you may use __restrict__ even when -flang-isoc9x
is not specified.
-fno-asm
asm, inline or typeof as a
keyword, so that code can use these words as identifiers. You can use
the keywords __asm__, __inline__ and __typeof__
instead. `-ansi' implies `-fno-asm'.
In C++, this switch only affects the typeof keyword, since
asm and inline are standard keywords. You may want to
use the `-fno-gnu-keywords' flag instead, as it also disables the
other, C++-specific, extension keywords such as headof.
-fno-builtin
abort,
abs, alloca, cos, exit, fabs,
ffs, labs, memcmp, memcpy, sin,
sqrt, strcmp, strcpy, and strlen.
GCC normally generates special code to handle certain builtin functions
more efficiently; for instance, calls to alloca may become single
instructions that adjust the stack directly, and calls to memcpy
may become inline copy loops. The resulting code is often both smaller
and faster, but since the function calls no longer appear as such, you
cannot set a breakpoint on those calls, nor can you change the behavior
of the functions by linking with a different library.
The `-ansi' option prevents alloca and ffs from being
builtin functions, since these functions do not have an ANSI standard
meaning.
-fhosted
Assert that compilation takes place in a hosted environment. This implies
`-fbuiltin'. A hosted environment is one in which the
entire standard library is available, and in which main has a return
type of int. Examples are nearly everything except a kernel.
This is equivalent to `-fno-freestanding'.
-ffreestanding
Assert that compilation takes place in a freestanding environment. This
implies `-fno-builtin'. A freestanding environment
is one in which the standard library may not exist, and program startup may
not necessarily be at main. The most obvious example is an OS kernel.
This is equivalent to `-fno-hosted'.
-trigraphs
-traditional
extern declarations take effect globally even if they
are written inside of a function definition. This includes implicit
declarations of functions.
typeof, inline, signed, const
and volatile are not recognized. (You can still use the
alternative keywords such as __typeof__, __inline__, and
so on.)
unsigned short and unsigned char promote
to unsigned int.
register are preserved by
longjmp. Ordinarily, GNU C follows ANSI C: automatic variables
not declared volatile may be clobbered.
You may wish to use `-fno-builtin' as well as `-traditional' if your program uses names that are normally GNU C builtin functions for other purposes of its own.
You cannot use `-traditional' if you include any header files that rely on ANSI C features. Some vendors are starting to ship systems with ANSI C header files and you cannot use `-traditional' on such systems to compile files that include any system headers.
The `-traditional' option also enables `-traditional-cpp', which is described next.
-traditional-cpp
__STDC__ is not defined when you use
`-traditional', but __GNUC__ is (since the GNU extensions
which __GNUC__ indicates are not affected by
`-traditional'). If you need to write header files that work
differently depending on whether `-traditional' is in use, by
testing both of these predefined macros you can distinguish four
situations: GNU C, traditional GNU C, other ANSI C compilers, and other
old C compilers. The predefined macro __STDC_VERSION__ is also
not defined when you use `-traditional'. See section `Standard Predefined Macros' in The C Preprocessor,
for more discussion of these and other predefined macros.
-fcond-mismatch
-funsigned-char
char be unsigned, like unsigned char.
Each kind of machine has a default for what char should
be. It is either like unsigned char by default or like
signed char by default.
Ideally, a portable program should always use signed char or
unsigned char when it depends on the signedness of an object.
But many programs have been written to use plain char and
expect it to be signed, or expect it to be unsigned, depending on the
machines they were written for. This option, and its inverse, let you
make such a program work with the opposite default.
The type char is always a distinct type from each of
signed char or unsigned char, even though its behavior
is always just like one of those two.
-fsigned-char
char be signed, like signed char.
Note that this is equivalent to `-fno-unsigned-char', which is the negative form of `-funsigned-char'. Likewise, the option `-fno-signed-char' is equivalent to `-funsigned-char'.
You may wish to use `-fno-builtin' as well as `-traditional' if your program uses names that are normally GNU C builtin functions for other purposes of its own.
You cannot use `-traditional' if you include any header files that rely on ANSI C features. Some vendors are starting to ship systems with ANSI C header files and you cannot use `-traditional' on such systems to compile files that include any system headers.
-fsigned-bitfields
-funsigned-bitfields
-fno-signed-bitfields
-fno-unsigned-bitfields
signed or unsigned. By
default, such a bitfield is signed, because this is consistent: the
basic integer types such as int are signed types.
However, when `-traditional' is used, bitfields are all unsigned no matter what.
-fwritable-strings
Writing into string constants is a very bad idea; "constants" should be constant.
-fallow-single-precision
Traditional K&R C promotes all floating point operations to double precision, regardless of the sizes of the operands. On the architecture for which you are compiling, single precision may be faster than double precision. If you must use `-traditional', but want to use single precision operations when the operands are single precision, use this option. This option has no effect when compiling with ANSI or GNU C conventions (the default).
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This section describes the command-line options that are only meaningful
for C++ programs; but you can also use most of the GNU compiler options
regardless of what language your program is in. For example, you
might compile a file firstClass.C like this:
g++ -g -frepo -O -c firstClass.C |
In this example, only `-frepo' is an option meant only for C++ programs; you can use the other options with any language supported by GNU CC.
Here is a list of options that are only for compiling C++ programs:
-fno-access-control
-fcheck-new
operator new is non-null
before attempting to modify the storage allocated. The current Working
Paper requires that operator new never return a null pointer, so
this check is normally unnecessary.
An alternative to using this option is to specify that your
operator new does not throw any exceptions; if you declare it
`throw()', g++ will check the return value. See also `new
(nothrow)'.
-fconserve-space
main() has
completed, you may have an object that is being destroyed twice because
two definitions were merged.
This option is no longer useful on most targets, now that support has been added for putting variables into BSS without making them common.
-fdollars-in-identifiers
-fno-elide-constructors
-fexternal-templates
This option is deprecated.
-falt-external-templates
This option is deprecated.
-ffor-scope
-fno-for-scope
The default if neither flag is given to follow the standard, but to allow and give a warning for old-style code that would otherwise be invalid, or have different behavior.
-fno-gnu-keywords
classof, headof, signature,
sigof or typeof as a keyword, so that code can use these
words as identifiers. You can use the keywords __classof__,
__headof__, __signature__, __sigof__, and
__typeof__ instead. `-ansi' implies
`-fno-gnu-keywords'.
-fguiding-decls
This option implies `-fname-mangling-version-0', and will not work with other name mangling versions. Like all options that change the ABI, all C++ code, including libgcc.a must be built with the same setting of this option.
-fhandle-signatures
signature and sigof keywords for specifying
abstract types. The default (`-fno-handle-signatures') is not to
recognize them. See section Type Abstraction using Signatures.
-fhonor-std
namespace std as a namespace, instead of ignoring
it. For compatibility with earlier versions of g++, the compiler will,
by default, ignore namespace-declarations,
using-declarations, using-directives, and
namespace-names, if they involve std.
-fhuge-objects
This flag is not useful when compiling with -fvtable-thunks.
Like all options that change the ABI, all C++ code, including libgcc must be built with the same setting of this option.
-fmerge-templates
This flag is only supported on ELF targets.
-fno-implicit-templates
-fno-implicit-inline-templates
-finit-priority
-fno-implement-inlines
-fname-mangling-version-n
template <class T, class U> void foo(T t); |
Like all options that change the ABI, all C++ code, including libgcc must be built with the same setting of this option.
-foperator-names
and, bitand,
bitor, compl, not, or and xor as
synonyms for the symbols they refer to. `-ansi' implies
`-foperator-names'.
-fno-optional-diags
-fpermissive
-frepo
-fno-rtti
-fstrict-prototype
foo can take any combination of arguments, as
in C. `-pedantic' implies `-fstrict-prototype' unless
overridden with `-fno-strict-prototype'.
Specifying this option will also suppress implicit declarations of functions.
This flag no longer affects declarations with C++ linkage.
-fsquangle
-fno-squangle
Like all options that change the ABI, all C++ code, including libgcc.a must be built with the same setting of this option.
-ftemplate-depth-n
-fthis-is-variable
this. The incorporation of user-defined
free store management into C++ has made assignment to `this' an
anachronism. Therefore, by default it is invalid to assign to
this within a class member function; that is, GNU C++ treats
`this' in a member function of class X as a non-lvalue of
type `X *'. However, for backwards compatibility, you can make it
valid with `-fthis-is-variable'.
-fvtable-thunks
This option also enables a heuristic for controlling emission of vtables; if a class has any non-inline virtual functions, the vtable will be emitted in the translation unit containing the first one of those.
Like all options that change the ABI, all C++ code, including libgcc.a must be built with the same setting of this option.
-nostdinc++
In addition, these optimization, warning, and code generation options have meanings only for C++ programs:
-fno-default-inline
-Wctor-dtor-privacy (C++ only)
-Wnon-virtual-dtor (C++ only)
-Wreorder (C++ only)
struct A {
int i;
int j;
A(): j (0), i (1) { }
};
|
Here the compiler will warn that the member initializers for `i' and `j' will be rearranged to match the declaration order of the members.
The following `-W...' options are not affected by `-Wall'.
-Weffc++ (C++ only)
-Wno-deprecated (C++ only)
-Wno-non-template-friend (C++ only)
-Wold-style-cast (C++ only)
-Woverloaded-virtual (C++ only)
-Wno-pmf-conversions (C++ only)
-Wsign-promo (C++ only)
-Wsynth (C++ only)
struct A {
operator int ();
A& operator = (int);
};
main ()
{
A a,b;
a = b;
}
|
In this example, g++ will synthesize a default `A& operator = (const A&);', while cfront will use the user-defined `operator ='.
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Warnings are diagnostic messages that report constructions which are not inherently erroneous but which are risky or suggest there may 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 CC:
-fsyntax-only
-pedantic
Valid ANSI C and ISO C++ programs should compile properly with or without this option (though a rare few will require `-ansi'). However, without this option, certain GNU extensions and traditional C and C++ features are supported as well. With this option, they are rejected.
`-pedantic' does not cause warning messages for use of the
alternate keywords whose names begin and end with `__'. Pedantic
warnings are also disabled in the expression that follows
__extension__. However, only system header files should use
these escape routes; application programs should avoid them.
See section 3.35 Alternate Keywords.
This option is not intended to be useful; it exists only to satisfy pedants who would otherwise claim that GNU CC fails to support the ANSI standard.
Some users try to use `-pedantic' to check programs for strict ANSI C conformance. They soon find that it does not do quite what they want: it finds some non-ANSI practices, but not all--only those for which ANSI C requires a diagnostic.
A feature to report any failure to conform to ANSI C might be useful in some instances, but would require considerable additional work and would be quite different from `-pedantic'. We don't have plans to support such a feature in the near future.
-pedantic-errors
-w
-Wno-import
-Wchar-subscripts
char. This is a common cause
of error, as programmers often forget that this type is signed on some
machines.
-Wcomment
-Wformat
printf and scanf, etc., to make sure that
the arguments supplied have types appropriate to the format string
specified.
-Wimplicit-int
-Wimplicit-function-declaration
-Werror-implicit-function-declaration
-Wimplicit
-Wmain
-Wmultichar
-Wparentheses
Also warn about constructions where there may be confusion to which
if statement an else branch belongs. Here is an example of
such a case:
{
if (a)
if (b)
foo ();
else
bar ();
}
|
In C, every else branch belongs to the innermost possible if
statement, which in this example is if (b). This is often not
what the programmer expected, as illustrated in the above example by
indentation the programmer chose. When there is the potential for this
confusion, GNU C will issue a warning when this flag is specified.
To eliminate the warning, add explicit braces around the innermost
if statement so there is no way the else could belong to
the enclosing if. The resulting code would look like this:
{
if (a)
{
if (b)
foo ();
else
bar ();
}
}
|
-Wreturn-type
int. Also warn about any return statement with no
return-value in a function whose return-type is not void.
-Wswitch
switch statement has an index of enumeral type
and lacks a case for one or more of the named codes of that
enumeration. (The presence of a default label prevents this
warning.) case labels outside the enumeration range also
provoke warnings when this option is used.
-Wtrigraphs
-Wunused
In order to get a warning about an unused function parameter, you must specify both `-W' and `-Wunused'.
To suppress this warning for an expression, simply cast it to void. For unused variables, parameters and labels, use the `unused' attribute (see section 3.29 Specifying Attributes of Variables).
-Wuninitialized
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 that
is declared volatile, or whose address is taken, or whose size
is other than 1, 2, 4 or 8 bytes. Also, they do not occur for
structures, unions or arrays, even when they are in registers.
Note that there may 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 CC 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:
{
int x;
switch (y)
{
case 1: x = 1;
break;
case 2: x = 4;
break;
case 3: x = 5;
}
foo (x);
}
|
If the value of y is always 1, 2 or 3, then x is
always initialized, but GNU CC doesn't know this. Here is
another common case:
{
int save_y;
if (change_y) save_y = y, y = new_y;
...
if (change_y) y = save_y;
}
|
This has no bug because save_y is used only if it is set.
Some spurious warnings can be avoided if you declare all the functions
you use that never return as noreturn. See section 3.23 Declaring Attributes of Functions.
-Wunknown-pragmas
-Wall
The following `-W...' options are not implied by `-Wall'. Some of them warn about constructions that users generally do not consider questionable, but which occasionally you might wish to check for; others warn about constructions that are necessary or hard to avoid in some cases, and there is no simple way to modify the code to suppress the warning.
-W
longjmp. These warnings as well are possible only in
optimizing compilation.
The compiler sees only the calls to setjmp. It cannot know
where longjmp will be called; in fact, a signal handler could
call it at any point in the code. As a result, you may get a warning
even when there is in fact no problem because longjmp cannot
in fact be called at the place which would cause a problem.
foo (a)
{
if (a > 0)
return a;
}
|
static are not the first things in
a declaration. According to the C Standard, this usage is obsolescent.
x.h:
struct s { int f, g; };
struct t { struct s h; int i; };
struct t x = { 1, 2, 3 };
|
x.h would be implicitly initialized to zero:
struct s { int f, g, h; };
struct s x = { 3, 4 };
|
-Wtraditional
switch statement has an operand of type long.
static function declaration follows a static one.
This construct is not accepted by some traditional C compilers.
-Wundef
-Wshadow
-Wid-clash-len
-Wlarger-than-len
-Wpointer-arith
void. GNU C assigns these types a size of 1, for
convenience in calculations with void * pointers and pointers
to functions.
-Wbad-function-cast
int malloc() is cast to anything *.
-Wcast-qual
const char * is cast
to an ordinary char *.
-Wcast-align
char * is cast to
an int * on machines where integers can only be accessed at
two- or four-byte boundaries.
-Wwrite-strings
const char[length] so that
copying the address of one into a non-const char *
pointer will get a warning. These warnings will help you find at
compile time code that can try to write into a string constant, but
only if you have been very careful about using const in
declarations and prototypes. Otherwise, it will just be a nuisance;
this is why we did not make `-Wall' request these warnings.
-Wconversion
Also, warn if a negative integer constant expression is implicitly
converted to an unsigned type. For example, warn about the assignment
x = -1 if x is unsigned. But do not warn about explicit
casts like (unsigned) -1.
-Wsign-compare
-Waggregate-return
-Wstrict-prototypes
-Wmissing-prototypes
-Wmissing-declarations
-Wmissing-noreturn
noreturn.
Note these are only possible candidates, not absolute ones. Care should
be taken to manually verify functions actually do not ever return before
adding the noreturn attribute, otherwise subtle code generation
bugs could be introduced.
-Wredundant-decls
-Wnested-externs
extern declaration is encountered within an function.
-Winline
-Wlong-long
-Werror
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GNU CC has various special options that are used for debugging either your program or GCC:
-g
On most systems that use stabs format, `-g' enables use of extra debugging information that only GDB can use; this extra information makes debugging work better in GDB but will probably make other debuggers crash or refuse to read the program. If you want to control for certain whether to generate the extra information, use `-gstabs+', `-gstabs', `-gxcoff+', `-gxcoff', `-gdwarf-1+', or `-gdwarf-1' (see below).
Unlike most other C compilers, GNU CC allows you to use `-g' with `-O'. The shortcuts taken by optimized code may occasionally produce surprising results: some variables you declared may not exist at all; flow of control may briefly move where you did not expect it; some statements may not be executed because they compute constant results or their values were already at hand; some statements may execute in different places because they were moved out of loops.
Nevertheless it proves possible to debug optimized output. This makes it reasonable to use the optimizer for programs that might have bugs.
The following options are useful when GNU CC is generated with the capability for more than one debugging format.
-ggdb
-gstabs
-gstabs+
-gcoff
-gxcoff
-gxcoff+
-gdwarf
-gdwarf+
-gdwarf-2
-glevel
-ggdblevel
-gstabslevel
-gcofflevel
-gxcofflevel
-gdwarflevel
-gdwarf-2level
Level 1 produces minimal information, enough for making backtraces in parts of the program that you don't plan to debug. This includes descriptions of functions and external variables, but no information about local variables and no line numbers.
Level 3 includes extra information, such as all the macro definitions present in the program. Some debuggers support macro expansion when you use `-g3'.
-p
prof. You must use this option when compiling
the source files you want data about, and you must also use it when
linking.
-pg
gprof. You must use this option when compiling
the source files you want data about, and you must also use it when
linking.
-a
This data could be analyzed by a program like tcov. Note,
however, that the format of the data is not what tcov expects.
Eventually GNU gprof should be extended to process this data.
-Q
-ax
You can examine different profiling aspects without recompilation. Your executable will read a list of function names from file `bb.in'. Profiling starts when a function on the list is entered and stops when that invocation is exited. To exclude a function from profiling, prefix its name with `-'. If a function name is not unique, you can disambiguate it by writing it in the form `/path/filename.d:functionname'. Your executable will write the available paths and filenames in file `bb.out'.
Several function names have a special meaning:
__bb_jumps__
__bb_hidecall__
__bb_showret__
__bb_trace__
PATH. On systems without the `popen'
function, the file will be named `bbtrace' and will not be
compressed. Profiling for even a few seconds on these systems
will produce a very large file. Note: __bb_hidecall__ and
__bb_showret__ will not affect the sequence written to
`bbtrace.gz'.
Here's a short example using different profiling parameters
in file `bb.in'. Assume function foo consists of basic blocks
1 and 2 and is called twice from block 3 of function main. After
the calls, block 3 transfers control to block 4 of main.
With __bb_trace__ and main contained in file `bb.in',
the following sequence of blocks is written to file `bbtrace.gz':
0 3 1 2 1 2 4. The return from block 2 to block 3 is not shown, because
the return is to a point inside the block and not to the top. The
block address 0 always indicates, that control is transferred
to the trace from somewhere outside the observed functions. With
`-foo' added to `bb.in', the blocks of function
foo are removed from the trace, so only 0 3 4 remains.
With __bb_jumps__ and main contained in file `bb.in',
jump frequencies will be written to file `bb.out'. The
frequencies are obtained by constructing a trace of blocks
and incrementing a counter for every neighbouring pair of blocks
in the trace. The trace 0 3 1 2 1 2 4 displays the following
frequencies:
Jump from block 0x0 to block 0x3 executed 1 time(s) Jump from block 0x3 to block 0x1 executed 1 time(s) Jump from block 0x1 to block 0x2 executed 2 time(s) Jump from block 0x2 to block 0x1 executed 1 time(s) Jump from block 0x2 to block 0x4 executed 1 time(s) |
With __bb_hidecall__, control transfer due to call instructions
is removed from the trace, that is the trace is cut into three parts: 0
3 4, 0 1 2 and 0 1 2. With __bb_showret__, control transfer due
to return instructions is added to the trace. The trace becomes: 0 3 1
2 3 1 2 3 4. Note, that this trace is not the same, as the sequence
written to `bbtrace.gz'. It is solely used for counting jump
frequencies.
-fprofile-arcs
Since not every arc in the program must be instrumented, programs
compiled with this option run faster than programs compiled with
`-a', which adds instrumentation code to every basic block in the
program. The tradeoff: since gcov does not have
execution counts for all branches, it must start with the execution
counts for the instrumented branches, and then iterate over the program
flow graph until the entire graph has been solved. Hence, gcov
runs a little more slowly than a program which uses information from
`-a'.
`-fprofile-arcs' also makes it possible to estimate branch probabilities, and to calculate basic block execution counts. In general, basic block execution counts do not give enough information to estimate all branch probabilities. When the compiled program exits, it saves the arc execution counts to a file called `sourcename.da'. Use the compiler option `-fbranch-probabilities' (see section Options that Control Optimization) when recompiling, to optimize using estimated branch probabilities.
-ftest-coverage
gcov code-coverage utility.
The data file names begin with the name of your source file:
sourcename.bb
gcov uses to
associate basic block execution counts with line numbers.
sourcename.bbg
gcov
to reconstruct the program flow graph, so that it can compute all basic
block and arc execution counts from the information in the
sourcename.da file (this last file is the output from
`-fprofile-arcs').
-Q
-dletters
-fdump-unnumbered
-fpretend-float
-save-temps
-print-file-name=library
-print-prog-name=program
-print-libgcc-file-name
This is useful when you use `-nostdlib' or `-nodefaultlibs' but you do want to link with `libgcc.a'. You can do
gcc -nostdlib files... `gcc -print-libgcc-file-name` |
-print-search-dirs
This is useful when gcc prints the error message `installation problem, cannot exec cpp: No such file or directory'. To resolve this you either need to put `cpp' and the other compiler components where gcc expects to find them.
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These options control various sorts of optimizations:
-O
-O1
Without `-O', the compiler's goal is to reduce the cost of compilation and to make debugging produce the expected results. Statements are independent: if you stop the program with a breakpoint between statements, you can then assign a new value to any variable or change the program counter to any other statement in the function and get exactly the results you would expect from the source code.
Without `-O', the compiler only allocates variables declared
register in registers. The resulting compiled code is a little
worse than produced by PCC without `-O'.
With `-O', the compiler tries to reduce code size and execution time.
When you specify `-O', the compiler turns on `-fthread-jumps' and `-fdefer-pop' on all machines. The compiler turns on `-fdelayed-branch' on machines that have delay slots, and `-fomit-frame-pointer' on machines that can support debugging even without a frame pointer. On some machines the compiler also turns on other flags.
-O2
`-O2' turns on all optional optimizations except for loop unrolling and function inlining. It also turns on the `-fforce-mem' option on all machines and frame pointer elimination on machines where doing so does not interfere with debugging.
-O3
-O0
-Os
If you use multiple `-O' options, with or without level numbers, the last such option is the one that is effective.
Options of the form `-fflag' specify machine-independent flags. Most flags 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.
-ffloat-store
This option prevents undesirable excess precision on machines such as
the 68000 where the floating registers (of the 68881) keep more
precision than a double is supposed to have. Similarly for the
x86 architecture. For most programs, the excess precision does only
good, but a few programs rely on the precise definition of IEEE floating
point. Use `-ffloat-store' for such programs, after modifying
them to store all pertinent intermediate computations into variables.
-fno-default-inline
-fno-defer-pop
-fforce-mem
-fforce-addr
-fomit-frame-pointer
On some machines, such as the Vax, this flag has no effect, because
the standard calling sequence automatically handles the frame pointer
and nothing is saved by pretending it doesn't exist. The
machine-description macro FRAME_POINTER_REQUIRED controls
whether a target machine supports this flag. See section `Register Usage' in Using and Porting GCC.
-fno-inline
inline keyword. Normally this option
is used to keep the compiler from expanding any functions inline.
Note that if you are not optimizing, no functions can be expanded inline.
-finline-functions
If all calls to a given function are integrated, and the function is
declared static, then the function is normally not output as
assembler code in its own right.
-finline-limit-n
Note: pseudo instruction represents, in this particular context, an abstract measurement of function's size. In no way, it represents a count of assembly instructions and as such its exact meaning might change from one release to an another.
-fkeep-inline-functions
static, nevertheless output a separate run-time
callable version of the function. This switch does not affect
extern inline functions.
-fkeep-static-consts
static const when optimization isn't turned
on, even if the variables aren't referenced.
GNU CC enables this option by default. If you want to force the compiler to check if the variable was referenced, regardless of whether or not optimization is turned on, use the `-fno-keep-static-consts' option.
-fno-function-cse
This option results in less efficient code, but some strange hacks that alter the assembler output may be confused by the optimizations performed when this option is not used.
-ffast-math
sqrt
function are non-negative numbers and that no floating-point values
are NaNs.
This option should never be turned on by any `-O' option since it can result in incorrect output for programs which depend on an exact implementation of IEEE or ANSI rules/specifications for math functions.
The following options control specific optimizations. The `-O2' option turns on all of these optimizations except `-funroll-loops' and `-funroll-all-loops'. On most machines, the `-O' option turns on the `-fthread-jumps' and `-fdelayed-branch' options, but specific machines may handle it differently.
You can use the following flags in the rare cases when "fine-tuning" of optimizations to be performed is desired.
-fstrength-reduce
-fthread-jumps
-fcse-follow-jumps
if statement with an
else clause, CSE will follow the jump when the condition
tested is false.
-fcse-skip-blocks
if statement with no else clause,
`-fcse-skip-blocks' causes CSE to follow the jump around the
body of the if.
-frerun-cse-after-loop
-frerun-loop-opt
-fgcse
-fexpensive-optimizations
-foptimize-register-moves
-fregmove
Note -fregmove and -foptimize-register-moves are the same
optimization.
-fdelayed-branch
-fschedule-insns
-fschedule-insns2
-ffunction-sections
-fdata-sections
Use these options on systems where the linker can perform optimizations to improve locality of reference in the instruction space. HPPA processors running HP-UX and Sparc processors running Solaris 2 have linkers with such optimizations. Other systems using the ELF object format as well as AIX may have these optimizations in the future.
Only use these options when there are significant benefits from doing
so. When you specify these options, the assembler and linker will
create larger object and executable files and will also be slower.
You will not be able to use gprof on all systems if you
specify this option and you may have problems with debugging if
you specify both this option and `-g'.
-fcaller-saves
This option is always enabled by default on certain machines, usually those which have no call-preserved registers to use instead.
For all machines, optimization level 2 and higher enables this flag by default.
-funroll-loops
-funroll-all-loops
-fmove-all-movables
-freduce-all-givs
Note: When compiling programs written in Fortran, `-fmove-all-moveables' and `-freduce-all-givs' are enabled by default when you use the optimizer.
These options may generate better or worse code; results are highly dependent on the structure of loops within the source code.
These two options are intended to be removed someday, once they have helped determine the efficacy of various approaches to improving loop optimizations.
Please let us (egcs@egcs.cygnus.com and fortran@gnu.org)
know how use of these options affects
the performance of your production code.
We're very interested in code that runs slower
when these options are enabled.
-fno-peephole
-fbranch-probabilities
gcc), you can compile it a second time using
`-fbranch-probabilities', to improve optimizations based on
guessing the path a branch might take.
-fstrict-aliasing
unsigned int can alias an int, but not a
void* or a double. A character type may alias any other
type.
Pay special attention to code like this:
union a_union {
int i;
double d;
};
int f() {
a_union t;
t.d = 3.0;
return t.i;
}
|
int f() {
a_union t;
int* ip;
t.d = 3.0;
ip = &t.i;
return *ip;
}
|
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These options control the C preprocessor, which is run on each C source file before actual compilation.
If you use the `-E' option, nothing is done except preprocessing. Some of these options make sense only together with `-E' because they cause the preprocessor output to be unsuitable for actual compilation.
-include file
-imacros file
Any `-D' and `-U' options on the command line are always processed before `-imacros file', regardless of the order in which they are written. All the `-include' and `-imacros' options are processed in the order in which they are written.
-idirafter dir
-iprefix prefix
-iwithprefix dir
-iwithprefixbefore dir
-isystem dir
-nostdinc
By using both `-nostdinc' and `-I-', you can limit the include-file search path to only those directories you specify explicitly.
-undef
-E
-C
-P
-M
make
describing the dependencies of each object file. For each source file,
the preprocessor outputs one make-rule whose target is the object
file name for that source file and whose dependencies are all the
#include header files it uses. This rule may be a single line or
may be continued with `\'-newline if it is long. The list of rules
is printed on standard output instead of the preprocessed C program.
`-M' implies `-E'.
Another way to specify output of a make rule is by setting
the environment variable DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT (see section 2.16 Environment Variables Affecting GNU CC).
-MM
-MD
In Mach, you can use the utility md to merge multiple dependency
files into a single dependency file suitable for using with the `make'
command.
-MMD
-MG
-H
-Aquestion(answer)
-Dmacro
-Dmacro=defn
-Umacro
-dM
-dD
-dN
-trigraphs
-Wp,option
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You can pass options to the assembler.
-Wa,option
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These options come into play when the compiler links object files into an executable output file. They are meaningless if the compiler is not doing a link step.
object-file-name
-c
-S
-E
-llibrary
It makes a difference where in the command you write this option; the linker searches processes libraries and object files in the order they are specified. Thus, `foo.o -lz bar.o' searches library `z' after file `foo.o' but before `bar.o'. If `bar.o' refers to functions in `z', those functions may not be loaded.
The linker searches a standard list of directories for the library, which is actually a file named `liblibrary.a'. The linker then uses this file as if it had been specified precisely by name.
The directories searched include several standard system directories plus any that you specify with `-L'.
Normally the files found this way are library files--archive files whose members are object files. The linker handles an archive file by scanning through it for members which define symbols that have so far been referenced but not defined. But if the file that is found is an ordinary object file, it is linked in the usual fashion. The only difference between using an `-l' option and specifying a file name is that `-l' surrounds library with `lib' and `.a' and searches several directories.
-lobjc
-nostartfiles
-nostdlib
or -nodefaultlibs is used.
-nodefaultlibs
-nostartfiles
is used. The compiler may generate calls to memcmp, memset, and memcpy
for System V (and ANSI C) environments or to bcopy and bzero for
BSD environments. These entries are usually resolved by entries in
libc. These entry points should be supplied through some other
mechanism when this option is specified.
-nostdlib
One of the standard libraries bypassed by `-nostdlib' and `-nodefaultlibs' is `libgcc.a', a library of internal subroutines that GNU CC uses to overcome shortcomings of particular machines, or special needs for some languages. (See section `Interfacing to GNU CC Output' in Porting GNU CC, for more discussion of `libgcc.a'.) In most cases, you need `libgcc.a' even when you want to avoid other standard libraries. In other words, when you specify `-nostdlib' or `-nodefaultlibs' you should usually specify `-lgcc' as well. This ensures that you have no unresolved references to internal GNU CC library subroutines. (For example, `__main', used to ensure C++ constructors will be called.)
-s
-static
-shared
-symbolic
-Xlinker option
If you want to pass an option that takes an argument, you must use `-Xlinker' twice, once for the option and once for the argument. For example, to pass `-assert definitions', you must write `-Xlinker -assert -Xlinker definitions'. It does not work to write `-Xlinker "-assert definitions"', because this passes the entire string as a single argument, which is not what the linker expects.
-Wl,option
-u symbol
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These options specify directories to search for header files, for libraries and for parts of the compiler:
-Idir
-I-
If additional directories are specified with `-I' options after the `-I-', these directories are searched for all `#include' directives. (Ordinarily all `-I' directories are used this way.)
In addition, the `-I-' option inhibits the use of the current directory (where the current input file came from) as the first search directory for `#include "file"'. There is no way to override this effect of `-I-'. With `-I.' you can specify searching the directory which was current when the compiler was invoked. That is not exactly the same as what the preprocessor does by default, but it is often satisfactory.
`-I-' does not inhibit the use of the standard system directories for header files. Thus, `-I-' and `-nostdinc' are independent.
-Ldir
-Bprefix
The compiler driver program runs one or more of the subprograms `cpp', `cc1', `as' and `ld'. It tries prefix as a prefix for each program it tries to run, both with and without `machine/version/' (see section 2.13 Specifying Target Machine and Compiler Version).
For each subprogram to be run, the compiler driver first tries the `-B' prefix, if any. If that name is not found, or if `-B' was not specified, the driver tries two standard prefixes, which are `/usr/lib/gcc/' and `/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/'. If neither of those results in a file name that is found, the unmodified program name is searched for using the directories specified in your `PATH' environment variable.
`-B' prefixes that effectively specify directory names also apply to libraries in the linker, because the compiler translates these options into `-L' options for the linker. They also apply to includes files in the preprocessor, because the compiler translates these options into `-isystem' options for the preprocessor. In this case, the compiler appends `include' to the prefix.
The run-time support file `libgcc.a' can also be searched for using the `-B' prefix, if needed. If it is not found there, the two standard prefixes above are tried, and that is all. The file is left out of the link if it is not found by those means.
-specs=file
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By default, GNU CC compiles code for the same type of machine that you are using. However, it can also be installed as a cross-compiler, to compile for some other type of machine. In fact, several different configurations of GNU CC, for different target machines, can be installed side by side. Then you specify which one to use with the `-b' option.
In addition, older and newer versions of GNU CC can be installed side by side. One of them (probably the newest) will be the default, but you may sometimes wish to use another.
-b machine
The value to use for machine is the same as was specified as the machine type when configuring GNU CC as a cross-compiler. For example, if a cross-compiler was configured with `configure i386v', meaning to compile for an 80386 running System V, then you would specify `-b i386v' to run that cross compiler.
When you do not specify `-b', it normally means to compile for the same type of machine that you are using.
-V version
The default version, when you do not specify `-V', is the last version of GNU CC that you installed.
The `-b' and `-V' options actually work by controlling part of the file name used for the executable files and libraries used for compilation. A given version of GNU CC, for a given target machine, is normally kept in the directory `/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/machine/version'.
Thus, sites can customize the effect of `-b' or `-V' either by changing the names of these directories or adding alternate names (or symbolic links). If in directory `/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/' the file `80386' is a link to the file `i386v', then `-b 80386' becomes an alias for `-b i386v'.
In one respect, the `-b' or `-V' do not completely change
to a different compiler: the top-level driver program gcc
that you originally invoked continues to run and invoke the other
executables (preprocessor, compiler per se, assembler and linker)
that do the real work. However, since no real work is done in the
driver program, it usually does not matter that the driver program
in use is not the one for the specified target and version.
The only way that the driver program depends on the target machine is in the parsing and handling of special machine-specific options. However, this is controlled by a file which is found, along with the other executables, in the directory for the specified version and target machine. As a result, a single installed driver program adapts to any specified target machine and compiler version.
The driver program executable does control one significant thing, however: the default version and target machine. Therefore, you can install different instances of the driver program, compiled for different targets or versions, under different names.
For example, if the driver for version 2.0 is installed as ogcc
and that for version 2.1 is installed as gcc, then the command
gcc will use version 2.1 by default, while ogcc will use
2.0 by default. However, you can choose either version with either
command with the `-V' option.
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Earlier we discussed the standard option `-b' which chooses among different installed compilers for completely different target machines, such as Vax vs. 68000 vs. 80386.
In addition, each of these target machine types can have its own special options, starting with `-m', to choose among various hardware models or configurations--for example, 68010 vs 68020, floating coprocessor or none. A single installed version of the compiler can compile for any model or configuration, according to the options specified.
Some configurations of the compiler also support additional special options, usually for compatibility with other compilers on the same platform.
2.14.1 M680x0 Options 2.14.2 SPARC Options 2.14.3 ARM Options 2.14.4 Thumb Options 2.14.5 IBM RS/6000 and PowerPC Options 2.14.6 MIPS Options 2.14.7 Intel 386 Options 2.14.8 SH Options
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These are the `-m' options defined for the 68000 series. The default values for these options depends on which style of 68000 was selected when the compiler was configured; the defaults for the most common choices are given below.
-m68000
-mc68000
Use this option for microcontrollers with a 68000 or EC000 core, including the 68008, 68302, 68306, 68307, 68322, 68328 and 68356.
-m68020
-mc68020
-m68881
-m68030
-m68040
This option inhibits the use of 68881/68882 instructions that have to be emulated by software on the 68040. Use this option if your 68040 does not have code to emulate those instructions.
-m68060
This option inhibits the use of 68020 and 68881/68882 instructions that have to be emulated by software on the 68060. Use this option if your 68060 does not have code to emulate those instructions.
-mcpu32
Use this option for microcontrollers with a CPU32 or CPU32+ core, including the 68330, 68331, 68332, 68333, 68334, 68336, 68340, 68341, 68349 and 68360.
-m5200
Use this option for microcontroller with a 5200 core, including the MCF5202, MCF5203, MCF5204 and MCF5202.
-m68020-40
-m68020-60
-mfpa
-msoft-float
-mshort
int to be 16 bits wide, like short int.
-mnobitfield
-mbitfield
-mrtd
rtd
instruction, which pops their arguments while returning. This
saves one instruction in the caller since there is no need to pop
the arguments there.
This calling convention is incompatible with the one normally used on Unix, so you cannot use it if you need to call libraries compiled with the Unix compiler.
Also, you must provide function prototypes for all functions that
take variable numbers of arguments (including printf);
otherwise incorrect code will be generated for calls to those
functions.
In addition, seriously incorrect code will result if you call a function with too many arguments. (Normally, extra arguments are harmlessly ignored.)
The rtd instruction is supported by the 68010, 68020, 68030,
68040, 68060 and CPU32 processors, but not by the 68000 or 5200.
-malign-int
-mno-align-int
int, long, long long,
float, double, and long double variables on a 32-bit
boundary (`-malign-int') or a 16-bit boundary (`-mno-align-int').
Aligning variables on 32-bit boundaries produces code that runs somewhat
faster on processors with 32-bit busses at the expense of more memory.
Warning: if you use the `-malign-int' switch, GNU CC will align structures containing the above types differently than most published application binary interface specifications for the m68k.
-mpcrel
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These `-m' switches are supported on the SPARC:
-mno-app-regs
-mapp-regs
To be fully SVR4 ABI compliant at the cost of some performance loss, specify `-mno-app-regs'. You should compile libraries and system software with this option.
-mfpu
-mhard-float
-mno-fpu
-msoft-float
`-msoft-float' changes the calling convention in the output file; therefore, it is only useful if you compile all of a program with this option. In particular, you need to compile `libgcc.a', the library that comes with GNU CC, with `-msoft-float' in order for this to work.
-mhard-quad-float
-msoft-quad-float
As of this writing, there are no sparc implementations that have hardware support for the quad-word floating point instructions. They all invoke a trap handler for one of these instructions, and then the trap handler emulates the effect of the instruction. Because of the trap handler overhead, this is much slower than calling the ABI library routines. Thus the `-msoft-quad-float' option is the default.
-mno-epilogue
-mepilogue
With `-mno-epilogue', the compiler tries to emit exit code inline at every function exit.
-mno-flat
-mflat
With `-mno-flat' (the default), the compiler emits save/restore instructions (except for leaf functions) and is the normal mode of operation.
-mno-unaligned-doubles
-munaligned-doubles
With `-munaligned-doubles', GNU CC assumes that doubles have 8 byte alignment only if they are contained in another type, or if they have an absolute address. Otherwise, it assumes they have 4 byte alignment. Specifying this option avoids some rare compatibility problems with code generated by other compilers. It is not the default because it results in a performance loss, especially for floating point code.
-mv8
-msparclite
By default (unless specifically configured for the Fujitsu SPARClite), GCC generates code for the v7 variant of the SPARC architecture.
`-mv8' will give you SPARC v8 code. The only difference from v7 code is that the compiler emits the integer multiply and integer divide instructions which exist in SPARC v8 but not in SPARC v7.
`-msparclite' will give you SPARClite code. This adds the integer
multiply, integer divide step and scan (ffs) instructions which
exist in SPARClite but not in SPARC v7.
These options are deprecated and will be deleted in GNU CC 2.9. They have been replaced with `-mcpu=xxx'.
-mcypress
-msupersparc
With `-mcypress' (the default), the compiler optimizes code for the Cypress CY7C602 chip, as used in the SparcStation/SparcServer 3xx series. This is also appropriate for the older SparcStation 1, 2, IPX etc.
With `-msupersparc' the compiler optimizes code for the SuperSparc cpu, as used in the SparcStation 10, 1000 and 2000 series. This flag also enables use of the full SPARC v8 instruction set.
These options are deprecated and will be deleted in GNU CC 2.9. They have been replaced with `-mcpu=xxx'.
-mcpu=cpu_type
Default instruction scheduling parameters are used for values that select an architecture and not an implementation. These are `v7', `v8', `sparclite', `sparclet', `v9'.
Here is a list of each supported architecture and their supported implementations.
v7: cypress
v8: supersparc, hypersparc
sparclite: f930, f934, sparclite86x
sparclet: tsc701
v9: ultrasparc
|
-mtune=cpu_type
The same values for `-mcpu='cpu_type are used for
`-mtune='
cpu_type, though the only useful values are those that
select a particular cpu implementation: `cypress', `supersparc',
`hypersparc', `f930', `f934', `sparclite86x',
`tsc701', `ultrasparc'.
-malign-loops=num
-malign-jumps=num
-malign-functions=num
These `-m' switches are supported in addition to the above on the SPARCLET processor.
-mlittle-endian
-mlive-g0
%g0 as a normal register.
GCC will continue to clobber it as necessary but will not assume
it always reads as 0.
-mbroken-saverestore
save and
restore instructions. Early versions of the SPARCLET processor do
not correctly handle save and restore instructions used with
arguments. They correctly handle them used without arguments. A save
instruction used without arguments increments the current window pointer
but does not allocate a new stack frame. It is assumed that the window
overflow trap handler will properly handle this case as will interrupt
handlers.
These `-m' switches are supported in addition to the above on SPARC V9 processors in 64 bit environments.
-mlittle-endian
-m32
-m64
-mcmodel=medlow
-mcmodel=medmid
-mcmodel=medany
-mcmodel=embmedany
-mstack-bias
-mno-stack-bias
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These `-m' options are defined for Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) architectures:
-mapcs-frame
-mapcs
-mapcs-26
-mapcs-32
-mapcs-stack-check
-mapcs-float
-mapcs-reentrant
-mthumb-interwork
-mno-sched-prolog
-mhard-float
-msoft-float
`-msoft-float' changes the calling convention in the output file; therefore, it is only useful if you compile all of a program with this option. In particular, you need to compile `libgcc.a', the library that comes with GNU CC, with `-msoft-float' in order for this to work.
-mlittle-endian
-mbig-endian
-mwords-little-endian
-mshort-load-bytes
-mno-short-load-bytes
-mshort-load-words
-mno-short-load-words
-mbsd
-mxopen
-mno-symrename
-mcpu=<name>
-mtune=<name>
-march=<name>
-mfpe=<number>
-mfp=<number>
-mstructure-size-boundary=<n>
-mabort-on-noreturn
-mlongcall
Here is an example:
static void f ();
void g () { /* do something */ }
extern void h ();
void test ()
{
f ();
g ();
h ();
}
|
If this example is compiled with -mlongcall, the function `test' will contain direct calls to `f' (non-public) and `g' (definition seen before it is called) and an indirect call to `h'.
-fbitfield-access-32bit
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-mthumb-interwork
-mtpcs-frame
-mtpcs-leaf-frame
-mlittle-endian
-mbig-endian
-mstructure-size-boundary=<n>
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These `-m' options are defined for the IBM RS/6000 and PowerPC:
-mpower
-mno-power
-mpower2
-mno-power2
-mpowerpc
-mno-powerpc
-mpowerpc-gpopt
-mno-powerpc-gpopt
-mpowerpc-gfxopt
-mno-powerpc-gfxopt
-mpowerpc64
-mno-powerpc64
Neither architecture is a subset of the other. However there is a large common subset of instructions supported by both. An MQ register is included in processors supporting the POWER architecture.
You use these options to specify which instructions are available on the processor you are using. The default value of these options is determined when configuring GNU CC. Specifying the `-mcpu=cpu_type' overrides the specification of these options. We recommend you use the `-mcpu=cpu_type' option rather than the options listed above.
The `-mpower' option allows GNU CC to generate instructions that are found only in the POWER architecture and to use the MQ register. Specifying `-mpower2' implies `-power' and also allows GNU CC to generate instructions that are present in the POWER2 architecture but not the original POWER architecture.
The `-mpowerpc' option allows GNU CC to generate instructions that are found only in the 32-bit subset of the PowerPC architecture. Specifying `-mpowerpc-gpopt' implies `-mpowerpc' and also allows GNU CC to use the optional PowerPC architecture instructions in the General Purpose group, including floating-point square root. Specifying `-mpowerpc-gfxopt' implies `-mpowerpc' and also allows GNU CC to use the optional PowerPC architecture instructions in the Graphics group, including floating-point select.
The `-mpowerpc64' option allows GNU CC to generate the additional 64-bit instructions that are found in the full PowerPC64 architecture and to treat GPRs as 64-bit, doubleword quantities. GNU CC defaults to `-mno-powerpc64'.
If you specify both `-mno-power' and `-mno-powerpc', GNU CC will use only the instructions in the common subset of both architectures plus some special AIX common-mode calls, and will not use the MQ register. Specifying both `-mpower' and `-mpowerpc' permits GNU CC to use any instruction from either architecture and to allow use of the MQ register; specify this for the Motorola MPC601.
-mnew-mnemonics
-mold-mnemonics
GNU CC defaults to the mnemonics appropriate for the architecture in use. Specifying `-mcpu=cpu_type' sometimes overrides the value of these option. Unless you are building a cross-compiler, you should normally not specify either `-mnew-mnemonics' or `-mold-mnemonics', but should instead accept the default.
-mcpu=cpu_type
Specifying any of the following options: `-mcpu=rios1', `-mcpu=rios2', `-mcpu=rsc', `-mcpu=power', or `-mcpu=power2' enables the `-mpower' option and disables the `-mpowerpc' option; `-mcpu=601' enables both the `-mpower' and `-mpowerpc' options. All of `-mcpu=602', `-mcpu=603', `-mcpu=603e', `-mcpu=604', `-mcpu=620', enable the `-mpowerpc' option and disable the `-mpower' option. Exactly similarly, all of `-mcpu=403', `-mcpu=405', `-mcpu=505', `-mcpu=821', `-mcpu=860' and `-mcpu=powerpc' enable the `-mpowerpc' option and disable the `-mpower' option. `-mcpu=common' disables both the `-mpower' and `-mpowerpc' options.
AIX versions 4 or greater selects `-mcpu=common' by default, so that code will operate on all members of the RS/6000 and PowerPC families. In that case, GNU CC will use only the instructions in the common subset of both architectures plus some special AIX common-mode calls, and will not use the MQ register. GNU CC assumes a generic processor model for scheduling purposes.
Specifying any of the options `-mcpu=rios1', `-mcpu=rios2', `-mcpu=rsc', `-mcpu=power', or `-mcpu=power2' also disables the `new-mnemonics' option. Specifying `-mcpu=601', `-mcpu=602', `-mcpu=603', `-mcpu=603e', `-mcpu=604', `620', `403', `405', or `-mcpu=powerpc' also enables the `new-mnemonics' option.
Specifying `-mcpu=403', `-mcpu=405', `-mcpu=821', or `-mcpu=860' also enables the `-msoft-float' option.
Specifying `-fvec', `-fvec-ebi' enables the PowerPC AltiVec Technology Programming Model. It includes the support for 128-bit vector data types and operations. The difference between these two flags is that -fvec introduces only two new keywords "__vector" and "__pixel", and "vector" and "pixel" are not reserved keywords. In opposite, -fvec-eabi make all "__vector","__pixel","vector", and "pixel" reserved keywords, just like it's described in PowerPC AltiVec EABI.
Both `-fvec', `-fvec-ebi' introduce new AltiVec EABI stack frame as well. Each AltiVec function stack frame is self-adjusted to be 16-byte aligned. That means, both function's prologue and epilog have been modified to support AltiVec. These flags also introduce VARARG, printf(), scanf() for new vector data types.
-mtune=cpu_type
-mfull-toc
-mno-fp-in-toc
-mno-sum-in-toc
-mminimal-toc
If you receive a linker error message that saying you have overflowed the available TOC space, you can reduce the amount of TOC space used with the `-mno-fp-in-toc' and `-mno-sum-in-toc' options. `-mno-fp-in-toc' prevents GNU CC from putting floating-point constants in the TOC and `-mno-sum-in-toc' forces GNU CC to generate code to calculate the sum of an address and a constant at run-time instead of putting that sum into the TOC. You may specify one or both of these options. Each causes GNU CC to produce very slightly slower and larger code at the expense of conserving TOC space.
If you still run out of space in the TOC even when you specify both of these options, specify `-mminimal-toc' instead. This option causes GNU CC to make only one TOC entry for every file. When you specify this option, GNU CC will produce code that is slower and larger but which uses extremely little TOC space. You may wish to use this option only on files that contain less frequently executed code.
-maix64
-maix32
long type, and the infrastructure needed to support them.
Specifying `-maix64' implies `-mpowerpc64' and
`-mpowerpc', while `-maix32' disables the 64-bit ABI and
implies `-mno-powerpc64'. GNU CC defaults to `-maix32'.
-mxl-call
-mno-xl-call
-mthreads
-mpe
-msoft-float
-mhard-float
-mmultiple
-mno-multiple
-mstring
-mno-string
-mupdate
-mno-update
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
-mno-bit-align
-mbit-align
For example, by default a structure containing nothing but 8
unsigned bitfields of length 1 would be aligned to a 4 byte
boundary and have a size of 4 bytes. By using `-mno-bit-align',
the structure would be aligned to a 1 byte boundary and be one byte in
size.
-mno-strict-align
-mstrict-align
-mrelocatable
-mno-relocatable
-mrelocatable-lib
-mno-relocatable-lib
-mno-toc
-mtoc
-mlittle
-mlittle-endian
-mbig
-mbig-endian
-mcall-sysv
-mcall-sysv-eabi
-mcall-sysv-noeabi
-mcall-aix
-mcall-solaris
-mcall-linux
-mprototype
-mno-prototype
-msim
-mmvme
-mads
-myellowknife
-memb
-meabi
-mno-eabi
-meabi
means that the stack is aligned to an 8 byte boundary, a function
__eabi is called to from main to set up the eabi
environment, and the `-msdata' option can use both r2 and
r13 to point to two separate small data areas. Selecting
-mno-eabi means that the stack is aligned to a 16 byte boundary,
do not call an initialization function from main, and the
`-msdata' option will only use r13 to point to a single
small data area. The `-meabi' option is on by default if you
configured GCC using one of the `powerpc*-*-eabi*' options.
-msdata=eabi
const global and static data in the `.sdata2' section, which
is pointed to by register r2. Put small initialized
non-const global and static data in the `.sdata' section,
which is pointed to by register r13. Put small uninitialized
global and static data in the `.sbss' section, which is adjacent to
the `.sdata' section. The `-msdata=eabi' option is
incompatible with the `-mrelocatable' option. The
`-msdata=eabi' option also sets the `-memb' option.
-msdata=sysv
r13. Put small uninitialized global and static data in the
`.sbss' section, which is adjacent to the `.sdata' section.
The `-msdata=sysv' option is incompatible with the
`-mrelocatable' option.
-msdata=default
-msdata
-msdata-data
r13
to address small data however. This is the default behavior unless
other `-msdata' options are used.
-msdata=none
-mno-sdata
-G num
-mregnames
-mno-regnames
-mlongcall
Here is an example:
static void f ();
void g () { /* do something */ }
extern void h ();
void test ()
{
f ();
g ();
h ();
}
|
If this example is compiled with -mlongcall, the function `test' will contain direct calls to `f' (non-public) and `g' (definition seen before it is called) and an indirect call to `h'.
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These `-m' options are defined for the MIPS family of computers:
-mcpu=cpu type
-missue-rate=issue rate
-mips1
-mips2
-mips3
-mips4
-mips5
-mips32
-mips64
-mfp32
-mfp64
-mgp32
-mgp64
-mint64
-mlong64
-mlong32
If none of `-mlong32', `-mlong64', or `-mint64' are set, the size of ints, longs, and pointers depends on the ABI and ISA choosen. For `-mabi=32', and `-mabi=n32', ints and longs are 32 bits wide. For `-mabi=64', ints are 32 bits, and longs are 64 bits wide. For `-mabi=eabi' and either `-mips1' or `-mips2', ints and longs are 32 bits wide. For `-mabi=eabi' and higher ISAs, ints are 32 bits, and longs are 64 bits wide. The width of pointer types is the smaller of the width of longs or the width of general purpose registers (which in turn depends on the ISA).
-mabi=32
-mabi=o64
-mabi=n32
-mabi=64
-mabi=eabi
-mmips-as
-mgas
-msplit-addresses
-mno-split-addresses
gcc to optimize away redundant loads of the high order
bits of addresses. This optimization requires GNU as and GNU ld.
This optimization is enabled by default for some embedded targets where
GNU as and GNU ld are standard.
-mrnames
-mno-rnames
-mgpopt
-mno-gpopt
-mstats
-mno-stats
-mmemcpy
-mno-memcpy
-mmips-tfile
-mno-mips-tfile
-msoft-float
-mhard-float
-mabicalls
-mno-abicalls
-mlong-calls
-mno-long-calls
-mhalf-pic
-mno-half-pic
-membedded-pic
-mno-embedded-pic
-membedded-data
-mno-embedded-data
-msingle-float
-mdouble-float
-mmad
-mno-mad
-m4650
-mips16
-mno-mips16
-mentry
-EL
-EB
-G num
-nocpp
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These `-m' options are defined for the i386 family of computers:
-mcpu=cpu type
| `i386' | `i486' | `i586' | `i686' |
| `pentium' | `pentiumpro' | `k6' |
While picking a specific cpu type will schedule things appropriately for that particular chip, the compiler will not generate any code that does not run on the i386 without the `-march=cpu type' option being used. `i586' is equivalent to `pentium' and `i686' is equivalent to `pentiumpro'. `k6' is the AMD chip as opposed to the Intel ones.
-march=cpu type
-m386
-m486
-mpentium
-mpentiumpro
-mieee-fp
-mno-ieee-fp
-msoft-float
On machines where a function returns floating point results in the 80387 register stack, some floating point opcodes may be emitted even if `-msoft-float' is used.
-mno-fp-ret-in-387
The usual calling convention has functions return values of types
float and double in an FPU register, even if there
is no FPU. The idea is that the operating system should emulate
an FPU.
The option `-mno-fp-ret-in-387' causes such values to be returned in ordinary CPU registers instead.
-mno-fancy-math-387
sin, cos and
sqrt instructions for the 387. Specify this option to avoid
generating those instructions. This option is the default on FreeBSD.
As of revision 2.6.1, these instructions are not generated unless you
also use the `-ffast-math' switch.
-malign-double
-mno-align-double
double, long double, and
long long variables on a two word boundary or a one word
boundary. Aligning double variables on a two word boundary will
produce code that runs somewhat faster on a `Pentium' at the
expense of more memory.
Warning: if you use the `-malign-double' switch, structures containing the above types will be aligned differently than the published application binary interface specifications for the 386.
-msvr3-shlib
-mno-svr3-shlib
bss or
data. `-msvr3-shlib' places these locals into bss.
These options are meaningful only on System V Release 3.
-mno-wide-multiply
-mwide-multiply
mul and imul that produce
64 bit results in eax:edx from 32 bit operands to do long
long multiplies and 32-bit division by constants.
-mrtd
ret num
instruction, which pops their arguments while returning. This saves one
instruction in the caller since there is no need to pop the arguments
there.
You can specify that an individual function is called with this calling sequence with the function attribute `stdcall'. You can also override the `-mrtd' option by using the function attribute `cdecl'. See section 3.23 Declaring Attributes of Functions.
Warning: this calling convention is incompatible with the one normally used on Unix, so you cannot use it if you need to call libraries compiled with the Unix compiler.
Also, you must provide function prototypes for all functions that
take variable numbers of arguments (including printf);
otherwise incorrect code will be generated for calls to those
functions.
In addition, seriously incorrect code will result if you call a function with too many arguments. (Normally, extra arguments are harmlessly ignored.)
-mreg-alloc=regs
a allocate EAX; b allocate EBX;
c allocate ECX; d allocate EDX; S allocate ESI;
D allocate EDI; B allocate EBP.
-mregparm=num
Warning: if you use this switch, and num is nonzero, then you must build all modules with the same value, including any libraries. This includes the system libraries and startup modules.
-malign-loops=num
-malign-jumps=num
-malign-functions=num
-mpreferred-stack-boundary=num
The stack is required to be aligned on a 4 byte boundary. On Pentium
and PentiumPro, double and long double values should be
aligned to an 8 byte boundary (see `-malign-double') or suffer
significant run time performance penalties. On Pentium III, the
Streaming SIMD Extention (SSE) data type __m128 suffers similar
penalties if it is not 16 byte aligned.
To ensure proper alignment of this values on the stack, the stack boundary must be as aligned as that required by any value stored on the stack. Further, every function must be generated such that it keeps the stack aligned. Thus calling a function compiled with a higher preferred stack boundary from a function compiled with a lower preferred stack boundary will most likely misalign the stack. It is recommended that libraries that use callbacks always use the default setting.
This extra alignment does consume extra stack space. Code that is sensitive to stack space usage, such as embedded systems and operating system kernels, may want to reduce the preferred alignment to `-mpreferred-stack-boundary=2'.
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These `-m' options are defined for the SH implementations:
-m1
-m2
-m3
-m3e
-m4single-only
-m4-single
-m4
-mb
-ml
-mdalign
-mrelax
-mbigtable
-mfmovd
-mhitachi
-mno-ieee
-mieee
-mbigtable
-mfmovd
-mhitachi
-misize
-mpadstruct
-mspace
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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.
-fexceptions
-fpcc-struct-return
struct and union values in memory like
longer ones, rather than in registers. This convention is less
efficient, but it has the advantage of allowing intercallability between
GNU CC-compiled files and files compiled with other compilers.
The precise convention for returning structures in memory depends on the target configuration macros.
Short structures and unions are those whose size and alignment match that of some integer type.
-freg-struct-return
struct and union values are
returned in registers when possible. This is more efficient for small
structures than `-fpcc-struct-return'.
If you specify neither `-fpcc-struct-return' nor its contrary `-freg-struct-return', GNU CC defaults to whichever convention is standard for the target. If there is no standard convention, GNU CC defaults to `-fpcc-struct-return', except on targets where GNU CC is the principal compiler. In those cases, we can choose the standard, and we chose the more efficient register return alternative.
-fshort-enums
enum type only as many bytes as it needs for the
declared range of possible values. Specifically, the enum type
will be equivalent to the smallest integer type which has enough room.
-fshort-double
double as for float.
-fshared-data
const variables of this
compilation be shared data rather than private data. The distinction
makes sense only on certain operating systems, where shared data is
shared between processes running the same program, while private data
exists in one copy per process.
-fno-common
extern) in
two different compilations, you will get an error when you link them.
The only reason this might be useful is if you wish to verify that the
program will work on other systems which always work this way.
-fno-ident
-fno-gnu-linker
collect2 program to make sure the system linker includes
constructors and destructors. (collect2 is included in the GNU CC
distribution.) For systems which must use collect2, the
compiler driver gcc is configured to do this automatically.
-finhibit-size-directive
.size assembler directive, or anything else that
would cause trouble if the function is split in the middle, and the
two halves are placed at locations far apart in memory. This option is
used when compiling `crtstuff.c'; you should not need to use it
for anything else.
-fverbose-asm
`-fno-verbose-asm', the default, causes the extra information to be omitted and is useful when comparing two assembler files.
-fvolatile
-fvolatile-global
-fvolatile-static
-fpic
Position-independent code requires special support, and therefore works only on certain machines. For the 386, GNU CC supports PIC for System V but not for the Sun 386i. Code generated for the IBM RS/6000 is always position-independent.
-fPIC
Position-independent code requires special support, and therefore works only on certain machines.
-ffixed-reg
reg must be the name of a register. The register names accepted
are machine-specific and are defined in the REGISTER_NAMES
macro in the machine description macro file.
This flag does not have a negative form, because it specifies a three-way choice.
-fcall-used-reg
It is an error to used this flag with the frame pointer or stack pointer. Use of this flag for other registers that have fixed pervasive roles in the machine's execution model will produce disastrous results.
This flag does not have a negative form, because it specifies a three-way choice.
-fcall-saved-reg
It is an error to used this flag with the frame pointer or stack pointer. Use of this flag for other registers that have fixed pervasive roles in the machine's execution model will produce disastrous results.
A different sort of disaster will result from the use of this flag for a register in which function values may be returned.
This flag does not have a negative form, because it specifies a three-way choice.
-fpack-struct
-fcheck-memory-usage
Normally, you should compile all, or none, of your code with this option.
If you do mix code compiled with and without this option, you must ensure that all code that has side effects and that is called by code compiled with this option is, itself, compiled with this option. If you do not, you might get erroneous messages from the detector.
If you use functions from a library that have side-effects (such as
read), you might not be able to recompile the library and
specify this option. In that case, you can enable the
`-fprefix-function-name' option, which requests GNU CC to encapsulate
your code and make other functions look as if they were compiled with
`-fcheck-memory-usage'. This is done by calling "stubs",
which are provided by the detector. If you cannot find or build
stubs for every function you call, you might have to specify
`-fcheck-memory-usage' without `-fprefix-function-name'.
If you specify this option, you can not use the asm or
__asm__ keywords in functions with memory checking enabled. The
compiler cannot understand what the asm statement will do, and
therefore cannot generate the appropriate code, so it is rejected.
However, the function attribute no_check_memory_usage will
disable memory checking within a function, and asm statements can
be put inside such functions. Inline expansion of a non-checked
function within a checked function is permitted; the inline function's
memory accesses won't be checked, but the rest will.
If you move your asm statements to non-checked inline functions,
but they do access memory, you can add calls to the support code in your
inline function, to indicate any reads, writes, or copies being done.
These calls would be similar to those done in the stubs described above.
-fprefix-function-name
If you compile the following code with `-fprefix-function-name'
extern void bar (int);
void
foo (int a)
{
return bar (a + 5);
}
|
GNU CC will compile the code as if it was written:
extern void prefix_bar (int);
void
prefix_foo (int a)
{
return prefix_bar (a + 5);
}
|
-finstrument-functions
__builtin_return_address does not work beyond the current
function, so the call site information may not be available to the
profiling functions otherwise.)
void __cyg_profile_func_enter (void *this_fn, void *call_site); void __cyg_profile_func_exit (void *this_fn, void *call_site); |
The first argument is the address of the start of the current function, which may be looked up exactly in the symbol table.
This instrumentation is also done for functions expanded inline in other functions. The profiling calls will indicate where, conceptually, the inline function is entered and exited. This means that addressable versions of such functions must be available. If all your uses of a function are expanded inline, this may mean an additional expansion of code size. If you use `extern inline' in your C code, an addressable version of such functions must be provided. (This is normally the case anyways, but if you get lucky and the optimizer always expands the functions inline, you might have gotten away without providing static copies.)
A function may be given the attribute no_instrument_function, in
which case this instrumentation will not be done. This can be used, for
example, for the profiling functions listed above, high-priority
interrupt routines, and any functions from which the profiling functions
cannot safely be called (perhaps signal handlers, if the profiling
routines generate output or allocate memory).
-fstack-check
-fargument-alias
-fargument-noalias
-fargument-noalias-global
`-fargument-alias' specifies that arguments (parameters) may alias each other and may alias global storage. `-fargument-noalias' specifies that arguments do not alias each other, but may alias global storage. `-fargument-noalias-global' specifies that arguments do not alias each other and do not alias global storage.
Each language will automatically use whatever option is required by the language standard. You should not need to use these options yourself.
-fleading-underscore
Be warned that you should know what you are doing when invoking this option, and that not all targets provide complete support for it.
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This section describes several environment variables that affect how GNU CC operates. Some of them work by specifying directories or prefixes to use when searching for various kinds of files. Some are used to specify other aspects of the compilation environment.
Note that you can also specify places to search using options such as `-B', `-I' and `-L' (see section 2.12 Options for Directory Search). These take precedence over places specified using environment variables, which in turn take precedence over those specified by the configuration of GNU CC.
LANG
LC_CTYPE
LC_MESSAGES
LC_ALL
LC_CTYPE and LC_MESSAGES if it has been configured to do
so. These locale categories can be set to any value supported by your
installation. A typical value is `en_UK' for English in the United
Kingdom.
The LC_CTYPE environment variable specifies character
classification. GNU CC uses it to determine the character boundaries in
a string; this is needed for some multibyte encodings that contain quote
and escape characters that would otherwise be interpreted as a string
end or escape.
The LC_MESSAGES environment variable specifies the language to
use in diagnostic messages.
If the LC_ALL environment variable is set, it overrides the value
of LC_CTYPE and LC_MESSAGES; otherwise, LC_CTYPE
and LC_MESSAGES default to the value of the LANG
environment variable. If none of these variables are set, GNU CC
defaults to traditional C English behavior.
TMPDIR
TMPDIR is set, it specifies the directory to use for temporary
files. GNU CC uses temporary files to hold the output of one stage of
compilation which is to be used as input to the next stage: for example,
the output of the preprocessor, which is the input to the compiler
proper.
COMPILER_PATH
COMPILER_PATH is a colon-separated list of
directories, much like PATH. GNU CC tries the directories thus
specified when searching for subprograms
.
LIBRARY_PATH
LIBRARY_PATH is a colon-separated list of
directories, much like PATH. When configured as a native compiler,
GNU CC tries the directories thus specified when searching for special
linker files
. Linking
using GNU CC also uses these directories when searching for ordinary
libraries for the `-l' option (but directories specified with
`-L' come first).
C_INCLUDE_PATH
CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH
OBJC_INCLUDE_PATH
PATH. When GNU CC searches for header files, it tries the
directories listed in the variable for the language you are using, after
the directories specified with `-I' but before the standard header
file directories.
DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT
The value of DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT can be just a file name, in
which case the Make rules are written to that file, guessing the target
name from the source file name. Or the value can have the form
`file target', in which case the rules are written to
file file using target as the target name.
LANG
LANG are recognized:
C-JIS
C-SJIS
C-EUCJP
If LANG is not defined, or if it has some other value, then the
compiler will use mblen and mbtowc as defined by the default locale to
recognize and translate multibyte characters.
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GNU C provides several language features not found in ANSI standard C.
(The `-pedantic' option directs GNU CC to print a warning message if
any of these features is used.) To test for the availability of these
features in conditional compilation, check for a predefined macro
__GNUC__, which is always defined under GNU CC.
These extensions are available in C and Objective C. Most of them are also available in C++. See section Extensions to the C++ Language, for extensions that apply only to C++.
(With them you can define "built-in" functions.)
3.1 Statements and Declarations in Expressions Putting statements and declarations inside expressions. 3.2 Locally Declared Labels Labels local to a statement-expression. 3.3 Labels as Values Getting pointers to labels, and computed gotos. 3.4 Nested Functions As in Algol and Pascal, lexical scoping of functions. 3.5 Constructing Function Calls Dispatching a call to another function. 3.6 Naming an Expression's Type Giving a name to the type of some expression. 3.7 Referring to a Type with typeoftypeof: referring to the type of an expression.3.8 Generalized Lvalues Using `?:', `,' and casts in lvalues. 3.9 Conditionals with Omitted Operands Omitting the middle operand of a `?:' expression. 3.10 Double-Word Integers Double-word integers--- long long int.3.11 Complex Numbers Data types for complex numbers. 3.12 Hex Floats Hexadecimal floating-point constants. 3.13 Arrays of Length Zero Zero-length arrays. 3.14 Arrays of Variable Length Arrays whose length is computed at run time. 3.15 Macros with Variable Numbers of Arguments Macros with variable number of arguments. 3.16 Non-Lvalue Arrays May Have Subscripts Any array can be subscripted, even if not an lvalue. 3.17 Arithmetic on void- and Function-PointersArithmetic on void-pointers and function pointers.3.18 Non-Constant Initializers Non-constant initializers. 3.19 Constructor Expressions Constructor expressions give structures, unions or arrays as values. 3.20 Labeled Elements in Initializers Labeling elements of initializers. 3.22 Cast to a Union Type Casting to union type from any member of the union. 3.21 Case Ranges `case 1 ... 9' and such. 3.23 Declaring Attributes of Functions Declaring that functions have no side effects, or that they can never return. 3.24 Prototypes and Old-Style Function Definitions Prototype declarations and old-style definitions. 3.25 C++ Style Comments C++ comments are recognized. 3.26 Dollar Signs in Identifier Names Dollar sign is allowed in identifiers. 3.27 The Character ESC in Constants `\e' stands for the character ESC. 3.29 Specifying Attributes of Variables Specifying attributes of variables. 3.30 Specifying Attributes of Types Specifying attributes of types. 3.28 Inquiring on Alignment of Types or Variables Inquiring about the alignment of a type or variable. 3.31 An Inline Function is As Fast As a Macro Defining inline functions (as fast as macros). 3.32 Assembler Instructions with C Expression Operands Assembler instructions with C expressions as operands.
3.33 Controlling Names Used in Assembler Code Specifying the assembler name to use for a C symbol. 3.34 Variables in Specified Registers Defining variables residing in specified registers. 3.35 Alternate Keywords __const__,__asm__, etc., for header files.3.36 Incomplete enumTypesenum foo;, with details to follow.3.37 Function Names as Strings Printable strings which are the name of the current function. 3.38 Getting the Return or Frame Address of a Function Getting the return or frame address of a function. 3.40 Deprecated Features Things might disappear from g++.
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A compound statement enclosed in parentheses may appear as an expression in GNU C. This allows you to use loops, switches, and local variables within an expression.
Recall that a compound statement is a sequence of statements surrounded by braces; in this construct, parentheses go around the braces. For example:
({ int y = foo (); int z;
if (y > 0) z = y;
else z = - y;
z; })
|
is a valid (though slightly more complex than necessary) expression
for the absolute value of foo ().
The last thing in the compound statement should be an expression
followed by a semicolon; the value of this subexpression serves as the
value of the entire construct. (If you use some other kind of statement
last within the braces, the construct has type void, and thus
effectively no value.)
This feature is especially useful in making macro definitions "safe" (so that they evaluate each operand exactly once). For example, the "maximum" function is commonly defined as a macro in standard C as follows:
#define max(a,b) ((a) > (b) ? (a) : (b)) |
But this definition computes either a or b twice, with bad
results if the operand has side effects. In GNU C, if you know the
type of the operands (here let's assume int), you can define
the macro safely as follows:
#define maxint(a,b) \
({int _a = (a), _b = (b); _a > _b ? _a : _b; })
|
Embedded statements are not allowed in constant expressions, such as the value of an enumeration constant, the width of a bit field, or the initial value of a static variable.
If you don't know the type of the operand, you can still do this, but you
must use typeof (see section 3.7 Referring to a Type with typeof) or type naming (see section 3.6 Naming an Expression's Type).
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Each statement expression is a scope in which local labels can be
declared. A local label is simply an identifier; you can jump to it
with an ordinary goto statement, but only from within the
statement expression it belongs to.
A local label declaration looks like this:
__label__ label; |
or
__label__ label1, label2, ...; |
Local label declarations must come at the beginning of the statement expression, right after the `({', before any ordinary declarations.
The label declaration defines the label name, but does not define
the label itself. You must do this in the usual way, with
label:, within the statements of the statement expression.
The local label feature is useful because statement expressions are
often used in macros. If the macro contains nested loops, a goto
can be useful for breaking out of them. However, an ordinary label
whose scope is the whole function cannot be used: if the macro can be
expanded several times in one function, the label will be multiply
defined in that function. A local label avoids this problem. For
example:
#define SEARCH(array, target) \
({ \
__label__ found; \
typeof (target) _SEARCH_target = (target); \
typeof (*(array)) *_SEARCH_array = (array); \
int i, j; \
int value; \
for (i = 0; i < max; i++) \
for (j = 0; j < max; j++) \
if (_SEARCH_array[i][j] == _SEARCH_target) \
{ value = i; goto found; } \
value = -1; \
found: \
value; \
})
|
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You can get the address of a label defined in the current function
(or a containing function) with the unary operator `&&'. The
value has type void *. This value is a constant and can be used
wherever a constant of that type is valid. For example:
void *ptr; ... ptr = &&foo; |
To use these values, you need to be able to jump to one. This is done
with the computed goto statement(1), goto *exp;. For example,
goto *ptr; |
Any expression of type void * is allowed.
One way of using these constants is in initializing a static array that will serve as a jump table:
static void *array[] = { &&foo, &&bar, &&hack };
|
Then you can select a label with indexing, like this:
goto *array[i]; |
Note that this does not check whether the subscript is in bounds--array indexing in C never does that.
Such an array of label values serves a purpose much like that of the
switch statement. The switch statement is cleaner, so
use that rather than an array unless the problem does not fit a
switch statement very well.
Another use of label values is in an interpreter for threaded code. The labels within the interpreter function can be stored in the threaded code for super-fast dispatching.
You can use this mechanism to jump to code in a different function. If you do that, totally unpredictable things will happen. The best way to avoid this is to store the label address only in automatic variables and never pass it as an argument.
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A nested function is a function defined inside another function.
(Nested functions are not supported for GNU C++.) The nested function's
name is local to the block where it is defined. For example, here we
define a nested function named square, and call it twice:
foo (double a, double b)
{
double square (double z) { return z * z; }
return square (a) + square (b);
}
|
The nested function can access all the variables of the containing
function that are visible at the point of its definition. This is
called lexical scoping. For example, here we show a nested
function which uses an inherited variable named offset:
bar (int *array, int offset, int size)
{
int access (int *array, int index)
{ return array[index + offset]; }
int i;
...
for (i = 0; i < size; i++)
... access (array, i) ...
}
|
Nested function definitions are permitted within functions in the places where variable definitions are allowed; that is, in any block, before the first statement in the block.
It is possible to call the nested function from outside the scope of its name by storing its address or passing the address to another function:
hack (int *array, int size)
{
void store (int index, int value)
{ array[index] = value; }
intermediate (store, size);
}
|
Here, the function intermediate receives the address of
store as an argument. If intermediate calls store,
the arguments given to store are used to store into array.
But this technique works only so long as the containing function
(hack, in this example) does not exit.
If you try to call the nested function through its address after the containing function has exited, all hell will break loose. If you try to call it after a containing scope level has exited, and if it refers to some of the variables that are no longer in scope, you may be lucky, but it's not wise to take the risk. If, however, the nested function does not refer to anything that has gone out of scope, you should be safe.
GNU CC implements taking the address of a nested function using a technique called trampolines. A paper describing them is available as `http://master.debian.org/~karlheg/Usenix88-lexic.pdf'.
A nested function can jump to a label inherited from a containing
function, provided the label was explicitly declared in the containing
function (see section 3.2 Locally Declared Labels). Such a jump returns instantly to the
containing function, exiting the nested function which did the
goto and any intermediate functions as well. Here is an example:
bar (int *array, int offset, int size)
{
__label__ failure;
int access (int *array, int index)
{
if (index > size)
goto failure;
return array[index + offset];
}
int i;
...
for (i = 0; i < size; i++)
... access (array, i) ...
...
return 0;
/* Control comes here from |
A nested function always has internal linkage. Declaring one with
extern is erroneous. If you need to declare the nested function
before its definition, use auto (which is otherwise meaningless
for function declarations).
bar (int *array, int offset, int size)
{
__label__ failure;
auto int access (int *, int);
...
int access (int *array, int index)
{
if (index > size)
goto failure;
return array[index + offset];
}
...
}
|
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Using the built-in functions described below, you can record the arguments a function received, and call another function with the same arguments, without knowing the number or types of the arguments.
You can also record the return value of that function call, and later return that value, without knowing what data type the function tried to return (as long as your caller expects that data type).
__builtin_apply_args ()
void * to data
describing how to perform a call with the same arguments as were passed
to the current function.
The function saves the arg pointer register, structure value address, and all registers that might be used to pass arguments to a function into a block of memory allocated on the stack. Then it returns the address of that block.
__builtin_apply (function, arguments, size)
void (*)())
with a copy of the parameters described by arguments (type
void *) and size (type int).
The value of arguments should be the value returned by
__builtin_apply_args. The argument size specifies the size
of the stack argument data, in bytes.
This function returns a pointer of type void * to data describing
how to return whatever value was returned by function. The data
is saved in a block of memory allocated on the stack.
It is not always simple to compute the proper value for size. The
value is used by __builtin_apply to compute the amount of data
that should be pushed on the stack and copied from the incoming argument
area.
__builtin_return (result)
__builtin_apply.
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You can give a name to the type of an expression using a typedef
declaration with an initializer. Here is how to define name as a
type name for the type of exp:
typedef name = exp; |
This is useful in conjunction with the statements-within-expressions feature. Here is how the two together can be used to define a safe "maximum" macro that operates on any arithmetic type:
#define max(a,b) \
({typedef _ta = (a), _tb = (b); \
_ta _a = (a); _tb _b = (b); \
_a > _b ? _a : _b; })
|
The reason for using names that start with underscores for the local
variables is to avoid conflicts with variable names that occur within the
expressions that are substituted for a and b. Eventually we
hope to design a new form of declaration syntax that allows you to declare
variables whose scopes start only after their initializers; this will be a
more reliable way to prevent such conflicts.
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typeof
Another way to refer to the type of an expression is with typeof.
The syntax of using of this keyword looks like sizeof, but the
construct acts semantically like a type name defined with typedef.
There are two ways of writing the argument to typeof: with an
expression or with a type. Here is an example with an expression:
typeof (x[0](1)) |
This assumes that x is an array of functions; the type described
is that of the values of the functions.
Here is an example with a typename as the argument:
typeof (int *) |
Here the type described is that of pointers to int.
If you are writing a header file that must work when included in ANSI C
programs, write __typeof__ instead of typeof.
See section 3.35 Alternate Keywords.
A typeof-construct can be used anywhere a typedef name could be
used. For example, you can use it in a declaration, in a cast, or inside
of sizeof or typeof.
y with the type of what x points to.
typeof (*x) y; |
y as an array of such values.
typeof (*x) y[4]; |
y as an array of pointers to characters:
typeof (typeof (char *)[4]) y; |
It is equivalent to the following traditional C declaration:
char *y[4]; |
To see the meaning of the declaration using typeof, and why it
might be a useful way to write, let's rewrite it with these macros:
#define pointer(T) typeof(T *) #define array(T, N) typeof(T [N]) |
Now the declaration can be rewritten this way:
array (pointer (char), 4) y; |
Thus, array (pointer (char), 4) is the type of arrays of 4
pointers to char.
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Standard C++ allows compound expressions and conditional expressions as lvalues, and permits casts to reference type, so use of this extension is deprecated for C++ code.
For example, a compound expression can be assigned, provided the last expression in the sequence is an lvalue. These two expressions are equivalent:
(a, b) += 5 a, (b += 5) |
Similarly, the address of the compound expression can be taken. These two expressions are equivalent:
&(a, b) a, &b |
A conditional expression is a valid lvalue if its type is not void and the true and false branches are both valid lvalues. For example, these two expressions are equivalent:
(a ? b : c) = 5 (a ? b = 5 : (c = 5)) |
A cast is a valid lvalue if its operand is an lvalue. A simple
assignment whose left-hand side is a cast works by converting the
right-hand side first to the specified type, then to the type of the
inner left-hand side expression. After this is stored, the value is
converted back to the specified type to become the value of the
assignment. Thus, if a has type char *, the following two
expressions are equivalent:
(int)a = 5 (int)(a = (char *)(int)5) |
An assignment-with-arithmetic operation such as `+=' applied to a cast performs the arithmetic using the type resulting from the cast, and then continues as in the previous case. Therefore, these two expressions are equivalent:
(int)a += 5 (int)(a = (char *)(int) ((int)a + 5)) |
You cannot take the address of an lvalue cast, because the use of its
address would not work out coherently. Suppose that &(int)f were
permitted, where f has type float. Then the following
statement would try to store an integer bit-pattern where a floating
point number belongs:
*&(int)f = 1; |
This is quite different from what (int)f = 1 would do--that
would convert 1 to floating point and store it. Rather than cause this
inconsistency, we think it is better to prohibit use of `&' on a cast.
If you really do want an int * pointer with the address of
f, you can simply write (int *)&f.
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The middle operand in a conditional expression may be omitted. Then if the first operand is nonzero, its value is the value of the conditional expression.
Therefore, the expression
x ? : y |
has the value of x if that is nonzero; otherwise, the value of
y.
This example is perfectly equivalent to
x ? x : y |
In this simple case, the ability to omit the middle operand is not especially useful. When it becomes useful is when the first operand does, or may (if it is a macro argument), contain a side effect. Then repeating the operand in the middle would perform the side effect twice. Omitting the middle operand uses the value already computed without the undesirable effects of recomputing it.
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GNU C supports data types for integers that are twice as long as
int. Simply write long long int for a signed integer, or
unsigned long long int for an unsigned integer. To make an
integer constant of type long long int, add the suffix LL
to the integer. To make an integer constant of type unsigned long
long int, add the suffix ULL to the integer.
You can use these types in arithmetic like any other integer types. Addition, subtraction, and bitwise boolean operations on these types are open-coded on all types of machines. Multiplication is open-coded if the machine supports fullword-to-doubleword a widening multiply instruction. Division and shifts are open-coded only on machines that provide special support. The operations that are not open-coded use special library routines that come with GNU CC.
There may be pitfalls when you use long long types for function
arguments, unless you declare function prototypes. If a function
expects type int for its argument, and you pass a value of type
long long int, confusion will result because the caller and the
subroutine will disagree about the number of bytes for the argument.
Likewise, if the function expects long long int and you pass
int. The best way to avoid such problems is to use prototypes.
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GNU C supports complex data types. You can declare both complex integer
types and complex floating types, using the keyword __complex__.
For example, `__complex__ double x;' declares x as a
variable whose real part and imaginary part are both of type
double. `__complex__ short int y;' declares y to
have real and imaginary parts of type short int; this is not
likely to be useful, but it shows that the set of complex types is
complete.
To write a constant with a complex data type, use the suffix `i' or
`j' (either one; they are equivalent). For example, 2.5fi
has type __complex__ float and 3i has type
__complex__ int. Such a constant always has a pure imaginary
value, but you can form any complex value you like by adding one to a
real constant.
To extract the real part of a complex-valued expression exp, write
__real__ exp. Likewise, use __imag__ to
extract the imaginary part.
The operator `~' performs complex conjugation when used on a value with a complex type.
GNU CC can allocate complex automatic variables in a noncontiguous
fashion; it's even possible for the real part to be in a register while
the imaginary part is on the stack (or vice-versa). None of the
supported debugging info formats has a way to represent noncontiguous
allocation like this, so GNU CC describes a noncontiguous complex
variable as if it were two separate variables of noncomplex type.
If the variable's actual name is foo, the two fictitious
variables are named foo$real and foo$imag. You can
examine and set these two fictitious variables with your debugger.
A future version of GDB will know how to recognize such pairs and treat them as a single variable with a complex type.
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1.55e1, but also numbers such as
0x1.fp3 written in hexadecimal format. In that format the
0x hex introducer and the p or P exponent field are
mandatory. The exponent is a decimal number that indicates the power of
2 by which the significand part will be multiplied. Thus 0x1.f is
1 15/16, p3 multiplies it by 8, and the value of 0x1.fp3
is the same as 1.55e1.
Unlike for floating-point numbers in the decimal notation the exponent
is always required in the hexadecimal notation. Otherwise the compiler
would not be able to resolve the ambiguity of, e.g., 0x1.f. This
could mean 1.0f or 1.9375 since f is also the
extension for floating-point constants of type float.
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Zero-length arrays are allowed in GNU C. They are very useful as the last element of a structure which is really a header for a variable-length object:
struct line {
int length;
char contents[0];
};
{
struct line *thisline = (struct line *)
malloc (sizeof (struct line) + this_length);
thisline->length = this_length;
}
|
In standard C, you would have to give contents a length of 1, which
means either you waste space or complicate the argument to malloc.
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Variable-length automatic arrays are allowed in GNU C. These arrays are declared like any other automatic arrays, but with a length that is not a constant expression. The storage is allocated at the point of declaration and deallocated when the brace-level is exited. For example:
FILE *
concat_fopen (char *s1, char *s2, char *mode)
{
char str[strlen (s1) + strlen (s2) + 1];
strcpy (str, s1);
strcat (str, s2);
return fopen (str, mode);
}
|
Jumping or breaking out of the scope of the array name deallocates the storage. Jumping into the scope is not allowed; you get an error message for it.
You can use the function alloca to get an effect much like
variable-length arrays. The function alloca is available in
many other C implementations (but not in all). On the other hand,
variable-length arrays are more elegant.
There are other differences between these two methods. Space allocated
with alloca exists until the containing function returns.
The space for a variable-length array is deallocated as soon as the array
name's scope ends. (If you use both variable-length arrays and
alloca in the same function, deallocation of a variable-length array
will also deallocate anything more recently allocated with alloca.)
You can also use variable-length arrays as arguments to functions:
struct entry
tester (int len, char data[len][len])
{
...
}
|
The length of an array is computed once when the storage is allocated
and is remembered for the scope of the array in case you access it with
sizeof.
If you want to pass the array first and the length afterward, you can use a forward declaration in the parameter list--another GNU extension.
struct entry
tester (int len; char data[len][len], int len)
{
...
}
|
The `int len' before the semicolon is a parameter forward
declaration, and it serves the purpose of making the name len
known when the declaration of data is parsed.
You can write any number of such parameter forward declarations in the parameter list. They can be separated by commas or semicolons, but the last one must end with a semicolon, which is followed by the "real" parameter declarations. Each forward declaration must match a "real" declaration in parameter name and data type.
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In GNU C, a macro can accept a variable number of arguments, much as a function can. The syntax for defining the macro looks much like that used for a function. Here is an example:
#define eprintf(format, args...) \ fprintf (stderr, format , ## args) |
Here args is a rest argument: it takes in zero or more
arguments, as many as the call contains. All of them plus the commas
between them form the value of args, which is substituted into
the macro body where args is used. Thus, we have this expansion:
eprintf ("%s:%d: ", input_file_name, line_number)
==>
fprintf (stderr, "%s:%d: " , input_file_name, line_number)
|
Note that the comma after the string constant comes from the definition
of eprintf, whereas the last comma comes from the value of
args.
The reason for using `##' is to handle the case when args
matches no arguments at all. In this case, args has an empty
value. In this case, the second comma in the definition becomes an
embarrassment: if it got through to the expansion of the macro, we would
get something like this:
fprintf (stderr, "success!\n" , ) |
which is invalid C syntax. `##' gets rid of the comma, so we get the following instead:
fprintf (stderr, "success!\n") |
This is a special feature of the GNU C preprocessor: `##' before a rest argument that is empty discards the preceding sequence of non-whitespace characters from the macro definition. (If another macro argument precedes, none of it is discarded.)
It might be better to discard the last preprocessor token instead of the last preceding sequence of non-whitespace characters; in fact, we may someday change this feature to do so. We advise you to write the macro definition so that the preceding sequence of non-whitespace characters is just a single token, so that the meaning will not change if we change the definition of this feature.
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Subscripting is allowed on arrays that are not lvalues, even though the unary `&' operator is not. For example, this is valid in GNU C though not valid in other C dialects:
struct foo {int a[4];};
struct foo f();
bar (int index)
{
return f().a[index];
}
|
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void- and Function-Pointers
In GNU C, addition and subtraction operations are supported on pointers to
void and on pointers to functions. This is done by treating the
size of a void or of a function as 1.
A consequence of this is that sizeof is also allowed on void
and on function types, and returns 1.
The option `-Wpointer-arith' requests a warning if these extensions are used.
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As in standard C++, the elements of an aggregate initializer for an automatic variable are not required to be constant expressions in GNU C. Here is an example of an initializer with run-time varying elements:
foo (float f, float g)
{
float beat_freqs[2] = { f-g, f+g };
...
}
|
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GNU C supports constructor expressions. A constructor looks like a cast containing an initializer. Its value is an object of the type specified in the cast, containing the elements specified in the initializer.
Usually, the specified type is a structure. Assume that
struct foo and structure are declared as shown:
struct foo {int a; char b[2];} structure;
|
Here is an example of constructing a struct foo with a constructor:
structure = ((struct foo) {x + y, 'a', 0});
|
This is equivalent to writing the following:
{
struct foo temp = {x + y, 'a', 0};
structure = temp;
}
|
You can also construct an array. If all the elements of the constructor are (made up of) simple constant expressions, suitable for use in initializers, then the constructor is an lvalue and can be coerced to a pointer to its first element, as shown here:
char **foo = (char *[]) { "x", "y", "z" };
|
Array constructors whose elements are not simple constants are
not very useful, because the constructor is not an lvalue. There
are only two valid ways to use it: to subscript it, or initialize
an array variable with it. The former is probably slower than a
switch statement, while the latter does the same thing an
ordinary C initializer would do. Here is an example of
subscripting an array constructor:
output = ((int[]) { 2, x, 28 }) [input];
|
Constructor expressions for scalar types and union types are is also allowed, but then the constructor expression is equivalent to a cast.
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Standard C requires the elements of an initializer to appear in a fixed order, the same as the order of the elements in the array or structure being initialized.
In GNU C you can give the elements in any order, specifying the array indices or structure field names they apply to. This extension is not implemented in GNU C++.
To specify an array index, write `[index]' or `[index] =' before the element value. For example,
int a[6] = { [4] 29, [2] = 15 };
|
is equivalent to
int a[6] = { 0, 0, 15, 0, 29, 0 };
|
The index values must be constant expressions, even if the array being initialized is automatic.
To initialize a range of elements to the same value, write `[first ... last] = value'. For example,
int widths[] = { [0 ... 9] = 1, [10 ... 99] = 2, [100] = 3 };
|
Note that the length of the array is the highest value specified plus one.
In a structure initializer, specify the name of a field to initialize with `fieldname:' before the element value. For example, given the following structure,
struct point { int x, y; };
|
the following initialization
struct point p = { y: yvalue, x: xvalue };
|
is equivalent to
struct point p = { xvalue, yvalue };
|
Another syntax which has the same meaning is `.fieldname ='., as shown here:
struct point p = { .y = yvalue, .x = xvalue };
|
You can also use an element label (with either the colon syntax or the period-equal syntax) when initializing a union, to specify which element of the union should be used. For example,
union foo { int i; double d; };
union foo f = { d: 4 };
|
will convert 4 to a double to store it in the union using
the second element. By contrast, casting 4 to type union foo
would store it into the union as the integer i, since it is
an integer. (See section 3.22 Cast to a Union Type.)
You can combine this technique of naming elements with ordinary C initialization of successive elements. Each initializer element that does not have a label applies to the next consecutive element of the array or structure. For example,
int a[6] = { [1] = v1, v2, [4] = v4 };
|
is equivalent to
int a[6] = { 0, v1, v2, 0, v4, 0 };
|
Labeling the elements of an array initializer is especially useful
when the indices are characters or belong to an enum type.
For example:
int whitespace[256]
= { [' '] = 1, ['\t'] = 1, ['\h'] = 1,
['\f'] = 1, ['\n'] = 1, ['\r'] = 1 };
|
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You can specify a range of consecutive values in a single case label,
like this:
case low ... high: |
This has the same effect as the proper number of individual case
labels, one for each integer value from low to high, inclusive.
This feature is especially useful for ranges of ASCII character codes:
case 'A' ... 'Z': |
Be careful: Write spaces around the ..., for otherwise
it may be parsed wrong when you use it with integer values. For example,
write this:
case 1 ... 5: |
rather than this:
case 1...5: |
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A cast to union type is similar to other casts, except that the type
specified is a union type. You can specify the type either with
union tag or with a typedef name. A cast to union is actually
a constructor though, not a cast, and hence does not yield an lvalue like
normal casts. (See section 3.19 Constructor Expressions.)
The types that may be cast to the union type are those of the members of the union. Thus, given the following union and variables:
union foo { int i; double d; };
int x;
double y;
|
both x and y can be cast to type union foo.
Using the cast as the right-hand side of an assignment to a variable of union type is equivalent to storing in a member of the union:
union foo u; ... u = (union foo) x == u.i = x u = (union foo) y == u.d = y |
You can also use the union cast as a function argument:
void hack (union foo); ... hack ((union foo) x); |
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In GNU C, you declare certain things about functions called in your program which help the compiler optimize function calls and check your code more carefully.
The keyword __attribute__ allows you to specify special
attributes when making a declaration. This keyword is followed by an
attribute specification inside double parentheses. Nine attributes,
noreturn, const, format,
no_instrument_function, section,
constructor, destructor, unused and weak are
currently defined for functions. Other attributes, including
section are supported for variables declarations (see section 3.29 Specifying Attributes of Variables) and for types (see section 3.30 Specifying Attributes of Types).
You may also specify attributes with `__' preceding and following
each keyword. This allows you to use them in header files without
being concerned about a possible macro of the same name. For example,
you may use __noreturn__ instead of noreturn.
noreturn
abort and exit,
cannot return. GNU CC knows this automatically. Some programs define
their own functions that never return. You can declare them
noreturn to tell the compiler this fact. For example,
void fatal () __attribute__ ((noreturn));
void
fatal (...)
{
... /* Print error message. */ ...
exit (1);
}
|
The noreturn keyword tells the compiler to assume that
fatal cannot return. It can then optimize without regard to what
would happen if fatal ever did return. This makes slightly
better code. More importantly, it helps avoid spurious warnings of
uninitialized variables.
Do not assume that registers saved by the calling function are
restored before calling the noreturn function.
It does not make sense for a noreturn function to have a return
type other than void.
The attribute noreturn is not implemented in GNU C versions
earlier than 2.5. An alternative way to declare that a function does
not return, which works in the current version and in some older
versions, is as follows:
typedef void voidfn (); volatile voidfn fatal; |
const
const. For example,
int square (int) __attribute__ ((const)); |
says that the hypothetical function square is safe to call
fewer times than the program says.
The attribute const is not implemented in GNU C versions earlier
than 2.5. An alternative way to declare that a function has no side
effects, which works in the current version and in some older versions,
is as follows:
typedef int intfn (); extern const intfn square; |
This approach does not work in GNU C++ from 2.6.0 on, since the language specifies that the `const' must be attached to the return value.
Note that a function that has pointer arguments and examines the data
pointed to must not be declared const. Likewise, a
function that calls a non-const function usually must not be
const. It does not make sense for a const function to
return void.
format (archetype, string-index, first-to-check)
format attribute specifies that a function takes printf,
scanf, or strftime style arguments which should be type-checked
against a format string. For example, the declaration:
extern int
my_printf (void *my_object, const char *my_format, ...)
__attribute__ ((format (printf, 2, 3)));
|
causes the compiler to check the arguments in calls to my_printf
for consistency with the printf style format string argument
my_format.
The parameter archetype determines how the format string is
interpreted, and should be either printf, scanf, or
strftime. The
parameter string-index specifies which argument is the format
string argument (starting from 1), while first-to-check is the
number of the first argument to check against the format string. For
functions where the arguments are not available to be checked (such as
vprintf), specify the third parameter as zero. In this case the
compiler only checks the format string for consistency.
In the example above, the format string (my_format) is the second
argument of the function my_print, and the arguments to check
start with the third argument, so the correct parameters for the format
attribute are 2 and 3.
The format attribute allows you to identify your own functions
which take format strings as arguments, so that GNU CC can check the
calls to these functions for errors. The compiler always checks formats
for the ANSI library functions printf, fprintf,
sprintf, scanf, fscanf, sscanf, strftime,
vprintf, vfprintf and vsprintf whenever such
warnings are requested (using `-Wformat'), so there is no need to
modify the header file `stdio.h'.
format_arg (string-index)
format_arg attribute specifies that a function takes
printf or scanf style arguments, modifies it (for example,
to translate it into another language), and passes it to a printf
or scanf style function. For example, the declaration:
extern char *
my_dgettext (char *my_domain, const char *my_format)
__attribute__ ((format_arg (2)));
|
causes the compiler to check the arguments in calls to
my_dgettext whose result is passed to a printf,
scanf, or strftime type function for consistency with the
printf style format string argument my_format.
The parameter string-index specifies which argument is the format string argument (starting from 1).
The format-arg attribute allows you to identify your own
functions which modify format strings, so that GNU CC can check the
calls to printf, scanf, or strftime function whose
operands are a call to one of your own function. The compiler always
treats gettext, dgettext, and dcgettext in this
manner.
no_instrument_function
section ("section-name")
text section.
Sometimes, however, you need additional sections, or you need certain
particular functions to appear in special sections. The section
attribute specifies that a function lives in a particular section.
For example, the declaration:
extern void foobar (void) __attribute__ ((section ("bar")));
|
puts the function foobar in the bar section.
Some file formats do not support arbitrary sections so the section
attribute is not available on all platforms.
If you need to map the entire contents of a module to a particular
section, consider using the facilities of the linker instead.
constructor
destructor
constructor attribute causes the function to be called
automatically before execution enters main (). Similarly, the
destructor attribute causes the function to be called
automatically after main () has completed or exit () has
been called. Functions with these attributes are useful for
initializing data that will be used implicitly during the execution of
the program.
These attributes are not currently implemented for Objective C.
unused
weak
weak attribute causes the declaration to be emitted as a weak
symbol rather than a global. This is primarily useful in defining
library functions which can be overridden in user code, though it can
also be used with non-function declarations. Weak symbols are supported
for ELF targets, and also for a.out targets when using the GNU assembler
and linker.
alias ("target")
alias attribute causes the declaration to be emitted as an
alias for another symbol, which must be specified. For instance,
void __f () { /* do something */; }
void f () __attribute__ ((weak, alias ("__f")));
|
declares `f' to be a weak alias for `__f'. In C++, the mangled name for the target must be used.
Not all target machines support this attribute.
no_check_memory_usage
asm statements
are not allowed. Declaring a function with this attribute disables the
memory checking code for that function, permitting the use of asm
statements without requiring separate compilation with different
options, and allowing you to write support routines of your own if you
wish, without getting infinite recursion if they get compiled with this
option.
regparm (number)
regparm attribute causes the compiler to
pass up to number integer arguments in registers EAX,
EDX, and ECX instead of on the stack. Functions that take a
variable number of arguments will continue to be passed all of their
arguments on the stack.
stdcall
stdcall attribute causes the compiler to
assume that the called function will pop off the stack space used to
pass arguments, unless it takes a variable number of arguments.
The PowerPC compiler for Windows NT currently ignores the stdcall
attribute.
longcall
longcall attribute causes the
compiler to call the function via a pointer, so that functions
which reside further than 32 megabytes from the
current location can be called.
This attribute can be attached to a set of function declarations
by embedding them inside a #pragma longcall. For example
#pragma longcall (1) void f (); . . . void g (); #pragma longcall (0) |
has the same effect as:
void f () __attribute__ ((longcall)); . . . void g () __attribute__ ((longcall)); |
Attributes cannot be attached to C++ member functions. To ensure that externally defined C++ methods are always called via a function pointer, use the `-mlongcall' flag.
shortcall
shortcall attribute causes the
compiler to always generate a direct call if it can, overriding
the attribute longcall and the command line flag `-mlongcall'.
cdecl
cdecl attribute causes the compiler to
assume that the calling function will pop off the stack space used to
pass arguments. This is
useful to override the effects of the `-mrtd' switch.
The PowerPC compiler for Windows NT currently ignores the cdecl
attribute.
dllimport
dllimport attribute causes
the compiler to call the function via a global pointer to the function
pointer that is set up by the Windows NT dll library. The pointer name
is formed by combining __imp_ and the function name.
dllexport
dllexport attribute causes
the compiler to provide a global pointer to the function pointer, so
that it can be called with the dllimport attribute. The pointer
name is formed by combining __imp_ and the function name.
exception (except-func [, except-arg])
exception attribute causes
the compiler to modify the structured exception table entry it emits for
the declared function. The string or identifier except-func is
placed in the third entry of the structured exception table. It
represents a function, which is called by the exception handling
mechanism if an exception occurs. If it was specified, the string or
identifier except-arg is placed in the fourth entry of the
structured exception table.
function_vector
You must use GAS and GLD from GNU binutils version 2.7 or later for this option to work correctly.
interrupt_handler
eightbit_data
You must use GAS and GLD from GNU binutils version 2.7 or later for this option to work correctly.
tiny_data
interrupt
model (model-name)
small, medium,
or large, representing each of the code models.
Small model objects live in the lower 16MB of memory (so that their
addresses can be loaded with the ld24 instruction), and are
callable with the bl instruction.
Medium model objects may live anywhere in the 32 bit address space (the
compiler will generate seth/add3 instructions to load their addresses),
and are callable with the bl instruction.
Large model objects may live anywhere in the 32 bit address space (the
compiler will generate seth/add3 instructions to load their addresses),
and may not be reachable with the bl instruction (the compiler will
generate the much slower seth/add3/jl instruction sequence).
You can specify multiple attributes in a declaration by separating them by commas within the double parentheses or by immediately following an attribute declaration with another attribute declaration.
Some people object to the __attribute__ feature, suggesting that ANSI C's
#pragma should be used instead. There are two reasons for not
doing this.
#pragma commands from a macro.
#pragma might mean in another
compiler.
These two reasons apply to almost any application that might be proposed
for #pragma. It is basically a mistake to use #pragma for
anything.
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GNU C extends ANSI C to allow a function prototype to override a later old-style non-prototype definition. Consider the following example:
/* Use prototypes unless the compiler is old-fashioned. */
#ifdef __STDC__
#define P(x) x
#else
#define P(x) ()
#endif
/* Prototype function declaration. */
int isroot P((uid_t));
/* Old-style function definition. */
int
isroot (x) /* ??? lossage here ??? */
uid_t x;
{
return x == 0;
}
|
Suppose the type uid_t happens to be short. ANSI C does
not allow this example, because subword arguments in old-style
non-prototype definitions are promoted. Therefore in this example the
function definition's argument is really an int, which does not
match the prototype argument type of short.
This restriction of ANSI C makes it hard to write code that is portable
to traditional C compilers, because the programmer does not know
whether the uid_t type is short, int, or
long. Therefore, in cases like these GNU C allows a prototype
to override a later old-style definition. More precisely, in GNU C, a
function prototype argument type overrides the argument type specified
by a later old-style definition if the former type is the same as the
latter type before promotion. Thus in GNU C the above example is
equivalent to the following:
int isroot (uid_t);
int
isroot (uid_t x)
{
return x == 0;
}
|
GNU C++ does not support old-style function definitions, so this extension is irrelevant.
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In GNU C, you may use C++ style comments, which start with `//' and
continue until the end of the line. Many other C implementations allow
such comments, and they are likely to be in a future C standard.
However, C++ style comments are not recognized if you specify
`-ansi' or `-traditional', since they are incompatible
with traditional constructs like dividend//*comment*/divisor.
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In GNU C, you may normally use dollar signs in identifier names. This is because many traditional C implementations allow such identifiers. However, dollar signs in identifiers are not supported on a few target machines, typically because the target assembler does not allow them.
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You can use the sequence `\e' in a string or character constant to stand for the ASCII character ESC.
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The keyword __alignof__ allows you to inquire about how an object
is aligned, or the minimum alignment usually required by a type. Its
syntax is just like sizeof.
For example, if the target machine requires a double value to be
aligned on an 8-byte boundary, then __alignof__ (double) is 8.
This is true on many RISC machines. On more traditional machine
designs, __alignof__ (double) is 4 or even 2.
Some machines never actually require alignment; they allow reference to any
data type even at an odd addresses. For these machines, __alignof__
reports the recommended alignment of a type.
When the operand of __alignof__ is an lvalue rather than a type, the
value is the largest alignment that the lvalue is known to have. It may
have this alignment as a result of its data type, or because it is part of
a structure and inherits alignment from that structure. For example, after
this declaration:
struct foo { int x; char y; } foo1;
|
the value of __alignof__ (foo1.y) is probably 2 or 4, the same as
__alignof__ (int), even though the data type of foo1.y
does not itself demand any alignment.
A related feature which lets you specify the alignment of an object is
__attribute__ ((aligned (alignment))); see the following
section.
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The keyword __attribute__ allows you to specify special
attributes of variables or structure fields. This keyword is followed
by an attribute specification inside double parentheses. Eight
attributes are currently defined for variables: aligned,
mode, nocommon, packed, section,
transparent_union, unused, and weak. Other
attributes are available for functions (see section 3.23 Declaring Attributes of Functions) and
for types (see section 3.30 Specifying Attributes of Types).
You may also specify attributes with `__' preceding and following
each keyword. This allows you to use them in header files without
being concerned about a possible macro of the same name. For example,
you may use __aligned__ instead of aligned.
aligned (alignment)
int x __attribute__ ((aligned (16))) = 0; |
causes the compiler to allocate the global variable x on a
16-byte boundary. On a 68040, this could be used in conjunction with
an asm expression to access the move16 instruction which
requires 16-byte aligned operands.
You can also specify the alignment of structure fields. For example, to
create a double-word aligned int pair, you could write:
struct foo { int x[2] __attribute__ ((aligned (8))); };
|
This is an alternative to creating a union with a double member
that forces the union to be double-word aligned.
It is not possible to specify the alignment of functions; the alignment of functions is determined by the machine's requirements and cannot be changed. You cannot specify alignment for a typedef name because such a name is just an alias, not a distinct type.
As in the preceding examples, you can explicitly specify the alignment (in bytes) that you wish the compiler to use for a given variable or structure field. Alternatively, you can leave out the alignment factor and just ask the compiler to align a variable or field to the maximum useful alignment for the target machine you are compiling for. For example, you could write:
short array[3] __attribute__ ((aligned)); |
Whenever you leave out the alignment factor in an aligned attribute
specification, the compiler automatically sets the alignment for the declared
variable or field to the largest alignment which is ever used for any data
type on the target machine you are compiling for. Doing this can often make
copy operations more efficient, because the compiler can use whatever
instructions copy the biggest chunks of memory when performing copies to
or from the variables or fields that you have aligned this way.
The aligned attribute can only increase the alignment; but you
can decrease it by specifying packed as well. See below.
Note that the effectiveness of aligned attributes may be limited
by inherent limitations in your linker. On many systems, the linker is
only able to arrange for variables to be aligned up to a certain maximum
alignment. (For some linkers, the maximum supported alignment may
be very very small.) If your linker is only able to align variables
up to a maximum of 8 byte alignment, then specifying aligned(16)
in an __attribute__ will still only provide you with 8 byte
alignment. See your linker documentation for further information.
mode (mode)
You may also specify a mode of `byte' or `__byte__' to indicate the mode corresponding to a one-byte integer, `word' or `__word__' for the mode of a one-word integer, and `pointer' or `__pointer__' for the mode used to represent pointers.
nocommon
Specifying the nocommon attribute for a variable provides an
initialization of zeros. A variable may only be initialized in one
source file.
packed
packed attribute specifies that a variable or structure field
should have the smallest possible alignment--one byte for a variable,
and one bit for a field, unless you specify a larger value with the
aligned attribute.
Here is a structure in which the field x is packed, so that it
immediately follows a:
struct foo
{
char a;
int x[2] __attribute__ ((packed));
};
|
section ("section-name")
data and bss. Sometimes, however, you need additional sections,
or you need certain particular variables to appear in special sections,
for example to map to special hardware. The section
attribute specifies that a variable (or function) lives in a particular
section. For example, this small program uses several specific section names:
struct duart a __attribute__ ((section ("DUART_A"))) = { 0 };
struct duart b __attribute__ ((section ("DUART_B"))) = { 0 };
char stack[10000] __attribute__ ((section ("STACK"))) = { 0 };
int init_data __attribute__ ((section ("INITDATA"))) = 0;
main()
{
/* Initialize stack pointer */
init_sp (stack + sizeof (stack));
/* Initialize initialized data */
memcpy (&init_data, &data, &edata - &data);
/* Turn on the serial ports */
init_duart (&a);
init_duart (&b);
}
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Use the section attribute with an initialized definition
of a global variable, as shown in the example. GNU CC issues
a warning and otherwise ignores the section attribute in
uninitialized variable declarations.
You may only use the section attribute with a fully initialized
global definition because of the way linkers work. The linker requires
each object be defined once, with the exception that uninitialized
variables tentatively go in the common (or bss) section
and can be multiply "defined". You can force a variable to be
initialized with the `-fno-common' flag or the nocommon
attribute.
Some file formats do not support arbitrary sections so the section
attribute is not available on all platforms.
If you need to map the entire contents of a module to a particular
section, consider using the facilities of the linker instead.
transparent_union
typedef for a union data type; then it
applies to all function parameters with that type.
unused
weak
weak attribute is described in See section 3.23 Declaring Attributes of Functions.
model (model-name)
small, medium,
or large, representing each of the code models.
Small model objects live in the lower 16MB of memory (so that their
addresses can be loaded with the ld24 instruction).
Medium and large model objects may live anywhere in the 32 bit address space
(the compiler will generate seth/add3 instructions to load their
addresses).
To specify multiple attributes, separate them by commas within the double parentheses: for example, `__attribute__ ((aligned (16), packed))'.
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The keyword __attribute__ allows you to specify special
attributes of struct and union types when you define such
types. This keyword is followed by an attribute specification inside
double parentheses. Three attributes are currently defined for types:
aligned, packed, and transparent_union. Other
attributes are defined for functions (see section 3.23 Declaring Attributes of Functions) and
for variables (see section 3.29 Specifying Attributes of Variables).
You may also specify any one of these attributes with `__'
preceding and following its keyword. This allows you to use these
attributes in header files without being concerned about a possible
macro of the same name. For example, you may use __aligned__
instead of aligned.
You may specify the aligned and transparent_union
attributes either in a typedef declaration or just past the
closing curly brace of a complete enum, struct or union type
definition and the packed attribute only past the closing
brace of a definition.
You may also specify attributes between the enum, struct or union tag and the name of the type rather than after the closing brace.
aligned (alignment)
struct S { short f[3]; } __attribute__ ((aligned (8)));
typedef int more_aligned_int __attribute__ ((aligned (8)));
|
force the compiler to insure (as far as it can) that each variable whose
type is struct S or more_aligned_int will be allocated and
aligned at least on a 8-byte boundary. On a Sparc, having all
variables of type struct S aligned to 8-byte boundaries allows
the compiler to use the ldd and std (doubleword load and
store) instructions when copying one variable of type struct S to
another, thus improving run-time efficiency.
Note that the alignment of any given struct or union type
is required by the ANSI C standard to be at least a perfect multiple of
the lowest common multiple of the alignments of all of the members of
the struct or union in question. This means that you can
effectively adjust the alignment of a struct or union
type by attaching an aligned attribute to any one of the members
of such a type, but the notation illustrated in the example above is a
more obvious, intuitive, and readable way to request the compiler to
adjust the alignment of an entire struct or union type.
As in the preceding example, you can explicitly specify the alignment
(in bytes) that you wish the compiler to use for a given struct
or union type. Alternatively, you can leave out the alignment factor
and just ask the compiler to align a type to the maximum
useful alignment for the target machine you are compiling for. For
example, you could write:
struct S { short f[3]; } __attribute__ ((aligned));
|
Whenever you leave out the alignment factor in an aligned
attribute specification, the compiler automatically sets the alignment
for the type to the largest alignment which is ever used for any data
type on the target machine you are compiling for. Doing this can often
make copy operations more efficient, because the compiler can use
whatever instructions copy the biggest chunks of memory when performing
copies to or from the variables which have types that you have aligned
this way.
In the example above, if the size of each short is 2 bytes, then
the size of the entire struct S type is 6 bytes. The smallest
power of two which is greater than or equal to that is 8, so the
compiler sets the alignment for the entire struct S type to 8
bytes.
Note that although you can ask the compiler to select a time-efficient alignment for a given type and then declare only individual stand-alone objects of that type, the compiler's ability to select a time-efficient alignment is primarily useful only when you plan to create arrays of variables having the relevant (efficiently aligned) type. If you declare or use arrays of variables of an efficiently-aligned type, then it is likely that your program will also be doing pointer arithmetic (or subscripting, which amounts to the same thing) on pointers to the relevant type, and the code that the compiler generates for these pointer arithmetic operations will often be more efficient for efficiently-aligned types than for other types.
The aligned attribute can only increase the alignment; but you
can decrease it by specifying packed as well. See below.
Note that the effectiveness of aligned attributes may be limited
by inherent limitations in your linker. On many systems, the linker is
only able to arrange for variables to be aligned up to a certain maximum
alignment. (For some linkers, the maximum supported alignment may
be very very small.) If your linker is only able to align variables
up to a maximum of 8 byte alignment, then specifying aligned(16)
in an __attribute__ will still only provide you with 8 byte
alignment. See your linker documentation for further information.
packed
enum, struct, or
union type definition, specified that the minimum required memory
be used to represent the type.
Specifying this attribute for struct and union types is
equivalent to specifying the packed attribute on each of the
structure or union members. Specifying the `-fshort-enums'
flag on the line is equivalent to specifying the packed
attribute on all enum definitions.
You may only specify this attribute after a closing curly brace on an
enum definition, not in a typedef declaration, unless that
declaration also contains the definition of the enum.
transparent_union
union type definition, indicates
that any function parameter having that union type causes calls to that
function to be treated in a special way.
First, the argument corresponding to a transparent union type can be of
any type in the union; no cast is required. Also, if the union contains
a pointer type, the corresponding argument can be a null pointer
constant or a void pointer expression; and if the union contains a void
pointer type, the corresponding argument can be any pointer expression.
If the union member type is a pointer, qualifiers like const on
the referenced type must be respected, just as with normal pointer
conversions.
Second, the argument is passed to the function using the calling conventions of first member of the transparent union, not the calling conventions of the union itself. All members of the union must have the same machine representation; this is necessary for this argument passing to work properly.
Transparent unions are designed for library functions that have multiple
interfaces for compatibility reasons. For example, suppose the
wait function must accept either a value of type int * to
comply with Posix, or a value of type union wait * to comply with
the 4.1BSD interface. If wait's parameter were void *,
wait would accept both kinds of arguments, but it would also
accept any other pointer type and this would make argument type checking
less useful. Instead, <sys/wait.h> might define the interface
as follows:
typedef union
{
int *__ip;
union wait *__up;
} wait_status_ptr_t __attribute__ ((__transparent_union__));
pid_t wait (wait_status_ptr_t);
|
This interface allows either int * or union wait *
arguments to be passed, using the int * calling convention.
The program can call wait with arguments of either type:
int w1 () { int w; return wait (&w); }
int w2 () { union wait w; return wait (&w); }
|
With this interface, wait's implementation might look like this:
pid_t wait (wait_status_ptr_t p)
{
return waitpid (-1, p.__ip, 0);
}
|
unused
union or a struct),
this attribute means that variables of that type are meant to appear
possibly unused. GNU CC will not produce a warning for any variables of
that type, even if the variable appears to do nothing. This is often
the case with lock or thread classes, which are usually defined and then
not referenced, but contain constructors and destructors that have
nontrivial bookkeeping functions.
To specify multiple attributes, separate them by commas within the double parentheses: for example, `__attribute__ ((aligned (16), packed))'.
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By declaring a function inline, you can direct GNU CC to
integrate that function's code into the code for its callers. This
makes execution faster by eliminating the function-call overhead; in
addition, if any of the actual argument values are constant, their known
values may permit simplifications at compile time so that not all of the
inline function's code needs to be included. The effect on code size is
less predictable; object code may be larger or smaller with function
inlining, depending on the particular case. Inlining of functions is an
optimization and it really "works" only in optimizing compilation. If
you don't use `-O', no function is really inline.
To declare a function inline, use the inline keyword in its
declaration, like this:
inline int
inc (int *a)
{
(*a)++;
}
|
(If you are writing a header file to be included in ANSI C programs, write
__inline__ instead of inline. See section 3.35 Alternate Keywords.)
You can also make all "simple enough" functions inline with the option
`-finline-functions'.
Note that certain usages in a function definition can make it unsuitable
for inline substitution. Among these usages are: use of varargs, use of
alloca, use of variable sized data types (see section 3.14 Arrays of Variable Length),
use of computed goto (see section 3.3 Labels as Values), use of nonlocal goto,
and nested functions (see section 3.4 Nested Functions). Using `-Winline'
will warn when a function marked inline could not be substituted,
and will give the reason for the failure.
Note that in C and Objective C, unlike C++, the inline keyword
does not affect the linkage of the function.
GNU CC automatically inlines member functions defined within the class
body of C++ programs even if they are not explicitly declared
inline. (You can override this with `-fno-default-inline';
see section Options Controlling C++ Dialect.)
When a function is both inline and static, if all calls to the
function are integrated into the caller, and the function's address is
never used, then the function's own assembler code is never referenced.
In this case, GNU CC does not actually output assembler code for the
function, unless you specify the option `-fkeep-inline-functions'.
Some calls cannot be integrated for various reasons (in particular,
calls that precede the function's definition cannot be integrated, and
neither can recursive calls within the definition). If there is a
nonintegrated call, then the function is compiled to assembler code as
usual. The function must also be compiled as usual if the program
refers to its address, because that can't be inlined.
When an inline function is not static, then the compiler must assume
that there may be calls from other source files; since a global symbol can
be defined only once in any program, the function must not be defined in
the other source files, so the calls therein cannot be integrated.
Therefore, a non-static inline function is always compiled on its
own in the usual fashion.
If you specify both inline and extern in the function
definition, then the definition is used only for inlining. In no case
is the function compiled on its own, not even if you refer to its
address explicitly. Such an address becomes an external reference, as
if you had only declared the function, and had not defined it.
This combination of inline and extern has almost the
effect of a macro. The way to use it is to put a function definition in
a header file with these keywords, and put another copy of the
definition (lacking inline and extern) in a library file.
The definition in the header file will cause most calls to the function
to be inlined. If any uses of the function remain, they will refer to
the single copy in the library.
GNU C does not inline any functions when not optimizing. It is not clear whether it is better to inline or not, in this case, but we found that a correct implementation when not optimizing was difficult. So we did the easy thing, and turned it off.
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In an assembler instruction using asm, you can specify the
operands of the instruction using C expressions. This means you need not
guess which registers or memory locations will contain the data you want
to use.
You must specify an assembler instruction template much like what appears in a machine description, plus an operand constraint string for each operand.
For example, here is how to use the 68881's fsinx instruction:
asm ("fsinx %1,%0" : "=f" (result) : "f" (angle));
|
Here angle is the C expression for the input operand while
result is that of the output operand. Each has `"f"' as its
operand constraint, saying that a floating point register is required.
The `=' in `=f' indicates that the operand is an output; all
output operands' constraints must use `='. The constraints use the
same language used in the machine description.
Each operand is described by an operand-constraint string followed by the C expression in parentheses. A colon separates the assembler template from the first output operand and another separates the last output operand from the first input, if any. Commas separate the operands within each group. The total number of operands is limited to ten or to the maximum number of operands in any instruction pattern in the machine description, whichever is greater.
If there are no output operands but there are input operands, you must place two consecutive colons surrounding the place where the output operands would go.
Output operand expressions must be lvalues; the compiler can check this.
The input operands need not be lvalues. The compiler cannot check
whether the operands have data types that are reasonable for the
instruction being executed. It does not parse the assembler instruction
template and does not know what it means or even whether it is valid
assembler input. The extended asm feature is most often used for
machine instructions the compiler itself does not know exist. If
the output expression cannot be directly addressed (for example, it is a
bit field), your constraint must allow a register. In that case, GNU CC
will use the register as the output of the asm, and then store
that register into the output.
The ordinary output operands must be write-only; GNU CC will assume that the values in these operands before the instruction are dead and need not be generated. Extended asm supports input-output or read-write operands. Use the constraint character `+' to indicate such an operand and list it with the output operands.
When the constraints for the read-write operand (or the operand in which
only some of the bits are to be changed) allows a register, you may, as
an alternative, logically split its function into two separate operands,
one input operand and one write-only output operand. The connection
between them is expressed by constraints which say they need to be in
the same location when the instruction executes. You can use the same C
expression for both operands, or different expressions. For example,
here we write the (fictitious) `combine' instruction with
bar as its read-only source operand and foo as its
read-write destination:
asm ("combine %2,%0" : "=r" (foo) : "0" (foo), "g" (bar));
|
The constraint `"0"' for operand 1 says that it must occupy the same location as operand 0. A digit in constraint is allowed only in an input operand and it must refer to an output operand.
Only a digit in the constraint can guarantee that one operand will be in
the same place as another. The mere fact that foo is the value
of both operands is not enough to guarantee that they will be in the
same place in the generated assembler code. The following would not
work reliably:
asm ("combine %2,%0" : "=r" (foo) : "r" (foo), "g" (bar));
|
Various optimizations or reloading could cause operands 0 and 1 to be in
different registers; GNU CC knows no reason not to do so. For example, the
compiler might find a copy of the value of foo in one register and
use it for operand 1, but generate the output operand 0 in a different
register (copying it afterward to foo's own address). Of course,
since the register for operand 1 is not even mentioned in the assembler
code, the result will not work, but GNU CC can't tell that.
Some instructions clobber specific hard registers. To describe this, write a third colon after the input operands, followed by the names of the clobbered hard registers (given as strings). Here is a realistic example for the VAX:
asm volatile ("movc3 %0,%1,%2"
: /* no outputs */
: "g" (from), "g" (to), "g" (count)
: "r0", "r1", "r2", "r3", "r4", "r5");
|
It is an error for a clobber description to overlap an input or output
operand (for example, an operand describing a register class with one
member, mentioned in the clobber list). Most notably, it is invalid to
describe that an input operand is modified, but unused as output. It has
to be specified as an input and output operand anyway. Note that if there
are only unused output operands, you will then also need to specify
volatile for the asm construct, as described below.
If you refer to a particular hardware register from the assembler code, you will probably have to list the register after the third colon to tell the compiler the register's value is modified. In some assemblers, the register names begin with `%'; to produce one `%' in the assembler code, you must write `%%' in the input.
If your assembler instruction can alter the condition code register, add `cc' to the list of clobbered registers. GNU CC on some machines represents the condition codes as a specific hardware register; `cc' serves to name this register. On other machines, the condition code is handled differently, and specifying `cc' has no effect. But it is valid no matter what the machine.
If your assembler instruction modifies memory in an unpredictable fashion, add `memory' to the list of clobbered registers. This will cause GNU CC to not keep memory values cached in registers across the assembler instruction.
You can put multiple assembler instructions together in a single
asm template, separated either with newlines (written as
`\n') or with semicolons if the assembler allows such semicolons.
The GNU assembler allows semicolons and most Unix assemblers seem to do
so. The input operands are guaranteed not to use any of the clobbered
registers, and neither will the output operands' addresses, so you can
read and write the clobbered registers as many times as you like. Here
is an example of multiple instructions in a template; it assumes the
subroutine _foo accepts arguments in registers 9 and 10:
asm ("movl %0,r9;movl %1,r10;call _foo"
: /* no outputs */
: "g" (from), "g" (to)
: "r9", "r10");
|
Unless an output operand has the `&' constraint modifier, GNU CC may allocate it in the same register as an unrelated input operand, on the assumption the inputs are consumed before the outputs are produced. This assumption may be false if the assembler code actually consists of more than one instruction. In such a case, use `&' for each output operand that may not overlap an input.
If you want to test the condition code produced by an assembler
instruction, you must include a branch and a label in the asm
construct, as follows:
asm ("clr %0;frob %1;beq 0f;mov #1,%0;0:"
: "g" (result)
: "g" (input));
|
This assumes your assembler supports local labels, as the GNU assembler and most Unix assemblers do.
Speaking of labels, jumps from one asm to another are not
supported. The compiler's optimizers do not know about these jumps, and
therefore they cannot take account of them when deciding how to
optimize.
Usually the most convenient way to use these asm instructions is to
encapsulate them in macros that look like functions. For example,
#define sin(x) \
({ double __value, __arg = (x); \
asm ("fsinx %1,%0": "=f" (__value): "f" (__arg)); \
__value; })
|
Here the variable __arg is used to make sure that the instruction
operates on a proper double value, and to accept only those
arguments x which can convert automatically to a double.
Another way to make sure the instruction operates on the correct data
type is to use a cast in the asm. This is different from using a
variable __arg in that it converts more different types. For
example, if the desired type were int, casting the argument to
int would accept a pointer with no complaint, while assigning the
argument to an int variable named __arg would warn about
using a pointer unless the caller explicitly casts it.
If an asm has output operands, GNU CC assumes for optimization
purposes the instruction has no side effects except to change the output
operands. This does not mean instructions with a side effect cannot be
used, but you must be careful, because the compiler may eliminate them
if the output operands aren't used, or move them out of loops, or
replace two with one if they constitute a common subexpression. Also,
if your instruction does have a side effect on a variable that otherwise
appears not to change, the old value of the variable may be reused later
if it happens to be found in a register.
You can prevent an asm instruction from being deleted, moved
significantly, or combined, by writing the keyword volatile after
the asm. For example:
#define get_and_set_priority(new) \
({ int __old; \
asm volatile ("get_and_set_priority %0, %1": "=g" (__old) : "g" (new)); \
__old; })
|
If you write an asm instruction with no outputs, GNU CC will know
the instruction has side-effects and will not delete the instruction or
move it outside of loops. If the side-effects of your instruction are
not purely external, but will affect variables in your program in ways
other than reading the inputs and clobbering the specified registers or
memory, you should write the volatile keyword to prevent future
versions of GNU CC from moving the instruction around within a core
region.
An asm instruction without any operands or clobbers (and "old
style" asm) will not be deleted or moved significantly,
regardless, unless it is unreachable, the same wasy as if you had
written a volatile keyword.
Note that even a volatile asm instruction can be moved in ways
that appear insignificant to the compiler, such as across jump
instructions. You can't expect a sequence of volatile asm
instructions to remain perfectly consecutive. If you want consecutive
output, use a single asm.
It is a natural idea to look for a way to give access to the condition code left by the assembler instruction. However, when we attempted to implement this, we found no way to make it work reliably. The problem is that output operands might need reloading, which would result in additional following "store" instructions. On most machines, these instructions would alter the condition code before there was time to test it. This problem doesn't arise for ordinary "test" and "compare" instructions because they don't have any output operands.
If you are writing a header file that should be includable in ANSI C
programs, write __asm__ instead of asm. See section 3.35 Alternate Keywords.
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There are several rules on the usage of stack-like regs in asm_operands insns. These rules apply only to the operands that are stack-like regs:
An input reg that is implicitly popped by the asm must be explicitly clobbered, unless it is constrained to match an output operand.
All implicitly popped input regs must be closer to the top of the reg-stack than any input that is not implicitly popped.
It is possible that if an input dies in an insn, reload might use the input reg for an output reload. Consider this example:
asm ("foo" : "=t" (a) : "f" (b));
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This asm says that input B is not popped by the asm, and that the asm pushes a result onto the reg-stack, ie, the stack is one deeper after the asm than it was before. But, it is possible that reload will think that it can use the same reg for both the input and the output, if input B dies in this insn.
If any input operand uses the f constraint, all output reg
constraints must use the & earlyclobber.
The asm above would be written as
asm ("foo" : "=&t" (a) : "f" (b));
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Output operands must specifically indicate which reg an output
appears in after an asm. =f is not allowed: the operand
constraints must select a class with a single reg.
Output operands must start at the top of the reg-stack: output operands may not "skip" a reg.
Here are a couple of reasonable asms to want to write. This asm takes one input, which is internally popped, and produces two outputs.
asm ("fsincos" : "=t" (cos), "=u" (sin) : "0" (inp));
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This asm takes two inputs, which are popped by the fyl2xp1 opcode,
and replaces them with one output. The user must code the st(1)
clobber for reg-stack.c to know that fyl2xp1 pops both inputs.
asm ("fyl2xp1" : "=t" (result) : "0" (x), "u" (y) : "st(1)");
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You can specify the name to be used in the assembler code for a C
function or variable by writing the asm (or __asm__)
keyword after the declarator as follows:
int foo asm ("myfoo") = 2;
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This specifies that the name to be used for the variable foo in
the assembler code should be `myfoo' rather than the usual
`_foo'.
On systems where an underscore is normally prepended to the name of a C function or variable, this feature allows you to define names for the linker that do not start with an underscore.
You cannot use asm in this way in a function definition; but
you can get the same effect by writing a declaration for the function
before its definition and putting asm there, like this:
extern func () asm ("FUNC");
func (x, y)
int x, y;
...
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It is up to you to make sure that the assembler names you choose do not conflict with any other assembler symbols. Also, you must not use a register name; that would produce completely invalid assembler code. GNU CC does not as yet have the ability to store static variables in registers. Perhaps that will be added.
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GNU C allows you to put a few global variables into specified hardware registers. You can also specify the register in which an ordinary register variable should be allocated.
These local variables are sometimes convenient for use with the extended
asm feature (see section 3.32 Assembler Instructions with C Expression Operands), if you want to write one
output of the assembler instruction directly into a particular register.
(This will work provided the register you specify fits the constraints
specified for that operand in the asm.)
3.34.1 Defining Global Register Variables 3.34.2 Specifying Registers for Local Variables
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You can define a global register variable in GNU C like this:
register int *foo asm ("a5");
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Here a5 is the name of the register which should be used. Choose a
register which is normally saved and restored by function calls on your
machine, so that library routines will not clobber it.
Naturally the register name is cpu-dependent, so you would need to
conditionalize your program according to cpu type. The register
a5 would be a good choice on a 68000 for a variable of pointer
type. On machines with register windows, be sure to choose a "global"
register that is not affected magically by the function call mechanism.
In addition, operating systems on one type of cpu may differ in how they
name the registers; then you would need additional conditionals. For
example, some 68000 operating systems call this register %a5.
Eventually there may be a way of asking the compiler to choose a register automatically, but first we need to figure out how it should choose and how to enable you to guide the choice. No solution is evident.
Defining a global register variable in a certain register reserves that register entirely for this use, at least within the current compilation. The register will not be allocated for any other purpose in the functions in the current compilation. The register will not be saved and restored by these functions. Stores into this register are never deleted even if they would appear to be dead, but references may be deleted or moved or simplified.
It is not safe to access the global register variables from signal handlers, or from more than one thread of control, because the system library routines may temporarily use the register for other things (unless you recompile them specially for the task at hand).
It is not safe for one function that uses a global register variable to
call another such function foo by way of a third function
lose that was compiled without knowledge of this variable (i.e. in a
different source file in which the variable wasn't declared). This is
because lose might save the register and put some other value there.
For example, you can't expect a global register variable to be available in
the comparison-function that you pass to qsort, since qsort
might have put something else in that register. (If you are prepared to
recompile qsort with the same global register variable, you can
solve this problem.)
If you want to recompile qsort or other source files which do not
actually use your global register variable, so that they will not use that
register for any other purpose, then it suffices to specify the compiler
option `-ffixed-reg'. You need not actually add a global
register declaration to their source code.
A function which can alter the value of a global register variable cannot safely be called from a function compiled without this variable, because it could clobber the value the caller expects to find there on return. Therefore, the function which is the entry point into the part of the program that uses the global register variable must explicitly save and restore the value which belongs to its caller.
On most machines, longjmp will restore to each global register
variable the value it had at the time of the setjmp. On some
machines, however, longjmp will not change the value of global
register variables. To be portable, the function that called setjmp
should make other arrangements to save the values of the global register
variables, and to restore them in a longjmp. This way, the same
thing will happen regardless of what longjmp does.
All global register variable declarations must precede all function definitions. If such a declaration could appear after function definitions, the declaration would be too late to prevent the register from being used for other purposes in the preceding functions.
Global register variables may not have initial values, because an executable file has no means to supply initial contents for a register.
On the Sparc, there are reports that g3 ... g7 are suitable
registers, but certain library functions, such as getwd, as well
as the subroutines for division and remainder, modify g3 and g4. g1 and
g2 are local temporaries.
On the 68000, a2 ... a5 should be suitable, as should d2 ... d7. Of course, it will not do to use more than a few of those.
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You can define a local register variable with a specified register like this:
register int *foo asm ("a5");
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Here a5 is the name of the register which should be used. Note
that this is the same syntax used for defining global register
variables, but for a local variable it would appear within a function.
Naturally the register name is cpu-dependent, but this is not a problem, since specific registers are most often useful with explicit assembler instructions (see section 3.32 Assembler Instructions with C Expression Operands). Both of these things generally require that you conditionalize your program according to cpu type.
In addition, operating systems on one type of cpu may differ in how they
name the registers; then you would need additional conditionals. For
example, some 68000 operating systems call this register %a5.
Defining such a register variable does not reserve the register; it remains available for other uses in places where flow control determines the variable's value is not live. However, these registers are made unavailable for use in the reload pass; excessive use of this feature leaves the compiler too few available registers to compile certain functions.
This option does not guarantee that GNU CC will generate code that has
this variable in the register you specify at all times. You may not
code an explicit reference to this register in an asm statement
and assume it will always refer to this variable.
Stores into local register variables may be deleted when they appear to be dead according to dataflow analysis. References to local register variables may be deleted or moved or simplified.
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The option `-traditional' disables certain keywords; `-ansi'
disables certain others. This causes trouble when you want to use GNU C
extensions, or ANSI C features, in a general-purpose header file that
should be usable by all programs, including ANSI C programs and traditional
ones. The keywords asm, typeof and inline cannot be
used since they won't work in a program compiled with `-ansi', while
the keywords const, volatile, signed, typeof
and inline won't work in a program compiled with
`-traditional'.
The way to solve these problems is to put `__' at the beginning and
end of each problematical keyword. For example, use __asm__
instead of asm, __const__ instead of const, and
__inline__ instead of inline.
Other C compilers won't accept these alternative keywords; if you want to compile with another compiler, you can define the alternate keywords as macros to replace them with the customary keywords. It looks like this:
#ifndef __GNUC__ #define __asm__ asm #endif |
`-pedantic' causes warnings for many GNU C extensions. You can
prevent such warnings within one expression by writing
__extension__ before the expression. __extension__ has no
effect aside from this.
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enum Types
You can define an enum tag without specifying its possible values.
This results in an incomplete type, much like what you get if you write
struct foo without describing the elements. A later declaration
which does specify the possible values completes the type.
You can't allocate variables or storage using the type while it is incomplete. However, you can work with pointers to that type.
This extension may not be very useful, but it makes the handling of
enum more consistent with the way struct and union
are handled.
This extension is not supported by GNU C++.
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GNU CC predefines two string variables to be the name of the current function.
The variable __FUNCTION__ is the name of the function as it appears
in the source. The variable __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ is the name of
the function pretty printed in a language specific fashion.
These names are always the same in a C function, but in a C++ function they may be different. For example, this program:
extern "C" {
extern int printf (char *, ...);
}
class a {
public:
sub (int i)
{
printf ("__FUNCTION__ = %s\n", __FUNCTION__);
printf ("__PRETTY_FUNCTION__ = %s\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
}
};
int
main (void)
{
a ax;
ax.sub (0);
return 0;
}
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gives this output:
__FUNCTION__ = sub __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ = int a::sub (int) |
These names are not macros: they are predefined string variables.
For example, `#ifdef __FUNCTION__' does not have any special
meaning inside a function, since the preprocessor does not do anything
special with the identifier __FUNCTION__.
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These functions may be used to get information about the callers of a function.
__builtin_return_address (level)
0 yields the return address
of the current function, a value of 1 yields the return address
of the caller of the current function, and so forth.
The level argument must be a constant integer.
On some machines it may be impossible to determine the return address of
any function other than the current one; in such cases, or when the top
of the stack has been reached, this function will return 0.
This function should only be used with a non-zero argument for debugging purposes.
__builtin_frame_address (level)
__builtin_return_address, but it
returns the address of the function frame rather than the return address
of the function. Calling __builtin_frame_address with a value of
0 yields the frame address of the current function, a value of
1 yields the frame address of the caller of the current function,
and so forth.
The frame is the area on the stack which holds local variables and saved
registers. The frame address is normally the address of the first word
pushed on to the stack by the function. However, the exact definition
depends upon the processor and the calling convention. If the processor
has a dedicated frame pointer register, and the function has a frame,
then __builtin_frame_address will return the value of the frame
pointer register.
The caveats that apply to __builtin_return_address apply to this
function as well.
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GNU CC provides a large number of built-in functions other than the ones mentioned above. Some of these are for internal use in the processing of exceptions or variable-length argument lists and will not be documented here because they may change from time to time; we do not recommend general use of these functions.
The remaining functions are provided for optimization purposes.
GNU CC includes builtin versions of many of the functions in the
standard C library. These will always be treated as having the same
meaning as the C library function even if you specify the
`-fno-builtin' (see section 2.4 Options Controlling C Dialect) option. These functions
correspond to the C library functions alloca, ffs,
abs, fabsf, fabs, fabsl, labs,
memcpy, memcmp, strcmp, strcpy,
strlen, sqrtf, sqrt, sqrtl, sinf,
sin, sinl, cosf, cos, and cosl.
You can use the builtin function __builtin_constant_p to
determine if a value is known to be constant at compile-time and hence
that GNU CC can perform constant-folding on expressions involving that
value. The argument of the function is the value to test. The function
returns the integer 1 if the argument is known to be a compile-time
constant and 0 if it is not known to be a compile-time constant. A
return of 0 does not indicate that the value is not a constant,
but merely that GNU CC cannot prove it is a constant with the specified
value of the `-O' option.
You would typically use this function in an embedded application where memory was a critical resource. If you have some complex calculation, you may want it to be folded if it involves constants, but need to call a function if it does not. For example:
#define Scale_Value(X) \ (__builtin_constant_p (X) ? ((X) * SCALE + OFFSET) : Scale (X)) |
You may use this builtin function in either a macro or an inline function. However, if you use it in an inlined function and pass an argument of the function as the argument to the builtin, GNU CC will never return 1 when you call the inline function with a string constant or constructor expression (see section 3.19 Constructor Expressions) and will not return 1 when you pass a constant numeric value to the inline function unless you specify the `-O' option.
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In the past, the GNU C++ compiler was extended to experiment with new features, at a time when the C++ language was still evolving. Now that the C++ standard is complete, some of those features are superceded by superior alternatives. Using the old features might cause a warning in some cases that the feature will be dropped in the future. In other cases, the feature might be gone already.
While the list below is not exhaustive, it documents some of the options that are now deprecated:
-fthis-is-variable
-fexternal-templates
-falt-external-templates
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The GNU compiler provides these extensions to the C++ language (and you
can also use most of the C language extensions in your C++ programs). If you
want to write code that checks whether these features are available, you can
test for the GNU compiler the same way as for C programs: check for a
predefined macro __GNUC__. You can also use __GNUG__ to
test specifically for GNU C++ (see section `Standard Predefined Macros' in The C Preprocessor).
4.1 Named Return Values in C++ Giving a name to C++ function return values. 4.2 Minimum and Maximum Operators in C++ C++ Minimum and maximum operators. 4.3 gotoand Destructors in GNU C++Goto is safe to use in C++ even when destructors are needed. 4.4 Declarations and Definitions in One Header You can use a single C++ header file for both declarations and definitions. 4.5 Where's the Template? Methods for ensuring that exactly one copy of each needed template instantiation is emitted. 4.6 Extracting the function pointer from a bound pointer to member function You can extract a function pointer to the method denoted by a `->*' or `.*' expression. 4.7 Type Abstraction using Signatures You can specify abstract types to get subtype polymorphism independent from inheritance.
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GNU C++ extends the function-definition syntax to allow you to specify a name for the result of a function outside the body of the definition, in C++ programs:
type
functionname (args) return resultname;
{
...
body
...
}
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You can use this feature to avoid an extra constructor call when
a function result has a class type. For example, consider a function
m, declared as `X v = m ();', whose result is of class
X:
X
m ()
{
X b;
b.a = 23;
return b;
}
|
Although m appears to have no arguments, in fact it has one implicit
argument: the address of the return value. At invocation, the address
of enough space to hold v is sent in as the implicit argument.
Then b is constructed and its a field is set to the value
23. Finally, a copy constructor (a constructor of the form `X(X&)')
is applied to b, with the (implicit) return value location as the
target, so that v is now bound to the return value.
But this is wasteful. The local b is declared just to hold
something that will be copied right out. While a compiler that
combined an "elision" algorithm with interprocedural data flow
analysis could conceivably eliminate all of this, it is much more
practical to allow you to assist the compiler in generating
efficient code by manipulating the return value explicitly,
thus avoiding the local variable and copy constructor altogether.
Using the extended GNU C++ function-definition syntax, you can avoid the
temporary allocation and copying by naming r as your return value
at the outset, and assigning to its a field directly:
X
m () return r;
{
r.a = 23;
}
|
The declaration of r is a standard, proper declaration, whose effects
are executed before any of the body of m.
Functions of this type impose no additional restrictions; in particular,
you can execute return statements, or return implicitly by
reaching the end of the function body ("falling off the edge").
Cases like
X
m () return r (23);
{
return;
}
|
(or even `X m () return r (23); { }') are unambiguous, since
the return value r has been initialized in either case. The
following code may be hard to read, but also works predictably:
X
m () return r;
{
X b;
return b;
}
|
The return value slot denoted by r is initialized at the outset,
but the statement `return b;' overrides this value. The compiler
deals with this by destroying r (calling the destructor if there
is one, or doing nothing if there is not), and then reinitializing
r with b.
This extension is provided primarily to help people who use overloaded operators, where there is a great need to control not just the arguments, but the return values of functions. For classes where the copy constructor incurs a heavy performance penalty (especially in the common case where there is a quick default constructor), this is a major savings. The disadvantage of this extension is that you do not control when the default constructor for the return value is called: it is always called at the beginning.
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It is very convenient to have operators which return the "minimum" or the "maximum" of two arguments. In GNU C++ (but not in GNU C),
a <? b
a >? b
These operations are not primitive in ordinary C++, since you can use a macro to return the minimum of two things in C++, as in the following example.
#define MIN(X,Y) ((X) < (Y) ? : (X) : (Y)) |
You might then use `int min = MIN (i, j);' to set min to the minimum value of variables i and j.
However, side effects in X or Y may cause unintended
behavior. For example, MIN (i++, j++) will fail, incrementing
the smaller counter twice. A GNU C extension allows you to write safe
macros that avoid this kind of problem (see section Naming an Expression's Type). However, writing MIN and MAX as
macros also forces you to use function-call notation for a
fundamental arithmetic operation. Using GNU C++ extensions, you can
write `int min = i <? j;' instead.
Since <? and >? are built into the compiler, they properly
handle expressions with side-effects; `int min = i++ <? j++;'
works correctly.
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goto and Destructors in GNU C++
In C++ programs, you can safely use the goto statement. When you
use it to exit a block which contains aggregates requiring destructors,
the destructors will run before the goto transfers control.
The compiler still forbids using goto to enter a scope
that requires constructors.
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C++ object definitions can be quite complex. In principle, your source code will need two kinds of things for each object that you use across more than one source file. First, you need an interface specification, describing its structure with type declarations and function prototypes. Second, you need the implementation itself. It can be tedious to maintain a separate interface description in a header file, in parallel to the actual implementation. It is also dangerous, since separate interface and implementation definitions may not remain parallel.
With GNU C++, you can use a single header file for both purposes.
Warning: The mechanism to specify this is in transition. For the nonce, you must use one of two#pragmacommands; in a future release of GNU C++, an alternative mechanism will make these#pragmacommands unnecessary.
The header file contains the full definitions, but is marked with
`#pragma interface' in the source code. This allows the compiler
to use the header file only as an interface specification when ordinary
source files incorporate it with #include. In the single source
file where the full implementation belongs, you can use either a naming
convention or `#pragma implementation' to indicate this alternate
use of the header file.
#pragma interface
#pragma interface "subdir/objects.h"
The second form of this directive is useful for the case where you have multiple headers with the same name in different directories. If you use this form, you must specify the same string to `#pragma implementation'.
#pragma implementation
#pragma implementation "objects.h"
If you use `#pragma implementation' with no argument, it applies to an include file with the same basename(2) as your source file. For example, in `allclass.cc', giving just `#pragma implementation' by itself is equivalent to `#pragma implementation "allclass.h"'.
In versions of GNU C++ prior to 2.6.0 `allclass.h' was treated as an implementation file whenever you would include it from `allclass.cc' even if you never specified `#pragma implementation'. This was deemed to be more trouble than it was worth, however, and disabled.
If you use an explicit `#pragma implementation', it must appear in your source file before you include the affected header files.
Use the string argument if you want a single implementation file to include code from multiple header files. (You must also use `#include' to include the header file; `#pragma implementation' only specifies how to use the file--it doesn't actually include it.)
There is no way to split up the contents of a single header file into multiple implementation files.
`#pragma implementation' and `#pragma interface' also have an effect on function inlining.
If you define a class in a header file marked with `#pragma
interface', the effect on a function defined in that class is similar to
an explicit extern declaration--the compiler emits no code at
all to define an independent version of the function. Its definition
is used only for inlining with its callers.
Conversely, when you include the same header file in a main source file that declares it as `#pragma implementation', the compiler emits code for the function itself; this defines a version of the function that can be found via pointers (or by callers compiled without inlining). If all calls to the function can be inlined, you can avoid emitting the function by compiling with `-fno-implement-inlines'. If any calls were not inlined, you will get linker errors.
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C++ templates are the first language feature to require more intelligence from the environment than one usually finds on a UNIX system. Somehow the compiler and linker have to make sure that each template instance occurs exactly once in the executable if it is needed, and not at all otherwise. There are two basic approaches to this problem, which I will refer to as the Borland model and the Cfront model.
When used with GNU ld version 2.8 or later on an ELF system such as Linux/GNU or Solaris 2, or on Microsoft Windows, g++ supports the Borland model. On other systems, g++ implements neither automatic model.
A future version of g++ will support a hybrid model whereby the compiler will emit any instantiations for which the template definition is included in the compile, and store template definitions and instantiation context information into the object file for the rest. The link wrapper will extract that information as necessary and invoke the compiler to produce the remaining instantiations. The linker will then combine duplicate instantiations.
In the mean time, you have the following options for dealing with template instantiations:
This is your best option for application code written for the Borland
model, as it will just work. Code written for the Cfront model will
need to be modified so that the template definitions are available at
one or more points of instantiation; usually this is as simple as adding
#include <tmethods.cc> to the end of each template header.
For library code, if you want the library to provide all of the template instantiations it needs, just try to link all of its object files together; the link will fail, but cause the instantiations to be generated as a side effect. Be warned, however, that this may cause conflicts if multiple libraries try to provide the same instantiations. For greater control, use explicit instantiation as described in the next option.
#include "Foo.h"
#include "Foo.cc"
template class Foo<int>;
template ostream& operator <<
(ostream&, const Foo<int>&);
|
for each of the instances you need, and create a template instantiation library from those.
If you are using Cfront-model code, you can probably get away with not using `-fno-implicit-templates' when compiling files that don't `#include' the member template definitions.
If you use one big file to do the instantiations, you may want to compile it without `-fno-implicit-templates' so you get all of the instances required by your explicit instantiations (but not by any other files) without having to specify them as well.
g++ has extended the template instantiation syntax outlined in the Working Paper to allow forward declaration of explicit instantiations and instantiation of the compiler support data for a template class (i.e. the vtable) without instantiating any of its members:
extern template int max (int, int); inline template class Foo<int>; |
template class A<int>; template ostream& operator << (ostream&, const A<int>&); |
This strategy will work with code written for either model. If you are using code written for the Cfront model, the file containing a class template and the file containing its member templates should be implemented in the same translation unit.
A slight variation on this approach is to instead use the flag `-falt-external-templates'; this flag causes template instances to be emitted in the translation unit that implements the header where they are first instantiated, rather than the one which implements the file where the templates are defined. This header must be the same in all translation units, or things are likely to break.
See section Declarations and Definitions in One Header, for more discussion of these pragmas.
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In C++, pointer to member functions (PMFs) are implemented using a wide pointer of sorts to handle all the possible call mechanisms; the PMF needs to store information about how to adjust the `this' pointer, and if the function pointed to is virtual, where to find the vtable, and where in the vtable to look for the member function. If you are using PMFs in an inner loop, you should really reconsider that decision. If that is not an option, you can extract the pointer to the function that would be called for a given object/PMF pair and call it directly inside the inner loop, to save a bit of time.
Note that you will still be paying the penalty for the call through a function pointer; on most modern architectures, such a call defeats the branch prediction features of the CPU. This is also true of normal virtual function calls.
The syntax for this extension is
extern A a; extern int (A::*fp)(); typedef int (*fptr)(A *); fptr p = (fptr)(a.*fp); |
You must specify `-Wno-pmf-conversions' to use this extension.
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In GNU C++, you can use the keyword signature to define a
completely abstract class interface as a datatype. You can connect this
abstraction with actual classes using signature pointers. If you want
to use signatures, run the GNU compiler with the
`-fhandle-signatures' command-line option. (With this option, the
compiler reserves a second keyword sigof as well, for a future
extension.)
Roughly, signatures are type abstractions or interfaces of classes.
Some other languages have similar facilities. C++ signatures are
related to ML's signatures, Haskell's type classes, definition modules
in Modula-2, interface modules in Modula-3, abstract types in Emerald,
type modules in Trellis/Owl, categories in Scratchpad II, and types in
POOL-I. For a more detailed discussion of signatures, see
Signatures: A Language Extension for Improving Type Abstraction and
Subtype Polymorphism in C++
by Gerald Baumgartner and Vincent F. Russo (Tech report
CSD--TR--95--051, Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue University,
August 1995, a slightly improved version appeared in
Software--Practice & Experience, 25(8), pp. 863--889,
August 1995). You can get the tech report by anonymous FTP from
ftp.cs.purdue.edu in `pub/gb/Signature-design.ps.gz'.
Syntactically, a signature declaration is a collection of
member function declarations and nested type declarations.
For example, this signature declaration defines a new abstract type
S with member functions `int foo ()' and `int bar (int)':
signature S
{
int foo ();
int bar (int);
};
|
Since signature types do not include implementation definitions, you cannot write an instance of a signature directly. Instead, you can define a pointer to any class that contains the required interfaces as a signature pointer. Such a class implements the signature type.
To use a class as an implementation of S, you must ensure that
the class has public member functions `int foo ()' and `int
bar (int)'. The class can have other member functions as well, public
or not; as long as it offers what's declared in the signature, it is
suitable as an implementation of that signature type.
For example, suppose that C is a class that meets the
requirements of signature S (C conforms to
S). Then
C obj; S * p = &obj; |
defines a signature pointer p and initializes it to point to an
object of type C.
The member function call `int i = p->foo ();'
executes `obj.foo ()'.
Abstract virtual classes provide somewhat similar facilities in standard C++. There are two main advantages to using signatures instead:
T is a subtype of a signature type S independent of
any inheritance hierarchy as long as all the member functions declared
in S are also found in T. So you can define a subtype
hierarchy that is completely independent from any inheritance
(implementation) hierarchy, instead of being forced to use types that
mirror the class inheritance hierarchy.
There is one more detail about signatures. A signature declaration can
contain member function definitions as well as member function
declarations. A signature member function with a full definition is
called a default implementation; classes need not contain that
particular interface in order to conform. For example, a
class C can conform to the signature
signature T
{
int f (int);
int f0 () { return f (0); };
};
|
whether or not C implements the member function `int f0 ()'.
If you define C::f0, that definition takes precedence;
otherwise, the default implementation S::f0 applies.
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This section describes known problems that affect users of GNU CC. Most of these are not GNU CC bugs per se--if they were, we would fix them. But the result for a user may be like the result of a bug.
Some of these problems are due to bugs in other software, some are missing features that are too much work to add, and some are places where people's opinions differ as to what is best.
5.1 Actual Bugs We Haven't Fixed Yet Bugs we will fix later. 5.2 Installation Problems Problems that manifest when you install GNU CC. 5.3 Cross-Compiler Problems Common problems of cross compiling with GNU CC. 5.4 Interoperation Problems using GNU CC with other compilers, and with certain linkers, assemblers and debuggers. 5.5 Problems Compiling Certain Programs Problems compiling certain programs. 5.6 Incompatibilities of GNU CC GNU CC is incompatible with traditional C. 5.7 Fixed Header Files GNU C uses corrected versions of system header files. This is necessary, but doesn't always work smoothly. 5.8 Standard Libraries GNU C uses the system C library, which might not be compliant with the ISO/ANSI C standard. 5.9 Disappointments and Misunderstandings Regrettable things we can't change, but not quite bugs. 5.10 Common Misunderstandings with GNU C++ Common misunderstandings with GNU C++. 5.11 Certain Changes We Don't Want to Make Things we think are right, but some others disagree. 5.12 Warning Messages and Error Messages Which problems in your code get warnings, and which get errors.
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fixincludes script interacts badly with automounters; if the
directory of system header files is automounted, it tends to be
unmounted while fixincludes is running. This would seem to be a
bug in the automounter. We don't know any good way to work around it.
fixproto script will sometimes add prototypes for the
sigsetjmp and siglongjmp functions that reference the
jmp_buf type before that type is defined. To work around this,
edit the offending file and place the typedef in front of the
prototypes.
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This is a list of problems (and some apparent problems which don't really mean anything is wrong) that show up during installation of GNU CC.
CC can interfere with the functioning of make.
fixincludes if the
System V file system doesn't support symbolic links. These problems
result in a failure to fix the declaration of size_t in
`sys/types.h'. If you find that size_t is a signed type and
that type mismatches occur, this could be the cause.
The solution is not to use such a directory for building GNU CC.
gcc driver program looked for
as and ld in various places; for example, in files
beginning with `/usr/local/lib/gcc-'. GNU CC version 2 looks for
them in the directory
`/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/target/version'.
Thus, to use a version of as or ld that is not the system
default, for example gas or GNU ld, you must put them in
that directory (or make links to them from that directory).
make. These failures, which
are often due to files that were not found, are expected, and can safely
be ignored.
make recompiles parts of the compiler when installing
the compiler. In one case, this was traced down to a bug in
make. Either ignore the problem or switch to GNU Make.
enquire, which is part of building
GNU CC. The fix is to get rid of the file real-ld which purify
installs--so that GNU CC won't try to use it.
__GNU_LIBRARY__ conditional
around line 31 to `#if 1'.
enquire hangs due to a hardware problem in the motherboard--it
reports floating point exceptions to the kernel incorrectly. You can
install GNU CC except for `float.h' by patching out the command to
run enquire. You may also be able to fix the problem for real by
getting a replacement motherboard. This problem was observed in
Revision E of the Micronics motherboard, and is fixed in Revision F.
It has also been observed in the MYLEX MXA-33 motherboard.
If you encounter this problem, you may also want to consider removing the FPU from the socket during the compilation. Alternatively, if you are running SCO Unix, you can reboot and force the FPU to be ignored. To do this, type `hd(40)unix auto ignorefpu'.
One of these systems is the Unix from Interactive Systems: 386/ix. On this system, an alternate emulator is provided, and it does work. To use it, execute this command as super-user:
ln /etc/emulator.rel1 /etc/emulator |
and then reboot the system. (The default emulator file remains present under the name `emulator.dflt'.)
Try using `/etc/emulator.att', if you have such a problem on the SCO system.
Another system which has this problem is Esix. We don't know whether it has an alternate emulator that works.
On NetBSD 0.8, a similar problem manifests itself as these error messages:
enquire.c: In function `fprop': enquire.c:2328: floating overflow |
genflags or genoutput while building GNU CC. This is said to
be due to a bug in sh. You can probably get around it by running
genflags or genoutput manually and then retrying the
make.
The solution is to compile the current version of GNU CC without `-g'. That makes a working compiler which you can use to recompile with `-g'.
To check whether an optional package is installed, use
the pkginfo command. To add an optional package, use the
pkgadd command. For further details, see the Solaris
documentation.
For Solaris 2.0 and 2.1, GNU CC needs six packages: `SUNWarc', `SUNWbtool', `SUNWesu', `SUNWhea', `SUNWlibm', and `SUNWtoo'.
For Solaris 2.2, GNU CC needs an additional seventh package: `SUNWsprot'.
PATH.
add.d.
It would be nice to extend GAS to produce the gp tables, but they are optional, and there should not be a warning about their absence.
fixincludes. This causes
problems in building GNU CC. Once GNU CC is installed, the problems go
away.
To work around this problem, when making the stage 1 compiler, specify this option to Make:
GCC_FOR_TARGET="./xgcc -B./ -I./include" |
When making stage 2 and stage 3, specify this option:
CFLAGS="-g -I./include" |
Users have also reported some problems with version 2.20 of the MIPS compiler tools that were shipped with RISC/os 4.x. The earlier version 2.11 seems to work fine.
alloca against shared
libraries on RISC-OS 5.0, and DEC's OSF/1 systems. This is a bug
in the linker, that is supposed to be fixed in future revisions.
To protect against this, GNU CC passes `-non_shared' to the
linker unless you pass an explicit `-shared' or
`-call_shared' switch.
ld fatal: failed to write symbol name something in strings table for file whatever |
This probably indicates that the disk is full or your ULIMIT won't allow the file to be as large as it needs to be.
This problem can also result because the kernel parameter MAXUMEM
is too small. If so, you must regenerate the kernel and make the value
much larger. The default value is reported to be 1024; a value of 32768
is said to work. Smaller values may also work.
/usr/local/lib/bison.simple: In function `yyparse': /usr/local/lib/bison.simple:625: virtual memory exhausted |
that too indicates a problem with disk space, ULIMIT, or MAXUMEM.
To solve this problem, reconfigure the kernel adding the following line to the configuration file:
MAXUMEM = 4096 |
_floatdisf cc1: warning: `-g' option not supported on this version of GCC cc1: warning: `-g1' option not supported on this version of GCC ./xgcc: Internal compiler error: program as got fatal signal 11 |
A patched version of the assembler is available by anonymous ftp from
altdorf.ai.mit.edu as the file
`archive/cph/hpux-8.0-assembler'. If you have HP software support,
the patch can also be obtained directly from HP, as described in the
following note:
This is the patched assembler, to patch SR#1653-010439, where the assembler aborts on floating point constants.The bug is not really in the assembler, but in the shared library version of the function "cvtnum(3c)". The bug on "cvtnum(3c)" is SR#4701-078451. Anyway, the attached assembler uses the archive library version of "cvtnum(3c)" and thus does not exhibit the bug.
This patch is also known as PHCO_4484.
fixproto shell script triggers a bug in the system shell.
If you encounter this problem, upgrade your operating system or
use BASH (the GNU shell) to run fixproto.
muldi3 in file `libgcc2.c'.
You may be able to succeed by getting GNU CC version 1, installing it, and using it to compile GNU CC version 2. The bug in the Pyramid C compiler does not seem to affect GNU CC version 1.
va_arg when you build GNU CC.
If this happens, then you need to link most programs with the library `iclib.a'. You must also modify `stdio.h' as follows: before the lines
#if defined(__i860__) && !defined(_VA_LIST) #include <va_list.h> |
insert the line
#if __PGC__ |
and after the lines
extern int vprintf(const char *, va_list ); extern int vsprintf(char *, const char *, va_list ); #endif |
insert the line
#endif /* __PGC__ */ |
These problems don't exist in operating system version 1.1.
./fixproto: sh internal 1K buffer overflow |
To fix this, change the first line of the fixproto script to look like:
#!/bin/ksh |
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You may run into problems with cross compilation on certain machines, for several reasons.
The compiler writes these integer constants by examining the floating point value as an integer and printing that integer, because this is simple to write and independent of the details of the floating point representation. But this does not work if the compiler is running on a different machine with an incompatible floating point format, or even a different byte-ordering.
In addition, correct constant folding of floating point values requires representing them in the target machine's format. (The C standard does not quite require this, but in practice it is the only way to win.)
It is now possible to overcome these problems by defining macros such
as REAL_VALUE_TYPE. But doing so is a substantial amount of
work for each target machine.
See section `Cross Compilation and Floating Point Format' in Using and Porting GCC.
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This section lists various difficulties encountered in using GNU C or GNU C++ together with other compilers or with the assemblers, linkers, libraries and debuggers on certain systems.
This effect is intentional, to protect you from more subtle problems. Compilers differ as to many internal details of C++ implementation, including: how class instances are laid out, how multiple inheritance is implemented, and how virtual function calls are handled. If the name encoding were made the same, your programs would link against libraries provided from other compilers--but the programs would then crash when run. Incompatible libraries are then detected at link time, rather than at run time.
Many systems come with header files that won't work with GNU CC unless
corrected by fixincludes. The corrected header files go in a new
directory; GNU CC searches this directory before `/usr/include'.
If you use `-I/usr/include', this tells GNU CC to search
`/usr/include' earlier on, before the corrected headers. The
result is that you get the uncorrected header files.
Instead, you should use these options (when compiling C programs):
-I/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/target/version/include -I/usr/include |
For C++ programs, GNU CC also uses a special directory that defines C++ interfaces to standard C subroutines. This directory is meant to be searched before other standard include directories, so that it takes precedence. If you are compiling C++ programs and specifying include directories explicitly, use this option first, then the two options above:
-I/usr/local/lib/g++-include |
double on an 8-byte
boundary, and it expects every double to be so aligned. The Sun
compiler usually gives double values 8-byte alignment, with one
exception: function arguments of type double may not be aligned.
As a result, if a function compiled with Sun CC takes the address of an
argument of type double and passes this pointer of type
double * to a function compiled with GNU CC, dereferencing the
pointer may cause a fatal signal.
One way to solve this problem is to compile your entire program with GNU
CC. Another solution is to modify the function that is compiled with
Sun CC to copy the argument into a local variable; local variables
are always properly aligned. A third solution is to modify the function
that uses the pointer to dereference it via the following function
access_double instead of directly with `*':
inline double
access_double (double *unaligned_ptr)
{
union d2i { double d; int i[2]; };
union d2i *p = (union d2i *) unaligned_ptr;
union d2i u;
u.i[0] = p->i[0];
u.i[1] = p->i[1];
return u.d;
}
|
Storing into the pointer can be done likewise with the same union.
malloc function in the `libmalloc.a' library
may allocate memory that is only 4 byte aligned. Since GNU CC on the
Sparc assumes that doubles are 8 byte aligned, this may result in a
fatal signal if doubles are stored in memory allocated by the
`libmalloc.a' library.
The solution is to not use the `libmalloc.a' library. Use instead
malloc and related functions from `libc.a'; they do not have
this problem.
_dlclose, _dlsym or _dlopen
when linking, compile and link against the file
`mit/util/misc/dlsym.c' from the MIT version of X windows.
cc does not
compile GNU CC correctly. We do not yet know why. However, GNU CC
compiled on earlier HP-UX versions works properly on HP-UX 9.01 and can
compile itself properly on 9.01.
alloca or variable-size arrays. This is because GNU CC doesn't
generate HP-UX unwind descriptors for such functions. It may even be
impossible to generate them.