Provided by: mono-mcs_6.8.0.105+dfsg-2_all bug

NAME

       mcs - Turbo C# Compiler

SYNOPSIS

       mcs [option] [source-files]

DESCRIPTION

       mcs is the Turbo C# compiler (also known as the Mono C# compiler), it is an implementation
       of the ECMA-334 language specification.  You can pass one or more  options  to  drive  the
       compiler,  and  a  set  of  source files.  Extra options or arguments can be provided in a
       response file.  Response files are referenced by prepending the @ symbol to  the  response
       file name.

       The mcs compiler is used to compile against the latest Mono Base Class Library version and
       fully implements C# 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0 specifications  with  partial  support
       for C# 7.0.

       See the section on packages for more information.

       The Turbo C# compiler accepts the same command line options that the Microsoft C# compiler
       does.  Those options can start with a slash or a dash (/checked is the same as  -checked).
       Additionally some GNU-like options are supported, those begin with "--".  All MCS-specific
       flags which are not available in the Microsoft C# compiler are  available  only  with  the
       GNU-style options.

       C#  source  files must end with a ".cs" extension.  Compilation of C# source code requires
       all the files that make up a library, module or executable to be provided on  the  command
       line.   There  is  no support for partial compilation.  To achieve the benefits of partial
       compilation, you should compile programs into their own assemblies,  and  later  reference
       them with the "-r" flag.

       The Turbo C# compiler generates images (.exe files) that contain CIL byte code that can be
       executed by any system that implements a Common Language  Infrastructure  virtual  machine
       such  as  the  Microsoft .NET runtime engine on Windows or the Mono runtime engine on Unix
       systems.  Executables are not bound to a specific CPU or operating system.

       The  Turbo  C#  compiler  by  default  only  references  three  assemblies:  mscorlib.dll,
       System.dll  and  System.Xml.dll.    If  you  want  to  reference  extra libraries you must
       manually specify them using the -pkg: command line option or the -r: command line  option.
       Alternatively  if you want to get all of the System libraries, you can use the -pkg:dotnet
       command line option.

OPTIONS

       --about
              Displays information about the Turbo C# compiler

       --addmodule:MODULE1[,MODULE2]
              Includes the specified modules in the resulting assembly.  Modules are  created  by
              calling the compiler with the -target:module option

       -checked, -checked+
              Sets the default compilation mode to `checked'.  This makes all the math operations
              checked (the default is unchecked).

       -checked-
              Sets the default  compilation  mode  to  `unchecked'.   This  makes  all  the  math
              operations unchecked (this is the default).

       -clscheck-, -clscheck+
              Disables  or  enables the Common Language Specification (CLS) checks (it is enabled
              by default).

              The Common Language Specification (CLS) defines an interoperable subset of types as
              well  as  conventions  that compilers (CLS producers) and developers must follow to
              expose code to other programming languages (CLS consumers).

       -codepage:ID
              Specifies the code page used to process the  input  files  from  the  point  it  is
              specified  on.   By  default  files  will be processed in the environment-dependent
              native code page.  The compiler will also automatically detect Unicode  files  that
              have an embedded byte mark at the beginning.

              Other popular encodings are 28591 (Latin1), 1252 (iso-8859-1) and 65001 (UTF-8).

              MCS supports a couple of shorthands: "utf8" can be used to specify utf-8 instead of
              using the cryptic 65001 and "reset" restores the automatic handling of code  pages.
              These shorthands are not available on the Microsoft compiler.

       -define:SYMLIST, -d:SYMLIST
              Defines  the  symbol  listed by the semi-colon separated list SYMLIST SYMBOL.  This
              can be tested in the source code by the pre-processor, or can be  used  by  methods
              that have been tagged with the Conditional attribute.

       -debug, -debug+
              Generate  debugging information. To obtain stack traces with debugging information,
              you need to invoke  the  mono  runtime  with  the  `--debug'  flag.  The  debugging
              information  is  stored  in  a  MDB  file located in same output folder as produced
              assembly.

       -debug-
              Do not generate debugging information.

       -delaysign+
              Only embed the strongname public key into the assembly. The actual signing must  be
              done  in a later stage using the SN tool. This is useful to protect the private key
              during development. Note that delay signing can only be done using a strongname key
              file  (not  a  key  container).  The  option  is equivalent to including [assembly:
              AssemblyDelaySign (true)] in your source code.  Compiler  option  takes  precedence
              over the attributes.

       -delaysign-
              Default.  Strongname  (sign)  the  assembly  using  the  strong  name  key file (or
              container). The option is  equivalent  to  including  [assembly:  AssemblyDelaySign
              (false)] in your source code. Compiler option takes precedence over the attributes.

       -doc:FILE
              Extracts  the  C#/XML documentation from the source code and stores in in the given
              FILE.

       -errorreport
              This flag is ignored by Mono's C# compiler and is present only to allow MCS  to  be
              used as a CSC replacement for msbuild/xbuild.

       --fatal
              This is used for debugging the compiler.  This makes the error emission generate an
              exception that can be caught by a debugger.

       -filealign
              This flag is ignored by Mono's C# compiler and is present only to allow MCS  to  be
              used as a CSC replacement for msbuild/xbuild.

       -fullpaths
              Any  source code error or warning issued by the compiler includes file name only by
              default. This option causes compiler to issue absolute file path instead.

       -keyfile:KEYFILE
              Strongname (sign) the output assembly using the key pair present in  the  specified
              strong  name  key file (snk). A full key pair is required by default (or when using
              delaysign-). A file containing only the public key can be used with delaysign+. The
              option  is  equivalent to including [assembly: AssemblyKeyFile ("KEYFILE")] in your
              source code.  Compiler option takes precedence over the attributes.

       -keycontainer:CONTAINER
              Strongname (sign) the output assembly using the key pair present in  the  specified
              container. Note that delaysign+ is ignored when using key containers. The option is
              equivalent to including [assembly: AssemblyKeyName ("CONTAINER")]  in  your  source
              code. Compiler option takes precedence over the attributes.

       -langversion:TEXT
              The  option  specifies  the  version  of  the  language  to use. The feature set is
              different in each C# version. This switch can be used  to  force  the  compiler  to
              allow only a subset of the features.  The possible values are:

              Default
                     Instruct  compiler  to  use  the  latest  version. Equivalent is to omit the
                     switch (this currently defaults to the C# 6.0 language specification).

              ISO-1  Restrict compiler to use only first ISO standardized features.  The usage of
                     features  such  as  generics, static classes, anonymous methods will lead to
                     error.

              ISO-2  Restrict compiler to use only the second ISO  standardized  features.   This
                     allows  the use of generics, static classes, iterators and anonymous methods
                     for example.

              3      Restrict the compiler to use only  the  features  available  in  C#  3.0  (a
                     superset of ISO-1 and ISO-2).

              4      Restrict  the  compiler  to  use  only  the  features  available  in  C# 4.0
                     specification.

              5      Restrict the  compiler  to  use  only  the  features  available  in  C#  5.0
                     specification.

              6      Restrict  the  compiler  to  use  only  the  features  available  in  C# 6.0
                     specification.

              experimental
                     Enables unstable features from upcoming versions of the language.

              Notice that this flag  only  restricts  the  language  features  available  to  the
              programmer. A version of produced assemblies can be controlled using SDK option.

       -lib:PATHLIST
              Each  path  specified  in the comma-separated list will direct the compiler to look
              for libraries in that specified path.

       -L PATH
              Directs the compiler to look for libraries in the specified path.   Multiple  paths
              can be provided by using the option multiple times.

       -main:CLASS
              Tells  the  compiler  which  CLASS  contains  the  entry point. Useful when you are
              compiling several classes with a Main method.

       -nostdlib, -nostdlib+
              Use this flag if you want to compile the core library.   This  makes  the  compiler
              load its internal types from the assembly being compiled.

       -noconfig, -noconfig+
              Disables  the default compiler configuration to be loaded.  The compiler by default
              has references to the system assemblies.

       -nowarn:WARNLIST
              Makes the compiler ignore warnings specified in the comma-separated list WARNLIST>

       -optimize, -optimize+, -optimize-
              Controls compiler code generation optimizations on the  code.  Using  -optimize  or
              -optimize+ will turn on optimizations, -optimize- will turn it off.  The default in
              mcs is to optimize-. The option can be mixed with -debug but for the best debugging
              experience it is recommended leave the options off.

       -out:FNAME, -o FNAME
              Names the output file to be generated.

       --parse
              Used for benchmarking.  The compiler will only parse its input files.

       -pathmap:K=V[,Kn=Vn]
              Sets a mapping for source path names used in generated output.

       -pkg:package1[,packageN]
              Reference assemblies for the given packages.

              The  compiler will invoke pkg-config --libs on the set of packages specified on the
              command line to obtain libraries and directories to compile the code.

              This is typically used with third party components, like this:

                        $ mcs -pkg:gtk-sharp demo.cs

              -pkg:dotnet
                     This  will  instruct  the  compiler  to  reference  the  System.*  libraries
                     available  on a typical dotnet framework installation, notice that this does
                     not include all of the Mono libraries, only the System.* ones.   This  is  a
                     convenient shortcut for those porting code.

       -platform:ARCH
              Used   to   specify   the   target  platform.  The  possible  values  are:  anycpu,
              anycpu32bitpreferred, arm, x86, x64 or itanium. The default option is anycpu.

       -resource:RESOURCE[,ID]
              Embeds to the given resource file.  The optional ID can be used to give a different
              name to the resource.  If not specified, the resource name will be the file name.

       -linkresource:RESOURCE[,ID]
              Links to the specified RESOURCE.  The optional ID can be used to give a name to the
              linked resource.

       -r:ASSEMBLY1[,ASSEMBLY2], -reference ASSEMBLY1[,ASSEMBLY2]
              Reference the named assemblies.  Use this to use classes from the named assembly in
              your  program.   The assembly will be loaded from either the system directory where
              all the assemblies live, or from the path explicitly given with the -L option.

              You can also use a semicolon to separate the assemblies instead of a comma.

       -reference:ALIAS=ASSEMBLY
              Extern alias reference support for C#.

              If you have different assemblies that provide the  same  types,  the  extern  alias
              support  allows  you  to  provide  names  that  your software can use to tell those
              appart.    The types from ASSEMBLY will be exposed as ALIAS, then on the C#  source
              code, you need to do:

                   extern alias ALIAS;
              To bring it into your namespace.   For example, to cope with two graphics libraries
              that define "Graphics.Point", one in "OpenGL.dll" and one in "Postscript.dll",  you
              would invoke the compiler like this:

                   mcs -r:Postscript=Postscript.dll -r:OpenGL=OpenGL.dll

              And in your source code, you would write:

                   extern alias Postscript;
                   extern alias OpenGL;

                   class X {
                        // This is a Graphics.Point from Postscrip.dll
                        Postscript.Point p = new Postscript.Point ();

                        // This is a Graphics.Point from OpenGL.dll
                        OpenGL.Point p = new OpenGL.Point ();
                   }

       -recurse:PATTERN, --recurse PATTERN
              Does  recursive  compilation  using  the specified pattern.  In Unix the shell will
              perform globbing, so you might want to use it like this:

                 $ mcs -recurse:'*.cs'

       -sdk:VERSION
              Used to specify the version of Base Class Library assemblies used for  compilation.
              Following  predefined values are valid: 2, 4 (default) as well as any custom value.
              The predefined version number means which custom value is specified mcs will try to
              find Base Class Libraries in the mono installed location PREFIX/lib/mono/<value>.

       --shell
              Starts up the compiler in interactive mode, providing a C# shell for statements and
              expressions.   A shortcut is to use the csharp command directly.

       --stacktrace
              Generates a stack trace at the time the error is reported, useful for debugging the
              compiler.

       -target:KIND, -t:KIND
              Used  to  specify  the  desired  target.   The  possible  values  are:  exe  (plain
              executable), winexe (Windows.Forms executable), library (component  libraries)  and
              module (partial library).

       --timestamp
              Another  debugging  flag.   Used  to  display  the  times  at various points in the
              compilation process.

       -unsafe, -unsafe+
              Enables compilation of unsafe code.

       -v     Debugging. Turns on verbose yacc parsing.

       --version
              Shows the compiler version.

       -warnaserror, -warnaserror+
              All compilers warnings will be reported as errors.

       -warnaserror:W1,[Wn], -warnaserror+:W1,[Wn]
              Treats one or more compiler warnings as errors.

       -warnaserror-:W1,[Wn]
              Sets one or more compiler warnings to be  always  threated  as  warnings.   Becomes
              useful when used together with -warnaserror.

       -warn:LEVEL
              Sets  the warning level.  0 is the lowest warning level, and 4 is the highest.  The
              default is 4.

       -win32res:FILE
              Specifies a Win32 resource file (.res) to be bundled into the resulting assembly.

       -win32icon:FILE
              Attaches the icon specified in FILE on the output into the resulting assembly.

       --     Use this to stop option parsing, and allow option-looking parameters to  be  passed
              on the command line.

PACKAGES AND LIBRARIES

       When referencing an assembly, if the name of the assembly is a path, the compiler will try
       to load the assembly specified in the path.   If it does not, then the compiler  will  try
       loading  the  assembly  from the current directory, the compiler base directory and if the
       assembly is not found in any of those places in the directories specified as arguments  to
       the -lib: command argument.

       The compiler uses the library path to locate libraries, and is able to reference libraries
       from a particular package if that directory is used.  To simplify the use of packages, the
       C#  compiler  includes  the  -pkg:  command  line  option  that  is  used to load specific
       collections of libraries.

       Libraries visible to the compiler are stored relative to  the  installation  prefix  under
       PREFIX/lib/mono/  called  the  PACKAGEBASE  and the defaults for mcs, gmcs and smcs are as
       follows:

       mcs    References the PACKAGEBASE/1.0 directory

       gmcs   References the PACKAGEBASE/2.0 directory

       smcs   References the PACKAGEBASE/2.1 directory

       Those are the only runtime profiles that exist.  Although other  directories  exist  (like
       3.0 and 3.5) those are not really runtime profiles, they are merely placeholders for extra
       libraries that build on the 2.0 foundation.

       Software providers will distribute software that is installed relative to the  PACKAGEBASE
       directory.   This  is  integrated  into  the  gacutil  tool  that not only installs public
       assemblies into  the  Global  Assembly  Cache  (GAC)  but  also  installs  them  into  the
       PACKAGEBASE/PKG directory (where PKG is the name passed to the -package flag to gacutil).

       As  a  developer, if you want to consume the Gtk# libraries, you would invoke the compiler
       like this:

            $ mcs -pkg:gtk-sharp-2.0 main.cs

       The -pkg: option instructs the compiler to fetch the definitions  for  gtk-sharp-2.0  from
       pkg-config, this is equivalent to passing to the C# compiler the output of:

            $ pkg-config --libs gtk-sharp-2.0

       Usually this merely references the libraries from PACKAGEBASE/PKG.

       Although  there are directory names for 3.0 and 3.5, that does not mean that there are 3.0
       and 3.5 compiler editions or profiles.   Those are  merely  new  libraries  that  must  be
       manually  referenced  either  with  the  proper  -pkg:  invocation,  or by referencing the
       libraries directly.

SPECIAL DEFINES

       The TRACE and DEBUG defines have a special meaning to the compiler.

       By default calls to methods and properties in the System.Diagnostics.Trace class  are  not
       generated  unless  the  TRACE symbol is defined (either through a "#define TRACE") in your
       source code, or by using the --define TRACE in the command line.

       By default calls to methods and properties in the System.Diagnostics.Debug class  are  not
       generated  unless  the  DEBUG symbol is defined (either through a "#define DEBUG") in your
       source code, or by using the --define DEBUG in the command line.

       Note that the effect of defining TRACE and DEBUG is a global setting,  even  if  they  are
       only defined in a single file.

DEBUGGING SUPPORT

       When  using  the  "-debug"  flag,  MCS  will  generate a file with the extension .mdb that
       contains the debugging information for the generated assembly.  This file is  consumed  by
       the Mono debugger (mdb).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       MCS_COLORS
              If  this  variable is set, it contains a string in the form "foreground,background"
              that specifies which color to use to display errors on some terminals.

              The background is optional and defaults to your terminal current background.    The
              possible  colors  for  foreground  are:  black, red, brightred, green, brightgreen,
              yellow, brightyellow, blue, brightblue, magenta, brightmagenta,  cyan,  brightcyan,
              grey, white and brightwhite.

              The  possible  colors for background are: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta,
              cyan, grey and white.

              For example, you could set these variable from your shell:
                   export MCS_COLORS
                   MCS_COLORS=errors=brightwhite,red

              You can disable the built-in color scheme by setting this variable to "disable".

NOTES

       During compilation the MCS compiler defines the __MonoCS__ symbol, this  can  be  used  by
       pre-processor  instructions  to compile Mono C# compiler specific code.   Please note that
       this symbol is only to test for the compiler, and is not useful to distinguish compilation
       or deployment platforms.

AUTHORS

       The  Mono  C#  Compiler  was written by Miguel de Icaza, Ravi Pratap, Martin Baulig, Marek
       Safar and Raja Harinath.  The development was funded by Ximian, Novell and Marek Safar.

LICENSE

       The Mono Compiler Suite is released under the terms of the GNU GPL or the MIT X11.  Please
       read  the accompanying `COPYING' file for details.  Alternative licensing for the compiler
       is available from Xamarin.

SEE ALSO

       csharp(1), mono(1), pkg-config(1), sn(1)

BUGS

       To report bugs in the compiler, you must  file  them  on  our  bug  tracking  system,  at:
       http://www.mono-project.com/community/bugs/

MAILING LIST

       The  Mono  Mailing lists are listed at http://www.mono-project.com/community/help/mailing-
       lists/

MORE INFORMATION

       The Mono C# compiler was developed by Novell, Inc (http://www.novell.com) and Xamarin  Inc
       (http://www.xamarin.com)  is  based  on  the  ECMA  C#  language  standard available here:
       http://www.ecma.ch/ecma1/STAND/ecma-334.htm

       The home page for the  Mono  C#  compiler  is  at  http://www.mono-project.com/docs/about-
       mono/languages/csharp/

                                          6 January 2001                                   mcs(1)