NAME

       dcl2inc - postprocess ftnchek .dcl files to create separate INCLUDE files

SYNOPSIS

       dcl2inc *.dcl

DESCRIPTION

       dcl2inc  postprocessing  declaration  files  output by ftnchek(1), replacing unique COMMON
       block definitions by Fortran INCLUDE statements.  For each input  .dcl  file,  a  modified
       output  .dcn file is produced, together with include files named by the COMMON block name,
       with filename extension .inc.

       In addition, dcl2inc produces on stdout a list  of  Makefile  dependencies  for  the  UNIX
       make(1)  utility.   These  can  be  appended  to  the  project Makefile to ensure that any
       subsequent changes to .inc files provoke recompilation of source files that include them.

       dcl2inc warns about COMMONs which differ from their first occurrence,  and  simply  copies
       them  to the output .dcn file, instead of replacing them with an INCLUDE statement.  Thus,
       any COMMON statements that are found in the output .dcn files should be examined carefully
       to determine why they differ: they may well be in error.

       Replication  of identical data, and bugs arising from subsequent modification of only part
       of it, is a significant reason why Fortran programming projects should require that COMMON
       declarations  occur  in  separate  include  files, so that there is only a single point of
       definition of any global object.

       Even though the Fortran INCLUDE statement was tragically omitted from the  1977  Standard,
       it  has  long  been implemented by virtually all compiler vendors, and is part of the 1990
       Standard.  In practice, there is therefore no portability problem associated with  use  of
       INCLUDE  statements, provided that one avoids nonportable file names.  As long as the code
       obeys Fortran's limit of six-character alphanumeric  names,  the  filenames  generated  by
       dcl2inc will be acceptable on all current popular operating systems.

       Fortran's  default,  or  IMPLICIT,  variable  typing  is  deprecated in modern programming
       languages, because it encourages sloppy documentation, and worse, bugs due  to  misspelled
       variables,  or  variables that have been truncated because they extend past column 72.  If
       all variables used are explicitly typed, and a compiler  option  is  used  to  reject  all
       program  units  with  untyped  variables,  variable  spelling and truncation errors can be
       eliminated.

       Variable declarations that have been produced automatically by a tool like  ftnchek(1)  or
       pfort(1)  have a consistent format that facilitates application of stream editors (e.g. to
       change  array  dimensions  or  rename  variables),  and  simple  floating-point  precision
       conversion tools like d2s(1), dtoq(1), dtos(1), qtod(1), s2d(1), and stod(1).

CAVEAT

       The current version (2.9) of ftnchek(1) does not produce Fortran EQUIVALENCE statements in
       .dcl files, so you must be careful to preserve them when replacing  original  declarations
       with new ones from .dcl or .dcn files.

SEE ALSO

       d2s(1), dtoq(1), dtos(1), ftnchek(1), make(1), pfort(1), qtod(1), s2d(1), stod(1).

AUTHOR

       Nelson H. F. Beebe, Ph.D.
       Center for Scientific Computing
       Department of Mathematics
       University of Utah
       Salt Lake City, UT 84112
       Tel: +1 801 581 5254
       FAX: +1 801 581 4148
       Email: <beebe@math.utah.edu>