Provided by: gcc-4.4_4.4.7-8ubuntu1_amd64 
NAME
gcc - GNU project C and C++ compiler
SYNOPSIS
gcc [-c|-S|-E] [-std=standard]
[-g] [-pg] [-Olevel]
[-Wwarn...] [-pedantic]
[-Idir...] [-Ldir...]
[-Dmacro[=defn]...] [-Umacro]
[-foption...] [-mmachine-option...]
[-o outfile] [@file] infile...
Only the most useful options are listed here; see below for the remainder. g++ accepts mostly the same
options as gcc.
DESCRIPTION
When you invoke GCC, 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 GCC 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.
The gcc program accepts options and file names as operands. Many options have multi-letter names;
therefore multiple single-letter options may not be grouped: -dv is very different from -d -v.
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. Also, the placement of the -l option is
significant.
Many options have long names starting with -f or with -W---for example, -fmove-loop-invariants, -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.
OPTIONS
Option Summary
Here is a summary of all the options, grouped by type. Explanations are in the following sections.
Overall Options
-c -S -E -o file -combine -pipe -pass-exit-codes -x language -v -### --help[=class[,...]]
--target-help --version -wrapper@file
C Language Options
-ansi -std=standard -fgnu89-inline -aux-info filename -fno-asm -fno-builtin -fno-builtin-function
-fhosted -ffreestanding -fopenmp -fms-extensions -trigraphs -no-integrated-cpp -traditional
-traditional-cpp -fallow-single-precision -fcond-mismatch -flax-vector-conversions
-fsigned-bitfields -fsigned-char -funsigned-bitfields -funsigned-char
C++ Language Options
-fabi-version=n -fno-access-control -fcheck-new -fconserve-space -ffriend-injection
-fno-elide-constructors -fno-enforce-eh-specs -ffor-scope -fno-for-scope -fno-gnu-keywords
-fno-implicit-templates -fno-implicit-inline-templates -fno-implement-inlines -fms-extensions
-fno-nonansi-builtins -fno-operator-names -fno-optional-diags -fpermissive -frepo -fno-rtti
-fstats -ftemplate-depth-n -fno-threadsafe-statics -fuse-cxa-atexit -fno-weak -nostdinc++
-fno-default-inline -fvisibility-inlines-hidden -fvisibility-ms-compat -Wabi -Wctor-dtor-privacy
-Wnon-virtual-dtor -Wreorder -Weffc++ -Wstrict-null-sentinel -Wno-non-template-friend
-Wold-style-cast -Woverloaded-virtual -Wno-pmf-conversions -Wsign-promo
Objective-C and Objective-C++ Language Options
-fconstant-string-class=class-name -fgnu-runtime -fnext-runtime -fno-nil-receivers
-fobjc-call-cxx-cdtors -fobjc-direct-dispatch -fobjc-exceptions -fobjc-gc -freplace-objc-classes
-fzero-link -gen-decls -Wassign-intercept -Wno-protocol -Wselector -Wstrict-selector-match
-Wundeclared-selector
Language Independent Options
-fmessage-length=n -fdiagnostics-show-location=[once|every-line] -fdiagnostics-show-option
Warning Options
-fsyntax-only -pedantic -pedantic-errors -w -Wextra -Wall -Waddress -Waggregate-return
-Warray-bounds -Wno-attributes -Wno-builtin-macro-redefined -Wc++-compat -Wc++0x-compat -Wcast-align
-Wcast-qual -Wchar-subscripts -Wclobbered -Wcomment -Wconversion -Wcoverage-mismatch
-Wno-deprecated -Wno-deprecated-declarations -Wdisabled-optimization -Wno-div-by-zero -Wempty-body
-Wenum-compare -Wno-endif-labels -Werror -Werror=* -Wfatal-errors -Wfloat-equal -Wformat
-Wformat=2 -Wno-format-contains-nul -Wno-format-extra-args -Wformat-nonliteral -Wformat-security
-Wformat-y2k -Wframe-larger-than=len -Wignored-qualifiers -Wimplicit -Wimplicit-function-declaration
-Wimplicit-int -Winit-self -Winline -Wno-int-to-pointer-cast -Wno-invalid-offsetof -Winvalid-pch
-Wlarger-than=len -Wunsafe-loop-optimizations -Wlogical-op -Wlong-long -Wmain -Wmissing-braces
-Wmissing-field-initializers -Wmissing-format-attribute -Wmissing-include-dirs -Wmissing-noreturn
-Wno-mudflap -Wno-multichar -Wnonnull -Wno-overflow -Woverlength-strings -Wpacked
-Wpacked-bitfield-compat -Wpadded -Wparentheses -Wpedantic-ms-format -Wno-pedantic-ms-format
-Wpointer-arith -Wno-pointer-to-int-cast -Wno-poison-system-directories -Wredundant-decls
-Wreturn-type -Wsequence-point -Wshadow -Wsign-compare -Wsign-conversion -Wstack-protector
-Wstrict-aliasing -Wstrict-aliasing=n -Wstrict-overflow -Wstrict-overflow=n -Wswitch
-Wswitch-default -Wswitch-enum -Wsync-nand -Wsystem-headers -Wtrigraphs -Wtype-limits -Wundef
-Wuninitialized -Wunknown-pragmas -Wno-pragmas -Wunreachable-code -Wunused -Wunused-function
-Wunused-label -Wunused-parameter -Wno-unused-result -Wunused-value -Wunused-variable
-Wvariadic-macros -Wvla -Wvolatile-register-var -Wwrite-strings
C and Objective-C-only Warning Options
-Wbad-function-cast -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-parameter-type -Wmissing-prototypes
-Wnested-externs -Wold-style-declaration -Wold-style-definition -Wstrict-prototypes -Wtraditional
-Wtraditional-conversion -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wpointer-sign
Debugging Options
-dletters -dumpspecs -dumpmachine -dumpversion -fdbg-cnt-list -fdbg-cnt=counter-value-list
-fdump-noaddr -fdump-unnumbered -fdump-translation-unit[-n] -fdump-class-hierarchy[-n] -fdump-ipa-all
-fdump-ipa-cgraph -fdump-ipa-inline -fdump-statistics -fdump-tree-all -fdump-tree-original[-n]
-fdump-tree-optimized[-n] -fdump-tree-cfg -fdump-tree-vcg -fdump-tree-alias -fdump-tree-ch
-fdump-tree-ssa[-n] -fdump-tree-pre[-n] -fdump-tree-ccp[-n] -fdump-tree-dce[-n]
-fdump-tree-gimple[-raw] -fdump-tree-mudflap[-n] -fdump-tree-dom[-n] -fdump-tree-dse[-n]
-fdump-tree-phiopt[-n] -fdump-tree-forwprop[-n] -fdump-tree-copyrename[-n] -fdump-tree-nrv
-fdump-tree-vect -fdump-tree-sink -fdump-tree-sra[-n] -fdump-tree-fre[-n] -fdump-tree-vrp[-n]
-ftree-vectorizer-verbose=n -fdump-tree-storeccp[-n] -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
-feliminate-unused-debug-types -feliminate-unused-debug-symbols -femit-class-debug-always
-fmem-report -fpre-ipa-mem-report -fpost-ipa-mem-report -fprofile-arcs -frandom-seed=string
-fsched-verbose=n -fsel-sched-verbose -fsel-sched-dump-cfg -fsel-sched-pipelining-verbose
-ftest-coverage -ftime-report -fvar-tracking -g -glevel -gcoff -gdwarf-2 -ggdb -gstabs -gstabs+
-gvms -gxcoff -gxcoff+ -fno-merge-debug-strings -fno-dwarf2-cfi-asm -fdebug-prefix-map=old=new
-femit-struct-debug-baseonly -femit-struct-debug-reduced -femit-struct-debug-detailed[=spec-list] -p
-pg -print-file-name=library -print-libgcc-file-name -print-multi-directory -print-multi-lib
-print-prog-name=program -print-search-dirs -Q -print-sysroot -print-sysroot-headers-suffix
-save-temps -time
Optimization Options
-falign-arrays -falign-functions[=n] -falign-jumps[=n] -falign-labels[=n] -falign-loops[=n]
-fassociative-math -fauto-inc-dec -fbranch-probabilities -fbranch-target-load-optimize
-fbranch-target-load-optimize2 -fbtr-bb-exclusive -fcaller-saves -fcheck-data-deps -fconserve-stack
-fcprop-registers -fcrossjumping -fcse-follow-jumps -fcse-skip-blocks -fcx-fortran-rules
-fcx-limited-range -fdata-sections -fdce -fdce -fdelayed-branch -fdelete-null-pointer-checks -fdse
-fdse -fearly-inlining -fexpensive-optimizations -ffast-math -ffinite-math-only -ffloat-store
-fforward-propagate -ffunction-sections -fgcse -fgcse-after-reload -fgcse-las -fgcse-lm -fgcse-sm
-fif-conversion -fif-conversion2 -findirect-inlining -finline-functions
-finline-functions-called-once -finline-limit=n -finline-small-functions -fipa-cp -fipa-cp-clone
-fipa-matrix-reorg -fipa-pta -fipa-pure-const -fipa-reference -fipa-struct-reorg -fipa-type-escape
-fira-algorithm=algorithm -fira-region=region -fira-coalesce -fno-ira-share-save-slots
-fno-ira-share-spill-slots -fira-verbose=n -fivopts -fkeep-inline-functions -fkeep-static-consts
-floop-block -floop-interchange -floop-strip-mine -fmerge-all-constants -fmerge-constants
-fmodulo-sched -fmodulo-sched-allow-regmoves -fmove-loop-invariants -fmudflap -fmudflapir -fmudflapth
-fno-branch-count-reg -fno-default-inline -fno-defer-pop -fno-function-cse
-fno-guess-branch-probability -fno-inline -fno-math-errno -fno-peephole -fno-peephole2
-fno-sched-interblock -fno-sched-spec -fno-signed-zeros -fno-toplevel-reorder -fno-trapping-math
-fno-zero-initialized-in-bss -fomit-frame-pointer -foptimize-register-move -foptimize-sibling-calls
-fpeel-loops -fpredictive-commoning -fprefetch-loop-arrays -fprofile-correction -fprofile-dir=path
-fprofile-generate -fprofile-generate=path -fprofile-use -fprofile-use=path -fprofile-values
-freciprocal-math -fregmove -frename-registers -freorder-blocks -freorder-blocks-and-partition
-freorder-functions -frerun-cse-after-loop -freschedule-modulo-scheduled-loops -frounding-math
-frtl-abstract-sequences -fsched2-use-superblocks -fsched2-use-traces -fsched-spec-load
-fsched-spec-load-dangerous -fsched-stalled-insns-dep[=n] -fsched-stalled-insns[=n] -fschedule-insns
-fschedule-insns2 -fsection-anchors -fsee -fselective-scheduling -fselective-scheduling2
-fsel-sched-pipelining -fsel-sched-pipelining-outer-loops -fsignaling-nans
-fsingle-precision-constant -fsplit-ivs-in-unroller -fsplit-wide-types -fstack-protector
-fstack-protector-all -fstrict-aliasing -fstrict-overflow -fthread-jumps -ftracer
-ftree-builtin-call-dce -ftree-ccp -ftree-ch -ftree-copy-prop -ftree-copyrename -ftree-dce
-ftree-dominator-opts -ftree-dse -ftree-fre -ftree-loop-im -ftree-loop-distribution
-ftree-loop-ivcanon -ftree-loop-linear -ftree-loop-optimize -ftree-parallelize-loops=n -ftree-pre
-ftree-reassoc -ftree-sink -ftree-sra -ftree-switch-conversion -ftree-ter -ftree-vect-loop-version
-ftree-vectorize -ftree-vrp -funit-at-a-time -funroll-all-loops -funroll-loops
-funsafe-loop-optimizations -funsafe-math-optimizations -funswitch-loops
-fvariable-expansion-in-unroller -fvect-cost-model -fvpt -fweb -fwhole-program -fuse-ld --param
name=value -O -O0 -O1 -O2 -O3 -Os
Preprocessor Options
-Aquestion=answer -A-question[=answer] -C -dD -dI -dM -dN -Dmacro[=defn] -E -H -idirafter dir
-include file -imacros file -iprefix file -iwithprefix dir -iwithprefixbefore dir -isystem dir
-imultilib dir -isysroot dir -M -MM -MF -MG -MP -MQ -MT -nostdinc -P -fworking-directory
-remap -trigraphs -undef -Umacro -Wp,option -Xpreprocessor option
Assembler Option
-Wa,option -Xassembler option
Linker Options
object-file-name -llibrary -nostartfiles -nodefaultlibs -nostdlib -pie -rdynamic -s -static
-static-libgcc -shared -shared-libgcc -symbolic -T script -Wl,option -Xlinker option -u symbol
Directory Options
-Bprefix -Idir -iquotedir -Ldir -specs=file -I- --sysroot=dir
Target Options
-V version -b machine
Machine Dependent Options
ARC Options -EB -EL -mmangle-cpu -mcpu=cpu -mtext=text-section -mdata=data-section
-mrodata=readonly-data-section
ARM Options -mapcs-frame -mno-apcs-frame -mabi=name -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 -mfloat-abi=name -msoft-float -mhard-float
-mfpe -mfp16-format=name -mthumb-interwork -mno-thumb-interwork -mfix-janus-2cc -mcpu=name
-march=name -mfpu=name -mmarvell-div -mstructure-size-boundary=n -mabort-on-noreturn -mlong-calls
-mno-long-calls -msingle-pic-base -mno-single-pic-base -mpic-register=reg -mnop-fun-dllimport
-mcirrus-fix-invalid-insns -mno-cirrus-fix-invalid-insns -mpoke-function-name -mthumb -marm
-mtpcs-frame -mtpcs-leaf-frame -mcaller-super-interworking -mcallee-super-interworking -mtp=name
-mlow-irq-latency -mword-relocations -mfix-cortex-m3-ldrd
AVR Options -mmcu=mcu -msize -mno-interrupts -mcall-prologues -mno-tablejump -mtiny-stack -mint8
Blackfin Options -mcpu=cpu[-sirevision] -msim -momit-leaf-frame-pointer -mno-omit-leaf-frame-pointer
-mspecld-anomaly -mno-specld-anomaly -mcsync-anomaly -mno-csync-anomaly -mlow-64k -mno-low64k
-mstack-check-l1 -mid-shared-library -mno-id-shared-library -mshared-library-id=n
-mleaf-id-shared-library -mno-leaf-id-shared-library -msep-data -mno-sep-data -mlong-calls
-mno-long-calls -mfast-fp -minline-plt -mmulticore -mcorea -mcoreb -msdram -micplb
CRIS Options -mcpu=cpu -march=cpu -mtune=cpu -mmax-stack-frame=n -melinux-stacksize=n -metrax4
-metrax100 -mpdebug -mcc-init -mno-side-effects -mstack-align -mdata-align -mconst-align
-m32-bit -m16-bit -m8-bit -mno-prologue-epilogue -mno-gotplt -melf -maout -melinux -mlinux
-sim -sim2 -mmul-bug-workaround -mno-mul-bug-workaround
CRX Options -mmac -mpush-args
Darwin Options -all_load -allowable_client -arch -arch_errors_fatal -arch_only -bind_at_load
-bundle -bundle_loader -client_name -compatibility_version -current_version -dead_strip
-dependency-file -dylib_file -dylinker_install_name -dynamic -dynamiclib -exported_symbols_list
-filelist -flat_namespace -force_cpusubtype_ALL -force_flat_namespace -headerpad_max_install_names
-iframework -image_base -init -install_name -keep_private_externs -multi_module -multiply_defined
-multiply_defined_unused -noall_load -no_dead_strip_inits_and_terms -nofixprebinding -nomultidefs
-noprebind -noseglinkedit -pagezero_size -prebind -prebind_all_twolevel_modules -private_bundle
-read_only_relocs -sectalign -sectobjectsymbols -whyload -seg1addr -sectcreate -sectobjectsymbols
-sectorder -segaddr -segs_read_only_addr -segs_read_write_addr -seg_addr_table
-seg_addr_table_filename -seglinkedit -segprot -segs_read_only_addr -segs_read_write_addr
-single_module -static -sub_library -sub_umbrella -twolevel_namespace -umbrella -undefined
-unexported_symbols_list -weak_reference_mismatches -whatsloaded -F -gused -gfull
-mmacosx-version-min=version -mkernel -mone-byte-bool
DEC Alpha Options -mno-fp-regs -msoft-float -malpha-as -mgas -mieee -mieee-with-inexact
-mieee-conformant -mfp-trap-mode=mode -mfp-rounding-mode=mode -mtrap-precision=mode
-mbuild-constants -mcpu=cpu-type -mtune=cpu-type -mbwx -mmax -mfix -mcix -mfloat-vax
-mfloat-ieee -mexplicit-relocs -msmall-data -mlarge-data -msmall-text -mlarge-text
-mmemory-latency=time
DEC Alpha/VMS Options -mvms-return-codes
FR30 Options -msmall-model -mno-lsim
FRV Options -mgpr-32 -mgpr-64 -mfpr-32 -mfpr-64 -mhard-float -msoft-float -malloc-cc -mfixed-cc
-mdword -mno-dword -mdouble -mno-double -mmedia -mno-media -mmuladd -mno-muladd -mfdpic
-minline-plt -mgprel-ro -multilib-library-pic -mlinked-fp -mlong-calls -malign-labels
-mlibrary-pic -macc-4 -macc-8 -mpack -mno-pack -mno-eflags -mcond-move -mno-cond-move
-moptimize-membar -mno-optimize-membar -mscc -mno-scc -mcond-exec -mno-cond-exec -mvliw-branch
-mno-vliw-branch -mmulti-cond-exec -mno-multi-cond-exec -mnested-cond-exec -mno-nested-cond-exec
-mtomcat-stats -mTLS -mtls -mcpu=cpu
GNU/Linux Options -muclibc
H8/300 Options -mrelax -mh -ms -mn -mint32 -malign-300
HPPA Options -march=architecture-type -mbig-switch -mdisable-fpregs -mdisable-indexing
-mfast-indirect-calls -mgas -mgnu-ld -mhp-ld -mfixed-range=register-range -mjump-in-delay
-mlinker-opt -mlong-calls -mlong-load-store -mno-big-switch -mno-disable-fpregs
-mno-disable-indexing -mno-fast-indirect-calls -mno-gas -mno-jump-in-delay -mno-long-load-store
-mno-portable-runtime -mno-soft-float -mno-space-regs -msoft-float -mpa-risc-1-0 -mpa-risc-1-1
-mpa-risc-2-0 -mportable-runtime -mschedule=cpu-type -mspace-regs -msio -mwsio -munix=unix-std
-nolibdld -static -threads
i386 and x86-64 Options -mtune=cpu-type -march=cpu-type -mfpmath=unit -masm=dialect
-mno-fancy-math-387 -mno-fp-ret-in-387 -msoft-float -mno-wide-multiply -mrtd -malign-double
-mpreferred-stack-boundary=num -mincoming-stack-boundary=num -mcld -mcx16 -msahf -mmovbe -mrecip
-mmmx -msse -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -msse4.1 -msse4.2 -msse4 -mavx -maes -mpclmul -msse4a -m3dnow
-mpopcnt -mabm -msse5 -mthreads -mno-align-stringops -minline-all-stringops
-minline-stringops-dynamically -mstringop-strategy=alg -mpush-args -maccumulate-outgoing-args
-m128bit-long-double -m96bit-long-double -mregparm=num -msseregparm -mveclibabi=type -mpc32 -mpc64
-mpc80 -mstackrealign -momit-leaf-frame-pointer -mno-red-zone -mno-tls-direct-seg-refs
-mcmodel=code-model -mabi=name -m32 -m64 -mlarge-data-threshold=num -mfused-madd -mno-fused-madd
-msse2avx
i386 and x86-64 Windows Options -mconsole -mcygwin -mno-cygwin -mdll -mnop-fun-dllimport -mthread
-mwin32 -mwindows
IA-64 Options -mbig-endian -mlittle-endian -mgnu-as -mgnu-ld -mno-pic -mvolatile-asm-stop
-mregister-names -mno-sdata -mconstant-gp -mauto-pic -minline-float-divide-min-latency
-minline-float-divide-max-throughput -minline-int-divide-min-latency
-minline-int-divide-max-throughput -minline-sqrt-min-latency -minline-sqrt-max-throughput
-mno-dwarf2-asm -mearly-stop-bits -mfixed-range=register-range -mtls-size=tls-size -mtune=cpu-type
-mt -pthread -milp32 -mlp64 -mno-sched-br-data-spec -msched-ar-data-spec -mno-sched-control-spec
-msched-br-in-data-spec -msched-ar-in-data-spec -msched-in-control-spec -msched-ldc
-mno-sched-control-ldc -mno-sched-spec-verbose -mno-sched-prefer-non-data-spec-insns
-mno-sched-prefer-non-control-spec-insns -mno-sched-count-spec-in-critical-path
M32R/D Options -m32r2 -m32rx -m32r -mdebug -malign-loops -mno-align-loops -missue-rate=number
-mbranch-cost=number -mmodel=code-size-model-type -msdata=sdata-type -mno-flush-func
-mflush-func=name -mno-flush-trap -mflush-trap=number -G num
M32C Options -mcpu=cpu -msim -memregs=number
M680x0 Options -march=arch -mcpu=cpu -mtune=tune -m68000 -m68020 -m68020-40 -m68020-60 -m68030
-m68040 -m68060 -mcpu32 -m5200 -m5206e -m528x -m5307 -m5407 -mcfv4e -mbitfield -mno-bitfield
-mc68000 -mc68020 -mnobitfield -mrtd -mno-rtd -mdiv -mno-div -mshort -mno-short -mhard-float
-m68881 -msoft-float -mpcrel -malign-int -mstrict-align -msep-data -mno-sep-data
-mshared-library-id=n -mid-shared-library -mno-id-shared-library -mxgot -mno-xgot
M68hc1x Options -m6811 -m6812 -m68hc11 -m68hc12 -m68hcs12 -mauto-incdec -minmax -mlong-calls
-mshort -msoft-reg-count=count
MCore Options -mhardlit -mno-hardlit -mdiv -mno-div -mrelax-immediates -mno-relax-immediates
-mwide-bitfields -mno-wide-bitfields -m4byte-functions -mno-4byte-functions -mcallgraph-data
-mno-callgraph-data -mslow-bytes -mno-slow-bytes -mno-lsim -mlittle-endian -mbig-endian -m210
-m340 -mstack-increment
MIPS Options -EL -EB -march=arch -mtune=arch -mips1 -mips2 -mips3 -mips4 -mips32 -mips32r2
-mips64 -mips64r2 -mips16 -mips16e -mno-mips16 -mflip-mips16 -minterlink-mips16
-mno-interlink-mips16 -mabi=abi -mabicalls -mno-abicalls -mshared -mno-shared -mplt -mno-plt
-mxgot -mno-xgot -mgp32 -mgp64 -mfp32 -mfp64 -mhard-float -msoft-float -msingle-float
-mdouble-float -mdsp -mno-dsp -mdspr2 -mno-dspr2 -mmicromips -mno-micromips -mmcu -mmno-mcu
-mfpu=fpu-type -msmartmips -mno-smartmips -mpaired-single -mno-paired-single -mdmx -mno-mdmx
-mips3d -mno-mips3d -mmt -mno-mt -mllsc -mno-llsc -mlong64 -mlong32 -msym32 -mno-sym32 -Gnum
-mlocal-sdata -mno-local-sdata -mextern-sdata -mno-extern-sdata -mgpopt -mno-gopt -membedded-data
-mno-embedded-data -muninit-const-in-rodata -mno-uninit-const-in-rodata -mcode-readable=setting
-msplit-addresses -mno-split-addresses -mexplicit-relocs -mno-explicit-relocs -mcheck-zero-division
-mno-check-zero-division -mdivide-traps -mdivide-breaks -mmemcpy -mno-memcpy -mlong-calls
-mno-long-calls -mjals -mno-jals -mmad -mno-mad -mfused-madd -mno-fused-madd -nocpp -mfix-r4000
-mno-fix-r4000 -mfix-r4400 -mno-fix-r4400 -mfix-r10000 -mno-fix-r10000 -mfix-vr4120
-mno-fix-vr4120 -mfix-vr4130 -mno-fix-vr4130 -mfix-sb1 -mno-fix-sb1 -mflush-func=func
-mno-flush-func -mbranch-cost=num -mbranch-likely -mno-branch-likely -mfp-exceptions
-mno-fp-exceptions -mvr4130-align -mno-vr4130-align
MMIX Options -mlibfuncs -mno-libfuncs -mepsilon -mno-epsilon -mabi=gnu -mabi=mmixware
-mzero-extend -mknuthdiv -mtoplevel-symbols -melf -mbranch-predict -mno-branch-predict
-mbase-addresses -mno-base-addresses -msingle-exit -mno-single-exit
MN10300 Options -mmult-bug -mno-mult-bug -mam33 -mno-am33 -mam33-2 -mno-am33-2
-mreturn-pointer-on-d0 -mno-crt0 -mrelax
PDP-11 Options -mfpu -msoft-float -mac0 -mno-ac0 -m40 -m45 -m10 -mbcopy -mbcopy-builtin
-mint32 -mno-int16 -mint16 -mno-int32 -mfloat32 -mno-float64 -mfloat64 -mno-float32 -mabshi
-mno-abshi -mbranch-expensive -mbranch-cheap -msplit -mno-split -munix-asm -mdec-asm
picoChip Options -mae=ae_type -mvliw-lookahead=N -msymbol-as-address -mno-inefficient-warnings
PowerPC Options See RS/6000 and PowerPC Options.
RS/6000 and PowerPC Options -mcpu=cpu-type -mtune=cpu-type -mpower -mno-power -mpower2 -mno-power2
-mpowerpc -mpowerpc64 -mno-powerpc -maltivec -mno-altivec -mpowerpc-gpopt -mno-powerpc-gpopt
-mpowerpc-gfxopt -mno-powerpc-gfxopt -mmfcrf -mno-mfcrf -mpopcntb -mno-popcntb -mfprnd
-mno-fprnd -mcmpb -mno-cmpb -mmfpgpr -mno-mfpgpr -mhard-dfp -mno-hard-dfp -mnew-mnemonics
-mold-mnemonics -mfull-toc -mminimal-toc -mno-fp-in-toc -mno-sum-in-toc -m64 -m32 -mxl-compat
-mno-xl-compat -mpe -malign-power -malign-natural -msoft-float -mhard-float -mmultiple
-mno-multiple -msingle-float -mdouble-float -msimple-fpu -mstring -mno-string -mupdate -mno-update
-mavoid-indexed-addresses -mno-avoid-indexed-addresses -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 -mdynamic-no-pic
-maltivec -mswdiv -mprioritize-restricted-insns=priority -msched-costly-dep=dependence_type
-minsert-sched-nops=scheme -mcall-sysv -mcall-netbsd -maix-struct-return -msvr4-struct-return
-mabi=abi-type -msecure-plt -mbss-plt -misel -mno-isel -misel=yes -misel=no -mspe -mno-spe -mspe=yes
-mspe=no -mpaired -mgen-cell-microcode -mwarn-cell-microcode -mvrsave -mno-vrsave -mmulhw -mno-mulhw
-mdlmzb -mno-dlmzb -mfloat-gprs=yes -mfloat-gprs=no -mfloat-gprs=single -mfloat-gprs=double
-mprototype -mno-prototype -msim -mmvme -mads -myellowknife -memb -msdata -msdata=opt
-mvxworks -G num -pthread
S/390 and zSeries Options -mtune=cpu-type -march=cpu-type -mhard-float -msoft-float -mhard-dfp
-mno-hard-dfp -mlong-double-64 -mlong-double-128 -mbackchain -mno-backchain -mpacked-stack
-mno-packed-stack -msmall-exec -mno-small-exec -mmvcle -mno-mvcle -m64 -m31 -mdebug -mno-debug
-mesa -mzarch -mtpf-trace -mno-tpf-trace -mfused-madd -mno-fused-madd -mwarn-framesize
-mwarn-dynamicstack -mstack-size -mstack-guard
Score Options -meb -mel -mnhwloop -muls -mmac -mscore5 -mscore5u -mscore7 -mscore7d
SH Options -m1 -m2 -m2e -m3 -m3e -m4-nofpu -m4-single-only -m4-single -m4 -m4a-nofpu
-m4a-single-only -m4a-single -m4a -m4al -m5-64media -m5-64media-nofpu -m5-32media -m5-32media-nofpu
-m5-compact -m5-compact-nofpu -mb -ml -mdalign -mrelax -mbigtable -mfmovd -mhitachi -mrenesas
-mno-renesas -mnomacsave -mieee -mbitops -misize -minline-ic_invalidate -mpadstruct -mspace
-mprefergot -musermode -multcost=number -mdiv=strategy -mdivsi3_libfunc=name -mfixed-range=register-
range -madjust-unroll -mindexed-addressing -mgettrcost=number -mpt-fixed -minvalid-symbols -mfdpic
SPARC Options -mcpu=cpu-type -mtune=cpu-type -mcmodel=code-model -m32 -m64 -mapp-regs
-mno-app-regs -mfaster-structs -mno-faster-structs -mfpu -mno-fpu -mhard-float -msoft-float
-mhard-quad-float -msoft-quad-float -mimpure-text -mno-impure-text -mlittle-endian -mstack-bias
-mno-stack-bias -munaligned-doubles -mno-unaligned-doubles -mv8plus -mno-v8plus -mvis -mno-vis
-threads -pthreads -pthread
SPU Options -mwarn-reloc -merror-reloc -msafe-dma -munsafe-dma -mbranch-hints -msmall-mem -mlarge-mem
-mstdmain -mfixed-range=register-range
System V Options -Qy -Qn -YP,paths -Ym,dir
V850 Options -mlong-calls -mno-long-calls -mep -mno-ep -mprolog-function -mno-prolog-function
-mspace -mtda=n -msda=n -mzda=n -mapp-regs -mno-app-regs -mdisable-callt -mno-disable-callt
-mv850e1 -mv850e -mv850 -mbig-switch
VAX Options -mg -mgnu -munix
VxWorks Options -mrtp -non-static -Bstatic -Bdynamic -Xbind-lazy -Xbind-now
x86-64 Options See i386 and x86-64 Options.
Xstormy16 Options -msim
Xtensa Options -mconst16 -mno-const16 -mfused-madd -mno-fused-madd -mserialize-volatile
-mno-serialize-volatile -mtext-section-literals -mno-text-section-literals -mtarget-align
-mno-target-align -mlongcalls -mno-longcalls
zSeries Options See S/390 and zSeries Options.
Code Generation Options
-fcall-saved-reg -fcall-used-reg -ffixed-reg -fexceptions -fnon-call-exceptions -funwind-tables
-fasynchronous-unwind-tables -finhibit-size-directive -finstrument-functions
-finstrument-functions-exclude-function-list=sym,sym,...
-finstrument-functions-exclude-file-list=file,file,... -fno-common -fno-ident -fpcc-struct-return
-fpic -fPIC -fpie -fPIE -fno-jump-tables -frecord-gcc-switches -freg-struct-return -fshort-enums
-fshort-double -fshort-wchar -fverbose-asm -fpack-struct[=n] -fstack-check
-fstack-limit-register=reg -fstack-limit-symbol=sym -fno-stack-limit -fargument-alias
-fargument-noalias -fargument-noalias-global -fargument-noalias-anything -fleading-underscore
-ftls-model=model -ftrapv -fwrapv -fbounds-check -fvisibility
Options Controlling the Kind of Output
Compilation can involve up to four stages: preprocessing, compilation proper, assembly and linking,
always in that order. GCC is capable of preprocessing and compiling several files either into several
assembler input files, or into one assembler input file; then each assembler input file produces an
object file, and 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
C source code which must be preprocessed.
file.i
C source code which should not be preprocessed.
file.ii
C++ source code which should not be preprocessed.
file.m
Objective-C source code. Note that you must link with the libobjc library to make an Objective-C
program work.
file.mi
Objective-C source code which should not be preprocessed.
file.mm
file.M
Objective-C++ source code. Note that you must link with the libobjc library to make an Objective-C++
program work. Note that .M refers to a literal capital M.
file.mii
Objective-C++ source code which should not be preprocessed.
file.h
C, C++, Objective-C or Objective-C++ header file to be turned into a precompiled header.
file.cc
file.cp
file.cxx
file.cpp
file.CPP
file.c++
file.C
C++ source code which must be preprocessed. Note that in .cxx, the last two letters must both be
literally x. Likewise, .C refers to a literal capital C.
file.mm
file.M
Objective-C++ source code which must be preprocessed.
file.mii
Objective-C++ source code which should not be preprocessed.
file.hh
file.H
file.hp
file.hxx
file.hpp
file.HPP
file.h++
file.tcc
C++ header file to be turned into a precompiled header.
file.f
file.for
file.ftn
Fixed form Fortran source code which should not be preprocessed.
file.F
file.FOR
file.fpp
file.FPP
file.FTN
Fixed form Fortran source code which must be preprocessed (with the traditional preprocessor).
file.f90
file.f95
file.f03
file.f08
Free form Fortran source code which should not be preprocessed.
file.F90
file.F95
file.F03
file.F08
Free form Fortran source code which must be preprocessed (with the traditional preprocessor).
file.ads
Ada source code file which contains a library unit declaration (a declaration of a package,
subprogram, or generic, or a generic instantiation), or a library unit renaming declaration (a
package, generic, or subprogram renaming declaration). Such files are also called specs.
file.adb
Ada source code file containing a library unit body (a subprogram or package body). Such files are
also called bodies.
file.s
Assembler code.
file.S
file.sx
Assembler code which must be preprocessed.
other
An object file to be fed straight into linking. Any file name with no recognized suffix is treated
this way.
You can specify the input language explicitly with the -x option:
-x language
Specify explicitly the language for the following input files (rather than letting the compiler
choose a default based on the file name suffix). This option applies to all following input files
until the next -x option. Possible values for language are:
c c-header c-cpp-output
c++ c++-header c++-cpp-output
objective-c objective-c-header objective-c-cpp-output
objective-c++ objective-c++-header objective-c++-cpp-output
assembler assembler-with-cpp
ada
f77 f77-cpp-input f95 f95-cpp-input
java
-x none
Turn off any specification of a language, so that subsequent files are handled according to their
file name suffixes (as they are if -x has not been used at all).
-pass-exit-codes
Normally the gcc program will exit with the code of 1 if any phase of the compiler returns a non-
success return code. If you specify -pass-exit-codes, the gcc program will instead return with
numerically highest error produced by any phase that returned an error indication. The C, C++, and
Fortran frontends return 4, if an internal compiler error is encountered.
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 Compile or assemble the source files, but do not link. The linking stage simply is not done. The
ultimate output is in the form of an object file for each source file.
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 Stop after the stage of compilation proper; do not assemble. The output is in the form of an
assembler code file for each non-assembler input file specified.
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 Stop after the preprocessing stage; do not run the compiler proper. The output is in the form of
preprocessed source code, which is sent to the standard output.
Input files which don't require preprocessing are ignored.
-o file
Place output in file file. This applies regardless to whatever sort of output is being produced,
whether it be an executable file, an object file, an assembler file or preprocessed C code.
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, a precompiled header file in
source.suffix.gch, and all preprocessed C source on standard output.
-v Print (on standard error output) the commands executed to run the stages of compilation. Also print
the version number of the compiler driver program and of the preprocessor and the compiler proper.
-###
Like -v except the commands are not executed and all command arguments are quoted. This is useful
for shell scripts to capture the driver-generated command lines.
-pipe
Use pipes rather than temporary files for communication between the various stages of compilation.
This fails to work on some systems where the assembler is unable to read from a pipe; but the GNU
assembler has no trouble.
-combine
If you are compiling multiple source files, this option tells the driver to pass all the source files
to the compiler at once (for those languages for which the compiler can handle this). This will
allow intermodule analysis (IMA) to be performed by the compiler. Currently the only language for
which this is supported is C. If you pass source files for multiple languages to the driver, using
this option, the driver will invoke the compiler(s) that support IMA once each, passing each compiler
all the source files appropriate for it. For those languages that do not support IMA this option
will be ignored, and the compiler will be invoked once for each source file in that language. If you
use this option in conjunction with -save-temps, the compiler will generate multiple pre-processed
files (one for each source file), but only one (combined) .o or .s file.
--help
Print (on the standard output) a description of the command line options understood by 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 -Wextra option has also
been specified (prior to the --help option), then command line options which have no documentation
associated with them will also be displayed.
--target-help
Print (on the standard output) a description of target-specific command line options for each tool.
For some targets extra target-specific information may also be printed.
--help={class|[^]qualifier}[,...]
Print (on the standard output) a description of the command line options understood by the compiler
that fit into all specified classes and qualifiers. These are the supported classes:
optimizers
This will display all of the optimization options supported by the compiler.
warnings
This will display all of the options controlling warning messages produced by the compiler.
target
This will display target-specific options. Unlike the --target-help option however, target-
specific options of the linker and assembler will not be displayed. This is because those tools
do not currently support the extended --help= syntax.
params
This will display the values recognized by the --param option.
language
This will display the options supported for language, where language is the name of one of the
languages supported in this version of GCC.
common
This will display the options that are common to all languages.
These are the supported qualifiers:
undocumented
Display only those options which are undocumented.
joined
Display options which take an argument that appears after an equal sign in the same continuous
piece of text, such as: --help=target.
separate
Display options which take an argument that appears as a separate word following the original
option, such as: -o output-file.
Thus for example to display all the undocumented target-specific switches supported by the compiler
the following can be used:
--help=target,undocumented
The sense of a qualifier can be inverted by prefixing it with the ^ character, so for example to
display all binary warning options (i.e., ones that are either on or off and that do not take an
argument), which have a description the following can be used:
--help=warnings,^joined,^undocumented
The argument to --help= should not consist solely of inverted qualifiers.
Combining several classes is possible, although this usually restricts the output by so much that
there is nothing to display. One case where it does work however is when one of the classes is
target. So for example to display all the target-specific optimization options the following can be
used:
--help=target,optimizers
The --help= option can be repeated on the command line. Each successive use will display its
requested class of options, skipping those that have already been displayed.
If the -Q option appears on the command line before the --help= option, then the descriptive text
displayed by --help= is changed. Instead of describing the displayed options, an indication is given
as to whether the option is enabled, disabled or set to a specific value (assuming that the compiler
knows this at the point where the --help= option is used).
Here is a truncated example from the ARM port of gcc:
% gcc -Q -mabi=2 --help=target -c
The following options are target specific:
-mabi= 2
-mabort-on-noreturn [disabled]
-mapcs [disabled]
The output is sensitive to the effects of previous command line options, so for example it is
possible to find out which optimizations are enabled at -O2 by using:
-Q -O2 --help=optimizers
Alternatively you can discover which binary optimizations are enabled by -O3 by using:
gcc -c -Q -O3 --help=optimizers > /tmp/O3-opts
gcc -c -Q -O2 --help=optimizers > /tmp/O2-opts
diff /tmp/O2-opts /tmp/O3-opts | grep enabled
--version
Display the version number and copyrights of the invoked GCC.
-wrapper
Invoke all subcommands under a wrapper program. It takes a single comma separated list as an
argument, which will be used to invoke the wrapper:
gcc -c t.c -wrapper gdb,--args
This will invoke all subprograms of gcc under "gdb --args", thus cc1 invocation will be "gdb --args
cc1 ...".
@file
Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted in place of the original @file
option. If file does not exist, or cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and
not removed.
Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace character may be included in an option by
surrounding the entire option in either single or double quotes. Any character (including a
backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be included with a backslash. The file may
itself contain additional @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
Compiling C++ Programs
C++ source files conventionally use one of the suffixes .C, .cc, .cpp, .CPP, .c++, .cp, or .cxx; C++
header files often use .hh, .hpp, .H, or (for shared template code) .tcc; and preprocessed C++ files use
the suffix .ii. GCC 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, the use of gcc does not add the C++ library. g++ is a program that calls GCC and treats .c, .h
and .i files as C++ source files instead of C source files unless -x is used, and automatically specifies
linking against the C++ library. This program is also useful when precompiling a C header file with a .h
extension for use in C++ compilations. On many systems, 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.
Options Controlling C Dialect
The following options control the dialect of C (or languages derived from C, such as C++, Objective-C and
Objective-C++) that the compiler accepts:
-ansi
In C mode, this is equivalent to -std=c89. In C++ mode, it is equivalent to -std=c++98.
This turns off certain features of GCC that are incompatible with ISO C90 (when compiling C code), or
of standard C++ (when compiling C++ code), such as the "asm" 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 ISO trigraph feature. For the C compiler, it disables recognition of C++
style // comments as well as the "inline" keyword.
The alternate keywords "__asm__", "__extension__", "__inline__" and "__typeof__" continue to work
despite -ansi. You would not want to use them in an ISO 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-ISO programs to be rejected gratuitously. For that, -pedantic is
required in addition to -ansi.
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
ISO standard doesn't call for; this is to avoid interfering with any programs that might use these
names for other things.
Functions that would normally be built in but do not have semantics defined by ISO C (such as
"alloca" and "ffs") are not built-in functions when -ansi is used.
-std=
Determine the language standard. This option is currently only supported when compiling C or C++.
The compiler can accept several base standards, such as c89 or c++98, and GNU dialects of those
standards, such as gnu89 or gnu++98. By specifying a base standard, the compiler will accept all
programs following that standard and those using GNU extensions that do not contradict it. For
example, -std=c89 turns off certain features of GCC that are incompatible with ISO C90, such as the
"asm" and "typeof" keywords, but not other GNU extensions that do not have a meaning in ISO C90, such
as omitting the middle term of a "?:" expression. On the other hand, by specifying a GNU dialect of a
standard, all features the compiler support are enabled, even when those features change the meaning
of the base standard and some strict-conforming programs may be rejected. The particular standard is
used by -pedantic to identify which features are GNU extensions given that version of the standard.
For example -std=gnu89 -pedantic would warn about C++ style // comments, while -std=gnu99 -pedantic
would not.
A value for this option must be provided; possible values are
c89
iso9899:1990
Support all ISO C90 programs (certain GNU extensions that conflict with ISO C90 are disabled).
Same as -ansi for C code.
iso9899:199409
ISO C90 as modified in amendment 1.
c99
c9x
iso9899:1999
iso9899:199x
ISO C99. Note that this standard is not yet fully supported; see
<http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.4/c99status.html> for more information. The names c9x and iso9899:199x
are deprecated.
gnu89
GNU dialect of ISO C90 (including some C99 features). This is the default for C code.
gnu99
gnu9x
GNU dialect of ISO C99. When ISO C99 is fully implemented in GCC, this will become the default.
The name gnu9x is deprecated.
c++98
The 1998 ISO C++ standard plus amendments. Same as -ansi for C++ code.
gnu++98
GNU dialect of -std=c++98. This is the default for C++ code.
c++0x
The working draft of the upcoming ISO C++0x standard. This option enables experimental features
that are likely to be included in C++0x. The working draft is constantly changing, and any
feature that is enabled by this flag may be removed from future versions of GCC if it is not part
of the C++0x standard.
gnu++0x
GNU dialect of -std=c++0x. This option enables experimental features that may be removed in
future versions of GCC.
-fgnu89-inline
The option -fgnu89-inline tells GCC to use the traditional GNU semantics for "inline" functions when
in C99 mode.
This option is accepted and ignored by GCC versions 4.1.3 up to but not including 4.3. In GCC
versions 4.3 and later it changes the behavior of GCC in C99 mode. Using this option is roughly
equivalent to adding the "gnu_inline" function attribute to all inline functions.
The option -fno-gnu89-inline explicitly tells GCC to use the C99 semantics for "inline" when in C99
or gnu99 mode (i.e., it specifies the default behavior). This option was first supported in GCC 4.3.
This option is not supported in C89 or gnu89 mode.
The preprocessor macros "__GNUC_GNU_INLINE__" and "__GNUC_STDC_INLINE__" may be used to check which
semantics are in effect for "inline" functions.
-aux-info filename
Output to the given filename prototyped declarations for all functions declared and/or defined in a
translation unit, including those in header files. This option is silently ignored in any language
other than C.
Besides declarations, the file indicates, in comments, the origin of each declaration (source file
and line), whether the declaration was implicit, prototyped or unprototyped (I, N for new or O for
old, respectively, in the first character after the line number and the colon), and whether it came
from a declaration or a definition (C or F, respectively, in the following character). In the case
of function definitions, a K&R-style list of arguments followed by their declarations is also
provided, inside comments, after the declaration.
-fno-asm
Do not recognize "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, which has the same effect. In C99
mode (-std=c99 or -std=gnu99), this switch only affects the "asm" and "typeof" keywords, since
"inline" is a standard keyword in ISO C99.
-fno-builtin
-fno-builtin-function
Don't recognize built-in functions that do not begin with __builtin_ as prefix.
GCC normally generates special code to handle certain built-in 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. In addition, when
a function is recognized as a built-in function, GCC may use information about that function to warn
about problems with calls to that function, or to generate more efficient code, even if the resulting
code still contains calls to that function. For example, warnings are given with -Wformat for bad
calls to "printf", when "printf" is built in, and "strlen" is known not to modify global memory.
With the -fno-builtin-function option only the built-in function function is disabled. function must
not begin with __builtin_. If a function is named that is not built-in in this version of GCC, this
option is ignored. There is no corresponding -fbuiltin-function option; if you wish to enable built-
in functions selectively when using -fno-builtin or -ffreestanding, you may define macros such as:
#define abs(n) __builtin_abs ((n))
#define strcpy(d, s) __builtin_strcpy ((d), (s))
-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.
-fopenmp
Enable handling of OpenMP directives "#pragma omp" in C/C++ and "!$omp" in Fortran. When -fopenmp is
specified, the compiler generates parallel code according to the OpenMP Application Program Interface
v2.5 <http://www.openmp.org/>. This option implies -pthread, and thus is only supported on targets
that have support for -pthread.
-fms-extensions
Accept some non-standard constructs used in Microsoft header files.
Some cases of unnamed fields in structures and unions are only accepted with this option.
-trigraphs
Support ISO C trigraphs. The -ansi option (and -std options for strict ISO C conformance) implies
-trigraphs.
-no-integrated-cpp
Performs a compilation in two passes: preprocessing and compiling. This option allows a user
supplied "cc1", "cc1plus", or "cc1obj" via the -B option. The user supplied compilation step can
then add in an additional preprocessing step after normal preprocessing but before compiling. The
default is to use the integrated cpp (internal cpp)
The semantics of this option will change if "cc1", "cc1plus", and "cc1obj" are merged.
-traditional
-traditional-cpp
Formerly, these options caused GCC to attempt to emulate a pre-standard C compiler. They are now
only supported with the -E switch. The preprocessor continues to support a pre-standard mode. See
the GNU CPP manual for details.
-fcond-mismatch
Allow conditional expressions with mismatched types in the second and third arguments. The value of
such an expression is void. This option is not supported for C++.
-flax-vector-conversions
Allow implicit conversions between vectors with differing numbers of elements and/or incompatible
element types. This option should not be used for new code.
-funsigned-char
Let the type "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
Let the type "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.
-fsigned-bitfields
-funsigned-bitfields
-fno-signed-bitfields
-fno-unsigned-bitfields
These options control whether a bit-field is signed or unsigned, when the declaration does not use
either "signed" or "unsigned". By default, such a bit-field is signed, because this is consistent:
the basic integer types such as "int" are signed types.
Options Controlling C++ Dialect
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 GCC.
Here is a list of options that are only for compiling C++ programs:
-fabi-version=n
Use version n of the C++ ABI. Version 2 is the version of the C++ ABI that first appeared in G++
3.4. Version 1 is the version of the C++ ABI that first appeared in G++ 3.2. Version 0 will always
be the version that conforms most closely to the C++ ABI specification. Therefore, the ABI obtained
using version 0 will change as ABI bugs are fixed.
The default is version 2.
-fno-access-control
Turn off all access checking. This switch is mainly useful for working around bugs in the access
control code.
-fcheck-new
Check that the pointer returned by "operator new" is non-null before attempting to modify the storage
allocated. This check is normally unnecessary because the C++ standard specifies that "operator new"
will only return 0 if it is declared throw(), in which case the compiler will always check the return
value even without this option. In all other cases, when "operator new" has a non-empty exception
specification, memory exhaustion is signalled by throwing "std::bad_alloc". See also new (nothrow).
-fconserve-space
Put uninitialized or runtime-initialized global variables into the common segment, as C does. This
saves space in the executable at the cost of not diagnosing duplicate definitions. If you compile
with this flag and your program mysteriously crashes after "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.
-fno-deduce-init-list
Disable deduction of a template type parameter as std::initializer_list from a brace-enclosed
initializer list, i.e.
template <class T> auto forward(T t) -> decltype (realfn (t))
{
return realfn (t);
}
void f()
{
forward({1,2}); // call forward<std::initializer_list<int>>
}
This option is present because this deduction is an extension to the current specification in the
C++0x working draft, and there was some concern about potential overload resolution problems.
-ffriend-injection
Inject friend functions into the enclosing namespace, so that they are visible outside the scope of
the class in which they are declared. Friend functions were documented to work this way in the old
Annotated C++ Reference Manual, and versions of G++ before 4.1 always worked that way. However, in
ISO C++ a friend function which is not declared in an enclosing scope can only be found using
argument dependent lookup. This option causes friends to be injected as they were in earlier
releases.
This option is for compatibility, and may be removed in a future release of G++.
-fno-elide-constructors
The C++ standard allows an implementation to omit creating a temporary which is only used to
initialize another object of the same type. Specifying this option disables that optimization, and
forces G++ to call the copy constructor in all cases.
-fno-enforce-eh-specs
Don't generate code to check for violation of exception specifications at runtime. This option
violates the C++ standard, but may be useful for reducing code size in production builds, much like
defining NDEBUG. This does not give user code permission to throw exceptions in violation of the
exception specifications; the compiler will still optimize based on the specifications, so throwing
an unexpected exception will result in undefined behavior.
-ffor-scope
-fno-for-scope
If -ffor-scope is specified, the scope of variables declared in a for-init-statement is limited to
the for loop itself, as specified by the C++ standard. If -fno-for-scope is specified, the scope of
variables declared in a for-init-statement extends to the end of the enclosing scope, as was the case
in old versions of G++, and other (traditional) implementations of C++.
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
Do not recognize "typeof" as a keyword, so that code can use this word as an identifier. You can use
the keyword "__typeof__" instead. -ansi implies -fno-gnu-keywords.
-fno-implicit-templates
Never emit code for non-inline templates which are instantiated implicitly (i.e. by use); only emit
code for explicit instantiations.
-fno-implicit-inline-templates
Don't emit code for implicit instantiations of inline templates, either. The default is to handle
inlines differently so that compiles with and without optimization will need the same set of explicit
instantiations.
-fno-implement-inlines
To save space, do not emit out-of-line copies of inline functions controlled by #pragma
implementation. This will cause linker errors if these functions are not inlined everywhere they are
called.
-fms-extensions
Disable pedantic warnings about constructs used in MFC, such as implicit int and getting a pointer to
member function via non-standard syntax.
-fno-nonansi-builtins
Disable built-in declarations of functions that are not mandated by ANSI/ISO C. These include "ffs",
"alloca", "_exit", "index", "bzero", "conjf", and other related functions.
-fno-operator-names
Do not treat the operator name keywords "and", "bitand", "bitor", "compl", "not", "or" and "xor" as
synonyms as keywords.
-fno-optional-diags
Disable diagnostics that the standard says a compiler does not need to issue. Currently, the only
such diagnostic issued by G++ is the one for a name having multiple meanings within a class.
-fpermissive
Downgrade some diagnostics about nonconformant code from errors to warnings. Thus, using
-fpermissive will allow some nonconforming code to compile.
-frepo
Enable automatic template instantiation at link time. This option also implies
-fno-implicit-templates.
-fno-rtti
Disable generation of information about every class with virtual functions for use by the C++ runtime
type identification features (dynamic_cast and typeid). If you don't use those parts of the
language, you can save some space by using this flag. Note that exception handling uses the same
information, but it will generate it as needed. The dynamic_cast operator can still be used for casts
that do not require runtime type information, i.e. casts to "void *" or to unambiguous base classes.
-fstats
Emit statistics about front-end processing at the end of the compilation. This information is
generally only useful to the G++ development team.
-ftemplate-depth-n
Set the maximum instantiation depth for template classes to n. A limit on the template instantiation
depth is needed to detect endless recursions during template class instantiation. ANSI/ISO C++
conforming programs must not rely on a maximum depth greater than 17.
-fno-threadsafe-statics
Do not emit the extra code to use the routines specified in the C++ ABI for thread-safe
initialization of local statics. You can use this option to reduce code size slightly in code that
doesn't need to be thread-safe.
-fuse-cxa-atexit
Register destructors for objects with static storage duration with the "__cxa_atexit" function rather
than the "atexit" function. This option is required for fully standards-compliant handling of static
destructors, but will only work if your C library supports "__cxa_atexit".
-fno-use-cxa-get-exception-ptr
Don't use the "__cxa_get_exception_ptr" runtime routine. This will cause "std::uncaught_exception"
to be incorrect, but is necessary if the runtime routine is not available.
-fvisibility-inlines-hidden
This switch declares that the user does not attempt to compare pointers to inline methods where the
addresses of the two functions were taken in different shared objects.
The effect of this is that GCC may, effectively, mark inline methods with "__attribute__ ((visibility
("hidden")))" so that they do not appear in the export table of a DSO and do not require a PLT
indirection when used within the DSO. Enabling this option can have a dramatic effect on load and
link times of a DSO as it massively reduces the size of the dynamic export table when the library
makes heavy use of templates.
The behavior of this switch is not quite the same as marking the methods as hidden directly, because
it does not affect static variables local to the function or cause the compiler to deduce that the
function is defined in only one shared object.
You may mark a method as having a visibility explicitly to negate the effect of the switch for that
method. For example, if you do want to compare pointers to a particular inline method, you might
mark it as having default visibility. Marking the enclosing class with explicit visibility will have
no effect.
Explicitly instantiated inline methods are unaffected by this option as their linkage might otherwise
cross a shared library boundary.
-fvisibility-ms-compat
This flag attempts to use visibility settings to make GCC's C++ linkage model compatible with that of
Microsoft Visual Studio.
The flag makes these changes to GCC's linkage model:
1. It sets the default visibility to "hidden", like -fvisibility=hidden.
2. Types, but not their members, are not hidden by default.
3. The One Definition Rule is relaxed for types without explicit visibility specifications which are
defined in more than one different shared object: those declarations are permitted if they would
have been permitted when this option was not used.
In new code it is better to use -fvisibility=hidden and export those classes which are intended to be
externally visible. Unfortunately it is possible for code to rely, perhaps accidentally, on the
Visual Studio behavior.
Among the consequences of these changes are that static data members of the same type with the same
name but defined in different shared objects will be different, so changing one will not change the
other; and that pointers to function members defined in different shared objects may not compare
equal. When this flag is given, it is a violation of the ODR to define types with the same name
differently.
-fno-weak
Do not use weak symbol support, even if it is provided by the linker. By default, G++ will use weak
symbols if they are available. This option exists only for testing, and should not be used by end-
users; it will result in inferior code and has no benefits. This option may be removed in a future
release of G++.
-nostdinc++
Do not search for header files in the standard directories specific to C++, but do still search the
other standard directories. (This option is used when building the C++ library.)
In addition, these optimization, warning, and code generation options have meanings only for C++
programs:
-fno-default-inline
Do not assume inline for functions defined inside a class scope.
Note that these functions will have linkage like inline functions; they just won't be inlined by
default.
-Wabi (C, Objective-C, C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when G++ generates code that is probably not compatible with the vendor-neutral C++ ABI.
Although an effort has been made to warn about all such cases, there are probably some cases that are
not warned about, even though G++ is generating incompatible code. There may also be cases where
warnings are emitted even though the code that is generated will be compatible.
You should rewrite your code to avoid these warnings if you are concerned about the fact that code
generated by G++ may not be binary compatible with code generated by other compilers.
The known incompatibilities at this point include:
• Incorrect handling of tail-padding for bit-fields. G++ may attempt to pack data into the same
byte as a base class. For example:
struct A { virtual void f(); int f1 : 1; };
struct B : public A { int f2 : 1; };
In this case, G++ will place "B::f2" into the same byte as"A::f1"; other compilers will not. You
can avoid this problem by explicitly padding "A" so that its size is a multiple of the byte size
on your platform; that will cause G++ and other compilers to layout "B" identically.
• Incorrect handling of tail-padding for virtual bases. G++ does not use tail padding when laying
out virtual bases. For example:
struct A { virtual void f(); char c1; };
struct B { B(); char c2; };
struct C : public A, public virtual B {};
In this case, G++ will not place "B" into the tail-padding for "A"; other compilers will. You
can avoid this problem by explicitly padding "A" so that its size is a multiple of its alignment
(ignoring virtual base classes); that will cause G++ and other compilers to layout "C"
identically.
• Incorrect handling of bit-fields with declared widths greater than that of their underlying
types, when the bit-fields appear in a union. For example:
union U { int i : 4096; };
Assuming that an "int" does not have 4096 bits, G++ will make the union too small by the number
of bits in an "int".
• Empty classes can be placed at incorrect offsets. For example:
struct A {};
struct B {
A a;
virtual void f ();
};
struct C : public B, public A {};
G++ will place the "A" base class of "C" at a nonzero offset; it should be placed at offset zero.
G++ mistakenly believes that the "A" data member of "B" is already at offset zero.
• Names of template functions whose types involve "typename" or template template parameters can be
mangled incorrectly.
template <typename Q>
void f(typename Q::X) {}
template <template <typename> class Q>
void f(typename Q<int>::X) {}
Instantiations of these templates may be mangled incorrectly.
It also warns psABI related changes. The known psABI changes at this point include:
• For SYSV/x86-64, when passing union with long double, it is changed to pass in memory as
specified in psABI. For example:
union U {
long double ld;
int i;
};
"union U" will always be passed in memory.
-Wctor-dtor-privacy (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a class seems unusable because all the constructors or destructors in that class are
private, and it has neither friends nor public static member functions.
-Wnon-virtual-dtor (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a class has virtual functions and accessible non-virtual destructor, in which case it would
be possible but unsafe to delete an instance of a derived class through a pointer to the base class.
This warning is also enabled if -Weffc++ is specified.
-Wreorder (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when the order of member initializers given in the code does not match the order in which they
must be executed. For instance:
struct A {
int i;
int j;
A(): j (0), i (1) { }
};
The compiler will rearrange the member initializers for i and j to match the declaration order of the
members, emitting a warning to that effect. This warning is enabled by -Wall.
The following -W... options are not affected by -Wall.
-Weffc++ (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about violations of the following style guidelines from Scott Meyers' Effective C++ book:
• Item 11: Define a copy constructor and an assignment operator for classes with dynamically
allocated memory.
• Item 12: Prefer initialization to assignment in constructors.
• Item 14: Make destructors virtual in base classes.
• Item 15: Have "operator=" return a reference to *this.
• Item 23: Don't try to return a reference when you must return an object.
Also warn about violations of the following style guidelines from Scott Meyers' More Effective C++
book:
• Item 6: Distinguish between prefix and postfix forms of increment and decrement operators.
• Item 7: Never overload "&&", "||", or ",".
When selecting this option, be aware that the standard library headers do not obey all of these
guidelines; use grep -v to filter out those warnings.
-Wstrict-null-sentinel (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn also about the use of an uncasted "NULL" as sentinel. When compiling only with GCC this is a
valid sentinel, as "NULL" is defined to "__null". Although it is a null pointer constant not a null
pointer, it is guaranteed to be of the same size as a pointer. But this use is not portable across
different compilers.
-Wno-non-template-friend (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Disable warnings when non-templatized friend functions are declared within a template. Since the
advent of explicit template specification support in G++, if the name of the friend is an
unqualified-id (i.e., friend foo(int)), the C++ language specification demands that the friend
declare or define an ordinary, nontemplate function. (Section 14.5.3). Before G++ implemented
explicit specification, unqualified-ids could be interpreted as a particular specialization of a
templatized function. Because this non-conforming behavior is no longer the default behavior for
G++, -Wnon-template-friend allows the compiler to check existing code for potential trouble spots and
is on by default. This new compiler behavior can be turned off with -Wno-non-template-friend which
keeps the conformant compiler code but disables the helpful warning.
-Wold-style-cast (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn if an old-style (C-style) cast to a non-void type is used within a C++ program. The new-style
casts (dynamic_cast, static_cast, reinterpret_cast, and const_cast) are less vulnerable to unintended
effects and much easier to search for.
-Woverloaded-virtual (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a function declaration hides virtual functions from a base class. For example, in:
struct A {
virtual void f();
};
struct B: public A {
void f(int);
};
the "A" class version of "f" is hidden in "B", and code like:
B* b;
b->f();
will fail to compile.
-Wno-pmf-conversions (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Disable the diagnostic for converting a bound pointer to member function to a plain pointer.
-Wsign-promo (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when overload resolution chooses a promotion from unsigned or enumerated type to a signed type,
over a conversion to an unsigned type of the same size. Previous versions of G++ would try to
preserve unsignedness, but the standard mandates the current behavior.
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 =.
Options Controlling Objective-C and Objective-C++ Dialects
(NOTE: This manual does not describe the Objective-C and Objective-C++ languages themselves. See
This section describes the command-line options that are only meaningful for Objective-C and
Objective-C++ programs, but you can also use most of the language-independent GNU compiler options. For
example, you might compile a file "some_class.m" like this:
gcc -g -fgnu-runtime -O -c some_class.m
In this example, -fgnu-runtime is an option meant only for Objective-C and Objective-C++ programs; you
can use the other options with any language supported by GCC.
Note that since Objective-C is an extension of the C language, Objective-C compilations may also use
options specific to the C front-end (e.g., -Wtraditional). Similarly, Objective-C++ compilations may use
C++-specific options (e.g., -Wabi).
Here is a list of options that are only for compiling Objective-C and Objective-C++ programs:
-fconstant-string-class=class-name
Use class-name as the name of the class to instantiate for each literal string specified with the
syntax "@"..."". The default class name is "NXConstantString" if the GNU runtime is being used, and
"NSConstantString" if the NeXT runtime is being used (see below). The -fconstant-cfstrings option,
if also present, will override the -fconstant-string-class setting and cause "@"..."" literals to be
laid out as constant CoreFoundation strings.
-fgnu-runtime
Generate object code compatible with the standard GNU Objective-C runtime. This is the default for
most types of systems.
-fnext-runtime
Generate output compatible with the NeXT runtime. This is the default for NeXT-based systems,
including Darwin and Mac OS X. The macro "__NEXT_RUNTIME__" is predefined if (and only if) this
option is used.
-fno-nil-receivers
Assume that all Objective-C message dispatches (e.g., "[receiver message:arg]") in this translation
unit ensure that the receiver is not "nil". This allows for more efficient entry points in the
runtime to be used. Currently, this option is only available in conjunction with the NeXT runtime on
Mac OS X 10.3 and later.
-fobjc-call-cxx-cdtors
For each Objective-C class, check if any of its instance variables is a C++ object with a non-trivial
default constructor. If so, synthesize a special "- (id) .cxx_construct" instance method that will
run non-trivial default constructors on any such instance variables, in order, and then return
"self". Similarly, check if any instance variable is a C++ object with a non-trivial destructor, and
if so, synthesize a special "- (void) .cxx_destruct" method that will run all such default
destructors, in reverse order.
The "- (id) .cxx_construct" and/or "- (void) .cxx_destruct" methods thusly generated will only
operate on instance variables declared in the current Objective-C class, and not those inherited from
superclasses. It is the responsibility of the Objective-C runtime to invoke all such methods in an
object's inheritance hierarchy. The "- (id) .cxx_construct" methods will be invoked by the runtime
immediately after a new object instance is allocated; the "- (void) .cxx_destruct" methods will be
invoked immediately before the runtime deallocates an object instance.
As of this writing, only the NeXT runtime on Mac OS X 10.4 and later has support for invoking the "-
(id) .cxx_construct" and "- (void) .cxx_destruct" methods.
-fobjc-direct-dispatch
Allow fast jumps to the message dispatcher. On Darwin this is accomplished via the comm page.
-fobjc-exceptions
Enable syntactic support for structured exception handling in Objective-C, similar to what is offered
by C++ and Java. This option is unavailable in conjunction with the NeXT runtime on Mac OS X 10.2
and earlier.
@try {
...
@throw expr;
...
}
@catch (AnObjCClass *exc) {
...
@throw expr;
...
@throw;
...
}
@catch (AnotherClass *exc) {
...
}
@catch (id allOthers) {
...
}
@finally {
...
@throw expr;
...
}
The @throw statement may appear anywhere in an Objective-C or Objective-C++ program; when used inside
of a @catch block, the @throw may appear without an argument (as shown above), in which case the
object caught by the @catch will be rethrown.
Note that only (pointers to) Objective-C objects may be thrown and caught using this scheme. When an
object is thrown, it will be caught by the nearest @catch clause capable of handling objects of that
type, analogously to how "catch" blocks work in C++ and Java. A "@catch(id ...)" clause (as shown
above) may also be provided to catch any and all Objective-C exceptions not caught by previous @catch
clauses (if any).
The @finally clause, if present, will be executed upon exit from the immediately preceding "@try ...
@catch" section. This will happen regardless of whether any exceptions are thrown, caught or
rethrown inside the "@try ... @catch" section, analogously to the behavior of the "finally" clause in
Java.
There are several caveats to using the new exception mechanism:
• Although currently designed to be binary compatible with "NS_HANDLER"-style idioms provided by
the "NSException" class, the new exceptions can only be used on Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) and later
systems, due to additional functionality needed in the (NeXT) Objective-C runtime.
• As mentioned above, the new exceptions do not support handling types other than Objective-C
objects. Furthermore, when used from Objective-C++, the Objective-C exception model does not
interoperate with C++ exceptions at this time. This means you cannot @throw an exception from
Objective-C and "catch" it in C++, or vice versa (i.e., "throw ... @catch").
The -fobjc-exceptions switch also enables the use of synchronization blocks for thread-safe
execution:
@synchronized (ObjCClass *guard) {
...
}
Upon entering the @synchronized block, a thread of execution shall first check whether a lock has
been placed on the corresponding "guard" object by another thread. If it has, the current thread
shall wait until the other thread relinquishes its lock. Once "guard" becomes available, the current
thread will place its own lock on it, execute the code contained in the @synchronized block, and
finally relinquish the lock (thereby making "guard" available to other threads).
Unlike Java, Objective-C does not allow for entire methods to be marked @synchronized. Note that
throwing exceptions out of @synchronized blocks is allowed, and will cause the guarding object to be
unlocked properly.
-fobjc-gc
Enable garbage collection (GC) in Objective-C and Objective-C++ programs.
-freplace-objc-classes
Emit a special marker instructing ld(1) not to statically link in the resulting object file, and
allow dyld(1) to load it in at run time instead. This is used in conjunction with the Fix-and-
Continue debugging mode, where the object file in question may be recompiled and dynamically reloaded
in the course of program execution, without the need to restart the program itself. Currently, Fix-
and-Continue functionality is only available in conjunction with the NeXT runtime on Mac OS X 10.3
and later.
-fzero-link
When compiling for the NeXT runtime, the compiler ordinarily replaces calls to "objc_getClass("...")"
(when the name of the class is known at compile time) with static class references that get
initialized at load time, which improves run-time performance. Specifying the -fzero-link flag
suppresses this behavior and causes calls to "objc_getClass("...")" to be retained. This is useful
in Zero-Link debugging mode, since it allows for individual class implementations to be modified
during program execution.
-gen-decls
Dump interface declarations for all classes seen in the source file to a file named sourcename.decl.
-Wassign-intercept (Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Warn whenever an Objective-C assignment is being intercepted by the garbage collector.
-Wno-protocol (Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
If a class is declared to implement a protocol, a warning is issued for every method in the protocol
that is not implemented by the class. The default behavior is to issue a warning for every method
not explicitly implemented in the class, even if a method implementation is inherited from the
superclass. If you use the -Wno-protocol option, then methods inherited from the superclass are
considered to be implemented, and no warning is issued for them.
-Wselector (Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Warn if multiple methods of different types for the same selector are found during compilation. The
check is performed on the list of methods in the final stage of compilation. Additionally, a check
is performed for each selector appearing in a "@selector(...)" expression, and a corresponding
method for that selector has been found during compilation. Because these checks scan the method
table only at the end of compilation, these warnings are not produced if the final stage of
compilation is not reached, for example because an error is found during compilation, or because the
-fsyntax-only option is being used.
-Wstrict-selector-match (Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Warn if multiple methods with differing argument and/or return types are found for a given selector
when attempting to send a message using this selector to a receiver of type "id" or "Class". When
this flag is off (which is the default behavior), the compiler will omit such warnings if any
differences found are confined to types which share the same size and alignment.
-Wundeclared-selector (Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Warn if a "@selector(...)" expression referring to an undeclared selector is found. A selector is
considered undeclared if no method with that name has been declared before the "@selector(...)"
expression, either explicitly in an @interface or @protocol declaration, or implicitly in an
@implementation section. This option always performs its checks as soon as a "@selector(...)"
expression is found, while -Wselector only performs its checks in the final stage of compilation.
This also enforces the coding style convention that methods and selectors must be declared before
being used.
-print-objc-runtime-info
Generate C header describing the largest structure that is passed by value, if any.
Options to Control Diagnostic Messages Formatting
Traditionally, diagnostic messages have been formatted irrespective of the output device's aspect (e.g.
its width, ...). The options described below can be used to control the diagnostic messages formatting
algorithm, e.g. how many characters per line, how often source location information should be reported.
Right now, only the C++ front end can honor these options. However it is expected, in the near future,
that the remaining front ends would be able to digest them correctly.
-fmessage-length=n
Try to format error messages so that they fit on lines of about n characters. The default is 72
characters for g++ and 0 for the rest of the front ends supported by GCC. If n is zero, then no
line-wrapping will be done; each error message will appear on a single line.
-fdiagnostics-show-location=once
Only meaningful in line-wrapping mode. Instructs the diagnostic messages reporter to emit once
source location information; that is, in case the message is too long to fit on a single physical
line and has to be wrapped, the source location won't be emitted (as prefix) again, over and over, in
subsequent continuation lines. This is the default behavior.
-fdiagnostics-show-location=every-line
Only meaningful in line-wrapping mode. Instructs the diagnostic messages reporter to emit the same
source location information (as prefix) for physical lines that result from the process of breaking a
message which is too long to fit on a single line.
-fdiagnostics-show-option
This option instructs the diagnostic machinery to add text to each diagnostic emitted, which
indicates which command line option directly controls that diagnostic, when such an option is known
to the diagnostic machinery.
-Wcoverage-mismatch
Warn if feedback profiles do not match when using the -fprofile-use option. If a source file was
changed between -fprofile-gen and -fprofile-use, the files with the profile feedback can fail to
match the source file and GCC can not use the profile feedback information. By default, GCC emits an
error message in this case. The option -Wcoverage-mismatch emits a warning instead of an error. GCC
does not use appropriate feedback profiles, so using this option can result in poorly optimized code.
This option is useful only in the case of very minor changes such as bug fixes to an existing code-
base.
Options to Request or Suppress Warnings
Warnings are diagnostic messages that report constructions which are not inherently erroneous but which
are risky or suggest there may have been an error.
The following language-independent options do not enable specific warnings but control the kinds of
diagnostics produced by GCC.
-fsyntax-only
Check the code for syntax errors, but don't do anything beyond that.
-w Inhibit all warning messages.
-Werror
Make all warnings into errors.
-Werror=
Make the specified warning into an error. The specifier for a warning is appended, for example
-Werror=switch turns the warnings controlled by -Wswitch into errors. This switch takes a negative
form, to be used to negate -Werror for specific warnings, for example -Wno-error=switch makes
-Wswitch warnings not be errors, even when -Werror is in effect. You can use the
-fdiagnostics-show-option option to have each controllable warning amended with the option which
controls it, to determine what to use with this option.
Note that specifying -Werror=foo automatically implies -Wfoo. However, -Wno-error=foo does not imply
anything.
-Wfatal-errors
This option causes the compiler to abort compilation on the first error occurred rather than trying
to keep going and printing further error messages.
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. For further, language-specific options also refer to C++ Dialect
Options and Objective-C and Objective-C++ Dialect Options.
-pedantic
Issue all the warnings demanded by strict ISO C and ISO C++; reject all programs that use forbidden
extensions, and some other programs that do not follow ISO C and ISO C++. For ISO C, follows the
version of the ISO C standard specified by any -std option used.
Valid ISO C and ISO C++ programs should compile properly with or without this option (though a rare
few will require -ansi or a -std option specifying the required version of ISO C). 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.
Some users try to use -pedantic to check programs for strict ISO C conformance. They soon find that
it does not do quite what they want: it finds some non-ISO practices, but not all---only those for
which ISO C requires a diagnostic, and some others for which diagnostics have been added.
A feature to report any failure to conform to ISO 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.
Where the standard specified with -std represents a GNU extended dialect of C, such as gnu89 or
gnu99, there is a corresponding base standard, the version of ISO C on which the GNU extended dialect
is based. Warnings from -pedantic are given where they are required by the base standard. (It would
not make sense for such warnings to be given only for features not in the specified GNU C dialect,
since by definition the GNU dialects of C include all features the compiler supports with the given
option, and there would be nothing to warn about.)
-pedantic-errors
Like -pedantic, except that errors are produced rather than warnings.
-Wall
This enables all the warnings about constructions that some users consider questionable, and that are
easy to avoid (or modify to prevent the warning), even in conjunction with macros. This also enables
some language-specific warnings described in C++ Dialect Options and Objective-C and Objective-C++
Dialect Options.
-Wall turns on the following warning flags:
-Waddress -Warray-bounds (only with -O2) -Wc++0x-compat -Wchar-subscripts -Wimplicit-int
-Wimplicit-function-declaration -Wcomment -Wformat -Wmain (only for C/ObjC and unless -ffreestanding)
-Wmissing-braces -Wnonnull -Wparentheses -Wpointer-sign -Wreorder -Wreturn-type -Wsequence-point
-Wsign-compare (only in C++) -Wstrict-aliasing -Wstrict-overflow=1 -Wswitch -Wtrigraphs
-Wuninitialized -Wunknown-pragmas -Wunused-function -Wunused-label -Wunused-value -Wunused-variable
-Wvolatile-register-var
Note that some warning flags 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. Some of them are enabled by -Wextra but many
of them must be enabled individually.
-Wextra
This enables some extra warning flags that are not enabled by -Wall. (This option used to be called
-W. The older name is still supported, but the newer name is more descriptive.)
-Wclobbered -Wempty-body -Wignored-qualifiers -Wmissing-field-initializers -Wmissing-parameter-type
(C only) -Wold-style-declaration (C only) -Woverride-init -Wsign-compare -Wtype-limits
-Wuninitialized -Wunused-parameter (only with -Wunused or -Wall)
The option -Wextra also prints warning messages for the following cases:
• A pointer is compared against integer zero with <, <=, >, or >=.
• (C++ only) An enumerator and a non-enumerator both appear in a conditional expression.
• (C++ only) Ambiguous virtual bases.
• (C++ only) Subscripting an array which has been declared register.
• (C++ only) Taking the address of a variable which has been declared register.
• (C++ only) A base class is not initialized in a derived class' copy constructor.
-Wchar-subscripts
Warn if an array subscript has type "char". This is a common cause of error, as programmers often
forget that this type is signed on some machines. This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wcomment
Warn whenever a comment-start sequence /* appears in a /* comment, or whenever a Backslash-Newline
appears in a // comment. This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wformat
Check calls to "printf" and "scanf", etc., to make sure that the arguments supplied have types
appropriate to the format string specified, and that the conversions specified in the format string
make sense. This includes standard functions, and others specified by format attributes, in the
"printf", "scanf", "strftime" and "strfmon" (an X/Open extension, not in the C standard) families (or
other target-specific families). Which functions are checked without format attributes having been
specified depends on the standard version selected, and such checks of functions without the
attribute specified are disabled by -ffreestanding or -fno-builtin.
The formats are checked against the format features supported by GNU libc version 2.2. These include
all ISO C90 and C99 features, as well as features from the Single Unix Specification and some BSD and
GNU extensions. Other library implementations may not support all these features; GCC does not
support warning about features that go beyond a particular library's limitations. However, if
-pedantic is used with -Wformat, warnings will be given about format features not in the selected
standard version (but not for "strfmon" formats, since those are not in any version of the C
standard).
Since -Wformat also checks for null format arguments for several functions, -Wformat also implies
-Wnonnull.
-Wformat is included in -Wall. For more control over some aspects of format checking, the options
-Wformat-y2k, -Wno-format-extra-args, -Wno-format-zero-length, -Wformat-nonliteral,
-Wformat-security, and -Wformat=2 are available, but are not included in -Wall.
NOTE: In Ubuntu 8.10 and later versions this option is enabled by default for C, C++, ObjC, ObjC++.
To disable, use -Wformat=0.
-Wformat-y2k
If -Wformat is specified, also warn about "strftime" formats which may yield only a two-digit year.
-Wno-format-contains-nul
If -Wformat is specified, do not warn about format strings that contain NUL bytes.
-Wno-format-extra-args
If -Wformat is specified, do not warn about excess arguments to a "printf" or "scanf" format
function. The C standard specifies that such arguments are ignored.
Where the unused arguments lie between used arguments that are specified with $ operand number
specifications, normally warnings are still given, since the implementation could not know what type
to pass to "va_arg" to skip the unused arguments. However, in the case of "scanf" formats, this
option will suppress the warning if the unused arguments are all pointers, since the Single Unix
Specification says that such unused arguments are allowed.
-Wno-format-zero-length (C and Objective-C only)
If -Wformat is specified, do not warn about zero-length formats. The C standard specifies that zero-
length formats are allowed.
-Wformat-nonliteral
If -Wformat is specified, also warn if the format string is not a string literal and so cannot be
checked, unless the format function takes its format arguments as a "va_list".
-Wformat-security
If -Wformat is specified, also warn about uses of format functions that represent possible security
problems. At present, this warns about calls to "printf" and "scanf" functions where the format
string is not a string literal and there are no format arguments, as in "printf (foo);". This may be
a security hole if the format string came from untrusted input and contains %n. (This is currently a
subset of what -Wformat-nonliteral warns about, but in future warnings may be added to
-Wformat-security that are not included in -Wformat-nonliteral.)
NOTE: In Ubuntu 8.10 and later versions this option is enabled by default for C, C++, ObjC, ObjC++.
To disable, use -Wno-format-security, or disable all format warnings with -Wformat=0. To make format
security warnings fatal, specify -Werror=format-security.
-Wformat=2
Enable -Wformat plus format checks not included in -Wformat. Currently equivalent to -Wformat
-Wformat-nonliteral -Wformat-security -Wformat-y2k.
-Wnonnull (C and Objective-C only)
Warn about passing a null pointer for arguments marked as requiring a non-null value by the "nonnull"
function attribute.
-Wnonnull is included in -Wall and -Wformat. It can be disabled with the -Wno-nonnull option.
-Winit-self (C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about uninitialized variables which are initialized with themselves. Note this option can only
be used with the -Wuninitialized option.
For example, GCC will warn about "i" being uninitialized in the following snippet only when
-Winit-self has been specified:
int f()
{
int i = i;
return i;
}
-Wimplicit-int (C and Objective-C only)
Warn when a declaration does not specify a type. This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wimplicit-function-declaration (C and Objective-C only)
Give a warning whenever a function is used before being declared. In C99 mode (-std=c99 or
-std=gnu99), this warning is enabled by default and it is made into an error by -pedantic-errors.
This warning is also enabled by -Wall.
-Wimplicit
Same as -Wimplicit-int and -Wimplicit-function-declaration. This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wignored-qualifiers (C and C++ only)
Warn if the return type of a function has a type qualifier such as "const". For ISO C such a type
qualifier has no effect, since the value returned by a function is not an lvalue. For C++, the
warning is only emitted for scalar types or "void". ISO C prohibits qualified "void" return types on
function definitions, so such return types always receive a warning even without this option.
This warning is also enabled by -Wextra.
-Wmain
Warn if the type of main is suspicious. main should be a function with external linkage, returning
int, taking either zero arguments, two, or three arguments of appropriate types. This warning is
enabled by default in C++ and is enabled by either -Wall or -pedantic.
-Wmissing-braces
Warn if an aggregate or union initializer is not fully bracketed. In the following example, the
initializer for a is not fully bracketed, but that for b is fully bracketed.
int a[2][2] = { 0, 1, 2, 3 };
int b[2][2] = { { 0, 1 }, { 2, 3 } };
This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wmissing-include-dirs (C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Warn if a user-supplied include directory does not exist.
-Wparentheses
Warn if parentheses are omitted in certain contexts, such as when there is an assignment in a context
where a truth value is expected, or when operators are nested whose precedence people often get
confused about.
Also warn if a comparison like x<=y<=z appears; this is equivalent to (x<=y ? 1 : 0) <= z, which is a
different interpretation from that of ordinary mathematical notation.
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/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, GCC 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 ();
}
}
This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wsequence-point
Warn about code that may have undefined semantics because of violations of sequence point rules in
the C and C++ standards.
The C and C++ standards defines the order in which expressions in a C/C++ program are evaluated in
terms of sequence points, which represent a partial ordering between the execution of parts of the
program: those executed before the sequence point, and those executed after it. These occur after
the evaluation of a full expression (one which is not part of a larger expression), after the
evaluation of the first operand of a "&&", "||", "? :" or "," (comma) operator, before a function is
called (but after the evaluation of its arguments and the expression denoting the called function),
and in certain other places. Other than as expressed by the sequence point rules, the order of
evaluation of subexpressions of an expression is not specified. All these rules describe only a
partial order rather than a total order, since, for example, if two functions are called within one
expression with no sequence point between them, the order in which the functions are called is not
specified. However, the standards committee have ruled that function calls do not overlap.
It is not specified when between sequence points modifications to the values of objects take effect.
Programs whose behavior depends on this have undefined behavior; the C and C++ standards specify that
"Between the previous and next sequence point an object shall have its stored value modified at most
once by the evaluation of an expression. Furthermore, the prior value shall be read only to
determine the value to be stored.". If a program breaks these rules, the results on any particular
implementation are entirely unpredictable.
Examples of code with undefined behavior are "a = a++;", "a[n] = b[n++]" and "a[i++] = i;". Some
more complicated cases are not diagnosed by this option, and it may give an occasional false positive
result, but in general it has been found fairly effective at detecting this sort of problem in
programs.
The standard is worded confusingly, therefore there is some debate over the precise meaning of the
sequence point rules in subtle cases. Links to discussions of the problem, including proposed formal
definitions, may be found on the GCC readings page, at <http://gcc.gnu.org/readings.html>.
This warning is enabled by -Wall for C and C++.
-Wreturn-type
Warn whenever a function is defined with a return-type that defaults to "int". Also warn about any
"return" statement with no return-value in a function whose return-type is not "void" (falling off
the end of the function body is considered returning without a value), and about a "return" statement
with a expression in a function whose return-type is "void".
For C++, a function without return type always produces a diagnostic message, even when
-Wno-return-type is specified. The only exceptions are main and functions defined in system headers.
This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wswitch
Warn whenever a "switch" statement has an index of enumerated 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. This
warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wswitch-default
Warn whenever a "switch" statement does not have a "default" case.
-Wswitch-enum
Warn whenever a "switch" statement has an index of enumerated type and lacks a "case" for one or more
of the named codes of that enumeration. "case" labels outside the enumeration range also provoke
warnings when this option is used.
-Wsync-nand (C and C++ only)
Warn when "__sync_fetch_and_nand" and "__sync_nand_and_fetch" built-in functions are used. These
functions changed semantics in GCC 4.4.
-Wtrigraphs
Warn if any trigraphs are encountered that might change the meaning of the program (trigraphs within
comments are not warned about). This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wunused-function
Warn whenever a static function is declared but not defined or a non-inline static function is
unused. This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wunused-label
Warn whenever a label is declared but not used. This warning is enabled by -Wall.
To suppress this warning use the unused attribute.
-Wunused-parameter
Warn whenever a function parameter is unused aside from its declaration.
To suppress this warning use the unused attribute.
-Wno-unused-result
Do not warn if a caller of a function marked with attribute "warn_unused_result" does not use its
return value. The default is -Wunused-result.
-Wunused-variable
Warn whenever a local variable or non-constant static variable is unused aside from its declaration.
This warning is enabled by -Wall.
To suppress this warning use the unused attribute.
-Wunused-value
Warn whenever a statement computes a result that is explicitly not used. To suppress this warning
cast the unused expression to void. This includes an expression-statement or the left-hand side of a
comma expression that contains no side effects. For example, an expression such as x[i,j] will cause
a warning, while x[(void)i,j] will not.
This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wunused
All the above -Wunused options combined.
In order to get a warning about an unused function parameter, you must either specify -Wextra
-Wunused (note that -Wall implies -Wunused), or separately specify -Wunused-parameter.
-Wuninitialized
Warn if an automatic variable is used without first being initialized or if a variable may be
clobbered by a "setjmp" call. In C++, warn if a non-static reference or non-static const member
appears in a class without constructors.
If you want to warn about code which uses the uninitialized value of the variable in its own
initializer, use the -Winit-self option.
These warnings occur for individual uninitialized or clobbered elements of structure, union or array
variables as well as for variables which are uninitialized or clobbered as a whole. They do not
occur for variables or elements declared "volatile". Because these warnings depend on optimization,
the exact variables or elements for which there are warnings will depend on the precise optimization
options and version of GCC used.
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 GCC 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 GCC 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.
This option also warns when a non-volatile automatic variable might be changed by a call to
"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.
Some spurious warnings can be avoided if you declare all the functions you use that never return as
"noreturn".
This warning is enabled by -Wall or -Wextra.
-Wunknown-pragmas
Warn when a #pragma directive is encountered which is not understood by GCC. If this command line
option is used, warnings will even be issued for unknown pragmas in system header files. This is not
the case if the warnings were only enabled by the -Wall command line option.
-Wno-pragmas
Do not warn about misuses of pragmas, such as incorrect parameters, invalid syntax, or conflicts
between pragmas. See also -Wunknown-pragmas.
-Wstrict-aliasing
This option is only active when -fstrict-aliasing is active. It warns about code which might break
the strict aliasing rules that the compiler is using for optimization. The warning does not catch
all cases, but does attempt to catch the more common pitfalls. It is included in -Wall. It is
equivalent to -Wstrict-aliasing=3
-Wstrict-aliasing=n
This option is only active when -fstrict-aliasing is active. It warns about code which might break
the strict aliasing rules that the compiler is using for optimization. Higher levels correspond to
higher accuracy (fewer false positives). Higher levels also correspond to more effort, similar to
the way -O works. -Wstrict-aliasing is equivalent to -Wstrict-aliasing=n, with n=3.
Level 1: Most aggressive, quick, least accurate. Possibly useful when higher levels do not warn but
-fstrict-aliasing still breaks the code, as it has very few false negatives. However, it has many
false positives. Warns for all pointer conversions between possibly incompatible types, even if
never dereferenced. Runs in the frontend only.
Level 2: Aggressive, quick, not too precise. May still have many false positives (not as many as
level 1 though), and few false negatives (but possibly more than level 1). Unlike level 1, it only
warns when an address is taken. Warns about incomplete types. Runs in the frontend only.
Level 3 (default for -Wstrict-aliasing): Should have very few false positives and few false
negatives. Slightly slower than levels 1 or 2 when optimization is enabled. Takes care of the
common punn+dereference pattern in the frontend: "*(int*)&some_float". If optimization is enabled,
it also runs in the backend, where it deals with multiple statement cases using flow-sensitive
points-to information. Only warns when the converted pointer is dereferenced. Does not warn about
incomplete types.
-Wstrict-overflow
-Wstrict-overflow=n
This option is only active when -fstrict-overflow is active. It warns about cases where the compiler
optimizes based on the assumption that signed overflow does not occur. Note that it does not warn
about all cases where the code might overflow: it only warns about cases where the compiler
implements some optimization. Thus this warning depends on the optimization level.
An optimization which assumes that signed overflow does not occur is perfectly safe if the values of
the variables involved are such that overflow never does, in fact, occur. Therefore this warning can
easily give a false positive: a warning about code which is not actually a problem. To help focus on
important issues, several warning levels are defined. No warnings are issued for the use of
undefined signed overflow when estimating how many iterations a loop will require, in particular when
determining whether a loop will be executed at all.
-Wstrict-overflow=1
Warn about cases which are both questionable and easy to avoid. For example: "x + 1 > x"; with
-fstrict-overflow, the compiler will simplify this to 1. This level of -Wstrict-overflow is
enabled by -Wall; higher levels are not, and must be explicitly requested.
-Wstrict-overflow=2
Also warn about other cases where a comparison is simplified to a constant. For example: "abs
(x) >= 0". This can only be simplified when -fstrict-overflow is in effect, because "abs
(INT_MIN)" overflows to "INT_MIN", which is less than zero. -Wstrict-overflow (with no level) is
the same as -Wstrict-overflow=2.
-Wstrict-overflow=3
Also warn about other cases where a comparison is simplified. For example: "x + 1 > 1" will be
simplified to "x > 0".
-Wstrict-overflow=4
Also warn about other simplifications not covered by the above cases. For example: "(x * 10) /
5" will be simplified to "x * 2".
-Wstrict-overflow=5
Also warn about cases where the compiler reduces the magnitude of a constant involved in a
comparison. For example: "x + 2 > y" will be simplified to "x + 1 >= y". This is reported only
at the highest warning level because this simplification applies to many comparisons, so this
warning level will give a very large number of false positives.
-Warray-bounds
This option is only active when -ftree-vrp is active (default for -O2 and above). It warns about
subscripts to arrays that are always out of bounds. This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wno-div-by-zero
Do not warn about compile-time integer division by zero. Floating point division by zero is not
warned about, as it can be a legitimate way of obtaining infinities and NaNs.
-Wsystem-headers
Print warning messages for constructs found in system header files. Warnings from system headers are
normally suppressed, on the assumption that they usually do not indicate real problems and would only
make the compiler output harder to read. Using this command line option tells GCC to emit warnings
from system headers as if they occurred in user code. However, note that using -Wall in conjunction
with this option will not warn about unknown pragmas in system headers---for that, -Wunknown-pragmas
must also be used.
-Wno-poison-system-directories
Do not warn for -I or -L options using system directories such as /usr/include when cross compiling.
This option is intended for use in chroot environments when such directories contain the correct
headers and libraries for the target system rather than the host.
-Wfloat-equal
Warn if floating point values are used in equality comparisons.
The idea behind this is that sometimes it is convenient (for the programmer) to consider floating-
point values as approximations to infinitely precise real numbers. If you are doing this, then you
need to compute (by analyzing the code, or in some other way) the maximum or likely maximum error
that the computation introduces, and allow for it when performing comparisons (and when producing
output, but that's a different problem). In particular, instead of testing for equality, you would
check to see whether the two values have ranges that overlap; and this is done with the relational
operators, so equality comparisons are probably mistaken.
-Wtraditional (C and Objective-C only)
Warn about certain constructs that behave differently in traditional and ISO C. Also warn about ISO
C constructs that have no traditional C equivalent, and/or problematic constructs which should be
avoided.
• Macro parameters that appear within string literals in the macro body. In traditional C macro
replacement takes place within string literals, but does not in ISO C.
• In traditional C, some preprocessor directives did not exist. Traditional preprocessors would
only consider a line to be a directive if the # appeared in column 1 on the line. Therefore
-Wtraditional warns about directives that traditional C understands but would ignore because the
# does not appear as the first character on the line. It also suggests you hide directives like
#pragma not understood by traditional C by indenting them. Some traditional implementations
would not recognize #elif, so it suggests avoiding it altogether.
• A function-like macro that appears without arguments.
• The unary plus operator.
• The U integer constant suffix, or the F or L floating point constant suffixes. (Traditional C
does support the L suffix on integer constants.) Note, these suffixes appear in macros defined
in the system headers of most modern systems, e.g. the _MIN/_MAX macros in "<limits.h>". Use of
these macros in user code might normally lead to spurious warnings, however GCC's integrated
preprocessor has enough context to avoid warning in these cases.
• A function declared external in one block and then used after the end of the block.
• A "switch" statement has an operand of type "long".
• A non-"static" function declaration follows a "static" one. This construct is not accepted by
some traditional C compilers.
• The ISO type of an integer constant has a different width or signedness from its traditional
type. This warning is only issued if the base of the constant is ten. I.e. hexadecimal or octal
values, which typically represent bit patterns, are not warned about.
• Usage of ISO string concatenation is detected.
• Initialization of automatic aggregates.
• Identifier conflicts with labels. Traditional C lacks a separate namespace for labels.
• Initialization of unions. If the initializer is zero, the warning is omitted. This is done
under the assumption that the zero initializer in user code appears conditioned on e.g.
"__STDC__" to avoid missing initializer warnings and relies on default initialization to zero in
the traditional C case.
• Conversions by prototypes between fixed/floating point values and vice versa. The absence of
these prototypes when compiling with traditional C would cause serious problems. This is a
subset of the possible conversion warnings, for the full set use -Wtraditional-conversion.
• Use of ISO C style function definitions. This warning intentionally is not issued for prototype
declarations or variadic functions because these ISO C features will appear in your code when
using libiberty's traditional C compatibility macros, "PARAMS" and "VPARAMS". This warning is
also bypassed for nested functions because that feature is already a GCC extension and thus not
relevant to traditional C compatibility.
-Wtraditional-conversion (C and Objective-C only)
Warn if a prototype causes a type conversion that is different from what would happen to the same
argument in the absence of a prototype. This includes conversions of fixed point to floating and
vice versa, and conversions changing the width or signedness of a fixed point argument except when
the same as the default promotion.
-Wdeclaration-after-statement (C and Objective-C only)
Warn when a declaration is found after a statement in a block. This construct, known from C++, was
introduced with ISO C99 and is by default allowed in GCC. It is not supported by ISO C90 and was not
supported by GCC versions before GCC 3.0.
-Wundef
Warn if an undefined identifier is evaluated in an #if directive.
-Wno-endif-labels
Do not warn whenever an #else or an #endif are followed by text.
-Wshadow
Warn whenever a local variable shadows another local variable, parameter or global variable or
whenever a built-in function is shadowed.
-Wlarger-than=len
Warn whenever an object of larger than len bytes is defined.
-Wframe-larger-than=len
Warn if the size of a function frame is larger than len bytes. The computation done to determine the
stack frame size is approximate and not conservative. The actual requirements may be somewhat
greater than len even if you do not get a warning. In addition, any space allocated via "alloca",
variable-length arrays, or related constructs is not included by the compiler when determining
whether or not to issue a warning.
-Wunsafe-loop-optimizations
Warn if the loop cannot be optimized because the compiler could not assume anything on the bounds of
the loop indices. With -funsafe-loop-optimizations warn if the compiler made such assumptions.
-Wno-pedantic-ms-format (MinGW targets only)
Disables the warnings about non-ISO "printf" / "scanf" format width specifiers "I32", "I64", and "I"
used on Windows targets depending on the MS runtime, when you are using the options -Wformat and
-pedantic without gnu-extensions.
-Wpointer-arith
Warn about anything that depends on the "size of" a function type or of "void". GNU C assigns these
types a size of 1, for convenience in calculations with "void *" pointers and pointers to functions.
In C++, warn also when an arithmetic operation involves "NULL". This warning is also enabled by
-pedantic.
-Wtype-limits
Warn if a comparison is always true or always false due to the limited range of the data type, but do
not warn for constant expressions. For example, warn if an unsigned variable is compared against
zero with < or >=. This warning is also enabled by -Wextra.
-Wbad-function-cast (C and Objective-C only)
Warn whenever a function call is cast to a non-matching type. For example, warn if "int malloc()" is
cast to "anything *".
-Wc++-compat (C and Objective-C only)
Warn about ISO C constructs that are outside of the common subset of ISO C and ISO C++, e.g. request
for implicit conversion from "void *" to a pointer to non-"void" type.
-Wc++0x-compat (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about C++ constructs whose meaning differs between ISO C++ 1998 and ISO C++ 200x, e.g.,
identifiers in ISO C++ 1998 that will become keywords in ISO C++ 200x. This warning is enabled by
-Wall.
-Wcast-qual
Warn whenever a pointer is cast so as to remove a type qualifier from the target type. For example,
warn if a "const char *" is cast to an ordinary "char *".
-Wcast-align
Warn whenever a pointer is cast such that the required alignment of the target is increased. For
example, warn if a "char *" is cast to an "int *" on machines where integers can only be accessed at
two- or four-byte boundaries.
-Wwrite-strings
When compiling C, give string constants the type "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.
When compiling C++, warn about the deprecated conversion from string literals to "char *". This
warning is enabled by default for C++ programs.
-Wclobbered
Warn for variables that might be changed by longjmp or vfork. This warning is also enabled by
-Wextra.
-Wconversion
Warn for implicit conversions that may alter a value. This includes conversions between real and
integer, like "abs (x)" when "x" is "double"; conversions between signed and unsigned, like "unsigned
ui = -1"; and conversions to smaller types, like "sqrtf (M_PI)". Do not warn for explicit casts like
"abs ((int) x)" and "ui = (unsigned) -1", or if the value is not changed by the conversion like in
"abs (2.0)". Warnings about conversions between signed and unsigned integers can be disabled by
using -Wno-sign-conversion.
For C++, also warn for conversions between "NULL" and non-pointer types; confusing overload
resolution for user-defined conversions; and conversions that will never use a type conversion
operator: conversions to "void", the same type, a base class or a reference to them. Warnings about
conversions between signed and unsigned integers are disabled by default in C++ unless
-Wsign-conversion is explicitly enabled.
-Wempty-body
Warn if an empty body occurs in an if, else or do while statement. This warning is also enabled by
-Wextra.
-Wenum-compare (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about a comparison between values of different enum types. This warning is enabled by default.
-Wsign-compare
Warn when a comparison between signed and unsigned values could produce an incorrect result when the
signed value is converted to unsigned. This warning is also enabled by -Wextra; to get the other
warnings of -Wextra without this warning, use -Wextra -Wno-sign-compare.
-Wsign-conversion
Warn for implicit conversions that may change the sign of an integer value, like assigning a signed
integer expression to an unsigned integer variable. An explicit cast silences the warning. In C, this
option is enabled also by -Wconversion.
-Waddress
Warn about suspicious uses of memory addresses. These include using the address of a function in a
conditional expression, such as "void func(void); if (func)", and comparisons against the memory
address of a string literal, such as "if (x == "abc")". Such uses typically indicate a programmer
error: the address of a function always evaluates to true, so their use in a conditional usually
indicate that the programmer forgot the parentheses in a function call; and comparisons against
string literals result in unspecified behavior and are not portable in C, so they usually indicate
that the programmer intended to use "strcmp". This warning is enabled by -Wall.
-Wlogical-op
Warn about suspicious uses of logical operators in expressions. This includes using logical
operators in contexts where a bit-wise operator is likely to be expected.
-Waggregate-return
Warn if any functions that return structures or unions are defined or called. (In languages where
you can return an array, this also elicits a warning.)
-Wno-attributes
Do not warn if an unexpected "__attribute__" is used, such as unrecognized attributes, function
attributes applied to variables, etc. This will not stop errors for incorrect use of supported
attributes.
-Wno-builtin-macro-redefined
Do not warn if certain built-in macros are redefined. This suppresses warnings for redefinition of
"__TIMESTAMP__", "__TIME__", "__DATE__", "__FILE__", and "__BASE_FILE__".
-Wstrict-prototypes (C and Objective-C only)
Warn if a function is declared or defined without specifying the argument types. (An old-style
function definition is permitted without a warning if preceded by a declaration which specifies the
argument types.)
-Wold-style-declaration (C and Objective-C only)
Warn for obsolescent usages, according to the C Standard, in a declaration. For example, warn if
storage-class specifiers like "static" are not the first things in a declaration. This warning is
also enabled by -Wextra.
-Wold-style-definition (C and Objective-C only)
Warn if an old-style function definition is used. A warning is given even if there is a previous
prototype.
-Wmissing-parameter-type (C and Objective-C only)
A function parameter is declared without a type specifier in K&R-style functions:
void foo(bar) { }
This warning is also enabled by -Wextra.
-Wmissing-prototypes (C and Objective-C only)
Warn if a global function is defined without a previous prototype declaration. This warning is
issued even if the definition itself provides a prototype. The aim is to detect global functions
that fail to be declared in header files.
-Wmissing-declarations
Warn if a global function is defined without a previous declaration. Do so even if the definition
itself provides a prototype. Use this option to detect global functions that are not declared in
header files. In C++, no warnings are issued for function templates, or for inline functions, or for
functions in anonymous namespaces.
-Wmissing-field-initializers
Warn if a structure's initializer has some fields missing. For example, the following code would
cause such a warning, because "x.h" is implicitly zero:
struct s { int f, g, h; };
struct s x = { 3, 4 };
This option does not warn about designated initializers, so the following modification would not
trigger a warning:
struct s { int f, g, h; };
struct s x = { .f = 3, .g = 4 };
This warning is included in -Wextra. To get other -Wextra warnings without this one, use -Wextra
-Wno-missing-field-initializers.
-Wmissing-noreturn
Warn about functions which might be candidates for attribute "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. You will not get a warning for "main" in hosted C environments.
-Wmissing-format-attribute
Warn about function pointers which might be candidates for "format" attributes. Note these are only
possible candidates, not absolute ones. GCC will guess that function pointers with "format"
attributes that are used in assignment, initialization, parameter passing or return statements should
have a corresponding "format" attribute in the resulting type. I.e. the left-hand side of the
assignment or initialization, the type of the parameter variable, or the return type of the
containing function respectively should also have a "format" attribute to avoid the warning.
GCC will also warn about function definitions which might be candidates for "format" attributes.
Again, these are only possible candidates. GCC will guess that "format" attributes might be
appropriate for any function that calls a function like "vprintf" or "vscanf", but this might not
always be the case, and some functions for which "format" attributes are appropriate may not be
detected.
-Wno-multichar
Do not warn if a multicharacter constant ('FOOF') is used. Usually they indicate a typo in the
user's code, as they have implementation-defined values, and should not be used in portable code.
-Wnormalized=<none|id|nfc|nfkc>
In ISO C and ISO C++, two identifiers are different if they are different sequences of characters.
However, sometimes when characters outside the basic ASCII character set are used, you can have two
different character sequences that look the same. To avoid confusion, the ISO 10646 standard sets
out some normalization rules which when applied ensure that two sequences that look the same are
turned into the same sequence. GCC can warn you if you are using identifiers which have not been
normalized; this option controls that warning.
There are four levels of warning that GCC supports. The default is -Wnormalized=nfc, which warns
about any identifier which is not in the ISO 10646 "C" normalized form, NFC. NFC is the recommended
form for most uses.
Unfortunately, there are some characters which ISO C and ISO C++ allow in identifiers that when
turned into NFC aren't allowable as identifiers. That is, there's no way to use these symbols in
portable ISO C or C++ and have all your identifiers in NFC. -Wnormalized=id suppresses the warning
for these characters. It is hoped that future versions of the standards involved will correct this,
which is why this option is not the default.
You can switch the warning off for all characters by writing -Wnormalized=none. You would only want
to do this if you were using some other normalization scheme (like "D"), because otherwise you can
easily create bugs that are literally impossible to see.
Some characters in ISO 10646 have distinct meanings but look identical in some fonts or display
methodologies, especially once formatting has been applied. For instance "\u207F", "SUPERSCRIPT
LATIN SMALL LETTER N", will display just like a regular "n" which has been placed in a superscript.
ISO 10646 defines the NFKC normalization scheme to convert all these into a standard form as well,
and GCC will warn if your code is not in NFKC if you use -Wnormalized=nfkc. This warning is
comparable to warning about every identifier that contains the letter O because it might be confused
with the digit 0, and so is not the default, but may be useful as a local coding convention if the
programming environment is unable to be fixed to display these characters distinctly.
-Wno-deprecated
Do not warn about usage of deprecated features.
-Wno-deprecated-declarations
Do not warn about uses of functions, variables, and types marked as deprecated by using the
"deprecated" attribute.
-Wno-overflow
Do not warn about compile-time overflow in constant expressions.
-Woverride-init (C and Objective-C only)
Warn if an initialized field without side effects is overridden when using designated initializers.
This warning is included in -Wextra. To get other -Wextra warnings without this one, use -Wextra
-Wno-override-init.
-Wpacked
Warn if a structure is given the packed attribute, but the packed attribute has no effect on the
layout or size of the structure. Such structures may be mis-aligned for little benefit. For
instance, in this code, the variable "f.x" in "struct bar" will be misaligned even though "struct
bar" does not itself have the packed attribute:
struct foo {
int x;
char a, b, c, d;
} __attribute__((packed));
struct bar {
char z;
struct foo f;
};
-Wpacked-bitfield-compat
The 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 series of GCC ignore the "packed" attribute on bit-fields of type "char". This
has been fixed in GCC 4.4 but the change can lead to differences in the structure layout. GCC
informs you when the offset of such a field has changed in GCC 4.4. For example there is no longer a
4-bit padding between field "a" and "b" in this structure:
struct foo
{
char a:4;
char b:8;
} __attribute__ ((packed));
This warning is enabled by default. Use -Wno-packed-bitfield-compat to disable this warning.
-Wpadded
Warn if padding is included in a structure, either to align an element of the structure or to align
the whole structure. Sometimes when this happens it is possible to rearrange the fields of the
structure to reduce the padding and so make the structure smaller.
-Wredundant-decls
Warn if anything is declared more than once in the same scope, even in cases where multiple
declaration is valid and changes nothing.
-Wnested-externs (C and Objective-C only)
Warn if an "extern" declaration is encountered within a function.
-Wunreachable-code
Warn if the compiler detects that code will never be executed.
This option is intended to warn when the compiler detects that at least a whole line of source code
will never be executed, because some condition is never satisfied or because it is after a procedure
that never returns.
It is possible for this option to produce a warning even though there are circumstances under which
part of the affected line can be executed, so care should be taken when removing apparently-
unreachable code.
For instance, when a function is inlined, a warning may mean that the line is unreachable in only one
inlined copy of the function.
This option is not made part of -Wall because in a debugging version of a program there is often
substantial code which checks correct functioning of the program and is, hopefully, unreachable
because the program does work. Another common use of unreachable code is to provide behavior which
is selectable at compile-time.
-Winline
Warn if a function can not be inlined and it was declared as inline. Even with this option, the
compiler will not warn about failures to inline functions declared in system headers.
The compiler uses a variety of heuristics to determine whether or not to inline a function. For
example, the compiler takes into account the size of the function being inlined and the amount of
inlining that has already been done in the current function. Therefore, seemingly insignificant
changes in the source program can cause the warnings produced by -Winline to appear or disappear.
-Wno-invalid-offsetof (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Suppress warnings from applying the offsetof macro to a non-POD type. According to the 1998 ISO C++
standard, applying offsetof to a non-POD type is undefined. In existing C++ implementations,
however, offsetof typically gives meaningful results even when applied to certain kinds of non-POD
types. (Such as a simple struct that fails to be a POD type only by virtue of having a constructor.)
This flag is for users who are aware that they are writing nonportable code and who have deliberately
chosen to ignore the warning about it.
The restrictions on offsetof may be relaxed in a future version of the C++ standard.
-Wno-int-to-pointer-cast (C and Objective-C only)
Suppress warnings from casts to pointer type of an integer of a different size.
-Wno-pointer-to-int-cast (C and Objective-C only)
Suppress warnings from casts from a pointer to an integer type of a different size.
-Winvalid-pch
Warn if a precompiled header is found in the search path but can't be used.
-Wlong-long
Warn if long long type is used. This is default. To inhibit the warning messages, use
-Wno-long-long. Flags -Wlong-long and -Wno-long-long are taken into account only when -pedantic flag
is used.
-Wvariadic-macros
Warn if variadic macros are used in pedantic ISO C90 mode, or the GNU alternate syntax when in
pedantic ISO C99 mode. This is default. To inhibit the warning messages, use -Wno-variadic-macros.
-Wvla
Warn if variable length array is used in the code. -Wno-vla will prevent the -pedantic warning of
the variable length array.
-Wvolatile-register-var
Warn if a register variable is declared volatile. The volatile modifier does not inhibit all
optimizations that may eliminate reads and/or writes to register variables. This warning is enabled
by -Wall.
-Wdisabled-optimization
Warn if a requested optimization pass is disabled. This warning does not generally indicate that
there is anything wrong with your code; it merely indicates that GCC's optimizers were unable to
handle the code effectively. Often, the problem is that your code is too big or too complex; GCC
will refuse to optimize programs when the optimization itself is likely to take inordinate amounts of
time.
-Wpointer-sign (C and Objective-C only)
Warn for pointer argument passing or assignment with different signedness. This option is only
supported for C and Objective-C. It is implied by -Wall and by -pedantic, which can be disabled with
-Wno-pointer-sign.
-Wstack-protector
This option is only active when -fstack-protector is active. It warns about functions that will not
be protected against stack smashing.
-Wno-mudflap
Suppress warnings about constructs that cannot be instrumented by -fmudflap.
-Woverlength-strings
Warn about string constants which are longer than the "minimum maximum" length specified in the C
standard. Modern compilers generally allow string constants which are much longer than the
standard's minimum limit, but very portable programs should avoid using longer strings.
The limit applies after string constant concatenation, and does not count the trailing NUL. In C89,
the limit was 509 characters; in C99, it was raised to 4095. C++98 does not specify a normative
minimum maximum, so we do not diagnose overlength strings in C++.
This option is implied by -pedantic, and can be disabled with -Wno-overlength-strings.
Options for Debugging Your Program or GCC
GCC has various special options that are used for debugging either your program or GCC:
-g Produce debugging information in the operating system's native format (stabs, COFF, XCOFF, or DWARF
2). GDB can work with this debugging information.
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, or -gvms (see below).
GCC 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 GCC is generated with the capability for more than one
debugging format.
-ggdb
Produce debugging information for use by GDB. This means to use the most expressive format available
(DWARF 2, stabs, or the native format if neither of those are supported), including GDB extensions if
at all possible.
-gstabs
Produce debugging information in stabs format (if that is supported), without GDB extensions. This
is the format used by DBX on most BSD systems. On MIPS, Alpha and System V Release 4 systems this
option produces stabs debugging output which is not understood by DBX or SDB. On System V Release 4
systems this option requires the GNU assembler.
-feliminate-unused-debug-symbols
Produce debugging information in stabs format (if that is supported), for only symbols that are
actually used.
-femit-class-debug-always
Instead of emitting debugging information for a C++ class in only one object file, emit it in all
object files using the class. This option should be used only with debuggers that are unable to
handle the way GCC normally emits debugging information for classes because using this option will
increase the size of debugging information by as much as a factor of two.
-gstabs+
Produce debugging information in stabs format (if that is supported), using GNU extensions understood
only by the GNU debugger (GDB). The use of these extensions is likely to make other debuggers crash
or refuse to read the program.
-gcoff
Produce debugging information in COFF format (if that is supported). This is the format used by SDB
on most System V systems prior to System V Release 4.
-gxcoff
Produce debugging information in XCOFF format (if that is supported). This is the format used by the
DBX debugger on IBM RS/6000 systems.
-gxcoff+
Produce debugging information in XCOFF format (if that is supported), using GNU extensions understood
only by the GNU debugger (GDB). The use of these extensions is likely to make other debuggers crash
or refuse to read the program, and may cause assemblers other than the GNU assembler (GAS) to fail
with an error.
-gdwarf-2
Produce debugging information in DWARF version 2 format (if that is supported). This is the format
used by DBX on IRIX 6. With this option, GCC uses features of DWARF version 3 when they are useful;
version 3 is upward compatible with version 2, but may still cause problems for older debuggers.
-gvms
Produce debugging information in VMS debug format (if that is supported). This is the format used by
DEBUG on VMS systems.
-glevel
-ggdblevel
-gstabslevel
-gcofflevel
-gxcofflevel
-gvmslevel
Request debugging information and also use level to specify how much information. The default level
is 2.
Level 0 produces no debug information at all. Thus, -g0 negates -g.
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.
-gdwarf-2 does not accept a concatenated debug level, because GCC used to support an option -gdwarf
that meant to generate debug information in version 1 of the DWARF format (which is very different
from version 2), and it would have been too confusing. That debug format is long obsolete, but the
option cannot be changed now. Instead use an additional -glevel option to change the debug level for
DWARF2.
-feliminate-dwarf2-dups
Compress DWARF2 debugging information by eliminating duplicated information about each symbol. This
option only makes sense when generating DWARF2 debugging information with -gdwarf-2.
-femit-struct-debug-baseonly
Emit debug information for struct-like types only when the base name of the compilation source file
matches the base name of file in which the struct was defined.
This option substantially reduces the size of debugging information, but at significant potential
loss in type information to the debugger. See -femit-struct-debug-reduced for a less aggressive
option. See -femit-struct-debug-detailed for more detailed control.
This option works only with DWARF 2.
-femit-struct-debug-reduced
Emit debug information for struct-like types only when the base name of the compilation source file
matches the base name of file in which the type was defined, unless the struct is a template or
defined in a system header.
This option significantly reduces the size of debugging information, with some potential loss in type
information to the debugger. See -femit-struct-debug-baseonly for a more aggressive option. See
-femit-struct-debug-detailed for more detailed control.
This option works only with DWARF 2.
-femit-struct-debug-detailed[=spec-list]
Specify the struct-like types for which the compiler will generate debug information. The intent is
to reduce duplicate struct debug information between different object files within the same program.
This option is a detailed version of -femit-struct-debug-reduced and -femit-struct-debug-baseonly,
which will serve for most needs.
A specification has the syntax [dir:|ind:][ord:|gen:](any|sys|base|none)
The optional first word limits the specification to structs that are used directly (dir:) or used
indirectly (ind:). A struct type is used directly when it is the type of a variable, member.
Indirect uses arise through pointers to structs. That is, when use of an incomplete struct would be
legal, the use is indirect. An example is struct one direct; struct two * indirect;.
The optional second word limits the specification to ordinary structs (ord:) or generic structs
(gen:). Generic structs are a bit complicated to explain. For C++, these are non-explicit
specializations of template classes, or non-template classes within the above. Other programming
languages have generics, but -femit-struct-debug-detailed does not yet implement them.
The third word specifies the source files for those structs for which the compiler will emit debug
information. The values none and any have the normal meaning. The value base means that the base of
name of the file in which the type declaration appears must match the base of the name of the main
compilation file. In practice, this means that types declared in foo.c and foo.h will have debug
information, but types declared in other header will not. The value sys means those types satisfying
base or declared in system or compiler headers.
You may need to experiment to determine the best settings for your application.
The default is -femit-struct-debug-detailed=all.
This option works only with DWARF 2.
-fno-merge-debug-strings
Direct the linker to not merge together strings in the debugging information which are identical in
different object files. Merging is not supported by all assemblers or linkers. Merging decreases
the size of the debug information in the output file at the cost of increasing link processing time.
Merging is enabled by default.
-fdebug-prefix-map=old=new
When compiling files in directory old, record debugging information describing them as in new
instead.
-fno-dwarf2-cfi-asm
Emit DWARF 2 unwind info as compiler generated ".eh_frame" section instead of using GAS ".cfi_*"
directives.
-p Generate extra code to write profile information suitable for the analysis program prof. You must
use this option when compiling the source files you want data about, and you must also use it when
linking.
-pg Generate extra code to write profile information suitable for the analysis program gprof. You must
use this option when compiling the source files you want data about, and you must also use it when
linking.
-Q Makes the compiler print out each function name as it is compiled, and print some statistics about
each pass when it finishes.
-ftime-report
Makes the compiler print some statistics about the time consumed by each pass when it finishes.
-fmem-report
Makes the compiler print some statistics about permanent memory allocation when it finishes.
-fpre-ipa-mem-report
-fpost-ipa-mem-report
Makes the compiler print some statistics about permanent memory allocation before or after
interprocedural optimization.
-fprofile-arcs
Add code so that program flow arcs are instrumented. During execution the program records how many
times each branch and call is executed and how many times it is taken or returns. When the compiled
program exits it saves this data to a file called auxname.gcda for each source file. The data may be
used for profile-directed optimizations (-fbranch-probabilities), or for test coverage analysis
(-ftest-coverage). Each object file's auxname is generated from the name of the output file, if
explicitly specified and it is not the final executable, otherwise it is the basename of the source
file. In both cases any suffix is removed (e.g. foo.gcda for input file dir/foo.c, or dir/foo.gcda
for output file specified as -o dir/foo.o).
--coverage
This option is used to compile and link code instrumented for coverage analysis. The option is a
synonym for -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage (when compiling) and -lgcov (when linking). See the
documentation for those options for more details.
• Compile the source files with -fprofile-arcs plus optimization and code generation options. For
test coverage analysis, use the additional -ftest-coverage option. You do not need to profile
every source file in a program.
• Link your object files with -lgcov or -fprofile-arcs (the latter implies the former).
• Run the program on a representative workload to generate the arc profile information. This may
be repeated any number of times. You can run concurrent instances of your program, and provided
that the file system supports locking, the data files will be correctly updated. Also "fork"
calls are detected and correctly handled (double counting will not happen).
• For profile-directed optimizations, compile the source files again with the same optimization and
code generation options plus -fbranch-probabilities.
• For test coverage analysis, use gcov to produce human readable information from the .gcno and
.gcda files. Refer to the gcov documentation for further information.
With -fprofile-arcs, for each function of your program GCC creates a program flow graph, then finds a
spanning tree for the graph. Only arcs that are not on the spanning tree have to be instrumented:
the compiler adds code to count the number of times that these arcs are executed. When an arc is the
only exit or only entrance to a block, the instrumentation code can be added to the block; otherwise,
a new basic block must be created to hold the instrumentation code.
-ftest-coverage
Produce a notes file that the gcov code-coverage utility can use to show program coverage. Each
source file's note file is called auxname.gcno. Refer to the -fprofile-arcs option above for a
description of auxname and instructions on how to generate test coverage data. Coverage data will
match the source files more closely, if you do not optimize.
-fdbg-cnt-list
Print the name and the counter upperbound for all debug counters.
-fdbg-cnt=counter-value-list
Set the internal debug counter upperbound. counter-value-list is a comma-separated list of name:value
pairs which sets the upperbound of each debug counter name to value. All debug counters have the
initial upperbound of UINT_MAX, thus dbg_cnt() returns true always unless the upperbound is set by
this option. e.g. With -fdbg-cnt=dce:10,tail_call:0 dbg_cnt(dce) will return true only for first 10
invocations and dbg_cnt(tail_call) will return false always.
-dletters
-fdump-rtl-pass
Says to make debugging dumps during compilation at times specified by letters. This is used for
debugging the RTL-based passes of the compiler. The file names for most of the dumps are made by
appending a pass number and a word to the dumpname. dumpname is generated from the name of the
output file, if explicitly specified and it is not an executable, otherwise it is the basename of the
source file. These switches may have different effects when -E is used for preprocessing.
Debug dumps can be enabled with a -fdump-rtl switch or some -d option letters. Here are the possible
letters for use in pass and letters, and their meanings:
-fdump-rtl-alignments
Dump after branch alignments have been computed.
-fdump-rtl-asmcons
Dump after fixing rtl statements that have unsatisfied in/out constraints.
-fdump-rtl-auto_inc_dec
Dump after auto-inc-dec discovery. This pass is only run on architectures that have auto inc or
auto dec instructions.
-fdump-rtl-barriers
Dump after cleaning up the barrier instructions.
-fdump-rtl-bbpart
Dump after partitioning hot and cold basic blocks.
-fdump-rtl-bbro
Dump after block reordering.
-fdump-rtl-btl1
-fdump-rtl-btl2
-fdump-rtl-btl1 and -fdump-rtl-btl2 enable dumping after the two branch target load optimization
passes.
-fdump-rtl-bypass
Dump after jump bypassing and control flow optimizations.
-fdump-rtl-combine
Dump after the RTL instruction combination pass.
-fdump-rtl-compgotos
Dump after duplicating the computed gotos.
-fdump-rtl-ce1
-fdump-rtl-ce2
-fdump-rtl-ce3
-fdump-rtl-ce1, -fdump-rtl-ce2, and -fdump-rtl-ce3 enable dumping after the three if conversion
passes.
-fdump-rtl-cprop_hardreg
Dump after hard register copy propagation.
-fdump-rtl-csa
Dump after combining stack adjustments.
-fdump-rtl-cse1
-fdump-rtl-cse2
-fdump-rtl-cse1 and -fdump-rtl-cse2 enable dumping after the two common sub-expression
elimination passes.
-fdump-rtl-dce
Dump after the standalone dead code elimination passes.
-fdump-rtl-dbr
Dump after delayed branch scheduling.
-fdump-rtl-dce1
-fdump-rtl-dce2
-fdump-rtl-dce1 and -fdump-rtl-dce2 enable dumping after the two dead store elimination passes.
-fdump-rtl-eh
Dump after finalization of EH handling code.
-fdump-rtl-eh_ranges
Dump after conversion of EH handling range regions.
-fdump-rtl-expand
Dump after RTL generation.
-fdump-rtl-fwprop1
-fdump-rtl-fwprop2
-fdump-rtl-fwprop1 and -fdump-rtl-fwprop2 enable dumping after the two forward propagation
passes.
-fdump-rtl-gcse1
-fdump-rtl-gcse2
-fdump-rtl-gcse1 and -fdump-rtl-gcse2 enable dumping after global common subexpression
elimination.
-fdump-rtl-init-regs
Dump after the initialization of the registers.
-fdump-rtl-initvals
Dump after the computation of the initial value sets.
-fdump-rtl-into_cfglayout
Dump after converting to cfglayout mode.
-fdump-rtl-ira
Dump after iterated register allocation.
-fdump-rtl-jump
Dump after the second jump optimization.
-fdump-rtl-loop2
-fdump-rtl-loop2 enables dumping after the rtl loop optimization passes.
-fdump-rtl-mach
Dump after performing the machine dependent reorganization pass, if that pass exists.
-fdump-rtl-mode_sw
Dump after removing redundant mode switches.
-fdump-rtl-rnreg
Dump after register renumbering.
-fdump-rtl-outof_cfglayout
Dump after converting from cfglayout mode.
-fdump-rtl-peephole2
Dump after the peephole pass.
-fdump-rtl-postreload
Dump after post-reload optimizations.
-fdump-rtl-pro_and_epilogue
Dump after generating the function pro and epilogues.
-fdump-rtl-regmove
Dump after the register move pass.
-fdump-rtl-sched1
-fdump-rtl-sched2
-fdump-rtl-sched1 and -fdump-rtl-sched2 enable dumping after the basic block scheduling passes.
-fdump-rtl-see
Dump after sign extension elimination.
-fdump-rtl-seqabstr
Dump after common sequence discovery.
-fdump-rtl-shorten
Dump after shortening branches.
-fdump-rtl-sibling
Dump after sibling call optimizations.
-fdump-rtl-split1
-fdump-rtl-split2
-fdump-rtl-split3
-fdump-rtl-split4
-fdump-rtl-split5
-fdump-rtl-split1, -fdump-rtl-split2, -fdump-rtl-split3, -fdump-rtl-split4 and -fdump-rtl-split5
enable dumping after five rounds of instruction splitting.
-fdump-rtl-sms
Dump after modulo scheduling. This pass is only run on some architectures.
-fdump-rtl-stack
Dump after conversion from GCC's "flat register file" registers to the x87's stack-like
registers. This pass is only run on x86 variants.
-fdump-rtl-subreg1
-fdump-rtl-subreg2
-fdump-rtl-subreg1 and -fdump-rtl-subreg2 enable dumping after the two subreg expansion passes.
-fdump-rtl-unshare
Dump after all rtl has been unshared.
-fdump-rtl-vartrack
Dump after variable tracking.
-fdump-rtl-vregs
Dump after converting virtual registers to hard registers.
-fdump-rtl-web
Dump after live range splitting.
-fdump-rtl-regclass
-fdump-rtl-subregs_of_mode_init
-fdump-rtl-subregs_of_mode_finish
-fdump-rtl-dfinit
-fdump-rtl-dfinish
These dumps are defined but always produce empty files.
-fdump-rtl-all
Produce all the dumps listed above.
-dA Annotate the assembler output with miscellaneous debugging information.
-dD Dump all macro definitions, at the end of preprocessing, in addition to normal output.
-dH Produce a core dump whenever an error occurs.
-dm Print statistics on memory usage, at the end of the run, to standard error.
-dp Annotate the assembler output with a comment indicating which pattern and alternative was used.
The length of each instruction is also printed.
-dP Dump the RTL in the assembler output as a comment before each instruction. Also turns on -dp
annotation.
-dv For each of the other indicated dump files (-fdump-rtl-pass), dump a representation of the
control flow graph suitable for viewing with VCG to file.pass.vcg.
-dx Just generate RTL for a function instead of compiling it. Usually used with -fdump-rtl-expand.
-dy Dump debugging information during parsing, to standard error.
-fdump-noaddr
When doing debugging dumps, suppress address output. This makes it more feasible to use diff on
debugging dumps for compiler invocations with different compiler binaries and/or different text / bss
/ data / heap / stack / dso start locations.
-fdump-unnumbered
When doing debugging dumps, suppress instruction numbers and address output. This makes it more
feasible to use diff on debugging dumps for compiler invocations with different options, in
particular with and without -g.
-fdump-translation-unit (C++ only)
-fdump-translation-unit-options (C++ only)
Dump a representation of the tree structure for the entire translation unit to a file. The file name
is made by appending .tu to the source file name. If the -options form is used, options controls the
details of the dump as described for the -fdump-tree options.
-fdump-class-hierarchy (C++ only)
-fdump-class-hierarchy-options (C++ only)
Dump a representation of each class's hierarchy and virtual function table layout to a file. The
file name is made by appending .class to the source file name. If the -options form is used, options
controls the details of the dump as described for the -fdump-tree options.
-fdump-ipa-switch
Control the dumping at various stages of inter-procedural analysis language tree to a file. The file
name is generated by appending a switch specific suffix to the source file name. The following dumps
are possible:
all Enables all inter-procedural analysis dumps.
cgraph
Dumps information about call-graph optimization, unused function removal, and inlining decisions.
inline
Dump after function inlining.
-fdump-statistics-option
Enable and control dumping of pass statistics in a separate file. The file name is generated by
appending a suffix ending in .statistics to the source file name. If the -option form is used,
-stats will cause counters to be summed over the whole compilation unit while -details will dump
every event as the passes generate them. The default with no option is to sum counters for each
function compiled.
-fdump-tree-switch
-fdump-tree-switch-options
Control the dumping at various stages of processing the intermediate language tree to a file. The
file name is generated by appending a switch specific suffix to the source file name. If the
-options form is used, options is a list of - separated options that control the details of the dump.
Not all options are applicable to all dumps, those which are not meaningful will be ignored. The
following options are available
address
Print the address of each node. Usually this is not meaningful as it changes according to the
environment and source file. Its primary use is for tying up a dump file with a debug
environment.
slim
Inhibit dumping of members of a scope or body of a function merely because that scope has been
reached. Only dump such items when they are directly reachable by some other path. When dumping
pretty-printed trees, this option inhibits dumping the bodies of control structures.
raw Print a raw representation of the tree. By default, trees are pretty-printed into a C-like
representation.
details
Enable more detailed dumps (not honored by every dump option).
stats
Enable dumping various statistics about the pass (not honored by every dump option).
blocks
Enable showing basic block boundaries (disabled in raw dumps).
vops
Enable showing virtual operands for every statement.
lineno
Enable showing line numbers for statements.
uid Enable showing the unique ID ("DECL_UID") for each variable.
verbose
Enable showing the tree dump for each statement.
all Turn on all options, except raw, slim, verbose and lineno.
The following tree dumps are possible:
original
Dump before any tree based optimization, to file.original.
optimized
Dump after all tree based optimization, to file.optimized.
gimple
Dump each function before and after the gimplification pass to a file. The file name is made by
appending .gimple to the source file name.
cfg Dump the control flow graph of each function to a file. The file name is made by appending .cfg
to the source file name.
vcg Dump the control flow graph of each function to a file in VCG format. The file name is made by
appending .vcg to the source file name. Note that if the file contains more than one function,
the generated file cannot be used directly by VCG. You will need to cut and paste each
function's graph into its own separate file first.
ch Dump each function after copying loop headers. The file name is made by appending .ch to the
source file name.
ssa Dump SSA related information to a file. The file name is made by appending .ssa to the source
file name.
alias
Dump aliasing information for each function. The file name is made by appending .alias to the
source file name.
ccp Dump each function after CCP. The file name is made by appending .ccp to the source file name.
storeccp
Dump each function after STORE-CCP. The file name is made by appending .storeccp to the source
file name.
pre Dump trees after partial redundancy elimination. The file name is made by appending .pre to the
source file name.
fre Dump trees after full redundancy elimination. The file name is made by appending .fre to the
source file name.
copyprop
Dump trees after copy propagation. The file name is made by appending .copyprop to the source
file name.
store_copyprop
Dump trees after store copy-propagation. The file name is made by appending .store_copyprop to
the source file name.
dce Dump each function after dead code elimination. The file name is made by appending .dce to the
source file name.
mudflap
Dump each function after adding mudflap instrumentation. The file name is made by appending
.mudflap to the source file name.
sra Dump each function after performing scalar replacement of aggregates. The file name is made by
appending .sra to the source file name.
sink
Dump each function after performing code sinking. The file name is made by appending .sink to
the source file name.
dom Dump each function after applying dominator tree optimizations. The file name is made by
appending .dom to the source file name.
dse Dump each function after applying dead store elimination. The file name is made by appending
.dse to the source file name.
phiopt
Dump each function after optimizing PHI nodes into straightline code. The file name is made by
appending .phiopt to the source file name.
forwprop
Dump each function after forward propagating single use variables. The file name is made by
appending .forwprop to the source file name.
copyrename
Dump each function after applying the copy rename optimization. The file name is made by
appending .copyrename to the source file name.
nrv Dump each function after applying the named return value optimization on generic trees. The file
name is made by appending .nrv to the source file name.
vect
Dump each function after applying vectorization of loops. The file name is made by appending
.vect to the source file name.
vrp Dump each function after Value Range Propagation (VRP). The file name is made by appending .vrp
to the source file name.
all Enable all the available tree dumps with the flags provided in this option.
-ftree-vectorizer-verbose=n
This option controls the amount of debugging output the vectorizer prints. This information is
written to standard error, unless -fdump-tree-all or -fdump-tree-vect is specified, in which case it
is output to the usual dump listing file, .vect. For n=0 no diagnostic information is reported. If
n=1 the vectorizer reports each loop that got vectorized, and the total number of loops that got
vectorized. If n=2 the vectorizer also reports non-vectorized loops that passed the first analysis
phase (vect_analyze_loop_form) - i.e. countable, inner-most, single-bb, single-entry/exit loops.
This is the same verbosity level that -fdump-tree-vect-stats uses. Higher verbosity levels mean
either more information dumped for each reported loop, or same amount of information reported for
more loops: If n=3, alignment related information is added to the reports. If n=4, data-references
related information (e.g. memory dependences, memory access-patterns) is added to the reports. If
n=5, the vectorizer reports also non-vectorized inner-most loops that did not pass the first analysis
phase (i.e., may not be countable, or may have complicated control-flow). If n=6, the vectorizer
reports also non-vectorized nested loops. For n=7, all the information the vectorizer generates
during its analysis and transformation is reported. This is the same verbosity level that
-fdump-tree-vect-details uses.
-frandom-seed=string
This option provides a seed that GCC uses when it would otherwise use random numbers. It is used to
generate certain symbol names that have to be different in every compiled file. It is also used to
place unique stamps in coverage data files and the object files that produce them. You can use the
-frandom-seed option to produce reproducibly identical object files.
The string should be different for every file you compile.
-fsched-verbose=n
On targets that use instruction scheduling, this option controls the amount of debugging output the
scheduler prints. This information is written to standard error, unless -fdump-rtl-sched1 or
-fdump-rtl-sched2 is specified, in which case it is output to the usual dump listing file, .sched or
.sched2 respectively. However for n greater than nine, the output is always printed to standard
error.
For n greater than zero, -fsched-verbose outputs the same information as -fdump-rtl-sched1 and
-fdump-rtl-sched2. For n greater than one, it also output basic block probabilities, detailed ready
list information and unit/insn info. For n greater than two, it includes RTL at abort point,
control-flow and regions info. And for n over four, -fsched-verbose also includes dependence info.
-save-temps
Store the usual "temporary" intermediate files permanently; place them in the current directory and
name them based on the source file. Thus, compiling foo.c with -c -save-temps would produce files
foo.i and foo.s, as well as foo.o. This creates a preprocessed foo.i output file even though the
compiler now normally uses an integrated preprocessor.
When used in combination with the -x command line option, -save-temps is sensible enough to avoid
over writing an input source file with the same extension as an intermediate file. The corresponding
intermediate file may be obtained by renaming the source file before using -save-temps.
-time
Report the CPU time taken by each subprocess in the compilation sequence. For C source files, this
is the compiler proper and assembler (plus the linker if linking is done). The output looks like
this:
# cc1 0.12 0.01
# as 0.00 0.01
The first number on each line is the "user time", that is time spent executing the program itself.
The second number is "system time", time spent executing operating system routines on behalf of the
program. Both numbers are in seconds.
-fvar-tracking
Run variable tracking pass. It computes where variables are stored at each position in code. Better
debugging information is then generated (if the debugging information format supports this
information).
It is enabled by default when compiling with optimization (-Os, -O, -O2, ...), debugging information
(-g) and the debug info format supports it.
-print-file-name=library
Print the full absolute name of the library file library that would be used when linking---and don't
do anything else. With this option, GCC does not compile or link anything; it just prints the file
name.
-print-multi-directory
Print the directory name corresponding to the multilib selected by any other switches present in the
command line. This directory is supposed to exist in GCC_EXEC_PREFIX.
-print-multi-lib
Print the mapping from multilib directory names to compiler switches that enable them. The directory
name is separated from the switches by ;, and each switch starts with an @} instead of the @samp{-,
without spaces between multiple switches. This is supposed to ease shell-processing.
-print-prog-name=program
Like -print-file-name, but searches for a program such as cpp.
-print-libgcc-file-name
Same as -print-file-name=libgcc.a.
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
Print the name of the configured installation directory and a list of program and library directories
gcc will search---and don't do anything else.
This is useful when gcc prints the error message installation problem, cannot exec cpp0: No such file
or directory. To resolve this you either need to put cpp0 and the other compiler components where
gcc expects to find them, or you can set the environment variable GCC_EXEC_PREFIX to the directory
where you installed them. Don't forget the trailing /.
-print-sysroot
Print the target sysroot directory that will be used during compilation. This is the target sysroot
specified either at configure time or using the --sysroot option, possibly with an extra suffix that
depends on compilation options. If no target sysroot is specified, the option prints nothing.
-print-sysroot-headers-suffix
Print the suffix added to the target sysroot when searching for headers, or give an error if the
compiler is not configured with such a suffix---and don't do anything else.
-dumpmachine
Print the compiler's target machine (for example, i686-pc-linux-gnu)---and don't do anything else.
-dumpversion
Print the compiler version (for example, 3.0)---and don't do anything else.
-dumpspecs
Print the compiler's built-in specs---and don't do anything else. (This is used when GCC itself is
being built.)
-feliminate-unused-debug-types
Normally, when producing DWARF2 output, GCC will emit debugging information for all types declared in
a compilation unit, regardless of whether or not they are actually used in that compilation unit.
Sometimes this is useful, such as if, in the debugger, you want to cast a value to a type that is not
actually used in your program (but is declared). More often, however, this results in a significant
amount of wasted space. With this option, GCC will avoid producing debug symbol output for types
that are nowhere used in the source file being compiled.
Options That Control Optimization
These options control various sorts of optimizations.
Without any optimization option, 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.
Turning on optimization flags makes the compiler attempt to improve the performance and/or code size at
the expense of compilation time and possibly the ability to debug the program.
The compiler performs optimization based on the knowledge it has of the program. Compiling multiple
files at once to a single output file mode allows the compiler to use information gained from all of the
files when compiling each of them.
Not all optimizations are controlled directly by a flag. Only optimizations that have a flag are listed
in this section.
Depending on the target and how GCC was configured, a slightly different set of optimizations may be
enabled at each -O level than those listed here. You can invoke GCC with -Q --help=optimizers to find
out the exact set of optimizations that are enabled at each level.
-O
-O1 Optimize. Optimizing compilation takes somewhat more time, and a lot more memory for a large
function.
With -O, the compiler tries to reduce code size and execution time, without performing any
optimizations that take a great deal of compilation time.
-O turns on the following optimization flags:
-fauto-inc-dec -fcprop-registers -fdce -fdefer-pop -fdelayed-branch -fdse -fguess-branch-probability
-fif-conversion2 -fif-conversion -finline-small-functions -fipa-pure-const -fipa-reference
-fmerge-constants -fsplit-wide-types -ftree-builtin-call-dce -ftree-ccp -ftree-ch -ftree-copyrename
-ftree-dce -ftree-dominator-opts -ftree-dse -ftree-fre -ftree-sra -ftree-ter -funit-at-a-time
-O also turns on -fomit-frame-pointer on machines where doing so does not interfere with debugging.
-O2 Optimize even more. GCC performs nearly all supported optimizations that do not involve a space-
speed tradeoff. As compared to -O, this option increases both compilation time and the performance
of the generated code.
-O2 turns on all optimization flags specified by -O. It also turns on the following optimization
flags: -fthread-jumps -falign-functions -falign-jumps -falign-loops -falign-labels -fcaller-saves
-fcrossjumping -fcse-follow-jumps -fcse-skip-blocks -fdelete-null-pointer-checks
-fexpensive-optimizations -fgcse -fgcse-lm -findirect-inlining -foptimize-sibling-calls -fpeephole2
-fregmove -freorder-blocks -freorder-functions -frerun-cse-after-loop -fsched-interblock
-fsched-spec -fschedule-insns -fschedule-insns2 -fstrict-aliasing -fstrict-overflow
-ftree-switch-conversion -ftree-pre -ftree-vrp
Please note the warning under -fgcse about invoking -O2 on programs that use computed gotos.
NOTE: In Ubuntu 8.10 and later versions, -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 is set by default, and is activated when
-O is set to 2 or higher. This enables additional compile-time and run-time checks for several libc
functions. To disable, specify either -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE or -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=0.
-O3 Optimize yet more. -O3 turns on all optimizations specified by -O2 and also turns on the
-finline-functions, -funswitch-loops, -fpredictive-commoning, -fgcse-after-reload, -ftree-vectorize
and -fipa-cp-clone options.
-O0 Reduce compilation time and make debugging produce the expected results. This is the default.
-Os Optimize for size. -Os enables all -O2 optimizations that do not typically increase code size. It
also performs further optimizations designed to reduce code size.
-Os disables the following optimization flags: -falign-functions -falign-jumps -falign-loops
-falign-labels -freorder-blocks -freorder-blocks-and-partition -fprefetch-loop-arrays
-ftree-vect-loop-version
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 you typically will use. You can figure out the other form by either removing no- or
adding it.
The following options control specific optimizations. They are either activated by -O options or are
related to ones that are. You can use the following flags in the rare cases when "fine-tuning" of
optimizations to be performed is desired.
-fno-default-inline
Do not make member functions inline by default merely because they are defined inside the class scope
(C++ only). Otherwise, when you specify -O, member functions defined inside class scope are compiled
inline by default; i.e., you don't need to add inline in front of the member function name.
-fno-defer-pop
Always pop the arguments to each function call as soon as that function returns. For machines which
must pop arguments after a function call, the compiler normally lets arguments accumulate on the
stack for several function calls and pops them all at once.
Disabled at levels -O, -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fforward-propagate
Perform a forward propagation pass on RTL. The pass tries to combine two instructions and checks if
the result can be simplified. If loop unrolling is active, two passes are performed and the second
is scheduled after loop unrolling.
This option is enabled by default at optimization levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fomit-frame-pointer
Don't keep the frame pointer in a register for functions that don't need one. This avoids the
instructions to save, set up and restore frame pointers; it also makes an extra register available in
many functions. It also makes debugging impossible on some machines.
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.
Enabled at levels -O, -O2, -O3, -Os.
-foptimize-sibling-calls
Optimize sibling and tail recursive calls.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fno-inline
Don't pay attention to the "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-small-functions
Integrate functions into their callers when their body is smaller than expected function call code
(so overall size of program gets smaller). The compiler heuristically decides which functions are
simple enough to be worth integrating in this way.
Enabled at level -O2.
-findirect-inlining
Inline also indirect calls that are discovered to be known at compile time thanks to previous
inlining. This option has any effect only when inlining itself is turned on by the
-finline-functions or -finline-small-functions options.
Enabled at level -O2.
-finline-functions
Integrate all simple functions into their callers. The compiler heuristically decides which
functions are simple enough to be worth integrating in this way.
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.
Enabled at level -O3.
-finline-functions-called-once
Consider all "static" functions called once for inlining into their caller even if they are not
marked "inline". If a call to a given function is integrated, then the function is not output as
assembler code in its own right.
Enabled at levels -O1, -O2, -O3 and -Os.
-fearly-inlining
Inline functions marked by "always_inline" and functions whose body seems smaller than the function
call overhead early before doing -fprofile-generate instrumentation and real inlining pass. Doing so
makes profiling significantly cheaper and usually inlining faster on programs having large chains of
nested wrapper functions.
Enabled by default.
-finline-limit=n
By default, GCC limits the size of functions that can be inlined. This flag allows coarse control of
this limit. n is the size of functions that can be inlined in number of pseudo instructions.
Inlining is actually controlled by a number of parameters, which may be specified individually by
using --param name=value. The -finline-limit=n option sets some of these parameters as follows:
max-inline-insns-single
is set to n/2.
max-inline-insns-auto
is set to n/2.
See below for a documentation of the individual parameters controlling inlining and for the defaults
of these parameters.
Note: there may be no value to -finline-limit that results in default behavior.
Note: pseudo instruction represents, in this particular context, an abstract measurement of
function's size. In no way does it represent a count of assembly instructions and as such its exact
meaning might change from one release to an another.
-fkeep-inline-functions
In C, emit "static" functions that are declared "inline" into the object file, even if the function
has been inlined into all of its callers. This switch does not affect functions using the "extern
inline" extension in GNU C89. In C++, emit any and all inline functions into the object file.
-fkeep-static-consts
Emit variables declared "static const" when optimization isn't turned on, even if the variables
aren't referenced.
GCC 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.
-fmerge-constants
Attempt to merge identical constants (string constants and floating point constants) across
compilation units.
This option is the default for optimized compilation if the assembler and linker support it. Use
-fno-merge-constants to inhibit this behavior.
Enabled at levels -O, -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fmerge-all-constants
Attempt to merge identical constants and identical variables.
This option implies -fmerge-constants. In addition to -fmerge-constants this considers e.g. even
constant initialized arrays or initialized constant variables with integral or floating point types.
Languages like C or C++ require each variable, including multiple instances of the same variable in
recursive calls, to have distinct locations, so using this option will result in non-conforming
behavior.
-fmodulo-sched
Perform swing modulo scheduling immediately before the first scheduling pass. This pass looks at
innermost loops and reorders their instructions by overlapping different iterations.
-fmodulo-sched-allow-regmoves
Perform more aggressive SMS based modulo scheduling with register moves allowed. By setting this
flag certain anti-dependences edges will be deleted which will trigger the generation of reg-moves
based on the life-range analysis. This option is effective only with -fmodulo-sched enabled.
-fno-branch-count-reg
Do not use "decrement and branch" instructions on a count register, but instead generate a sequence
of instructions that decrement a register, compare it against zero, then branch based upon the
result. This option is only meaningful on architectures that support such instructions, which
include x86, PowerPC, IA-64 and S/390.
The default is -fbranch-count-reg.
-fno-function-cse
Do not put function addresses in registers; make each instruction that calls a constant function
contain the function's address explicitly.
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.
The default is -ffunction-cse
-fno-zero-initialized-in-bss
If the target supports a BSS section, GCC by default puts variables that are initialized to zero into
BSS. This can save space in the resulting code.
This option turns off this behavior because some programs explicitly rely on variables going to the
data section. E.g., so that the resulting executable can find the beginning of that section and/or
make assumptions based on that.
The default is -fzero-initialized-in-bss.
-fmudflap -fmudflapth -fmudflapir
For front-ends that support it (C and C++), instrument all risky pointer/array dereferencing
operations, some standard library string/heap functions, and some other associated constructs with
range/validity tests. Modules so instrumented should be immune to buffer overflows, invalid heap
use, and some other classes of C/C++ programming errors. The instrumentation relies on a separate
runtime library (libmudflap), which will be linked into a program if -fmudflap is given at link time.
Run-time behavior of the instrumented program is controlled by the MUDFLAP_OPTIONS environment
variable. See "env MUDFLAP_OPTIONS=-help a.out" for its options.
Use -fmudflapth instead of -fmudflap to compile and to link if your program is multi-threaded. Use
-fmudflapir, in addition to -fmudflap or -fmudflapth, if instrumentation should ignore pointer reads.
This produces less instrumentation (and therefore faster execution) and still provides some
protection against outright memory corrupting writes, but allows erroneously read data to propagate
within a program.
-fthread-jumps
Perform optimizations where we check to see if a jump branches to a location where another comparison
subsumed by the first is found. If so, the first branch is redirected to either the destination of
the second branch or a point immediately following it, depending on whether the condition is known to
be true or false.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fsplit-wide-types
When using a type that occupies multiple registers, such as "long long" on a 32-bit system, split the
registers apart and allocate them independently. This normally generates better code for those
types, but may make debugging more difficult.
Enabled at levels -O, -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fcse-follow-jumps
In common subexpression elimination (CSE), scan through jump instructions when the target of the jump
is not reached by any other path. For example, when CSE encounters an "if" statement with an "else"
clause, CSE will follow the jump when the condition tested is false.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fcse-skip-blocks
This is similar to -fcse-follow-jumps, but causes CSE to follow jumps which conditionally skip over
blocks. When CSE encounters a simple "if" statement with no else clause, -fcse-skip-blocks causes
CSE to follow the jump around the body of the "if".
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-frerun-cse-after-loop
Re-run common subexpression elimination after loop optimizations has been performed.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fgcse
Perform a global common subexpression elimination pass. This pass also performs global constant and
copy propagation.
Note: When compiling a program using computed gotos, a GCC extension, you may get better runtime
performance if you disable the global common subexpression elimination pass by adding -fno-gcse to
the command line.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fgcse-lm
When -fgcse-lm is enabled, global common subexpression elimination will attempt to move loads which
are only killed by stores into themselves. This allows a loop containing a load/store sequence to be
changed to a load outside the loop, and a copy/store within the loop.
Enabled by default when gcse is enabled.
-fgcse-sm
When -fgcse-sm is enabled, a store motion pass is run after global common subexpression elimination.
This pass will attempt to move stores out of loops. When used in conjunction with -fgcse-lm, loops
containing a load/store sequence can be changed to a load before the loop and a store after the loop.
Not enabled at any optimization level.
-fgcse-las
When -fgcse-las is enabled, the global common subexpression elimination pass eliminates redundant
loads that come after stores to the same memory location (both partial and full redundancies).
Not enabled at any optimization level.
-fgcse-after-reload
When -fgcse-after-reload is enabled, a redundant load elimination pass is performed after reload.
The purpose of this pass is to cleanup redundant spilling.
-funsafe-loop-optimizations
If given, the loop optimizer will assume that loop indices do not overflow, and that the loops with
nontrivial exit condition are not infinite. This enables a wider range of loop optimizations even if
the loop optimizer itself cannot prove that these assumptions are valid. Using
-Wunsafe-loop-optimizations, the compiler will warn you if it finds this kind of loop.
-fcrossjumping
Perform cross-jumping transformation. This transformation unifies equivalent code and save code
size. The resulting code may or may not perform better than without cross-jumping.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fauto-inc-dec
Combine increments or decrements of addresses with memory accesses. This pass is always skipped on
architectures that do not have instructions to support this. Enabled by default at -O and higher on
architectures that support this.
-fdce
Perform dead code elimination (DCE) on RTL. Enabled by default at -O and higher.
-fdse
Perform dead store elimination (DSE) on RTL. Enabled by default at -O and higher.
-fif-conversion
Attempt to transform conditional jumps into branch-less equivalents. This include use of conditional
moves, min, max, set flags and abs instructions, and some tricks doable by standard arithmetics. The
use of conditional execution on chips where it is available is controlled by "if-conversion2".
Enabled at levels -O, -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fif-conversion2
Use conditional execution (where available) to transform conditional jumps into branch-less
equivalents.
Enabled at levels -O, -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fdelete-null-pointer-checks
Use global dataflow analysis to identify and eliminate useless checks for null pointers. The
compiler assumes that dereferencing a null pointer would have halted the program. If a pointer is
checked after it has already been dereferenced, it cannot be null.
In some environments, this assumption is not true, and programs can safely dereference null pointers.
Use -fno-delete-null-pointer-checks to disable this optimization for programs which depend on that
behavior.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fexpensive-optimizations
Perform a number of minor optimizations that are relatively expensive.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-foptimize-register-move
-fregmove
Attempt to reassign register numbers in move instructions and as operands of other simple
instructions in order to maximize the amount of register tying. This is especially helpful on
machines with two-operand instructions.
Note -fregmove and -foptimize-register-move are the same optimization.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fira-algorithm=algorithm
Use specified coloring algorithm for the integrated register allocator. The algorithm argument
should be "priority" or "CB". The first algorithm specifies Chow's priority coloring, the second one
specifies Chaitin-Briggs coloring. The second algorithm can be unimplemented for some architectures.
If it is implemented, it is the default because Chaitin-Briggs coloring as a rule generates a better
code.
-fira-region=region
Use specified regions for the integrated register allocator. The region argument should be one of
"all", "mixed", or "one". The first value means using all loops as register allocation regions, the
second value which is the default means using all loops except for loops with small register pressure
as the regions, and third one means using all function as a single region. The first value can give
best result for machines with small size and irregular register set, the third one results in faster
and generates decent code and the smallest size code, and the default value usually give the best
results in most cases and for most architectures.
-fira-coalesce
Do optimistic register coalescing. This option might be profitable for architectures with big
regular register files.
-fno-ira-share-save-slots
Switch off sharing stack slots used for saving call used hard registers living through a call. Each
hard register will get a separate stack slot and as a result function stack frame will be bigger.
-fno-ira-share-spill-slots
Switch off sharing stack slots allocated for pseudo-registers. Each pseudo-register which did not
get a hard register will get a separate stack slot and as a result function stack frame will be
bigger.
-fira-verbose=n
Set up how verbose dump file for the integrated register allocator will be. Default value is 5. If
the value is greater or equal to 10, the dump file will be stderr as if the value were n minus 10.
-fdelayed-branch
If supported for the target machine, attempt to reorder instructions to exploit instruction slots
available after delayed branch instructions.
Enabled at levels -O, -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fschedule-insns
If supported for the target machine, attempt to reorder instructions to eliminate execution stalls
due to required data being unavailable. This helps machines that have slow floating point or memory
load instructions by allowing other instructions to be issued until the result of the load or
floating point instruction is required.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3.
-fschedule-insns2
Similar to -fschedule-insns, but requests an additional pass of instruction scheduling after register
allocation has been done. This is especially useful on machines with a relatively small number of
registers and where memory load instructions take more than one cycle.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fno-sched-interblock
Don't schedule instructions across basic blocks. This is normally enabled by default when scheduling
before register allocation, i.e. with -fschedule-insns or at -O2 or higher.
-fno-sched-spec
Don't allow speculative motion of non-load instructions. This is normally enabled by default when
scheduling before register allocation, i.e. with -fschedule-insns or at -O2 or higher.
-fsched-spec-load
Allow speculative motion of some load instructions. This only makes sense when scheduling before
register allocation, i.e. with -fschedule-insns or at -O2 or higher.
-fsched-spec-load-dangerous
Allow speculative motion of more load instructions. This only makes sense when scheduling before
register allocation, i.e. with -fschedule-insns or at -O2 or higher.
-fsched-stalled-insns
-fsched-stalled-insns=n
Define how many insns (if any) can be moved prematurely from the queue of stalled insns into the
ready list, during the second scheduling pass. -fno-sched-stalled-insns means that no insns will be
moved prematurely, -fsched-stalled-insns=0 means there is no limit on how many queued insns can be
moved prematurely. -fsched-stalled-insns without a value is equivalent to -fsched-stalled-insns=1.
-fsched-stalled-insns-dep
-fsched-stalled-insns-dep=n
Define how many insn groups (cycles) will be examined for a dependency on a stalled insn that is
candidate for premature removal from the queue of stalled insns. This has an effect only during the
second scheduling pass, and only if -fsched-stalled-insns is used. -fno-sched-stalled-insns-dep is
equivalent to -fsched-stalled-insns-dep=0. -fsched-stalled-insns-dep without a value is equivalent
to -fsched-stalled-insns-dep=1.
-fsched2-use-superblocks
When scheduling after register allocation, do use superblock scheduling algorithm. Superblock
scheduling allows motion across basic block boundaries resulting on faster schedules. This option is
experimental, as not all machine descriptions used by GCC model the CPU closely enough to avoid
unreliable results from the algorithm.
This only makes sense when scheduling after register allocation, i.e. with -fschedule-insns2 or at
-O2 or higher.
-fsched2-use-traces
Use -fsched2-use-superblocks algorithm when scheduling after register allocation and additionally
perform code duplication in order to increase the size of superblocks using tracer pass. See
-ftracer for details on trace formation.
This mode should produce faster but significantly longer programs. Also without
-fbranch-probabilities the traces constructed may not match the reality and hurt the performance.
This only makes sense when scheduling after register allocation, i.e. with -fschedule-insns2 or at
-O2 or higher.
-fsee
Eliminate redundant sign extension instructions and move the non-redundant ones to optimal placement
using lazy code motion (LCM).
-freschedule-modulo-scheduled-loops
The modulo scheduling comes before the traditional scheduling, if a loop was modulo scheduled we may
want to prevent the later scheduling passes from changing its schedule, we use this option to control
that.
-fselective-scheduling
Schedule instructions using selective scheduling algorithm. Selective scheduling runs instead of the
first scheduler pass.
-fselective-scheduling2
Schedule instructions using selective scheduling algorithm. Selective scheduling runs instead of the
second scheduler pass.
-fsel-sched-pipelining
Enable software pipelining of innermost loops during selective scheduling. This option has no effect
until one of -fselective-scheduling or -fselective-scheduling2 is turned on.
-fsel-sched-pipelining-outer-loops
When pipelining loops during selective scheduling, also pipeline outer loops. This option has no
effect until -fsel-sched-pipelining is turned on.
-fcaller-saves
Enable values to be allocated in registers that will be clobbered by function calls, by emitting
extra instructions to save and restore the registers around such calls. Such allocation is done only
when it seems to result in better code than would otherwise be produced.
This option is always enabled by default on certain machines, usually those which have no call-
preserved registers to use instead.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fconserve-stack
Attempt to minimize stack usage. The compiler will attempt to use less stack space, even if that
makes the program slower. This option implies setting the large-stack-frame parameter to 100 and the
large-stack-frame-growth parameter to 400.
-ftree-reassoc
Perform reassociation on trees. This flag is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-pre
Perform partial redundancy elimination (PRE) on trees. This flag is enabled by default at -O2 and
-O3.
-ftree-fre
Perform full redundancy elimination (FRE) on trees. The difference between FRE and PRE is that FRE
only considers expressions that are computed on all paths leading to the redundant computation. This
analysis is faster than PRE, though it exposes fewer redundancies. This flag is enabled by default
at -O and higher.
-ftree-copy-prop
Perform copy propagation on trees. This pass eliminates unnecessary copy operations. This flag is
enabled by default at -O and higher.
-fipa-pure-const
Discover which functions are pure or constant. Enabled by default at -O and higher.
-fipa-reference
Discover which static variables do not escape cannot escape the compilation unit. Enabled by default
at -O and higher.
-fipa-struct-reorg
Perform structure reorganization optimization, that change C-like structures layout in order to
better utilize spatial locality. This transformation is effective for programs containing arrays of
structures. Available in two compilation modes: profile-based (enabled with -fprofile-generate) or
static (which uses built-in heuristics). Require -fipa-type-escape to provide the safety of this
transformation. It works only in whole program mode, so it requires -fwhole-program and -combine to
be enabled. Structures considered cold by this transformation are not affected (see --param
struct-reorg-cold-struct-ratio=value).
With this flag, the program debug info reflects a new structure layout.
-fipa-pta
Perform interprocedural pointer analysis. This option is experimental and does not affect generated
code.
-fipa-cp
Perform interprocedural constant propagation. This optimization analyzes the program to determine
when values passed to functions are constants and then optimizes accordingly. This optimization can
substantially increase performance if the application has constants passed to functions. This flag
is enabled by default at -O2, -Os and -O3.
-fipa-cp-clone
Perform function cloning to make interprocedural constant propagation stronger. When enabled,
interprocedural constant propagation will perform function cloning when externally visible function
can be called with constant arguments. Because this optimization can create multiple copies of
functions, it may significantly increase code size (see --param ipcp-unit-growth=value). This flag
is enabled by default at -O3.
-fipa-matrix-reorg
Perform matrix flattening and transposing. Matrix flattening tries to replace a m-dimensional matrix
with its equivalent n-dimensional matrix, where n < m. This reduces the level of indirection needed
for accessing the elements of the matrix. The second optimization is matrix transposing that attempts
to change the order of the matrix's dimensions in order to improve cache locality. Both
optimizations need the -fwhole-program flag. Transposing is enabled only if profiling information is
available.
-ftree-sink
Perform forward store motion on trees. This flag is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-ccp
Perform sparse conditional constant propagation (CCP) on trees. This pass only operates on local
scalar variables and is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-switch-conversion
Perform conversion of simple initializations in a switch to initializations from a scalar array.
This flag is enabled by default at -O2 and higher.
-ftree-dce
Perform dead code elimination (DCE) on trees. This flag is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-builtin-call-dce
Perform conditional dead code elimination (DCE) for calls to builtin functions that may set "errno"
but are otherwise side-effect free. This flag is enabled by default at -O2 and higher if -Os is not
also specified.
-ftree-dominator-opts
Perform a variety of simple scalar cleanups (constant/copy propagation, redundancy elimination, range
propagation and expression simplification) based on a dominator tree traversal. This also performs
jump threading (to reduce jumps to jumps). This flag is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-dse
Perform dead store elimination (DSE) on trees. A dead store is a store into a memory location which
will later be overwritten by another store without any intervening loads. In this case the earlier
store can be deleted. This flag is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-ch
Perform loop header copying on trees. This is beneficial since it increases effectiveness of code
motion optimizations. It also saves one jump. This flag is enabled by default at -O and higher. It
is not enabled for -Os, since it usually increases code size.
-ftree-loop-optimize
Perform loop optimizations on trees. This flag is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-loop-linear
Perform linear loop transformations on tree. This flag can improve cache performance and allow
further loop optimizations to take place.
-floop-interchange
Perform loop interchange transformations on loops. Interchanging two nested loops switches the inner
and outer loops. For example, given a loop like:
DO J = 1, M
DO I = 1, N
A(J, I) = A(J, I) * C
ENDDO
ENDDO
loop interchange will transform the loop as if the user had written:
DO I = 1, N
DO J = 1, M
A(J, I) = A(J, I) * C
ENDDO
ENDDO
which can be beneficial when "N" is larger than the caches, because in Fortran, the elements of an
array are stored in memory contiguously by column, and the original loop iterates over rows,
potentially creating at each access a cache miss. This optimization applies to all the languages
supported by GCC and is not limited to Fortran. To use this code transformation, GCC has to be
configured with --with-ppl and --with-cloog to enable the Graphite loop transformation
infrastructure.
-floop-strip-mine
Perform loop strip mining transformations on loops. Strip mining splits a loop into two nested
loops. The outer loop has strides equal to the strip size and the inner loop has strides of the
original loop within a strip. For example, given a loop like:
DO I = 1, N
A(I) = A(I) + C
ENDDO
loop strip mining will transform the loop as if the user had written:
DO II = 1, N, 4
DO I = II, min (II + 3, N)
A(I) = A(I) + C
ENDDO
ENDDO
This optimization applies to all the languages supported by GCC and is not limited to Fortran. To
use this code transformation, GCC has to be configured with --with-ppl and --with-cloog to enable the
Graphite loop transformation infrastructure.
-floop-block
Perform loop blocking transformations on loops. Blocking strip mines each loop in the loop nest such
that the memory accesses of the element loops fit inside caches. For example, given a loop like:
DO I = 1, N
DO J = 1, M
A(J, I) = B(I) + C(J)
ENDDO
ENDDO
loop blocking will transform the loop as if the user had written:
DO II = 1, N, 64
DO JJ = 1, M, 64
DO I = II, min (II + 63, N)
DO J = JJ, min (JJ + 63, M)
A(J, I) = B(I) + C(J)
ENDDO
ENDDO
ENDDO
ENDDO
which can be beneficial when "M" is larger than the caches, because the innermost loop will iterate
over a smaller amount of data that can be kept in the caches. This optimization applies to all the
languages supported by GCC and is not limited to Fortran. To use this code transformation, GCC has
to be configured with --with-ppl and --with-cloog to enable the Graphite loop transformation
infrastructure.
-fcheck-data-deps
Compare the results of several data dependence analyzers. This option is used for debugging the data
dependence analyzers.
-ftree-loop-distribution
Perform loop distribution. This flag can improve cache performance on big loop bodies and allow
further loop optimizations, like parallelization or vectorization, to take place. For example, the
loop
DO I = 1, N
A(I) = B(I) + C
D(I) = E(I) * F
ENDDO
is transformed to
DO I = 1, N
A(I) = B(I) + C
ENDDO
DO I = 1, N
D(I) = E(I) * F
ENDDO
-ftree-loop-im
Perform loop invariant motion on trees. This pass moves only invariants that would be hard to handle
at RTL level (function calls, operations that expand to nontrivial sequences of insns). With
-funswitch-loops it also moves operands of conditions that are invariant out of the loop, so that we
can use just trivial invariantness analysis in loop unswitching. The pass also includes store
motion.
-ftree-loop-ivcanon
Create a canonical counter for number of iterations in the loop for that determining number of
iterations requires complicated analysis. Later optimizations then may determine the number easily.
Useful especially in connection with unrolling.
-fivopts
Perform induction variable optimizations (strength reduction, induction variable merging and
induction variable elimination) on trees.
-ftree-parallelize-loops=n
Parallelize loops, i.e., split their iteration space to run in n threads. This is only possible for
loops whose iterations are independent and can be arbitrarily reordered. The optimization is only
profitable on multiprocessor machines, for loops that are CPU-intensive, rather than constrained e.g.
by memory bandwidth. This option implies -pthread, and thus is only supported on targets that have
support for -pthread.
-ftree-sra
Perform scalar replacement of aggregates. This pass replaces structure references with scalars to
prevent committing structures to memory too early. This flag is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-copyrename
Perform copy renaming on trees. This pass attempts to rename compiler temporaries to other variables
at copy locations, usually resulting in variable names which more closely resemble the original
variables. This flag is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-ter
Perform temporary expression replacement during the SSA->normal phase. Single use/single def
temporaries are replaced at their use location with their defining expression. This results in non-
GIMPLE code, but gives the expanders much more complex trees to work on resulting in better RTL
generation. This is enabled by default at -O and higher.
-ftree-vectorize
Perform loop vectorization on trees. This flag is enabled by default at -O3.
-ftree-vect-loop-version
Perform loop versioning when doing loop vectorization on trees. When a loop appears to be
vectorizable except that data alignment or data dependence cannot be determined at compile time then
vectorized and non-vectorized versions of the loop are generated along with runtime checks for
alignment or dependence to control which version is executed. This option is enabled by default
except at level -Os where it is disabled.
-fvect-cost-model
Enable cost model for vectorization.
-ftree-vrp
Perform Value Range Propagation on trees. This is similar to the constant propagation pass, but
instead of values, ranges of values are propagated. This allows the optimizers to remove unnecessary
range checks like array bound checks and null pointer checks. This is enabled by default at -O2 and
higher. Null pointer check elimination is only done if -fdelete-null-pointer-checks is enabled.
-ftracer
Perform tail duplication to enlarge superblock size. This transformation simplifies the control flow
of the function allowing other optimizations to do better job.
-funroll-loops
Unroll loops whose number of iterations can be determined at compile time or upon entry to the loop.
-funroll-loops implies -frerun-cse-after-loop. This option makes code larger, and may or may not
make it run faster.
-funroll-all-loops
Unroll all loops, even if their number of iterations is uncertain when the loop is entered. This
usually makes programs run more slowly. -funroll-all-loops implies the same options as
-funroll-loops,
-fsplit-ivs-in-unroller
Enables expressing of values of induction variables in later iterations of the unrolled loop using
the value in the first iteration. This breaks long dependency chains, thus improving efficiency of
the scheduling passes.
Combination of -fweb and CSE is often sufficient to obtain the same effect. However in cases the
loop body is more complicated than a single basic block, this is not reliable. It also does not work
at all on some of the architectures due to restrictions in the CSE pass.
This optimization is enabled by default.
-fvariable-expansion-in-unroller
With this option, the compiler will create multiple copies of some local variables when unrolling a
loop which can result in superior code.
-fpredictive-commoning
Perform predictive commoning optimization, i.e., reusing computations (especially memory loads and
stores) performed in previous iterations of loops.
This option is enabled at level -O3.
-fprefetch-loop-arrays
If supported by the target machine, generate instructions to prefetch memory to improve the
performance of loops that access large arrays.
This option may generate better or worse code; results are highly dependent on the structure of loops
within the source code.
Disabled at level -Os.
-fno-peephole
-fno-peephole2
Disable any machine-specific peephole optimizations. The difference between -fno-peephole and
-fno-peephole2 is in how they are implemented in the compiler; some targets use one, some use the
other, a few use both.
-fpeephole is enabled by default. -fpeephole2 enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fno-guess-branch-probability
Do not guess branch probabilities using heuristics.
GCC will use heuristics to guess branch probabilities if they are not provided by profiling feedback
(-fprofile-arcs). These heuristics are based on the control flow graph. If some branch
probabilities are specified by __builtin_expect, then the heuristics will be used to guess branch
probabilities for the rest of the control flow graph, taking the __builtin_expect info into account.
The interactions between the heuristics and __builtin_expect can be complex, and in some cases, it
may be useful to disable the heuristics so that the effects of __builtin_expect are easier to
understand.
The default is -fguess-branch-probability at levels -O, -O2, -O3, -Os.
-freorder-blocks
Reorder basic blocks in the compiled function in order to reduce number of taken branches and improve
code locality.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3.
-freorder-blocks-and-partition
In addition to reordering basic blocks in the compiled function, in order to reduce number of taken
branches, partitions hot and cold basic blocks into separate sections of the assembly and .o files,
to improve paging and cache locality performance.
This optimization is automatically turned off in the presence of exception handling, for linkonce
sections, for functions with a user-defined section attribute and on any architecture that does not
support named sections.
-freorder-functions
Reorder functions in the object file in order to improve code locality. This is implemented by using
special subsections ".text.hot" for most frequently executed functions and ".text.unlikely" for
unlikely executed functions. Reordering is done by the linker so object file format must support
named sections and linker must place them in a reasonable way.
Also profile feedback must be available in to make this option effective. See -fprofile-arcs for
details.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fstrict-aliasing
Allow the compiler to assume the strictest aliasing rules applicable to the language being compiled.
For C (and C++), this activates optimizations based on the type of expressions. In particular, an
object of one type is assumed never to reside at the same address as an object of a different type,
unless the types are almost the same. For example, an "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() {
union a_union t;
t.d = 3.0;
return t.i;
}
The practice of reading from a different union member than the one most recently written to (called
"type-punning") is common. Even with -fstrict-aliasing, type-punning is allowed, provided the memory
is accessed through the union type. So, the code above will work as expected. However, this code
might not:
int f() {
union a_union t;
int* ip;
t.d = 3.0;
ip = &t.i;
return *ip;
}
Similarly, access by taking the address, casting the resulting pointer and dereferencing the result
has undefined behavior, even if the cast uses a union type, e.g.:
int f() {
double d = 3.0;
return ((union a_union *) &d)->i;
}
The -fstrict-aliasing option is enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fstrict-overflow
Allow the compiler to assume strict signed overflow rules, depending on the language being compiled.
For C (and C++) this means that overflow when doing arithmetic with signed numbers is undefined,
which means that the compiler may assume that it will not happen. This permits various
optimizations. For example, the compiler will assume that an expression like "i + 10 > i" will
always be true for signed "i". This assumption is only valid if signed overflow is undefined, as the
expression is false if "i + 10" overflows when using twos complement arithmetic. When this option is
in effect any attempt to determine whether an operation on signed numbers will overflow must be
written carefully to not actually involve overflow.
This option also allows the compiler to assume strict pointer semantics: given a pointer to an
object, if adding an offset to that pointer does not produce a pointer to the same object, the
addition is undefined. This permits the compiler to conclude that "p + u > p" is always true for a
pointer "p" and unsigned integer "u". This assumption is only valid because pointer wraparound is
undefined, as the expression is false if "p + u" overflows using twos complement arithmetic.
See also the -fwrapv option. Using -fwrapv means that integer signed overflow is fully defined: it
wraps. When -fwrapv is used, there is no difference between -fstrict-overflow and
-fno-strict-overflow for integers. With -fwrapv certain types of overflow are permitted. For
example, if the compiler gets an overflow when doing arithmetic on constants, the overflowed value
can still be used with -fwrapv, but not otherwise.
The -fstrict-overflow option is enabled at levels -O2, -O3, -Os.
-falign-arrays
Set the minimum alignment for array variables to be the largest power of two less than or equal to
their total storage size, or the biggest alignment used on the machine, whichever is smaller. This
option may be helpful when compiling legacy code that uses type punning on arrays that does not
strictly conform to the C standard.
-falign-functions
-falign-functions=n
Align the start of functions to the next power-of-two greater than n, skipping up to n bytes. For
instance, -falign-functions=32 aligns functions to the next 32-byte boundary, but
-falign-functions=24 would align to the next 32-byte boundary only if this can be done by skipping 23
bytes or less.
-fno-align-functions and -falign-functions=1 are equivalent and mean that functions will not be
aligned.
Some assemblers only support this flag when n is a power of two; in that case, it is rounded up.
If n is not specified or is zero, use a machine-dependent default.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3.
-falign-labels
-falign-labels=n
Align all branch targets to a power-of-two boundary, skipping up to n bytes like -falign-functions.
This option can easily make code slower, because it must insert dummy operations for when the branch
target is reached in the usual flow of the code.
-fno-align-labels and -falign-labels=1 are equivalent and mean that labels will not be aligned.
If -falign-loops or -falign-jumps are applicable and are greater than this value, then their values
are used instead.
If n is not specified or is zero, use a machine-dependent default which is very likely to be 1,
meaning no alignment.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3.
-falign-loops
-falign-loops=n
Align loops to a power-of-two boundary, skipping up to n bytes like -falign-functions. The hope is
that the loop will be executed many times, which will make up for any execution of the dummy
operations.
-fno-align-loops and -falign-loops=1 are equivalent and mean that loops will not be aligned.
If n is not specified or is zero, use a machine-dependent default.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3.
-falign-jumps
-falign-jumps=n
Align branch targets to a power-of-two boundary, for branch targets where the targets can only be
reached by jumping, skipping up to n bytes like -falign-functions. In this case, no dummy operations
need be executed.
-fno-align-jumps and -falign-jumps=1 are equivalent and mean that loops will not be aligned.
If n is not specified or is zero, use a machine-dependent default.
Enabled at levels -O2, -O3.
-funit-at-a-time
This option is left for compatibility reasons. -funit-at-a-time has no effect, while
-fno-unit-at-a-time implies -fno-toplevel-reorder and -fno-section-anchors.
Enabled by default.
-fno-toplevel-reorder
Do not reorder top-level functions, variables, and "asm" statements. Output them in the same order
that they appear in the input file. When this option is used, unreferenced static variables will not
be removed. This option is intended to support existing code which relies on a particular ordering.
For new code, it is better to use attributes.
Enabled at level -O0. When disabled explicitly, it also imply -fno-section-anchors that is otherwise
enabled at -O0 on some targets.
-fweb
Constructs webs as commonly used for register allocation purposes and assign each web individual
pseudo register. This allows the register allocation pass to operate on pseudos directly, but also
strengthens several other optimization passes, such as CSE, loop optimizer and trivial dead code
remover. It can, however, make debugging impossible, since variables will no longer stay in a "home
register".
Enabled by default with -funroll-loops.
-fwhole-program
Assume that the current compilation unit represents whole program being compiled. All public
functions and variables with the exception of "main" and those merged by attribute
"externally_visible" become static functions and in a affect gets more aggressively optimized by
interprocedural optimizers. While this option is equivalent to proper use of "static" keyword for
programs consisting of single file, in combination with option --combine this flag can be used to
compile most of smaller scale C programs since the functions and variables become local for the whole
combined compilation unit, not for the single source file itself.
This option is not supported for Fortran programs.
-fuse-ld=gold
Use the gold linker instead of the default linker. This option is only necessary if GCC has been
configured with --enable-gold=both or --enable-gold=both/ld. Note: Backported for Debian/Ubuntu from
GCC 4.5.
-fuse-ld=bfd
Use the ld.bfd linker instead of the default linker. This option is only necessary if GCC has been
configured with --enable-gold=both/gold. Note: Backported for Debian/Ubuntu from GCC 4.5.
-fcprop-registers
After register allocation and post-register allocation instruction splitting, we perform a copy-
propagation pass to try to reduce scheduling dependencies and occasionally eliminate the copy.
Enabled at levels -O, -O2, -O3, -Os.
-fprofile-correction
Profiles collected using an instrumented binary for multi-threaded programs may be inconsistent due
to missed counter updates. When this option is specified, GCC will use heuristics to correct or
smooth out such inconsistencies. By default, GCC will emit an error message when an inconsistent
profile is detected.
-fprofile-dir=path
Set the directory to search the profile data files in to path. This option affects only the profile
data generated by -fprofile-generate, -ftest-coverage, -fprofile-arcs and used by -fprofile-use and
-fbranch-probabilities and its related options. By default, GCC will use the current directory as
path thus the profile data file will appear in the same directory as the object file.
-fprofile-generate
-fprofile-generate=path
Enable options usually used for instrumenting application to produce profile useful for later
recompilation with profile feedback based optimization. You must use -fprofile-generate both when
compiling and when linking your program.
The following options are enabled: "-fprofile-arcs", "-fprofile-values", "-fvpt".
If path is specified, GCC will look at the path to find the profile feedback data files. See
-fprofile-dir.
-fprofile-use
-fprofile-use=path
Enable profile feedback directed optimizations, and optimizations generally profitable only with
profile feedback available.
The following options are enabled: "-fbranch-probabilities", "-fvpt", "-funroll-loops",
"-fpeel-loops", "-ftracer"
By default, GCC emits an error message if the feedback profiles do not match the source code. This
error can be turned into a warning by using -Wcoverage-mismatch. Note this may result in poorly
optimized code.
If path is specified, GCC will look at the path to find the profile feedback data files. See
-fprofile-dir.
The following options control compiler behavior regarding floating point arithmetic. These options trade
off between speed and correctness. All must be specifically enabled.
-ffloat-store
Do not store floating point variables in registers, and inhibit other options that might change
whether a floating point value is taken from a register or memory.
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.
-ffast-math
Sets -fno-math-errno, -funsafe-math-optimizations, -ffinite-math-only, -fno-rounding-math,
-fno-signaling-nans and -fcx-limited-range.
This option causes the preprocessor macro "__FAST_MATH__" to be defined.
This option is not turned on by any -O option since it can result in incorrect output for programs
which depend on an exact implementation of IEEE or ISO rules/specifications for math functions. It
may, however, yield faster code for programs that do not require the guarantees of these
specifications.
-fno-math-errno
Do not set ERRNO after calling math functions that are executed with a single instruction, e.g.,
sqrt. A program that relies on IEEE exceptions for math error handling may want to use this flag for
speed while maintaining IEEE arithmetic compatibility.
This option is not turned on by any -O option since it can result in incorrect output for programs
which depend on an exact implementation of IEEE or ISO rules/specifications for math functions. It
may, however, yield faster code for programs that do not require the guarantees of these
specifications.
The default is -fmath-errno.
On Darwin systems, the math library never sets "errno". There is therefore no reason for the
compiler to consider the possibility that it might, and -fno-math-errno is the default.
-funsafe-math-optimizations
Allow optimizations for floating-point arithmetic that (a) assume that arguments and results are
valid and (b) may violate IEEE or ANSI standards. When used at link-time, it may include libraries
or startup files that change the default FPU control word or other similar optimizations.
This option is not turned on by any -O option since it can result in incorrect output for programs
which depend on an exact implementation of IEEE or ISO rules/specifications for math functions. It
may, however, yield faster code for programs that do not require the guarantees of these
specifications. Enables -fno-signed-zeros, -fno-trapping-math, -fassociative-math and
-freciprocal-math.
The default is -fno-unsafe-math-optimizations.
-fassociative-math
Allow re-association of operands in series of floating-point operations. This violates the ISO C and
C++ language standard by possibly changing computation result. NOTE: re-ordering may change the sign
of zero as well as ignore NaNs and inhibit or create underflow or overflow (and thus cannot be used
on a code which relies on rounding behavior like "(x + 2**52) - 2**52)". May also reorder floating-
point comparisons and thus may not be used when ordered comparisons are required. This option
requires that both -fno-signed-zeros and -fno-trapping-math be in effect. Moreover, it doesn't make
much sense with -frounding-math.
The default is -fno-associative-math.
-freciprocal-math
Allow the reciprocal of a value to be used instead of dividing by the value if this enables
optimizations. For example "x / y" can be replaced with "x * (1/y)" which is useful if "(1/y)" is
subject to common subexpression elimination. Note that this loses precision and increases the number
of flops operating on the value.
The default is -fno-reciprocal-math.
-ffinite-math-only
Allow optimizations for floating-point arithmetic that assume that arguments and results are not NaNs
or +-Infs.
This option is not turned on by any -O option since it can result in incorrect output for programs
which depend on an exact implementation of IEEE or ISO rules/specifications for math functions. It
may, however, yield faster code for programs that do not require the guarantees of these
specifications.
The default is -fno-finite-math-only.
-fno-signed-zeros
Allow optimizations for floating point arithmetic that ignore the signedness of zero. IEEE
arithmetic specifies the behavior of distinct +0.0 and -0.0 values, which then prohibits
simplification of expressions such as x+0.0 or 0.0*x (even with -ffinite-math-only). This option
implies that the sign of a zero result isn't significant.
The default is -fsigned-zeros.
-fno-trapping-math
Compile code assuming that floating-point operations cannot generate user-visible traps. These traps
include division by zero, overflow, underflow, inexact result and invalid operation. This option
requires that -fno-signaling-nans be in effect. Setting this option may allow faster code if one
relies on "non-stop" IEEE arithmetic, for example.
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 ISO rules/specifications for math
functions.
The default is -ftrapping-math.
-frounding-math
Disable transformations and optimizations that assume default floating point rounding behavior. This
is round-to-zero for all floating point to integer conversions, and round-to-nearest for all other
arithmetic truncations. This option should be specified for programs that change the FP rounding
mode dynamically, or that may be executed with a non-default rounding mode. This option disables
constant folding of floating point expressions at compile-time (which may be affected by rounding
mode) and arithmetic transformations that are unsafe in the presence of sign-dependent rounding
modes.
The default is -fno-rounding-math.
This option is experimental and does not currently guarantee to disable all GCC optimizations that
are affected by rounding mode. Future versions of GCC may provide finer control of this setting
using C99's "FENV_ACCESS" pragma. This command line option will be used to specify the default state
for "FENV_ACCESS".
-frtl-abstract-sequences
It is a size optimization method. This option is to find identical sequences of code, which can be
turned into pseudo-procedures and then replace all occurrences with calls to the newly created
subroutine. It is kind of an opposite of -finline-functions. This optimization runs at RTL level.
-fsignaling-nans
Compile code assuming that IEEE signaling NaNs may generate user-visible traps during floating-point
operations. Setting this option disables optimizations that may change the number of exceptions
visible with signaling NaNs. This option implies -ftrapping-math.
This option causes the preprocessor macro "__SUPPORT_SNAN__" to be defined.
The default is -fno-signaling-nans.
This option is experimental and does not currently guarantee to disable all GCC optimizations that
affect signaling NaN behavior.
-fsingle-precision-constant
Treat floating point constant as single precision constant instead of implicitly converting it to
double precision constant.
-fcx-limited-range
When enabled, this option states that a range reduction step is not needed when performing complex
division. Also, there is no checking whether the result of a complex multiplication or division is
"NaN + I*NaN", with an attempt to rescue the situation in that case. The default is
-fno-cx-limited-range, but is enabled by -ffast-math.
This option controls the default setting of the ISO C99 "CX_LIMITED_RANGE" pragma. Nevertheless, the
option applies to all languages.
-fcx-fortran-rules
Complex multiplication and division follow Fortran rules. Range reduction is done as part of complex
division, but there is no checking whether the result of a complex multiplication or division is "NaN
+ I*NaN", with an attempt to rescue the situation in that case.
The default is -fno-cx-fortran-rules.
The following options control optimizations that may improve performance, but are not enabled by any -O
options. This section includes experimental options that may produce broken code.
-fbranch-probabilities
After running a program compiled with -fprofile-arcs, you can compile it a second time using
-fbranch-probabilities, to improve optimizations based on the number of times each branch was taken.
When the program compiled with -fprofile-arcs exits it saves arc execution counts to a file called
sourcename.gcda for each source file. The information in this data file is very dependent on the
structure of the generated code, so you must use the same source code and the same optimization
options for both compilations.
With -fbranch-probabilities, GCC puts a REG_BR_PROB note on each JUMP_INSN and CALL_INSN. These can
be used to improve optimization. Currently, they are only used in one place: in reorg.c, instead of
guessing which path a branch is mostly to take, the REG_BR_PROB values are used to exactly determine
which path is taken more often.
-fprofile-values
If combined with -fprofile-arcs, it adds code so that some data about values of expressions in the
program is gathered.
With -fbranch-probabilities, it reads back the data gathered from profiling values of expressions and
adds REG_VALUE_PROFILE notes to instructions for their later usage in optimizations.
Enabled with -fprofile-generate and -fprofile-use.
-fvpt
If combined with -fprofile-arcs, it instructs the compiler to add a code to gather information about
values of expressions.
With -fbranch-probabilities, it reads back the data gathered and actually performs the optimizations
based on them. Currently the optimizations include specialization of division operation using the
knowledge about the value of the denominator.
-frename-registers
Attempt to avoid false dependencies in scheduled code by making use of registers left over after
register allocation. This optimization will most benefit processors with lots of registers.
Depending on the debug information format adopted by the target, however, it can make debugging
impossible, since variables will no longer stay in a "home register".
Enabled by default with -funroll-loops.
-ftracer
Perform tail duplication to enlarge superblock size. This transformation simplifies the control flow
of the function allowing other optimizations to do better job.
Enabled with -fprofile-use.
-funroll-loops
Unroll loops whose number of iterations can be determined at compile time or upon entry to the loop.
-funroll-loops implies -frerun-cse-after-loop, -fweb and -frename-registers. It also turns on
complete loop peeling (i.e. complete removal of loops with small constant number of iterations).
This option makes code larger, and may or may not make it run faster.
Enabled with -fprofile-use.
-funroll-all-loops
Unroll all loops, even if their number of iterations is uncertain when the loop is entered. This
usually makes programs run more slowly. -funroll-all-loops implies the same options as
-funroll-loops.
-fpeel-loops
Peels the loops for that there is enough information that they do not roll much (from profile
feedback). It also turns on complete loop peeling (i.e. complete removal of loops with small
constant number of iterations).
Enabled with -fprofile-use.
-fmove-loop-invariants
Enables the loop invariant motion pass in the RTL loop optimizer. Enabled at level -O1
-funswitch-loops
Move branches with loop invariant conditions out of the loop, with duplicates of the loop on both
branches (modified according to result of the condition).
-ffunction-sections
-fdata-sections
Place each function or data item into its own section in the output file if the target supports
arbitrary sections. The name of the function or the name of the data item determines the section's
name in the output file.
Use these options on systems where the linker can perform optimizations to improve locality of
reference in the instruction space. Most systems using the ELF object format and SPARC processors
running Solaris 2 have linkers with such optimizations. 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.
-fbranch-target-load-optimize
Perform branch target register load optimization before prologue / epilogue threading. The use of
target registers can typically be exposed only during reload, thus hoisting loads out of loops and
doing inter-block scheduling needs a separate optimization pass.
-fbranch-target-load-optimize2
Perform branch target register load optimization after prologue / epilogue threading.
-fbtr-bb-exclusive
When performing branch target register load optimization, don't reuse branch target registers in
within any basic block.
-fstack-protector
Emit extra code to check for buffer overflows, such as stack smashing attacks. This is done by
adding a guard variable to functions with vulnerable objects. This includes functions that call
alloca, and functions with buffers larger than 8 bytes. The guards are initialized when a function
is entered and then checked when the function exits. If a guard check fails, an error message is
printed and the program exits.
NOTE: In Ubuntu 6.10 and later versions this option is enabled by default for C, C++, ObjC, ObjC++,
if neither -fno-stack-protector nor -nostdlib are found.
-fstack-protector-all
Like -fstack-protector except that all functions are protected.
-fsection-anchors
Try to reduce the number of symbolic address calculations by using shared "anchor" symbols to address
nearby objects. This transformation can help to reduce the number of GOT entries and GOT accesses on
some targets.
For example, the implementation of the following function "foo":
static int a, b, c;
int foo (void) { return a + b + c; }
would usually calculate the addresses of all three variables, but if you compile it with
-fsection-anchors, it will access the variables from a common anchor point instead. The effect is
similar to the following pseudocode (which isn't valid C):
int foo (void)
{
register int *xr = &x;
return xr[&a - &x] + xr[&b - &x] + xr[&c - &x];
}
Not all targets support this option.
-fremove-local-statics
Converts function-local static variables to automatic variables when it is safe to do so. This
transformation can reduce the number of instructions executed due to automatic variables being
cheaper to read/write than static variables.
-fpromote-loop-indices
Converts loop indices that have a type shorter than the word size to word-sized quantities. This
transformation can reduce the overhead associated with sign/zero-extension and truncation of such
variables. Using -funsafe-loop-optimizations with this option may result in more effective
optimization.
--param name=value
In some places, GCC uses various constants to control the amount of optimization that is done. For
example, GCC will not inline functions that contain more that a certain number of instructions. You
can control some of these constants on the command-line using the --param option.
The names of specific parameters, and the meaning of the values, are tied to the internals of the
compiler, and are subject to change without notice in future releases.
In each case, the value is an integer. The allowable choices for name are given in the following
table:
sra-max-structure-size
The maximum structure size, in bytes, at which the scalar replacement of aggregates (SRA)
optimization will perform block copies. The default value, 0, implies that GCC will select the
most appropriate size itself.
sra-field-structure-ratio
The threshold ratio (as a percentage) between instantiated fields and the complete structure
size. We say that if the ratio of the number of bytes in instantiated fields to the number of
bytes in the complete structure exceeds this parameter, then block copies are not used. The
default is 75.
struct-reorg-cold-struct-ratio
The threshold ratio (as a percentage) between a structure frequency and the frequency of the
hottest structure in the program. This parameter is used by struct-reorg optimization enabled by
-fipa-struct-reorg. We say that if the ratio of a structure frequency, calculated by profiling,
to the hottest structure frequency in the program is less than this parameter, then structure
reorganization is not applied to this structure. The default is 10.
predictable-branch-cost-outcome
When branch is predicted to be taken with probability lower than this threshold (in percent),
then it is considered well predictable. The default is 10.
max-crossjump-edges
The maximum number of incoming edges to consider for crossjumping. The algorithm used by
-fcrossjumping is O(N^2) in the number of edges incoming to each block. Increasing values mean
more aggressive optimization, making the compile time increase with probably small improvement in
executable size.
min-crossjump-insns
The minimum number of instructions which must be matched at the end of two blocks before
crossjumping will be performed on them. This value is ignored in the case where all instructions
in the block being crossjumped from are matched. The default value is 5.
max-grow-copy-bb-insns
The maximum code size expansion factor when copying basic blocks instead of jumping. The
expansion is relative to a jump instruction. The default value is 8.
max-goto-duplication-insns
The maximum number of instructions to duplicate to a block that jumps to a computed goto. To
avoid O(N^2) behavior in a number of passes, GCC factors computed gotos early in the compilation
process, and unfactors them as late as possible. Only computed jumps at the end of a basic
blocks with no more than max-goto-duplication-insns are unfactored. The default value is 8.
max-delay-slot-insn-search
The maximum number of instructions to consider when looking for an instruction to fill a delay
slot. If more than this arbitrary number of instructions is searched, the time savings from
filling the delay slot will be minimal so stop searching. Increasing values mean more aggressive
optimization, making the compile time increase with probably small improvement in executable run
time.
max-delay-slot-live-search
When trying to fill delay slots, the maximum number of instructions to consider when searching
for a block with valid live register information. Increasing this arbitrarily chosen value means
more aggressive optimization, increasing the compile time. This parameter should be removed when
the delay slot code is rewritten to maintain the control-flow graph.
max-gcse-memory
The approximate maximum amount of memory that will be allocated in order to perform the global
common subexpression elimination optimization. If more memory than specified is required, the
optimization will not be done.
max-gcse-passes
The maximum number of passes of GCSE to run. The default is 1.
max-pending-list-length
The maximum number of pending dependencies scheduling will allow before flushing the current
state and starting over. Large functions with few branches or calls can create excessively large
lists which needlessly consume memory and resources.
max-inline-insns-single
Several parameters control the tree inliner used in gcc. This number sets the maximum number of
instructions (counted in GCC's internal representation) in a single function that the tree
inliner will consider for inlining. This only affects functions declared inline and methods
implemented in a class declaration (C++). The default value is 450.
max-inline-insns-auto
When you use -finline-functions (included in -O3), a lot of functions that would otherwise not be
considered for inlining by the compiler will be investigated. To those functions, a different
(more restrictive) limit compared to functions declared inline can be applied. The default value
is 90.
large-function-insns
The limit specifying really large functions. For functions larger than this limit after
inlining, inlining is constrained by --param large-function-growth. This parameter is useful
primarily to avoid extreme compilation time caused by non-linear algorithms used by the backend.
The default value is 2700.
large-function-growth
Specifies maximal growth of large function caused by inlining in percents. The default value is
100 which limits large function growth to 2.0 times the original size.
large-unit-insns
The limit specifying large translation unit. Growth caused by inlining of units larger than this
limit is limited by --param inline-unit-growth. For small units this might be too tight
(consider unit consisting of function A that is inline and B that just calls A three time. If B
is small relative to A, the growth of unit is 300\% and yet such inlining is very sane. For very
large units consisting of small inlineable functions however the overall unit growth limit is
needed to avoid exponential explosion of code size. Thus for smaller units, the size is
increased to --param large-unit-insns before applying --param inline-unit-growth. The default is
10000
inline-unit-growth
Specifies maximal overall growth of the compilation unit caused by inlining. The default value
is 30 which limits unit growth to 1.3 times the original size.
ipcp-unit-growth
Specifies maximal overall growth of the compilation unit caused by interprocedural constant
propagation. The default value is 10 which limits unit growth to 1.1 times the original size.
large-stack-frame
The limit specifying large stack frames. While inlining the algorithm is trying to not grow past
this limit too much. Default value is 256 bytes.
large-stack-frame-growth
Specifies maximal growth of large stack frames caused by inlining in percents. The default value
is 1000 which limits large stack frame growth to 11 times the original size.
max-inline-insns-recursive
max-inline-insns-recursive-auto
Specifies maximum number of instructions out-of-line copy of self recursive inline function can
grow into by performing recursive inlining.
For functions declared inline --param max-inline-insns-recursive is taken into account. For
function not declared inline, recursive inlining happens only when -finline-functions (included
in -O3) is enabled and --param max-inline-insns-recursive-auto is used. The default value is
450.
max-inline-recursive-depth
max-inline-recursive-depth-auto
Specifies maximum recursion depth used by the recursive inlining.
For functions declared inline --param max-inline-recursive-depth is taken into account. For
function not declared inline, recursive inlining happens only when -finline-functions (included
in -O3) is enabled and --param max-inline-recursive-depth-auto is used. The default value is 8.
min-inline-recursive-probability
Recursive inlining is profitable only for function having deep recursion in average and can hurt
for function having little recursion depth by increasing the prologue size or complexity of
function body to other optimizers.
When profile feedback is available (see -fprofile-generate) the actual recursion depth can be
guessed from probability that function will recurse via given call expression. This parameter
limits inlining only to call expression whose probability exceeds given threshold (in percents).
The default value is 10.
inline-call-cost
Specify cost of call instruction relative to simple arithmetics operations (having cost of 1).
Increasing this cost disqualifies inlining of non-leaf functions and at the same time increases
size of leaf function that is believed to reduce function size by being inlined. In effect it
increases amount of inlining for code having large abstraction penalty (many functions that just
pass the arguments to other functions) and decrease inlining for code with low abstraction
penalty. The default value is 12.
min-vect-loop-bound
The minimum number of iterations under which a loop will not get vectorized when -ftree-vectorize
is used. The number of iterations after vectorization needs to be greater than the value
specified by this option to allow vectorization. The default value is 0.
max-unrolled-insns
The maximum number of instructions that a loop should have if that loop is unrolled, and if the
loop is unrolled, it determines how many times the loop code is unrolled.
max-average-unrolled-insns
The maximum number of instructions biased by probabilities of their execution that a loop should
have if that loop is unrolled, and if the loop is unrolled, it determines how many times the loop
code is unrolled.
max-unroll-times
The maximum number of unrollings of a single loop.
max-peeled-insns
The maximum number of instructions that a loop should have if that loop is peeled, and if the
loop is peeled, it determines how many times the loop code is peeled.
max-peel-times
The maximum number of peelings of a single loop.
max-completely-peeled-insns
The maximum number of insns of a completely peeled loop.
max-completely-peel-times
The maximum number of iterations of a loop to be suitable for complete peeling.
max-completely-peel-loop-nest-depth
The maximum depth of a loop nest suitable for complete peeling.
max-unswitch-insns
The maximum number of insns of an unswitched loop.
max-unswitch-level
The maximum number of branches unswitched in a single loop.
lim-expensive
The minimum cost of an expensive expression in the loop invariant motion.
iv-consider-all-candidates-bound
Bound on number of candidates for induction variables below that all candidates are considered
for each use in induction variable optimizations. Only the most relevant candidates are
considered if there are more candidates, to avoid quadratic time complexity.
iv-max-considered-uses
The induction variable optimizations give up on loops that contain more induction variable uses.
iv-always-prune-cand-set-bound
If number of candidates in the set is smaller than this value, we always try to remove
unnecessary ivs from the set during its optimization when a new iv is added to the set.
scev-max-expr-size
Bound on size of expressions used in the scalar evolutions analyzer. Large expressions slow the
analyzer.
omega-max-vars
The maximum number of variables in an Omega constraint system. The default value is 128.
omega-max-geqs
The maximum number of inequalities in an Omega constraint system. The default value is 256.
omega-max-eqs
The maximum number of equalities in an Omega constraint system. The default value is 128.
omega-max-wild-cards
The maximum number of wildcard variables that the Omega solver will be able to insert. The
default value is 18.
omega-hash-table-size
The size of the hash table in the Omega solver. The default value is 550.
omega-max-keys
The maximal number of keys used by the Omega solver. The default value is 500.
omega-eliminate-redundant-constraints
When set to 1, use expensive methods to eliminate all redundant constraints. The default value
is 0.
vect-max-version-for-alignment-checks
The maximum number of runtime checks that can be performed when doing loop versioning for
alignment in the vectorizer. See option ftree-vect-loop-version for more information.
vect-max-version-for-alias-checks
The maximum number of runtime checks that can be performed when doing loop versioning for alias
in the vectorizer. See option ftree-vect-loop-version for more information.
max-iterations-to-track
The maximum number of iterations of a loop the brute force algorithm for analysis of # of
iterations of the loop tries to evaluate.
hot-bb-count-fraction
Select fraction of the maximal count of repetitions of basic block in program given basic block
needs to have to be considered hot.
hot-bb-frequency-fraction
Select fraction of the maximal frequency of executions of basic block in function given basic
block needs to have to be considered hot
max-predicted-iterations
The maximum number of loop iterations we predict statically. This is useful in cases where
function contain single loop with known bound and other loop with unknown. We predict the known
number of iterations correctly, while the unknown number of iterations average to roughly 10.
This means that the loop without bounds would appear artificially cold relative to the other one.
align-threshold
Select fraction of the maximal frequency of executions of basic block in function given basic
block will get aligned.
align-loop-iterations
A loop expected to iterate at lest the selected number of iterations will get aligned.
tracer-dynamic-coverage
tracer-dynamic-coverage-feedback
This value is used to limit superblock formation once the given percentage of executed
instructions is covered. This limits unnecessary code size expansion.
The tracer-dynamic-coverage-feedback is used only when profile feedback is available. The real
profiles (as opposed to statically estimated ones) are much less balanced allowing the threshold
to be larger value.
tracer-max-code-growth
Stop tail duplication once code growth has reached given percentage. This is rather hokey
argument, as most of the duplicates will be eliminated later in cross jumping, so it may be set
to much higher values than is the desired code growth.
tracer-min-branch-ratio
Stop reverse growth when the reverse probability of best edge is less than this threshold (in
percent).
tracer-min-branch-ratio
tracer-min-branch-ratio-feedback
Stop forward growth if the best edge do have probability lower than this threshold.
Similarly to tracer-dynamic-coverage two values are present, one for compilation for profile
feedback and one for compilation without. The value for compilation with profile feedback needs
to be more conservative (higher) in order to make tracer effective.
max-cse-path-length
Maximum number of basic blocks on path that cse considers. The default is 10.
max-cse-insns
The maximum instructions CSE process before flushing. The default is 1000.
max-aliased-vops
Maximum number of virtual operands per function allowed to represent aliases before triggering
the alias partitioning heuristic. Alias partitioning reduces compile times and memory
consumption needed for aliasing at the expense of precision loss in alias information. The
default value for this parameter is 100 for -O1, 500 for -O2 and 1000 for -O3.
Notice that if a function contains more memory statements than the value of this parameter, it is
not really possible to achieve this reduction. In this case, the compiler will use the number of
memory statements as the value for max-aliased-vops.
avg-aliased-vops
Average number of virtual operands per statement allowed to represent aliases before triggering
the alias partitioning heuristic. This works in conjunction with max-aliased-vops. If a
function contains more than max-aliased-vops virtual operators, then memory symbols will be
grouped into memory partitions until either the total number of virtual operators is below max-
aliased-vops or the average number of virtual operators per memory statement is below avg-
aliased-vops. The default value for this parameter is 1 for -O1 and -O2, and 3 for -O3.
ggc-min-expand
GCC uses a garbage collector to manage its own memory allocation. This parameter specifies the
minimum percentage by which the garbage collector's heap should be allowed to expand between
collections. Tuning this may improve compilation speed; it has no effect on code generation.
The default is 30% + 70% * (RAM/1GB) with an upper bound of 100% when RAM >= 1GB. If "getrlimit"
is available, the notion of "RAM" is the smallest of actual RAM and "RLIMIT_DATA" or "RLIMIT_AS".
If GCC is not able to calculate RAM on a particular platform, the lower bound of 30% is used.
Setting this parameter and ggc-min-heapsize to zero causes a full collection to occur at every
opportunity. This is extremely slow, but can be useful for debugging.
ggc-min-heapsize
Minimum size of the garbage collector's heap before it begins bothering to collect garbage. The
first collection occurs after the heap expands by ggc-min-expand% beyond ggc-min-heapsize.
Again, tuning this may improve compilation speed, and has no effect on code generation.
The default is the smaller of RAM/8, RLIMIT_RSS, or a limit which tries to ensure that
RLIMIT_DATA or RLIMIT_AS are not exceeded, but with a lower bound of 4096 (four megabytes) and an
upper bound of 131072 (128 megabytes). If GCC is not able to calculate RAM on a particular
platform, the lower bound is used. Setting this parameter very large effectively disables
garbage collection. Setting this parameter and ggc-min-expand to zero causes a full collection
to occur at every opportunity.
max-reload-search-insns
The maximum number of instruction reload should look backward for equivalent register.
Increasing values mean more aggressive optimization, making the compile time increase with
probably slightly better performance. The default value is 100.
max-cselib-memory-locations
The maximum number of memory locations cselib should take into account. Increasing values mean
more aggressive optimization, making the compile time increase with probably slightly better
performance. The default value is 500.
reorder-blocks-duplicate
reorder-blocks-duplicate-feedback
Used by basic block reordering pass to decide whether to use unconditional branch or duplicate
the code on its destination. Code is duplicated when its estimated size is smaller than this
value multiplied by the estimated size of unconditional jump in the hot spots of the program.
The reorder-block-duplicate-feedback is used only when profile feedback is available and may be
set to higher values than reorder-block-duplicate since information about the hot spots is more
accurate.
max-sched-ready-insns
The maximum number of instructions ready to be issued the scheduler should consider at any given
time during the first scheduling pass. Increasing values mean more thorough searches, making the
compilation time increase with probably little benefit. The default value is 100.
max-sched-region-blocks
The maximum number of blocks in a region to be considered for interblock scheduling. The default
value is 10.
max-pipeline-region-blocks
The maximum number of blocks in a region to be considered for pipelining in the selective
scheduler. The default value is 15.
max-sched-region-insns
The maximum number of insns in a region to be considered for interblock scheduling. The default
value is 100.
max-pipeline-region-insns
The maximum number of insns in a region to be considered for pipelining in the selective
scheduler. The default value is 200.
min-spec-prob
The minimum probability (in percents) of reaching a source block for interblock speculative
scheduling. The default value is 40.
max-sched-extend-regions-iters
The maximum number of iterations through CFG to extend regions. 0 - disable region extension, N
- do at most N iterations. The default value is 0.
max-sched-insn-conflict-delay
The maximum conflict delay for an insn to be considered for speculative motion. The default
value is 3.
sched-spec-prob-cutoff
The minimal probability of speculation success (in percents), so that speculative insn will be
scheduled. The default value is 40.
sched-mem-true-dep-cost
Minimal distance (in CPU cycles) between store and load targeting same memory locations. The
default value is 1.
selsched-max-lookahead
The maximum size of the lookahead window of selective scheduling. It is a depth of search for
available instructions. The default value is 50.
selsched-max-sched-times
The maximum number of times that an instruction will be scheduled during selective scheduling.
This is the limit on the number of iterations through which the instruction may be pipelined.
The default value is 2.
selsched-max-insns-to-rename
The maximum number of best instructions in the ready list that are considered for renaming in the
selective scheduler. The default value is 2.
max-last-value-rtl
The maximum size measured as number of RTLs that can be recorded in an expression in combiner for
a pseudo register as last known value of that register. The default is 10000.
integer-share-limit
Small integer constants can use a shared data structure, reducing the compiler's memory usage and
increasing its speed. This sets the maximum value of a shared integer constant. The default
value is 256.
min-virtual-mappings
Specifies the minimum number of virtual mappings in the incremental SSA updater that should be
registered to trigger the virtual mappings heuristic defined by virtual-mappings-ratio. The
default value is 100.
virtual-mappings-ratio
If the number of virtual mappings is virtual-mappings-ratio bigger than the number of virtual
symbols to be updated, then the incremental SSA updater switches to a full update for those
symbols. The default ratio is 3.
ssp-buffer-size
The minimum size of buffers (i.e. arrays) that will receive stack smashing protection when
-fstack-protection is used.
max-jump-thread-duplication-stmts
Maximum number of statements allowed in a block that needs to be duplicated when threading jumps.
max-fields-for-field-sensitive
Maximum number of fields in a structure we will treat in a field sensitive manner during pointer
analysis. The default is zero for -O0, and -O1 and 100 for -Os, -O2, and -O3.
prefetch-latency
Estimate on average number of instructions that are executed before prefetch finishes. The
distance we prefetch ahead is proportional to this constant. Increasing this number may also
lead to less streams being prefetched (see simultaneous-prefetches).
simultaneous-prefetches
Maximum number of prefetches that can run at the same time.
l1-cache-line-size
The size of cache line in L1 cache, in bytes.
l1-cache-size
The size of L1 cache, in kilobytes.
l2-cache-size
The size of L2 cache, in kilobytes.
use-canonical-types
Whether the compiler should use the "canonical" type system. By default, this should always be
1, which uses a more efficient internal mechanism for comparing types in C++ and Objective-C++.
However, if bugs in the canonical type system are causing compilation failures, set this value to
0 to disable canonical types.
switch-conversion-max-branch-ratio
Switch initialization conversion will refuse to create arrays that are bigger than switch-
conversion-max-branch-ratio times the number of branches in the switch.
max-partial-antic-length
Maximum length of the partial antic set computed during the tree partial redundancy elimination
optimization (-ftree-pre) when optimizing at -O3 and above. For some sorts of source code the
enhanced partial redundancy elimination optimization can run away, consuming all of the memory
available on the host machine. This parameter sets a limit on the length of the sets that are
computed, which prevents the runaway behavior. Setting a value of 0 for this parameter will
allow an unlimited set length.
sccvn-max-scc-size
Maximum size of a strongly connected component (SCC) during SCCVN processing. If this limit is
hit, SCCVN processing for the whole function will not be done and optimizations depending on it
will be disabled. The default maximum SCC size is 10000.
ira-max-loops-num
IRA uses a regional register allocation by default. If a function contains loops more than
number given by the parameter, only at most given number of the most frequently executed loops
will form regions for the regional register allocation. The default value of the parameter is
100.
ira-max-conflict-table-size
Although IRA uses a sophisticated algorithm of compression conflict table, the table can be still
big for huge functions. If the conflict table for a function could be more than size in MB given
by the parameter, the conflict table is not built and faster, simpler, and lower quality register
allocation algorithm will be used. The algorithm do not use pseudo-register conflicts. The
default value of the parameter is 2000.
loop-invariant-max-bbs-in-loop
Loop invariant motion can be very expensive, both in compile time and in amount of needed compile
time memory, with very large loops. Loops with more basic blocks than this parameter won't have
loop invariant motion optimization performed on them. The default value of the parameter is 1000
for -O1 and 10000 for -O2 and above.
Options Controlling the Preprocessor
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.
-Wp,option
You can use -Wp,option to bypass the compiler driver and pass option directly through to the
preprocessor. If option contains commas, it is split into multiple options at the commas. However,
many options are modified, translated or interpreted by the compiler driver before being passed to
the preprocessor, and -Wp forcibly bypasses this phase. The preprocessor's direct interface is
undocumented and subject to change, so whenever possible you should avoid using -Wp and let the
driver handle the options instead.
-Xpreprocessor option
Pass option as an option to the preprocessor. You can use this to supply system-specific
preprocessor options which GCC does not know how to recognize.
If you want to pass an option that takes an argument, you must use -Xpreprocessor twice, once for the
option and once for the argument.
-D name
Predefine name as a macro, with definition 1.
-D name=definition
The contents of definition are tokenized and processed as if they appeared during translation phase
three in a #define directive. In particular, the definition will be truncated by embedded newline
characters.
If you are invoking the preprocessor from a shell or shell-like program you may need to use the
shell's quoting syntax to protect characters such as spaces that have a meaning in the shell syntax.
If you wish to define a function-like macro on the command line, write its argument list with
surrounding parentheses before the equals sign (if any). Parentheses are meaningful to most shells,
so you will need to quote the option. With sh and csh, -D'name(args...)=definition' works.
-D and -U options are processed in the order they are given on the command line. All -imacros file
and -include file options are processed after all -D and -U options.
-U name
Cancel any previous definition of name, either built in or provided with a -D option.
-undef
Do not predefine any system-specific or GCC-specific macros. The standard predefined macros remain
defined.
-I dir
Add the directory dir to the list of directories to be searched for header files. Directories named
by -I are searched before the standard system include directories. If the directory dir is a
standard system include directory, the option is ignored to ensure that the default search order for
system directories and the special treatment of system headers are not defeated . If dir begins with
"=", then the "=" will be replaced by the sysroot prefix; see --sysroot and -isysroot.
-o file
Write output to file. This is the same as specifying file as the second non-option argument to cpp.
gcc has a different interpretation of a second non-option argument, so you must use -o to specify the
output file.
-Wall
Turns on all optional warnings which are desirable for normal code. At present this is -Wcomment,
-Wtrigraphs, -Wmultichar and a warning about integer promotion causing a change of sign in "#if"
expressions. Note that many of the preprocessor's warnings are on by default and have no options to
control them.
-Wcomment
-Wcomments
Warn whenever a comment-start sequence /* appears in a /* comment, or whenever a backslash-newline
appears in a // comment. (Both forms have the same effect.)
-Wtrigraphs
Most trigraphs in comments cannot affect the meaning of the program. However, a trigraph that would
form an escaped newline (??/ at the end of a line) can, by changing where the comment begins or ends.
Therefore, only trigraphs that would form escaped newlines produce warnings inside a comment.
This option is implied by -Wall. If -Wall is not given, this option is still enabled unless
trigraphs are enabled. To get trigraph conversion without warnings, but get the other -Wall
warnings, use -trigraphs -Wall -Wno-trigraphs.
-Wtraditional
Warn about certain constructs that behave differently in traditional and ISO C. Also warn about ISO
C constructs that have no traditional C equivalent, and problematic constructs which should be
avoided.
-Wundef
Warn whenever an identifier which is not a macro is encountered in an #if directive, outside of
defined. Such identifiers are replaced with zero.
-Wunused-macros
Warn about macros defined in the main file that are unused. A macro is used if it is expanded or
tested for existence at least once. The preprocessor will also warn if the macro has not been used
at the time it is redefined or undefined.
Built-in macros, macros defined on the command line, and macros defined in include files are not
warned about.
Note: If a macro is actually used, but only used in skipped conditional blocks, then CPP will report
it as unused. To avoid the warning in such a case, you might improve the scope of the macro's
definition by, for example, moving it into the first skipped block. Alternatively, you could provide
a dummy use with something like:
#if defined the_macro_causing_the_warning
#endif
-Wendif-labels
Warn whenever an #else or an #endif are followed by text. This usually happens in code of the form
#if FOO
...
#else FOO
...
#endif FOO
The second and third "FOO" should be in comments, but often are not in older programs. This warning
is on by default.
-Werror
Make all warnings into hard errors. Source code which triggers warnings will be rejected.
-Wsystem-headers
Issue warnings for code in system headers. These are normally unhelpful in finding bugs in your own
code, therefore suppressed. If you are responsible for the system library, you may want to see them.
-w Suppress all warnings, including those which GNU CPP issues by default.
-pedantic
Issue all the mandatory diagnostics listed in the C standard. Some of them are left out by default,
since they trigger frequently on harmless code.
-pedantic-errors
Issue all the mandatory diagnostics, and make all mandatory diagnostics into errors. This includes
mandatory diagnostics that GCC issues without -pedantic but treats as warnings.
-M Instead of outputting the result of preprocessing, output a rule suitable for make describing the
dependencies of the main source file. The preprocessor outputs one make rule containing the object
file name for that source file, a colon, and the names of all the included files, including those
coming from -include or -imacros command line options.
Unless specified explicitly (with -MT or -MQ), the object file name consists of the name of the
source file with any suffix replaced with object file suffix and with any leading directory parts
removed. If there are many included files then the rule is split into several lines using \-newline.
The rule has no commands.
This option does not suppress the preprocessor's debug output, such as -dM. To avoid mixing such
debug output with the dependency rules you should explicitly specify the dependency output file with
-MF, or use an environment variable like DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT. Debug output will still be sent to the
regular output stream as normal.
Passing -M to the driver implies -E, and suppresses warnings with an implicit -w.
-MM Like -M but do not mention header files that are found in system header directories, nor header files
that are included, directly or indirectly, from such a header.
This implies that the choice of angle brackets or double quotes in an #include directive does not in
itself determine whether that header will appear in -MM dependency output. This is a slight change
in semantics from GCC versions 3.0 and earlier.
-MF file
When used with -M or -MM, specifies a file to write the dependencies to. If no -MF switch is given
the preprocessor sends the rules to the same place it would have sent preprocessed output.
When used with the driver options -MD or -MMD, -MF overrides the default dependency output file.
-MG In conjunction with an option such as -M requesting dependency generation, -MG assumes missing header
files are generated files and adds them to the dependency list without raising an error. The
dependency filename is taken directly from the "#include" directive without prepending any path. -MG
also suppresses preprocessed output, as a missing header file renders this useless.
This feature is used in automatic updating of makefiles.
-MP This option instructs CPP to add a phony target for each dependency other than the main file, causing
each to depend on nothing. These dummy rules work around errors make gives if you remove header
files without updating the Makefile to match.
This is typical output:
test.o: test.c test.h
test.h:
-MT target
Change the target of the rule emitted by dependency generation. By default CPP takes the name of the
main input file, deletes any directory components and any file suffix such as .c, and appends the
platform's usual object suffix. The result is the target.
An -MT option will set the target to be exactly the string you specify. If you want multiple
targets, you can specify them as a single argument to -MT, or use multiple -MT options.
For example, -MT '$(objpfx)foo.o' might give
$(objpfx)foo.o: foo.c
-MQ target
Same as -MT, but it quotes any characters which are special to Make. -MQ '$(objpfx)foo.o' gives
$$(objpfx)foo.o: foo.c
The default target is automatically quoted, as if it were given with -MQ.
-MD -MD is equivalent to -M -MF file, except that -E is not implied. The driver determines file based on
whether an -o option is given. If it is, the driver uses its argument but with a suffix of .d,
otherwise it takes the name of the input file, removes any directory components and suffix, and
applies a .d suffix.
If -MD is used in conjunction with -E, any -o switch is understood to specify the dependency output
file, but if used without -E, each -o is understood to specify a target object file.
Since -E is not implied, -MD can be used to generate a dependency output file as a side-effect of the
compilation process.
-MMD
Like -MD except mention only user header files, not system header files.
-fpch-deps
When using precompiled headers, this flag will cause the dependency-output flags to also list the
files from the precompiled header's dependencies. If not specified only the precompiled header would
be listed and not the files that were used to create it because those files are not consulted when a
precompiled header is used.
-fpch-preprocess
This option allows use of a precompiled header together with -E. It inserts a special "#pragma",
"#pragma GCC pch_preprocess "<filename>"" in the output to mark the place where the precompiled
header was found, and its filename. When -fpreprocessed is in use, GCC recognizes this "#pragma" and
loads the PCH.
This option is off by default, because the resulting preprocessed output is only really suitable as
input to GCC. It is switched on by -save-temps.
You should not write this "#pragma" in your own code, but it is safe to edit the filename if the PCH
file is available in a different location. The filename may be absolute or it may be relative to
GCC's current directory.
-x c
-x c++
-x objective-c
-x assembler-with-cpp
Specify the source language: C, C++, Objective-C, or assembly. This has nothing to do with standards
conformance or extensions; it merely selects which base syntax to expect. If you give none of these
options, cpp will deduce the language from the extension of the source file: .c, .cc, .m, or .S.
Some other common extensions for C++ and assembly are also recognized. If cpp does not recognize the
extension, it will treat the file as C; this is the most generic mode.
Note: Previous versions of cpp accepted a -lang option which selected both the language and the
standards conformance level. This option has been removed, because it conflicts with the -l option.
-std=standard
-ansi
Specify the standard to which the code should conform. Currently CPP knows about C and C++
standards; others may be added in the future.
standard may be one of:
"iso9899:1990"
"c89"
The ISO C standard from 1990. c89 is the customary shorthand for this version of the standard.
The -ansi option is equivalent to -std=c89.
"iso9899:199409"
The 1990 C standard, as amended in 1994.
"iso9899:1999"
"c99"
"iso9899:199x"
"c9x"
The revised ISO C standard, published in December 1999. Before publication, this was known as
C9X.
"gnu89"
The 1990 C standard plus GNU extensions. This is the default.
"gnu99"
"gnu9x"
The 1999 C standard plus GNU extensions.
"c++98"
The 1998 ISO C++ standard plus amendments.
"gnu++98"
The same as -std=c++98 plus GNU extensions. This is the default for C++ code.
-I- Split the include path. Any directories specified with -I options before -I- are searched only for
headers requested with "#include "file""; they are not searched for "#include <file>". If additional
directories are specified with -I options after the -I-, those directories are searched for all
#include directives.
In addition, -I- inhibits the use of the directory of the current file directory as the first search
directory for "#include "file"". This option has been deprecated.
-nostdinc
Do not search the standard system directories for header files. Only the directories you have
specified with -I options (and the directory of the current file, if appropriate) are searched.
-nostdinc++
Do not search for header files in the C++-specific standard directories, but do still search the
other standard directories. (This option is used when building the C++ library.)
-include file
Process file as if "#include "file"" appeared as the first line of the primary source file. However,
the first directory searched for file is the preprocessor's working directory instead of the
directory containing the main source file. If not found there, it is searched for in the remainder
of the "#include "..."" search chain as normal.
If multiple -include options are given, the files are included in the order they appear on the
command line.
-imacros file
Exactly like -include, except that any output produced by scanning file is thrown away. Macros it
defines remain defined. This allows you to acquire all the macros from a header without also
processing its declarations.
All files specified by -imacros are processed before all files specified by -include.
-idirafter dir
Search dir for header files, but do it after all directories specified with -I and the standard
system directories have been exhausted. dir is treated as a system include directory. If dir begins
with "=", then the "=" will be replaced by the sysroot prefix; see --sysroot and -isysroot.
-iprefix prefix
Specify prefix as the prefix for subsequent -iwithprefix options. If the prefix represents a
directory, you should include the final /.
-iwithprefix dir
-iwithprefixbefore dir
Append dir to the prefix specified previously with -iprefix, and add the resulting directory to the
include search path. -iwithprefixbefore puts it in the same place -I would; -iwithprefix puts it
where -idirafter would.
-isysroot dir
This option is like the --sysroot option, but applies only to header files. See the --sysroot option
for more information.
-imultilib dir
Use dir as a subdirectory of the directory containing target-specific C++ headers.
-isystem dir
Search dir for header files, after all directories specified by -I but before the standard system
directories. Mark it as a system directory, so that it gets the same special treatment as is applied
to the standard system directories. If dir begins with "=", then the "=" will be replaced by the
sysroot prefix; see --sysroot and -isysroot.
-iquote dir
Search dir only for header files requested with "#include "file""; they are not searched for
"#include <file>", before all directories specified by -I and before the standard system directories.
If dir begins with "=", then the "=" will be replaced by the sysroot prefix; see --sysroot and
-isysroot.
-fdirectives-only
When preprocessing, handle directives, but do not expand macros.
The option's behavior depends on the -E and -fpreprocessed options.
With -E, preprocessing is limited to the handling of directives such as "#define", "#ifdef", and
"#error". Other preprocessor operations, such as macro expansion and trigraph conversion are not
performed. In addition, the -dD option is implicitly enabled.
With -fpreprocessed, predefinition of command line and most builtin macros is disabled. Macros such
as "__LINE__", which are contextually dependent, are handled normally. This enables compilation of
files previously preprocessed with "-E -fdirectives-only".
With both -E and -fpreprocessed, the rules for -fpreprocessed take precedence. This enables full
preprocessing of files previously preprocessed with "-E -fdirectives-only".
-fdollars-in-identifiers
Accept $ in identifiers.
-fextended-identifiers
Accept universal character names in identifiers. This option is experimental; in a future version of
GCC, it will be enabled by default for C99 and C++.
-fpreprocessed
Indicate to the preprocessor that the input file has already been preprocessed. This suppresses
things like macro expansion, trigraph conversion, escaped newline splicing, and processing of most
directives. The preprocessor still recognizes and removes comments, so that you can pass a file
preprocessed with -C to the compiler without problems. In this mode the integrated preprocessor is
little more than a tokenizer for the front ends.
-fpreprocessed is implicit if the input file has one of the extensions .i, .ii or .mi. These are the
extensions that GCC uses for preprocessed files created by -save-temps.
-ftabstop=width
Set the distance between tab stops. This helps the preprocessor report correct column numbers in
warnings or errors, even if tabs appear on the line. If the value is less than 1 or greater than
100, the option is ignored. The default is 8.
-fexec-charset=charset
Set the execution character set, used for string and character constants. The default is UTF-8.
charset can be any encoding supported by the system's "iconv" library routine.
-fwide-exec-charset=charset
Set the wide execution character set, used for wide string and character constants. The default is
UTF-32 or UTF-16, whichever corresponds to the width of "wchar_t". As with -fexec-charset, charset
can be any encoding supported by the system's "iconv" library routine; however, you will have
problems with encodings that do not fit exactly in "wchar_t".
-finput-charset=charset
Set the input character set, used for translation from the character set of the input file to the
source character set used by GCC. If the locale does not specify, or GCC cannot get this information
from the locale, the default is UTF-8. This can be overridden by either the locale or this command
line option. Currently the command line option takes precedence if there's a conflict. charset can
be any encoding supported by the system's "iconv" library routine.
-fworking-directory
Enable generation of linemarkers in the preprocessor output that will let the compiler know the
current working directory at the time of preprocessing. When this option is enabled, the
preprocessor will emit, after the initial linemarker, a second linemarker with the current working
directory followed by two slashes. GCC will use this directory, when it's present in the
preprocessed input, as the directory emitted as the current working directory in some debugging
information formats. This option is implicitly enabled if debugging information is enabled, but this
can be inhibited with the negated form -fno-working-directory. If the -P flag is present in the
command line, this option has no effect, since no "#line" directives are emitted whatsoever.
-fno-show-column
Do not print column numbers in diagnostics. This may be necessary if diagnostics are being scanned
by a program that does not understand the column numbers, such as dejagnu.
-A predicate=answer
Make an assertion with the predicate predicate and answer answer. This form is preferred to the
older form -A predicate(answer), which is still supported, because it does not use shell special
characters.
-A -predicate=answer
Cancel an assertion with the predicate predicate and answer answer.
-dCHARS
CHARS is a sequence of one or more of the following characters, and must not be preceded by a space.
Other characters are interpreted by the compiler proper, or reserved for future versions of GCC, and
so are silently ignored. If you specify characters whose behavior conflicts, the result is
undefined.
M Instead of the normal output, generate a list of #define directives for all the macros defined
during the execution of the preprocessor, including predefined macros. This gives you a way of
finding out what is predefined in your version of the preprocessor. Assuming you have no file
foo.h, the command
touch foo.h; cpp -dM foo.h
will show all the predefined macros.
If you use -dM without the -E option, -dM is interpreted as a synonym for -fdump-rtl-mach.
D Like M except in two respects: it does not include the predefined macros, and it outputs both the
#define directives and the result of preprocessing. Both kinds of output go to the standard
output file.
N Like D, but emit only the macro names, not their expansions.
I Output #include directives in addition to the result of preprocessing.
U Like D except that only macros that are expanded, or whose definedness is tested in preprocessor
directives, are output; the output is delayed until the use or test of the macro; and #undef
directives are also output for macros tested but undefined at the time.
-P Inhibit generation of linemarkers in the output from the preprocessor. This might be useful when
running the preprocessor on something that is not C code, and will be sent to a program which might
be confused by the linemarkers.
-C Do not discard comments. All comments are passed through to the output file, except for comments in
processed directives, which are deleted along with the directive.
You should be prepared for side effects when using -C; it causes the preprocessor to treat comments
as tokens in their own right. For example, comments appearing at the start of what would be a
directive line have the effect of turning that line into an ordinary source line, since the first
token on the line is no longer a #.
-CC Do not discard comments, including during macro expansion. This is like -C, except that comments
contained within macros are also passed through to the output file where the macro is expanded.
In addition to the side-effects of the -C option, the -CC option causes all C++-style comments inside
a macro to be converted to C-style comments. This is to prevent later use of that macro from
inadvertently commenting out the remainder of the source line.
The -CC option is generally used to support lint comments.
-traditional-cpp
Try to imitate the behavior of old-fashioned C preprocessors, as opposed to ISO C preprocessors.
-trigraphs
Process trigraph sequences. These are three-character sequences, all starting with ??, that are
defined by ISO C to stand for single characters. For example, ??/ stands for \, so '??/n' is a
character constant for a newline. By default, GCC ignores trigraphs, but in standard-conforming
modes it converts them. See the -std and -ansi options.
The nine trigraphs and their replacements are
Trigraph: ??( ??) ??< ??> ??= ??/ ??' ??! ??-
Replacement: [ ] { } # \ ^ | ~
-remap
Enable special code to work around file systems which only permit very short file names, such as MS-
DOS.
--help
--target-help
Print text describing all the command line options instead of preprocessing anything.
-v Verbose mode. Print out GNU CPP's version number at the beginning of execution, and report the final
form of the include path.
-H Print the name of each header file used, in addition to other normal activities. Each name is
indented to show how deep in the #include stack it is. Precompiled header files are also printed,
even if they are found to be invalid; an invalid precompiled header file is printed with ...x and a
valid one with ...! .
-version
--version
Print out GNU CPP's version number. With one dash, proceed to preprocess as normal. With two
dashes, exit immediately.
Passing Options to the Assembler
You can pass options to the assembler.
-Wa,option
Pass option as an option to the assembler. If option contains commas, it is split into multiple
options at the commas.
-Xassembler option
Pass option as an option to the assembler. You can use this to supply system-specific assembler
options which GCC does not know how to recognize.
If you want to pass an option that takes an argument, you must use -Xassembler twice, once for the
option and once for the argument.
Options for Linking
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
A file name that does not end in a special recognized suffix is considered to name an object file or
library. (Object files are distinguished from libraries by the linker according to the file
contents.) If linking is done, these object files are used as input to the linker.
-c
-S
-E If any of these options is used, then the linker is not run, and object file names should not be used
as arguments.
-llibrary
-l library
Search the library named library when linking. (The second alternative with the library as a
separate argument is only for POSIX compliance and is not recommended.)
It makes a difference where in the command you write this option; the linker searches and 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
You need this special case of the -l option in order to link an Objective-C or Objective-C++ program.
-nostartfiles
Do not use the standard system startup files when linking. The standard system libraries are used
normally, unless -nostdlib or -nodefaultlibs is used.
-nodefaultlibs
Do not use the standard system libraries when linking. Only the libraries you specify will be passed
to the linker. The standard startup files are used normally, unless -nostartfiles is used. The
compiler may generate calls to "memcmp", "memset", "memcpy" and "memmove". 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
Do not use the standard system startup files or libraries when linking. No startup files and only
the libraries you specify will be passed to the linker. The compiler may generate calls to "memcmp",
"memset", "memcpy" and "memmove". These entries are usually resolved by entries in libc. These
entry points should be supplied through some other mechanism when this option is specified.
One of the standard libraries bypassed by -nostdlib and -nodefaultlibs is libgcc.a, a library of
internal subroutines that GCC uses to overcome shortcomings of particular machines, or special needs
for some languages.
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 GCC library subroutines. (For example,
__main, used to ensure C++ constructors will be called.)
-pie
Produce a position independent executable on targets which support it. For predictable results, you
must also specify the same set of options that were used to generate code (-fpie, -fPIE, or model
suboptions) when you specify this option.
-rdynamic
Pass the flag -export-dynamic to the ELF linker, on targets that support it. This instructs the
linker to add all symbols, not only used ones, to the dynamic symbol table. This option is needed for
some uses of "dlopen" or to allow obtaining backtraces from within a program.
-s Remove all symbol table and relocation information from the executable.
-static
On systems that support dynamic linking, this prevents linking with the shared libraries. On other
systems, this option has no effect.
-shared
Produce a shared object which can then be linked with other objects to form an executable. Not all
systems support this option. For predictable results, you must also specify the same set of options
that were used to generate code (-fpic, -fPIC, or model suboptions) when you specify this option.[1]
-shared-libgcc
-static-libgcc
On systems that provide libgcc as a shared library, these options force the use of either the shared
or static version respectively. If no shared version of libgcc was built when the compiler was
configured, these options have no effect.
There are several situations in which an application should use the shared libgcc instead of the
static version. The most common of these is when the application wishes to throw and catch
exceptions across different shared libraries. In that case, each of the libraries as well as the
application itself should use the shared libgcc.
Therefore, the G++ and GCJ drivers automatically add -shared-libgcc whenever you build a shared
library or a main executable, because C++ and Java programs typically use exceptions, so this is the
right thing to do.
If, instead, you use the GCC driver to create shared libraries, you may find that they will not
always be linked with the shared libgcc. If GCC finds, at its configuration time, that you have a
non-GNU linker or a GNU linker that does not support option --eh-frame-hdr, it will link the shared
version of libgcc into shared libraries by default. Otherwise, it will take advantage of the linker
and optimize away the linking with the shared version of libgcc, linking with the static version of
libgcc by default. This allows exceptions to propagate through such shared libraries, without
incurring relocation costs at library load time.
However, if a library or main executable is supposed to throw or catch exceptions, you must link it
using the G++ or GCJ driver, as appropriate for the languages used in the program, or using the
option -shared-libgcc, such that it is linked with the shared libgcc.
-symbolic
Bind references to global symbols when building a shared object. Warn about any unresolved
references (unless overridden by the link editor option -Xlinker -z -Xlinker defs). Only a few
systems support this option.
-T script
Use script as the linker script. This option is supported by most systems using the GNU linker. On
some targets, such as bare-board targets without an operating system, the -T option may be required
when linking to avoid references to undefined symbols.
-Xlinker option
Pass option as an option to the linker. You can use this to supply system-specific linker options
which GCC does not know how to recognize.
If you want to pass an option that takes a separate 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.
When using the GNU linker, it is usually more convenient to pass arguments to linker options using
the option=value syntax than as separate arguments. For example, you can specify -Xlinker
-Map=output.map rather than -Xlinker -Map -Xlinker output.map. Other linkers may not support this
syntax for command-line options.
-Wl,option
Pass option as an option to the linker. If option contains commas, it is split into multiple options
at the commas. You can use this syntax to pass an argument to the option. For example,
-Wl,-Map,output.map passes -Map output.map to the linker. When using the GNU linker, you can also
get the same effect with -Wl,-Map=output.map.
NOTE: In Ubuntu 8.10 and later versions, for LDFLAGS, the option -Wl,-z,relro is used. To disable,
use -Wl,-z,norelro.
-u symbol
Pretend the symbol symbol is undefined, to force linking of library modules to define it. You can
use -u multiple times with different symbols to force loading of additional library modules.
Options for Directory Search
These options specify directories to search for header files, for libraries and for parts of the
compiler:
-Idir
Add the directory dir to the head of the list of directories to be searched for header files. This
can be used to override a system header file, substituting your own version, since these directories
are searched before the system header file directories. However, you should not use this option to
add directories that contain vendor-supplied system header files (use -isystem for that). If you use
more than one -I option, the directories are scanned in left-to-right order; the standard system
directories come after.
If a standard system include directory, or a directory specified with -isystem, is also specified
with -I, the -I option will be ignored. The directory will still be searched but as a system
directory at its normal position in the system include chain. This is to ensure that GCC's procedure
to fix buggy system headers and the ordering for the include_next directive are not inadvertently
changed. If you really need to change the search order for system directories, use the -nostdinc
and/or -isystem options.
-iquotedir
Add the directory dir to the head of the list of directories to be searched for header files only for
the case of #include "file"; they are not searched for #include <file>, otherwise just like -I.
-Ldir
Add directory dir to the list of directories to be searched for -l.
-Bprefix
This option specifies where to find the executables, libraries, include files, and data files of the
compiler itself.
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/.
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/. 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.
The compiler will check to see if the path provided by the -B refers to a directory, and if necessary
it will add a directory separator character at the end of the path.
-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.
Another way to specify a prefix much like the -B prefix is to use the environment variable
GCC_EXEC_PREFIX.
As a special kludge, if the path provided by -B is [dir/]stageN/, where N is a number in the range 0
to 9, then it will be replaced by [dir/]include. This is to help with boot-strapping the compiler.
-specs=file
Process file after the compiler reads in the standard specs file, in order to override the defaults
that the gcc driver program uses when determining what switches to pass to cc1, cc1plus, as, ld, etc.
More than one -specs=file can be specified on the command line, and they are processed in order, from
left to right.
--sysroot=dir
Use dir as the logical root directory for headers and libraries. For example, if the compiler would
normally search for headers in /usr/include and libraries in /usr/lib, it will instead search
dir/usr/include and dir/usr/lib.
If you use both this option and the -isysroot option, then the --sysroot option will apply to
libraries, but the -isysroot option will apply to header files.
The GNU linker (beginning with version 2.16) has the necessary support for this option. If your
linker does not support this option, the header file aspect of --sysroot will still work, but the
library aspect will not.
-I- This option has been deprecated. Please use -iquote instead for -I directories before the -I- and
remove the -I-. Any directories you specify with -I options before the -I- option are searched only
for the case of #include "file"; they are not searched for #include <file>.
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.
Specifying Target Machine and Compiler Version
The usual way to run GCC is to run the executable called gcc, or <machine>-gcc when cross-compiling, or
<machine>-gcc-<version> to run a version other than the one that was installed last. Sometimes this is
inconvenient, so GCC provides options that will switch to another cross-compiler or version.
-b machine
The argument machine specifies the target machine for compilation.
The value to use for machine is the same as was specified as the machine type when configuring GCC as
a cross-compiler. For example, if a cross-compiler was configured with configure arm-elf, meaning to
compile for an arm processor with elf binaries, then you would specify -b arm-elf to run that cross
compiler. Because there are other options beginning with -b, the configuration must contain a
hyphen, or -b alone should be one argument followed by the configuration in the next argument.
-V version
The argument version specifies which version of GCC to run. This is useful when multiple versions
are installed. For example, version might be 4.0, meaning to run GCC version 4.0.
The -V and -b options work by running the <machine>-gcc-<version> executable, so there's no real reason
to use them if you can just run that directly.
Hardware Models and Configurations
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.
ARC Options
These options are defined for ARC implementations:
-EL Compile code for little endian mode. This is the default.
-EB Compile code for big endian mode.
-mmangle-cpu
Prepend the name of the cpu to all public symbol names. In multiple-processor systems, there are
many ARC variants with different instruction and register set characteristics. This flag prevents
code compiled for one cpu to be linked with code compiled for another. No facility exists for
handling variants that are "almost identical". This is an all or nothing option.
-mcpu=cpu
Compile code for ARC variant cpu. Which variants are supported depend on the configuration. All
variants support -mcpu=base, this is the default.
-mtext=text-section
-mdata=data-section
-mrodata=readonly-data-section
Put functions, data, and readonly data in text-section, data-section, and readonly-data-section
respectively by default. This can be overridden with the "section" attribute.
-mfix-cortex-m3-ldrd
Some Cortex-M3 cores can cause data corruption when "ldrd" instructions with overlapping destination
and base registers are used. This option avoids generating these instructions. This option is
enabled by default when -mcpu=cortex-m3 is specified.
ARM Options
These -m options are defined for Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) architectures:
-mabi=name
Generate code for the specified ABI. Permissible values are: apcs-gnu, atpcs, aapcs, aapcs-linux and
iwmmxt.
-mapcs-frame
Generate a stack frame that is compliant with the ARM Procedure Call Standard for all functions, even
if this is not strictly necessary for correct execution of the code. Specifying -fomit-frame-pointer
with this option will cause the stack frames not to be generated for leaf functions. The default is
-mno-apcs-frame.
-mapcs
This is a synonym for -mapcs-frame.
-mthumb-interwork
Generate code which supports calling between the ARM and Thumb instruction sets. Without this option
the two instruction sets cannot be reliably used inside one program. The default is
-mno-thumb-interwork, since slightly larger code is generated when -mthumb-interwork is specified.
-mno-sched-prolog
Prevent the reordering of instructions in the function prolog, or the merging of those instruction
with the instructions in the function's body. This means that all functions will start with a
recognizable set of instructions (or in fact one of a choice from a small set of different function
prologues), and this information can be used to locate the start if functions inside an executable
piece of code. The default is -msched-prolog.
-mfloat-abi=name
Specifies which floating-point ABI to use. Permissible values are: soft, softfp and hard.
Specifying soft causes GCC to generate output containing library calls for floating-point operations.
softfp allows the generation of code using hardware floating-point instructions, but still uses the
soft-float calling conventions. hard allows generation of floating-point instructions and uses FPU-
specific calling conventions.
The default depends on the specific target configuration. Note that the hard-float and soft-float
ABIs are not link-compatible; you must compile your entire program with the same ABI, and link with a
compatible set of libraries.
-mhard-float
Equivalent to -mfloat-abi=hard.
-msoft-float
Equivalent to -mfloat-abi=soft.
-mlittle-endian
Generate code for a processor running in little-endian mode. This is the default for all standard
configurations.
-mbig-endian
Generate code for a processor running in big-endian mode; the default is to compile code for a
little-endian processor.
-mwords-little-endian
This option only applies when generating code for big-endian processors. Generate code for a little-
endian word order but a big-endian byte order. That is, a byte order of the form 32107654. Note:
this option should only be used if you require compatibility with code for big-endian ARM processors
generated by versions of the compiler prior to 2.8.
-mcpu=name
This specifies the name of the target ARM processor. GCC uses this name to determine what kind of
instructions it can emit when generating assembly code. Permissible names are: arm2, arm250, arm3,
arm6, arm60, arm600, arm610, arm620, arm7, arm7m, arm7d, arm7dm, arm7di, arm7dmi, arm70, arm700,
arm700i, arm710, arm710c, arm7100, arm720, arm7500, arm7500fe, arm7tdmi, arm7tdmi-s, arm710t,
arm720t, arm740t, strongarm, strongarm110, strongarm1100, strongarm1110, arm8, arm810, arm9, arm9e,
arm920, arm920t, arm922t, arm946e-s, arm966e-s, arm968e-s, arm926ej-s, arm940t, arm9tdmi, arm10tdmi,
arm1020t, arm1026ej-s, arm10e, arm1020e, arm1022e, arm1136j-s, arm1136jf-s, mpcore, mpcorenovfp,
arm1156t2-s, arm1176jz-s, arm1176jzf-s, cortex-a5, cortex-a8, cortex-a9, cortex-r4, cortex-r4f,
cortex-m4, cortex-m3, cortex-m1, cortex-m0, xscale, iwmmxt, iwmmxt2, ep9312, marvell-f.
-mtune=name
This option is very similar to the -mcpu= option, except that instead of specifying the actual target
processor type, and hence restricting which instructions can be used, it specifies that GCC should
tune the performance of the code as if the target were of the type specified in this option, but
still choosing the instructions that it will generate based on the cpu specified by a -mcpu= option.
For some ARM implementations better performance can be obtained by using this option.
-march=name
This specifies the name of the target ARM architecture. GCC uses this name to determine what kind of
instructions it can emit when generating assembly code. This option can be used in conjunction with
or instead of the -mcpu= option. Permissible names are: armv2, armv2a, armv3, armv3m, armv4, armv4t,
armv5, armv5t, armv5e, armv5te, armv6, armv6j, armv6t2, armv6z, armv6zk, armv6-m, armv7, armv7-a,
armv7-r, armv7-m, iwmmxt, iwmmxt2, ep9312.
-mfpu=name
-mfpe=number
-mfp=number
This specifies what floating point hardware (or hardware emulation) is available on the target.
Permissible names are: fpa, fpe2, fpe3, maverick, vfp, vfpv3, vfpv3-fp16, vfpv3-d16, vfpv3-d16-fp16,
vfpv4, vfpv4-d16, neon, neon-fp16 and neon-vfpv4. -mfp and -mfpe are synonyms for -mfpu=fpenumber,
for compatibility with older versions of GCC.
If -msoft-float is specified this specifies the format of floating point values.
-mfp16-format=name
Specify the format of the "__fp16" half-precision floating-point type. Permissible names are none,
ieee, and alternative; the default is none, in which case the "__fp16" type is not defined.
-mmarvell-div
Generate hardware integer division instructions supported by some Marvell cores.
-mstructure-size-boundary=n
The size of all structures and unions will be rounded up to a multiple of the number of bits set by
this option. Permissible values are 8, 32 and 64. The default value varies for different
toolchains. For the COFF targeted toolchain the default value is 8. A value of 64 is only allowed
if the underlying ABI supports it.
Specifying the larger number can produce faster, more efficient code, but can also increase the size
of the program. Different values are potentially incompatible. Code compiled with one value cannot
necessarily expect to work with code or libraries compiled with another value, if they exchange
information using structures or unions.
-mabort-on-noreturn
Generate a call to the function "abort" at the end of a "noreturn" function. It will be executed if
the function tries to return.
-mlong-calls
-mno-long-calls
Tells the compiler to perform function calls by first loading the address of the function into a
register and then performing a subroutine call on this register. This switch is needed if the target
function will lie outside of the 64 megabyte addressing range of the offset based version of
subroutine call instruction.
Even if this switch is enabled, not all function calls will be turned into long calls. The heuristic
is that static functions, functions which have the short-call attribute, functions that are inside
the scope of a #pragma no_long_calls directive and functions whose definitions have already been
compiled within the current compilation unit, will not be turned into long calls. The exception to
this rule is that weak function definitions, functions with the long-call attribute or the section
attribute, and functions that are within the scope of a #pragma long_calls directive, will always be
turned into long calls.
This feature is not enabled by default. Specifying -mno-long-calls will restore the default
behavior, as will placing the function calls within the scope of a #pragma long_calls_off directive.
Note these switches have no effect on how the compiler generates code to handle function calls via
function pointers.
-msingle-pic-base
Treat the register used for PIC addressing as read-only, rather than loading it in the prologue for
each function. The run-time system is responsible for initializing this register with an appropriate
value before execution begins.
-mpic-register=reg
Specify the register to be used for PIC addressing. The default is R10 unless stack-checking is
enabled, when R9 is used.
-mcirrus-fix-invalid-insns
Insert NOPs into the instruction stream to in order to work around problems with invalid Maverick
instruction combinations. This option is only valid if the -mcpu=ep9312 option has been used to
enable generation of instructions for the Cirrus Maverick floating point co-processor. This option
is not enabled by default, since the problem is only present in older Maverick implementations. The
default can be re-enabled by use of the -mno-cirrus-fix-invalid-insns switch.
-mpoke-function-name
Write the name of each function into the text section, directly preceding the function prologue. The
generated code is similar to this:
t0
.ascii "arm_poke_function_name", 0
.align
t1
.word 0xff000000 + (t1 - t0)
arm_poke_function_name
mov ip, sp
stmfd sp!, {fp, ip, lr, pc}
sub fp, ip, #4
When performing a stack backtrace, code can inspect the value of "pc" stored at "fp + 0". If the
trace function then looks at location "pc - 12" and the top 8 bits are set, then we know that there
is a function name embedded immediately preceding this location and has length "((pc[-3]) &
0xff000000)".
-mthumb
Generate code for the Thumb instruction set. The default is to use the 32-bit ARM instruction set.
This option automatically enables either 16-bit Thumb-1 or mixed 16/32-bit Thumb-2 instructions based
on the -mcpu=name and -march=name options.
-mfix-janus-2cc
Work around hardware errata for Avalent Janus 2CC cores.
-mtpcs-frame
Generate a stack frame that is compliant with the Thumb Procedure Call Standard for all non-leaf
functions. (A leaf function is one that does not call any other functions.) The default is
-mno-tpcs-frame.
-mtpcs-leaf-frame
Generate a stack frame that is compliant with the Thumb Procedure Call Standard for all leaf
functions. (A leaf function is one that does not call any other functions.) The default is
-mno-apcs-leaf-frame.
-mcallee-super-interworking
Gives all externally visible functions in the file being compiled an ARM instruction set header which
switches to Thumb mode before executing the rest of the function. This allows these functions to be
called from non-interworking code.
-mcaller-super-interworking
Allows calls via function pointers (including virtual functions) to execute correctly regardless of
whether the target code has been compiled for interworking or not. There is a small overhead in the
cost of executing a function pointer if this option is enabled.
-mtp=name
Specify the access model for the thread local storage pointer. The valid models are soft, which
generates calls to "__aeabi_read_tp", cp15, which fetches the thread pointer from "cp15" directly
(supported in the arm6k architecture), and auto, which uses the best available method for the
selected processor. The default setting is auto.
-mword-relocations
Only generate absolute relocations on word sized values (i.e. R_ARM_ABS32). This is enabled by
default on targets (uClinux, SymbianOS) where the runtime loader imposes this restriction, and when
-fpic or -fPIC is specified.
AVR Options
These options are defined for AVR implementations:
-mmcu=mcu
Specify ATMEL AVR instruction set or MCU type.
Instruction set avr1 is for the minimal AVR core, not supported by the C compiler, only for assembler
programs (MCU types: at90s1200, attiny10, attiny11, attiny12, attiny15, attiny28).
Instruction set avr2 (default) is for the classic AVR core with up to 8K program memory space (MCU
types: at90s2313, at90s2323, attiny22, at90s2333, at90s2343, at90s4414, at90s4433, at90s4434,
at90s8515, at90c8534, at90s8535).
Instruction set avr3 is for the classic AVR core with up to 128K program memory space (MCU types:
atmega103, atmega603, at43usb320, at76c711).
Instruction set avr4 is for the enhanced AVR core with up to 8K program memory space (MCU types:
atmega8, atmega83, atmega85).
Instruction set avr5 is for the enhanced AVR core with up to 128K program memory space (MCU types:
atmega16, atmega161, atmega163, atmega32, atmega323, atmega64, atmega128, at43usb355, at94k).
-msize
Output instruction sizes to the asm file.
-mno-interrupts
Generated code is not compatible with hardware interrupts. Code size will be smaller.
-mcall-prologues
Functions prologues/epilogues expanded as call to appropriate subroutines. Code size will be
smaller.
-mno-tablejump
Do not generate tablejump insns which sometimes increase code size. The option is now deprecated in
favor of the equivalent -fno-jump-tables
-mtiny-stack
Change only the low 8 bits of the stack pointer.
-mint8
Assume int to be 8 bit integer. This affects the sizes of all types: A char will be 1 byte, an int
will be 1 byte, an long will be 2 bytes and long long will be 4 bytes. Please note that this option
does not comply to the C standards, but it will provide you with smaller code size.
Blackfin Options
-mcpu=cpu[-sirevision]
Specifies the name of the target Blackfin processor. Currently, cpu can be one of bf512, bf514,
bf516, bf518, bf522, bf523, bf524, bf525, bf526, bf527, bf531, bf532, bf533, bf534, bf536, bf537,
bf538, bf539, bf542, bf544, bf547, bf548, bf549, bf561. The optional sirevision specifies the
silicon revision of the target Blackfin processor. Any workarounds available for the targeted
silicon revision will be enabled. If sirevision is none, no workarounds are enabled. If sirevision
is any, all workarounds for the targeted processor will be enabled. The "__SILICON_REVISION__" macro
is defined to two hexadecimal digits representing the major and minor numbers in the silicon
revision. If sirevision is none, the "__SILICON_REVISION__" is not defined. If sirevision is any,
the "__SILICON_REVISION__" is defined to be 0xffff. If this optional sirevision is not used, GCC
assumes the latest known silicon revision of the targeted Blackfin processor.
Support for bf561 is incomplete. For bf561, Only the processor macro is defined. Without this
option, bf532 is used as the processor by default. The corresponding predefined processor macros for
cpu is to be defined. And for bfin-elf toolchain, this causes the hardware BSP provided by libgloss
to be linked in if -msim is not given.
-msim
Specifies that the program will be run on the simulator. This causes the simulator BSP provided by
libgloss to be linked in. This option has effect only for bfin-elf toolchain. Certain other
options, such as -mid-shared-library and -mfdpic, imply -msim.
-momit-leaf-frame-pointer
Don't keep the frame pointer in a register for leaf functions. This avoids the instructions to save,
set up and restore frame pointers and makes an extra register available in leaf functions. The
option -fomit-frame-pointer removes the frame pointer for all functions which might make debugging
harder.
-mspecld-anomaly
When enabled, the compiler will ensure that the generated code does not contain speculative loads
after jump instructions. If this option is used, "__WORKAROUND_SPECULATIVE_LOADS" is defined.
-mno-specld-anomaly
Don't generate extra code to prevent speculative loads from occurring.
-mcsync-anomaly
When enabled, the compiler will ensure that the generated code does not contain CSYNC or SSYNC
instructions too soon after conditional branches. If this option is used,
"__WORKAROUND_SPECULATIVE_SYNCS" is defined.
-mno-csync-anomaly
Don't generate extra code to prevent CSYNC or SSYNC instructions from occurring too soon after a
conditional branch.
-mlow-64k
When enabled, the compiler is free to take advantage of the knowledge that the entire program fits
into the low 64k of memory.
-mno-low-64k
Assume that the program is arbitrarily large. This is the default.
-mstack-check-l1
Do stack checking using information placed into L1 scratchpad memory by the uClinux kernel.
-mid-shared-library
Generate code that supports shared libraries via the library ID method. This allows for execute in
place and shared libraries in an environment without virtual memory management. This option implies
-fPIC. With a bfin-elf target, this option implies -msim.
-mno-id-shared-library
Generate code that doesn't assume ID based shared libraries are being used. This is the default.
-mleaf-id-shared-library
Generate code that supports shared libraries via the library ID method, but assumes that this library
or executable won't link against any other ID shared libraries. That allows the compiler to use
faster code for jumps and calls.
-mno-leaf-id-shared-library
Do not assume that the code being compiled won't link against any ID shared libraries. Slower code
will be generated for jump and call insns.
-mshared-library-id=n
Specified the identification number of the ID based shared library being compiled. Specifying a
value of 0 will generate more compact code, specifying other values will force the allocation of that
number to the current library but is no more space or time efficient than omitting this option.
-msep-data
Generate code that allows the data segment to be located in a different area of memory from the text
segment. This allows for execute in place in an environment without virtual memory management by
eliminating relocations against the text section.
-mno-sep-data
Generate code that assumes that the data segment follows the text segment. This is the default.
-mlong-calls
-mno-long-calls
Tells the compiler to perform function calls by first loading the address of the function into a
register and then performing a subroutine call on this register. This switch is needed if the target
function will lie outside of the 24 bit addressing range of the offset based version of subroutine
call instruction.
This feature is not enabled by default. Specifying -mno-long-calls will restore the default
behavior. Note these switches have no effect on how the compiler generates code to handle function
calls via function pointers.
-mfast-fp
Link with the fast floating-point library. This library relaxes some of the IEEE floating-point
standard's rules for checking inputs against Not-a-Number (NAN), in the interest of performance.
-minline-plt
Enable inlining of PLT entries in function calls to functions that are not known to bind locally. It
has no effect without -mfdpic.
-mmulticore
Build standalone application for multicore Blackfin processor. Proper start files and link scripts
will be used to support multicore. This option defines "__BFIN_MULTICORE". It can only be used with
-mcpu=bf561[-sirevision]. It can be used with -mcorea or -mcoreb. If it's used without -mcorea or
-mcoreb, single application/dual core programming model is used. In this model, the main function of
Core B should be named as coreb_main. If it's used with -mcorea or -mcoreb, one application per core
programming model is used. If this option is not used, single core application programming model is
used.
-mcorea
Build standalone application for Core A of BF561 when using one application per core programming
model. Proper start files and link scripts will be used to support Core A. This option defines
"__BFIN_COREA". It must be used with -mmulticore.
-mcoreb
Build standalone application for Core B of BF561 when using one application per core programming
model. Proper start files and link scripts will be used to support Core B. This option defines
"__BFIN_COREB". When this option is used, coreb_main should be used instead of main. It must be used
with -mmulticore.
-msdram
Build standalone application for SDRAM. Proper start files and link scripts will be used to put the
application into SDRAM. Loader should initialize SDRAM before loading the application into SDRAM.
This option defines "__BFIN_SDRAM".
-micplb
Assume that ICPLBs are enabled at runtime. This has an effect on certain anomaly workarounds. For
Linux targets, the default is to assume ICPLBs are enabled; for standalone applications the default
is off.
CRIS Options
These options are defined specifically for the CRIS ports.
-march=architecture-type
-mcpu=architecture-type
Generate code for the specified architecture. The choices for architecture-type are v3, v8 and v10
for respectively ETRAX 4, ETRAX 100, and ETRAX 100 LX. Default is v0 except for cris-axis-linux-gnu,
where the default is v10.
-mtune=architecture-type
Tune to architecture-type everything applicable about the generated code, except for the ABI and the
set of available instructions. The choices for architecture-type are the same as for
-march=architecture-type.
-mmax-stack-frame=n
Warn when the stack frame of a function exceeds n bytes.
-metrax4
-metrax100
The options -metrax4 and -metrax100 are synonyms for -march=v3 and -march=v8 respectively.
-mmul-bug-workaround
-mno-mul-bug-workaround
Work around a bug in the "muls" and "mulu" instructions for CPU models where it applies. This option
is active by default.
-mpdebug
Enable CRIS-specific verbose debug-related information in the assembly code. This option also has
the effect to turn off the #NO_APP formatted-code indicator to the assembler at the beginning of the
assembly file.
-mcc-init
Do not use condition-code results from previous instruction; always emit compare and test
instructions before use of condition codes.
-mno-side-effects
Do not emit instructions with side-effects in addressing modes other than post-increment.
-mstack-align
-mno-stack-align
-mdata-align
-mno-data-align
-mconst-align
-mno-const-align
These options (no-options) arranges (eliminate arrangements) for the stack-frame, individual data and
constants to be aligned for the maximum single data access size for the chosen CPU model. The
default is to arrange for 32-bit alignment. ABI details such as structure layout are not affected by
these options.
-m32-bit
-m16-bit
-m8-bit
Similar to the stack- data- and const-align options above, these options arrange for stack-frame,
writable data and constants to all be 32-bit, 16-bit or 8-bit aligned. The default is 32-bit
alignment.
-mno-prologue-epilogue
-mprologue-epilogue
With -mno-prologue-epilogue, the normal function prologue and epilogue that sets up the stack-frame
are omitted and no return instructions or return sequences are generated in the code. Use this
option only together with visual inspection of the compiled code: no warnings or errors are generated
when call-saved registers must be saved, or storage for local variable needs to be allocated.
-mno-gotplt
-mgotplt
With -fpic and -fPIC, don't generate (do generate) instruction sequences that load addresses for
functions from the PLT part of the GOT rather than (traditional on other architectures) calls to the
PLT. The default is -mgotplt.
-melf
Legacy no-op option only recognized with the cris-axis-elf and cris-axis-linux-gnu targets.
-mlinux
Legacy no-op option only recognized with the cris-axis-linux-gnu target.
-sim
This option, recognized for the cris-axis-elf arranges to link with input-output functions from a
simulator library. Code, initialized data and zero-initialized data are allocated consecutively.
-sim2
Like -sim, but pass linker options to locate initialized data at 0x40000000 and zero-initialized data
at 0x80000000.
CRX Options
These options are defined specifically for the CRX ports.
-mmac
Enable the use of multiply-accumulate instructions. Disabled by default.
-mpush-args
Push instructions will be used to pass outgoing arguments when functions are called. Enabled by
default.
Darwin Options
These options are defined for all architectures running the Darwin operating system.
FSF GCC on Darwin does not create "fat" object files; it will create an object file for the single
architecture that it was built to target. Apple's GCC on Darwin does create "fat" files if multiple
-arch options are used; it does so by running the compiler or linker multiple times and joining the
results together with lipo.
The subtype of the file created (like ppc7400 or ppc970 or i686) is determined by the flags that specify
the ISA that GCC is targetting, like -mcpu or -march. The -force_cpusubtype_ALL option can be used to
override this.
The Darwin tools vary in their behavior when presented with an ISA mismatch. The assembler, as, will
only permit instructions to be used that are valid for the subtype of the file it is generating, so you
cannot put 64-bit instructions in an ppc750 object file. The linker for shared libraries,
/usr/bin/libtool, will fail and print an error if asked to create a shared library with a less
restrictive subtype than its input files (for instance, trying to put a ppc970 object file in a ppc7400
library). The linker for executables, ld, will quietly give the executable the most restrictive subtype
of any of its input files.
-Fdir
Add the framework directory dir to the head of the list of directories to be searched for header
files. These directories are interleaved with those specified by -I options and are scanned in a
left-to-right order.
A framework directory is a directory with frameworks in it. A framework is a directory with a
"Headers" and/or "PrivateHeaders" directory contained directly in it that ends in ".framework". The
name of a framework is the name of this directory excluding the ".framework". Headers associated
with the framework are found in one of those two directories, with "Headers" being searched first. A
subframework is a framework directory that is in a framework's "Frameworks" directory. Includes of
subframework headers can only appear in a header of a framework that contains the subframework, or in
a sibling subframework header. Two subframeworks are siblings if they occur in the same framework.
A subframework should not have the same name as a framework, a warning will be issued if this is
violated. Currently a subframework cannot have subframeworks, in the future, the mechanism may be
extended to support this. The standard frameworks can be found in "/System/Library/Frameworks" and
"/Library/Frameworks". An example include looks like "#include <Framework/header.h>", where
Framework denotes the name of the framework and header.h is found in the "PrivateHeaders" or
"Headers" directory.
-iframeworkdir
Like -F except the directory is a treated as a system directory. The main difference between this
-iframework and -F is that with -iframework the compiler does not warn about constructs contained
within header files found via dir. This option is valid only for the C family of languages.
-gused
Emit debugging information for symbols that are used. For STABS debugging format, this enables
-feliminate-unused-debug-symbols. This is by default ON.
-gfull
Emit debugging information for all symbols and types.
-mmacosx-version-min=version
The earliest version of MacOS X that this executable will run on is version. Typical values of
version include 10.1, 10.2, and 10.3.9.
If the compiler was built to use the system's headers by default, then the default for this option is
the system version on which the compiler is running, otherwise the default is to make choices which
are compatible with as many systems and code bases as possible.
-mkernel
Enable kernel development mode. The -mkernel option sets -static, -fno-common, -fno-cxa-atexit,
-fno-exceptions, -fno-non-call-exceptions, -fapple-kext, -fno-weak and -fno-rtti where applicable.
This mode also sets -mno-altivec, -msoft-float, -fno-builtin and -mlong-branch for PowerPC targets.
-mone-byte-bool
Override the defaults for bool so that sizeof(bool)==1. By default sizeof(bool) is 4 when compiling
for Darwin/PowerPC and 1 when compiling for Darwin/x86, so this option has no effect on x86.
Warning: The -mone-byte-bool switch causes GCC to generate code that is not binary compatible with
code generated without that switch. Using this switch may require recompiling all other modules in a
program, including system libraries. Use this switch to conform to a non-default data model.
-mfix-and-continue
-ffix-and-continue
-findirect-data
Generate code suitable for fast turn around development. Needed to enable gdb to dynamically load
".o" files into already running programs. -findirect-data and -ffix-and-continue are provided for
backwards compatibility.
-all_load
Loads all members of static archive libraries. See man ld(1) for more information.
-arch_errors_fatal
Cause the errors having to do with files that have the wrong architecture to be fatal.
-bind_at_load
Causes the output file to be marked such that the dynamic linker will bind all undefined references
when the file is loaded or launched.
-bundle
Produce a Mach-o bundle format file. See man ld(1) for more information.
-bundle_loader executable
This option specifies the executable that will be loading the build output file being linked. See
man ld(1) for more information.
-dynamiclib
When passed this option, GCC will produce a dynamic library instead of an executable when linking,
using the Darwin libtool command.
-force_cpusubtype_ALL
This causes GCC's output file to have the ALL subtype, instead of one controlled by the -mcpu or
-march option.
-allowable_client client_name
-client_name
-compatibility_version
-current_version
-dead_strip
-dependency-file
-dylib_file
-dylinker_install_name
-dynamic
-exported_symbols_list
-filelist
-flat_namespace
-force_flat_namespace
-headerpad_max_install_names
-image_base
-init
-install_name
-keep_private_externs
-multi_module
-multiply_defined
-multiply_defined_unused
-noall_load
-no_dead_strip_inits_and_terms
-nofixprebinding
-nomultidefs
-noprebind
-noseglinkedit
-pagezero_size
-prebind
-prebind_all_twolevel_modules
-private_bundle
-read_only_relocs
-sectalign
-sectobjectsymbols
-whyload
-seg1addr
-sectcreate
-sectobjectsymbols
-sectorder
-segaddr
-segs_read_only_addr
-segs_read_write_addr
-seg_addr_table
-seg_addr_table_filename
-seglinkedit
-segprot
-segs_read_only_addr
-segs_read_write_addr
-single_module
-static
-sub_library
-sub_umbrella
-twolevel_namespace
-umbrella
-undefined
-unexported_symbols_list
-weak_reference_mismatches
-whatsloaded
These options are passed to the Darwin linker. The Darwin linker man page describes them in detail.
DEC Alpha Options
These -m options are defined for the DEC Alpha implementations:
-mno-soft-float
-msoft-float
Use (do not use) the hardware floating-point instructions for floating-point operations. When
-msoft-float is specified, functions in libgcc.a will be used to perform floating-point operations.
Unless they are replaced by routines that emulate the floating-point operations, or compiled in such
a way as to call such emulations routines, these routines will issue floating-point operations. If
you are compiling for an Alpha without floating-point operations, you must ensure that the library is
built so as not to call them.
Note that Alpha implementations without floating-point operations are required to have floating-point
registers.
-mfp-reg
-mno-fp-regs
Generate code that uses (does not use) the floating-point register set. -mno-fp-regs implies
-msoft-float. If the floating-point register set is not used, floating point operands are passed in
integer registers as if they were integers and floating-point results are passed in $0 instead of
$f0. This is a non-standard calling sequence, so any function with a floating-point argument or
return value called by code compiled with -mno-fp-regs must also be compiled with that option.
A typical use of this option is building a kernel that does not use, and hence need not save and
restore, any floating-point registers.
-mieee
The Alpha architecture implements floating-point hardware optimized for maximum performance. It is
mostly compliant with the IEEE floating point standard. However, for full compliance, software
assistance is required. This option generates code fully IEEE compliant code except that the
inexact-flag is not maintained (see below). If this option is turned on, the preprocessor macro
"_IEEE_FP" is defined during compilation. The resulting code is less efficient but is able to
correctly support denormalized numbers and exceptional IEEE values such as not-a-number and
plus/minus infinity. Other Alpha compilers call this option -ieee_with_no_inexact.
-mieee-with-inexact
This is like -mieee except the generated code also maintains the IEEE inexact-flag. Turning on this
option causes the generated code to implement fully-compliant IEEE math. In addition to "_IEEE_FP",
"_IEEE_FP_EXACT" is defined as a preprocessor macro. On some Alpha implementations the resulting
code may execute significantly slower than the code generated by default. Since there is very little
code that depends on the inexact-flag, you should normally not specify this option. Other Alpha
compilers call this option -ieee_with_inexact.
-mfp-trap-mode=trap-mode
This option controls what floating-point related traps are enabled. Other Alpha compilers call this
option -fptm trap-mode. The trap mode can be set to one of four values:
n This is the default (normal) setting. The only traps that are enabled are the ones that cannot
be disabled in software (e.g., division by zero trap).
u In addition to the traps enabled by n, underflow traps are enabled as well.
su Like u, but the instructions are marked to be safe for software completion (see Alpha
architecture manual for details).
sui Like su, but inexact traps are enabled as well.
-mfp-rounding-mode=rounding-mode
Selects the IEEE rounding mode. Other Alpha compilers call this option -fprm rounding-mode. The
rounding-mode can be one of:
n Normal IEEE rounding mode. Floating point numbers are rounded towards the nearest machine number
or towards the even machine number in case of a tie.
m Round towards minus infinity.
c Chopped rounding mode. Floating point numbers are rounded towards zero.
d Dynamic rounding mode. A field in the floating point control register (fpcr, see Alpha
architecture reference manual) controls the rounding mode in effect. The C library initializes
this register for rounding towards plus infinity. Thus, unless your program modifies the fpcr, d
corresponds to round towards plus infinity.
-mtrap-precision=trap-precision
In the Alpha architecture, floating point traps are imprecise. This means without software
assistance it is impossible to recover from a floating trap and program execution normally needs to
be terminated. GCC can generate code that can assist operating system trap handlers in determining
the exact location that caused a floating point trap. Depending on the requirements of an
application, different levels of precisions can be selected:
p Program precision. This option is the default and means a trap handler can only identify which
program caused a floating point exception.
f Function precision. The trap handler can determine the function that caused a floating point
exception.
i Instruction precision. The trap handler can determine the exact instruction that caused a
floating point exception.
Other Alpha compilers provide the equivalent options called -scope_safe and -resumption_safe.
-mieee-conformant
This option marks the generated code as IEEE conformant. You must not use this option unless you
also specify -mtrap-precision=i and either -mfp-trap-mode=su or -mfp-trap-mode=sui. Its only effect
is to emit the line .eflag 48 in the function prologue of the generated assembly file. Under DEC
Unix, this has the effect that IEEE-conformant math library routines will be linked in.
-mbuild-constants
Normally GCC examines a 32- or 64-bit integer constant to see if it can construct it from smaller
constants in two or three instructions. If it cannot, it will output the constant as a literal and
generate code to load it from the data segment at runtime.
Use this option to require GCC to construct all integer constants using code, even if it takes more
instructions (the maximum is six).
You would typically use this option to build a shared library dynamic loader. Itself a shared
library, it must relocate itself in memory before it can find the variables and constants in its own
data segment.
-malpha-as
-mgas
Select whether to generate code to be assembled by the vendor-supplied assembler (-malpha-as) or by
the GNU assembler -mgas.
-mbwx
-mno-bwx
-mcix
-mno-cix
-mfix
-mno-fix
-mmax
-mno-max
Indicate whether GCC should generate code to use the optional BWX, CIX, FIX and MAX instruction sets.
The default is to use the instruction sets supported by the CPU type specified via -mcpu= option or
that of the CPU on which GCC was built if none was specified.
-mfloat-vax
-mfloat-ieee
Generate code that uses (does not use) VAX F and G floating point arithmetic instead of IEEE single
and double precision.
-mexplicit-relocs
-mno-explicit-relocs
Older Alpha assemblers provided no way to generate symbol relocations except via assembler macros.
Use of these macros does not allow optimal instruction scheduling. GNU binutils as of version 2.12
supports a new syntax that allows the compiler to explicitly mark which relocations should apply to
which instructions. This option is mostly useful for debugging, as GCC detects the capabilities of
the assembler when it is built and sets the default accordingly.
-msmall-data
-mlarge-data
When -mexplicit-relocs is in effect, static data is accessed via gp-relative relocations. When
-msmall-data is used, objects 8 bytes long or smaller are placed in a small data area (the ".sdata"
and ".sbss" sections) and are accessed via 16-bit relocations off of the $gp register. This limits
the size of the small data area to 64KB, but allows the variables to be directly accessed via a
single instruction.
The default is -mlarge-data. With this option the data area is limited to just below 2GB. Programs
that require more than 2GB of data must use "malloc" or "mmap" to allocate the data in the heap
instead of in the program's data segment.
When generating code for shared libraries, -fpic implies -msmall-data and -fPIC implies -mlarge-data.
-msmall-text
-mlarge-text
When -msmall-text is used, the compiler assumes that the code of the entire program (or shared
library) fits in 4MB, and is thus reachable with a branch instruction. When -msmall-data is used,
the compiler can assume that all local symbols share the same $gp value, and thus reduce the number
of instructions required for a function call from 4 to 1.
The default is -mlarge-text.
-mcpu=cpu_type
Set the instruction set and instruction scheduling parameters for machine type cpu_type. You can
specify either the EV style name or the corresponding chip number. GCC supports scheduling
parameters for the EV4, EV5 and EV6 family of processors and will choose the default values for the
instruction set from the processor you specify. If you do not specify a processor type, GCC will
default to the processor on which the compiler was built.
Supported values for cpu_type are
ev4
ev45
21064
Schedules as an EV4 and has no instruction set extensions.
ev5
21164
Schedules as an EV5 and has no instruction set extensions.
ev56
21164a
Schedules as an EV5 and supports the BWX extension.
pca56
21164pc
21164PC
Schedules as an EV5 and supports the BWX and MAX extensions.
ev6
21264
Schedules as an EV6 and supports the BWX, FIX, and MAX extensions.
ev67
21264a
Schedules as an EV6 and supports the BWX, CIX, FIX, and MAX extensions.
Native Linux/GNU toolchains also support the value native, which selects the best architecture option
for the host processor. -mcpu=native has no effect if GCC does not recognize the processor.
-mtune=cpu_type
Set only the instruction scheduling parameters for machine type cpu_type. The instruction set is not
changed.
Native Linux/GNU toolchains also support the value native, which selects the best architecture option
for the host processor. -mtune=native has no effect if GCC does not recognize the processor.
-mmemory-latency=time
Sets the latency the scheduler should assume for typical memory references as seen by the
application. This number is highly dependent on the memory access patterns used by the application
and the size of the external cache on the machine.
Valid options for time are
number
A decimal number representing clock cycles.
L1
L2
L3
main
The compiler contains estimates of the number of clock cycles for "typical" EV4 & EV5 hardware
for the Level 1, 2 & 3 caches (also called Dcache, Scache, and Bcache), as well as to main
memory. Note that L3 is only valid for EV5.
DEC Alpha/VMS Options
These -m options are defined for the DEC Alpha/VMS implementations:
-mvms-return-codes
Return VMS condition codes from main. The default is to return POSIX style condition (e.g. error)
codes.
FR30 Options
These options are defined specifically for the FR30 port.
-msmall-model
Use the small address space model. This can produce smaller code, but it does assume that all
symbolic values and addresses will fit into a 20-bit range.
-mno-lsim
Assume that run-time support has been provided and so there is no need to include the simulator
library (libsim.a) on the linker command line.
FRV Options
-mgpr-32
Only use the first 32 general purpose registers.
-mgpr-64
Use all 64 general purpose registers.
-mfpr-32
Use only the first 32 floating point registers.
-mfpr-64
Use all 64 floating point registers
-mhard-float
Use hardware instructions for floating point operations.
-msoft-float
Use library routines for floating point operations.
-malloc-cc
Dynamically allocate condition code registers.
-mfixed-cc
Do not try to dynamically allocate condition code registers, only use "icc0" and "fcc0".
-mdword
Change ABI to use double word insns.
-mno-dword
Do not use double word instructions.
-mdouble
Use floating point double instructions.
-mno-double
Do not use floating point double instructions.
-mmedia
Use media instructions.
-mno-media
Do not use media instructions.
-mmuladd
Use multiply and add/subtract instructions.
-mno-muladd
Do not use multiply and add/subtract instructions.
-mfdpic
Select the FDPIC ABI, that uses function descriptors to represent pointers to functions. Without any
PIC/PIE-related options, it implies -fPIE. With -fpic or -fpie, it assumes GOT entries and small
data are within a 12-bit range from the GOT base address; with -fPIC or -fPIE, GOT offsets are
computed with 32 bits. With a bfin-elf target, this option implies -msim.
-minline-plt
Enable inlining of PLT entries in function calls to functions that are not known to bind locally. It
has no effect without -mfdpic. It's enabled by default if optimizing for speed and compiling for
shared libraries (i.e., -fPIC or -fpic), or when an optimization option such as -O3 or above is
present in the command line.
-mTLS
Assume a large TLS segment when generating thread-local code.
-mtls
Do not assume a large TLS segment when generating thread-local code.
-mgprel-ro
Enable the use of "GPREL" relocations in the FDPIC ABI for data that is known to be in read-only
sections. It's enabled by default, except for -fpic or -fpie: even though it may help make the
global offset table smaller, it trades 1 instruction for 4. With -fPIC or -fPIE, it trades 3
instructions for 4, one of which may be shared by multiple symbols, and it avoids the need for a GOT
entry for the referenced symbol, so it's more likely to be a win. If it is not, -mno-gprel-ro can be
used to disable it.
-multilib-library-pic
Link with the (library, not FD) pic libraries. It's implied by -mlibrary-pic, as well as by -fPIC
and -fpic without -mfdpic. You should never have to use it explicitly.
-mlinked-fp
Follow the EABI requirement of always creating a frame pointer whenever a stack frame is allocated.
This option is enabled by default and can be disabled with -mno-linked-fp.
-mlong-calls
Use indirect addressing to call functions outside the current compilation unit. This allows the
functions to be placed anywhere within the 32-bit address space.
-malign-labels
Try to align labels to an 8-byte boundary by inserting nops into the previous packet. This option
only has an effect when VLIW packing is enabled. It doesn't create new packets; it merely adds nops
to existing ones.
-mlibrary-pic
Generate position-independent EABI code.
-macc-4
Use only the first four media accumulator registers.
-macc-8
Use all eight media accumulator registers.
-mpack
Pack VLIW instructions.
-mno-pack
Do not pack VLIW instructions.
-mno-eflags
Do not mark ABI switches in e_flags.
-mcond-move
Enable the use of conditional-move instructions (default).
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mno-cond-move
Disable the use of conditional-move instructions.
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mscc
Enable the use of conditional set instructions (default).
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mno-scc
Disable the use of conditional set instructions.
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mcond-exec
Enable the use of conditional execution (default).
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mno-cond-exec
Disable the use of conditional execution.
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mvliw-branch
Run a pass to pack branches into VLIW instructions (default).
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mno-vliw-branch
Do not run a pass to pack branches into VLIW instructions.
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mmulti-cond-exec
Enable optimization of "&&" and "||" in conditional execution (default).
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mno-multi-cond-exec
Disable optimization of "&&" and "||" in conditional execution.
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mnested-cond-exec
Enable nested conditional execution optimizations (default).
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-mno-nested-cond-exec
Disable nested conditional execution optimizations.
This switch is mainly for debugging the compiler and will likely be removed in a future version.
-moptimize-membar
This switch removes redundant "membar" instructions from the compiler generated code. It is enabled
by default.
-mno-optimize-membar
This switch disables the automatic removal of redundant "membar" instructions from the generated
code.
-mtomcat-stats
Cause gas to print out tomcat statistics.
-mcpu=cpu
Select the processor type for which to generate code. Possible values are frv, fr550, tomcat, fr500,
fr450, fr405, fr400, fr300 and simple.
GNU/Linux Options
These -m options are defined for GNU/Linux targets:
-mglibc
Use the GNU C library instead of uClibc. This is the default except on *-*-linux-*uclibc* targets.
-muclibc
Use uClibc instead of the GNU C library. This is the default on *-*-linux-*uclibc* targets.
H8/300 Options
These -m options are defined for the H8/300 implementations:
-mrelax
Shorten some address references at link time, when possible; uses the linker option -relax.
-mh Generate code for the H8/300H.
-ms Generate code for the H8S.
-mn Generate code for the H8S and H8/300H in the normal mode. This switch must be used either with -mh
or -ms.
-ms2600
Generate code for the H8S/2600. This switch must be used with -ms.
-mint32
Make "int" data 32 bits by default.
-malign-300
On the H8/300H and H8S, use the same alignment rules as for the H8/300. The default for the H8/300H
and H8S is to align longs and floats on 4 byte boundaries. -malign-300 causes them to be aligned on
2 byte boundaries. This option has no effect on the H8/300.
HPPA Options
These -m options are defined for the HPPA family of computers:
-march=architecture-type
Generate code for the specified architecture. The choices for architecture-type are 1.0 for PA 1.0,
1.1 for PA 1.1, and 2.0 for PA 2.0 processors. Refer to /usr/lib/sched.models on an HP-UX system to
determine the proper architecture option for your machine. Code compiled for lower numbered
architectures will run on higher numbered architectures, but not the other way around.
-mpa-risc-1-0
-mpa-risc-1-1
-mpa-risc-2-0
Synonyms for -march=1.0, -march=1.1, and -march=2.0 respectively.
-mbig-switch
Generate code suitable for big switch tables. Use this option only if the assembler/linker complain
about out of range branches within a switch table.
-mjump-in-delay
Fill delay slots of function calls with unconditional jump instructions by modifying the return
pointer for the function call to be the target of the conditional jump.
-mdisable-fpregs
Prevent floating point registers from being used in any manner. This is necessary for compiling
kernels which perform lazy context switching of floating point registers. If you use this option and
attempt to perform floating point operations, the compiler will abort.
-mdisable-indexing
Prevent the compiler from using indexing address modes. This avoids some rather obscure problems
when compiling MIG generated code under MACH.
-mno-space-regs
Generate code that assumes the target has no space registers. This allows GCC to generate faster
indirect calls and use unscaled index address modes.
Such code is suitable for level 0 PA systems and kernels.
-mfast-indirect-calls
Generate code that assumes calls never cross space boundaries. This allows GCC to emit code which
performs faster indirect calls.
This option will not work in the presence of shared libraries or nested functions.
-mfixed-range=register-range
Generate code treating the given register range as fixed registers. A fixed register is one that the
register allocator can not use. This is useful when compiling kernel code. A register range is
specified as two registers separated by a dash. Multiple register ranges can be specified separated
by a comma.
-mlong-load-store
Generate 3-instruction load and store sequences as sometimes required by the HP-UX 10 linker. This
is equivalent to the +k option to the HP compilers.
-mportable-runtime
Use the portable calling conventions proposed by HP for ELF systems.
-mgas
Enable the use of assembler directives only GAS understands.
-mschedule=cpu-type
Schedule code according to the constraints for the machine type cpu-type. The choices for cpu-type
are 700 7100, 7100LC, 7200, 7300 and 8000. Refer to /usr/lib/sched.models on an HP-UX system to
determine the proper scheduling option for your machine. The default scheduling is 8000.
-mlinker-opt
Enable the optimization pass in the HP-UX linker. Note this makes symbolic debugging impossible. It
also triggers a bug in the HP-UX 8 and HP-UX 9 linkers in which they give bogus error messages when
linking some programs.
-msoft-float
Generate output containing library calls for floating point. Warning: the requisite libraries are
not available for all HPPA targets. Normally the facilities of the machine's usual C compiler are
used, but this cannot be done directly in cross-compilation. You must make your own arrangements to
provide suitable library functions for cross-compilation.
-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 GCC, with -msoft-float in order for this to work.
-msio
Generate the predefine, "_SIO", for server IO. The default is -mwsio. This generates the
predefines, "__hp9000s700", "__hp9000s700__" and "_WSIO", for workstation IO. These options are
available under HP-UX and HI-UX.
-mgnu-ld
Use GNU ld specific options. This passes -shared to ld when building a shared library. It is the
default when GCC is configured, explicitly or implicitly, with the GNU linker. This option does not
have any affect on which ld is called, it only changes what parameters are passed to that ld. The ld
that is called is determined by the --with-ld configure option, GCC's program search path, and
finally by the user's PATH. The linker used by GCC can be printed using which `gcc
-print-prog-name=ld`. This option is only available on the 64 bit HP-UX GCC, i.e. configured with
hppa*64*-*-hpux*.
-mhp-ld
Use HP ld specific options. This passes -b to ld when building a shared library and passes +Accept
TypeMismatch to ld on all links. It is the default when GCC is configured, explicitly or implicitly,
with the HP linker. This option does not have any affect on which ld is called, it only changes what
parameters are passed to that ld. The ld that is called is determined by the --with-ld configure
option, GCC's program search path, and finally by the user's PATH. The linker used by GCC can be
printed using which `gcc -print-prog-name=ld`. This option is only available on the 64 bit HP-UX
GCC, i.e. configured with hppa*64*-*-hpux*.
-mlong-calls
Generate code that uses long call sequences. This ensures that a call is always able to reach linker
generated stubs. The default is to generate long calls only when the distance from the call site to
the beginning of the function or translation unit, as the case may be, exceeds a predefined limit set
by the branch type being used. The limits for normal calls are 7,600,000 and 240,000 bytes,
respectively for the PA 2.0 and PA 1.X architectures. Sibcalls are always limited at 240,000 bytes.
Distances are measured from the beginning of functions when using the -ffunction-sections option, or
when using the -mgas and -mno-portable-runtime options together under HP-UX with the SOM linker.
It is normally not desirable to use this option as it will degrade performance. However, it may be
useful in large applications, particularly when partial linking is used to build the application.
The types of long calls used depends on the capabilities of the assembler and linker, and the type of
code being generated. The impact on systems that support long absolute calls, and long pic symbol-
difference or pc-relative calls should be relatively small. However, an indirect call is used on
32-bit ELF systems in pic code and it is quite long.
-munix=unix-std
Generate compiler predefines and select a startfile for the specified UNIX standard. The choices for
unix-std are 93, 95 and 98. 93 is supported on all HP-UX versions. 95 is available on HP-UX 10.10
and later. 98 is available on HP-UX 11.11 and later. The default values are 93 for HP-UX 10.00, 95
for HP-UX 10.10 though to 11.00, and 98 for HP-UX 11.11 and later.
-munix=93 provides the same predefines as GCC 3.3 and 3.4. -munix=95 provides additional predefines
for "XOPEN_UNIX" and "_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED", and the startfile unix95.o. -munix=98 provides
additional predefines for "_XOPEN_UNIX", "_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED", "_INCLUDE__STDC_A1_SOURCE" and
"_INCLUDE_XOPEN_SOURCE_500", and the startfile unix98.o.
It is important to note that this option changes the interfaces for various library routines. It
also affects the operational behavior of the C library. Thus, extreme care is needed in using this
option.
Library code that is intended to operate with more than one UNIX standard must test, set and restore
the variable __xpg4_extended_mask as appropriate. Most GNU software doesn't provide this capability.
-nolibdld
Suppress the generation of link options to search libdld.sl when the -static option is specified on
HP-UX 10 and later.
-static
The HP-UX implementation of setlocale in libc has a dependency on libdld.sl. There isn't an archive
version of libdld.sl. Thus, when the -static option is specified, special link options are needed to
resolve this dependency.
On HP-UX 10 and later, the GCC driver adds the necessary options to link with libdld.sl when the
-static option is specified. This causes the resulting binary to be dynamic. On the 64-bit port,
the linkers generate dynamic binaries by default in any case. The -nolibdld option can be used to
prevent the GCC driver from adding these link options.
-threads
Add support for multithreading with the dce thread library under HP-UX. This option sets flags for
both the preprocessor and linker.
Intel 386 and AMD x86-64 Options
These -m options are defined for the i386 and x86-64 family of computers:
-mtune=cpu-type
Tune to cpu-type everything applicable about the generated code, except for the ABI and the set of
available instructions. The choices for cpu-type are:
generic
Produce code optimized for the most common IA32/AMD64/EM64T processors. If you know the CPU on
which your code will run, then you should use the corresponding -mtune option instead of
-mtune=generic. But, if you do not know exactly what CPU users of your application will have,
then you should use this option.
As new processors are deployed in the marketplace, the behavior of this option will change.
Therefore, if you upgrade to a newer version of GCC, the code generated option will change to
reflect the processors that were most common when that version of GCC was released.
There is no -march=generic option because -march indicates the instruction set the compiler can
use, and there is no generic instruction set applicable to all processors. In contrast, -mtune
indicates the processor (or, in this case, collection of processors) for which the code is
optimized.
native
This selects the CPU to tune for at compilation time by determining the processor type of the
compiling machine. Using -mtune=native will produce code optimized for the local machine under
the constraints of the selected instruction set. Using -march=native will enable all instruction
subsets supported by the local machine (hence the result might not run on different machines).
i386
Original Intel's i386 CPU.
i486
Intel's i486 CPU. (No scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
i586, pentium
Intel Pentium CPU with no MMX support.
pentium-mmx
Intel PentiumMMX CPU based on Pentium core with MMX instruction set support.
pentiumpro
Intel PentiumPro CPU.
i686
Same as "generic", but when used as "march" option, PentiumPro instruction set will be used, so
the code will run on all i686 family chips.
pentium2
Intel Pentium2 CPU based on PentiumPro core with MMX instruction set support.
pentium3, pentium3m
Intel Pentium3 CPU based on PentiumPro core with MMX and SSE instruction set support.
pentium-m
Low power version of Intel Pentium3 CPU with MMX, SSE and SSE2 instruction set support. Used by
Centrino notebooks.
pentium4, pentium4m
Intel Pentium4 CPU with MMX, SSE and SSE2 instruction set support.
prescott
Improved version of Intel Pentium4 CPU with MMX, SSE, SSE2 and SSE3 instruction set support.
nocona
Improved version of Intel Pentium4 CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2 and SSE3
instruction set support.
core2
Intel Core2 CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and SSSE3 instruction set support.
atom
Intel Atom CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and SSSE3 instruction set support.
k6 AMD K6 CPU with MMX instruction set support.
k6-2, k6-3
Improved versions of AMD K6 CPU with MMX and 3dNOW! instruction set support.
athlon, athlon-tbird
AMD Athlon CPU with MMX, 3dNOW!, enhanced 3dNOW! and SSE prefetch instructions support.
athlon-4, athlon-xp, athlon-mp
Improved AMD Athlon CPU with MMX, 3dNOW!, enhanced 3dNOW! and full SSE instruction set support.
k8, opteron, athlon64, athlon-fx
AMD K8 core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set support. (This supersets MMX, SSE, SSE2,
3dNOW!, enhanced 3dNOW! and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)
k8-sse3, opteron-sse3, athlon64-sse3
Improved versions of k8, opteron and athlon64 with SSE3 instruction set support.
amdfam10, barcelona
AMD Family 10h core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set support. (This supersets MMX, SSE,
SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A, 3dNOW!, enhanced 3dNOW!, ABM and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)
winchip-c6
IDT Winchip C6 CPU, dealt in same way as i486 with additional MMX instruction set support.
winchip2
IDT Winchip2 CPU, dealt in same way as i486 with additional MMX and 3dNOW! instruction set
support.
c3 Via C3 CPU with MMX and 3dNOW! instruction set support. (No scheduling is implemented for this
chip.)
c3-2
Via C3-2 CPU with MMX and SSE instruction set support. (No scheduling is implemented for this
chip.)
geode
Embedded AMD CPU with MMX and 3dNOW! instruction set support.
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.
-march=cpu-type
Generate instructions for the machine type cpu-type. The choices for cpu-type are the same as for
-mtune. Moreover, specifying -march=cpu-type implies -mtune=cpu-type.
-mcpu=cpu-type
A deprecated synonym for -mtune.
-mfpmath=unit
Generate floating point arithmetics for selected unit unit. The choices for unit are:
387 Use the standard 387 floating point coprocessor present majority of chips and emulated otherwise.
Code compiled with this option will run almost everywhere. The temporary results are computed in
80bit precision instead of precision specified by the type resulting in slightly different
results compared to most of other chips. See -ffloat-store for more detailed description.
This is the default choice for i386 compiler.
sse Use scalar floating point instructions present in the SSE instruction set. This instruction set
is supported by Pentium3 and newer chips, in the AMD line by Athlon-4, Athlon-xp and Athlon-mp
chips. The earlier version of SSE instruction set supports only single precision arithmetics,
thus the double and extended precision arithmetics is still done using 387. Later version,
present only in Pentium4 and the future AMD x86-64 chips supports double precision arithmetics
too.
For the i386 compiler, you need to use -march=cpu-type, -msse or -msse2 switches to enable SSE
extensions and make this option effective. For the x86-64 compiler, these extensions are enabled
by default.
The resulting code should be considerably faster in the majority of cases and avoid the numerical
instability problems of 387 code, but may break some existing code that expects temporaries to be
80bit.
This is the default choice for the x86-64 compiler.
sse,387
sse+387
both
Attempt to utilize both instruction sets at once. This effectively double the amount of
available registers and on chips with separate execution units for 387 and SSE the execution
resources too. Use this option with care, as it is still experimental, because the GCC register
allocator does not model separate functional units well resulting in instable performance.
-masm=dialect
Output asm instructions using selected dialect. Supported choices are intel or att (the default
one). Darwin does not support intel.
-mieee-fp
-mno-ieee-fp
Control whether or not the compiler uses IEEE floating point comparisons. These handle correctly the
case where the result of a comparison is unordered.
-msoft-float
Generate output containing library calls for floating point. Warning: the requisite libraries are
not part of GCC. Normally the facilities of the machine's usual C compiler are used, but this can't
be done directly in cross-compilation. You must make your own arrangements to provide suitable
library functions for cross-compilation.
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
Do not use the FPU registers for return values of functions.
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
Some 387 emulators do not support the "sin", "cos" and "sqrt" instructions for the 387. Specify this
option to avoid generating those instructions. This option is the default on FreeBSD, OpenBSD and
NetBSD. This option is overridden when -march indicates that the target cpu will always have an FPU
and so the instruction will not need emulation. As of revision 2.6.1, these instructions are not
generated unless you also use the -funsafe-math-optimizations switch.
-malign-double
-mno-align-double
Control whether GCC aligns "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.
On x86-64, -malign-double is enabled by default.
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 and will not
be binary compatible with structures in code compiled without that switch.
-m96bit-long-double
-m128bit-long-double
These switches control the size of "long double" type. The i386 application binary interface
specifies the size to be 96 bits, so -m96bit-long-double is the default in 32 bit mode.
Modern architectures (Pentium and newer) would prefer "long double" to be aligned to an 8 or 16 byte
boundary. In arrays or structures conforming to the ABI, this would not be possible. So specifying
a -m128bit-long-double will align "long double" to a 16 byte boundary by padding the "long double"
with an additional 32 bit zero.
In the x86-64 compiler, -m128bit-long-double is the default choice as its ABI specifies that "long
double" is to be aligned on 16 byte boundary.
Notice that neither of these options enable any extra precision over the x87 standard of 80 bits for
a "long double".
Warning: if you override the default value for your target ABI, the structures and arrays containing
"long double" variables will change their size as well as function calling convention for function
taking "long double" will be modified. Hence they will not be binary compatible with arrays or
structures in code compiled without that switch.
-mlarge-data-threshold=number
When -mcmodel=medium is specified, the data greater than threshold are placed in large data section.
This value must be the same across all object linked into the binary and defaults to 65535.
-mrtd
Use a different function-calling convention, in which functions that take a fixed number of arguments
return with the "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.
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.)
-mregparm=num
Control how many registers are used to pass integer arguments. By default, no registers are used to
pass arguments, and at most 3 registers can be used. You can control this behavior for a specific
function by using the function attribute regparm.
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.
-msseregparm
Use SSE register passing conventions for float and double arguments and return values. You can
control this behavior for a specific function by using the function attribute sseregparm.
Warning: if you use this switch then you must build all modules with the same value, including any
libraries. This includes the system libraries and startup modules.
-mpc32
-mpc64
-mpc80
Set 80387 floating-point precision to 32, 64 or 80 bits. When -mpc32 is specified, the significands
of results of floating-point operations are rounded to 24 bits (single precision); -mpc64 rounds the
significands of results of floating-point operations to 53 bits (double precision) and -mpc80 rounds
the significands of results of floating-point operations to 64 bits (extended double precision),
which is the default. When this option is used, floating-point operations in higher precisions are
not available to the programmer without setting the FPU control word explicitly.
Setting the rounding of floating-point operations to less than the default 80 bits can speed some
programs by 2% or more. Note that some mathematical libraries assume that extended precision (80
bit) floating-point operations are enabled by default; routines in such libraries could suffer
significant loss of accuracy, typically through so-called "catastrophic cancellation", when this
option is used to set the precision to less than extended precision.
-mstackrealign
Realign the stack at entry. On the Intel x86, the -mstackrealign option will generate an alternate
prologue and epilogue that realigns the runtime stack if necessary. This supports mixing legacy
codes that keep a 4-byte aligned stack with modern codes that keep a 16-byte stack for SSE
compatibility. See also the attribute "force_align_arg_pointer", applicable to individual functions.
-mpreferred-stack-boundary=num
Attempt to keep the stack boundary aligned to a 2 raised to num byte boundary. If
-mpreferred-stack-boundary is not specified, the default is 4 (16 bytes or 128 bits).
-mincoming-stack-boundary=num
Assume the incoming stack is aligned to a 2 raised to num byte boundary. If
-mincoming-stack-boundary is not specified, the one specified by -mpreferred-stack-boundary will be
used.
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 Extension (SSE) data type "__m128" may not work properly 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, and generally increases code size. 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.
-mmmx
-mno-mmx
-msse
-mno-sse
-msse2
-mno-sse2
-msse3
-mno-sse3
-mssse3
-mno-ssse3
-msse4.1
-mno-sse4.1
-msse4.2
-mno-sse4.2
-msse4
-mno-sse4
-mavx
-mno-avx
-maes
-mno-aes
-mpclmul
-mno-pclmul
-msse4a
-mno-sse4a
-msse5
-mno-sse5
-m3dnow
-mno-3dnow
-mpopcnt
-mno-popcnt
-mabm
-mno-abm
These switches enable or disable the use of instructions in the MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1,
AVX, AES, PCLMUL, SSE4A, SSE5, ABM or 3DNow! extended instruction sets. These extensions are also
available as built-in functions: see X86 Built-in Functions, for details of the functions enabled and
disabled by these switches.
To have SSE/SSE2 instructions generated automatically from floating-point code (as opposed to 387
instructions), see -mfpmath=sse.
GCC depresses SSEx instructions when -mavx is used. Instead, it generates new AVX instructions or AVX
equivalence for all SSEx instructions when needed.
These options will enable GCC to use these extended instructions in generated code, even without
-mfpmath=sse. Applications which perform runtime CPU detection must compile separate files for each
supported architecture, using the appropriate flags. In particular, the file containing the CPU
detection code should be compiled without these options.
-mcld
This option instructs GCC to emit a "cld" instruction in the prologue of functions that use string
instructions. String instructions depend on the DF flag to select between autoincrement or
autodecrement mode. While the ABI specifies the DF flag to be cleared on function entry, some
operating systems violate this specification by not clearing the DF flag in their exception
dispatchers. The exception handler can be invoked with the DF flag set which leads to wrong
direction mode, when string instructions are used. This option can be enabled by default on 32-bit
x86 targets by configuring GCC with the --enable-cld configure option. Generation of "cld"
instructions can be suppressed with the -mno-cld compiler option in this case.
-mcx16
This option will enable GCC to use CMPXCHG16B instruction in generated code. CMPXCHG16B allows for
atomic operations on 128-bit double quadword (or oword) data types. This is useful for high
resolution counters that could be updated by multiple processors (or cores). This instruction is
generated as part of atomic built-in functions: see Atomic Builtins for details.
-msahf
This option will enable GCC to use SAHF instruction in generated 64-bit code. Early Intel CPUs with
Intel 64 lacked LAHF and SAHF instructions supported by AMD64 until introduction of Pentium 4 G1 step
in December 2005. LAHF and SAHF are load and store instructions, respectively, for certain status
flags. In 64-bit mode, SAHF instruction is used to optimize "fmod", "drem" or "remainder" built-in
functions: see Other Builtins for details.
-mmovbe
This option will enable GCC to use movbe instruction to implement "__builtin_bswap32" and
"__builtin_bswap64".
-mrecip
This option will enable GCC to use RCPSS and RSQRTSS instructions (and their vectorized variants
RCPPS and RSQRTPS) with an additional Newton-Raphson step to increase precision instead of DIVSS and
SQRTSS (and their vectorized variants) for single precision floating point arguments. These
instructions are generated only when -funsafe-math-optimizations is enabled together with
-finite-math-only and -fno-trapping-math. Note that while the throughput of the sequence is higher
than the throughput of the non-reciprocal instruction, the precision of the sequence can be decreased
by up to 2 ulp (i.e. the inverse of 1.0 equals 0.99999994).
-mveclibabi=type
Specifies the ABI type to use for vectorizing intrinsics using an external library. Supported types
are "svml" for the Intel short vector math library and "acml" for the AMD math core library style of
interfacing. GCC will currently emit calls to "vmldExp2", "vmldLn2", "vmldLog102", "vmldLog102",
"vmldPow2", "vmldTanh2", "vmldTan2", "vmldAtan2", "vmldAtanh2", "vmldCbrt2", "vmldSinh2", "vmldSin2",
"vmldAsinh2", "vmldAsin2", "vmldCosh2", "vmldCos2", "vmldAcosh2", "vmldAcos2", "vmlsExp4", "vmlsLn4",
"vmlsLog104", "vmlsLog104", "vmlsPow4", "vmlsTanh4", "vmlsTan4", "vmlsAtan4", "vmlsAtanh4",
"vmlsCbrt4", "vmlsSinh4", "vmlsSin4", "vmlsAsinh4", "vmlsAsin4", "vmlsCosh4", "vmlsCos4",
"vmlsAcosh4" and "vmlsAcos4" for corresponding function type when -mveclibabi=svml is used and
"__vrd2_sin", "__vrd2_cos", "__vrd2_exp", "__vrd2_log", "__vrd2_log2", "__vrd2_log10", "__vrs4_sinf",
"__vrs4_cosf", "__vrs4_expf", "__vrs4_logf", "__vrs4_log2f", "__vrs4_log10f" and "__vrs4_powf" for
corresponding function type when -mveclibabi=acml is used. Both -ftree-vectorize and
-funsafe-math-optimizations have to be enabled. A SVML or ACML ABI compatible library will have to be
specified at link time.
-mabi=name
Generate code for the specified calling convention. Permissible values are: sysv for the ABI used on
GNU/Linux and other systems and ms for the Microsoft ABI. The default is to use the Microsoft ABI
when targeting Windows. On all other systems, the default is the SYSV ABI. You can control this
behavior for a specific function by using the function attribute ms_abi/sysv_abi.
-mpush-args
-mno-push-args
Use PUSH operations to store outgoing parameters. This method is shorter and usually equally fast as
method using SUB/MOV operations and is enabled by default. In some cases disabling it may improve
performance because of improved scheduling and reduced dependencies.
-maccumulate-outgoing-args
If enabled, the maximum amount of space required for outgoing arguments will be computed in the
function prologue. This is faster on most modern CPUs because of reduced dependencies, improved
scheduling and reduced stack usage when preferred stack boundary is not equal to 2. The drawback is
a notable increase in code size. This switch implies -mno-push-args.
-mthreads
Support thread-safe exception handling on Mingw32. Code that relies on thread-safe exception
handling must compile and link all code with the -mthreads option. When compiling, -mthreads defines
-D_MT; when linking, it links in a special thread helper library -lmingwthrd which cleans up per
thread exception handling data.
-mno-align-stringops
Do not align destination of inlined string operations. This switch reduces code size and improves
performance in case the destination is already aligned, but GCC doesn't know about it.
-minline-all-stringops
By default GCC inlines string operations only when destination is known to be aligned at least to 4
byte boundary. This enables more inlining, increase code size, but may improve performance of code
that depends on fast memcpy, strlen and memset for short lengths.
-minline-stringops-dynamically
For string operation of unknown size, inline runtime checks so for small blocks inline code is used,
while for large blocks library call is used.
-mstringop-strategy=alg
Overwrite internal decision heuristic about particular algorithm to inline string operation with.
The allowed values are "rep_byte", "rep_4byte", "rep_8byte" for expanding using i386 "rep" prefix of
specified size, "byte_loop", "loop", "unrolled_loop" for expanding inline loop, "libcall" for always
expanding library call.
-momit-leaf-frame-pointer
Don't keep the frame pointer in a register for leaf functions. This avoids the instructions to save,
set up and restore frame pointers and makes an extra register available in leaf functions. The
option -fomit-frame-pointer removes the frame pointer for all functions which might make debugging
harder.
-mtls-direct-seg-refs
-mno-tls-direct-seg-refs
Controls whether TLS variables may be accessed with offsets from the TLS segment register (%gs for
32-bit, %fs for 64-bit), or whether the thread base pointer must be added. Whether or not this is
legal depends on the operating system, and whether it maps the segment to cover the entire TLS area.
For systems that use GNU libc, the default is on.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Enable automatic generation of fused floating point multiply-add instructions if the ISA supports
such instructions. The -mfused-madd option is on by default. The fused multiply-add instructions
have a different rounding behavior compared to executing a multiply followed by an add.
-msse2avx
-mno-sse2avx
Specify that the assembler should encode SSE instructions with VEX prefix. The option -mavx turns
this on by default.
These -m switches are supported in addition to the above on AMD x86-64 processors in 64-bit environments.
-m32
-m64
Generate code for a 32-bit or 64-bit environment. The 32-bit environment sets int, long and pointer
to 32 bits and generates code that runs on any i386 system. The 64-bit environment sets int to 32
bits and long and pointer to 64 bits and generates code for AMD's x86-64 architecture. For darwin
only the -m64 option turns off the -fno-pic and -mdynamic-no-pic options.
-mno-red-zone
Do not use a so called red zone for x86-64 code. The red zone is mandated by the x86-64 ABI, it is a
128-byte area beyond the location of the stack pointer that will not be modified by signal or
interrupt handlers and therefore can be used for temporary data without adjusting the stack pointer.
The flag -mno-red-zone disables this red zone.
-mcmodel=small
Generate code for the small code model: the program and its symbols must be linked in the lower 2 GB
of the address space. Pointers are 64 bits. Programs can be statically or dynamically linked. This
is the default code model.
-mcmodel=kernel
Generate code for the kernel code model. The kernel runs in the negative 2 GB of the address space.
This model has to be used for Linux kernel code.
-mcmodel=medium
Generate code for the medium model: The program is linked in the lower 2 GB of the address space.
Small symbols are also placed there. Symbols with sizes larger than -mlarge-data-threshold are put
into large data or bss sections and can be located above 2GB. Programs can be statically or
dynamically linked.
-mcmodel=large
Generate code for the large model: This model makes no assumptions about addresses and sizes of
sections.
i386 and x86-64 Windows Options
These additional options are available for Windows targets:
-mconsole
This option is available for Cygwin and MinGW targets. It specifies that a console application is to
be generated, by instructing the linker to set the PE header subsystem type required for console
applications. This is the default behaviour for Cygwin and MinGW targets.
-mcygwin
This option is available for Cygwin targets. It specifies that the Cygwin internal interface is to
be used for predefined preprocessor macros, C runtime libraries and related linker paths and options.
For Cygwin targets this is the default behaviour. This option is deprecated and will be removed in a
future release.
-mno-cygwin
This option is available for Cygwin targets. It specifies that the MinGW internal interface is to be
used instead of Cygwin's, by setting MinGW-related predefined macros and linker paths and default
library options. This option is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
-mdll
This option is available for Cygwin and MinGW targets. It specifies that a DLL - a dynamic link
library - is to be generated, enabling the selection of the required runtime startup object and entry
point.
-mnop-fun-dllimport
This option is available for Cygwin and MinGW targets. It specifies that the dllimport attribute
should be ignored.
-mthread
This option is available for MinGW targets. It specifies that MinGW-specific thread support is to be
used.
-mwin32
This option is available for Cygwin and MinGW targets. It specifies that the typical Windows pre-
defined macros are to be set in the pre-processor, but does not influence the choice of runtime
library/startup code.
-mwindows
This option is available for Cygwin and MinGW targets. It specifies that a GUI application is to be
generated by instructing the linker to set the PE header subsystem type appropriately.
-mpe-aligned-commons
This option is available for Cygwin and MinGW targets. It specifies that the GNU extension to the PE
file format that permits the correct alignment of COMMON variables should be used when generating
code. It will be enabled by default if GCC detects that the target assembler found during
configuration supports the feature.
See also under i386 and x86-64 Options for standard options.
IA-64 Options
These are the -m options defined for the Intel IA-64 architecture.
-mbig-endian
Generate code for a big endian target. This is the default for HP-UX.
-mlittle-endian
Generate code for a little endian target. This is the default for AIX5 and GNU/Linux.
-mgnu-as
-mno-gnu-as
Generate (or don't) code for the GNU assembler. This is the default.
-mgnu-ld
-mno-gnu-ld
Generate (or don't) code for the GNU linker. This is the default.
-mno-pic
Generate code that does not use a global pointer register. The result is not position independent
code, and violates the IA-64 ABI.
-mvolatile-asm-stop
-mno-volatile-asm-stop
Generate (or don't) a stop bit immediately before and after volatile asm statements.
-mregister-names
-mno-register-names
Generate (or don't) in, loc, and out register names for the stacked registers. This may make
assembler output more readable.
-mno-sdata
-msdata
Disable (or enable) optimizations that use the small data section. This may be useful for working
around optimizer bugs.
-mconstant-gp
Generate code that uses a single constant global pointer value. This is useful when compiling kernel
code.
-mauto-pic
Generate code that is self-relocatable. This implies -mconstant-gp. This is useful when compiling
firmware code.
-minline-float-divide-min-latency
Generate code for inline divides of floating point values using the minimum latency algorithm.
-minline-float-divide-max-throughput
Generate code for inline divides of floating point values using the maximum throughput algorithm.
-minline-int-divide-min-latency
Generate code for inline divides of integer values using the minimum latency algorithm.
-minline-int-divide-max-throughput
Generate code for inline divides of integer values using the maximum throughput algorithm.
-minline-sqrt-min-latency
Generate code for inline square roots using the minimum latency algorithm.
-minline-sqrt-max-throughput
Generate code for inline square roots using the maximum throughput algorithm.
-mno-dwarf2-asm
-mdwarf2-asm
Don't (or do) generate assembler code for the DWARF2 line number debugging info. This may be useful
when not using the GNU assembler.
-mearly-stop-bits
-mno-early-stop-bits
Allow stop bits to be placed earlier than immediately preceding the instruction that triggered the
stop bit. This can improve instruction scheduling, but does not always do so.
-mfixed-range=register-range
Generate code treating the given register range as fixed registers. A fixed register is one that the
register allocator can not use. This is useful when compiling kernel code. A register range is
specified as two registers separated by a dash. Multiple register ranges can be specified separated
by a comma.
-mtls-size=tls-size
Specify bit size of immediate TLS offsets. Valid values are 14, 22, and 64.
-mtune=cpu-type
Tune the instruction scheduling for a particular CPU, Valid values are itanium, itanium1, merced,
itanium2, and mckinley.
-mt
-pthread
Add support for multithreading using the POSIX threads library. This option sets flags for both the
preprocessor and linker. It does not affect the thread safety of object code produced by the
compiler or that of libraries supplied with it. These are HP-UX specific flags.
-milp32
-mlp64
Generate code for a 32-bit or 64-bit environment. The 32-bit environment sets int, long and pointer
to 32 bits. The 64-bit environment sets int to 32 bits and long and pointer to 64 bits. These are
HP-UX specific flags.
-mno-sched-br-data-spec
-msched-br-data-spec
(Dis/En)able data speculative scheduling before reload. This will result in generation of the ld.a
instructions and the corresponding check instructions (ld.c / chk.a). The default is 'disable'.
-msched-ar-data-spec
-mno-sched-ar-data-spec
(En/Dis)able data speculative scheduling after reload. This will result in generation of the ld.a
instructions and the corresponding check instructions (ld.c / chk.a). The default is 'enable'.
-mno-sched-control-spec
-msched-control-spec
(Dis/En)able control speculative scheduling. This feature is available only during region scheduling
(i.e. before reload). This will result in generation of the ld.s instructions and the corresponding
check instructions chk.s . The default is 'disable'.
-msched-br-in-data-spec
-mno-sched-br-in-data-spec
(En/Dis)able speculative scheduling of the instructions that are dependent on the data speculative
loads before reload. This is effective only with -msched-br-data-spec enabled. The default is
'enable'.
-msched-ar-in-data-spec
-mno-sched-ar-in-data-spec
(En/Dis)able speculative scheduling of the instructions that are dependent on the data speculative
loads after reload. This is effective only with -msched-ar-data-spec enabled. The default is
'enable'.
-msched-in-control-spec
-mno-sched-in-control-spec
(En/Dis)able speculative scheduling of the instructions that are dependent on the control speculative
loads. This is effective only with -msched-control-spec enabled. The default is 'enable'.
-msched-ldc
-mno-sched-ldc
(En/Dis)able use of simple data speculation checks ld.c . If disabled, only chk.a instructions will
be emitted to check data speculative loads. The default is 'enable'.
-mno-sched-control-ldc
-msched-control-ldc
(Dis/En)able use of ld.c instructions to check control speculative loads. If enabled, in case of
control speculative load with no speculatively scheduled dependent instructions this load will be
emitted as ld.sa and ld.c will be used to check it. The default is 'disable'.
-mno-sched-spec-verbose
-msched-spec-verbose
(Dis/En)able printing of the information about speculative motions.
-mno-sched-prefer-non-data-spec-insns
-msched-prefer-non-data-spec-insns
If enabled, data speculative instructions will be chosen for schedule only if there are no other
choices at the moment. This will make the use of the data speculation much more conservative. The
default is 'disable'.
-mno-sched-prefer-non-control-spec-insns
-msched-prefer-non-control-spec-insns
If enabled, control speculative instructions will be chosen for schedule only if there are no other
choices at the moment. This will make the use of the control speculation much more conservative.
The default is 'disable'.
-mno-sched-count-spec-in-critical-path
-msched-count-spec-in-critical-path
If enabled, speculative dependencies will be considered during computation of the instructions
priorities. This will make the use of the speculation a bit more conservative. The default is
'disable'.
M32C Options
-mcpu=name
Select the CPU for which code is generated. name may be one of r8c for the R8C/Tiny series, m16c for
the M16C (up to /60) series, m32cm for the M16C/80 series, or m32c for the M32C/80 series.
-msim
Specifies that the program will be run on the simulator. This causes an alternate runtime library to
be linked in which supports, for example, file I/O. You must not use this option when generating
programs that will run on real hardware; you must provide your own runtime library for whatever I/O
functions are needed.
-memregs=number
Specifies the number of memory-based pseudo-registers GCC will use during code generation. These
pseudo-registers will be used like real registers, so there is a tradeoff between GCC's ability to
fit the code into available registers, and the performance penalty of using memory instead of
registers. Note that all modules in a program must be compiled with the same value for this option.
Because of that, you must not use this option with the default runtime libraries gcc builds.
M32R/D Options
These -m options are defined for Renesas M32R/D architectures:
-m32r2
Generate code for the M32R/2.
-m32rx
Generate code for the M32R/X.
-m32r
Generate code for the M32R. This is the default.
-mmodel=small
Assume all objects live in the lower 16MB of memory (so that their addresses can be loaded with the
"ld24" instruction), and assume all subroutines are reachable with the "bl" instruction. This is the
default.
The addressability of a particular object can be set with the "model" attribute.
-mmodel=medium
Assume objects may be anywhere in the 32-bit address space (the compiler will generate "seth/add3"
instructions to load their addresses), and assume all subroutines are reachable with the "bl"
instruction.
-mmodel=large
Assume objects may be anywhere in the 32-bit address space (the compiler will generate "seth/add3"
instructions to load their addresses), and assume subroutines may not be reachable with the "bl"
instruction (the compiler will generate the much slower "seth/add3/jl" instruction sequence).
-msdata=none
Disable use of the small data area. Variables will be put into one of .data, bss, or .rodata (unless
the "section" attribute has been specified). This is the default.
The small data area consists of sections .sdata and .sbss. Objects may be explicitly put in the
small data area with the "section" attribute using one of these sections.
-msdata=sdata
Put small global and static data in the small data area, but do not generate special code to
reference them.
-msdata=use
Put small global and static data in the small data area, and generate special instructions to
reference them.
-G num
Put global and static objects less than or equal to num bytes into the small data or bss sections
instead of the normal data or bss sections. The default value of num is 8. The -msdata option must
be set to one of sdata or use for this option to have any effect.
All modules should be compiled with the same -G num value. Compiling with different values of num
may or may not work; if it doesn't the linker will give an error message---incorrect code will not be
generated.
-mdebug
Makes the M32R specific code in the compiler display some statistics that might help in debugging
programs.
-malign-loops
Align all loops to a 32-byte boundary.
-mno-align-loops
Do not enforce a 32-byte alignment for loops. This is the default.
-missue-rate=number
Issue number instructions per cycle. number can only be 1 or 2.
-mbranch-cost=number
number can only be 1 or 2. If it is 1 then branches will be preferred over conditional code, if it
is 2, then the opposite will apply.
-mflush-trap=number
Specifies the trap number to use to flush the cache. The default is 12. Valid numbers are between 0
and 15 inclusive.
-mno-flush-trap
Specifies that the cache cannot be flushed by using a trap.
-mflush-func=name
Specifies the name of the operating system function to call to flush the cache. The default is
_flush_cache, but a function call will only be used if a trap is not available.
-mno-flush-func
Indicates that there is no OS function for flushing the cache.
M680x0 Options
These are the -m options defined for M680x0 and ColdFire processors. The default settings depend on
which architecture was selected when the compiler was configured; the defaults for the most common
choices are given below.
-march=arch
Generate code for a specific M680x0 or ColdFire instruction set architecture. Permissible values of
arch for M680x0 architectures are: 68000, 68010, 68020, 68030, 68040, 68060 and cpu32. ColdFire
architectures are selected according to Freescale's ISA classification and the permissible values
are: isaa, isaaplus, isab and isac.
gcc defines a macro __mcfarch__ whenever it is generating code for a ColdFire target. The arch in
this macro is one of the -march arguments given above.
When used together, -march and -mtune select code that runs on a family of similar processors but
that is optimized for a particular microarchitecture.
-mcpu=cpu
Generate code for a specific M680x0 or ColdFire processor. The M680x0 cpus are: 68000, 68010, 68020,
68030, 68040, 68060, 68302, 68332 and cpu32. The ColdFire cpus are given by the table below, which
also classifies the CPUs into families:
Family : -mcpu arguments
51 : 51 51ac 51cn 51em 51qe
5206 : 5202 5204 5206
5206e : 5206e
5208 : 5207 5208
5211a : 5210a 5211a
5213 : 5211 5212 5213
5216 : 5214 5216
52235 : 52230 52231 52232 52233 52234 52235
5225 : 5224 5225
52259 : 52252 52254 52255 52256 52258 52259
5235 : 5232 5233 5234 5235 523x
5249 : 5249
5250 : 5250
5271 : 5270 5271
5272 : 5272
5275 : 5274 5275
5282 : 5280 5281 5282 528x
53017 : 53011 53012 53013 53014 53015 53016 53017
5307 : 5307
5329 : 5327 5328 5329 532x
5373 : 5372 5373 537x
5407 : 5407
5475 : 5470 5471 5472 5473 5474 5475 547x 5480 5481 5482 5483 5484 5485
-mcpu=cpu overrides -march=arch if arch is compatible with cpu. Other combinations of -mcpu and
-march are rejected.
gcc defines the macro __mcf_cpu_cpu when ColdFire target cpu is selected. It also defines
__mcf_family_family, where the value of family is given by the table above.
-mtune=tune
Tune the code for a particular microarchitecture, within the constraints set by -march and -mcpu.
The M680x0 microarchitectures are: 68000, 68010, 68020, 68030, 68040, 68060 and cpu32. The ColdFire
microarchitectures are: cfv1, cfv2, cfv3, cfv4 and cfv4e.
You can also use -mtune=68020-40 for code that needs to run relatively well on 68020, 68030 and 68040
targets. -mtune=68020-60 is similar but includes 68060 targets as well. These two options select
the same tuning decisions as -m68020-40 and -m68020-60 respectively.
gcc defines the macros __mcarch and __mcarch__ when tuning for 680x0 architecture arch. It also
defines mcarch unless either -ansi or a non-GNU -std option is used. If gcc is tuning for a range of
architectures, as selected by -mtune=68020-40 or -mtune=68020-60, it defines the macros for every
architecture in the range.
gcc also defines the macro __muarch__ when tuning for ColdFire microarchitecture uarch, where uarch
is one of the arguments given above.
-m68000
-mc68000
Generate output for a 68000. This is the default when the compiler is configured for 68000-based
systems. It is equivalent to -march=68000.
Use this option for microcontrollers with a 68000 or EC000 core, including the 68008, 68302, 68306,
68307, 68322, 68328 and 68356.
-m68010
Generate output for a 68010. This is the default when the compiler is configured for 68010-based
systems. It is equivalent to -march=68010.
-m68020
-mc68020
Generate output for a 68020. This is the default when the compiler is configured for 68020-based
systems. It is equivalent to -march=68020.
-m68030
Generate output for a 68030. This is the default when the compiler is configured for 68030-based
systems. It is equivalent to -march=68030.
-m68040
Generate output for a 68040. This is the default when the compiler is configured for 68040-based
systems. It is equivalent to -march=68040.
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
Generate output for a 68060. This is the default when the compiler is configured for 68060-based
systems. It is equivalent to -march=68060.
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
Generate output for a CPU32. This is the default when the compiler is configured for CPU32-based
systems. It is equivalent to -march=cpu32.
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
Generate output for a 520X ColdFire CPU. This is the default when the compiler is configured for
520X-based systems. It is equivalent to -mcpu=5206, and is now deprecated in favor of that option.
Use this option for microcontroller with a 5200 core, including the MCF5202, MCF5203, MCF5204 and
MCF5206.
-m5206e
Generate output for a 5206e ColdFire CPU. The option is now deprecated in favor of the equivalent
-mcpu=5206e.
-m528x
Generate output for a member of the ColdFire 528X family. The option is now deprecated in favor of
the equivalent -mcpu=528x.
-m5307
Generate output for a ColdFire 5307 CPU. The option is now deprecated in favor of the equivalent
-mcpu=5307.
-m5407
Generate output for a ColdFire 5407 CPU. The option is now deprecated in favor of the equivalent
-mcpu=5407.
-mcfv4e
Generate output for a ColdFire V4e family CPU (e.g. 547x/548x). This includes use of hardware
floating point instructions. The option is equivalent to -mcpu=547x, and is now deprecated in favor
of that option.
-m68020-40
Generate output for a 68040, without using any of the new instructions. This results in code which
can run relatively efficiently on either a 68020/68881 or a 68030 or a 68040. The generated code
does use the 68881 instructions that are emulated on the 68040.
The option is equivalent to -march=68020 -mtune=68020-40.
-m68020-60
Generate output for a 68060, without using any of the new instructions. This results in code which
can run relatively efficiently on either a 68020/68881 or a 68030 or a 68040. The generated code
does use the 68881 instructions that are emulated on the 68060.
The option is equivalent to -march=68020 -mtune=68020-60.
-mhard-float
-m68881
Generate floating-point instructions. This is the default for 68020 and above, and for ColdFire
devices that have an FPU. It defines the macro __HAVE_68881__ on M680x0 targets and __mcffpu__ on
ColdFire targets.
-msoft-float
Do not generate floating-point instructions; use library calls instead. This is the default for
68000, 68010, and 68832 targets. It is also the default for ColdFire devices that have no FPU.
-mdiv
-mno-div
Generate (do not generate) ColdFire hardware divide and remainder instructions. If -march is used
without -mcpu, the default is "on" for ColdFire architectures and "off" for M680x0 architectures.
Otherwise, the default is taken from the target CPU (either the default CPU, or the one specified by
-mcpu). For example, the default is "off" for -mcpu=5206 and "on" for -mcpu=5206e.
gcc defines the macro __mcfhwdiv__ when this option is enabled.
-mshort
Consider type "int" to be 16 bits wide, like "short int". Additionally, parameters passed on the
stack are also aligned to a 16-bit boundary even on targets whose API mandates promotion to 32-bit.
-mno-short
Do not consider type "int" to be 16 bits wide. This is the default.
-mnobitfield
-mno-bitfield
Do not use the bit-field instructions. The -m68000, -mcpu32 and -m5200 options imply -mnobitfield.
-mbitfield
Do use the bit-field instructions. The -m68020 option implies -mbitfield. This is the default if
you use a configuration designed for a 68020.
-mrtd
Use a different function-calling convention, in which functions that take a fixed number of arguments
return with the "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.
-mno-rtd
Do not use the calling conventions selected by -mrtd. This is the default.
-malign-int
-mno-align-int
Control whether GCC aligns "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, GCC will align structures containing the above types
differently than most published application binary interface specifications for the m68k.
-mpcrel
Use the pc-relative addressing mode of the 68000 directly, instead of using a global offset table.
At present, this option implies -fpic, allowing at most a 16-bit offset for pc-relative addressing.
-fPIC is not presently supported with -mpcrel, though this could be supported for 68020 and higher
processors.
-mno-strict-align
-mstrict-align
Do not (do) assume that unaligned memory references will be handled by the system.
-msep-data
Generate code that allows the data segment to be located in a different area of memory from the text
segment. This allows for execute in place in an environment without virtual memory management. This
option implies -fPIC.
-mno-sep-data
Generate code that assumes that the data segment follows the text segment. This is the default.
-mid-shared-library
Generate code that supports shared libraries via the library ID method. This allows for execute in
place and shared libraries in an environment without virtual memory management. This option implies
-fPIC.
-mno-id-shared-library
Generate code that doesn't assume ID based shared libraries are being used. This is the default.
-mshared-library-id=n
Specified the identification number of the ID based shared library being compiled. Specifying a
value of 0 will generate more compact code, specifying other values will force the allocation of that
number to the current library but is no more space or time efficient than omitting this option.
-mxgot
-mno-xgot
When generating position-independent code for ColdFire, generate code that works if the GOT has more
than 8192 entries. This code is larger and slower than code generated without this option. On
M680x0 processors, this option is not needed; -fPIC suffices.
GCC normally uses a single instruction to load values from the GOT. While this is relatively
efficient, it only works if the GOT is smaller than about 64k. Anything larger causes the linker to
report an error such as:
relocation truncated to fit: R_68K_GOT16O foobar
If this happens, you should recompile your code with -mxgot. It should then work with very large
GOTs. However, code generated with -mxgot is less efficient, since it takes 4 instructions to fetch
the value of a global symbol.
Note that some linkers, including newer versions of the GNU linker, can create multiple GOTs and sort
GOT entries. If you have such a linker, you should only need to use -mxgot when compiling a single
object file that accesses more than 8192 GOT entries. Very few do.
These options have no effect unless GCC is generating position-independent code.
M68hc1x Options
These are the -m options defined for the 68hc11 and 68hc12 microcontrollers. The default values for
these options depends on which style of microcontroller was selected when the compiler was configured;
the defaults for the most common choices are given below.
-m6811
-m68hc11
Generate output for a 68HC11. This is the default when the compiler is configured for 68HC11-based
systems.
-m6812
-m68hc12
Generate output for a 68HC12. This is the default when the compiler is configured for 68HC12-based
systems.
-m68S12
-m68hcs12
Generate output for a 68HCS12.
-mauto-incdec
Enable the use of 68HC12 pre and post auto-increment and auto-decrement addressing modes.
-minmax
-nominmax
Enable the use of 68HC12 min and max instructions.
-mlong-calls
-mno-long-calls
Treat all calls as being far away (near). If calls are assumed to be far away, the compiler will use
the "call" instruction to call a function and the "rtc" instruction for returning.
-mshort
Consider type "int" to be 16 bits wide, like "short int".
-msoft-reg-count=count
Specify the number of pseudo-soft registers which are used for the code generation. The maximum
number is 32. Using more pseudo-soft register may or may not result in better code depending on the
program. The default is 4 for 68HC11 and 2 for 68HC12.
MCore Options
These are the -m options defined for the Motorola M*Core processors.
-mhardlit
-mno-hardlit
Inline constants into the code stream if it can be done in two instructions or less.
-mdiv
-mno-div
Use the divide instruction. (Enabled by default).
-mrelax-immediate
-mno-relax-immediate
Allow arbitrary sized immediates in bit operations.
-mwide-bitfields
-mno-wide-bitfields
Always treat bit-fields as int-sized.
-m4byte-functions
-mno-4byte-functions
Force all functions to be aligned to a four byte boundary.
-mcallgraph-data
-mno-callgraph-data
Emit callgraph information.
-mslow-bytes
-mno-slow-bytes
Prefer word access when reading byte quantities.
-mlittle-endian
-mbig-endian
Generate code for a little endian target.
-m210
-m340
Generate code for the 210 processor.
-mno-lsim
Assume that run-time support has been provided and so omit the simulator library (libsim.a) from the
linker command line.
-mstack-increment=size
Set the maximum amount for a single stack increment operation. Large values can increase the speed
of programs which contain functions that need a large amount of stack space, but they can also
trigger a segmentation fault if the stack is extended too much. The default value is 0x1000.
MIPS Options
-EB Generate big-endian code.
-EL Generate little-endian code. This is the default for mips*el-*-* configurations.
-march=arch
Generate code that will run on arch, which can be the name of a generic MIPS ISA, or the name of a
particular processor. The ISA names are: mips1, mips2, mips3, mips4, mips32, mips32r2, mips64 and
mips64r2. The processor names are: 4kc, 4km, 4kp, 4ksc, 4kec, 4kem, 4kep, 4ksd, 5kc, 5kf, 20kc,
24kc, 24kf2_1, 24kf1_1, 24kec, 24kef2_1, 24kef1_1, 34kc, 34kf2_1, 34kf1_1, 74kc, 74kf2_1, 74kf1_1,
74kf3_2, 1004kc, 1004kf2_1, 1004kf1_1, loongson2e, loongson2f, m4k, m14k, octeon, orion, r2000,
r3000, r3900, r4000, r4400, r4600, r4650, r6000, r8000, rm7000, rm9000, r10000, r12000, r14000,
r16000, sb1, sr71000, vr4100, vr4111, vr4120, vr4130, vr4300, vr5000, vr5400, vr5500 and xlr. The
special value from-abi selects the most compatible architecture for the selected ABI (that is, mips1
for 32-bit ABIs and mips3 for 64-bit ABIs).
Native Linux/GNU toolchains also support the value native, which selects the best architecture option
for the host processor. -march=native has no effect if GCC does not recognize the processor.
In processor names, a final 000 can be abbreviated as k (for example, -march=r2k). Prefixes are
optional, and vr may be written r.
Names of the form nf2_1 refer to processors with FPUs clocked at half the rate of the core, names of
the form nf1_1 refer to processors with FPUs clocked at the same rate as the core, and names of the
form nf3_2 refer to processors with FPUs clocked a ratio of 3:2 with respect to the core. For
compatibility reasons, nf is accepted as a synonym for nf2_1 while nx and bfx are accepted as
synonyms for nf1_1.
GCC defines two macros based on the value of this option. The first is _MIPS_ARCH, which gives the
name of target architecture, as a string. The second has the form _MIPS_ARCH_foo, where foo is the
capitalized value of _MIPS_ARCH. For example, -march=r2000 will set _MIPS_ARCH to "r2000" and define
the macro _MIPS_ARCH_R2000.
Note that the _MIPS_ARCH macro uses the processor names given above. In other words, it will have
the full prefix and will not abbreviate 000 as k. In the case of from-abi, the macro names the
resolved architecture (either "mips1" or "mips3"). It names the default architecture when no -march
option is given.
-mtune=arch
Optimize for arch. Among other things, this option controls the way instructions are scheduled, and
the perceived cost of arithmetic operations. The list of arch values is the same as for -march.
When this option is not used, GCC will optimize for the processor specified by -march. By using
-march and -mtune together, it is possible to generate code that will run on a family of processors,
but optimize the code for one particular member of that family.
-mtune defines the macros _MIPS_TUNE and _MIPS_TUNE_foo, which work in the same way as the -march
ones described above.
-mips1
Equivalent to -march=mips1.
-mips2
Equivalent to -march=mips2.
-mips3
Equivalent to -march=mips3.
-mips4
Equivalent to -march=mips4.
-mips32
Equivalent to -march=mips32.
-mips32r2
Equivalent to -march=mips32r2.
-mips64
Equivalent to -march=mips64.
-mips64r2
Equivalent to -march=mips64r2.
-mips16
-mips16e
-mno-mips16
Generate (do not generate) MIPS16 code. If GCC is targetting a MIPS32 or MIPS64 architecture, it
will make use of the MIPS16e ASE. -mips16e is a deprecated alias for -mips16.
MIPS16 code generation can also be controlled on a per-function basis by means of "mips16" and
"nomips16" attributes.
-mflip-mips16
Generate MIPS16 code on alternating functions. This option is provided for regression testing of
mixed MIPS16/non-MIPS16 code generation, and is not intended for ordinary use in compiling user code.
-minterlink-mips16
-mno-interlink-mips16
Require (do not require) that non-MIPS16/non-microMIPS code be link-compatible with MIPS16/microMIPS
code.
For example, non-MIPS16/non-microMIPS code cannot jump directly to MIPS16/microMIPS code; it must
either use a call or an indirect jump. -minterlink-mips16 therefore disables direct jumps unless GCC
knows that the target of the jump is not MIPS16/non microMIPS.
-mabi=32
-mabi=o64
-mabi=n32
-mabi=64
-mabi=eabi
Generate code for the given ABI.
Note that the EABI has a 32-bit and a 64-bit variant. GCC normally generates 64-bit code when you
select a 64-bit architecture, but you can use -mgp32 to get 32-bit code instead.
For information about the O64 ABI, see <http://gcc.gnu.org/projects/mipso64-abi.html>.
GCC supports a variant of the o32 ABI in which floating-point registers are 64 rather than 32 bits
wide. You can select this combination with -mabi=32 -mfp64. This ABI relies on the mthc1 and mfhc1
instructions and is therefore only supported for MIPS32R2 processors.
The register assignments for arguments and return values remain the same, but each scalar value is
passed in a single 64-bit register rather than a pair of 32-bit registers. For example, scalar
floating-point values are returned in $f0 only, not a $f0/$f1 pair. The set of call-saved registers
also remains the same, but all 64 bits are saved.
-mabicalls
-mno-abicalls
Generate (do not generate) code that is suitable for SVR4-style dynamic objects. -mabicalls is the
default for SVR4-based systems.
-mshared
-mno-shared
Generate (do not generate) code that is fully position-independent, and that can therefore be linked
into shared libraries. This option only affects -mabicalls.
All -mabicalls code has traditionally been position-independent, regardless of options like -fPIC and
-fpic. However, as an extension, the GNU toolchain allows executables to use absolute accesses for
locally-binding symbols. It can also use shorter GP initialization sequences and generate direct
calls to locally-defined functions. This mode is selected by -mno-shared.
-mno-shared depends on binutils 2.16 or higher and generates objects that can only be linked by the
GNU linker. However, the option does not affect the ABI of the final executable; it only affects the
ABI of relocatable objects. Using -mno-shared will generally make executables both smaller and
quicker.
-mshared is the default.
-mplt
-mno-plt
Assume (do not assume) that the static and dynamic linkers support PLTs and copy relocations. This
option only affects -mno-shared -mabicalls. For the n64 ABI, this option has no effect without
-msym32.
You can make -mplt the default by configuring GCC with --with-mips-plt. The default is -mno-plt
otherwise.
-mxgot
-mno-xgot
Lift (do not lift) the usual restrictions on the size of the global offset table.
GCC normally uses a single instruction to load values from the GOT. While this is relatively
efficient, it will only work if the GOT is smaller than about 64k. Anything larger will cause the
linker to report an error such as:
relocation truncated to fit: R_MIPS_GOT16 foobar
If this happens, you should recompile your code with -mxgot. It should then work with very large
GOTs, although it will also be less efficient, since it will take three instructions to fetch the
value of a global symbol.
Note that some linkers can create multiple GOTs. If you have such a linker, you should only need to
use -mxgot when a single object file accesses more than 64k's worth of GOT entries. Very few do.
These options have no effect unless GCC is generating position independent code.
-mgp32
Assume that general-purpose registers are 32 bits wide.
-mgp64
Assume that general-purpose registers are 64 bits wide.
-mfp32
Assume that floating-point registers are 32 bits wide.
-mfp64
Assume that floating-point registers are 64 bits wide.
-mhard-float
Use floating-point coprocessor instructions.
-msoft-float
Do not use floating-point coprocessor instructions. Implement floating-point calculations using
library calls instead.
-msingle-float
Assume that the floating-point coprocessor only supports single-precision operations.
-mdouble-float
Assume that the floating-point coprocessor supports double-precision operations. This is the
default.
-mllsc
-mno-llsc
Use (do not use) ll, sc, and sync instructions to implement atomic memory built-in functions. When
neither option is specified, GCC will use the instructions if the target architecture supports them.
-mllsc is useful if the runtime environment can emulate the instructions and -mno-llsc can be useful
when compiling for nonstandard ISAs. You can make either option the default by configuring GCC with
--with-llsc and --without-llsc respectively. --with-llsc is the default for some configurations; see
the installation documentation for details.
-mdsp
-mno-dsp
Use (do not use) revision 1 of the MIPS DSP ASE.
This option defines the preprocessor macro __mips_dsp. It also defines __mips_dsp_rev to 1.
-mdspr2
-mno-dspr2
Use (do not use) revision 2 of the MIPS DSP ASE.
This option defines the preprocessor macros __mips_dsp and __mips_dspr2. It also defines
__mips_dsp_rev to 2.
-msmartmips
-mno-smartmips
Use (do not use) the MIPS SmartMIPS ASE.
-mpaired-single
-mno-paired-single
Use (do not use) paired-single floating-point instructions.
This option requires hardware floating-point support to be enabled.
-mdmx
-mno-mdmx
Use (do not use) MIPS Digital Media Extension instructions. This option can only be used when
generating 64-bit code and requires hardware floating-point support to be enabled.
-mips3d
-mno-mips3d
Use (do not use) the MIPS-3D ASE. The option -mips3d implies -mpaired-single.
-mmicromips
-mno-micromips
Generate (do not generate) microMIPS code. If GCC is targetting a MIPS32 or MIPS64 architecture, it
will make use of the microMIPS ASE.
MicroMIPS code generation can also be controlled on a per-function basis by means of "micromips" and
"nomicromips" attributes.
-mmt
-mno-mt
Use (do not use) MT Multithreading instructions.
-mmcu
-mno-mcu
Use (do not use) the MIPS MCU ASE instructions.
-mlong64
Force "long" types to be 64 bits wide. See -mlong32 for an explanation of the default and the way
that the pointer size is determined.
-mlong32
Force "long", "int", and pointer types to be 32 bits wide.
The default size of "int"s, "long"s and pointers depends on the ABI. All the supported ABIs use
32-bit "int"s. The n64 ABI uses 64-bit "long"s, as does the 64-bit EABI; the others use 32-bit
"long"s. Pointers are the same size as "long"s, or the same size as integer registers, whichever is
smaller.
-msym32
-mno-sym32
Assume (do not assume) that all symbols have 32-bit values, regardless of the selected ABI. This
option is useful in combination with -mabi=64 and -mno-abicalls because it allows GCC to generate
shorter and faster references to symbolic addresses.
-G num
Put definitions of externally-visible data in a small data section if that data is no bigger than num
bytes. GCC can then access the data more efficiently; see -mgpopt for details.
The default -G option depends on the configuration.
-mlocal-sdata
-mno-local-sdata
Extend (do not extend) the -G behavior to local data too, such as to static variables in C.
-mlocal-sdata is the default for all configurations.
If the linker complains that an application is using too much small data, you might want to try
rebuilding the less performance-critical parts with -mno-local-sdata. You might also want to build
large libraries with -mno-local-sdata, so that the libraries leave more room for the main program.
-mextern-sdata
-mno-extern-sdata
Assume (do not assume) that externally-defined data will be in a small data section if that data is
within the -G limit. -mextern-sdata is the default for all configurations.
If you compile a module Mod with -mextern-sdata -G num -mgpopt, and Mod references a variable Var
that is no bigger than num bytes, you must make sure that Var is placed in a small data section. If
Var is defined by another module, you must either compile that module with a high-enough -G setting
or attach a "section" attribute to Var's definition. If Var is common, you must link the application
with a high-enough -G setting.
The easiest way of satisfying these restrictions is to compile and link every module with the same -G
option. However, you may wish to build a library that supports several different small data limits.
You can do this by compiling the library with the highest supported -G setting and additionally using
-mno-extern-sdata to stop the library from making assumptions about externally-defined data.
-mgpopt
-mno-gpopt
Use (do not use) GP-relative accesses for symbols that are known to be in a small data section; see
-G, -mlocal-sdata and -mextern-sdata. -mgpopt is the default for all configurations.
-mno-gpopt is useful for cases where the $gp register might not hold the value of "_gp". For
example, if the code is part of a library that might be used in a boot monitor, programs that call
boot monitor routines will pass an unknown value in $gp. (In such situations, the boot monitor
itself would usually be compiled with -G0.)
-mno-gpopt implies -mno-local-sdata and -mno-extern-sdata.
-membedded-data
-mno-embedded-data
Allocate variables to the read-only data section first if possible, then next in the small data
section if possible, otherwise in data. This gives slightly slower code than the default, but
reduces the amount of RAM required when executing, and thus may be preferred for some embedded
systems.
-muninit-const-in-rodata
-mno-uninit-const-in-rodata
Put uninitialized "const" variables in the read-only data section. This option is only meaningful in
conjunction with -membedded-data.
-mcode-readable=setting
Specify whether GCC may generate code that reads from executable sections. There are three possible
settings:
-mcode-readable=yes
Instructions may freely access executable sections. This is the default setting.
-mcode-readable=pcrel
MIPS16 PC-relative load instructions can access executable sections, but other instructions must
not do so. This option is useful on 4KSc and 4KSd processors when the code TLBs have the Read
Inhibit bit set. It is also useful on processors that can be configured to have a dual
instruction/data SRAM interface and that, like the M4K, automatically redirect PC-relative loads
to the instruction RAM.
-mcode-readable=no
Instructions must not access executable sections. This option can be useful on targets that are
configured to have a dual instruction/data SRAM interface but that (unlike the M4K) do not
automatically redirect PC-relative loads to the instruction RAM.
-msplit-addresses
-mno-split-addresses
Enable (disable) use of the "%hi()" and "%lo()" assembler relocation operators. This option has been
superseded by -mexplicit-relocs but is retained for backwards compatibility.
-mexplicit-relocs
-mno-explicit-relocs
Use (do not use) assembler relocation operators when dealing with symbolic addresses. The
alternative, selected by -mno-explicit-relocs, is to use assembler macros instead.
-mexplicit-relocs is the default if GCC was configured to use an assembler that supports relocation
operators.
-mcheck-zero-division
-mno-check-zero-division
Trap (do not trap) on integer division by zero.
The default is -mcheck-zero-division.
-mdivide-traps
-mdivide-breaks
MIPS systems check for division by zero by generating either a conditional trap or a break
instruction. Using traps results in smaller code, but is only supported on MIPS II and later. Also,
some versions of the Linux kernel have a bug that prevents trap from generating the proper signal
("SIGFPE"). Use -mdivide-traps to allow conditional traps on architectures that support them and
-mdivide-breaks to force the use of breaks.
The default is usually -mdivide-traps, but this can be overridden at configure time using
--with-divide=breaks. Divide-by-zero checks can be completely disabled using
-mno-check-zero-division.
-mmemcpy
-mno-memcpy
Force (do not force) the use of "memcpy()" for non-trivial block moves. The default is -mno-memcpy,
which allows GCC to inline most constant-sized copies.
-mlong-calls
-mno-long-calls
Disable (do not disable) use of the "jal" instruction. Calling functions using "jal" is more
efficient but requires the caller and callee to be in the same 256 megabyte segment.
This option has no effect on abicalls code. The default is -mno-long-calls.
-mjals
-mno-jals
Generate (do not generate) the "jals" instruction for microMIPS by recognizing that the branch delay
slot instruction can be 16 bits. This implies that the funciton call cannot switch the current mode
during the linking stage, because we don't have the "jalxs" instruction that supports 16-bit branch
delay slot instructions.
-mmad
-mno-mad
Enable (disable) use of the "mad", "madu" and "mul" instructions, as provided by the R4650 ISA.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Enable (disable) use of the floating point multiply-accumulate instructions, when they are available.
The default is -mfused-madd.
When multiply-accumulate instructions are used, the intermediate product is calculated to infinite
precision and is not subject to the FCSR Flush to Zero bit. This may be undesirable in some
circumstances.
-nocpp
Tell the MIPS assembler to not run its preprocessor over user assembler files (with a .s suffix) when
assembling them.
-mfix-r4000
-mno-fix-r4000
Work around certain R4000 CPU errata:
- A double-word or a variable shift may give an incorrect result if executed immediately after
starting an integer division.
- A double-word or a variable shift may give an incorrect result if executed while an integer
multiplication is in progress.
- An integer division may give an incorrect result if started in a delay slot of a taken branch or
a jump.
-mfix-r4400
-mno-fix-r4400
Work around certain R4400 CPU errata:
- A double-word or a variable shift may give an incorrect result if executed immediately after
starting an integer division.
-mfix-r10000
-mno-fix-r10000
Work around certain R10000 errata:
- "ll"/"sc" sequences may not behave atomically on revisions prior to 3.0. They may deadlock on
revisions 2.6 and earlier.
This option can only be used if the target architecture supports branch-likely instructions.
-mfix-r10000 is the default when -march=r10000 is used; -mno-fix-r10000 is the default otherwise.
-mfix-vr4120
-mno-fix-vr4120
Work around certain VR4120 errata:
- "dmultu" does not always produce the correct result.
- "div" and "ddiv" do not always produce the correct result if one of the operands is negative.
The workarounds for the division errata rely on special functions in libgcc.a. At present, these
functions are only provided by the "mips64vr*-elf" configurations.
Other VR4120 errata require a nop to be inserted between certain pairs of instructions. These errata
are handled by the assembler, not by GCC itself.
-mfix-vr4130
Work around the VR4130 "mflo"/"mfhi" errata. The workarounds are implemented by the assembler rather
than by GCC, although GCC will avoid using "mflo" and "mfhi" if the VR4130 "macc", "macchi", "dmacc"
and "dmacchi" instructions are available instead.
-mfix-sb1
-mno-fix-sb1
Work around certain SB-1 CPU core errata. (This flag currently works around the SB-1 revision 2 "F1"
and "F2" floating point errata.)
-mr10k-cache-barrier=setting
Specify whether GCC should insert cache barriers to avoid the side-effects of speculation on R10K
processors.
In common with many processors, the R10K tries to predict the outcome of a conditional branch and
speculatively executes instructions from the "taken" branch. It later aborts these instructions if
the predicted outcome was wrong. However, on the R10K, even aborted instructions can have side
effects.
This problem only affects kernel stores and, depending on the system, kernel loads. As an example, a
speculatively-executed store may load the target memory into cache and mark the cache line as dirty,
even if the store itself is later aborted. If a DMA operation writes to the same area of memory
before the "dirty" line is flushed, the cached data will overwrite the DMA-ed data. See the R10K
processor manual for a full description, including other potential problems.
One workaround is to insert cache barrier instructions before every memory access that might be
speculatively executed and that might have side effects even if aborted.
-mr10k-cache-barrier=setting controls GCC's implementation of this workaround. It assumes that
aborted accesses to any byte in the following regions will not have side effects:
1. the memory occupied by the current function's stack frame;
2. the memory occupied by an incoming stack argument;
3. the memory occupied by an object with a link-time-constant address.
It is the kernel's responsibility to ensure that speculative accesses to these regions are indeed
safe.
If the input program contains a function declaration such as:
void foo (void);
then the implementation of "foo" must allow "j foo" and "jal foo" to be executed speculatively. GCC
honors this restriction for functions it compiles itself. It expects non-GCC functions (such as
hand-written assembly code) to do the same.
The option has three forms:
-mr10k-cache-barrier=load-store
Insert a cache barrier before a load or store that might be speculatively executed and that might
have side effects even if aborted.
-mr10k-cache-barrier=store
Insert a cache barrier before a store that might be speculatively executed and that might have
side effects even if aborted.
-mr10k-cache-barrier=none
Disable the insertion of cache barriers. This is the default setting.
-mflush-func=func
-mno-flush-func
Specifies the function to call to flush the I and D caches, or to not call any such function. If
called, the function must take the same arguments as the common "_flush_func()", that is, the address
of the memory range for which the cache is being flushed, the size of the memory range, and the
number 3 (to flush both caches). The default depends on the target GCC was configured for, but
commonly is either _flush_func or __cpu_flush.
mbranch-cost=num
Set the cost of branches to roughly num "simple" instructions. This cost is only a heuristic and is
not guaranteed to produce consistent results across releases. A zero cost redundantly selects the
default, which is based on the -mtune setting.
-mbranch-likely
-mno-branch-likely
Enable or disable use of Branch Likely instructions, regardless of the default for the selected
architecture. By default, Branch Likely instructions may be generated if they are supported by the
selected architecture. An exception is for the MIPS32 and MIPS64 architectures and processors which
implement those architectures; for those, Branch Likely instructions will not be generated by default
because the MIPS32 and MIPS64 architectures specifically deprecate their use.
-mfp-exceptions
-mno-fp-exceptions
Specifies whether FP exceptions are enabled. This affects how we schedule FP instructions for some
processors. The default is that FP exceptions are enabled.
For instance, on the SB-1, if FP exceptions are disabled, and we are emitting 64-bit code, then we
can use both FP pipes. Otherwise, we can only use one FP pipe.
-mvr4130-align
-mno-vr4130-align
The VR4130 pipeline is two-way superscalar, but can only issue two instructions together if the first
one is 8-byte aligned. When this option is enabled, GCC will align pairs of instructions that it
thinks should execute in parallel.
This option only has an effect when optimizing for the VR4130. It normally makes code faster, but at
the expense of making it bigger. It is enabled by default at optimization level -O3.
MMIX Options
These options are defined for the MMIX:
-mlibfuncs
-mno-libfuncs
Specify that intrinsic library functions are being compiled, passing all values in registers, no
matter the size.
-mepsilon
-mno-epsilon
Generate floating-point comparison instructions that compare with respect to the "rE" epsilon
register.
-mabi=mmixware
-mabi=gnu
Generate code that passes function parameters and return values that (in the called function) are
seen as registers $0 and up, as opposed to the GNU ABI which uses global registers $231 and up.
-mzero-extend
-mno-zero-extend
When reading data from memory in sizes shorter than 64 bits, use (do not use) zero-extending load
instructions by default, rather than sign-extending ones.
-mknuthdiv
-mno-knuthdiv
Make the result of a division yielding a remainder have the same sign as the divisor. With the
default, -mno-knuthdiv, the sign of the remainder follows the sign of the dividend. Both methods are
arithmetically valid, the latter being almost exclusively used.
-mtoplevel-symbols
-mno-toplevel-symbols
Prepend (do not prepend) a : to all global symbols, so the assembly code can be used with the
"PREFIX" assembly directive.
-melf
Generate an executable in the ELF format, rather than the default mmo format used by the mmix
simulator.
-mbranch-predict
-mno-branch-predict
Use (do not use) the probable-branch instructions, when static branch prediction indicates a probable
branch.
-mbase-addresses
-mno-base-addresses
Generate (do not generate) code that uses base addresses. Using a base address automatically
generates a request (handled by the assembler and the linker) for a constant to be set up in a global
register. The register is used for one or more base address requests within the range 0 to 255 from
the value held in the register. The generally leads to short and fast code, but the number of
different data items that can be addressed is limited. This means that a program that uses lots of
static data may require -mno-base-addresses.
-msingle-exit
-mno-single-exit
Force (do not force) generated code to have a single exit point in each function.
MN10300 Options
These -m options are defined for Matsushita MN10300 architectures:
-mmult-bug
Generate code to avoid bugs in the multiply instructions for the MN10300 processors. This is the
default.
-mno-mult-bug
Do not generate code to avoid bugs in the multiply instructions for the MN10300 processors.
-mam33
Generate code which uses features specific to the AM33 processor.
-mno-am33
Do not generate code which uses features specific to the AM33 processor. This is the default.
-mreturn-pointer-on-d0
When generating a function which returns a pointer, return the pointer in both "a0" and "d0".
Otherwise, the pointer is returned only in a0, and attempts to call such functions without a
prototype would result in errors. Note that this option is on by default; use
-mno-return-pointer-on-d0 to disable it.
-mno-crt0
Do not link in the C run-time initialization object file.
-mrelax
Indicate to the linker that it should perform a relaxation optimization pass to shorten branches,
calls and absolute memory addresses. This option only has an effect when used on the command line
for the final link step.
This option makes symbolic debugging impossible.
PDP-11 Options
These options are defined for the PDP-11:
-mfpu
Use hardware FPP floating point. This is the default. (FIS floating point on the PDP-11/40 is not
supported.)
-msoft-float
Do not use hardware floating point.
-mac0
Return floating-point results in ac0 (fr0 in Unix assembler syntax).
-mno-ac0
Return floating-point results in memory. This is the default.
-m40
Generate code for a PDP-11/40.
-m45
Generate code for a PDP-11/45. This is the default.
-m10
Generate code for a PDP-11/10.
-mbcopy-builtin
Use inline "movmemhi" patterns for copying memory. This is the default.
-mbcopy
Do not use inline "movmemhi" patterns for copying memory.
-mint16
-mno-int32
Use 16-bit "int". This is the default.
-mint32
-mno-int16
Use 32-bit "int".
-mfloat64
-mno-float32
Use 64-bit "float". This is the default.
-mfloat32
-mno-float64
Use 32-bit "float".
-mabshi
Use "abshi2" pattern. This is the default.
-mno-abshi
Do not use "abshi2" pattern.
-mbranch-expensive
Pretend that branches are expensive. This is for experimenting with code generation only.
-mbranch-cheap
Do not pretend that branches are expensive. This is the default.
-msplit
Generate code for a system with split I&D.
-mno-split
Generate code for a system without split I&D. This is the default.
-munix-asm
Use Unix assembler syntax. This is the default when configured for pdp11-*-bsd.
-mdec-asm
Use DEC assembler syntax. This is the default when configured for any PDP-11 target other than
pdp11-*-bsd.
picoChip Options
These -m options are defined for picoChip implementations:
-mae=ae_type
Set the instruction set, register set, and instruction scheduling parameters for array element type
ae_type. Supported values for ae_type are ANY, MUL, and MAC.
-mae=ANY selects a completely generic AE type. Code generated with this option will run on any of
the other AE types. The code will not be as efficient as it would be if compiled for a specific AE
type, and some types of operation (e.g., multiplication) will not work properly on all types of AE.
-mae=MUL selects a MUL AE type. This is the most useful AE type for compiled code, and is the
default.
-mae=MAC selects a DSP-style MAC AE. Code compiled with this option may suffer from poor performance
of byte (char) manipulation, since the DSP AE does not provide hardware support for byte load/stores.
-msymbol-as-address
Enable the compiler to directly use a symbol name as an address in a load/store instruction, without
first loading it into a register. Typically, the use of this option will generate larger programs,
which run faster than when the option isn't used. However, the results vary from program to program,
so it is left as a user option, rather than being permanently enabled.
-mno-inefficient-warnings
Disables warnings about the generation of inefficient code. These warnings can be generated, for
example, when compiling code which performs byte-level memory operations on the MAC AE type. The MAC
AE has no hardware support for byte-level memory operations, so all byte load/stores must be
synthesized from word load/store operations. This is inefficient and a warning will be generated
indicating to the programmer that they should rewrite the code to avoid byte operations, or to target
an AE type which has the necessary hardware support. This option enables the warning to be turned
off.
PowerPC Options
These are listed under
IBM RS/6000 and PowerPC Options
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
-mmfcrf
-mno-mfcrf
-mpopcntb
-mno-popcntb
-mfprnd
-mno-fprnd
-mcmpb
-mno-cmpb
-mmfpgpr
-mno-mfpgpr
-mhard-dfp
-mno-hard-dfp
GCC supports two related instruction set architectures for the RS/6000 and PowerPC. The POWER
instruction set are those instructions supported by the rios chip set used in the original RS/6000
systems and the PowerPC instruction set is the architecture of the Freescale MPC5xx, MPC6xx, MPC8xx
microprocessors, and the IBM 4xx, 6xx, and follow-on microprocessors.
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 GCC. 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 GCC to generate instructions that are found only in the POWER architecture
and to use the MQ register. Specifying -mpower2 implies -power and also allows GCC to generate
instructions that are present in the POWER2 architecture but not the original POWER architecture.
The -mpowerpc option allows GCC to generate instructions that are found only in the 32-bit subset of
the PowerPC architecture. Specifying -mpowerpc-gpopt implies -mpowerpc and also allows GCC 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 GCC to use the optional
PowerPC architecture instructions in the Graphics group, including floating-point select.
The -mmfcrf option allows GCC to generate the move from condition register field instruction
implemented on the POWER4 processor and other processors that support the PowerPC V2.01 architecture.
The -mpopcntb option allows GCC to generate the popcount and double precision FP reciprocal estimate
instruction implemented on the POWER5 processor and other processors that support the PowerPC V2.02
architecture. The -mfprnd option allows GCC to generate the FP round to integer instructions
implemented on the POWER5+ processor and other processors that support the PowerPC V2.03
architecture. The -mcmpb option allows GCC to generate the compare bytes instruction implemented on
the POWER6 processor and other processors that support the PowerPC V2.05 architecture. The -mmfpgpr
option allows GCC to generate the FP move to/from general purpose register instructions implemented
on the POWER6X processor and other processors that support the extended PowerPC V2.05 architecture.
The -mhard-dfp option allows GCC to generate the decimal floating point instructions implemented on
some POWER processors.
The -mpowerpc64 option allows GCC to generate the additional 64-bit instructions that are found in
the full PowerPC64 architecture and to treat GPRs as 64-bit, doubleword quantities. GCC defaults to
-mno-powerpc64.
If you specify both -mno-power and -mno-powerpc, GCC 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 GCC 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
Select which mnemonics to use in the generated assembler code. With -mnew-mnemonics, GCC uses the
assembler mnemonics defined for the PowerPC architecture. With -mold-mnemonics it uses the assembler
mnemonics defined for the POWER architecture. Instructions defined in only one architecture have
only one mnemonic; GCC uses that mnemonic irrespective of which of these options is specified.
GCC 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
Set architecture type, register usage, choice of mnemonics, and instruction scheduling parameters for
machine type cpu_type. Supported values for cpu_type are 401, 403, 405, 405fp, 440, 440fp, 464,
464fp, 505, 601, 602, 603, 603e, 604, 604e, 620, 630, 740, 7400, 7450, 750, 801, 821, 823, 860, 970,
8540, e300c2, e300c3, e500mc, ec603e, G3, G4, G5, power, power2, power3, power4, power5, power5+,
power6, power6x, power7 common, powerpc, powerpc64, rios, rios1, rios2, rsc, and rs64.
-mcpu=common selects a completely generic processor. Code generated under this option will run on
any POWER or PowerPC processor. GCC will use only the instructions in the common subset of both
architectures, and will not use the MQ register. GCC assumes a generic processor model for
scheduling purposes.
-mcpu=power, -mcpu=power2, -mcpu=powerpc, and -mcpu=powerpc64 specify generic POWER, POWER2, pure
32-bit PowerPC (i.e., not MPC601), and 64-bit PowerPC architecture machine types, with an
appropriate, generic processor model assumed for scheduling purposes.
The other options specify a specific processor. Code generated under those options will run best on
that processor, and may not run at all on others.
The -mcpu options automatically enable or disable the following options:
-maltivec -mfprnd -mhard-float -mmfcrf -mmultiple -mnew-mnemonics -mpopcntb -mpower -mpower2
-mpowerpc64 -mpowerpc-gpopt -mpowerpc-gfxopt -msingle-float -mdouble-float -msimple-fpu -mstring
-mmulhw -mdlmzb -mmfpgpr
The particular options set for any particular CPU will vary between compiler versions, depending on
what setting seems to produce optimal code for that CPU; it doesn't necessarily reflect the actual
hardware's capabilities. If you wish to set an individual option to a particular value, you may
specify it after the -mcpu option, like -mcpu=970 -mno-altivec.
On AIX, the -maltivec and -mpowerpc64 options are not enabled or disabled by the -mcpu option at
present because AIX does not have full support for these options. You may still enable or disable
them individually if you're sure it'll work in your environment.
-mtune=cpu_type
Set the instruction scheduling parameters for machine type cpu_type, but do not set the architecture
type, register usage, or choice of mnemonics, as -mcpu=cpu_type would. The same values for cpu_type
are used for -mtune as for -mcpu. If both are specified, the code generated will use the
architecture, registers, and mnemonics set by -mcpu, but the scheduling parameters set by -mtune.
-mswdiv
-mno-swdiv
Generate code to compute division as reciprocal estimate and iterative refinement, creating
opportunities for increased throughput. This feature requires: optional PowerPC Graphics instruction
set for single precision and FRE instruction for double precision, assuming divides cannot generate
user-visible traps, and the domain values not include Infinities, denormals or zero denominator.
-maltivec
-mno-altivec
Generate code that uses (does not use) AltiVec instructions, and also enable the use of built-in
functions that allow more direct access to the AltiVec instruction set. You may also need to set
-mabi=altivec to adjust the current ABI with AltiVec ABI enhancements.
-mvrsave
-mno-vrsave
Generate VRSAVE instructions when generating AltiVec code.
-mgen-cell-microcode
Generate Cell microcode instructions
-mwarn-cell-microcode
Warning when a Cell microcode instruction is going to emitted. An example of a Cell microcode
instruction is a variable shift.
-msecure-plt
Generate code that allows ld and ld.so to build executables and shared libraries with non-exec .plt
and .got sections. This is a PowerPC 32-bit SYSV ABI option.
-mbss-plt
Generate code that uses a BSS .plt section that ld.so fills in, and requires .plt and .got sections
that are both writable and executable. This is a PowerPC 32-bit SYSV ABI option.
-misel
-mno-isel
This switch enables or disables the generation of ISEL instructions.
-misel=yes/no
This switch has been deprecated. Use -misel and -mno-isel instead.
-mspe
-mno-spe
This switch enables or disables the generation of SPE simd instructions.
-mpaired
-mno-paired
This switch enables or disables the generation of PAIRED simd instructions.
-mspe=yes/no
This option has been deprecated. Use -mspe and -mno-spe instead.
-mfloat-gprs=yes/single/double/no
-mfloat-gprs
This switch enables or disables the generation of floating point operations on the general purpose
registers for architectures that support it.
The argument yes or single enables the use of single-precision floating point operations.
The argument double enables the use of single and double-precision floating point operations.
The argument no disables floating point operations on the general purpose registers.
This option is currently only available on the MPC854x.
-m32
-m64
Generate code for 32-bit or 64-bit environments of Darwin and SVR4 targets (including GNU/Linux).
The 32-bit environment sets int, long and pointer to 32 bits and generates code that runs on any
PowerPC variant. The 64-bit environment sets int to 32 bits and long and pointer to 64 bits, and
generates code for PowerPC64, as for -mpowerpc64.
-mfull-toc
-mno-fp-in-toc
-mno-sum-in-toc
-mminimal-toc
Modify generation of the TOC (Table Of Contents), which is created for every executable file. The
-mfull-toc option is selected by default. In that case, GCC will allocate at least one TOC entry for
each unique non-automatic variable reference in your program. GCC will also place floating-point
constants in the TOC. However, only 16,384 entries are available in the 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 GCC from putting floating-point constants in the TOC and -mno-sum-in-toc
forces GCC 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 GCC 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 GCC to make only one TOC entry for every file. When you
specify this option, GCC 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
Enable 64-bit AIX ABI and calling convention: 64-bit pointers, 64-bit "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. GCC defaults to -maix32.
-mxl-compat
-mno-xl-compat
Produce code that conforms more closely to IBM XL compiler semantics when using AIX-compatible ABI.
Pass floating-point arguments to prototyped functions beyond the register save area (RSA) on the
stack in addition to argument FPRs. Do not assume that most significant double in 128-bit long
double value is properly rounded when comparing values and converting to double. Use XL symbol names
for long double support routines.
The AIX calling convention was extended but not initially documented to handle an obscure K&R C case
of calling a function that takes the address of its arguments with fewer arguments than declared.
IBM XL compilers access floating point arguments which do not fit in the RSA from the stack when a
subroutine is compiled without optimization. Because always storing floating-point arguments on the
stack is inefficient and rarely needed, this option is not enabled by default and only is necessary
when calling subroutines compiled by IBM XL compilers without optimization.
-mpe
Support IBM RS/6000 SP Parallel Environment (PE). Link an application written to use message passing
with special startup code to enable the application to run. The system must have PE installed in the
standard location (/usr/lpp/ppe.poe/), or the specs file must be overridden with the -specs= option
to specify the appropriate directory location. The Parallel Environment does not support threads, so
the -mpe option and the -pthread option are incompatible.
-malign-natural
-malign-power
On AIX, 32-bit Darwin, and 64-bit PowerPC GNU/Linux, the option -malign-natural overrides the ABI-
defined alignment of larger types, such as floating-point doubles, on their natural size-based
boundary. The option -malign-power instructs GCC to follow the ABI-specified alignment rules. GCC
defaults to the standard alignment defined in the ABI.
On 64-bit Darwin, natural alignment is the default, and -malign-power is not supported.
-msoft-float
-mhard-float
Generate code that does not use (uses) the floating-point register set. Software floating point
emulation is provided if you use the -msoft-float option, and pass the option to GCC when linking.
-msingle-float
-mdouble-float
Generate code for single or double-precision floating point operations. -mdouble-float implies
-msingle-float.
-msimple-fpu
Do not generate sqrt and div instructions for hardware floating point unit.
-mfpu
Specify type of floating point unit. Valid values are sp_lite (equivalent to -msingle-float
-msimple-fpu), dp_lite (equivalent to -mdouble-float -msimple-fpu), sp_full (equivalent to
-msingle-float), and dp_full (equivalent to -mdouble-float).
-mxilinx-fpu
Perform optimizations for floating point unit on Xilinx PPC 405/440.
-mmultiple
-mno-multiple
Generate code that uses (does not use) the load multiple word instructions and the store multiple
word instructions. These instructions are generated by default on POWER systems, and not generated
on PowerPC systems. Do not use -mmultiple on little endian PowerPC systems, since those instructions
do not work when the processor is in little endian mode. The exceptions are PPC740 and PPC750 which
permit the instructions usage in little endian mode.
-mstring
-mno-string
Generate code that uses (does not use) the load string instructions and the store string word
instructions to save multiple registers and do small block moves. These instructions are generated
by default on POWER systems, and not generated on PowerPC systems. Do not use -mstring on little
endian PowerPC systems, since those instructions do not work when the processor is in little endian
mode. The exceptions are PPC740 and PPC750 which permit the instructions usage in little endian
mode.
-mupdate
-mno-update
Generate code that uses (does not use) the load or store instructions that update the base register
to the address of the calculated memory location. These instructions are generated by default. If
you use -mno-update, there is a small window between the time that the stack pointer is updated and
the address of the previous frame is stored, which means code that walks the stack frame across
interrupts or signals may get corrupted data.
-mavoid-indexed-addresses
-mno-avoid-indexed-addresses
Generate code that tries to avoid (not avoid) the use of indexed load or store instructions. These
instructions can incur a performance penalty on Power6 processors in certain situations, such as when
stepping through large arrays that cross a 16M boundary. This option is enabled by default when
targetting Power6 and disabled otherwise.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Generate code that uses (does not use) the floating point multiply and accumulate instructions.
These instructions are generated by default if hardware floating is used.
-mmulhw
-mno-mulhw
Generate code that uses (does not use) the half-word multiply and multiply-accumulate instructions on
the IBM 405, 440 and 464 processors. These instructions are generated by default when targetting
those processors.
-mdlmzb
-mno-dlmzb
Generate code that uses (does not use) the string-search dlmzb instruction on the IBM 405, 440 and
464 processors. This instruction is generated by default when targetting those processors.
-mno-bit-align
-mbit-align
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems do not (do) force structures and unions that contain bit-
fields to be aligned to the base type of the bit-field.
For example, by default a structure containing nothing but 8 "unsigned" bit-fields 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
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems do not (do) assume that unaligned memory references will
be handled by the system.
-mrelocatable
-mno-relocatable
On embedded PowerPC systems generate code that allows (does not allow) the program to be relocated to
a different address at runtime. If you use -mrelocatable on any module, all objects linked together
must be compiled with -mrelocatable or -mrelocatable-lib.
-mrelocatable-lib
-mno-relocatable-lib
On embedded PowerPC systems generate code that allows (does not allow) the program to be relocated to
a different address at runtime. Modules compiled with -mrelocatable-lib can be linked with either
modules compiled without -mrelocatable and -mrelocatable-lib or with modules compiled with the
-mrelocatable options.
-mno-toc
-mtoc
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems do not (do) assume that register 2 contains a pointer to a
global area pointing to the addresses used in the program.
-mlittle
-mlittle-endian
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the processor in little endian mode. The
-mlittle-endian option is the same as -mlittle.
-mbig
-mbig-endian
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the processor in big endian mode. The
-mbig-endian option is the same as -mbig.
-mdynamic-no-pic
On Darwin and Mac OS X systems, compile code so that it is not relocatable, but that its external
references are relocatable. The resulting code is suitable for applications, but not shared
libraries.
-mprioritize-restricted-insns=priority
This option controls the priority that is assigned to dispatch-slot restricted instructions during
the second scheduling pass. The argument priority takes the value 0/1/2 to assign
no/highest/second-highest priority to dispatch slot restricted instructions.
-msched-costly-dep=dependence_type
This option controls which dependences are considered costly by the target during instruction
scheduling. The argument dependence_type takes one of the following values: no: no dependence is
costly, all: all dependences are costly, true_store_to_load: a true dependence from store to load is
costly, store_to_load: any dependence from store to load is costly, number: any dependence which
latency >= number is costly.
-minsert-sched-nops=scheme
This option controls which nop insertion scheme will be used during the second scheduling pass. The
argument scheme takes one of the following values: no: Don't insert nops. pad: Pad with nops any
dispatch group which has vacant issue slots, according to the scheduler's grouping. regroup_exact:
Insert nops to force costly dependent insns into separate groups. Insert exactly as many nops as
needed to force an insn to a new group, according to the estimated processor grouping. number:
Insert nops to force costly dependent insns into separate groups. Insert number nops to force an
insn to a new group.
-mcall-sysv
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code using calling conventions that adheres to the
March 1995 draft of the System V Application Binary Interface, PowerPC processor supplement. This is
the default unless you configured GCC using powerpc-*-eabiaix.
-mcall-sysv-eabi
Specify both -mcall-sysv and -meabi options.
-mcall-sysv-noeabi
Specify both -mcall-sysv and -mno-eabi options.
-mcall-solaris
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the Solaris operating system.
-mcall-linux
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the Linux-based GNU system.
-mcall-gnu
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the Hurd-based GNU system.
-mcall-netbsd
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the NetBSD operating system.
-maix-struct-return
Return all structures in memory (as specified by the AIX ABI).
-msvr4-struct-return
Return structures smaller than 8 bytes in registers (as specified by the SVR4 ABI).
-mabi=abi-type
Extend the current ABI with a particular extension, or remove such extension. Valid values are
altivec, no-altivec, spe, no-spe, ibmlongdouble, ieeelongdouble.
-mabi=spe
Extend the current ABI with SPE ABI extensions. This does not change the default ABI, instead it
adds the SPE ABI extensions to the current ABI.
-mabi=no-spe
Disable Booke SPE ABI extensions for the current ABI.
-mabi=ibmlongdouble
Change the current ABI to use IBM extended precision long double. This is a PowerPC 32-bit SYSV ABI
option.
-mabi=ieeelongdouble
Change the current ABI to use IEEE extended precision long double. This is a PowerPC 32-bit Linux
ABI option.
-mprototype
-mno-prototype
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems assume that all calls to variable argument functions are
properly prototyped. Otherwise, the compiler must insert an instruction before every non prototyped
call to set or clear bit 6 of the condition code register (CR) to indicate whether floating point
values were passed in the floating point registers in case the function takes a variable arguments.
With -mprototype, only calls to prototyped variable argument functions will set or clear the bit.
-msim
On embedded PowerPC systems, assume that the startup module is called sim-crt0.o and that the
standard C libraries are libsim.a and libc.a. This is the default for powerpc-*-eabisim
configurations.
-mmvme
On embedded PowerPC systems, assume that the startup module is called crt0.o and the standard C
libraries are libmvme.a and libc.a.
-mads
On embedded PowerPC systems, assume that the startup module is called crt0.o and the standard C
libraries are libads.a and libc.a.
-myellowknife
On embedded PowerPC systems, assume that the startup module is called crt0.o and the standard C
libraries are libyk.a and libc.a.
-mvxworks
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems, specify that you are compiling for a VxWorks system.
-memb
On embedded PowerPC systems, set the PPC_EMB bit in the ELF flags header to indicate that eabi
extended relocations are used.
-meabi
-mno-eabi
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems do (do not) adhere to the Embedded Applications Binary
Interface (eabi) which is a set of modifications to the System V.4 specifications. Selecting -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
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems, put small initialized "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
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems, put small 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=sysv option is incompatible with the
-mrelocatable option.
-msdata=default
-msdata
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems, if -meabi is used, compile code the same as -msdata=eabi,
otherwise compile code the same as -msdata=sysv.
-msdata=data
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems, put small global data in the .sdata section. Put small
uninitialized global data in the .sbss section. Do not use register "r13" to address small data
however. This is the default behavior unless other -msdata options are used.
-msdata=none
-mno-sdata
On embedded PowerPC systems, put all initialized global and static data in the .data section, and all
uninitialized data in the .bss section.
-G num
On embedded PowerPC systems, put global and static items less than or equal to num bytes into the
small data or bss sections instead of the normal data or bss section. By default, num is 8. The -G
num switch is also passed to the linker. All modules should be compiled with the same -G num value.
-mregnames
-mno-regnames
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems do (do not) emit register names in the assembly language
output using symbolic forms.
-mlongcall
-mno-longcall
By default assume that all calls are far away so that a longer more expensive calling sequence is
required. This is required for calls further than 32 megabytes (33,554,432 bytes) from the current
location. A short call will be generated if the compiler knows the call cannot be that far away.
This setting can be overridden by the "shortcall" function attribute, or by "#pragma longcall(0)".
Some linkers are capable of detecting out-of-range calls and generating glue code on the fly. On
these systems, long calls are unnecessary and generate slower code. As of this writing, the AIX
linker can do this, as can the GNU linker for PowerPC/64. It is planned to add this feature to the
GNU linker for 32-bit PowerPC systems as well.
On Darwin/PPC systems, "#pragma longcall" will generate "jbsr callee, L42", plus a "branch island"
(glue code). The two target addresses represent the callee and the "branch island". The Darwin/PPC
linker will prefer the first address and generate a "bl callee" if the PPC "bl" instruction will
reach the callee directly; otherwise, the linker will generate "bl L42" to call the "branch island".
The "branch island" is appended to the body of the calling function; it computes the full 32-bit
address of the callee and jumps to it.
On Mach-O (Darwin) systems, this option directs the compiler emit to the glue for every direct call,
and the Darwin linker decides whether to use or discard it.
In the future, we may cause GCC to ignore all longcall specifications when the linker is known to
generate glue.
-pthread
Adds support for multithreading with the pthreads library. This option sets flags for both the
preprocessor and linker.
S/390 and zSeries Options
These are the -m options defined for the S/390 and zSeries architecture.
-mhard-float
-msoft-float
Use (do not use) the hardware floating-point instructions and registers for floating-point
operations. When -msoft-float is specified, functions in libgcc.a will be used to perform floating-
point operations. When -mhard-float is specified, the compiler generates IEEE floating-point
instructions. This is the default.
-mhard-dfp
-mno-hard-dfp
Use (do not use) the hardware decimal-floating-point instructions for decimal-floating-point
operations. When -mno-hard-dfp is specified, functions in libgcc.a will be used to perform decimal-
floating-point operations. When -mhard-dfp is specified, the compiler generates decimal-floating-
point hardware instructions. This is the default for -march=z9-ec or higher.
-mlong-double-64
-mlong-double-128
These switches control the size of "long double" type. A size of 64bit makes the "long double" type
equivalent to the "double" type. This is the default.
-mbackchain
-mno-backchain
Store (do not store) the address of the caller's frame as backchain pointer into the callee's stack
frame. A backchain may be needed to allow debugging using tools that do not understand DWARF-2 call
frame information. When -mno-packed-stack is in effect, the backchain pointer is stored at the
bottom of the stack frame; when -mpacked-stack is in effect, the backchain is placed into the topmost
word of the 96/160 byte register save area.
In general, code compiled with -mbackchain is call-compatible with code compiled with -mmo-backchain;
however, use of the backchain for debugging purposes usually requires that the whole binary is built
with -mbackchain. Note that the combination of -mbackchain, -mpacked-stack and -mhard-float is not
supported. In order to build a linux kernel use -msoft-float.
The default is to not maintain the backchain.
-mpacked-stack
-mno-packed-stack
Use (do not use) the packed stack layout. When -mno-packed-stack is specified, the compiler uses the
all fields of the 96/160 byte register save area only for their default purpose; unused fields still
take up stack space. When -mpacked-stack is specified, register save slots are densely packed at the
top of the register save area; unused space is reused for other purposes, allowing for more efficient
use of the available stack space. However, when -mbackchain is also in effect, the topmost word of
the save area is always used to store the backchain, and the return address register is always saved
two words below the backchain.
As long as the stack frame backchain is not used, code generated with -mpacked-stack is call-
compatible with code generated with -mno-packed-stack. Note that some non-FSF releases of GCC 2.95
for S/390 or zSeries generated code that uses the stack frame backchain at run time, not just for
debugging purposes. Such code is not call-compatible with code compiled with -mpacked-stack. Also,
note that the combination of -mbackchain, -mpacked-stack and -mhard-float is not supported. In order
to build a linux kernel use -msoft-float.
The default is to not use the packed stack layout.
-msmall-exec
-mno-small-exec
Generate (or do not generate) code using the "bras" instruction to do subroutine calls. This only
works reliably if the total executable size does not exceed 64k. The default is to use the "basr"
instruction instead, which does not have this limitation.
-m64
-m31
When -m31 is specified, generate code compliant to the GNU/Linux for S/390 ABI. When -m64 is
specified, generate code compliant to the GNU/Linux for zSeries ABI. This allows GCC in particular
to generate 64-bit instructions. For the s390 targets, the default is -m31, while the s390x targets
default to -m64.
-mzarch
-mesa
When -mzarch is specified, generate code using the instructions available on z/Architecture. When
-mesa is specified, generate code using the instructions available on ESA/390. Note that -mesa is
not possible with -m64. When generating code compliant to the GNU/Linux for S/390 ABI, the default
is -mesa. When generating code compliant to the GNU/Linux for zSeries ABI, the default is -mzarch.
-mmvcle
-mno-mvcle
Generate (or do not generate) code using the "mvcle" instruction to perform block moves. When
-mno-mvcle is specified, use a "mvc" loop instead. This is the default unless optimizing for size.
-mdebug
-mno-debug
Print (or do not print) additional debug information when compiling. The default is to not print
debug information.
-march=cpu-type
Generate code that will run on cpu-type, which is the name of a system representing a certain
processor type. Possible values for cpu-type are g5, g6, z900, z990, z9-109, z9-ec and z10. When
generating code using the instructions available on z/Architecture, the default is -march=z900.
Otherwise, the default is -march=g5.
-mtune=cpu-type
Tune to cpu-type everything applicable about the generated code, except for the ABI and the set of
available instructions. The list of cpu-type values is the same as for -march. The default is the
value used for -march.
-mtpf-trace
-mno-tpf-trace
Generate code that adds (does not add) in TPF OS specific branches to trace routines in the operating
system. This option is off by default, even when compiling for the TPF OS.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Generate code that uses (does not use) the floating point multiply and accumulate instructions.
These instructions are generated by default if hardware floating point is used.
-mwarn-framesize=framesize
Emit a warning if the current function exceeds the given frame size. Because this is a compile time
check it doesn't need to be a real problem when the program runs. It is intended to identify
functions which most probably cause a stack overflow. It is useful to be used in an environment with
limited stack size e.g. the linux kernel.
-mwarn-dynamicstack
Emit a warning if the function calls alloca or uses dynamically sized arrays. This is generally a
bad idea with a limited stack size.
-mstack-guard=stack-guard
-mstack-size=stack-size
If these options are provided the s390 back end emits additional instructions in the function
prologue which trigger a trap if the stack size is stack-guard bytes above the stack-size (remember
that the stack on s390 grows downward). If the stack-guard option is omitted the smallest power of 2
larger than the frame size of the compiled function is chosen. These options are intended to be used
to help debugging stack overflow problems. The additionally emitted code causes only little overhead
and hence can also be used in production like systems without greater performance degradation. The
given values have to be exact powers of 2 and stack-size has to be greater than stack-guard without
exceeding 64k. In order to be efficient the extra code makes the assumption that the stack starts at
an address aligned to the value given by stack-size. The stack-guard option can only be used in
conjunction with stack-size.
Score Options
These options are defined for Score implementations:
-meb
Compile code for big endian mode. This is the default.
-mel
Compile code for little endian mode.
-mnhwloop
Disable generate bcnz instruction.
-muls
Enable generate unaligned load and store instruction.
-mmac
Enable the use of multiply-accumulate instructions. Disabled by default.
-mscore5
Specify the SCORE5 as the target architecture.
-mscore5u
Specify the SCORE5U of the target architecture.
-mscore7
Specify the SCORE7 as the target architecture. This is the default.
-mscore7d
Specify the SCORE7D as the target architecture.
SH Options
These -m options are defined for the SH implementations:
-m1 Generate code for the SH1.
-m2 Generate code for the SH2.
-m2e
Generate code for the SH2e.
-m3 Generate code for the SH3.
-m3e
Generate code for the SH3e.
-m4-nofpu
Generate code for the SH4 without a floating-point unit.
-m4-single-only
Generate code for the SH4 with a floating-point unit that only supports single-precision arithmetic.
-m4-single
Generate code for the SH4 assuming the floating-point unit is in single-precision mode by default.
-m4 Generate code for the SH4.
-m4a-nofpu
Generate code for the SH4al-dsp, or for a SH4a in such a way that the floating-point unit is not
used.
-m4a-single-only
Generate code for the SH4a, in such a way that no double-precision floating point operations are
used.
-m4a-single
Generate code for the SH4a assuming the floating-point unit is in single-precision mode by default.
-m4a
Generate code for the SH4a.
-m4al
Same as -m4a-nofpu, except that it implicitly passes -dsp to the assembler. GCC doesn't generate any
DSP instructions at the moment.
-mb Compile code for the processor in big endian mode.
-ml Compile code for the processor in little endian mode.
-mdalign
Align doubles at 64-bit boundaries. Note that this changes the calling conventions, and thus some
functions from the standard C library will not work unless you recompile it first with -mdalign.
-mrelax
Shorten some address references at link time, when possible; uses the linker option -relax.
-mbigtable
Use 32-bit offsets in "switch" tables. The default is to use 16-bit offsets.
-mbitops
Enable the use of bit manipulation instructions on SH2A.
-mfmovd
Enable the use of the instruction "fmovd". Check -mdalign for alignment constraints.
-mhitachi
Comply with the calling conventions defined by Renesas.
-mrenesas
Comply with the calling conventions defined by Renesas.
-mno-renesas
Comply with the calling conventions defined for GCC before the Renesas conventions were available.
This option is the default for all targets of the SH toolchain except for sh-symbianelf.
-mnomacsave
Mark the "MAC" register as call-clobbered, even if -mhitachi is given.
-mieee
Increase IEEE-compliance of floating-point code. At the moment, this is equivalent to
-fno-finite-math-only. When generating 16 bit SH opcodes, getting IEEE-conforming results for
comparisons of NANs / infinities incurs extra overhead in every floating point comparison, therefore
the default is set to -ffinite-math-only.
-minline-ic_invalidate
Inline code to invalidate instruction cache entries after setting up nested function trampolines.
This option has no effect if -musermode is in effect and the selected code generation option (e.g.
-m4) does not allow the use of the icbi instruction. If the selected code generation option does not
allow the use of the icbi instruction, and -musermode is not in effect, the inlined code will
manipulate the instruction cache address array directly with an associative write. This not only
requires privileged mode, but it will also fail if the cache line had been mapped via the TLB and has
become unmapped.
-misize
Dump instruction size and location in the assembly code.
-mpadstruct
This option is deprecated. It pads structures to multiple of 4 bytes, which is incompatible with the
SH ABI.
-mspace
Optimize for space instead of speed. Implied by -Os.
-mprefergot
When generating position-independent code, emit function calls using the Global Offset Table instead
of the Procedure Linkage Table.
-musermode
Don't generate privileged mode only code; implies -mno-inline-ic_invalidate if the inlined code would
not work in user mode. This is the default when the target is "sh-*-linux*".
-multcost=number
Set the cost to assume for a multiply insn.
-mdiv=strategy
Set the division strategy to use for SHmedia code. strategy must be one of: call, call2, fp, inv,
inv:minlat, inv20u, inv20l, inv:call, inv:call2, inv:fp . "fp" performs the operation in floating
point. This has a very high latency, but needs only a few instructions, so it might be a good choice
if your code has enough easily exploitable ILP to allow the compiler to schedule the floating point
instructions together with other instructions. Division by zero causes a floating point exception.
"inv" uses integer operations to calculate the inverse of the divisor, and then multiplies the
dividend with the inverse. This strategy allows cse and hoisting of the inverse calculation.
Division by zero calculates an unspecified result, but does not trap. "inv:minlat" is a variant of
"inv" where if no cse / hoisting opportunities have been found, or if the entire operation has been
hoisted to the same place, the last stages of the inverse calculation are intertwined with the final
multiply to reduce the overall latency, at the expense of using a few more instructions, and thus
offering fewer scheduling opportunities with other code. "call" calls a library function that
usually implements the inv:minlat strategy. This gives high code density for m5-*media-nofpu
compilations. "call2" uses a different entry point of the same library function, where it assumes
that a pointer to a lookup table has already been set up, which exposes the pointer load to cse /
code hoisting optimizations. "inv:call", "inv:call2" and "inv:fp" all use the "inv" algorithm for
initial code generation, but if the code stays unoptimized, revert to the "call", "call2", or "fp"
strategies, respectively. Note that the potentially-trapping side effect of division by zero is
carried by a separate instruction, so it is possible that all the integer instructions are hoisted
out, but the marker for the side effect stays where it is. A recombination to fp operations or a
call is not possible in that case. "inv20u" and "inv20l" are variants of the "inv:minlat" strategy.
In the case that the inverse calculation was nor separated from the multiply, they speed up division
where the dividend fits into 20 bits (plus sign where applicable), by inserting a test to skip a
number of operations in this case; this test slows down the case of larger dividends. inv20u assumes
the case of a such a small dividend to be unlikely, and inv20l assumes it to be likely.
-mdivsi3_libfunc=name
Set the name of the library function used for 32 bit signed division to name. This only affect the
name used in the call and inv:call division strategies, and the compiler will still expect the same
sets of input/output/clobbered registers as if this option was not present.
-mfixed-range=register-range
Generate code treating the given register range as fixed registers. A fixed register is one that the
register allocator can not use. This is useful when compiling kernel code. A register range is
specified as two registers separated by a dash. Multiple register ranges can be specified separated
by a comma.
-madjust-unroll
Throttle unrolling to avoid thrashing target registers. This option only has an effect if the gcc
code base supports the TARGET_ADJUST_UNROLL_MAX target hook.
-mindexed-addressing
Enable the use of the indexed addressing mode for SHmedia32/SHcompact. This is only safe if the
hardware and/or OS implement 32 bit wrap-around semantics for the indexed addressing mode. The
architecture allows the implementation of processors with 64 bit MMU, which the OS could use to get
32 bit addressing, but since no current hardware implementation supports this or any other way to
make the indexed addressing mode safe to use in the 32 bit ABI, the default is
-mno-indexed-addressing.
-mgettrcost=number
Set the cost assumed for the gettr instruction to number. The default is 2 if -mpt-fixed is in
effect, 100 otherwise.
-mpt-fixed
Assume pt* instructions won't trap. This will generally generate better scheduled code, but is
unsafe on current hardware. The current architecture definition says that ptabs and ptrel trap when
the target anded with 3 is 3. This has the unintentional effect of making it unsafe to schedule
ptabs / ptrel before a branch, or hoist it out of a loop. For example, __do_global_ctors, a part of
libgcc that runs constructors at program startup, calls functions in a list which is delimited by -1.
With the -mpt-fixed option, the ptabs will be done before testing against -1. That means that all
the constructors will be run a bit quicker, but when the loop comes to the end of the list, the
program crashes because ptabs loads -1 into a target register. Since this option is unsafe for any
hardware implementing the current architecture specification, the default is -mno-pt-fixed. Unless
the user specifies a specific cost with -mgettrcost, -mno-pt-fixed also implies -mgettrcost=100; this
deters register allocation using target registers for storing ordinary integers.
-minvalid-symbols
Assume symbols might be invalid. Ordinary function symbols generated by the compiler will always be
valid to load with movi/shori/ptabs or movi/shori/ptrel, but with assembler and/or linker tricks it
is possible to generate symbols that will cause ptabs / ptrel to trap. This option is only
meaningful when -mno-pt-fixed is in effect. It will then prevent cross-basic-block cse, hoisting and
most scheduling of symbol loads. The default is -mno-invalid-symbols.
-mfdpic
Generate code using the FDPIC ABI for uClinux, as documented at
<http://www.codesourcery.com/public/docs/sh-fdpic/sh-fdpic-abi.txt>.
SPARC Options
These -m options are supported on the SPARC:
-mno-app-regs
-mapp-regs
Specify -mapp-regs to generate output using the global registers 2 through 4, which the SPARC SVR4
ABI reserves for applications. This is the default.
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
Generate output containing floating point instructions. This is the default.
-mno-fpu
-msoft-float
Generate output containing library calls for floating point. Warning: the requisite libraries are
not available for all SPARC targets. Normally the facilities of the machine's usual C compiler are
used, but this cannot be done directly in cross-compilation. You must make your own arrangements to
provide suitable library functions for cross-compilation. The embedded targets sparc-*-aout and
sparclite-*-* do provide software floating point support.
-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 GCC, with -msoft-float in order for this to work.
-mhard-quad-float
Generate output containing quad-word (long double) floating point instructions.
-msoft-quad-float
Generate output containing library calls for quad-word (long double) floating point instructions.
The functions called are those specified in the SPARC ABI. This is the default.
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-unaligned-doubles
-munaligned-doubles
Assume that doubles have 8 byte alignment. This is the default.
With -munaligned-doubles, GCC 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.
-mno-faster-structs
-mfaster-structs
With -mfaster-structs, the compiler assumes that structures should have 8 byte alignment. This
enables the use of pairs of "ldd" and "std" instructions for copies in structure assignment, in place
of twice as many "ld" and "st" pairs. However, the use of this changed alignment directly violates
the SPARC ABI. Thus, it's intended only for use on targets where the developer acknowledges that
their resulting code will not be directly in line with the rules of the ABI.
-mimpure-text
-mimpure-text, used in addition to -shared, tells the compiler to not pass -z text to the linker when
linking a shared object. Using this option, you can link position-dependent code into a shared
object.
-mimpure-text suppresses the "relocations remain against allocatable but non-writable sections"
linker error message. However, the necessary relocations will trigger copy-on-write, and the shared
object is not actually shared across processes. Instead of using -mimpure-text, you should compile
all source code with -fpic or -fPIC.
This option is only available on SunOS and Solaris.
-mcpu=cpu_type
Set the instruction set, register set, and instruction scheduling parameters for machine type
cpu_type. Supported values for cpu_type are v7, cypress, v8, supersparc, sparclite, f930, f934,
hypersparc, sparclite86x, sparclet, tsc701, v9, ultrasparc, ultrasparc3, niagara and niagara2.
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, ultrasparc3, niagara, niagara2
By default (unless configured otherwise), GCC generates code for the V7 variant of the SPARC
architecture. With -mcpu=cypress, the compiler additionally optimizes it 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 -mcpu=v8, GCC generates code for the V8 variant of the SPARC architecture. 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. With -mcpu=supersparc, the compiler additionally optimizes it
for the SuperSPARC chip, as used in the SPARCStation 10, 1000 and 2000 series.
With -mcpu=sparclite, GCC generates code for the SPARClite variant of the SPARC architecture. This
adds the integer multiply, integer divide step and scan ("ffs") instructions which exist in SPARClite
but not in SPARC-V7. With -mcpu=f930, the compiler additionally optimizes it for the Fujitsu MB86930
chip, which is the original SPARClite, with no FPU. With -mcpu=f934, the compiler additionally
optimizes it for the Fujitsu MB86934 chip, which is the more recent SPARClite with FPU.
With -mcpu=sparclet, GCC generates code for the SPARClet variant of the SPARC architecture. This
adds the integer multiply, multiply/accumulate, integer divide step and scan ("ffs") instructions
which exist in SPARClet but not in SPARC-V7. With -mcpu=tsc701, the compiler additionally optimizes
it for the TEMIC SPARClet chip.
With -mcpu=v9, GCC generates code for the V9 variant of the SPARC architecture. This adds 64-bit
integer and floating-point move instructions, 3 additional floating-point condition code registers
and conditional move instructions. With -mcpu=ultrasparc, the compiler additionally optimizes it for
the Sun UltraSPARC I/II/IIi chips. With -mcpu=ultrasparc3, the compiler additionally optimizes it
for the Sun UltraSPARC III/III+/IIIi/IIIi+/IV/IV+ chips. With -mcpu=niagara, the compiler
additionally optimizes it for Sun UltraSPARC T1 chips. With -mcpu=niagara2, the compiler
additionally optimizes it for Sun UltraSPARC T2 chips.
-mtune=cpu_type
Set the instruction scheduling parameters for machine type cpu_type, but do not set the instruction
set or register set that the option -mcpu=cpu_type would.
The same values for -mcpu=cpu_type can be used for -mtune=cpu_type, but the only useful values are
those that select a particular cpu implementation. Those are cypress, supersparc, hypersparc, f930,
f934, sparclite86x, tsc701, ultrasparc, ultrasparc3, niagara, and niagara2.
-mv8plus
-mno-v8plus
With -mv8plus, GCC generates code for the SPARC-V8+ ABI. The difference from the V8 ABI is that the
global and out registers are considered 64-bit wide. This is enabled by default on Solaris in 32-bit
mode for all SPARC-V9 processors.
-mvis
-mno-vis
With -mvis, GCC generates code that takes advantage of the UltraSPARC Visual Instruction Set
extensions. The default is -mno-vis.
These -m options are supported in addition to the above on SPARC-V9 processors in 64-bit environments:
-mlittle-endian
Generate code for a processor running in little-endian mode. It is only available for a few
configurations and most notably not on Solaris and Linux.
-m32
-m64
Generate code for a 32-bit or 64-bit environment. The 32-bit environment sets int, long and pointer
to 32 bits. The 64-bit environment sets int to 32 bits and long and pointer to 64 bits.
-mcmodel=medlow
Generate code for the Medium/Low code model: 64-bit addresses, programs must be linked in the low 32
bits of memory. Programs can be statically or dynamically linked.
-mcmodel=medmid
Generate code for the Medium/Middle code model: 64-bit addresses, programs must be linked in the low
44 bits of memory, the text and data segments must be less than 2GB in size and the data segment must
be located within 2GB of the text segment.
-mcmodel=medany
Generate code for the Medium/Anywhere code model: 64-bit addresses, programs may be linked anywhere
in memory, the text and data segments must be less than 2GB in size and the data segment must be
located within 2GB of the text segment.
-mcmodel=embmedany
Generate code for the Medium/Anywhere code model for embedded systems: 64-bit addresses, the text and
data segments must be less than 2GB in size, both starting anywhere in memory (determined at link
time). The global register %g4 points to the base of the data segment. Programs are statically
linked and PIC is not supported.
-mstack-bias
-mno-stack-bias
With -mstack-bias, GCC assumes that the stack pointer, and frame pointer if present, are offset by
-2047 which must be added back when making stack frame references. This is the default in 64-bit
mode. Otherwise, assume no such offset is present.
These switches are supported in addition to the above on Solaris:
-threads
Add support for multithreading using the Solaris threads library. This option sets flags for both
the preprocessor and linker. This option does not affect the thread safety of object code produced
by the compiler or that of libraries supplied with it.
-pthreads
Add support for multithreading using the POSIX threads library. This option sets flags for both the
preprocessor and linker. This option does not affect the thread safety of object code produced by
the compiler or that of libraries supplied with it.
-pthread
This is a synonym for -pthreads.
SPU Options
These -m options are supported on the SPU:
-mwarn-reloc
-merror-reloc
The loader for SPU does not handle dynamic relocations. By default, GCC will give an error when it
generates code that requires a dynamic relocation. -mno-error-reloc disables the error, -mwarn-reloc
will generate a warning instead.
-msafe-dma
-munsafe-dma
Instructions which initiate or test completion of DMA must not be reordered with respect to loads and
stores of the memory which is being accessed. Users typically address this problem using the
volatile keyword, but that can lead to inefficient code in places where the memory is known to not
change. Rather than mark the memory as volatile we treat the DMA instructions as potentially
effecting all memory. With -munsafe-dma users must use the volatile keyword to protect memory
accesses.
-mbranch-hints
By default, GCC will generate a branch hint instruction to avoid pipeline stalls for always taken or
probably taken branches. A hint will not be generated closer than 8 instructions away from its
branch. There is little reason to disable them, except for debugging purposes, or to make an object
a little bit smaller.
-msmall-mem
-mlarge-mem
By default, GCC generates code assuming that addresses are never larger than 18 bits. With
-mlarge-mem code is generated that assumes a full 32 bit address.
-mstdmain
By default, GCC links against startup code that assumes the SPU-style main function interface (which
has an unconventional parameter list). With -mstdmain, GCC will link your program against startup
code that assumes a C99-style interface to "main", including a local copy of "argv" strings.
-mfixed-range=register-range
Generate code treating the given register range as fixed registers. A fixed register is one that the
register allocator can not use. This is useful when compiling kernel code. A register range is
specified as two registers separated by a dash. Multiple register ranges can be specified separated
by a comma.
-mdual-nops
-mdual-nops=n
By default, GCC will insert nops to increase dual issue when it expects it to increase performance.
n can be a value from 0 to 10. A smaller n will insert fewer nops. 10 is the default, 0 is the same
as -mno-dual-nops. Disabled with -Os.
-mhint-max-nops=n
Maximum number of nops to insert for a branch hint. A branch hint must be at least 8 instructions
away from the branch it is effecting. GCC will insert up to n nops to enforce this, otherwise it
will not generate the branch hint.
-mhint-max-distance=n
The encoding of the branch hint instruction limits the hint to be within 256 instructions of the
branch it is effecting. By default, GCC makes sure it is within 125.
-msafe-hints
Work around a hardware bug which causes the SPU to stall indefinitely. By default, GCC will insert
the "hbrp" instruction to make sure this stall won't happen.
Options for System V
These additional options are available on System V Release 4 for compatibility with other compilers on
those systems:
-G Create a shared object. It is recommended that -symbolic or -shared be used instead.
-Qy Identify the versions of each tool used by the compiler, in a ".ident" assembler directive in the
output.
-Qn Refrain from adding ".ident" directives to the output file (this is the default).
-YP,dirs
Search the directories dirs, and no others, for libraries specified with -l.
-Ym,dir
Look in the directory dir to find the M4 preprocessor. The assembler uses this option.
V850 Options
These -m options are defined for V850 implementations:
-mlong-calls
-mno-long-calls
Treat all calls as being far away (near). If calls are assumed to be far away, the compiler will
always load the functions address up into a register, and call indirect through the pointer.
-mno-ep
-mep
Do not optimize (do optimize) basic blocks that use the same index pointer 4 or more times to copy
pointer into the "ep" register, and use the shorter "sld" and "sst" instructions. The -mep option is
on by default if you optimize.
-mno-prolog-function
-mprolog-function
Do not use (do use) external functions to save and restore registers at the prologue and epilogue of
a function. The external functions are slower, but use less code space if more than one function
saves the same number of registers. The -mprolog-function option is on by default if you optimize.
-mspace
Try to make the code as small as possible. At present, this just turns on the -mep and
-mprolog-function options.
-mtda=n
Put static or global variables whose size is n bytes or less into the tiny data area that register
"ep" points to. The tiny data area can hold up to 256 bytes in total (128 bytes for byte
references).
-msda=n
Put static or global variables whose size is n bytes or less into the small data area that register
"gp" points to. The small data area can hold up to 64 kilobytes.
-mzda=n
Put static or global variables whose size is n bytes or less into the first 32 kilobytes of memory.
-mv850
Specify that the target processor is the V850.
-mbig-switch
Generate code suitable for big switch tables. Use this option only if the assembler/linker complain
about out of range branches within a switch table.
-mapp-regs
This option will cause r2 and r5 to be used in the code generated by the compiler. This setting is
the default.
-mno-app-regs
This option will cause r2 and r5 to be treated as fixed registers.
-mv850e1
Specify that the target processor is the V850E1. The preprocessor constants __v850e1__ and __v850e__
will be defined if this option is used.
-mv850e
Specify that the target processor is the V850E. The preprocessor constant __v850e__ will be defined
if this option is used.
If neither -mv850 nor -mv850e nor -mv850e1 are defined then a default target processor will be chosen
and the relevant __v850*__ preprocessor constant will be defined.
The preprocessor constants __v850 and __v851__ are always defined, regardless of which processor
variant is the target.
-mdisable-callt
This option will suppress generation of the CALLT instruction for the v850e and v850e1 flavors of the
v850 architecture. The default is -mno-disable-callt which allows the CALLT instruction to be used.
VAX Options
These -m options are defined for the VAX:
-munix
Do not output certain jump instructions ("aobleq" and so on) that the Unix assembler for the VAX
cannot handle across long ranges.
-mgnu
Do output those jump instructions, on the assumption that you will assemble with the GNU assembler.
-mg Output code for g-format floating point numbers instead of d-format.
VxWorks Options
The options in this section are defined for all VxWorks targets. Options specific to the target hardware
are listed with the other options for that target.
-mrtp
GCC can generate code for both VxWorks kernels and real time processes (RTPs). This option switches
from the former to the latter. It also defines the preprocessor macro "__RTP__".
-non-static
Link an RTP executable against shared libraries rather than static libraries. The options -static
and -shared can also be used for RTPs; -static is the default.
-Bstatic
-Bdynamic
These options are passed down to the linker. They are defined for compatibility with Diab.
-Xbind-lazy
Enable lazy binding of function calls. This option is equivalent to -Wl,-z,now and is defined for
compatibility with Diab.
-Xbind-now
Disable lazy binding of function calls. This option is the default and is defined for compatibility
with Diab.
x86-64 Options
These are listed under
Xstormy16 Options
These options are defined for Xstormy16:
-msim
Choose startup files and linker script suitable for the simulator.
Xtensa Options
These options are supported for Xtensa targets:
-mconst16
-mno-const16
Enable or disable use of "CONST16" instructions for loading constant values. The "CONST16"
instruction is currently not a standard option from Tensilica. When enabled, "CONST16" instructions
are always used in place of the standard "L32R" instructions. The use of "CONST16" is enabled by
default only if the "L32R" instruction is not available.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Enable or disable use of fused multiply/add and multiply/subtract instructions in the floating-point
option. This has no effect if the floating-point option is not also enabled. Disabling fused
multiply/add and multiply/subtract instructions forces the compiler to use separate instructions for
the multiply and add/subtract operations. This may be desirable in some cases where strict IEEE
754-compliant results are required: the fused multiply add/subtract instructions do not round the
intermediate result, thereby producing results with more bits of precision than specified by the IEEE
standard. Disabling fused multiply add/subtract instructions also ensures that the program output is
not sensitive to the compiler's ability to combine multiply and add/subtract operations.
-mserialize-volatile
-mno-serialize-volatile
When this option is enabled, GCC inserts "MEMW" instructions before "volatile" memory references to
guarantee sequential consistency. The default is -mserialize-volatile. Use -mno-serialize-volatile
to omit the "MEMW" instructions.
-mtext-section-literals
-mno-text-section-literals
Control the treatment of literal pools. The default is -mno-text-section-literals, which places
literals in a separate section in the output file. This allows the literal pool to be placed in a
data RAM/ROM, and it also allows the linker to combine literal pools from separate object files to
remove redundant literals and improve code size. With -mtext-section-literals, the literals are
interspersed in the text section in order to keep them as close as possible to their references.
This may be necessary for large assembly files.
-mtarget-align
-mno-target-align
When this option is enabled, GCC instructs the assembler to automatically align instructions to
reduce branch penalties at the expense of some code density. The assembler attempts to widen density
instructions to align branch targets and the instructions following call instructions. If there are
not enough preceding safe density instructions to align a target, no widening will be performed. The
default is -mtarget-align. These options do not affect the treatment of auto-aligned instructions
like "LOOP", which the assembler will always align, either by widening density instructions or by
inserting no-op instructions.
-mlongcalls
-mno-longcalls
When this option is enabled, GCC instructs the assembler to translate direct calls to indirect calls
unless it can determine that the target of a direct call is in the range allowed by the call
instruction. This translation typically occurs for calls to functions in other source files.
Specifically, the assembler translates a direct "CALL" instruction into an "L32R" followed by a
"CALLX" instruction. The default is -mno-longcalls. This option should be used in programs where
the call target can potentially be out of range. This option is implemented in the assembler, not
the compiler, so the assembly code generated by GCC will still show direct call instructions---look
at the disassembled object code to see the actual instructions. Note that the assembler will use an
indirect call for every cross-file call, not just those that really will be out of range.
zSeries Options
These are listed under
Options for Code Generation Conventions
These machine-independent options control the interface conventions used in code generation.
Most of them have both positive and negative forms; the negative form of -ffoo would be -fno-foo. In the
table below, only one of the forms is listed---the one which is not the default. You can figure out the
other form by either removing no- or adding it.
-fbounds-check
For front-ends that support it, generate additional code to check that indices used to access arrays
are within the declared range. This is currently only supported by the Java and Fortran front-ends,
where this option defaults to true and false respectively.
-ftrapv
This option generates traps for signed overflow on addition, subtraction, multiplication operations.
-fwrapv
This option instructs the compiler to assume that signed arithmetic overflow of addition, subtraction
and multiplication wraps around using twos-complement representation. This flag enables some
optimizations and disables others. This option is enabled by default for the Java front-end, as
required by the Java language specification.
-fexceptions
Enable exception handling. Generates extra code needed to propagate exceptions. For some targets,
this implies GCC will generate frame unwind information for all functions, which can produce
significant data size overhead, although it does not affect execution. If you do not specify this
option, GCC will enable it by default for languages like C++ which normally require exception
handling, and disable it for languages like C that do not normally require it. However, you may need
to enable this option when compiling C code that needs to interoperate properly with exception
handlers written in C++. You may also wish to disable this option if you are compiling older C++
programs that don't use exception handling.
-fnon-call-exceptions
Generate code that allows trapping instructions to throw exceptions. Note that this requires
platform-specific runtime support that does not exist everywhere. Moreover, it only allows trapping
instructions to throw exceptions, i.e. memory references or floating point instructions. It does not
allow exceptions to be thrown from arbitrary signal handlers such as "SIGALRM".
-funwind-tables
Similar to -fexceptions, except that it will just generate any needed static data, but will not
affect the generated code in any other way. You will normally not enable this option; instead, a
language processor that needs this handling would enable it on your behalf.
-fasynchronous-unwind-tables
Generate unwind table in dwarf2 format, if supported by target machine. The table is exact at each
instruction boundary, so it can be used for stack unwinding from asynchronous events (such as
debugger or garbage collector).
-fpcc-struct-return
Return "short" "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 GCC-
compiled files and files compiled with other compilers, particularly the Portable C Compiler (pcc).
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.
Warning: code compiled with the -fpcc-struct-return switch is not binary compatible with code
compiled with the -freg-struct-return switch. Use it to conform to a non-default application binary
interface.
-freg-struct-return
Return "struct" and "union" values in registers when possible. This is more efficient for small
structures than -fpcc-struct-return.
If you specify neither -fpcc-struct-return nor -freg-struct-return, GCC defaults to whichever
convention is standard for the target. If there is no standard convention, GCC defaults to
-fpcc-struct-return, except on targets where GCC is the principal compiler. In those cases, we can
choose the standard, and we chose the more efficient register return alternative.
Warning: code compiled with the -freg-struct-return switch is not binary compatible with code
compiled with the -fpcc-struct-return switch. Use it to conform to a non-default application binary
interface.
-fshort-enums
Allocate to an "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.
Warning: the -fshort-enums switch causes GCC to generate code that is not binary compatible with code
generated without that switch. Use it to conform to a non-default application binary interface.
-fshort-double
Use the same size for "double" as for "float".
Warning: the -fshort-double switch causes GCC to generate code that is not binary compatible with
code generated without that switch. Use it to conform to a non-default application binary interface.
-fshort-wchar
Override the underlying type for wchar_t to be short unsigned int instead of the default for the
target. This option is useful for building programs to run under WINE.
Warning: the -fshort-wchar switch causes GCC to generate code that is not binary compatible with code
generated without that switch. Use it to conform to a non-default application binary interface.
-fno-common
In C code, controls the placement of uninitialized global variables. Unix C compilers have
traditionally permitted multiple definitions of such variables in different compilation units by
placing the variables in a common block. This is the behavior specified by -fcommon, and is the
default for GCC on most targets. On the other hand, this behavior is not required by ISO C, and on
some targets may carry a speed or code size penalty on variable references. The -fno-common option
specifies that the compiler should place uninitialized global variables in the data section of the
object file, rather than generating them as common blocks. This has the effect that if the same
variable is declared (without "extern") in two different compilations, you will get a multiple-
definition error when you link them. In this case, you must compile with -fcommon instead.
Compiling with -fno-common is useful on targets for which it provides better performance, or if you
wish to verify that the program will work on other systems which always treat uninitialized variable
declarations this way.
-fno-ident
Ignore the #ident directive.
-finhibit-size-directive
Don't output a ".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
Put extra commentary information in the generated assembly code to make it more readable. This
option is generally only of use to those who actually need to read the generated assembly code
(perhaps while debugging the compiler itself).
-fno-verbose-asm, the default, causes the extra information to be omitted and is useful when
comparing two assembler files.
-frecord-gcc-switches
This switch causes the command line that was used to invoke the compiler to be recorded into the
object file that is being created. This switch is only implemented on some targets and the exact
format of the recording is target and binary file format dependent, but it usually takes the form of
a section containing ASCII text. This switch is related to the -fverbose-asm switch, but that switch
only records information in the assembler output file as comments, so it never reaches the object
file.
-fpic
Generate position-independent code (PIC) suitable for use in a shared library, if supported for the
target machine. Such code accesses all constant addresses through a global offset table (GOT). The
dynamic loader resolves the GOT entries when the program starts (the dynamic loader is not part of
GCC; it is part of the operating system). If the GOT size for the linked executable exceeds a
machine-specific maximum size, you get an error message from the linker indicating that -fpic does
not work; in that case, recompile with -fPIC instead. (These maximums are 8k on the SPARC and 32k on
the m68k and RS/6000. The 386 has no such limit.)
Position-independent code requires special support, and therefore works only on certain machines.
For the 386, GCC supports PIC for System V but not for the Sun 386i. Code generated for the IBM
RS/6000 is always position-independent.
When this flag is set, the macros "__pic__" and "__PIC__" are defined to 1.
-fPIC
If supported for the target machine, emit position-independent code, suitable for dynamic linking and
avoiding any limit on the size of the global offset table. This option makes a difference on the
m68k, PowerPC and SPARC.
Position-independent code requires special support, and therefore works only on certain machines.
When this flag is set, the macros "__pic__" and "__PIC__" are defined to 2.
-fpie
-fPIE
These options are similar to -fpic and -fPIC, but generated position independent code can be only
linked into executables. Usually these options are used when -pie GCC option will be used during
linking.
-fpie and -fPIE both define the macros "__pie__" and "__PIE__". The macros have the value 1 for
-fpie and 2 for -fPIE.
-fno-jump-tables
Do not use jump tables for switch statements even where it would be more efficient than other code
generation strategies. This option is of use in conjunction with -fpic or -fPIC for building code
which forms part of a dynamic linker and cannot reference the address of a jump table. On some
targets, jump tables do not require a GOT and this option is not needed.
-ffixed-reg
Treat the register named reg as a fixed register; generated code should never refer to it (except
perhaps as a stack pointer, frame pointer or in some other fixed role).
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
Treat the register named reg as an allocable register that is clobbered by function calls. It may be
allocated for temporaries or variables that do not live across a call. Functions compiled this way
will not save and restore the register 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
Treat the register named reg as an allocable register saved by functions. It may be allocated even
for temporaries or variables that live across a call. Functions compiled this way will save and
restore the register reg if they use it.
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[=n]
Without a value specified, pack all structure members together without holes. When a value is
specified (which must be a small power of two), pack structure members according to this value,
representing the maximum alignment (that is, objects with default alignment requirements larger than
this will be output potentially unaligned at the next fitting location.
Warning: the -fpack-struct switch causes GCC to generate code that is not binary compatible with code
generated without that switch. Additionally, it makes the code suboptimal. Use it to conform to a
non-default application binary interface.
-finstrument-functions
Generate instrumentation calls for entry and exit to functions. Just after function entry and just
before function exit, the following profiling functions will be called with the address of the
current function and its call site. (On some platforms, "__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).
-finstrument-functions-exclude-file-list=file,file,...
Set the list of functions that are excluded from instrumentation (see the description of
"-finstrument-functions"). If the file that contains a function definition matches with one of file,
then that function is not instrumented. The match is done on substrings: if the file parameter is a
substring of the file name, it is considered to be a match.
For example, "-finstrument-functions-exclude-file-list=/bits/stl,include/sys" will exclude any inline
function defined in files whose pathnames contain "/bits/stl" or "include/sys".
If, for some reason, you want to include letter ',' in one of sym, write ','. For example,
"-finstrument-functions-exclude-file-list=',,tmp'" (note the single quote surrounding the option).
-finstrument-functions-exclude-function-list=sym,sym,...
This is similar to "-finstrument-functions-exclude-file-list", but this option sets the list of
function names to be excluded from instrumentation. The function name to be matched is its user-
visible name, such as "vector<int> blah(const vector<int> &)", not the internal mangled name (e.g.,
"_Z4blahRSt6vectorIiSaIiEE"). The match is done on substrings: if the sym parameter is a substring
of the function name, it is considered to be a match.
-fstack-check
Generate code to verify that you do not go beyond the boundary of the stack. You should specify this
flag if you are running in an environment with multiple threads, but only rarely need to specify it
in a single-threaded environment since stack overflow is automatically detected on nearly all systems
if there is only one stack.
Note that this switch does not actually cause checking to be done; the operating system or the
language runtime must do that. The switch causes generation of code to ensure that they see the
stack being extended.
You can additionally specify a string parameter: "no" means no checking, "generic" means force the
use of old-style checking, "specific" means use the best checking method and is equivalent to bare
-fstack-check.
Old-style checking is a generic mechanism that requires no specific target support in the compiler
but comes with the following drawbacks:
1. Modified allocation strategy for large objects: they will always be allocated dynamically if
their size exceeds a fixed threshold.
2. Fixed limit on the size of the static frame of functions: when it is topped by a particular
function, stack checking is not reliable and a warning is issued by the compiler.
3. Inefficiency: because of both the modified allocation strategy and the generic implementation,
the performances of the code are hampered.
Note that old-style stack checking is also the fallback method for "specific" if no target support
has been added in the compiler.
-fstack-limit-register=reg
-fstack-limit-symbol=sym
-fno-stack-limit
Generate code to ensure that the stack does not grow beyond a certain value, either the value of a
register or the address of a symbol. If the stack would grow beyond the value, a signal is raised.
For most targets, the signal is raised before the stack overruns the boundary, so it is possible to
catch the signal without taking special precautions.
For instance, if the stack starts at absolute address 0x80000000 and grows downwards, you can use the
flags -fstack-limit-symbol=__stack_limit and -Wl,--defsym,__stack_limit=0x7ffe0000 to enforce a stack
limit of 128KB. Note that this may only work with the GNU linker.
-fargument-alias
-fargument-noalias
-fargument-noalias-global
-fargument-noalias-anything
Specify the possible relationships among parameters and between parameters and global data.
-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. -fargument-noalias-anything specifies that arguments do not alias any other 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
This option and its counterpart, -fno-leading-underscore, forcibly change the way C symbols are
represented in the object file. One use is to help link with legacy assembly code.
Warning: the -fleading-underscore switch causes GCC to generate code that is not binary compatible
with code generated without that switch. Use it to conform to a non-default application binary
interface. Not all targets provide complete support for this switch.
-ftls-model=model
Alter the thread-local storage model to be used. The model argument should be one of
"global-dynamic", "local-dynamic", "initial-exec" or "local-exec".
The default without -fpic is "initial-exec"; with -fpic the default is "global-dynamic".
-fvisibility=default|internal|hidden|protected
Set the default ELF image symbol visibility to the specified option---all symbols will be marked with
this unless overridden within the code. Using this feature can very substantially improve linking
and load times of shared object libraries, produce more optimized code, provide near-perfect API
export and prevent symbol clashes. It is strongly recommended that you use this in any shared
objects you distribute.
Despite the nomenclature, "default" always means public ie; available to be linked against from
outside the shared object. "protected" and "internal" are pretty useless in real-world usage so the
only other commonly used option will be "hidden". The default if -fvisibility isn't specified is
"default", i.e., make every symbol public---this causes the same behavior as previous versions of
GCC.
A good explanation of the benefits offered by ensuring ELF symbols have the correct visibility is
given by "How To Write Shared Libraries" by Ulrich Drepper (which can be found at
<http://people.redhat.com/~drepper/>)---however a superior solution made possible by this option to
marking things hidden when the default is public is to make the default hidden and mark things
public. This is the norm with DLL's on Windows and with -fvisibility=hidden and "__attribute__
((visibility("default")))" instead of "__declspec(dllexport)" you get almost identical semantics with
identical syntax. This is a great boon to those working with cross-platform projects.
For those adding visibility support to existing code, you may find #pragma GCC visibility of use.
This works by you enclosing the declarations you wish to set visibility for with (for example)
#pragma GCC visibility push(hidden) and #pragma GCC visibility pop. Bear in mind that symbol
visibility should be viewed as part of the API interface contract and thus all new code should always
specify visibility when it is not the default ie; declarations only for use within the local DSO
should always be marked explicitly as hidden as so to avoid PLT indirection overheads---making this
abundantly clear also aids readability and self-documentation of the code. Note that due to ISO C++
specification requirements, operator new and operator delete must always be of default visibility.
Be aware that headers from outside your project, in particular system headers and headers from any
other library you use, may not be expecting to be compiled with visibility other than the default.
You may need to explicitly say #pragma GCC visibility push(default) before including any such
headers.
extern declarations are not affected by -fvisibility, so a lot of code can be recompiled with
-fvisibility=hidden with no modifications. However, this means that calls to extern functions with
no explicit visibility will use the PLT, so it is more effective to use __attribute ((visibility))
and/or #pragma GCC visibility to tell the compiler which extern declarations should be treated as
hidden.
Note that -fvisibility does affect C++ vague linkage entities. This means that, for instance, an
exception class that will be thrown between DSOs must be explicitly marked with default visibility so
that the type_info nodes will be unified between the DSOs.
An overview of these techniques, their benefits and how to use them is at
<http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Visibility>.
ENVIRONMENT
This section describes several environment variables that affect how GCC 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. These take
precedence over places specified using environment variables, which in turn take precedence over those
specified by the configuration of GCC.
LANG
LC_CTYPE
LC_MESSAGES
LC_ALL
These environment variables control the way that GCC uses localization information that allow GCC to
work with different national conventions. GCC inspects the locale categories 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_GB.UTF-8 for English in the United Kingdom
encoded in UTF-8.
The LC_CTYPE environment variable specifies character classification. GCC 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, GCC defaults to traditional C English behavior.
TMPDIR
If TMPDIR is set, it specifies the directory to use for temporary files. GCC 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.
GCC_EXEC_PREFIX
If GCC_EXEC_PREFIX is set, it specifies a prefix to use in the names of the subprograms executed by
the compiler. No slash is added when this prefix is combined with the name of a subprogram, but you
can specify a prefix that ends with a slash if you wish.
If GCC_EXEC_PREFIX is not set, GCC will attempt to figure out an appropriate prefix to use based on
the pathname it was invoked with.
If GCC cannot find the subprogram using the specified prefix, it tries looking in the usual places
for the subprogram.
The default value of GCC_EXEC_PREFIX is prefix/lib/gcc/ where prefix is the prefix to the installed
compiler. In many cases prefix is the value of "prefix" when you ran the configure script.
Other prefixes specified with -B take precedence over this prefix.
This prefix is also used for finding files such as crt0.o that are used for linking.
In addition, the prefix is used in an unusual way in finding the directories to search for header
files. For each of the standard directories whose name normally begins with /usr/local/lib/gcc (more
precisely, with the value of GCC_INCLUDE_DIR), GCC tries replacing that beginning with the specified
prefix to produce an alternate directory name. Thus, with -Bfoo/, GCC will search foo/bar where it
would normally search /usr/local/lib/bar. These alternate directories are searched first; the
standard directories come next. If a standard directory begins with the configured prefix then the
value of prefix is replaced by GCC_EXEC_PREFIX when looking for header files.
COMPILER_PATH
The value of COMPILER_PATH is a colon-separated list of directories, much like PATH. GCC tries the
directories thus specified when searching for subprograms, if it can't find the subprograms using
GCC_EXEC_PREFIX.
LIBRARY_PATH
The value of LIBRARY_PATH is a colon-separated list of directories, much like PATH. When configured
as a native compiler, GCC tries the directories thus specified when searching for special linker
files, if it can't find them using GCC_EXEC_PREFIX. Linking using GCC also uses these directories
when searching for ordinary libraries for the -l option (but directories specified with -L come
first).
LANG
This variable is used to pass locale information to the compiler. One way in which this information
is used is to determine the character set to be used when character literals, string literals and
comments are parsed in C and C++. When the compiler is configured to allow multibyte characters, the
following values for LANG are recognized:
C-JIS
Recognize JIS characters.
C-SJIS
Recognize SJIS characters.
C-EUCJP
Recognize EUCJP characters.
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.
Some additional environments variables affect the behavior of the preprocessor.
CPATH
C_INCLUDE_PATH
CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH
OBJC_INCLUDE_PATH
Each variable's value is a list of directories separated by a special character, much like PATH, in
which to look for header files. The special character, "PATH_SEPARATOR", is target-dependent and
determined at GCC build time. For Microsoft Windows-based targets it is a semicolon, and for almost
all other targets it is a colon.
CPATH specifies a list of directories to be searched as if specified with -I, but after any paths
given with -I options on the command line. This environment variable is used regardless of which
language is being preprocessed.
The remaining environment variables apply only when preprocessing the particular language indicated.
Each specifies a list of directories to be searched as if specified with -isystem, but after any
paths given with -isystem options on the command line.
In all these variables, an empty element instructs the compiler to search its current working
directory. Empty elements can appear at the beginning or end of a path. For instance, if the value
of CPATH is ":/special/include", that has the same effect as -I. -I/special/include.
DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT
If this variable is set, its value specifies how to output dependencies for Make based on the non-
system header files processed by the compiler. System header files are ignored in the dependency
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.
In other words, this environment variable is equivalent to combining the options -MM and -MF, with an
optional -MT switch too.
SUNPRO_DEPENDENCIES
This variable is the same as DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT (see above), except that system header files are not
ignored, so it implies -M rather than -MM. However, the dependence on the main input file is
omitted.
BUGS
For instructions on reporting bugs, see <file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-4.4/README.Bugs>.
FOOTNOTES
1. On some systems, gcc -shared needs to build supplementary stub code for constructors to work. On
multi-libbed systems, gcc -shared must select the correct support libraries to link against. Failing
to supply the correct flags may lead to subtle defects. Supplying them in cases where they are not
necessary is innocuous.
SEE ALSO
gpl(7), gfdl(7), fsf-funding(7), cpp(1), gcov(1), as(1), ld(1), gdb(1), adb(1), dbx(1), sdb(1) and the
Info entries for gcc, cpp, as, ld, binutils and gdb.
AUTHOR
See the Info entry for gcc, or <http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Contributors.html>, for contributors to
GCC.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with
the Invariant Sections being "GNU General Public License" and "Funding Free Software", the Front-Cover
texts being (a) (see below), and with the Back-Cover Texts being (b) (see below). A copy of the license
is included in the gfdl(7) man page.
(a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is:
A GNU Manual
(b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is:
You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU
software. Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise
funds for GNU development.