Using the GNU Compiler Collection

For gcc version 13.0.0 (pre-release)

(GCC)

Richard M. Stallman and the GCC Developer Community

Published by:
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Last printed October 2003 for GCC 3.3.1.

Printed copies are available for $45 each.

Copyright c 1988-2022 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 1.3 or any later version published by the
Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being “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 section entitled “GNU Free Documentation
License”.
(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.
 i

Short Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 Programming Languages Supported by GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Language Standards Supported by GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 GCC Command Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4 C Implementation-Defined Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
5 C++ Implementation-Defined Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
6 Extensions to the C Language Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
7 Extensions to the C++ Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
8 GNU Objective-C Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
9 Binary Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927
10 gcov—a Test Coverage Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
11 gcov-tool—an Offline Gcda Profile Processing Tool . . . . . . . 951
12 gcov-dump—an Offline Gcda and Gcno Profile Dump Tool . . 955
13 lto-dump—Tool for dumping LTO object files. . . . . . . . . . . . 957
14 Known Causes of Trouble with GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
15 Reporting Bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
16 How To Get Help with GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
17 Contributing to GCC Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979
Funding Free Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
The GNU Project and GNU/Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
GNU General Public License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985
GNU Free Documentation License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
Contributors to GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
Option Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023
Keyword Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
 iii

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1 Programming Languages Supported by GCC

................................................. 3

2 Language Standards Supported by GCC . . . . . 5

2.1 C Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 C++ Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Objective-C and Objective-C++ Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 Go Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5 D language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.6 References for Other Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3 GCC Command Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.1 Option Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2 Options Controlling the Kind of Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.3 Compiling C++ Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.4 Options Controlling C Dialect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5 Options Controlling C++ Dialect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.6 Options Controlling Objective-C and Objective-C++ Dialects . . 78
3.7 Options to Control Diagnostic Messages Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.8 Options to Request or Suppress Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.9 Options That Control Static Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
3.10 Options for Debugging Your Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
3.11 Options That Control Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
3.12 Program Instrumentation Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
3.13 Options Controlling the Preprocessor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
3.14 Passing Options to the Assembler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
3.15 Options for Linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
3.16 Options for Directory Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
3.17 Options for Code Generation Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
3.18 GCC Developer Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
3.19 Machine-Dependent Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
3.19.1 AArch64 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
3.19.1.1 ‘-march’ and ‘-mcpu’ Feature Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
3.19.2 Adapteva Epiphany Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
3.19.3 AMD GCN Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
3.19.4 ARC Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
3.19.5 ARM Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
3.19.6 AVR Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
3.19.6.1 EIND and Devices with More Than 128 Ki Bytes of
Flash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
iv Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

3.19.6.2 Handling of the RAMPD, RAMPX, RAMPY and RAMPZ Special

Function Registers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
3.19.6.3 AVR Built-in Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
3.19.7 Blackfin Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
3.19.8 C6X Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
3.19.9 CRIS Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
3.19.10 C-SKY Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
3.19.11 Darwin Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
3.19.12 DEC Alpha Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
3.19.13 eBPF Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
3.19.14 FR30 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
3.19.15 FT32 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
3.19.16 FRV Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
3.19.17 GNU/Linux Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
3.19.18 H8/300 Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
3.19.19 HPPA Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
3.19.20 IA-64 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
3.19.21 LM32 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
3.19.22 LoongArch Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
3.19.23 M32C Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
3.19.24 M32R/D Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
3.19.25 M680x0 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
3.19.26 MCore Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
3.19.27 MicroBlaze Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
3.19.28 MIPS Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
3.19.29 MMIX Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
3.19.30 MN10300 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
3.19.31 Moxie Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
3.19.32 MSP430 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
3.19.33 NDS32 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
3.19.34 Nios II Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
3.19.35 Nvidia PTX Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
3.19.36 OpenRISC Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
3.19.37 PDP-11 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
3.19.38 PowerPC Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
3.19.39 PRU Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
3.19.40 RISC-V Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
3.19.41 RL78 Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
3.19.42 IBM RS/6000 and PowerPC Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
3.19.43 RX Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
3.19.44 S/390 and zSeries Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
3.19.45 SH Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
3.19.46 Solaris 2 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
3.19.47 SPARC Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
3.19.48 Options for System V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
3.19.49 V850 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
3.19.50 VAX Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
3.19.51 Visium Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
 v

3.19.52 VMS Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

3.19.53 VxWorks Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
3.19.54 x86 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
3.19.55 x86 Windows Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
3.19.56 Xstormy16 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
3.19.57 Xtensa Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
3.19.58 zSeries Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
3.20 Specifying Subprocesses and the Switches to Pass to Them . . 506
3.21 Environment Variables Affecting GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
3.22 Using Precompiled Headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
3.23 C++ Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
3.23.1 Module Mapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
3.23.2 Module Preprocessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
3.23.3 Compiled Module Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

4 C Implementation-Defined Behavior . . . . . . . 527

4.1 Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
4.2 Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
4.3 Identifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
4.4 Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
4.5 Integers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
4.6 Floating Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
4.7 Arrays and Pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
4.8 Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
4.9 Structures, Unions, Enumerations, and Bit-Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
4.10 Qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
4.11 Declarators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
4.12 Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
4.13 Preprocessing Directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
4.14 Library Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
4.15 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
4.16 Locale-Specific Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

5 C++ Implementation-Defined Behavior . . . 537

5.1 Conditionally-Supported Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
5.2 Exception Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

6 Extensions to the C Language Family . . . . . . 539

6.1 Statements and Declarations in Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
6.2 Locally Declared Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
6.3 Labels as Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
6.4 Nested Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
6.5 Nonlocal Gotos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
6.6 Constructing Function Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
6.7 Referring to a Type with typeof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
6.8 Conditionals with Omitted Operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
6.9 128-bit Integers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
vi Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.10 Double-Word Integers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

6.11 Complex Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
6.12 Additional Floating Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
6.13 Half-Precision Floating Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
6.14 Decimal Floating Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
6.15 Hex Floats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
6.16 Fixed-Point Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
6.17 Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
6.17.1 AVR Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
6.17.2 M32C Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
6.17.3 PRU Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
6.17.4 RL78 Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
6.17.5 x86 Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
6.18 Arrays of Length Zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
6.19 Structures with No Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
6.20 Arrays of Variable Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
6.21 Macros with a Variable Number of Arguments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
6.22 Slightly Looser Rules for Escaped Newlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
6.23 Non-Lvalue Arrays May Have Subscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
6.24 Arithmetic on void- and Function-Pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
6.25 Pointer Arguments in Variadic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
6.26 Pointers to Arrays with Qualifiers Work as Expected . . . . . . . . 562
6.27 Non-Constant Initializers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
6.28 Compound Literals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
6.29 Designated Initializers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
6.30 Case Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
6.31 Cast to a Union Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
6.32 Mixed Declarations, Labels and Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
6.33 Declaring Attributes of Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
6.33.1 Common Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
6.33.2 AArch64 Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
6.33.2.1 Inlining rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
6.33.3 AMD GCN Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
6.33.4 ARC Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
6.33.5 ARM Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
6.33.6 AVR Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
6.33.7 Blackfin Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
6.33.8 BPF Function Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
6.33.9 C-SKY Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
6.33.10 Epiphany Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
6.33.11 H8/300 Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
6.33.12 IA-64 Function Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
6.33.13 M32C Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
6.33.14 M32R/D Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
6.33.15 m68k Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
6.33.16 MCORE Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
6.33.17 MicroBlaze Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
6.33.18 Microsoft Windows Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
 vii

6.33.19 MIPS Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608

6.33.20 MSP430 Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
6.33.21 NDS32 Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
6.33.22 Nios II Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
6.33.23 Nvidia PTX Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
6.33.24 PowerPC Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
6.33.25 RISC-V Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
6.33.26 RL78 Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
6.33.27 RX Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
6.33.28 S/390 Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
6.33.29 SH Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
6.33.30 Symbian OS Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
6.33.31 V850 Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
6.33.32 Visium Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
6.33.33 x86 Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
6.33.34 Xstormy16 Function Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
6.34 Specifying Attributes of Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
6.34.1 Common Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
6.34.2 ARC Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
6.34.3 AVR Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
6.34.4 Blackfin Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
6.34.5 H8/300 Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
6.34.6 IA-64 Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
6.34.7 LoongArch Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
6.34.8 M32R/D Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
6.34.9 Microsoft Windows Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
6.34.10 MSP430 Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
6.34.11 Nvidia PTX Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
6.34.12 PowerPC Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
6.34.13 RL78 Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
6.34.14 V850 Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
6.34.15 x86 Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
6.34.16 Xstormy16 Variable Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
6.35 Specifying Attributes of Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
6.35.1 Common Type Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
6.35.2 ARC Type Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
6.35.3 ARM Type Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
6.35.4 BPF Type Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
6.35.5 PowerPC Type Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
6.35.6 x86 Type Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
6.36 Label Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
6.37 Enumerator Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
6.38 Statement Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
6.39 Attribute Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
6.40 Prototypes and Old-Style Function Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
6.41 C++ Style Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
6.42 Dollar Signs in Identifier Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
6.43 The Character ESC in Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
viii Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.44 Determining the Alignment of Functions, Types or Variables

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
6.45 An Inline Function is As Fast As a Macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
6.46 When is a Volatile Object Accessed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
6.47 How to Use Inline Assembly Language in C Code . . . . . . . . . . . 666
6.47.1 Basic Asm — Assembler Instructions Without Operands
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
6.47.2 Extended Asm - Assembler Instructions with C Expression
Operands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
6.47.2.1 Volatile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
6.47.2.2 Assembler Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672
6.47.2.3 Output Operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
6.47.2.4 Flag Output Operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
6.47.2.5 Input Operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
6.47.2.6 Clobbers and Scratch Registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
6.47.2.7 Goto Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
6.47.2.8 x86 Operand Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
6.47.2.9 x86 Floating-Point asm Operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
6.47.2.10 MSP430 Operand Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
6.47.3 Constraints for asm Operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
6.47.3.1 Simple Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
6.47.3.2 Multiple Alternative Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
6.47.3.3 Constraint Modifier Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
6.47.3.4 Constraints for Particular Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
6.47.4 Controlling Names Used in Assembler Code . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
6.47.5 Variables in Specified Registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
6.47.5.1 Defining Global Register Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
6.47.5.2 Specifying Registers for Local Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . 719
6.47.6 Size of an asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
6.48 Alternate Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
6.49 Incomplete enum Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
6.50 Function Names as Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
6.51 Getting the Return or Frame Address of a Function . . . . . . . . . 722
6.52 Using Vector Instructions through Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . 724
6.53 Support for offsetof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
6.54 Legacy __sync Built-in Functions for Atomic Memory Access
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728
6.55 Built-in Functions for Memory Model Aware Atomic Operations
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
6.56 Built-in Functions to Perform Arithmetic with Overflow Checking
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
6.57 x86-Specific Memory Model Extensions for Transactional Memory
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
6.58 Object Size Checking Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
6.59 Other Built-in Functions Provided by GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
6.60 Built-in Functions Specific to Particular Target Machines . . . . 755
6.60.1 AArch64 Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
6.60.2 Alpha Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
 ix

6.60.3 Altera Nios II Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757

6.60.4 ARC Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
6.60.5 ARC SIMD Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761
6.60.6 ARM iWMMXt Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
6.60.7 ARM C Language Extensions (ACLE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
6.60.8 ARM Floating Point Status and Control Intrinsics . . . . . . 768
6.60.9 ARM ARMv8-M Security Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768
6.60.10 AVR Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768
6.60.11 Blackfin Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
6.60.12 BPF Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
6.60.13 FR-V Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772
6.60.13.1 Argument Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772
6.60.13.2 Directly-Mapped Integer Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773
6.60.13.3 Directly-Mapped Media Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773
6.60.13.4 Raw Read/Write Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
6.60.13.5 Other Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
6.60.14 MIPS DSP Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
6.60.15 MIPS Paired-Single Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780
6.60.16 MIPS Loongson Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781
6.60.16.1 Paired-Single Arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
6.60.16.2 Paired-Single Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
6.60.16.3 MIPS-3D Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
6.60.17 MIPS SIMD Architecture (MSA) Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
6.60.17.1 MIPS SIMD Architecture Built-in Functions . . . . . . 788
6.60.18 Other MIPS Built-in Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
6.60.19 MSP430 Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
6.60.20 NDS32 Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
6.60.21 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
6.60.21.1 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on all
Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
6.60.21.2 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA
2.05 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805
6.60.21.3 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA
2.06 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807
6.60.21.4 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA
2.07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807
6.60.21.5 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA
3.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807
6.60.21.6 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA
3.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
6.60.22 PowerPC AltiVec/VSX Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
6.60.22.1 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions on ISA 2.05 . . 813
6.60.22.2 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions Available on ISA
2.06 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822
6.60.22.3 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions Available on ISA
2.07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
6.60.22.4 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions Available on ISA
3.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827
x Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.60.22.5 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions Available on ISA

3.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
6.60.23 PowerPC Hardware Transactional Memory Built-in
Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842
6.60.23.1 PowerPC HTM Low Level Built-in Functions . . . . . 842
6.60.23.2 PowerPC HTM High Level Inline Functions . . . . . . 844
6.60.24 PowerPC Atomic Memory Operation Functions . . . . . . . 846
6.60.25 PowerPC Matrix-Multiply Assist Built-in Functions . . . 847
6.60.26 PRU Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848
6.60.27 RISC-V Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
6.60.28 RX Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
6.60.29 S/390 System z Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
6.60.30 SH Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
6.60.31 SPARC VIS Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
6.60.32 TI C6X Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856
6.60.33 x86 Built-in Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857
6.60.34 x86 Transactional Memory Intrinsics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
6.60.35 x86 Control-Flow Protection Intrinsics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884
6.61 Format Checks Specific to Particular Target Machines . . . . . . . 884
6.61.1 Solaris Format Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884
6.61.2 Darwin Format Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
6.62 Pragmas Accepted by GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
6.62.1 AArch64 Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
6.62.2 ARM Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
6.62.3 M32C Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
6.62.4 PRU Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
6.62.5 RS/6000 and PowerPC Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
6.62.6 S/390 Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
6.62.7 Darwin Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
6.62.8 Solaris Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
6.62.9 Symbol-Renaming Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
6.62.10 Structure-Layout Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888
6.62.11 Weak Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888
6.62.12 Diagnostic Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889
6.62.13 Visibility Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
6.62.14 Push/Pop Macro Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
6.62.15 Function Specific Option Pragmas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
6.62.16 Loop-Specific Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
6.63 Unnamed Structure and Union Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
6.64 Thread-Local Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
6.64.1 ISO/IEC 9899:1999 Edits for Thread-Local Storage . . . . . 894
6.64.2 ISO/IEC 14882:1998 Edits for Thread-Local Storage . . . . 895
6.65 Binary Constants using the ‘0b’ Prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896
 xi

7 Extensions to the C++ Language . . . . . . . . . . 897

7.1 When is a Volatile C++ Object Accessed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
7.2 Restricting Pointer Aliasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
7.3 Vague Linkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
7.4 C++ Interface and Implementation Pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899
7.5 Where’s the Template? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
7.6 Extracting the Function Pointer from a Bound Pointer to Member
Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
7.7 C++-Specific Variable, Function, and Type Attributes . . . . . . . 903
7.8 Function Multiversioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
7.9 Type Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
7.10 C++ Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
7.11 Deprecated Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908
7.12 Backwards Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909

8 GNU Objective-C Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911

8.1 GNU Objective-C Runtime API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
8.1.1 Modern GNU Objective-C Runtime API. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
8.1.2 Traditional GNU Objective-C Runtime API . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
8.2 +load: Executing Code before main . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
8.2.1 What You Can and Cannot Do in +load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
8.3 Type Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914
8.3.1 Legacy Type Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916
8.3.2 @encode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916
8.3.3 Method Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
8.4 Garbage Collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
8.5 Constant String Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918
8.6 compatibility_alias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
8.7 Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
8.8 Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
8.9 Fast Enumeration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
8.9.1 Using Fast Enumeration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
8.9.2 C99-Like Fast Enumeration Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922
8.9.3 Fast Enumeration Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922
8.9.4 Fast Enumeration Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923
8.10 Messaging with the GNU Objective-C Runtime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 924
8.10.1 Dynamically Registering Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 924
8.10.2 Forwarding Hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925

9 Binary Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927

xii Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

10 gcov—a Test Coverage Program . . . . . . . . . . . 931

10.1 Introduction to gcov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
10.2 Invoking gcov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
10.3 Using gcov with GCC Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941
10.4 Brief Description of gcov Data Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 943
10.5 Data File Relocation to Support Cross-Profiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 943
10.6 Profiling and Test Coverage in Freestanding Environments. . . 943
10.6.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944
10.6.2 Tutorial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
10.6.3 System Initialization Caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949

11 gcov-tool—an Offline Gcda Profile Processing

Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951
11.1 Introduction to gcov-tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951
11.2 Invoking gcov-tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951

12 gcov-dump—an Offline Gcda and Gcno Profile

Dump Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955
12.1 Introduction to gcov-dump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955
12.2 Invoking gcov-dump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955

13 lto-dump—Tool for dumping LTO object files.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
13.1 Introduction to lto-dump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
13.2 Invoking lto-dump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957

14 Known Causes of Trouble with GCC. . . . . . 959

14.1 Actual Bugs We Haven’t Fixed Yet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
14.2 Interoperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
14.3 Incompatibilities of GCC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
14.4 Fixed Header Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964
14.5 Standard Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964
14.6 Disappointments and Misunderstandings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965
14.7 Common Misunderstandings with GNU C++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966
14.7.1 Declare and Define Static Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966
14.7.2 Name Lookup, Templates, and Accessing Members of Base
Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967
14.7.3 Temporaries May Vanish Before You Expect. . . . . . . . . . . . 968
14.7.4 Implicit Copy-Assignment for Virtual Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
14.8 Certain Changes We Don’t Want to Make . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970
14.9 Warning Messages and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973

15 Reporting Bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975

15.1 Have You Found a Bug? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
15.2 How and Where to Report Bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
 xiii

16 How To Get Help with GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977

17 Contributing to GCC Development . . . . . . . 979

Funding Free Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981

The GNU Project and GNU/Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . 983

GNU General Public License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985

GNU Free Documentation License . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents . . . . . . . 1004

Contributors to GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005

Option Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023

Keyword Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051

Introduction 1

Introduction
This manual documents how to use the GNU compilers, as well as their features and incom-
patibilities, and how to report bugs. It corresponds to the compilers (GCC) version 13.0.0.
The internals of the GNU compilers, including how to port them to new targets and some
information about how to write front ends for new languages, are documented in a separate
manual. See Section “Introduction” in GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) Internals.
Chapter 1: Programming Languages Supported by GCC 3

1 Programming Languages Supported by GCC

GCC stands for “GNU Compiler Collection”. GCC is an integrated distribution of compil-
ers for several major programming languages. These languages currently include C, C++,
Objective-C, Objective-C++, Fortran, Ada, D, and Go.
The abbreviation GCC has multiple meanings in common use. The current official mean-
ing is “GNU Compiler Collection”, which refers generically to the complete suite of tools.
The name historically stood for “GNU C Compiler”, and this usage is still common when
the emphasis is on compiling C programs. Finally, the name is also used when speaking
of the language-independent component of GCC: code shared among the compilers for all
supported languages.
The language-independent component of GCC includes the majority of the optimizers,
as well as the “back ends” that generate machine code for various processors.
The part of a compiler that is specific to a particular language is called the “front end”.
In addition to the front ends that are integrated components of GCC, there are several
other front ends that are maintained separately. These support languages such as Mercury,
and COBOL. To use these, they must be built together with GCC proper.
Most of the compilers for languages other than C have their own names. The C++ compiler
is G++, the Ada compiler is GNAT, and so on. When we talk about compiling one of those
languages, we might refer to that compiler by its own name, or as GCC. Either is correct.
Historically, compilers for many languages, including C++ and Fortran, have been im-
plemented as “preprocessors” which emit another high level language such as C. None of
the compilers included in GCC are implemented this way; they all generate machine code
directly. This sort of preprocessor should not be confused with the C preprocessor, which
is an integral feature of the C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++ languages.
Chapter 2: Language Standards Supported by GCC 5

2 Language Standards Supported by GCC

For each language compiled by GCC for which there is a standard, GCC attempts to follow
one or more versions of that standard, possibly with some exceptions, and possibly with
some extensions.

2.1 C Language
The original ANSI C standard (X3.159-1989) was ratified in 1989 and published in 1990.
This standard was ratified as an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1990) later in 1990. There
were no technical differences between these publications, although the sections of the ANSI
standard were renumbered and became clauses in the ISO standard. The ANSI standard,
but not the ISO standard, also came with a Rationale document. This standard, in both
its forms, is commonly known as C89, or occasionally as C90, from the dates of ratifi-
cation. To select this standard in GCC, use one of the options ‘-ansi’, ‘-std=c90’ or
‘-std=iso9899:1990’; to obtain all the diagnostics required by the standard, you should
also specify ‘-pedantic’ (or ‘-pedantic-errors’ if you want them to be errors rather than
warnings). See Section 3.4 [Options Controlling C Dialect], page 44.
Errors in the 1990 ISO C standard were corrected in two Technical Corrigenda published
in 1994 and 1996. GCC does not support the uncorrected version.
An amendment to the 1990 standard was published in 1995. This amendment added
digraphs and __STDC_VERSION__ to the language, but otherwise concerned the library. This
amendment is commonly known as AMD1; the amended standard is sometimes known as
C94 or C95. To select this standard in GCC, use the option ‘-std=iso9899:199409’ (with,
as for other standard versions, ‘-pedantic’ to receive all required diagnostics).
A new edition of the ISO C standard was published in 1999 as ISO/IEC 9899:1999, and
is commonly known as C99. (While in development, drafts of this standard version were
referred to as C9X.) GCC has substantially complete support for this standard version;
see https: / /gcc .gnu .org /c99status .html for details. To select this standard, use
‘-std=c99’ or ‘-std=iso9899:1999’.
Errors in the 1999 ISO C standard were corrected in three Technical Corrigenda published
in 2001, 2004 and 2007. GCC does not support the uncorrected version.
A fourth version of the C standard, known as C11, was published in 2011 as ISO/IEC
9899:2011. (While in development, drafts of this standard version were referred to as C1X.)
GCC has substantially complete support for this standard, enabled with ‘-std=c11’ or
‘-std=iso9899:2011’. A version with corrections integrated was prepared in 2017 and pub-
lished in 2018 as ISO/IEC 9899:2018; it is known as C17 and is supported with ‘-std=c17’
or ‘-std=iso9899:2017’; the corrections are also applied with ‘-std=c11’, and the only
difference between the options is the value of __STDC_VERSION__.
A further version of the C standard, known as C2X, is under development; experimental
and incomplete support for this is enabled with ‘-std=c2x’.
By default, GCC provides some extensions to the C language that, on rare occasions con-
flict with the C standard. See Chapter 6 [Extensions to the C Language Family], page 539.
Some features that are part of the C99 standard are accepted as extensions in C90 mode,
and some features that are part of the C11 standard are accepted as extensions in C90 and
C99 modes. Use of the ‘-std’ options listed above disables these extensions where they
6 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

conflict with the C standard version selected. You may also select an extended version of
the C language explicitly with ‘-std=gnu90’ (for C90 with GNU extensions), ‘-std=gnu99’
(for C99 with GNU extensions) or ‘-std=gnu11’ (for C11 with GNU extensions).
The default, if no C language dialect options are given, is ‘-std=gnu17’.
The ISO C standard defines (in clause 4) two classes of conforming implementation. A
conforming hosted implementation supports the whole standard including all the library
facilities; a conforming freestanding implementation is only required to provide certain
library facilities: those in <float.h>, <limits.h>, <stdarg.h>, and <stddef.h>; since
AMD1, also those in <iso646.h>; since C99, also those in <stdbool.h> and <stdint.h>;
and since C11, also those in <stdalign.h> and <stdnoreturn.h>. In addition, complex
types, added in C99, are not required for freestanding implementations.
The standard also defines two environments for programs, a freestanding environment,
required of all implementations and which may not have library facilities beyond those
required of freestanding implementations, where the handling of program startup and ter-
mination are implementation-defined; and a hosted environment, which is not required,
in which all the library facilities are provided and startup is through a function int main
(void) or int main (int, char *[]). An OS kernel is an example of a program running
in a freestanding environment; a program using the facilities of an operating system is an
example of a program running in a hosted environment.
GCC aims towards being usable as a conforming freestanding implementation, or as the
compiler for a conforming hosted implementation. By default, it acts as the compiler for a
hosted implementation, defining __STDC_HOSTED__ as 1 and presuming that when the names
of ISO C functions are used, they have the semantics defined in the standard. To make it act
as a conforming freestanding implementation for a freestanding environment, use the option
‘-ffreestanding’; it then defines __STDC_HOSTED__ to 0 and does not make assumptions
about the meanings of function names from the standard library, with exceptions noted
below. To build an OS kernel, you may well still need to make your own arrangements for
linking and startup. See Section 3.4 [Options Controlling C Dialect], page 44.
GCC does not provide the library facilities required only of hosted implementations, nor
yet all the facilities required by C99 of freestanding implementations on all platforms. To
use the facilities of a hosted environment, you need to find them elsewhere (for example, in
the GNU C library). See Section 14.5 [Standard Libraries], page 964.
Most of the compiler support routines used by GCC are present in ‘libgcc’, but there
are a few exceptions. GCC requires the freestanding environment provide memcpy, memmove,
memset and memcmp. Finally, if __builtin_trap is used, and the target does not implement
the trap pattern, then GCC emits a call to abort.
For references to Technical Corrigenda, Rationale documents and information concerning
the history of C that is available online, see https://gcc.gnu.org/readings.html

2.2 C++ Language

GCC supports the original ISO C++ standard published in 1998, and the 2011, 2014, 2017
and mostly 2020 revisions.
The original ISO C++ standard was published as the ISO standard (ISO/IEC 14882:1998)
and amended by a Technical Corrigenda published in 2003 (ISO/IEC 14882:2003). These
Chapter 2: Language Standards Supported by GCC 7

standards are referred to as C++98 and C++03, respectively. GCC implements the majority
of C++98 (export is a notable exception) and most of the changes in C++03. To select
this standard in GCC, use one of the options ‘-ansi’, ‘-std=c++98’, or ‘-std=c++03’; to
obtain all the diagnostics required by the standard, you should also specify ‘-pedantic’ (or
‘-pedantic-errors’ if you want them to be errors rather than warnings).
A revised ISO C++ standard was published in 2011 as ISO/IEC 14882:2011, and is referred
to as C++11; before its publication it was commonly referred to as C++0x. C++11 contains
several changes to the C++ language, all of which have been implemented in GCC. For
details see https://gcc.gnu.org/projects/cxx-status.html#cxx11. To select this
standard in GCC, use the option ‘-std=c++11’.
Another revised ISO C++ standard was published in 2014 as ISO/IEC 14882:2014, and is
referred to as C++14; before its publication it was sometimes referred to as C++1y. C++14
contains several further changes to the C++ language, all of which have been implemented
in GCC. For details see https://gcc.gnu.org/projects/cxx-status.html#cxx14. To
select this standard in GCC, use the option ‘-std=c++14’.
The C++ language was further revised in 2017 and ISO/IEC 14882:2017 was published.
This is referred to as C++17, and before publication was often referred to as C++1z. GCC
supports all the changes in that specification. For further details see https://gcc.gnu.
org/projects/cxx-status.html#cxx17. Use the option ‘-std=c++17’ to select this vari-
ant of C++.
Another revised ISO C++ standard was published in 2020 as ISO/IEC 14882:2020, and
is referred to as C++20; before its publication it was sometimes referred to as C++2a. GCC
supports most of the changes in the new specification. For further details see https://
gcc.gnu.org/projects/cxx-status.html#cxx20. To select this standard in GCC, use
the option ‘-std=c++20’.
More information about the C++ standards is available on the ISO C++ committee’s web
site at http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/.
To obtain all the diagnostics required by any of the standard versions described above
you should specify ‘-pedantic’ or ‘-pedantic-errors’, otherwise GCC will allow some
non-ISO C++ features as extensions. See Section 3.8 [Warning Options], page 93.
By default, GCC also provides some additional extensions to the C++ language that
on rare occasions conflict with the C++ standard. See Section 3.5 [C++ Dialect Options],
page 52. Use of the ‘-std’ options listed above disables these extensions where they they
conflict with the C++ standard version selected. You may also select an extended version
of the C++ language explicitly with ‘-std=gnu++98’ (for C++98 with GNU extensions), or
‘-std=gnu++11’ (for C++11 with GNU extensions), or ‘-std=gnu++14’ (for C++14 with GNU
extensions), or ‘-std=gnu++17’ (for C++17 with GNU extensions), or ‘-std=gnu++20’ (for
C++20 with GNU extensions).
The default, if no C++ language dialect options are given, is ‘-std=gnu++17’.

2.3 Objective-C and Objective-C++ Languages

GCC supports “traditional” Objective-C (also known as “Objective-C 1.0”) and contains
support for the Objective-C exception and synchronization syntax. It has also support for
a number of “Objective-C 2.0” language extensions, including properties, fast enumeration
8 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

(only for Objective-C), method attributes and the @optional and @required keywords in
protocols. GCC supports Objective-C++ and features available in Objective-C are also
available in Objective-C++.
GCC by default uses the GNU Objective-C runtime library, which is part of GCC and
is not the same as the Apple/NeXT Objective-C runtime library used on Apple systems.
There are a number of differences documented in this manual. The options ‘-fgnu-runtime’
and ‘-fnext-runtime’ allow you to switch between producing output that works with the
GNU Objective-C runtime library and output that works with the Apple/NeXT Objective-
C runtime library.
There is no formal written standard for Objective-C or Objective-C++. The author-
itative manual on traditional Objective-C (1.0) is “Object-Oriented Programming and
the Objective-C Language”: http: / / www . gnustep . org / resources / documentation /
ObjectivCBook.pdf is the original NeXTstep document.
The Objective-C exception and synchronization syntax (that is, the keywords @try,
@throw, @catch, @finally and @synchronized) is supported by GCC and is enabled with
the option ‘-fobjc-exceptions’. The syntax is briefly documented in this manual and in
the Objective-C 2.0 manuals from Apple.
The Objective-C 2.0 language extensions and features are automatically enabled;
they include properties (via the @property, @synthesize and @dynamic keywords),
fast enumeration (not available in Objective-C++), attributes for methods (such as
deprecated, noreturn, sentinel, format), the unused attribute for method arguments,
the @package keyword for instance variables and the @optional and @required keywords
in protocols. You can disable all these Objective-C 2.0 language extensions with the
option ‘-fobjc-std=objc1’, which causes the compiler to recognize the same Objective-C
language syntax recognized by GCC 4.0, and to produce an error if one of the new features
is used.
GCC has currently no support for non-fragile instance variables.
The authoritative manual on Objective-C 2.0 is available from Apple:
• https: / / developer . apple . com / library / archive / documentation / Cocoa /
Conceptual/ProgrammingWithObjectiveC/Introduction/Introduction.html

For more information concerning the history of Objective-C that is available online, see
https://gcc.gnu.org/readings.html

2.4 Go Language
As of the GCC 4.7.1 release, GCC supports the Go 1 language standard, described at
https://golang.org/doc/go1.

2.5 D language
GCC supports the D 2.0 programming language. The D language itself is currently de-
fined by its reference implementation and supporting language specification, described at
https://dlang.org/spec/spec.html.
Chapter 2: Language Standards Supported by GCC 9

2.6 References for Other Languages

See Section “About This Guide” in GNAT Reference Manual, for information on standard
conformance and compatibility of the Ada compiler.
See Section “Standards” in The GNU Fortran Compiler, for details of standards sup-
ported by GNU Fortran.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 11

3 GCC Command Options

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. See Section 3.2 [Options Controlling the Kind of Output], page 33.
Other options are passed on to one or more stages 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 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 specific version of GCC. When you
compile C++ programs, you should invoke GCC as g++ instead. See Section 3.3 [Compiling
C++ Programs], page 43, for information about the differences in behavior between gcc and
g++ when compiling C++ programs.
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’ is ‘-fno-foo’. This manual documents only
one of these two forms, whichever one is not the default.
Some options take one or more arguments typically separated either by a space or by
the equals sign (‘=’) from the option name. Unless documented otherwise, an argument
can be either numeric or a string. Numeric arguments must typically be small unsigned
decimal or hexadecimal integers. Hexadecimal arguments must begin with the ‘0x’ prefix.
Arguments to options that specify a size threshold of some sort may be arbitrarily large
decimal or hexadecimal integers followed by a byte size suffix designating a multiple of bytes
such as kB and KiB for kilobyte and kibibyte, respectively, MB and MiB for megabyte and
mebibyte, GB and GiB for gigabyte and gigibyte, and so on. Such arguments are designated
by byte-size in the following text. Refer to the NIST, IEC, and other relevant national and
international standards for the full listing and explanation of the binary and decimal byte
size prefixes.
See [Option Index], page 1023, for an index to GCC’s options.

3.1 Option Summary

Here is a summary of all the options, grouped by type. Explanations are in the following
sections.
12 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Overall Options
See Section 3.2 [Options Controlling the Kind of Output], page 33.
-c -S -E -o file
-dumpbase dumpbase -dumpbase-ext auxdropsuf
-dumpdir dumppfx -x language
-v -### --help[=class[,...]] --target-help --version
-pass-exit-codes -pipe -specs=file -wrapper
@file -ffile-prefix-map=old=new
-fplugin=file -fplugin-arg-name=arg
-fdump-ada-spec[-slim] -fada-spec-parent=unit -fdump-go-spec=file
C Language Options
See Section 3.4 [Options Controlling C Dialect], page 44.
-ansi -std=standard -aux-info filename
-fno-asm
-fno-builtin -fno-builtin-function -fcond-mismatch
-ffreestanding -fgimple -fgnu-tm -fgnu89-inline -fhosted
-flax-vector-conversions -fms-extensions
-foffload=arg -foffload-options=arg
-fopenacc -fopenacc-dim=geom
-fopenmp -fopenmp-simd -fopenmp-target-simd-clone[=device-type]
-fpermitted-flt-eval-methods=standard
-fplan9-extensions -fsigned-bitfields -funsigned-bitfields
-fsigned-char -funsigned-char -fstrict-flex-arrays[=n]
-fsso-struct=endianness
C++ Language Options
See Section 3.5 [Options Controlling C++ Dialect], page 52.
-fabi-version=n -fno-access-control
-faligned-new=n -fargs-in-order=n -fchar8_t -fcheck-new
-fconstexpr-depth=n -fconstexpr-cache-depth=n
-fconstexpr-loop-limit=n -fconstexpr-ops-limit=n
-fno-elide-constructors
-fno-enforce-eh-specs
-fno-gnu-keywords
-fno-implicit-templates
-fno-implicit-inline-templates
-fno-implement-inlines
-fmodule-header[=kind] -fmodule-only -fmodules-ts
-fmodule-implicit-inline
-fno-module-lazy
-fmodule-mapper=specification
-fmodule-version-ignore
-fms-extensions
-fnew-inheriting-ctors
-fnew-ttp-matching
-fno-nonansi-builtins -fnothrow-opt -fno-operator-names
-fno-optional-diags -fpermissive
-fno-pretty-templates
-fno-rtti -fsized-deallocation
-ftemplate-backtrace-limit=n
-ftemplate-depth=n
-fno-threadsafe-statics -fuse-cxa-atexit
-fno-weak -nostdinc++
-fvisibility-inlines-hidden
-fvisibility-ms-compat
-fext-numeric-literals
-flang-info-include-translate[=header]
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 13

-flang-info-include-translate-not
-flang-info-module-cmi[=module]
-stdlib=libstdc++,libc++
-Wabi-tag -Wcatch-value -Wcatch-value=n
-Wno-class-conversion -Wclass-memaccess
-Wcomma-subscript -Wconditionally-supported
-Wno-conversion-null -Wctad-maybe-unsupported
-Wctor-dtor-privacy -Wdangling-reference
-Wno-delete-incomplete
-Wdelete-non-virtual-dtor -Wno-deprecated-array-compare
-Wdeprecated-copy -Wdeprecated-copy-dtor
-Wno-deprecated-enum-enum-conversion -Wno-deprecated-enum-float-conversion
-Weffc++ -Wno-exceptions -Wextra-semi -Wno-inaccessible-base
-Wno-inherited-variadic-ctor -Wno-init-list-lifetime
-Winvalid-constexpr -Winvalid-imported-macros
-Wno-invalid-offsetof -Wno-literal-suffix
-Wmismatched-new-delete -Wmismatched-tags
-Wmultiple-inheritance -Wnamespaces -Wnarrowing
-Wnoexcept -Wnoexcept-type -Wnon-virtual-dtor
-Wpessimizing-move -Wno-placement-new -Wplacement-new=n
-Wrange-loop-construct -Wredundant-move -Wredundant-tags
-Wreorder -Wregister
-Wstrict-null-sentinel -Wno-subobject-linkage -Wtemplates
-Wno-non-template-friend -Wold-style-cast
-Woverloaded-virtual -Wno-pmf-conversions -Wself-move -Wsign-promo
-Wsized-deallocation -Wsuggest-final-methods
-Wsuggest-final-types -Wsuggest-override
-Wno-terminate -Wuseless-cast -Wno-vexing-parse
-Wvirtual-inheritance
-Wno-virtual-move-assign -Wvolatile -Wzero-as-null-pointer-constant

Objective-C and Objective-C++ Language Options

See Section 3.6 [Options Controlling Objective-C and Objective-C++ Dialects],
page 78.
-fconstant-string-class=class-name
-fgnu-runtime -fnext-runtime
-fno-nil-receivers
-fobjc-abi-version=n
-fobjc-call-cxx-cdtors
-fobjc-direct-dispatch
-fobjc-exceptions
-fobjc-gc
-fobjc-nilcheck
-fobjc-std=objc1
-fno-local-ivars
-fivar-visibility=[public|protected|private|package]
-freplace-objc-classes
-fzero-link
-gen-decls
-Wassign-intercept -Wno-property-assign-default
-Wno-protocol -Wobjc-root-class -Wselector
-Wstrict-selector-match
-Wundeclared-selector

Diagnostic Message Formatting Options

See Section 3.7 [Options to Control Diagnostic Messages Formatting], page 81.
-fmessage-length=n
-fdiagnostics-plain-output
14 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fdiagnostics-show-location=[once|every-line]
-fdiagnostics-color=[auto|never|always]
-fdiagnostics-urls=[auto|never|always]
-fdiagnostics-format=[text|sarif-stderr|sarif-file|json|json-stderr|json-
file]
-fno-diagnostics-show-option -fno-diagnostics-show-caret
-fno-diagnostics-show-labels -fno-diagnostics-show-line-numbers
-fno-diagnostics-show-cwe
-fno-diagnostics-show-rule
-fdiagnostics-minimum-margin-width=width
-fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits -fdiagnostics-generate-patch
-fdiagnostics-show-template-tree -fno-elide-type
-fdiagnostics-path-format=[none|separate-events|inline-events]
-fdiagnostics-show-path-depths
-fno-show-column
-fdiagnostics-column-unit=[display|byte]
-fdiagnostics-column-origin=origin
-fdiagnostics-escape-format=[unicode|bytes]

Warning Options
See Section 3.8 [Options to Request or Suppress Warnings], page 93.
-fsyntax-only -fmax-errors=n -Wpedantic
-pedantic-errors
-w -Wextra -Wall -Wabi=n
-Waddress -Wno-address-of-packed-member -Waggregate-return
-Walloc-size-larger-than=byte-size -Walloc-zero
-Walloca -Walloca-larger-than=byte-size
-Wno-aggressive-loop-optimizations
-Warith-conversion
-Warray-bounds -Warray-bounds=n -Warray-compare
-Wno-attributes -Wattribute-alias=n -Wno-attribute-alias
-Wno-attribute-warning
-Wbidi-chars=[none|unpaired|any|ucn]
-Wbool-compare -Wbool-operation
-Wno-builtin-declaration-mismatch
-Wno-builtin-macro-redefined -Wc90-c99-compat -Wc99-c11-compat
-Wc11-c2x-compat
-Wc++-compat -Wc++11-compat -Wc++14-compat -Wc++17-compat
-Wc++20-compat
-Wno-c++11-extensions -Wno-c++14-extensions -Wno-c++17-extensions
-Wno-c++20-extensions -Wno-c++23-extensions
-Wcast-align -Wcast-align=strict -Wcast-function-type -Wcast-qual
-Wchar-subscripts
-Wclobbered -Wcomment
-Wconversion -Wno-coverage-mismatch -Wno-cpp
-Wdangling-else -Wdangling-pointer -Wdangling-pointer=n
-Wdate-time
-Wno-deprecated -Wno-deprecated-declarations -Wno-designated-init
-Wdisabled-optimization
-Wno-discarded-array-qualifiers -Wno-discarded-qualifiers
-Wno-div-by-zero -Wdouble-promotion
-Wduplicated-branches -Wduplicated-cond
-Wempty-body -Wno-endif-labels -Wenum-compare -Wenum-conversion
-Wenum-int-mismatch
-Werror -Werror=* -Wexpansion-to-defined -Wfatal-errors
-Wfloat-conversion -Wfloat-equal -Wformat -Wformat=2
-Wno-format-contains-nul -Wno-format-extra-args
-Wformat-nonliteral -Wformat-overflow=n
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 15

-Wformat-security -Wformat-signedness -Wformat-truncation=n

-Wformat-y2k -Wframe-address
-Wframe-larger-than=byte-size -Wno-free-nonheap-object
-Wno-if-not-aligned -Wno-ignored-attributes
-Wignored-qualifiers -Wno-incompatible-pointer-types
-Wimplicit -Wimplicit-fallthrough -Wimplicit-fallthrough=n
-Wno-implicit-function-declaration -Wno-implicit-int
-Winfinite-recursion
-Winit-self -Winline -Wno-int-conversion -Wint-in-bool-context
-Wno-int-to-pointer-cast -Wno-invalid-memory-model
-Winvalid-pch -Winvalid-utf8 -Wno-unicode -Wjump-misses-init
-Wlarger-than=byte-size -Wlogical-not-parentheses -Wlogical-op
-Wlong-long -Wno-lto-type-mismatch -Wmain -Wmaybe-uninitialized
-Wmemset-elt-size -Wmemset-transposed-args
-Wmisleading-indentation -Wmissing-attributes -Wmissing-braces
-Wmissing-field-initializers -Wmissing-format-attribute
-Wmissing-include-dirs -Wmissing-noreturn -Wno-missing-profile
-Wno-multichar -Wmultistatement-macros -Wnonnull -Wnonnull-compare
-Wnormalized=[none|id|nfc|nfkc]
-Wnull-dereference -Wno-odr
-Wopenacc-parallelism
-Wopenmp-simd
-Wno-overflow -Woverlength-strings -Wno-override-init-side-effects
-Wpacked -Wno-packed-bitfield-compat -Wpacked-not-aligned -Wpadded
-Wparentheses -Wno-pedantic-ms-format
-Wpointer-arith -Wno-pointer-compare -Wno-pointer-to-int-cast
-Wno-pragmas -Wno-prio-ctor-dtor -Wredundant-decls
-Wrestrict -Wno-return-local-addr -Wreturn-type
-Wno-scalar-storage-order -Wsequence-point
-Wshadow -Wshadow=global -Wshadow=local -Wshadow=compatible-local
-Wno-shadow-ivar
-Wno-shift-count-negative -Wno-shift-count-overflow -Wshift-negative-value
-Wno-shift-overflow -Wshift-overflow=n
-Wsign-compare -Wsign-conversion
-Wno-sizeof-array-argument
-Wsizeof-array-div
-Wsizeof-pointer-div -Wsizeof-pointer-memaccess
-Wstack-protector -Wstack-usage=byte-size -Wstrict-aliasing
-Wstrict-aliasing=n -Wstrict-overflow -Wstrict-overflow=n
-Wstring-compare
-Wno-stringop-overflow -Wno-stringop-overread
-Wno-stringop-truncation -Wstrict-flex-arrays
-Wsuggest-attribute=[pure|const|noreturn|format|malloc]
-Wswitch -Wno-switch-bool -Wswitch-default -Wswitch-enum
-Wno-switch-outside-range -Wno-switch-unreachable -Wsync-nand
-Wsystem-headers -Wtautological-compare -Wtrampolines -Wtrigraphs
-Wtrivial-auto-var-init -Wtsan -Wtype-limits -Wundef
-Wuninitialized -Wunknown-pragmas
-Wunsuffixed-float-constants -Wunused
-Wunused-but-set-parameter -Wunused-but-set-variable
-Wunused-const-variable -Wunused-const-variable=n
-Wunused-function -Wunused-label -Wunused-local-typedefs
-Wunused-macros
-Wunused-parameter -Wno-unused-result
-Wunused-value -Wunused-variable
-Wno-varargs -Wvariadic-macros
-Wvector-operation-performance
-Wvla -Wvla-larger-than=byte-size -Wno-vla-larger-than
16 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wvolatile-register-var -Wwrite-strings
-Wxor-used-as-pow
-Wzero-length-bounds

Static Analyzer Options

-fanalyzer
-fanalyzer-call-summaries
-fanalyzer-checker=name
-fno-analyzer-feasibility
-fanalyzer-fine-grained
-fno-analyzer-state-merge
-fno-analyzer-state-purge
-fanalyzer-transitivity
-fno-analyzer-undo-inlining
-fanalyzer-verbose-edges
-fanalyzer-verbose-state-changes
-fanalyzer-verbosity=level
-fdump-analyzer
-fdump-analyzer-callgraph
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-graph
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-nodes
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-nodes-2
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-nodes-3
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-paths
-fdump-analyzer-feasibility
-fdump-analyzer-json
-fdump-analyzer-state-purge
-fdump-analyzer-stderr
-fdump-analyzer-supergraph
-fdump-analyzer-untracked
-Wno-analyzer-double-fclose
-Wno-analyzer-double-free
-Wno-analyzer-exposure-through-output-file
-Wno-analyzer-exposure-through-uninit-copy
-Wno-analyzer-fd-access-mode-mismatch
-Wno-analyzer-fd-double-close
-Wno-analyzer-fd-leak
-Wno-analyzer-fd-phase-mismatch
-Wno-analyzer-fd-type-mismatch
-Wno-analyzer-fd-use-after-close
-Wno-analyzer-fd-use-without-check
-Wno-analyzer-file-leak
-Wno-analyzer-free-of-non-heap
-Wno-analyzer-imprecise-fp-arithmetic
-Wno-analyzer-infinite-recursion
-Wno-analyzer-jump-through-null
-Wno-analyzer-malloc-leak
-Wno-analyzer-mismatching-deallocation
-Wno-analyzer-null-argument
-Wno-analyzer-null-dereference
-Wno-analyzer-out-of-bounds
-Wno-analyzer-possible-null-argument
-Wno-analyzer-possible-null-dereference
-Wno-analyzer-putenv-of-auto-var
-Wno-analyzer-shift-count-negative
-Wno-analyzer-shift-count-overflow
-Wno-analyzer-stale-setjmp-buffer
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-allocation-size
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-assertion
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 17

-Wno-analyzer-tainted-array-index
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-divisor
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-offset
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-size
-Wanalyzer-too-complex
-Wno-analyzer-unsafe-call-within-signal-handler
-Wno-analyzer-use-after-free
-Wno-analyzer-use-of-pointer-in-stale-stack-frame
-Wno-analyzer-use-of-uninitialized-value
-Wno-analyzer-va-arg-type-mismatch
-Wno-analyzer-va-list-exhausted
-Wno-analyzer-va-list-leak
-Wno-analyzer-va-list-use-after-va-end
-Wno-analyzer-write-to-const
-Wno-analyzer-write-to-string-literal

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
See Section 3.10 [Options for Debugging Your Program], page 166.
-g -glevel -gdwarf -gdwarf-version
-gbtf -gctf -gctflevel
-ggdb -grecord-gcc-switches -gno-record-gcc-switches
-gstrict-dwarf -gno-strict-dwarf
-gas-loc-support -gno-as-loc-support
-gas-locview-support -gno-as-locview-support
-gcolumn-info -gno-column-info -gdwarf32 -gdwarf64
-gstatement-frontiers -gno-statement-frontiers
-gvariable-location-views -gno-variable-location-views
-ginternal-reset-location-views -gno-internal-reset-location-views
-ginline-points -gno-inline-points
-gvms -gz[=type]
-gsplit-dwarf -gdescribe-dies -gno-describe-dies
-fdebug-prefix-map=old=new -fdebug-types-section
-fno-eliminate-unused-debug-types
-femit-struct-debug-baseonly -femit-struct-debug-reduced
-femit-struct-debug-detailed[=spec-list]
-fno-eliminate-unused-debug-symbols -femit-class-debug-always
-fno-merge-debug-strings -fno-dwarf2-cfi-asm
-fvar-tracking -fvar-tracking-assignments

Optimization Options
See Section 3.11 [Options that Control Optimization], page 173.
-faggressive-loop-optimizations
-falign-functions[=n[:m:[n2[:m2]]]]
-falign-jumps[=n[:m:[n2[:m2]]]]
-falign-labels[=n[:m:[n2[:m2]]]]
-falign-loops[=n[:m:[n2[:m2]]]]
-fno-allocation-dce -fallow-store-data-races
-fassociative-math -fauto-profile -fauto-profile[=path]
-fauto-inc-dec -fbranch-probabilities
-fcaller-saves
18 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fcombine-stack-adjustments -fconserve-stack
-fcompare-elim -fcprop-registers -fcrossjumping
-fcse-follow-jumps -fcse-skip-blocks -fcx-fortran-rules
-fcx-limited-range
-fdata-sections -fdce -fdelayed-branch
-fdelete-null-pointer-checks -fdevirtualize -fdevirtualize-speculatively
-fdevirtualize-at-ltrans -fdse
-fearly-inlining -fipa-sra -fexpensive-optimizations -ffat-lto-objects
-ffast-math -ffinite-math-only -ffloat-store -fexcess-precision=style
-ffinite-loops
-fforward-propagate -ffp-contract=style -ffunction-sections
-fgcse -fgcse-after-reload -fgcse-las -fgcse-lm -fgraphite-identity
-fgcse-sm -fhoist-adjacent-loads -fif-conversion
-fif-conversion2 -findirect-inlining
-finline-functions -finline-functions-called-once -finline-limit=n
-finline-small-functions -fipa-modref -fipa-cp -fipa-cp-clone
-fipa-bit-cp -fipa-vrp -fipa-pta -fipa-profile -fipa-pure-const
-fipa-reference -fipa-reference-addressable
-fipa-stack-alignment -fipa-icf -fira-algorithm=algorithm
-flive-patching=level
-fira-region=region -fira-hoist-pressure
-fira-loop-pressure -fno-ira-share-save-slots
-fno-ira-share-spill-slots
-fisolate-erroneous-paths-dereference -fisolate-erroneous-paths-attribute
-fivopts -fkeep-inline-functions -fkeep-static-functions
-fkeep-static-consts -flimit-function-alignment -flive-range-shrinkage
-floop-block -floop-interchange -floop-strip-mine
-floop-unroll-and-jam -floop-nest-optimize
-floop-parallelize-all -flra-remat -flto -flto-compression-level
-flto-partition=alg -fmerge-all-constants
-fmerge-constants -fmodulo-sched -fmodulo-sched-allow-regmoves
-fmove-loop-invariants -fmove-loop-stores -fno-branch-count-reg
-fno-defer-pop -fno-fp-int-builtin-inexact -fno-function-cse
-fno-guess-branch-probability -fno-inline -fno-math-errno -fno-peephole
-fno-peephole2 -fno-printf-return-value -fno-sched-interblock
-fno-sched-spec -fno-signed-zeros
-fno-toplevel-reorder -fno-trapping-math -fno-zero-initialized-in-bss
-fomit-frame-pointer -foptimize-sibling-calls
-fpartial-inlining -fpeel-loops -fpredictive-commoning
-fprefetch-loop-arrays
-fprofile-correction
-fprofile-use -fprofile-use=path -fprofile-partial-training
-fprofile-values -fprofile-reorder-functions
-freciprocal-math -free -frename-registers -freorder-blocks
-freorder-blocks-algorithm=algorithm
-freorder-blocks-and-partition -freorder-functions
-frerun-cse-after-loop -freschedule-modulo-scheduled-loops
-frounding-math -fsave-optimization-record
-fsched2-use-superblocks -fsched-pressure
-fsched-spec-load -fsched-spec-load-dangerous
-fsched-stalled-insns-dep[=n] -fsched-stalled-insns[=n]
-fsched-group-heuristic -fsched-critical-path-heuristic
-fsched-spec-insn-heuristic -fsched-rank-heuristic
-fsched-last-insn-heuristic -fsched-dep-count-heuristic
-fschedule-fusion
-fschedule-insns -fschedule-insns2 -fsection-anchors
-fselective-scheduling -fselective-scheduling2
-fsel-sched-pipelining -fsel-sched-pipelining-outer-loops
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 19

-fsemantic-interposition -fshrink-wrap -fshrink-wrap-separate

-fsignaling-nans
-fsingle-precision-constant -fsplit-ivs-in-unroller -fsplit-loops
-fsplit-paths
-fsplit-wide-types -fsplit-wide-types-early -fssa-backprop -fssa-phiopt
-fstdarg-opt -fstore-merging -fstrict-aliasing -fipa-strict-aliasing
-fthread-jumps -ftracer -ftree-bit-ccp
-ftree-builtin-call-dce -ftree-ccp -ftree-ch
-ftree-coalesce-vars -ftree-copy-prop -ftree-dce -ftree-dominator-opts
-ftree-dse -ftree-forwprop -ftree-fre -fcode-hoisting
-ftree-loop-if-convert -ftree-loop-im
-ftree-phiprop -ftree-loop-distribution -ftree-loop-distribute-patterns
-ftree-loop-ivcanon -ftree-loop-linear -ftree-loop-optimize
-ftree-loop-vectorize
-ftree-parallelize-loops=n -ftree-pre -ftree-partial-pre -ftree-pta
-ftree-reassoc -ftree-scev-cprop -ftree-sink -ftree-slsr -ftree-sra
-ftree-switch-conversion -ftree-tail-merge
-ftree-ter -ftree-vectorize -ftree-vrp -ftrivial-auto-var-init
-funconstrained-commons -funit-at-a-time -funroll-all-loops
-funroll-loops -funsafe-math-optimizations -funswitch-loops
-fipa-ra -fvariable-expansion-in-unroller -fvect-cost-model -fvpt
-fweb -fwhole-program -fwpa -fuse-linker-plugin -fzero-call-used-regs
--param name=value -O -O0 -O1 -O2 -O3 -Os -Ofast -Og -Oz

Program Instrumentation Options

See Section 3.12 [Program Instrumentation Options], page 246.
-p -pg -fprofile-arcs --coverage -ftest-coverage
-fprofile-abs-path
-fprofile-dir=path -fprofile-generate -fprofile-generate=path
-fprofile-info-section -fprofile-info-section=name
-fprofile-note=path -fprofile-prefix-path=path
-fprofile-update=method -fprofile-filter-files=regex
-fprofile-exclude-files=regex
-fprofile-reproducible=[multithreaded|parallel-runs|serial]
-fsanitize=style -fsanitize-recover -fsanitize-recover=style
-fsanitize-trap -fsanitize-trap=style
-fasan-shadow-offset=number -fsanitize-sections=s1,s2,...
-fsanitize-undefined-trap-on-error -fbounds-check
-fcf-protection=[full|branch|return|none|check]
-fharden-compares -fharden-conditional-branches
-fstack-protector -fstack-protector-all -fstack-protector-strong
-fstack-protector-explicit -fstack-check
-fstack-limit-register=reg -fstack-limit-symbol=sym
-fno-stack-limit -fsplit-stack
-fvtable-verify=[std|preinit|none]
-fvtv-counts -fvtv-debug
-finstrument-functions -finstrument-functions-once
-finstrument-functions-exclude-function-list=sym,sym,...
-finstrument-functions-exclude-file-list=file,file,...

-fprofile-prefix-map=old=new
Preprocessor Options
See Section 3.13 [Options Controlling the Preprocessor], page 264.
-Aquestion=answer
-A-question[=answer]
-C -CC -Dmacro[=defn]
20 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-dD -dI -dM -dN -dU

-fdebug-cpp -fdirectives-only -fdollars-in-identifiers
-fexec-charset=charset -fextended-identifiers
-finput-charset=charset -flarge-source-files
-fmacro-prefix-map=old=new -fmax-include-depth=depth
-fno-canonical-system-headers -fpch-deps -fpch-preprocess
-fpreprocessed -ftabstop=width -ftrack-macro-expansion
-fwide-exec-charset=charset -fworking-directory
-H -imacros file -include file
-M -MD -MF -MG -MM -MMD -MP -MQ -MT -Mno-modules
-no-integrated-cpp -P -pthread -remap
-traditional -traditional-cpp -trigraphs
-Umacro -undef
-Wp,option -Xpreprocessor option

Assembler Options
See Section 3.14 [Passing Options to the Assembler], page 272.
-Wa,option -Xassembler option

Linker Options
See Section 3.15 [Options for Linking], page 272.
object-file-name -fuse-ld=linker -llibrary
-nostartfiles -nodefaultlibs -nolibc -nostdlib -nostdlib++
-e entry --entry=entry
-pie -pthread -r -rdynamic
-s -static -static-pie -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++
-static-libasan -static-libtsan -static-liblsan -static-libubsan
-shared -shared-libgcc -symbolic
-T script -Wl,option -Xlinker option
-u symbol -z keyword

Directory Options
See Section 3.16 [Options for Directory Search], page 278.
-Bprefix -Idir -I-
-idirafter dir
-imacros file -imultilib dir
-iplugindir=dir -iprefix file
-iquote dir -isysroot dir -isystem dir
-iwithprefix dir -iwithprefixbefore dir
-Ldir -no-canonical-prefixes --no-sysroot-suffix
-nostdinc -nostdinc++ --sysroot=dir

Code Generation Options

See Section 3.17 [Options for Code Generation Conventions], page 281.
-fcall-saved-reg -fcall-used-reg
-ffixed-reg -fexceptions
-fnon-call-exceptions -fdelete-dead-exceptions -funwind-tables
-fasynchronous-unwind-tables
-fno-gnu-unique
-finhibit-size-directive -fcommon -fno-ident
-fpcc-struct-return -fpic -fPIC -fpie -fPIE -fno-plt
-fno-jump-tables -fno-bit-tests
-frecord-gcc-switches
-freg-struct-return -fshort-enums -fshort-wchar
-fverbose-asm -fpack-struct[=n]
-fleading-underscore -ftls-model=model
-fstack-reuse=reuse_level
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 21

-ftrampolines -ftrapv -fwrapv

-fvisibility=[default|internal|hidden|protected]
-fstrict-volatile-bitfields -fsync-libcalls
Developer Options
See Section 3.18 [GCC Developer Options], page 291.
-dletters -dumpspecs -dumpmachine -dumpversion
-dumpfullversion -fcallgraph-info[=su,da] -fchecking -fchecking=n -fdbg-cnt-
list
-fdbg-cnt=counter-value-list
-fdisable-ipa-pass_name
-fdisable-rtl-pass_name
-fdisable-rtl-pass-name=range-list
-fdisable-tree-pass_name
-fdisable-tree-pass-name=range-list
-fdump-debug -fdump-earlydebug
-fdump-noaddr -fdump-unnumbered -fdump-unnumbered-links
-fdump-final-insns[=file]
-fdump-ipa-all -fdump-ipa-cgraph -fdump-ipa-inline
-fdump-lang-all
-fdump-lang-switch
-fdump-lang-switch-options
-fdump-lang-switch-options=filename
-fdump-passes
-fdump-rtl-pass -fdump-rtl-pass=filename
-fdump-statistics
-fdump-tree-all
-fdump-tree-switch
-fdump-tree-switch-options
-fdump-tree-switch-options=filename
-fcompare-debug[=opts] -fcompare-debug-second
-fenable-kind-pass
-fenable-kind-pass=range-list
-fira-verbose=n
-flto-report -flto-report-wpa -fmem-report-wpa
-fmem-report -fpre-ipa-mem-report -fpost-ipa-mem-report
-fopt-info -fopt-info-options[=file]
-fmultiflags -fprofile-report
-frandom-seed=string -fsched-verbose=n
-fsel-sched-verbose -fsel-sched-dump-cfg -fsel-sched-pipelining-verbose
-fstats -fstack-usage -ftime-report -ftime-report-details
-fvar-tracking-assignments-toggle -gtoggle
-print-file-name=library -print-libgcc-file-name
-print-multi-directory -print-multi-lib -print-multi-os-directory
-print-prog-name=program -print-search-dirs -Q
-print-sysroot -print-sysroot-headers-suffix
-save-temps -save-temps=cwd -save-temps=obj -time[=file]
Machine-Dependent Options
See Section 3.19 [Machine-Dependent Options], page 308.
AArch64 Options
-mabi=name -mbig-endian -mlittle-endian
-mgeneral-regs-only
-mcmodel=tiny -mcmodel=small -mcmodel=large
-mstrict-align -mno-strict-align
-momit-leaf-frame-pointer
-mtls-dialect=desc -mtls-dialect=traditional
-mtls-size=size
22 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mfix-cortex-a53-835769 -mfix-cortex-a53-843419
-mlow-precision-recip-sqrt -mlow-precision-sqrt -mlow-precision-div
-mpc-relative-literal-loads
-msign-return-address=scope
-mbranch-protection=none|standard|pac-ret[+leaf +b-key]|bti
-mharden-sls=opts
-march=name -mcpu=name -mtune=name
-moverride=string -mverbose-cost-dump
-mstack-protector-guard=guard -mstack-protector-guard-reg=sysreg
-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset -mtrack-speculation
-moutline-atomics
Adapteva Epiphany Options
-mhalf-reg-file -mprefer-short-insn-regs
-mbranch-cost=num -mcmove -mnops=num -msoft-cmpsf
-msplit-lohi -mpost-inc -mpost-modify -mstack-offset=num
-mround-nearest -mlong-calls -mshort-calls -msmall16
-mfp-mode=mode -mvect-double -max-vect-align=num
-msplit-vecmove-early -m1reg-reg
AMD GCN Options
-march=gpu -mtune=gpu -mstack-size=bytes
ARC Options
-mbarrel-shifter -mjli-always
-mcpu=cpu -mA6 -mARC600 -mA7 -mARC700
-mdpfp -mdpfp-compact -mdpfp-fast -mno-dpfp-lrsr
-mea -mno-mpy -mmul32x16 -mmul64 -matomic
-mnorm -mspfp -mspfp-compact -mspfp-fast -msimd -msoft-float -mswap
-mcrc -mdsp-packa -mdvbf -mlock -mmac-d16 -mmac-24 -mrtsc -mswape
-mtelephony -mxy -misize -mannotate-align -marclinux -marclinux_prof
-mlong-calls -mmedium-calls -msdata -mirq-ctrl-saved
-mrgf-banked-regs -mlpc-width=width -G num
-mvolatile-cache -mtp-regno=regno
-malign-call -mauto-modify-reg -mbbit-peephole -mno-brcc
-mcase-vector-pcrel -mcompact-casesi -mno-cond-exec -mearly-cbranchsi
-mexpand-adddi -mindexed-loads -mlra -mlra-priority-none
-mlra-priority-compact -mlra-priority-noncompact -mmillicode
-mmixed-code -mq-class -mRcq -mRcw -msize-level=level
-mtune=cpu -mmultcost=num -mcode-density-frame
-munalign-prob-threshold=probability -mmpy-option=multo
-mdiv-rem -mcode-density -mll64 -mfpu=fpu -mrf16 -mbranch-index
ARM Options
-mapcs-frame -mno-apcs-frame
-mabi=name
-mapcs-stack-check -mno-apcs-stack-check
-mapcs-reentrant -mno-apcs-reentrant
-mgeneral-regs-only
-msched-prolog -mno-sched-prolog
-mlittle-endian -mbig-endian
-mbe8 -mbe32
-mfloat-abi=name
-mfp16-format=name -mthumb-interwork -mno-thumb-interwork
-mcpu=name -march=name -mfpu=name
-mtune=name -mprint-tune-info
-mstructure-size-boundary=n
-mabort-on-noreturn
-mlong-calls -mno-long-calls
-msingle-pic-base -mno-single-pic-base
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 23

-mpic-register=reg
-mnop-fun-dllimport
-mpoke-function-name
-mthumb -marm -mflip-thumb
-mtpcs-frame -mtpcs-leaf-frame
-mcaller-super-interworking -mcallee-super-interworking
-mtp=name -mtls-dialect=dialect
-mword-relocations
-mfix-cortex-m3-ldrd
-mfix-cortex-a57-aes-1742098
-mfix-cortex-a72-aes-1655431
-munaligned-access
-mneon-for-64bits
-mslow-flash-data
-masm-syntax-unified
-mrestrict-it
-mverbose-cost-dump
-mpure-code
-mcmse
-mfix-cmse-cve-2021-35465
-mstack-protector-guard=guard -mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset
-mfdpic
AVR Options
-mmcu=mcu -mabsdata -maccumulate-args
-mbranch-cost=cost
-mcall-prologues -mgas-isr-prologues -mint8
-mdouble=bits -mlong-double=bits
-mn_flash=size -mno-interrupts
-mmain-is-OS_task -mrelax -mrmw -mstrict-X -mtiny-stack
-mfract-convert-truncate
-mshort-calls -nodevicelib -nodevicespecs
-Waddr-space-convert -Wmisspelled-isr
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
C6X Options
-mbig-endian -mlittle-endian -march=cpu
-msim -msdata=sdata-type
CRIS Options
-mcpu=cpu -march=cpu -mtune=cpu -mmax-stack-frame=n
-metrax4 -metrax100 -mpdebug -mcc-init -mno-side-effects
-mstack-align -mdata-align -mconst-align
-m32-bit -m16-bit -m8-bit -mno-prologue-epilogue
-melf -maout -sim -sim2
-mmul-bug-workaround -mno-mul-bug-workaround
C-SKY Options
-march=arch -mcpu=cpu
-mbig-endian -EB -mlittle-endian -EL
24 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mhard-float -msoft-float -mfpu=fpu -mdouble-float -mfdivdu

-mfloat-abi=name
-melrw -mistack -mmp -mcp -mcache -msecurity -mtrust
-mdsp -medsp -mvdsp
-mdiv -msmart -mhigh-registers -manchor
-mpushpop -mmultiple-stld -mconstpool -mstack-size -mccrt
-mbranch-cost=n -mcse-cc -msched-prolog -msim
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
-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
eBPF Options
-mbig-endian -mlittle-endian -mkernel=version -mframe-limit=bytes -mxbpf -
mco-re -mno-co-re -mjmpext -mjmp32 -malu32 -mcpu=version
FR30 Options
-msmall-model -mno-lsim
FT32 Options
-msim -mlra -mnodiv -mft32b -mcompress -mnopm
FRV Options
-mgpr-32 -mgpr-64 -mfpr-32 -mfpr-64
-mhard-float -msoft-float
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 25

-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
-mglibc -muclibc -mmusl -mbionic -mandroid
-tno-android-cc -tno-android-ld
H8/300 Options
-mrelax -mh -ms -mn -mexr -mno-exr -mint32 -malign-300
HPPA Options
-march=architecture-type
-mcaller-copies -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-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
IA-64 Options
-mbig-endian -mlittle-endian -mgnu-as -mgnu-ld -mno-pic
-mvolatile-asm-stop -mregister-names -msdata -mno-sdata
-mconstant-gp -mauto-pic -mfused-madd
-minline-float-divide-min-latency
-minline-float-divide-max-throughput
-mno-inline-float-divide
-minline-int-divide-min-latency
-minline-int-divide-max-throughput
-mno-inline-int-divide
-minline-sqrt-min-latency -minline-sqrt-max-throughput
-mno-inline-sqrt
-mdwarf2-asm -mearly-stop-bits
-mfixed-range=register-range -mtls-size=tls-size
-mtune=cpu-type -milp32 -mlp64
-msched-br-data-spec -msched-ar-data-spec -msched-control-spec
-msched-br-in-data-spec -msched-ar-in-data-spec -msched-in-control-spec
-msched-spec-ldc -msched-spec-control-ldc
-msched-prefer-non-data-spec-insns -msched-prefer-non-control-spec-insns
-msched-stop-bits-after-every-cycle -msched-count-spec-in-critical-path
-msel-sched-dont-check-control-spec -msched-fp-mem-deps-zero-cost
-msched-max-memory-insns-hard-limit -msched-max-memory-insns=max-insns
26 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

LM32 Options
-mbarrel-shift-enabled -mdivide-enabled -mmultiply-enabled
-msign-extend-enabled -muser-enabled
LoongArch Options
-march=cpu-type -mtune=cpu-type -mabi=base-abi-type
-mfpu=fpu-type -msoft-float -msingle-float -mdouble-float
-mbranch-cost=n -mcheck-zero-division -mno-check-zero-division
-mcond-move-int -mno-cond-move-int
-mcond-move-float -mno-cond-move-float
-memcpy -mno-memcpy -mstrict-align -mno-strict-align
-mmax-inline-memcpy-size=n
-mexplicit-relocs -mno-explicit-relocs
-mdirect-extern-access -mno-direct-extern-access
-mcmodel=code-model
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 -mlong-jump-table-offsets
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
MicroBlaze Options
-msoft-float -mhard-float -msmall-divides -mcpu=cpu
-mmemcpy -mxl-soft-mul -mxl-soft-div -mxl-barrel-shift
-mxl-pattern-compare -mxl-stack-check -mxl-gp-opt -mno-clearbss
-mxl-multiply-high -mxl-float-convert -mxl-float-sqrt
-mbig-endian -mlittle-endian -mxl-reorder -mxl-mode-app-model
-mpic-data-is-text-relative
MIPS Options
-EL -EB -march=arch -mtune=arch
-mips1 -mips2 -mips3 -mips4 -mips32 -mips32r2 -mips32r3 -mips32r5
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 27

-mips32r6 -mips64 -mips64r2 -mips64r3 -mips64r5 -mips64r6

-mips16 -mno-mips16 -mflip-mips16
-minterlink-compressed -mno-interlink-compressed
-minterlink-mips16 -mno-interlink-mips16
-mabi=abi -mabicalls -mno-abicalls
-mshared -mno-shared -mplt -mno-plt -mxgot -mno-xgot
-mgp32 -mgp64 -mfp32 -mfpxx -mfp64 -mhard-float -msoft-float
-mno-float -msingle-float -mdouble-float
-modd-spreg -mno-odd-spreg
-mabs=mode -mnan=encoding
-mdsp -mno-dsp -mdspr2 -mno-dspr2
-mmcu -mmno-mcu
-meva -mno-eva
-mvirt -mno-virt
-mxpa -mno-xpa
-mcrc -mno-crc
-mginv -mno-ginv
-mmicromips -mno-micromips
-mmsa -mno-msa
-mloongson-mmi -mno-loongson-mmi
-mloongson-ext -mno-loongson-ext
-mloongson-ext2 -mno-loongson-ext2
-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
-mload-store-pairs -mno-load-store-pairs
-munaligned-access -mno-unaligned-access
-mmemcpy -mno-memcpy -mlong-calls -mno-long-calls
-mmad -mno-mad -mimadd -mno-imadd -mfused-madd -mno-fused-madd -nocpp
-mfix-24k -mno-fix-24k
-mfix-r4000 -mno-fix-r4000 -mfix-r4400 -mno-fix-r4400
-mfix-r5900 -mno-fix-r5900
-mfix-r10000 -mno-fix-r10000 -mfix-rm7000 -mno-fix-rm7000
-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
-mcompact-branches=policy
-mfp-exceptions -mno-fp-exceptions
-mvr4130-align -mno-vr4130-align -msynci -mno-synci
-mlxc1-sxc1 -mno-lxc1-sxc1 -mmadd4 -mno-madd4
-mrelax-pic-calls -mno-relax-pic-calls -mmcount-ra-address
-mframe-header-opt -mno-frame-header-opt

MMIX Options
-mlibfuncs -mno-libfuncs -mepsilon -mno-epsilon -mabi=gnu
-mabi=mmixware -mzero-extend -mknuthdiv -mtoplevel-symbols
28 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-melf -mbranch-predict -mno-branch-predict -mbase-addresses

-mno-base-addresses -msingle-exit -mno-single-exit
MN10300 Options
-mmult-bug -mno-mult-bug
-mno-am33 -mam33 -mam33-2 -mam34
-mtune=cpu-type
-mreturn-pointer-on-d0
-mno-crt0 -mrelax -mliw -msetlb
Moxie Options
-meb -mel -mmul.x -mno-crt0
MSP430 Options
-msim -masm-hex -mmcu= -mcpu= -mlarge -msmall -mrelax
-mwarn-mcu
-mcode-region= -mdata-region=
-msilicon-errata= -msilicon-errata-warn=
-mhwmult= -minrt -mtiny-printf -mmax-inline-shift=
NDS32 Options
-mbig-endian -mlittle-endian
-mreduced-regs -mfull-regs
-mcmov -mno-cmov
-mext-perf -mno-ext-perf
-mext-perf2 -mno-ext-perf2
-mext-string -mno-ext-string
-mv3push -mno-v3push
-m16bit -mno-16bit
-misr-vector-size=num
-mcache-block-size=num
-march=arch
-mcmodel=code-model
-mctor-dtor -mrelax
Nios II Options
-G num -mgpopt=option -mgpopt -mno-gpopt
-mgprel-sec=regexp -mr0rel-sec=regexp
-mel -meb
-mno-bypass-cache -mbypass-cache
-mno-cache-volatile -mcache-volatile
-mno-fast-sw-div -mfast-sw-div
-mhw-mul -mno-hw-mul -mhw-mulx -mno-hw-mulx -mno-hw-div -mhw-div
-mcustom-insn=N -mno-custom-insn
-mcustom-fpu-cfg=name
-mhal -msmallc -msys-crt0=name -msys-lib=name
-march=arch -mbmx -mno-bmx -mcdx -mno-cdx
Nvidia PTX Options
-m64 -mmainkernel -moptimize
OpenRISC Options
-mboard=name -mnewlib -mhard-mul -mhard-div
-msoft-mul -msoft-div
-msoft-float -mhard-float -mdouble-float -munordered-float
-mcmov -mror -mrori -msext -msfimm -mshftimm
-mcmodel=code-model
PDP-11 Options
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 29

-mfpu -msoft-float -mac0 -mno-ac0 -m40 -m45 -m10

-mint32 -mno-int16 -mint16 -mno-int32
-msplit -munix-asm -mdec-asm -mgnu-asm -mlra
PowerPC Options See RS/6000 and PowerPC Options.
PRU Options
-mmcu=mcu -minrt -mno-relax -mloop
-mabi=variant
RISC-V Options
-mbranch-cost=N-instruction
-mplt -mno-plt
-mabi=ABI-string
-mfdiv -mno-fdiv
-mdiv -mno-div
-misa-spec=ISA-spec-string
-march=ISA-string
-mtune=processor-string
-mpreferred-stack-boundary=num
-msmall-data-limit=N-bytes
-msave-restore -mno-save-restore
-mshorten-memrefs -mno-shorten-memrefs
-mstrict-align -mno-strict-align
-mcmodel=medlow -mcmodel=medany
-mexplicit-relocs -mno-explicit-relocs
-mrelax -mno-relax
-mriscv-attribute -mno-riscv-attribute
-malign-data=type
-mbig-endian -mlittle-endian
-mstack-protector-guard=guard -mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg
-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset
-mcsr-check -mno-csr-check
RL78 Options
-msim -mmul=none -mmul=g13 -mmul=g14 -mallregs
-mcpu=g10 -mcpu=g13 -mcpu=g14 -mg10 -mg13 -mg14
-m64bit-doubles -m32bit-doubles -msave-mduc-in-interrupts
RS/6000 and PowerPC Options
-mcpu=cpu-type
-mtune=cpu-type
-mcmodel=code-model
-mpowerpc64
-maltivec -mno-altivec
-mpowerpc-gpopt -mno-powerpc-gpopt
-mpowerpc-gfxopt -mno-powerpc-gfxopt
-mmfcrf -mno-mfcrf -mpopcntb -mno-popcntb -mpopcntd -mno-popcntd
-mfprnd -mno-fprnd
-mcmpb -mno-cmpb -mhard-dfp -mno-hard-dfp
-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
-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
30 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mdynamic-no-pic -mswdiv -msingle-pic-base

-mprioritize-restricted-insns=priority
-msched-costly-dep=dependence_type
-minsert-sched-nops=scheme
-mcall-aixdesc -mcall-eabi -mcall-freebsd
-mcall-linux -mcall-netbsd -mcall-openbsd
-mcall-sysv -mcall-sysv-eabi -mcall-sysv-noeabi
-mtraceback=traceback_type
-maix-struct-return -msvr4-struct-return
-mabi=abi-type -msecure-plt -mbss-plt
-mlongcall -mno-longcall -mpltseq -mno-pltseq
-mblock-move-inline-limit=num
-mblock-compare-inline-limit=num
-mblock-compare-inline-loop-limit=num
-mno-block-ops-unaligned-vsx
-mstring-compare-inline-limit=num
-misel -mno-isel
-mvrsave -mno-vrsave
-mmulhw -mno-mulhw
-mdlmzb -mno-dlmzb
-mprototype -mno-prototype
-msim -mmvme -mads -myellowknife -memb -msdata
-msdata=opt -mreadonly-in-sdata -mvxworks -G num
-mrecip -mrecip=opt -mno-recip -mrecip-precision
-mno-recip-precision
-mveclibabi=type -mfriz -mno-friz
-mpointers-to-nested-functions -mno-pointers-to-nested-functions
-msave-toc-indirect -mno-save-toc-indirect
-mpower8-fusion -mno-mpower8-fusion -mpower8-vector -mno-power8-vector
-mcrypto -mno-crypto -mhtm -mno-htm
-mquad-memory -mno-quad-memory
-mquad-memory-atomic -mno-quad-memory-atomic
-mcompat-align-parm -mno-compat-align-parm
-mfloat128 -mno-float128 -mfloat128-hardware -mno-float128-hardware
-mgnu-attribute -mno-gnu-attribute
-mstack-protector-guard=guard -mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg
-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset -mprefixed -mno-prefixed
-mpcrel -mno-pcrel -mmma -mno-mmma -mrop-protect -mno-rop-protect
-mprivileged -mno-privileged
RX Options
-m64bit-doubles -m32bit-doubles -fpu -nofpu
-mcpu=
-mbig-endian-data -mlittle-endian-data
-msmall-data
-msim -mno-sim
-mas100-syntax -mno-as100-syntax
-mrelax
-mmax-constant-size=
-mint-register=
-mpid
-mallow-string-insns -mno-allow-string-insns
-mjsr
-mno-warn-multiple-fast-interrupts
-msave-acc-in-interrupts
S/390 and zSeries Options
-mtune=cpu-type -march=cpu-type
-mhard-float -msoft-float -mhard-dfp -mno-hard-dfp
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 31

-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
-mhtm -mvx -mzvector
-mtpf-trace -mno-tpf-trace -mtpf-trace-skip -mno-tpf-trace-skip
-mfused-madd -mno-fused-madd
-mwarn-framesize -mwarn-dynamicstack -mstack-size -mstack-guard
-mhotpatch=halfwords,halfwords
SH Options
-m1 -m2 -m2e
-m2a-nofpu -m2a-single-only -m2a-single -m2a
-m3 -m3e
-m4-nofpu -m4-single-only -m4-single -m4
-m4a-nofpu -m4a-single-only -m4a-single -m4a -m4al
-mb -ml -mdalign -mrelax
-mbigtable -mfmovd -mrenesas -mno-renesas -mnomacsave
-mieee -mno-ieee -mbitops -misize -minline-ic_invalidate -mpadstruct
-mprefergot -musermode -multcost=number -mdiv=strategy
-mdivsi3_libfunc=name -mfixed-range=register-range
-maccumulate-outgoing-args
-matomic-model=atomic-model
-mbranch-cost=num -mzdcbranch -mno-zdcbranch
-mcbranch-force-delay-slot
-mfused-madd -mno-fused-madd -mfsca -mno-fsca -mfsrra -mno-fsrra
-mpretend-cmove -mtas
Solaris 2 Options
-mclear-hwcap -mno-clear-hwcap -mimpure-text -mno-impure-text
-pthreads
SPARC Options
-mcpu=cpu-type
-mtune=cpu-type
-mcmodel=code-model
-mmemory-model=mem-model
-m32 -m64 -mapp-regs -mno-app-regs
-mfaster-structs -mno-faster-structs -mflat -mno-flat
-mfpu -mno-fpu -mhard-float -msoft-float
-mhard-quad-float -msoft-quad-float
-mstack-bias -mno-stack-bias
-mstd-struct-return -mno-std-struct-return
-munaligned-doubles -mno-unaligned-doubles
-muser-mode -mno-user-mode
-mv8plus -mno-v8plus -mvis -mno-vis
-mvis2 -mno-vis2 -mvis3 -mno-vis3
-mvis4 -mno-vis4 -mvis4b -mno-vis4b
-mcbcond -mno-cbcond -mfmaf -mno-fmaf -mfsmuld -mno-fsmuld
-mpopc -mno-popc -msubxc -mno-subxc
-mfix-at697f -mfix-ut699 -mfix-ut700 -mfix-gr712rc
-mlra -mno-lra
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
32 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mapp-regs -mno-app-regs
-mdisable-callt -mno-disable-callt
-mv850e2v3 -mv850e2 -mv850e1 -mv850es
-mv850e -mv850 -mv850e3v5
-mloop
-mrelax
-mlong-jumps
-msoft-float
-mhard-float
-mgcc-abi
-mrh850-abi
-mbig-switch
VAX Options
-mg -mgnu -munix -mlra
Visium Options
-mdebug -msim -mfpu -mno-fpu -mhard-float -msoft-float
-mcpu=cpu-type -mtune=cpu-type -msv-mode -muser-mode
VMS Options
-mvms-return-codes -mdebug-main=prefix -mmalloc64
-mpointer-size=size
VxWorks Options
-mrtp -non-static -Bstatic -Bdynamic
-Xbind-lazy -Xbind-now
x86 Options
-mtune=cpu-type -march=cpu-type
-mtune-ctrl=feature-list -mdump-tune-features -mno-default
-mfpmath=unit
-masm=dialect -mno-fancy-math-387
-mno-fp-ret-in-387 -m80387 -mhard-float -msoft-float
-mno-wide-multiply -mrtd -malign-double
-mpreferred-stack-boundary=num
-mincoming-stack-boundary=num
-mcld -mcx16 -msahf -mmovbe -mcrc32 -mmwait
-mrecip -mrecip=opt
-mvzeroupper -mprefer-avx128 -mprefer-vector-width=opt
-mmove-max=bits -mstore-max=bits
-mmmx -msse -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -msse4.1 -msse4.2 -msse4 -mavx
-mavx2 -mavx512f -mavx512pf -mavx512er -mavx512cd -mavx512vl
-mavx512bw -mavx512dq -mavx512ifma -mavx512vbmi -msha -maes
-mpclmul -mfsgsbase -mrdrnd -mf16c -mfma -mpconfig -mwbnoinvd
-mptwrite -mprefetchwt1 -mclflushopt -mclwb -mxsavec -mxsaves
-msse4a -m3dnow -m3dnowa -mpopcnt -mabm -mbmi -mtbm -mfma4 -mxop
-madx -mlzcnt -mbmi2 -mfxsr -mxsave -mxsaveopt -mrtm -mhle -mlwp
-mmwaitx -mclzero -mpku -mthreads -mgfni -mvaes -mwaitpkg
-mshstk -mmanual-endbr -mcet-switch -mforce-indirect-call
-mavx512vbmi2 -mavx512bf16 -menqcmd
-mvpclmulqdq -mavx512bitalg -mmovdiri -mmovdir64b -mavx512vpopcntdq
-mavx5124fmaps -mavx512vnni -mavx5124vnniw -mprfchw -mrdpid
-mrdseed -msgx -mavx512vp2intersect -mserialize -mtsxldtrk
-mamx-tile -mamx-int8 -mamx-bf16 -muintr -mhreset -mavxvnni
-mavx512fp16 -mavxifma -mavxvnniint8 -mavxneconvert -mcmpccxadd -mamx-fp16
-mprefetchi -mraoint
-mcldemote -mms-bitfields -mno-align-stringops -minline-all-stringops
-minline-stringops-dynamically -mstringop-strategy=alg
-mkl -mwidekl
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 33

-mmemcpy-strategy=strategy -mmemset-strategy=strategy
-mpush-args -maccumulate-outgoing-args -m128bit-long-double
-m96bit-long-double -mlong-double-64 -mlong-double-80 -mlong-double-128
-mregparm=num -msseregparm
-mveclibabi=type -mvect8-ret-in-mem
-mpc32 -mpc64 -mpc80 -mdaz-ftz -mstackrealign
-momit-leaf-frame-pointer -mno-red-zone -mno-tls-direct-seg-refs
-mcmodel=code-model -mabi=name -maddress-mode=mode
-m32 -m64 -mx32 -m16 -miamcu -mlarge-data-threshold=num
-msse2avx -mfentry -mrecord-mcount -mnop-mcount -m8bit-idiv
-minstrument-return=type -mfentry-name=name -mfentry-section=name
-mavx256-split-unaligned-load -mavx256-split-unaligned-store
-malign-data=type -mstack-protector-guard=guard
-mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg
-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset
-mstack-protector-guard-symbol=symbol
-mgeneral-regs-only -mcall-ms2sysv-xlogues -mrelax-cmpxchg-loop
-mindirect-branch=choice -mfunction-return=choice
-mindirect-branch-register -mharden-sls=choice
-mindirect-branch-cs-prefix -mneeded -mno-direct-extern-access
-munroll-only-small-loops -mlam=choice
x86 Windows Options
-mconsole -mcygwin -mno-cygwin -mdll
-mnop-fun-dllimport -mthread
-municode -mwin32 -mwindows -fno-set-stack-executable
Xstormy16 Options
-msim
Xtensa Options
-mconst16 -mno-const16
-mfused-madd -mno-fused-madd
-mforce-no-pic
-mserialize-volatile -mno-serialize-volatile
-mtext-section-literals -mno-text-section-literals
-mauto-litpools -mno-auto-litpools
-mtarget-align -mno-target-align
-mlongcalls -mno-longcalls
-mabi=abi-type
-mextra-l32r-costs=cycles
zSeries Options See S/390 and zSeries Options.

3.2 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 that must be preprocessed.
file.i C source code that should not be preprocessed.
file.ii C++ source code that should not be preprocessed.
34 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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 that 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 that should not be preprocessed.
file.h C, C++, Objective-C or Objective-C++ header file to be turned into a precom-
piled header (default), or C, C++ header file to be turned into an Ada spec (via
the ‘-fdump-ada-spec’ switch).
file.cc
file.cp
file.cxx
file.cpp
file.CPP
file.c++
file.C C++ source code that 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 that must be preprocessed.
file.mii Objective-C++ source code that 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 or Ada spec.
file.f
file.for
file.ftn Fixed form Fortran source code that should not be preprocessed.
file.F
file.FOR
file.fpp
file.FPP
file.FTN Fixed form Fortran source code that must be preprocessed (with the traditional
preprocessor).
file.f90
file.f95
file.f03
file.f08 Free form Fortran source code that should not be preprocessed.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 35

file.F90
file.F95
file.F03
file.F08 Free form Fortran source code that must be preprocessed (with the traditional
preprocessor).
file.go Go source code.
file.d D source code.
file.di D interface file.
file.dd D documentation code (Ddoc).
file.ads Ada source code file that 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 that 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 cpp-output
c++ c++-header c++-system-header c++-user-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
d
f77 f77-cpp-input f95 f95-cpp-input
go

-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).
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.
36 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 that don’t require preprocessing are ignored.
-o file Place the primary output in file file. This applies 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.
Though ‘-o’ names only the primary output, it also affects the naming of aux-
iliary and dump outputs. See the examples below. Unless overridden, both
auxiliary outputs and dump outputs are placed in the same directory as the
primary output. In auxiliary outputs, the suffix of the input file is replaced
with that of the auxiliary output file type; in dump outputs, the suffix of the
dump file is appended to the input file suffix. In compilation commands, the
base name of both auxiliary and dump outputs is that of the primary output;
in compile and link commands, the primary output name, minus the executable
suffix, is combined with the input file name. If both share the same base name,
disregarding the suffix, the result of the combination is that base name, other-
wise, they are concatenated, separated by a dash.
gcc -c foo.c ...
will use ‘foo.o’ as the primary output, and place aux outputs and dumps
next to it, e.g., aux file ‘foo.dwo’ for ‘-gsplit-dwarf’, and dump file
‘foo.c.???r.final’ for ‘-fdump-rtl-final’.
If a non-linker output file is explicitly specified, aux and dump files by default
take the same base name:
gcc -c foo.c -o dir/foobar.o ...
will name aux outputs ‘dir/foobar.*’ and dump outputs ‘dir/foobar.c.*’.
A linker output will instead prefix aux and dump outputs:
gcc foo.c bar.c -o dir/foobar ...
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 37

will generally name aux outputs ‘dir/foobar-foo.*’ and ‘dir/foobar-bar.*’,

and dump outputs ‘dir/foobar-foo.c.*’ and ‘dir/foobar-bar.c.*’.
The one exception to the above is when the executable shares the base name
with the single input:
gcc foo.c -o dir/foo ...
in which case aux outputs are named ‘dir/foo.*’ and dump outputs named
‘dir/foo.c.*’.
The location and the names of auxiliary and dump outputs can be adjusted
by the options ‘-dumpbase’, ‘-dumpbase-ext’, ‘-dumpdir’, ‘-save-temps=cwd’,
and ‘-save-temps=obj’.
-dumpbase dumpbase
This option sets the base name for auxiliary and dump output files. It does
not affect the name of the primary output file. Intermediate outputs, when
preserved, are not regarded as primary outputs, but as auxiliary outputs:
gcc -save-temps -S foo.c
saves the (no longer) temporary preprocessed file in ‘foo.i’, and then compiles
to the (implied) output file ‘foo.s’, whereas:
gcc -save-temps -dumpbase save-foo -c foo.c
preprocesses to in ‘save-foo.i’, compiles to ‘save-foo.s’ (now an interme-
diate, thus auxiliary output), and then assembles to the (implied) output file
‘foo.o’.
Absent this option, dump and aux files take their names from the input file,
or from the (non-linker) output file, if one is explicitly specified: dump output
files (e.g. those requested by ‘-fdump-*’ options) with the input name suffix,
and aux output files (those requested by other non-dump options, e.g. -save-
temps, -gsplit-dwarf, -fcallgraph-info) without it.
Similar suffix differentiation of dump and aux outputs can be attained for
explicitly-given ‘-dumpbase basename.suf’ by also specifying ‘-dumpbase-ext
.suf’.
If dumpbase is explicitly specified with any directory component, any dumppfx
specification (e.g. ‘-dumpdir’ or ‘-save-temps=*’) is ignored, and instead of
appending to it, dumpbase fully overrides it:
gcc foo.c -c -o dir/foo.o -dumpbase alt/foo \
-dumpdir pfx- -save-temps=cwd ...
creates auxiliary and dump outputs named ‘alt/foo.*’, disregarding ‘dir/’ in
‘-o’, the ‘./’ prefix implied by ‘-save-temps=cwd’, and ‘pfx-’ in ‘-dumpdir’.
When ‘-dumpbase’ is specified in a command that compiles multiple inputs,
or that compiles and then links, it may be combined with dumppfx, as spec-
ified under ‘-dumpdir’. Then, each input file is compiled using the combined
dumppfx, and default values for dumpbase and auxdropsuf are computed for
each input file:
gcc foo.c bar.c -c -dumpbase main ...
creates ‘foo.o’ and ‘bar.o’ as primary outputs, and avoids overwriting the aux-
iliary and dump outputs by using the dumpbase as a prefix, creating auxiliary
and dump outputs named ‘main-foo.*’ and ‘main-bar.*’.
38 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

An empty string specified as dumpbase avoids the influence of the output base-
name in the naming of auxiliary and dump outputs during compilation, com-
puting default values :
gcc -c foo.c -o dir/foobar.o -dumpbase ’’ ...
will name aux outputs ‘dir/foo.*’ and dump outputs ‘dir/foo.c.*’. Note
how their basenames are taken from the input name, but the directory still
defaults to that of the output.
The empty-string dumpbase does not prevent the use of the output basename
for outputs during linking:
gcc foo.c bar.c -o dir/foobar -dumpbase ’’ -flto ...
The compilation of the source files will name auxiliary outputs ‘dir/foo.*’
and ‘dir/bar.*’, and dump outputs ‘dir/foo.c.*’ and ‘dir/bar.c.*’. LTO
recompilation during linking will use ‘dir/foobar.’ as the prefix for dumps
and auxiliary files.
-dumpbase-ext auxdropsuf
When forming the name of an auxiliary (but not a dump) output file, drop trail-
ing auxdropsuf from dumpbase before appending any suffixes. If not specified,
this option defaults to the suffix of a default dumpbase, i.e., the suffix of the
input file when ‘-dumpbase’ is not present in the command line, or dumpbase
is combined with dumppfx.
gcc foo.c -c -o dir/foo.o -dumpbase x-foo.c -dumpbase-ext .c ...
creates ‘dir/foo.o’ as the main output, and generates auxiliary outputs in
‘dir/x-foo.*’, taking the location of the primary output, and dropping the ‘.c’
suffix from the dumpbase. Dump outputs retain the suffix: ‘dir/x-foo.c.*’.
This option is disregarded if it does not match the suffix of a specified dumpbase,
except as an alternative to the executable suffix when appending the linker
output base name to dumppfx, as specified below:
gcc foo.c bar.c -o main.out -dumpbase-ext .out ...
creates ‘main.out’ as the primary output, and avoids overwriting the auxiliary
and dump outputs by using the executable name minus auxdropsuf as a prefix,
creating auxiliary outputs named ‘main-foo.*’ and ‘main-bar.*’ and dump
outputs named ‘main-foo.c.*’ and ‘main-bar.c.*’.
-dumpdir dumppfx
When forming the name of an auxiliary or dump output file, use dumppfx as a
prefix:
gcc -dumpdir pfx- -c foo.c ...
creates ‘foo.o’ as the primary output, and auxiliary outputs named
‘pfx-foo.*’, combining the given dumppfx with the default dumpbase derived
from the default primary output, derived in turn from the input name. Dump
outputs also take the input name suffix: ‘pfx-foo.c.*’.
If dumppfx is to be used as a directory name, it must end with a directory
separator:
gcc -dumpdir dir/ -c foo.c -o obj/bar.o ...
creates ‘obj/bar.o’ as the primary output, and auxiliary outputs named
‘dir/bar.*’, combining the given dumppfx with the default dumpbase derived
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 39

from the primary output name. Dump outputs also take the input name
suffix: ‘dir/bar.c.*’.
It defaults to the location of the output file, unless the output file is a special file
like /dev/null. Options ‘-save-temps=cwd’ and ‘-save-temps=obj’ override
this default, just like an explicit ‘-dumpdir’ option. In case multiple such
options are given, the last one prevails:
gcc -dumpdir pfx- -c foo.c -save-temps=obj ...
outputs ‘foo.o’, with auxiliary outputs named ‘foo.*’ because
‘-save-temps=*’ overrides the dumppfx given by the earlier ‘-dumpdir’
option. It does not matter that ‘=obj’ is the default for ‘-save-temps’, nor
that the output directory is implicitly the current directory. Dump outputs
are named ‘foo.c.*’.
When compiling from multiple input files, if ‘-dumpbase’ is specified, dumpbase,
minus a auxdropsuf suffix, and a dash are appended to (or override, if contain-
ing any directory components) an explicit or defaulted dumppfx, so that each
of the multiple compilations gets differently-named aux and dump outputs.
gcc foo.c bar.c -c -dumpdir dir/pfx- -dumpbase main ...
outputs auxiliary dumps to ‘dir/pfx-main-foo.*’ and ‘dir/pfx-main-bar.*’,
appending dumpbase- to dumppfx. Dump outputs retain the input file suffix:
‘dir/pfx-main-foo.c.*’ and ‘dir/pfx-main-bar.c.*’, respectively. Contrast
with the single-input compilation:
gcc foo.c -c -dumpdir dir/pfx- -dumpbase main ...
that, applying ‘-dumpbase’ to a single source, does not compute and append
a separate dumpbase per input file. Its auxiliary and dump outputs go in
‘dir/pfx-main.*’.
When compiling and then linking from multiple input files, a defaulted or ex-
plicitly specified dumppfx also undergoes the dumpbase- transformation above
(e.g. the compilation of ‘foo.c’ and ‘bar.c’ above, but without ‘-c’). If nei-
ther ‘-dumpdir’ nor ‘-dumpbase’ are given, the linker output base name, minus
auxdropsuf, if specified, or the executable suffix otherwise, plus a dash is ap-
pended to the default dumppfx instead. Note, however, that unlike earlier cases
of linking:
gcc foo.c bar.c -dumpdir dir/pfx- -o main ...
does not append the output name ‘main’ to dumppfx, because ‘-dumpdir’ is ex-
plicitly specified. The goal is that the explicitly-specified dumppfx may contain
the specified output name as part of the prefix, if desired; only an explicitly-
specified ‘-dumpbase’ would be combined with it, in order to avoid simply
discarding a meaningful option.
When compiling and then linking from a single input file, the linker output
base name will only be appended to the default dumppfx as above if it does
not share the base name with the single input file name. This has been covered
in single-input linking cases above, but not with an explicit ‘-dumpdir’ that
inhibits the combination, even if overridden by ‘-save-temps=*’:
gcc foo.c -dumpdir alt/pfx- -o dir/main.exe -save-temps=cwd ...
40 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Auxiliary outputs are named ‘foo.*’, and dump outputs ‘foo.c.*’, in the
current working directory as ultimately requested by ‘-save-temps=cwd’.
Summing it all up for an intuitive though slightly imprecise data flow:
the primary output name is broken into a directory part and a basename
part; dumppfx is set to the former, unless overridden by ‘-dumpdir’ or
‘-save-temps=*’, and dumpbase is set to the latter, unless overriden by
‘-dumpbase’. If there are multiple inputs or linking, this dumpbase may be
combined with dumppfx and taken from each input file. Auxiliary output
names for each input are formed by combining dumppfx, dumpbase minus
suffix, and the auxiliary output suffix; dump output names are only different
in that the suffix from dumpbase is retained.
When it comes to auxiliary and dump outputs created during LTO recompi-
lation, a combination of dumppfx and dumpbase, as given or as derived from
the linker output name but not from inputs, even in cases in which this com-
bination would not otherwise be used as such, is passed down with a trailing
period replacing the compiler-added dash, if any, as a ‘-dumpdir’ option to
lto-wrapper; being involved in linking, this program does not normally get
any ‘-dumpbase’ and ‘-dumpbase-ext’, and it ignores them.
When running sub-compilers, lto-wrapper appends LTO stage names to the
received dumppfx, ensures it contains a directory component so that it overrides
any ‘-dumpdir’, and passes that as ‘-dumpbase’ to sub-compilers.
-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 arguments are quoted
unless they contain only alphanumeric characters or ./-_. This is useful for
shell scripts to capture the driver-generated command lines.
--help Print (on the standard output) a description of the command-line options under-
stood by gcc. If the ‘-v’ option is also specified then ‘--help’ is also 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 that have no documentation
associated with them are also 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 un-
derstood by the compiler that fit into all specified classes and qualifiers. These
are the supported classes:
‘optimizers’
Display all of the optimization options supported by the compiler.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 41

‘warnings’
Display all of the options controlling warning messages produced
by the compiler.
‘target’ Display target-specific options. Unlike the ‘--target-help’ option
however, target-specific options of the linker and assembler are not
displayed. This is because those tools do not currently support the
extended ‘--help=’ syntax.
‘params’ Display the values recognized by the ‘--param’ option.
language Display the options supported for language, where language is the
name of one of the languages supported in this version of GCC. If
an option is supported by all languages, one needs to select ‘common’
class.
‘common’ Display the options that are common to all languages.
These are the supported qualifiers:
‘undocumented’
Display only those options that are undocumented.
‘joined’ Display options taking an argument that appears after an equal sign
in the same continuous piece of text, such as: ‘--help=target’.
‘separate’
Display options taking 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 sup-
ported by the compiler, use:
--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) that have a description, use:
--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
so much that there is nothing to display. One case where it does work, however,
is when one of the classes is target. For example, to display all the target-specific
optimization options, use:
--help=target,optimizers
The ‘--help=’ option can be repeated on the command line. Each successive
use displays its requested class of options, skipping those that have already been
displayed. If ‘--help’ is also specified anywhere on the command line then this
takes precedence over any ‘--help=’ option.
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,
42 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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.
-pass-exit-codes
Normally the gcc program exits 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 instead returns with the numerically highest error produced by any
phase returning an error indication. The C, C++, and Fortran front ends return
4 if an internal compiler error is encountered.
-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.
-specs=file
Process file after the compiler reads in the standard ‘specs’ file, in order to
override the defaults which 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. See Section 3.20 [Spec Files], page 506, for information about the
format of the file.
-wrapper Invoke all subcommands under a wrapper program. The name of the wrapper
program and its parameters are passed as a comma separated list.
gcc -c t.c -wrapper gdb,--args
This invokes all subprograms of gcc under ‘gdb --args’, thus the invocation of
cc1 is ‘gdb --args cc1 ...’.
-ffile-prefix-map=old=new
When compiling files residing in directory ‘old’, record any references to them
in the result of the compilation as if the files resided in directory ‘new’ in-
stead. Specifying this option is equivalent to specifying all the individual
‘-f*-prefix-map’ options. This can be used to make reproducible builds that
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 43

are location independent. Directories referenced by directives are not affected

by these options. See also ‘-fmacro-prefix-map’, ‘-fdebug-prefix-map’ and
‘-fprofile-prefix-map’.
-fplugin=name.so
Load the plugin code in file name.so, assumed to be a shared object to
be dlopen’d by the compiler. The base name of the shared object file
is used to identify the plugin for the purposes of argument parsing (See
‘-fplugin-arg-name-key=value’ below). Each plugin should define the
callback functions specified in the Plugins API.
-fplugin-arg-name-key=value
Define an argument called key with a value of value for the plugin called name.
-fdump-ada-spec[-slim]
For C and C++ source and include files, generate corresponding Ada specs. See
Section “Generating Ada Bindings for C and C++ headers” in GNAT User’s
Guide, which provides detailed documentation on this feature.
-fada-spec-parent=unit
In conjunction with ‘-fdump-ada-spec[-slim]’ above, generate Ada specs as
child units of parent unit.
-fdump-go-spec=file
For input files in any language, generate corresponding Go declarations in file.
This generates Go const, type, var, and func declarations which may be
a useful way to start writing a Go interface to code written in some other
language.
@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.

3.3 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 automatically specifies linking against the C++ library. It treats ‘.c’, ‘.h’ and ‘.i’ files
as C++ source files instead of C source files unless ‘-x’ is used. 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++.
44 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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++ pro-
grams. See Section 3.4 [Options Controlling C Dialect], page 44, for explanations of options
for languages related to C. See Section 3.5 [Options Controlling C++ Dialect], page 52, for
explanations of options that are meaningful only for C++ programs.

3.4 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=c90’. 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, ‘-Wpedantic’ is required in addition to ‘-ansi’. See
Section 3.8 [Warning Options], page 93.
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 are normally 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. See
Section 6.59 [Other built-in functions provided by GCC], page 739, for details
of the functions affected.
-std= Determine the language standard. See Chapter 2 [Language Standards Sup-
ported by GCC], page 5, for details of these standard versions. This option is
currently only supported when compiling C or C++.
The compiler can accept several base standards, such as ‘c90’ or ‘c++98’, and
GNU dialects of those standards, such as ‘gnu90’ or ‘gnu++98’. When a base
standard is specified, the compiler accepts all programs following that stan-
dard plus those using GNU extensions that do not contradict it. For example,
‘-std=c90’ 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
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 45

do not have a meaning in ISO C90, such as omitting the middle term of a ?:
expression. On the other hand, when a GNU dialect of a standard is specified,
all features supported by the compiler are enabled, even when those features
change the meaning of the base standard. As a result, some strict-conforming
programs may be rejected. The particular standard is used by ‘-Wpedantic’ to
identify which features are GNU extensions given that version of the standard.
For example ‘-std=gnu90 -Wpedantic’ warns about C++ style ‘//’ comments,
while ‘-std=gnu99 -Wpedantic’ does not.
A value for this option must be provided; possible values are
‘c90’
‘c89’
‘iso9899:1990’
Support all ISO C90 programs (certain GNU extensions that con-
flict 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. This standard is substantially completely supported,
modulo bugs and floating-point issues (mainly but not entirely
relating to optional C99 features from Annexes F and G). See
https://gcc.gnu.org/c99status.html for more information.
The names ‘c9x’ and ‘iso9899:199x’ are deprecated.
‘c11’
‘c1x’
‘iso9899:2011’
ISO C11, the 2011 revision of the ISO C standard. This standard is
substantially completely supported, modulo bugs, floating-point is-
sues (mainly but not entirely relating to optional C11 features from
Annexes F and G) and the optional Annexes K (Bounds-checking
interfaces) and L (Analyzability). The name ‘c1x’ is deprecated.
‘c17’
‘c18’
‘iso9899:2017’
‘iso9899:2018’
ISO C17, the 2017 revision of the ISO C standard (published in
2018). This standard is same as C11 except for corrections of de-
fects (all of which are also applied with ‘-std=c11’) and a new value
of __STDC_VERSION__, and so is supported to the same extent as
C11.
‘c2x’ The next version of the ISO C standard, still under development.
The support for this version is experimental and incomplete.
46 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘gnu90’
‘gnu89’ GNU dialect of ISO C90 (including some C99 features).
‘gnu99’
‘gnu9x’ GNU dialect of ISO C99. The name ‘gnu9x’ is deprecated.
‘gnu11’
‘gnu1x’ GNU dialect of ISO C11. The name ‘gnu1x’ is deprecated.
‘gnu17’
‘gnu18’ GNU dialect of ISO C17. This is the default for C code.
‘gnu2x’ The next version of the ISO C standard, still under development,
plus GNU extensions. The support for this version is experimental
and incomplete.
‘c++98’
‘c++03’ The 1998 ISO C++ standard plus the 2003 technical corrigendum
and some additional defect reports. Same as ‘-ansi’ for C++ code.
‘gnu++98’
‘gnu++03’ GNU dialect of ‘-std=c++98’.
‘c++11’
‘c++0x’ The 2011 ISO C++ standard plus amendments. The name ‘c++0x’
is deprecated.
‘gnu++11’
‘gnu++0x’ GNU dialect of ‘-std=c++11’. The name ‘gnu++0x’ is deprecated.
‘c++14’
‘c++1y’ The 2014 ISO C++ standard plus amendments. The name ‘c++1y’
is deprecated.
‘gnu++14’
‘gnu++1y’ GNU dialect of ‘-std=c++14’. The name ‘gnu++1y’ is deprecated.
‘c++17’
‘c++1z’ The 2017 ISO C++ standard plus amendments. The name ‘c++1z’
is deprecated.
‘gnu++17’
‘gnu++1z’ GNU dialect of ‘-std=c++17’. This is the default for C++ code.
The name ‘gnu++1z’ is deprecated.
‘c++20’
‘c++2a’ The 2020 ISO C++ standard plus amendments. Support is experi-
mental, and could change in incompatible ways in future releases.
The name ‘c++2a’ is deprecated.
‘gnu++20’
‘gnu++2a’ GNU dialect of ‘-std=c++20’. Support is experimental, and could
change in incompatible ways in future releases. The name ‘gnu++2a’
is deprecated.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 47

‘c++2b’
‘c++23’ The next revision of the ISO C++ standard, planned for 2023. Sup-
port is highly experimental, and will almost certainly change in
incompatible ways in future releases.
‘gnu++2b’
‘gnu++23’ GNU dialect of ‘-std=c++2b’. Support is highly experimental, and
will almost certainly change in incompatible ways in future releases.
-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 declara-
tion (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 decla-
rations 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. In C, ‘-ansi’ implies ‘-fno-asm’.
In C++, inline is a standard keyword and is not affected by this switch. You
may want to use the ‘-fno-gnu-keywords’ flag instead, which disables typeof
but not asm and inline. 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. In C2X mode (‘-std=c2x’ or ‘-std=gnu2x’), this switch
only affects the asm keyword, since typeof is a standard keyword in ISO C2X.
-fno-builtin
-fno-builtin-function
Don’t recognize built-in functions that do not begin with ‘__builtin_’ as prefix.
See Section 6.59 [Other built-in functions provided by GCC], page 739, for
details of the functions affected, including those which are not built-in functions
when ‘-ansi’ or ‘-std’ options for strict ISO C conformance are used because
they do not have an ISO standard meaning.
GCC normally generates special code to handle certain built-in functions more
efficiently; for instance, calls to alloca may become single instructions which
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’
48 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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))

-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++.
-ffreestanding
Assert that compilation targets 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’.
See Chapter 2 [Language Standards Supported by GCC], page 5, for details of
freestanding and hosted environments.
-fgimple
Enable parsing of function definitions marked with __GIMPLE. This is an ex-
perimental feature that allows unit testing of GIMPLE passes.
-fgnu-tm When the option ‘-fgnu-tm’ is specified, the compiler generates code for the
Linux variant of Intel’s current Transactional Memory ABI specification doc-
ument (Revision 1.1, May 6 2009). This is an experimental feature whose
interface may change in future versions of GCC, as the official specification
changes. Please note that not all architectures are supported for this feature.
For more information on GCC’s support for transactional memory, See Section
“The GNU Transactional Memory Library” in GNU Transactional Memory
Library.
Note that the transactional memory feature is not supported with non-call
exceptions (‘-fnon-call-exceptions’).
-fgnu89-inline
The option ‘-fgnu89-inline’ tells GCC to use the traditional GNU semantics
for inline functions when in C99 mode. See Section 6.45 [An Inline Func-
tion is As Fast As a Macro], page 664. Using this option is roughly equiva-
lent to adding the gnu_inline function attribute to all inline functions (see
Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566).
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 is not supported in ‘-std=c90’ or ‘-std=gnu90’ mode.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 49

The preprocessor macros __GNUC_GNU_INLINE__ and __GNUC_STDC_INLINE__

may be used to check which semantics are in effect for inline functions. See
Section “Common Predefined Macros” in The C Preprocessor.
-fhosted
Assert that compilation targets 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’.
-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.
-fms-extensions
Accept some non-standard constructs used in Microsoft header files.
In C++ code, this allows member names in structures to be similar to previous
types declarations.
typedef int UOW;
struct ABC {
UOW UOW;
};
Some cases of unnamed fields in structures and unions are only accepted
with this option. See Section 6.63 [Unnamed struct/union fields within
structs/unions], page 893, for details.
Note that this option is off for all targets except for x86 targets using ms-abi.
-foffload=disable
-foffload=default
-foffload=target-list
Specify for which OpenMP and OpenACC offload targets code should be gener-
ated. The default behavior, equivalent to ‘-foffload=default’, is to generate
code for all supported offload targets. The ‘-foffload=disable’ form gener-
ates code only for the host fallback, while ‘-foffload=target-list’ generates
code only for the specified comma-separated list of offload targets.
Offload targets are specified in GCC’s internal target-triplet format. You can
run the compiler with ‘-v’ to show the list of configured offload targets under
OFFLOAD_TARGET_NAMES.
-foffload-options=options
-foffload-options=target-triplet-list=options
With ‘-foffload-options=options’, GCC passes the specified options to the
compilers for all enabled offloading targets. You can specify options that apply
only to a specific target or targets by using the ‘-foffload-options=target-
list=options’ form. The target-list is a comma-separated list in the same
format as for the ‘-foffload=’ option.
Typical command lines are
50 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-foffload-options=-lgfortran -foffload-options=-lm
-foffload-options="-lgfortran -lm" -foffload-options=nvptx-none=-latomic
-foffload-options=amdgcn-amdhsa=-march=gfx906 -foffload-options=-lm

-fopenacc
Enable handling of OpenACC directives #pragma acc in C/C++ and !$acc
in Fortran. When ‘-fopenacc’ is specified, the compiler generates acceler-
ated code according to the OpenACC Application Programming Interface v2.6
https://www.openacc.org. This option implies ‘-pthread’, and thus is only
supported on targets that have support for ‘-pthread’.
-fopenacc-dim=geom
Specify default compute dimensions for parallel offload regions that do not
explicitly specify. The geom value is a triple of ’:’-separated sizes, in order
’gang’, ’worker’ and, ’vector’. A size can be omitted, to use a target-specific
default value.
-fopenmp Enable handling of OpenMP directives #pragma omp in C/C++,
[[omp::directive(...)]] and [[omp::sequence(...)]] in C++ and
!$omp in Fortran. When ‘-fopenmp’ is specified, the compiler generates
parallel code according to the OpenMP Application Program Interface v4.5
https://www.openmp.org. This option implies ‘-pthread’, and thus is only
supported on targets that have support for ‘-pthread’. ‘-fopenmp’ implies
‘-fopenmp-simd’.
-fopenmp-simd
Enable handling of OpenMP’s simd, declare simd, declare reduction,
assume, ordered, scan, loop directives and combined or composite
directives with simd as constituent with #pragma omp in C/C++,
[[omp::directive(...)]] and [[omp::sequence(...)]] in C++ and !$omp
in Fortran. Other OpenMP directives are ignored.
-fopenmp-target-simd-clone
-fopenmp-target-simd-clone=device-type
In addition to generating SIMD clones for functions marked with the declare
simd directive, GCC also generates clones for functions marked with the
OpenMP declare target directive that are suitable for vectorization when
this option is in effect. The device-type may be one of none, host, nohost,
and any, which correspond to keywords for the device_type clause of
the declare target directive; clones are generated for the intersection
of devices specified. ‘-fopenmp-target-simd-clone’ is equivalent to
‘-fopenmp-target-simd-clone=any’ and ‘-fno-openmp-target-simd-clone’
is equivalent to ‘-fopenmp-target-simd-clone=none’.
At ‘-O2’ and higher (but not ‘-Os’ or ‘-Og’) this optimization defaults to
‘-fopenmp-target-simd-clone=nohost’; otherwise it is disabled by default.
-fpermitted-flt-eval-methods=style
ISO/IEC TS 18661-3 defines new permissible values for FLT_EVAL_METHOD that
indicate that operations and constants with a semantic type that is an inter-
change or extended format should be evaluated to the precision and range of
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 51

that type. These new values are a superset of those permitted under C99/C11,
which does not specify the meaning of other positive values of FLT_EVAL_
METHOD. As such, code conforming to C11 may not have been written expecting
the possibility of the new values.
‘-fpermitted-flt-eval-methods’ specifies whether the compiler should allow
only the values of FLT_EVAL_METHOD specified in C99/C11, or the extended set
of values specified in ISO/IEC TS 18661-3.
style is either c11 or ts-18661-3 as appropriate.
The default when in a standards compliant mode (‘-std=c11’ or similar) is
‘-fpermitted-flt-eval-methods=c11’. The default when in a GNU dialect
(‘-std=gnu11’ or similar) is ‘-fpermitted-flt-eval-methods=ts-18661-3’.
-fplan9-extensions
Accept some non-standard constructs used in Plan 9 code.
This enables ‘-fms-extensions’, permits passing pointers to structures with
anonymous fields to functions that expect pointers to elements of the type of
the field, and permits referring to anonymous fields declared using a typedef.
See Section 6.63 [Unnamed struct/union fields within structs/unions], page 893,
for details. This is only supported for C, not C++.
-fsigned-bitfields
-funsigned-bitfields
-fno-signed-bitfields
-fno-unsigned-bitfields
These options control whether a bit-field is signed or unsigned, when the dec-
laration 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.
-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 equiv-
alent to ‘-funsigned-char’.
-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.
52 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fstrict-flex-arrays
Control when to treat the trailing array of a structure as a flexible array member
for the purpose of accessing the elements of such an array. The positive form
is equivalent to ‘-fstrict-flex-arrays=3’, which is the strictest. A trailing
array is treated as a flexible array member only when it is declared as a flexible
array member per C99 standard onwards. The negative form is equivalent
to ‘-fstrict-flex-arrays=0’, which is the least strict. All trailing arrays of
structures are treated as flexible array members.
-fstrict-flex-arrays=level
Control when to treat the trailing array of a structure as a flexible array member
for the purpose of accessing the elements of such an array. The value of level
controls the level of strictness.
The possible values of level are the same as for the strict_flex_array at-
tribute (see Section 6.34 [Variable Attributes], page 633).
You can control this behavior for a specific trailing array field of a structure
by using the variable attribute strict_flex_array attribute (see Section 6.34
[Variable Attributes], page 633).
-fsso-struct=endianness
Set the default scalar storage order of structures and unions to the specified en-
dianness. The accepted values are ‘big-endian’, ‘little-endian’ and ‘native’
for the native endianness of the target (the default). This option is not sup-
ported for C++.
Warning: the ‘-fsso-struct’ switch causes GCC to generate code that is not
binary compatible with code generated without it if the specified endianness is
not the native endianness of the target.

3.5 Options Controlling C++ Dialect

This section describes the command-line options that are only meaningful for C++ programs.
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 -fstrict-enums -O -c firstClass.C
In this example, only ‘-fstrict-enums’ is an option meant only for C++ programs; you can
use the other options with any language supported by GCC.
Some options for compiling C programs, such as ‘-std’, are also relevant for C++ pro-
grams. See Section 3.4 [Options Controlling C Dialect], page 44.
Here is a list of options that are only for compiling C++ programs:
-fabi-version=n
Use version n of the C++ ABI. The default is version 0.
Version 0 refers to the version conforming most closely to the C++ ABI spec-
ification. Therefore, the ABI obtained using version 0 will change in different
versions of G++ as ABI bugs are fixed.
Version 1 is the version of the C++ ABI that first appeared in G++ 3.2.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 53

Version 2 is the version of the C++ ABI that first appeared in G++ 3.4, and was
the default through G++ 4.9.
Version 3 corrects an error in mangling a constant address as a template argu-
ment.
Version 4, which first appeared in G++ 4.5, implements a standard mangling
for vector types.
Version 5, which first appeared in G++ 4.6, corrects the mangling of attribute
const/volatile on function pointer types, decltype of a plain decl, and use of a
function parameter in the declaration of another parameter.
Version 6, which first appeared in G++ 4.7, corrects the promotion behav-
ior of C++11 scoped enums and the mangling of template argument packs,
const/static cast, prefix ++ and –, and a class scope function used as a tem-
plate argument.
Version 7, which first appeared in G++ 4.8, that treats nullptr t as a builtin
type and corrects the mangling of lambdas in default argument scope.
Version 8, which first appeared in G++ 4.9, corrects the substitution behavior
of function types with function-cv-qualifiers.
Version 9, which first appeared in G++ 5.2, corrects the alignment of nullptr_t.
Version 10, which first appeared in G++ 6.1, adds mangling of attributes that
affect type identity, such as ia32 calling convention attributes (e.g. ‘stdcall’).
Version 11, which first appeared in G++ 7, corrects the mangling of sizeof... ex-
pressions and operator names. For multiple entities with the same name within
a function, that are declared in different scopes, the mangling now changes start-
ing with the twelfth occurrence. It also implies ‘-fnew-inheriting-ctors’.
Version 12, which first appeared in G++ 8, corrects the calling conventions for
empty classes on the x86 64 target and for classes with only deleted copy/move
constructors. It accidentally changes the calling convention for classes with a
deleted copy constructor and a trivial move constructor.
Version 13, which first appeared in G++ 8.2, fixes the accidental change in
version 12.
Version 14, which first appeared in G++ 10, corrects the mangling of the nullptr
expression.
Version 15, which first appeared in G++ 10.3, corrects G++ 10 ABI tag regres-
sion.
Version 16, which first appeared in G++ 11, changes the mangling of __alignof_
_ to be distinct from that of alignof, and dependent operator names.
Version 17, which first appeared in G++ 12, fixes layout of classes that inherit
from aggregate classes with default member initializers in C++14 and up.
Version 18, which first appeard in G++ 13, fixes manglings of lambdas that have
additional context.
See also ‘-Wabi’.
-fabi-compat-version=n
On targets that support strong aliases, G++ works around mangling changes by
creating an alias with the correct mangled name when defining a symbol with
54 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

an incorrect mangled name. This switch specifies which ABI version to use for
the alias.
With ‘-fabi-version=0’ (the default), this defaults to 13 (GCC 8.2 compati-
bility). If another ABI version is explicitly selected, this defaults to 0. For com-
patibility with GCC versions 3.2 through 4.9, use ‘-fabi-compat-version=2’.
If this option is not provided but ‘-Wabi=n’ is, that version is used for com-
patibility aliases. If this option is provided along with ‘-Wabi’ (without the
version), the version from this option is used for the warning.
-fno-access-control
Turn off all access checking. This switch is mainly useful for working around
bugs in the access control code.
-faligned-new
Enable support for C++17 new of types that require more alignment than
void* ::operator new(std::size_t) provides. A numeric argument such as
-faligned-new=32 can be used to specify how much alignment (in bytes) is
provided by that function, but few users will need to override the default of
alignof(std::max_align_t).
This flag is enabled by default for ‘-std=c++17’.
-fchar8_t
-fno-char8_t
Enable support for char8_t as adopted for C++20. This includes the addition
of a new char8_t fundamental type, changes to the types of UTF-8 string and
character literals, new signatures for user-defined literals, associated standard
library updates, and new __cpp_char8_t and __cpp_lib_char8_t feature test
macros.
This option enables functions to be overloaded for ordinary and UTF-8 strings:
int f(const char *); // #1
int f(const char8_t *); // #2
int v1 = f("text"); // Calls #1
int v2 = f(u8"text"); // Calls #2
and introduces new signatures for user-defined literals:
int operator""_udl1(char8_t);
int v3 = u8’x’_udl1;
int operator""_udl2(const char8_t*, std::size_t);
int v4 = u8"text"_udl2;
template<typename T, T...> int operator""_udl3();
int v5 = u8"text"_udl3;
The change to the types of UTF-8 string and character literals introduces in-
compatibilities with ISO C++11 and later standards. For example, the following
code is well-formed under ISO C++11, but is ill-formed when ‘-fchar8_t’ is
specified.
char ca[] = u8"xx"; // error: char-array initialized from wide
// string
const char *cp = u8"xx";// error: invalid conversion from
// ‘const char8_t*’ to ‘const char*’
int f(const char*);
auto v = f(u8"xx"); // error: invalid conversion from
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 55

// ‘const char8_t*’ to ‘const char*’

std::string s{u8"xx"}; // error: no matching function for call to
// ‘std::basic_string<char>::basic_string()’
using namespace std::literals;
s = u8"xx"s; // error: conversion from
// ‘basic_string<char8_t>’ to non-scalar
// type ‘basic_string<char>’ requested

-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 only returns 0 if it is declared
throw(), in which case the compiler always checks 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)’.

-fconcepts
-fconcepts-ts
Enable support for the C++ Concepts feature for constraining template ar-
guments. With ‘-std=c++20’ and above, Concepts are part of the language
standard, so ‘-fconcepts’ defaults to on.
Some constructs that were allowed by the earlier C++ Extensions for Concepts
Technical Specification, ISO 19217 (2015), but didn’t make it into the standard,
can additionally be enabled by ‘-fconcepts-ts’.

-fconstexpr-depth=n
Set the maximum nested evaluation depth for C++11 constexpr functions to
n. A limit is needed to detect endless recursion during constant expression
evaluation. The minimum specified by the standard is 512.

-fconstexpr-cache-depth=n
Set the maximum level of nested evaluation depth for C++11 constexpr func-
tions that will be cached to n. This is a heuristic that trades off compilation
speed (when the cache avoids repeated calculations) against memory consump-
tion (when the cache grows very large from highly recursive evaluations). The
default is 8. Very few users are likely to want to adjust it, but if your code does
heavy constexpr calculations you might want to experiment to find which value
works best for you.

-fconstexpr-fp-except
Annex F of the C standard specifies that IEC559 floating point exceptions
encountered at compile time should not stop compilation. C++ compilers have
historically not followed this guidance, instead treating floating point division
by zero as non-constant even though it has a well defined value. This flag tells
the compiler to give Annex F priority over other rules saying that a particular
operation is undefined.
constexpr float inf = 1./0.; // OK with -fconstexpr-fp-except
56 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fconstexpr-loop-limit=n
Set the maximum number of iterations for a loop in C++14 constexpr functions
to n. A limit is needed to detect infinite loops during constant expression
evaluation. The default is 262144 (1<<18).
-fconstexpr-ops-limit=n
Set the maximum number of operations during a single constexpr evaluation.
Even when number of iterations of a single loop is limited with the above limit,
if there are several nested loops and each of them has many iterations but
still smaller than the above limit, or if in a body of some loop or even outside
of a loop too many expressions need to be evaluated, the resulting constexpr
evaluation might take too long. The default is 33554432 (1<<25).
-fcontracts
Enable experimental support for the C++ Contracts feature, as briefly added to
and then removed from the C++20 working paper (N4820). The implementation
also includes proposed enhancements from papers P1290, P1332, and P1429.
This functionality is intended mostly for those interested in experimentation
towards refining the feature to get it into shape for a future C++ standard.
On violation of a checked contract, the violation handler is called. Users can
replace the violation handler by defining
void handle_contract_violation (const std::experimental::contract_violation&);
There are different sets of additional flags that can be used together to specify
which contracts will be checked and how, for N4820 contracts, P1332 contracts,
or P1429 contracts; these sets cannot be used together.
-fcontract-mode=[on|off]
Control whether any contracts have any semantics at all. Defaults
to on.
-fcontract-assumption-mode=[on|off]
[N4820] Control whether contracts with level ‘axiom’ should have
the assume semantic. Defaults to on.
-fcontract-build-level=[off|default|audit]
[N4820] Specify which level of contracts to generate checks for. De-
faults to ‘default’.
-fcontract-continuation-mode=[on|off]
[N4820] Control whether to allow the program to continue executing
after a contract violation. That is, do checked contracts have the
‘maybe’ semantic described below rather than the ‘never’ semantic.
Defaults to off.
-fcontract-role=<name>:<default>,<audit>,<axiom>
[P1332] Specify the concrete semantics for each contract level of a
particular contract role.
-fcontract-semantic=[default|audit|axiom]:<semantic>
[P1429] Specify the concrete semantic for a particular contract level.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 57

-fcontract-strict-declarations=[on|off]
Control whether to reject adding contracts to a function after its
first declaration. Defaults to off.
The possible concrete semantics for that can be specified with
‘-fcontract-role’ or ‘-fcontract-semantic’ are:
ignore This contract has no effect.
assume This contract is treated like C++23 [[assume]].
check_never_continue
never
abort This contract is checked. If it fails, the violation handler is called.
If the handler returns, std::terminate is called.
check_maybe_continue
maybe This contract is checked. If it fails, the violation handler is called.
If the handler returns, execution continues normally.
-fcoroutines
Enable support for the C++ coroutines extension (experimental).
-fno-elide-constructors
The C++ standard allows an implementation to omit creating a temporary that
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. This option also causes G++ to call trivial member functions which
otherwise would be expanded inline.
In C++17, the compiler is required to omit these temporaries, but this option
still affects trivial member functions.
-fno-enforce-eh-specs
Don’t generate code to check for violation of exception specifications at run
time. 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 specifi-
cations; the compiler still optimizes based on the specifications, so throwing an
unexpected exception results in undefined behavior at run time.
-fextern-tls-init
-fno-extern-tls-init
The C++11 and OpenMP standards allow thread_local and threadprivate
variables to have dynamic (runtime) initialization. To support this, any use of
such a variable goes through a wrapper function that performs any necessary
initialization. When the use and definition of the variable are in the same
translation unit, this overhead can be optimized away, but when the use is in a
different translation unit there is significant overhead even if the variable doesn’t
actually need dynamic initialization. If the programmer can be sure that no
use of the variable in a non-defining TU needs to trigger dynamic initialization
(either because the variable is statically initialized, or a use of the variable in
58 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

the defining TU will be executed before any uses in another TU), they can avoid
this overhead with the ‘-fno-extern-tls-init’ option.
On targets that support symbol aliases, the default is ‘-fextern-tls-init’.
On targets that do not support symbol aliases, the default is
‘-fno-extern-tls-init’.
-ffold-simple-inlines
-fno-fold-simple-inlines
Permit the C++ frontend to fold calls to std::move, std::forward,
std::addressof and std::as_const. In contrast to inlining, this means no
debug information will be generated for such calls. Since these functions are
rarely interesting to debug, this flag is enabled by default unless ‘-fno-inline’
is active.
-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. This option is implied
by the strict ISO C++ dialects: ‘-ansi’, ‘-std=c++98’, ‘-std=c++11’, etc.
-fimplicit-constexpr
Make inline functions implicitly constexpr, if they satisfy the requirements for a
constexpr function. This option can be used in C++14 mode or later. This can
result in initialization changing from dynamic to static and other optimizations.
-fno-implicit-templates
Never emit code for non-inline templates that are instantiated implicitly (i.e.
by use); only emit code for explicit instantiations. If you use this option, you
must take care to structure your code to include all the necessary explicit in-
stantiations to avoid getting undefined symbols at link time. See Section 7.5
[Template Instantiation], page 900, for more information.
-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 opti-
mization 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 causes linker errors if these functions are not
inlined everywhere they are called.
-fmodules-ts
-fno-modules-ts
Enable support for C++20 modules (see Section 3.23 [C++ Modules], page 520).
The ‘-fno-modules-ts’ is usually not needed, as that is the default. Even
though this is a C++20 feature, it is not currently implicitly enabled by selecting
that standard version.
-fmodule-header
-fmodule-header=user
-fmodule-header=system
Compile a header file to create an importable header unit.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 59

-fmodule-implicit-inline
Member functions defined in their class definitions are not implicitly inline for
modular code. This is different to traditional C++ behavior, for good reasons.
However, it may result in a difficulty during code porting. This option makes
such function definitions implicitly inline. It does however generate an ABI
incompatibility, so you must use it everywhere or nowhere. (Such definitions
outside of a named module remain implicitly inline, regardless.)
-fno-module-lazy
Disable lazy module importing and module mapper creation.
-fmodule-mapper=[hostname]:port[?ident]
-fmodule-mapper=|program[?ident] args...
-fmodule-mapper==socket[?ident]
-fmodule-mapper=<>[inout][?ident]
-fmodule-mapper=<in>out[?ident]
-fmodule-mapper=file[?ident]
An oracle to query for module name to filename mappings. If unspecified the
CXX_MODULE_MAPPER environment variable is used, and if that is unset, an in-
process default is provided.
-fmodule-only
Only emit the Compiled Module Interface, inhibiting any object file.
-fms-extensions
Disable Wpedantic warnings about constructs used in MFC, such as implicit
int and getting a pointer to member function via non-standard syntax.
-fnew-inheriting-ctors
Enable the P0136 adjustment to the semantics of C++11 constructor inheri-
tance. This is part of C++17 but also considered to be a Defect Report against
C++11 and C++14. This flag is enabled by default unless ‘-fabi-version=10’
or lower is specified.
-fnew-ttp-matching
Enable the P0522 resolution to Core issue 150, template template parameters
and default arguments: this allows a template with default template arguments
as an argument for a template template parameter with fewer template param-
eters. This flag is enabled by default for ‘-std=c++17’.
-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.
-fnothrow-opt
Treat a throw() exception specification as if it were a noexcept specification to
reduce or eliminate the text size overhead relative to a function with no excep-
tion specification. If the function has local variables of types with non-trivial
destructors, the exception specification actually makes the function smaller be-
cause the EH cleanups for those variables can be optimized away. The semantic
60 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

effect is that an exception thrown out of a function with such an exception spec-
ification results in a call to terminate rather than unexpected.

-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 warn-
ings. Thus, using ‘-fpermissive’ allows some nonconforming code to compile.

-fno-pretty-templates
When an error message refers to a specialization of a function template, the com-
piler normally prints the signature of the template followed by the template ar-
guments and any typedefs or typenames in the signature (e.g. void f(T) [with
T = int] rather than void f(int)) so that it’s clear which template is involved.
When an error message refers to a specialization of a class template, the com-
piler omits any template arguments that match the default template arguments
for that template. If either of these behaviors make it harder to understand
the error message rather than easier, you can use ‘-fno-pretty-templates’ to
disable them.

-fno-rtti
Disable generation of information about every class with virtual functions
for use by the C++ run-time 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 G++ generates it as needed. The dynamic_cast operator can still be used
for casts that do not require run-time type information, i.e. casts to void * or
to unambiguous base classes.
Mixing code compiled with ‘-frtti’ with that compiled with ‘-fno-rtti’ may
not work. For example, programs may fail to link if a class compiled with
‘-fno-rtti’ is used as a base for a class compiled with ‘-frtti’.

-fsized-deallocation
Enable the built-in global declarations
void operator delete (void *, std::size_t) noexcept;
void operator delete[] (void *, std::size_t) noexcept;
as introduced in C++14. This is useful for user-defined replacement dealloca-
tion functions that, for example, use the size of the object to make deallo-
cation faster. Enabled by default under ‘-std=c++14’ and above. The flag
‘-Wsized-deallocation’ warns about places that might want to add a defini-
tion.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 61

-fstrict-enums
Allow the compiler to optimize using the assumption that a value of enumerated
type can only be one of the values of the enumeration (as defined in the C++
standard; basically, a value that can be represented in the minimum number
of bits needed to represent all the enumerators). This assumption may not be
valid if the program uses a cast to convert an arbitrary integer value to the
enumerated type.
-fstrong-eval-order
Evaluate member access, array subscripting, and shift expressions in left-to-
right order, and evaluate assignment in right-to-left order, as adopted for C++17.
Enabled by default with ‘-std=c++17’. ‘-fstrong-eval-order=some’ enables
just the ordering of member access and shift expressions, and is the default
without ‘-std=c++17’.
-ftemplate-backtrace-limit=n
Set the maximum number of template instantiation notes for a single warning
or error to n. The default value is 10.
-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 (changed to 1024 in C++11). The
default value is 900, as the compiler can run out of stack space before hitting
1024 in some situations.
-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 only works if your
C library supports __cxa_atexit.
-fno-use-cxa-get-exception-ptr
Don’t use the __cxa_get_exception_ptr runtime routine. This causes
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 functions or methods where the addresses of the two functions are 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
62 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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 has no effect.
Explicitly instantiated inline methods are unaffected by this option as their link-
age might otherwise cross a shared library boundary. See Section 7.5 [Template
Instantiation], page 900.
-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 that are defined in more than one shared object: those dec-
larations are permitted if they are permitted when this option is not used.
In new code it is better to use ‘-fvisibility=hidden’ and export those classes
that 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 are
different, so changing one does 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++ uses weak symbols if they are available. This option exists only
for testing, and should not be used by end-users; it results in inferior code and
has no benefits. This option may be removed in a future release of G++.
-fext-numeric-literals (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Accept imaginary, fixed-point, or machine-defined literal number suffixes as
GNU extensions. When this option is turned off these suffixes are treated
as C++11 user-defined literal numeric suffixes. This is on by default for all
pre-C++11 dialects and all GNU dialects: ‘-std=c++98’, ‘-std=gnu++98’,
‘-std=gnu++11’, ‘-std=gnu++14’. This option is off by default for ISO C++11
onwards (‘-std=c++11’, ...).
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 63

-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.)
-flang-info-include-translate
-flang-info-include-translate-not
-flang-info-include-translate=header
Inform of include translation events. The first will note accepted include trans-
lations, the second will note declined include translations. The header form
will inform of include translations relating to that specific header. If header is
of the form "user" or <system> it will be resolved to a specific user or system
header using the include path.
-flang-info-module-cmi
-flang-info-module-cmi=module
Inform of Compiled Module Interface pathnames. The first will note all read
CMI pathnames. The module form will not reading a specific module’s CMI.
module may be a named module or a header-unit (the latter indicated by either
being a pathname containing directory separators or enclosed in <> or "").
-stdlib=libstdc++,libc++
When G++ is configured to support this option, it allows specification of alter-
nate C++ runtime libraries. Two options are available: libstdc++ (the default,
native C++ runtime for G++) and libc++ which is the C++ runtime installed on
some operating systems (e.g. Darwin versions from Darwin11 onwards). The
option switches G++ to use the headers from the specified library and to emit
-lstdc++ or -lc++ respectively, when a C++ runtime is required for linking.
In addition, these warning options have meanings only for C++ programs:
-Wabi-tag (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a type with an ABI tag is used in a context that does not have
that ABI tag. See Section 7.7 [C++ Attributes], page 903 for more information
about ABI tags.
-Wcomma-subscript (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about uses of a comma expression within a subscripting expression. This
usage was deprecated in C++20 and is going to be removed in C++23. However,
a comma expression wrapped in ( ) is not deprecated. Example:
void f(int *a, int b, int c) {
a[b,c]; // deprecated in C++20, invalid in C++23
a[(b,c)]; // OK
}
In C++23 it is valid to have comma separated expressions in a subscript when
an overloaded subscript operator is found and supports the right number and
types of arguments. G++ will accept the formerly valid syntax for code that
is not valid in C++23 but used to be valid but deprecated in C++20 with a
pedantic warning that can be disabled with ‘-Wno-comma-subscript’.
Enabled by default with ‘-std=c++20’ unless ‘-Wno-deprecated’, and with
‘-std=c++23’ regardless of ‘-Wno-deprecated’.
64 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wctad-maybe-unsupported (C++ and Objective-C++ only)

Warn when performing class template argument deduction (CTAD) on a type
with no explicitly written deduction guides. This warning will point out cases
where CTAD succeeded only because the compiler synthesized the implicit de-
duction guides, which might not be what the programmer intended. Certain
style guides allow CTAD only on types that specifically "opt-in"; i.e., on types
that are designed to support CTAD. This warning can be suppressed with the
following pattern:
struct allow_ctad_t; // any name works
template <typename T> struct S {
S(T) { }
};
S(allow_ctad_t) -> S<void>; // guide with incomplete parameter type will never be considered

-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. Also warn if there are no non-private methods, and there’s at least
one private member function that isn’t a constructor or destructor.
-Wdangling-reference (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a reference is bound to a temporary whose lifetime has ended. For
example:
int n = 1;
const int& r = std::max(n - 1, n + 1); // r is dangling
In the example above, two temporaries are created, one for each argument, and
a reference to one of the temporaries is returned. However, both temporaries
are destroyed at the end of the full expression, so the reference r is dangling.
This warning also detects dangling references in member initializer lists:
const int& f(const int& i) { return i; }
struct S {
const int &r; // r is dangling
S() : r(f(10)) { }
};
Member functions are checked as well, but only their object argument:
struct S {
const S& self () { return *this; }
};
const S& s = S().self(); // s is dangling
Certain functions are safe in this respect, for example std::use_facet: they
take and return a reference, but they don’t return one of its arguments, which
can fool the warning. Such functions can be excluded from the warning by
wrapping them in a #pragma:
#pragma GCC diagnostic push
#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wdangling-reference"
const T& foo (const T&) { ... }
#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
‘-Wdangling-reference’ also warns about code like
auto p = std::minmax(1, 2);
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 65

where std::minmax returns std::pair<const int&, const int&>, and both

references dangle after the end of the full expression that contains the call to
std::minmax.
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wdelete-non-virtual-dtor (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when delete is used to destroy an instance of a class that has virtual
functions and non-virtual destructor. It is unsafe to delete an instance of a
derived class through a pointer to a base class if the base class does not have a
virtual destructor. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wdeprecated-copy (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn that the implicit declaration of a copy constructor or copy assignment
operator is deprecated if the class has a user-provided copy constructor or
copy assignment operator, in C++11 and up. This warning is enabled by
‘-Wextra’. With ‘-Wdeprecated-copy-dtor’, also deprecate if the class has
a user-provided destructor.
-Wno-deprecated-enum-enum-conversion (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Disable the warning about the case when the usual arithmetic conversions are
applied on operands where one is of enumeration type and the other is of a
different enumeration type. This conversion was deprecated in C++20. For
example:
enum E1 { e };
enum E2 { f };
int k = f - e;
‘-Wdeprecated-enum-enum-conversion’ is enabled by default with
‘-std=c++20’. In pre-C++20 dialects, this warning can be enabled by
‘-Wenum-conversion’.
-Wno-deprecated-enum-float-conversion (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Disable the warning about the case when the usual arithmetic conversions are
applied on operands where one is of enumeration type and the other is of a
floating-point type. This conversion was deprecated in C++20. For example:
enum E1 { e };
enum E2 { f };
bool b = e <= 3.7;
‘-Wdeprecated-enum-float-conversion’ is enabled by default with
‘-std=c++20’. In pre-C++20 dialects, this warning can be enabled by
‘-Wenum-conversion’.
-Wno-init-list-lifetime (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn about uses of std::initializer_list that are likely to result
in dangling pointers. Since the underlying array for an initializer_list is
handled like a normal C++ temporary object, it is easy to inadvertently keep a
pointer to the array past the end of the array’s lifetime. For example:
• If a function returns a temporary initializer_list, or a local
initializer_list variable, the array’s lifetime ends at the end of the
return statement, so the value returned has a dangling pointer.
66 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• If a new-expression creates an initializer_list, the array only lives until

the end of the enclosing full-expression, so the initializer_list in the
heap has a dangling pointer.
• When an initializer_list variable is assigned from a brace-enclosed ini-
tializer list, the temporary array created for the right side of the assignment
only lives until the end of the full-expression, so at the next statement the
initializer_list variable has a dangling pointer.
// li’s initial underlying array lives as long as li
std::initializer_list<int> li = { 1,2,3 };
// assignment changes li to point to a temporary array
li = { 4, 5 };
// now the temporary is gone and li has a dangling pointer
int i = li.begin()[0] // undefined behavior
• When a list constructor stores the begin pointer from the initializer_
list argument, this doesn’t extend the lifetime of the array, so if a class
variable is constructed from a temporary initializer_list, the pointer
is left dangling by the end of the variable declaration statement.
-Winvalid-constexpr
Warn when a function never produces a constant expression. In C++20 and
earlier, for every constexpr function and function template, there must be at
least one set of function arguments in at least one instantiation such that an
invocation of the function or constructor could be an evaluated subexpression
of a core constant expression. C++23 removed this restriction, so it’s possible
to have a function or a function template marked constexpr for which no
invocation satisfies the requirements of a core constant expression.
This warning is enabled as a pedantic warning by default in C++20 and earlier.
In C++23, ‘-Winvalid-constexpr’ can be turned on, in which case it will be
an ordinary warning. For example:
void f (int& i);
constexpr void
g (int& i)
{
f(i); // warns by default in C++20, in C++23 only with -Winvalid-constexpr
}

-Winvalid-imported-macros
Verify all imported macro definitions are valid at the end of compilation. This
is not enabled by default, as it requires additional processing to determine. It
may be useful when preparing sets of header-units to ensure consistent macros.
-Wno-literal-suffix (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn when a string or character literal is followed by a ud-suffix which
does not begin with an underscore. As a conforming extension, GCC treats
such suffixes as separate preprocessing tokens in order to maintain backwards
compatibility with code that uses formatting macros from <inttypes.h>. For
example:
#define __STDC_FORMAT_MACROS
#include <inttypes.h>
#include <stdio.h>
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 67

int main() {
int64_t i64 = 123;
printf("My int64: %" PRId64"\n", i64);
}
In this case, PRId64 is treated as a separate preprocessing token.
This option also controls warnings when a user-defined literal operator is de-
clared with a literal suffix identifier that doesn’t begin with an underscore.
Literal suffix identifiers that don’t begin with an underscore are reserved for
future standardization.
These warnings are enabled by default.
-Wno-narrowing (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
For C++11 and later standards, narrowing conversions are diagnosed by default,
as required by the standard. A narrowing conversion from a constant produces
an error, and a narrowing conversion from a non-constant produces a warning,
but ‘-Wno-narrowing’ suppresses the diagnostic. Note that this does not affect
the meaning of well-formed code; narrowing conversions are still considered
ill-formed in SFINAE contexts.
With ‘-Wnarrowing’ in C++98, warn when a narrowing conversion prohibited
by C++11 occurs within ‘{ }’, e.g.
int i = { 2.2 }; // error: narrowing from double to int
This flag is included in ‘-Wall’ and ‘-Wc++11-compat’.
-Wnoexcept (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a noexcept-expression evaluates to false because of a call to a func-
tion that does not have a non-throwing exception specification (i.e. throw() or
noexcept) but is known by the compiler to never throw an exception.
-Wnoexcept-type (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn if the C++17 feature making noexcept part of a function type changes
the mangled name of a symbol relative to C++14. Enabled by ‘-Wabi’ and
‘-Wc++17-compat’.
As an example:
template <class T> void f(T t) { t(); };
void g() noexcept;
void h() { f(g); }
In C++14, f calls f<void(*)()>, but in C++17 it calls f<void(*)()noexcept>.
-Wclass-memaccess (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when the destination of a call to a raw memory function such as memset
or memcpy is an object of class type, and when writing into such an object might
bypass the class non-trivial or deleted constructor or copy assignment, violate
const-correctness or encapsulation, or corrupt virtual table pointers. Modifying
the representation of such objects may violate invariants maintained by member
functions of the class. For example, the call to memset below is undefined
because it modifies a non-trivial class object and is, therefore, diagnosed. The
safe way to either initialize or clear the storage of objects of such types is by
using the appropriate constructor or assignment operator, if one is available.
68 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

std::string str = "abc";

memset (&str, 0, sizeof str);
The ‘-Wclass-memaccess’ option is enabled by ‘-Wall’. Explicitly casting the
pointer to the class object to void * or to a type that can be safely accessed
by the raw memory function suppresses the warning.

-Wnon-virtual-dtor (C++ and Objective-C++ only)

Warn when a class has virtual functions and an accessible non-virtual destruc-
tor itself or in an accessible polymorphic base class, in which case it is possible
but unsafe to delete an instance of a derived class through a pointer to the class
itself or base class. This warning is automatically enabled if ‘-Weffc++’ is spec-
ified. The ‘-Wdelete-non-virtual-dtor’ option (enabled by ‘-Wall’) should
be preferred because it warns about the unsafe cases without false positives.

-Wregister (C++ and Objective-C++ only)

Warn on uses of the register storage class specifier, except when it is part of
the GNU Section 6.47.5 [Explicit Register Variables], page 718 extension. The
use of the register keyword as storage class specifier has been deprecated in
C++11 and removed in C++17. Enabled by default with ‘-std=c++17’.

-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 rearranges the member initializers for i and j to match the dec-
laration order of the members, emitting a warning to that effect. This warning
is enabled by ‘-Wall’.

-Wno-pessimizing-move (C++ and Objective-C++ only)

This warning warns when a call to std::move prevents copy elision. A typical
scenario when copy elision can occur is when returning in a function with a class
return type, when the expression being returned is the name of a non-volatile
automatic object, and is not a function parameter, and has the same type as
the function return type.
struct T {
...
};
T fn()
{
T t;
...
return std::move (t);
}
But in this example, the std::move call prevents copy elision.
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 69

-Wno-redundant-move (C++ and Objective-C++ only)

This warning warns about redundant calls to std::move; that is, when a move
operation would have been performed even without the std::move call. This
happens because the compiler is forced to treat the object as if it were an rvalue
in certain situations such as returning a local variable, where copy elision isn’t
applicable. Consider:
struct T {
...
};
T fn(T t)
{
...
return std::move (t);
}
Here, the std::move call is redundant. Because G++ implements Core Issue
1579, another example is:
struct T { // convertible to U
...
};
struct U {
...
};
U fn()
{
T t;
...
return std::move (t);
}
In this example, copy elision isn’t applicable because the type of the expression
being returned and the function return type differ, yet G++ treats the return
value as if it were designated by an rvalue.
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wextra’.

-Wrange-loop-construct (C++ and Objective-C++ only)

This warning warns when a C++ range-based for-loop is creating an unnecessary
copy. This can happen when the range declaration is not a reference, but
probably should be. For example:
struct S { char arr[128]; };
void fn () {
S arr[5];
for (const auto x : arr) { ... }
}
It does not warn when the type being copied is a trivially-copyable type whose
size is less than 64 bytes.
This warning also warns when a loop variable in a range-based for-loop is ini-
tialized with a value of a different type resulting in a copy. For example:
void fn() {
int arr[10];
for (const double &x : arr) { ... }
}
70 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

In the example above, in every iteration of the loop a temporary value of type
double is created and destroyed, to which the reference const double & is
bound.
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wredundant-tags (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about redundant class-key and enum-key in references to class types and
enumerated types in contexts where the key can be eliminated without causing
an ambiguity. For example:
struct foo;
struct foo *p; // warn that keyword struct can be eliminated
On the other hand, in this example there is no warning:
struct foo;
void foo (); // "hides" struct foo
void bar (struct foo&); // no warning, keyword struct is necessary

-Wno-subobject-linkage (C++ and Objective-C++ only)

Do not warn if a class type has a base or a field whose type uses the anonymous
namespace or depends on a type with no linkage. If a type A depends on a type
B with no or internal linkage, defining it in multiple translation units would
be an ODR violation because the meaning of B is different in each translation
unit. If A only appears in a single translation unit, the best way to silence the
warning is to give it internal linkage by putting it in an anonymous namespace
as well. The compiler doesn’t give this warning for types defined in the main .C
file, as those are unlikely to have multiple definitions. ‘-Wsubobject-linkage’
is enabled by default.
-Weffc++ (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about violations of the following style guidelines from Scott Meyers’ Ef-
fective C++ series of books:
• Define a copy constructor and an assignment operator for classes with
dynamically-allocated memory.
• Prefer initialization to assignment in constructors.
• Have operator= return a reference to *this.
• Don’t try to return a reference when you must return an object.
• Distinguish between prefix and postfix forms of increment and decrement
operators.
• Never overload &&, ||, or ,.
This option also enables ‘-Wnon-virtual-dtor’, which is also one of the effec-
tive C++ recommendations. However, the check is extended to warn about the
lack of virtual destructor in accessible non-polymorphic bases classes too.
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.
-Wno-exceptions (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Disable the warning about the case when an exception handler is shadowed by
another handler, which can point out a wrong ordering of exception handlers.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 71

-Wstrict-null-sentinel (C++ and Objective-C++ only)

Warn 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 rather than 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-template friend functions are declared within a
template. In very old versions of GCC that predate implementation of the ISO
standard, declarations such as ‘friend int foo(int)’, where the name of the
friend is an unqualified-id, could be interpreted as a particular specialization
of a template function; the warning exists to diagnose compatibility problems,
and is enabled by default.
-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)
-Woverloaded-virtual=n
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); // does not override
};
the A class version of f is hidden in B, and code like:
B* b;
b->f();
fails to compile.
The optional level suffix controls the behavior when all the declarations in the
derived class override virtual functions in the base class, even if not all of the
base functions are overridden:
struct C {
virtual void f();
virtual void f(int);
};

struct D: public C {
void f(int); // does override
}
This pattern is less likely to be a mistake; if D is only used virtually, the user
might have decided that the base class semantics for some of the overloads are
fine.
At level 1, this case does not warn; at level 2, it does. ‘-Woverloaded-virtual’
by itself selects level 2. Level 1 is included in ‘-Wall’.
72 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 enumer-
ated type to a signed type, over a conversion to an unsigned type of the same
size. Previous versions of G++ tried to preserve unsignedness, but the standard
mandates the current behavior.
-Wtemplates (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a primary template declaration is encountered. Some coding rules
disallow templates, and this may be used to enforce that rule. The warning is
inactive inside a system header file, such as the STL, so one can still use the
STL. One may also instantiate or specialize templates.
-Wmismatched-new-delete (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn for mismatches between calls to operator new or operator delete and
the corresponding call to the allocation or deallocation function. This includes
invocations of C++ operator delete with pointers returned from either mis-
matched forms of operator new, or from other functions that allocate objects
for which the operator delete isn’t a suitable deallocator, as well as calls
to other deallocation functions with pointers returned from operator new for
which the deallocation function isn’t suitable.
For example, the delete expression in the function below is diagnosed because
it doesn’t match the array form of the new expression the pointer argument was
returned from. Similarly, the call to free is also diagnosed.
void f ()
{
int *a = new int[n];
delete a; // warning: mismatch in array forms of expressions

char *p = new char[n];

free (p); // warning: mismatch between new and free
}
The related option ‘-Wmismatched-dealloc’ diagnoses mismatches involving
allocation and deallocation functions other than operator new and operator
delete.
‘-Wmismatched-new-delete’ is included in ‘-Wall’.
-Wmismatched-tags (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn for declarations of structs, classes, and class templates and their special-
izations with a class-key that does not match either the definition or the first
declaration if no definition is provided.
For example, the declaration of struct Object in the argument list of draw
triggers the warning. To avoid it, either remove the redundant class-key struct
or replace it with class to match its definition.
class Object {
public:
virtual ~Object () = 0;
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 73

};
void draw (struct Object*);
It is not wrong to declare a class with the class-key struct as the example above
shows. The ‘-Wmismatched-tags’ option is intended to help achieve a consistent
style of class declarations. In code that is intended to be portable to Windows-
based compilers the warning helps prevent unresolved references due to the
difference in the mangling of symbols declared with different class-keys. The
option can be used either on its own or in conjunction with ‘-Wredundant-tags’.
-Wmultiple-inheritance (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a class is defined with multiple direct base classes. Some coding
rules disallow multiple inheritance, and this may be used to enforce that rule.
The warning is inactive inside a system header file, such as the STL, so one
can still use the STL. One may also define classes that indirectly use multiple
inheritance.
-Wvirtual-inheritance
Warn when a class is defined with a virtual direct base class. Some coding rules
disallow multiple inheritance, and this may be used to enforce that rule. The
warning is inactive inside a system header file, such as the STL, so one can still
use the STL. One may also define classes that indirectly use virtual inheritance.
-Wno-virtual-move-assign
Suppress warnings about inheriting from a virtual base with a non-trivial C++11
move assignment operator. This is dangerous because if the virtual base is
reachable along more than one path, it is moved multiple times, which can
mean both objects end up in the moved-from state. If the move assignment
operator is written to avoid moving from a moved-from object, this warning
can be disabled.
-Wnamespaces
Warn when a namespace definition is opened. Some coding rules disallow
namespaces, and this may be used to enforce that rule. The warning is in-
active inside a system header file, such as the STL, so one can still use the STL.
One may also use using directives and qualified names.
-Wno-terminate (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Disable the warning about a throw-expression that will immediately result in a
call to terminate.
-Wno-vexing-parse (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about the most vexing parse syntactic ambiguity. This warns about the
cases when a declaration looks like a variable definition, but the C++ language
requires it to be interpreted as a function declaration. For instance:
void f(double a) {
int i(); // extern int i (void);
int n(int(a)); // extern int n (int);
}
Another example:
struct S { S(int); };
void f(double a) {
74 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

S x(int(a)); // extern struct S x (int);

S y(int()); // extern struct S y (int (*) (void));
S z(); // extern struct S z (void);
}
The warning will suggest options how to deal with such an ambiguity; e.g., it
can suggest removing the parentheses or using braces instead.
This warning is enabled by default.
-Wno-class-conversion (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn when a conversion function converts an object to the same type,
to a base class of that type, or to void; such a conversion function will never be
called.
-Wvolatile (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about deprecated uses of the volatile qualifier. This includes postfix
and prefix ++ and -- expressions of volatile-qualified types, using simple as-
signments where the left operand is a volatile-qualified non-class type for their
value, compound assignments where the left operand is a volatile-qualified
non-class type, volatile-qualified function return type, volatile-qualified pa-
rameter type, and structured bindings of a volatile-qualified type. This usage
was deprecated in C++20.
Enabled by default with ‘-std=c++20’.
-Wzero-as-null-pointer-constant (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a literal ‘0’ is used as null pointer constant. This can be useful to
facilitate the conversion to nullptr in C++11.
-Waligned-new
Warn about a new-expression of a type that requires greater alignment than
the alignof(std::max_align_t) but uses an allocation function without an
explicit alignment parameter. This option is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
Normally this only warns about global allocation functions, but
‘-Waligned-new=all’ also warns about class member allocation functions.
-Wno-placement-new
-Wplacement-new=n
Warn about placement new expressions with undefined behavior, such as con-
structing an object in a buffer that is smaller than the type of the object. For
example, the placement new expression below is diagnosed because it attempts
to construct an array of 64 integers in a buffer only 64 bytes large.
char buf [64];
new (buf) int[64];
This warning is enabled by default.
-Wplacement-new=1
This is the default warning level of ‘-Wplacement-new’. At this
level the warning is not issued for some strictly undefined constructs
that GCC allows as extensions for compatibility with legacy code.
For example, the following new expression is not diagnosed at this
level even though it has undefined behavior according to the C++
standard because it writes past the end of the one-element array.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 75

struct S { int n, a[1]; };

S *s = (S *)malloc (sizeof *s + 31 * sizeof s->a[0]);
new (s->a)int [32]();

-Wplacement-new=2
At this level, in addition to diagnosing all the same constructs as
at level 1, a diagnostic is also issued for placement new expressions
that construct an object in the last member of structure whose type
is an array of a single element and whose size is less than the size of
the object being constructed. While the previous example would be
diagnosed, the following construct makes use of the flexible member
array extension to avoid the warning at level 2.
struct S { int n, a[]; };
S *s = (S *)malloc (sizeof *s + 32 * sizeof s->a[0]);
new (s->a)int [32]();

-Wcatch-value
-Wcatch-value=n (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about catch handlers that do not catch via reference. With
‘-Wcatch-value=1’ (or ‘-Wcatch-value’ for short) warn about polymorphic
class types that are caught by value. With ‘-Wcatch-value=2’ warn about all
class types that are caught by value. With ‘-Wcatch-value=3’ warn about all
types that are not caught by reference. ‘-Wcatch-value’ is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wconditionally-supported (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn for conditionally-supported (C++11 [intro.defs]) constructs.
-Wno-delete-incomplete (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn when deleting a pointer to incomplete type, which may cause
undefined behavior at runtime. This warning is enabled by default.
-Wextra-semi (C++, Objective-C++ only)
Warn about redundant semicolons after in-class function definitions.
-Wno-inaccessible-base (C++, Objective-C++ only)
This option controls warnings when a base class is inaccessible in a class derived
from it due to ambiguity. The warning is enabled by default. Note that the
warning for ambiguous virtual bases is enabled by the ‘-Wextra’ option.
struct A { int a; };

struct B : A { };

struct C : B, A { };

-Wno-inherited-variadic-ctor
Suppress warnings about use of C++11 inheriting constructors when the base
class inherited from has a C variadic constructor; the warning is on by default
because the ellipsis is not inherited.
-Wno-invalid-offsetof (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Suppress warnings from applying the offsetof macro to a non-POD type.
According to the 2014 ISO C++ standard, applying offsetof to a non-standard-
layout type is undefined. In existing C++ implementations, however, offsetof
76 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

typically gives meaningful results. 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.
-Wsized-deallocation (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about a definition of an unsized deallocation function
void operator delete (void *) noexcept;
void operator delete[] (void *) noexcept;
without a definition of the corresponding sized deallocation function
void operator delete (void *, std::size_t) noexcept;
void operator delete[] (void *, std::size_t) noexcept;
or vice versa. Enabled by ‘-Wextra’ along with ‘-fsized-deallocation’.
-Wsuggest-final-types
Warn about types with virtual methods where code quality would be improved
if the type were declared with the C++11 final specifier, or, if possible, de-
clared in an anonymous namespace. This allows GCC to more aggressively
devirtualize the polymorphic calls. This warning is more effective with link-
time optimization, where the information about the class hierarchy graph is
more complete.
-Wsuggest-final-methods
Warn about virtual methods where code quality would be improved if the
method were declared with the C++11 final specifier, or, if possible, its type
were declared in an anonymous namespace or with the final specifier. This
warning is more effective with link-time optimization, where the information
about the class hierarchy graph is more complete. It is recommended to first
consider suggestions of ‘-Wsuggest-final-types’ and then rebuild with new
annotations.
-Wsuggest-override
Warn about overriding virtual functions that are not marked with the override
keyword.
-Wuse-after-free
-Wuse-after-free=n
Warn about uses of pointers to dynamically allocated objects that have been
rendered indeterminate by a call to a deallocation function. The warning is en-
abled at all optimization levels but may yield different results with optimization
than without.
-Wuse-after-free=1
At level 1 the warning attempts to diagnose only unconditional uses
of pointers made indeterminate by a deallocation call or a successful
call to realloc, regardless of whether or not the call resulted in
an actual reallocatio of memory. This includes double-free calls
as well as uses in arithmetic and relational expressions. Although
undefined, uses of indeterminate pointers in equality (or inequality)
expressions are not diagnosed at this level.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 77

-Wuse-after-free=2
At level 2, in addition to unconditional uses, the warning also diag-
noses conditional uses of pointers made indeterminate by a deallo-
cation call. As at level 2, uses in equality (or inequality) expressions
are not diagnosed. For example, the second call to free in the fol-
lowing function is diagnosed at this level:
struct A { int refcount; void *data; };

void release (struct A *p)

{
int refcount = --p->refcount;
free (p);
if (refcount == 0)
free (p->data); // warning: p may be used after free
}
-Wuse-after-free=3
At level 3, the warning also diagnoses uses of indeterminate pointers
in equality expressions. All uses of indeterminate pointers are un-
defined but equality tests sometimes appear after calls to realloc
as an attempt to determine whether the call resulted in relocating
the object to a different address. They are diagnosed at a separate
level to aid legacy code gradually transition to safe alternatives.
For example, the equality test in the function below is diagnosed
at this level:
void adjust_pointers (int**, int);

void grow (int **p, int n)

{
int **q = (int**)realloc (p, n *= 2);
if (q == p)
return;
adjust_pointers ((int**)q, n);
}
To avoid the warning at this level, store offsets into allocated mem-
ory instead of pointers. This approach obviates needing to adjust
the stored pointers after reallocation.
‘-Wuse-after-free=2’ is included in ‘-Wall’.
-Wuseless-cast (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when an expression is cast to its own type. This warning does not occur
when a class object is converted to a non-reference type as that is a way to
create a temporary:
struct S { };
void g (S&&);
void f (S&& arg)
{
g (S(arg)); // make arg prvalue so that it can bind to S&&
}
-Wno-conversion-null (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn for conversions between NULL and non-pointer types.
‘-Wconversion-null’ is enabled by default.
78 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

3.6 Options Controlling Objective-C and Objective-C++

Dialects
(NOTE: This manual does not describe the Objective-C and Objective-C++ languages them-
selves. See Chapter 2 [Language Standards Supported by GCC], page 5, for references.)
This section describes the command-line options that are only meaningful for Objective-
C and Objective-C++ programs. 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 compila-
tions 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,
overrides 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 ([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. This option is only available in
conjunction with the NeXT runtime and ABI version 0 or 1.
-fobjc-abi-version=n
Use version n of the Objective-C ABI for the selected runtime. This option is
currently supported only for the NeXT runtime. In that case, Version 0 is the
traditional (32-bit) ABI without support for properties and other Objective-
C 2.0 additions. Version 1 is the traditional (32-bit) ABI with support for
properties and other Objective-C 2.0 additions. Version 2 is the modern (64-bit)
ABI. If nothing is specified, the default is Version 0 on 32-bit target machines,
and Version 2 on 64-bit target machines.
-fobjc-call-cxx-cdtors
For each Objective-C class, check if any of its instance variables is a C++ ob-
ject with a non-trivial default constructor. If so, synthesize a special - (id)
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 79

.cxx_construct instance method which runs 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 which runs all such
default destructors, in reverse order.
The - (id) .cxx_construct and - (void) .cxx_destruct methods thusly
generated 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 are
invoked by the runtime immediately after a new object instance is allocated;
the - (void) .cxx_destruct methods are 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 sup-
port 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, sim-
ilar to what is offered by C++. This option is required to use the Objective-C
keywords @try, @throw, @catch, @finally and @synchronized. This option is
available with both the GNU runtime and the NeXT runtime (but not available
in conjunction with the NeXT runtime on Mac OS X 10.2 and earlier).
-fobjc-gc
Enable garbage collection (GC) in Objective-C and Objective-C++ programs.
This option is only available with the NeXT runtime; the GNU runtime has a
different garbage collection implementation that does not require special com-
piler flags.
-fobjc-nilcheck
For the NeXT runtime with version 2 of the ABI, check for a nil receiver in
method invocations before doing the actual method call. This is the default
and can be disabled using ‘-fno-objc-nilcheck’. Class methods and super
calls are never checked for nil in this way no matter what this flag is set to.
Currently this flag does nothing when the GNU runtime, or an older version of
the NeXT runtime ABI, is used.
-fobjc-std=objc1
Conform to the language syntax of Objective-C 1.0, the language recognized by
GCC 4.0. This only affects the Objective-C additions to the C/C++ language;
it does not affect conformance to C/C++ standards, which is controlled by
the separate C/C++ dialect option flags. When this option is used with the
Objective-C or Objective-C++ compiler, any Objective-C syntax that is not
recognized by GCC 4.0 is rejected. This is useful if you need to make sure that
your Objective-C code can be compiled with older versions of GCC.
80 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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. The GNU runtime currently always
retains calls to objc_get_class("...") regardless of command-line options.
-fno-local-ivars
By default instance variables in Objective-C can be accessed as if they were
local variables from within the methods of the class they’re declared in. This
can lead to shadowing between instance variables and other variables declared
either locally inside a class method or globally with the same name. Specify-
ing the ‘-fno-local-ivars’ flag disables this behavior thus avoiding variable
shadowing issues.
-fivar-visibility=[public|protected|private|package]
Set the default instance variable visibility to the specified option so that instance
variables declared outside the scope of any access modifier directives default to
the specified visibility.
-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-property-assign-default (Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn if a property for an Objective-C object has no assign semantics
specified.
-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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 81

-Wobjc-root-class (Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)

Warn if a class interface lacks a superclass. Most classes will inherit from
NSObject (or Object) for example. When declaring classes intended to be
root classes, the warning can be suppressed by marking their interfaces with
__attribute__((objc_root_class)).
-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 omits such warnings if any differences found are confined
to types that 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 meth-
ods 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.

3.7 Options to Control Diagnostic Messages Formatting

Traditionally, diagnostic messages have been formatted irrespective of the output device’s
aspect (e.g. its width, . . . ). You can use the options described below to control the for-
matting algorithm for diagnostic messages, e.g. how many characters per line, how often
source location information should be reported. Note that some language front ends may
not honor these options.
-fmessage-length=n
Try to format error messages so that they fit on lines of about n characters. If
n is zero, then no line-wrapping is done; each error message appears on a single
line. This is the default for all front ends.
82 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Note - this option also affects the display of the ‘#error’ and ‘#warning’ pre-
processor directives, and the ‘deprecated’ function/type/variable attribute.
It does not however affect the ‘pragma GCC warning’ and ‘pragma GCC error’
pragmas.
-fdiagnostics-plain-output
This option requests that diagnostic output look as plain as possible,
which may be useful when running dejagnu or other utilities that need to
parse diagnostics output and prefer that it remain more stable over time.
‘-fdiagnostics-plain-output’ is currently equivalent to the following
options:
-fno-diagnostics-show-caret
-fno-diagnostics-show-line-numbers
-fdiagnostics-color=never
-fdiagnostics-urls=never
-fdiagnostics-path-format=separate-events
In the future, if GCC changes the default appearance of its diagnostics, the
corresponding option to disable the new behavior will be added to this list.
-fdiagnostics-show-location=once
Only meaningful in line-wrapping mode. Instructs the diagnostic messages re-
porter to emit source location information once; 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 con-
tinuation 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-color[=WHEN]
-fno-diagnostics-color
Use color in diagnostics. WHEN is ‘never’, ‘always’, or ‘auto’. The default
depends on how the compiler has been configured, it can be any of the above
WHEN options or also ‘never’ if GCC_COLORS environment variable isn’t present
in the environment, and ‘auto’ otherwise. ‘auto’ makes GCC use color only
when the standard error is a terminal, and when not executing in an emacs shell.
The forms ‘-fdiagnostics-color’ and ‘-fno-diagnostics-color’ are aliases
for ‘-fdiagnostics-color=always’ and ‘-fdiagnostics-color=never’, re-
spectively.
The colors are defined by the environment variable GCC_COLORS. Its value is
a colon-separated list of capabilities and Select Graphic Rendition (SGR) sub-
strings. SGR commands are interpreted by the terminal or terminal emulator.
(See the section in the documentation of your text terminal for permitted values
and their meanings as character attributes.) These substring values are integers
in decimal representation and can be concatenated with semicolons. Common
values to concatenate include ‘1’ for bold, ‘4’ for underline, ‘5’ for blink, ‘7’ for
inverse, ‘39’ for default foreground color, ‘30’ to ‘37’ for foreground colors, ‘90’
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 83

to ‘97’ for 16-color mode foreground colors, ‘38;5;0’ to ‘38;5;255’ for 88-color
and 256-color modes foreground colors, ‘49’ for default background color, ‘40’
to ‘47’ for background colors, ‘100’ to ‘107’ for 16-color mode background col-
ors, and ‘48;5;0’ to ‘48;5;255’ for 88-color and 256-color modes background
colors.
The default GCC_COLORS is
error=01;31:warning=01;35:note=01;36:range1=32:range2=34:locus=01:\
quote=01:path=01;36:fixit-insert=32:fixit-delete=31:\
diff-filename=01:diff-hunk=32:diff-delete=31:diff-insert=32:\
type-diff=01;32:fnname=01;32:targs=35
where ‘01;31’ is bold red, ‘01;35’ is bold magenta, ‘01;36’ is bold cyan, ‘32’
is green, ‘34’ is blue, ‘01’ is bold, and ‘31’ is red. Setting GCC_COLORS to the
empty string disables colors. Supported capabilities are as follows.
error= SGR substring for error: markers.
warning= SGR substring for warning: markers.
note= SGR substring for note: markers.
path= SGR substring for colorizing paths of control-flow events as printed
via ‘-fdiagnostics-path-format=’, such as the identifiers of indi-
vidual events and lines indicating interprocedural calls and returns.
range1= SGR substring for first additional range.
range2= SGR substring for second additional range.
locus= SGR substring for location information, ‘file:line’ or
‘file:line:column’ etc.
quote= SGR substring for information printed within quotes.
fnname= SGR substring for names of C++ functions.
targs= SGR substring for C++ function template parameter bindings.
fixit-insert=
SGR substring for fix-it hints suggesting text to be inserted or
replaced.
fixit-delete=
SGR substring for fix-it hints suggesting text to be deleted.
diff-filename=
SGR substring for filename headers within generated patches.
diff-hunk=
SGR substring for the starts of hunks within generated patches.
diff-delete=
SGR substring for deleted lines within generated patches.
diff-insert=
SGR substring for inserted lines within generated patches.
84 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

type-diff=
SGR substring for highlighting mismatching types within template
arguments in the C++ frontend.

-fdiagnostics-urls[=WHEN]
Use escape sequences to embed URLs in diagnostics. For example, when
‘-fdiagnostics-show-option’ emits text showing the command-line option
controlling a diagnostic, embed a URL for documentation of that option.
WHEN is ‘never’, ‘always’, or ‘auto’. ‘auto’ makes GCC use URL escape
sequences only when the standard error is a terminal, and when not executing
in an emacs shell or any graphical terminal which is known to be incompatible
with this feature, see below.
The default depends on how the compiler has been configured. It can be any
of the above WHEN options.
GCC can also be configured (via the ‘--with-diagnostics-urls=auto-if-env’
configure-time option) so that the default is affected by environment variables.
Under such a configuration, GCC defaults to using ‘auto’ if either GCC_URLS
or TERM_URLS environment variables are present and non-empty in the
environment of the compiler, or ‘never’ if neither are.
However, even with ‘-fdiagnostics-urls=always’ the behavior is dependent
on those environment variables: If GCC_URLS is set to empty or ‘no’, do not
embed URLs in diagnostics. If set to ‘st’, URLs use ST escape sequences. If
set to ‘bel’, the default, URLs use BEL escape sequences. Any other non-empty
value enables the feature. If GCC_URLS is not set, use TERM_URLS as a fallback.
Note: ST is an ANSI escape sequence, string terminator ‘ESC \’, BEL is an
ASCII character, CTRL-G that usually sounds like a beep.
At this time GCC tries to detect also a few terminals that are known to not
implement the URL feature, and have bugs or at least had bugs in some versions
that are still in use, where the URL escapes are likely to misbehave, i.e. print
garbage on the screen. That list is currently xfce4-terminal, certain known to
be buggy gnome-terminal versions, the linux console, and mingw. This check
can be skipped with the ‘-fdiagnostics-urls=always’.

-fno-diagnostics-show-option
By default, each diagnostic emitted includes text indicating the command-line
option that directly controls the diagnostic (if such an option is known to the
diagnostic machinery). Specifying the ‘-fno-diagnostics-show-option’ flag
suppresses that behavior.

-fno-diagnostics-show-caret
By default, each diagnostic emitted includes the original source line and a caret
‘^’ indicating the column. This option suppresses this information. The source
line is truncated to n characters, if the ‘-fmessage-length=n’ option is given.
When the output is done to the terminal, the width is limited to the width
given by the COLUMNS environment variable or, if not set, to the terminal width.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 85

-fno-diagnostics-show-labels
By default, when printing source code (via ‘-fdiagnostics-show-caret’), di-
agnostics can label ranges of source code with pertinent information, such as
the types of expressions:
printf ("foo %s bar", long_i + long_j);
~^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| |
char * long int
This option suppresses the printing of these labels (in the example above, the
vertical bars and the “char *” and “long int” text).
-fno-diagnostics-show-cwe
Diagnostic messages can optionally have an associated CWE identifier. GCC
itself only provides such metadata for some of the ‘-fanalyzer’ diagnostics.
GCC plugins may also provide diagnostics with such metadata. By default, if
this information is present, it will be printed with the diagnostic. This option
suppresses the printing of this metadata.
-fno-diagnostics-show-rules
Diagnostic messages can optionally have rules associated with them, such as
from a coding standard, or a specification. GCC itself does not do this for
any of its diagnostics, but plugins may do so. By default, if this information
is present, it will be printed with the diagnostic. This option suppresses the
printing of this metadata.
-fno-diagnostics-show-line-numbers
By default, when printing source code (via ‘-fdiagnostics-show-caret’), a
left margin is printed, showing line numbers. This option suppresses this left
margin.
-fdiagnostics-minimum-margin-width=width
This option controls the minimum width of the left margin printed by
‘-fdiagnostics-show-line-numbers’. It defaults to 6.
-fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits
Emit fix-it hints in a machine-parseable format, suitable for consumption by
IDEs. For each fix-it, a line will be printed after the relevant diagnostic, starting
with the string “fix-it:”. For example:
fix-it:"test.c":{45:3-45:21}:"gtk_widget_show_all"
The location is expressed as a half-open range, expressed as a count of bytes,
starting at byte 1 for the initial column. In the above example, bytes 3 through
20 of line 45 of “test.c” are to be replaced with the given string:
00000000011111111112222222222
12345678901234567890123456789
gtk_widget_showall (dlg);
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
gtk_widget_show_all
The filename and replacement string escape backslash as “\\", tab as “\t”,
newline as “\n”, double quotes as “\"”, non-printable characters as octal (e.g.
vertical tab as “\013”).
86 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

An empty replacement string indicates that the given range is to be removed.

An empty range (e.g. “45:3-45:3”) indicates that the string is to be inserted at
the given position.
-fdiagnostics-generate-patch
Print fix-it hints to stderr in unified diff format, after any diagnostics are
printed. For example:
--- test.c
+++ test.c
@ -42,5 +42,5 @

void show_cb(GtkDialog *dlg)

{
- gtk_widget_showall(dlg);
+ gtk_widget_show_all(dlg);
}

The diff may or may not be colorized, following the same rules as for diagnostics
(see ‘-fdiagnostics-color’).
-fdiagnostics-show-template-tree
In the C++ frontend, when printing diagnostics showing mismatching template
types, such as:
could not convert ’std::map<int, std::vector<double> >()’
from ’map<[...],vector<double>>’ to ’map<[...],vector<float>>
the ‘-fdiagnostics-show-template-tree’ flag enables printing a tree-like
structure showing the common and differing parts of the types, such as:
map<
[...],
vector<
[double != float]>>
The parts that differ are highlighted with color (“double” and “float” in this
case).
-fno-elide-type
By default when the C++ frontend prints diagnostics showing mismatching tem-
plate types, common parts of the types are printed as “[...]” to simplify the
error message. For example:
could not convert ’std::map<int, std::vector<double> >()’
from ’map<[...],vector<double>>’ to ’map<[...],vector<float>>
Specifying the ‘-fno-elide-type’ flag suppresses that behavior. This flag also
affects the output of the ‘-fdiagnostics-show-template-tree’ flag.
-fdiagnostics-path-format=KIND
Specify how to print paths of control-flow events for diagnostics that have such
a path associated with them.
KIND is ‘none’, ‘separate-events’, or ‘inline-events’, the default.
‘none’ means to not print diagnostic paths.
‘separate-events’ means to print a separate “note” diagnostic for each event
within the diagnostic. For example:
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 87

test.c:29:5: error: passing NULL as argument 1 to ’PyList_Append’ which re-

quires a non-NULL parameter
test.c:25:10: note: (1) when ’PyList_New’ fails, returning NULL
test.c:27:3: note: (2) when ’i < count’
test.c:29:5: note: (3) when calling ’PyList_Append’, passing NULL from (1) as ar-
gument 1
‘inline-events’ means to print the events “inline” within the source code.
This view attempts to consolidate the events into runs of sufficiently-close
events, printing them as labelled ranges within the source.
For example, the same events as above might be printed as:
’test’: events 1-3
|
| 25 | list = PyList_New(0);
| | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
| | |
| | (1) when ’PyList_New’ fails, returning NULL
| 26 |
| 27 | for (i = 0; i < count; i++) {
| | ~~~
| | |
| | (2) when ’i < count’
| 28 | item = PyLong_FromLong(random());
| 29 | PyList_Append(list, item);
| | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| | |
| | (3) when calling ’PyList_Append’, passing NULL from (1) as ar-
gument 1
|
Interprocedural control flow is shown by grouping the events by stack frame, and
using indentation to show how stack frames are nested, pushed, and popped.
For example:
’test’: events 1-2
|
| 133 | {
| | ^
| | |
| | (1) entering ’test’
| 134 | boxed_int *obj = make_boxed_int (i);
| | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| | |
| | (2) calling ’make_boxed_int’
|
+--> ’make_boxed_int’: events 3-4
|
| 120 | {
| | ^
| | |
| | (3) entering ’make_boxed_int’
| 121 | boxed_int *result = (boxed_int *)wrapped_malloc (sizeof (boxed_int));
| | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| | |
| | (4) calling ’wrapped_malloc’
|
+--> ’wrapped_malloc’: events 5-6
|
88 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

| 7 | {
| | ^
| | |
| | (5) entering ’wrapped_malloc’
| 8 | return malloc (size);
| | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| | |
| | (6) calling ’malloc’
|
<-------------+
|
’test’: event 7
|
| 138 | free_boxed_int (obj);
| | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| | |
| | (7) calling ’free_boxed_int’
|
(etc)

-fdiagnostics-show-path-depths
This option provides additional information when printing control-flow paths
associated with a diagnostic.
If this is option is provided then the stack depth will be printed for each run
of events within ‘-fdiagnostics-path-format=inline-events’. If provided
with ‘-fdiagnostics-path-format=separate-events’, then the stack depth
and function declaration will be appended when printing each event.
This is intended for use by GCC developers and plugin developers when debug-
ging diagnostics that report interprocedural control flow.
-fno-show-column
Do not print column numbers in diagnostics. This may be necessary if diag-
nostics are being scanned by a program that does not understand the column
numbers, such as dejagnu.
-fdiagnostics-column-unit=UNIT
Select the units for the column number. This affects traditional diagnostics
(in the absence of ‘-fno-show-column’), as well as JSON format diagnostics if
requested.
The default UNIT, ‘display’, considers the number of display columns occupied
by each character. This may be larger than the number of bytes required to
encode the character, in the case of tab characters, or it may be smaller, in
the case of multibyte characters. For example, the character “GREEK SMALL
LETTER PI (U+03C0)” occupies one display column, and its UTF-8 encoding
requires two bytes; the character “SLIGHTLY SMILING FACE (U+1F642)”
occupies two display columns, and its UTF-8 encoding requires four bytes.
Setting UNIT to ‘byte’ changes the column number to the raw byte count in
all cases, as was traditionally output by GCC prior to version 11.1.0.
-fdiagnostics-column-origin=ORIGIN
Select the origin for column numbers, i.e. the column number assigned to the
first column. The default value of 1 corresponds to traditional GCC behavior
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 89

and to the GNU style guide. Some utilities may perform better with an origin
of 0; any non-negative value may be specified.
-fdiagnostics-escape-format=FORMAT
When GCC prints pertinent source lines for a diagnostic it normally attempts
to print the source bytes directly. However, some diagnostics relate to encoding
issues in the source file, such as malformed UTF-8, or issues with Unicode
normalization. These diagnostics are flagged so that GCC will escape bytes
that are not printable ASCII when printing their pertinent source lines.
This option controls how such bytes should be escaped.
The default FORMAT, ‘unicode’ displays Unicode characters that are not
printable ASCII in the form ‘<U+XXXX>’, and bytes that do not correspond
to a Unicode character validly-encoded in UTF-8-encoded will be displayed as
hexadecimal in the form ‘<XX>’.
For example, a source line containing the string ‘before’ followed by the Uni-
code character U+03C0 (“GREEK SMALL LETTER PI”, with UTF-8 encoding
0xCF 0x80) followed by the byte 0xBF (a stray UTF-8 trailing byte), followed
by the string ‘after’ will be printed for such a diagnostic as:
before<U+03C0><BF>after
Setting FORMAT to ‘bytes’ will display all non-printable-ASCII bytes in the
form ‘<XX>’, thus showing the underlying encoding of non-ASCII Unicode char-
acters. For the example above, the following will be printed:
before<CF><80><BF>after
-fdiagnostics-format=FORMAT
Select a different format for printing diagnostics. FORMAT is ‘text’,
‘sarif-stderr’, ‘sarif-file’, ‘json’, ‘json-stderr’, or ‘json-file’.
The default is ‘text’.
The ‘sarif-stderr’ and ‘sarif-file’ formats both emit diagnostics in SARIF
Version 2.1.0 format, either to stderr, or to a file named ‘source.sarif’, re-
spectively.
The ‘json’ format is a synonym for ‘json-stderr’. The ‘json-stderr’ and
‘json-file’ formats are identical, apart from where the JSON is emitted to -
with the former, the JSON is emitted to stderr, whereas with ‘json-file’ it is
written to ‘source.gcc.json’.
The emitted JSON consists of a top-level JSON array containing JSON ob-
jects representing the diagnostics. The JSON is emitted as one line, without
formatting; the examples below have been formatted for clarity.
Diagnostics can have child diagnostics. For example, this error and note:
misleading-indentation.c:15:3: warning: this ’if’ clause does not
guard... [-Wmisleading-indentation]
15 | if (flag)
| ^~
misleading-indentation.c:17:5: note: ...this statement, but the latter
is misleadingly indented as if it were guarded by the ’if’
17 | y = 2;
| ^
might be printed in JSON form (after formatting) like this:
90 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

[
{
"kind": "warning",
"locations": [
{
"caret": {
"display-column": 3,
"byte-column": 3,
"column": 3,
"file": "misleading-indentation.c",
"line": 15
},
"finish": {
"display-column": 4,
"byte-column": 4,
"column": 4,
"file": "misleading-indentation.c",
"line": 15
}
}
],
"message": "this \u2018if\u2019 clause does not guard...",
"option": "-Wmisleading-indentation",
"option_url": "https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Warning-Options.html#index-
Wmisleading-indentation",
"children": [
{
"kind": "note",
"locations": [
{
"caret": {
"display-column": 5,
"byte-column": 5,
"column": 5,
"file": "misleading-indentation.c",
"line": 17
}
}
],
"escape-source": false,
"message": "...this statement, but the latter is ..."
}
]
"escape-source": false,
"column-origin": 1,
}
]
where the note is a child of the warning.
A diagnostic has a kind. If this is warning, then there is an option key
describing the command-line option controlling the warning.
A diagnostic can contain zero or more locations. Each location has an optional
label string and up to three positions within it: a caret position and optional
start and finish positions. A position is described by a file name, a line
number, and three numbers indicating a column position:
• display-column counts display columns, accounting for tabs and multi-
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 91

byte characters.
• byte-column counts raw bytes.
• column is equal to one of the previous two, as dictated by the
‘-fdiagnostics-column-unit’ option.

All three columns are relative to the origin specified by ‘-fdiagnostics-column-origin’,

which is typically equal to 1 but may be set, for instance, to 0 for compatibility
with other utilities that number columns from 0. The column origin is recorded
in the JSON output in the column-origin tag. In the remaining examples
below, the extra column number outputs have been omitted for brevity.
For example, this error:
bad-binary-ops.c:64:23: error: invalid operands to binary + (have ’S’ {aka
’struct s’} and ’T’ {aka ’struct t’})
64 | return callee_4a () + callee_4b ();
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
| | |
| | T {aka struct t}
| S {aka struct s}

has three locations. Its primary location is at the “+” token at column 23.
It has two secondary locations, describing the left and right-hand sides of the
expression, which have labels. It might be printed in JSON form as:
{
"children": [],
"kind": "error",
"locations": [
{
"caret": {
"column": 23, "file": "bad-binary-ops.c", "line": 64
}
},
{
"caret": {
"column": 10, "file": "bad-binary-ops.c", "line": 64
},
"finish": {
"column": 21, "file": "bad-binary-ops.c", "line": 64
},
"label": "S {aka struct s}"
},
{
"caret": {
"column": 25, "file": "bad-binary-ops.c", "line": 64
},
"finish": {
"column": 36, "file": "bad-binary-ops.c", "line": 64
},
"label": "T {aka struct t}"
}
],
"escape-source": false,
"message": "invalid operands to binary + ..."
}
92 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

If a diagnostic contains fix-it hints, it has a fixits array, consisting of half-

open intervals, similar to the output of ‘-fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits’.
For example, this diagnostic with a replacement fix-it hint:
demo.c:8:15: error: ’struct s’ has no member named ’colour’; did you
mean ’color’?
8 | return ptr->colour;
| ^~~~~~
| color

might be printed in JSON form as:

{
"children": [],
"fixits": [
{
"next": {
"column": 21,
"file": "demo.c",
"line": 8
},
"start": {
"column": 15,
"file": "demo.c",
"line": 8
},
"string": "color"
}
],
"kind": "error",
"locations": [
{
"caret": {
"column": 15,
"file": "demo.c",
"line": 8
},
"finish": {
"column": 20,
"file": "demo.c",
"line": 8
}
}
],
"escape-source": false,
"message": "\u2018struct s\u2019 has no member named ..."
}

where the fix-it hint suggests replacing the text from start up to but not
including next with string’s value. Deletions are expressed via an empty
value for string, insertions by having start equal next.
If the diagnostic has a path of control-flow events associated with it, it has
a path array of objects representing the events. Each event object has a
description string, a location object, along with a function string and a
depth number for representing interprocedural paths. The function represents
the current function at that event, and the depth represents the stack depth
relative to some baseline: the higher, the more frames are within the stack.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 93

For example, the intraprocedural example shown for ‘-fdiagnostics-path-format=’

might have this JSON for its path:
"path": [
{
"depth": 0,
"description": "when ’PyList_New’ fails, returning NULL",
"function": "test",
"location": {
"column": 10,
"file": "test.c",
"line": 25
}
},
{
"depth": 0,
"description": "when ’i < count’",
"function": "test",
"location": {
"column": 3,
"file": "test.c",
"line": 27
}
},
{
"depth": 0,
"description": "when calling ’PyList_Append’, passing NULL from (1) as ar-
gument 1",
"function": "test",
"location": {
"column": 5,
"file": "test.c",
"line": 29
}
}
]
Diagnostics have a boolean attribute escape-source, hinting whether non-
ASCII bytes should be escaped when printing the pertinent lines of source code
(true for diagnostics involving source encoding issues).

3.8 Options to Request or Suppress Warnings

Warnings are diagnostic messages that report constructions that are not inherently erro-
neous but that 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.
-fmax-errors=n
Limits the maximum number of error messages to n, at which point GCC bails
out rather than attempting to continue processing the source code. If n is 0
(the default), there is no limit on the number of error messages produced. If
‘-Wfatal-errors’ is also specified, then ‘-Wfatal-errors’ takes precedence
over this option.
94 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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.
The warning message for each controllable warning includes the option that
controls the warning. That option can then be used with ‘-Werror=’ and
‘-Wno-error=’ as described above. (Printing of the option in the warning mes-
sage can be disabled using the ‘-fno-diagnostics-show-option’ flag.)
Note that specifying ‘-Werror=’foo automatically implies ‘-W’foo. 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 with ‘-W’, for example
‘-Wimplicit’ to request warnings on implicit declarations. Each of these specific warn-
ing 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 de-
fault. For further language-specific options also refer to Section 3.5 [C++ Dialect Options],
page 52 and Section 3.6 [Objective-C and Objective-C++ Dialect Options], page 78. Ad-
ditional warnings can be produced by enabling the static analyzer; See Section 3.9 [Static
Analyzer Options], page 151.
Some options, such as ‘-Wall’ and ‘-Wextra’, turn on other options, such as ‘-Wunused’,
which may turn on further options, such as ‘-Wunused-value’. The combined effect of
positive and negative forms is that more specific options have priority over less specific ones,
independently of their position in the command-line. For options of the same specificity,
the last one takes effect. Options enabled or disabled via pragmas (see Section 6.62.12
[Diagnostic Pragmas], page 889) take effect as if they appeared at the end of the command-
line.
When an unrecognized warning option is requested (e.g., ‘-Wunknown-warning’),
GCC emits a diagnostic stating that the option is not recognized. However, if the
‘-Wno-’ form is used, the behavior is slightly different: no diagnostic is produced for
‘-Wno-unknown-warning’ unless other diagnostics are being produced. This allows the
use of new ‘-Wno-’ options with old compilers, but if something goes wrong, the compiler
warns that an unrecognized option is present.
The effectiveness of some warnings depends on optimizations also being enabled. For
example ‘-Wsuggest-final-types’ is more effective with link-time optimization and some
instances of other warnings may not be issued at all unless optimization is enabled. While
optimization in general improves the efficacy of control and data flow sensitive warnings, in
some cases it may also cause false positives.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 95

-Wpedantic
-pedantic
Issue all the warnings demanded by strict ISO C and ISO C++; reject all pro-
grams 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 stan-
dard 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 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.
‘-Wpedantic’ does not cause warning messages for use of the alternate keywords
whose names begin and end with ‘__’. This alternate format can also be used to
disable warnings for non-ISO ‘__intN’ types, i.e. ‘__intN__’. Pedantic warn-
ings are also disabled in the expression that follows __extension__. However,
only system header files should use these escape routes; application programs
should avoid them. See Section 6.48 [Alternate Keywords], page 721.
Some users try to use ‘-Wpedantic’ to check programs for strict ISO C con-
formance. 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 ‘-Wpedantic’. 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 ‘gnu90’ or ‘gnu99’, there is a corresponding base standard, the
version of ISO C on which the GNU extended dialect is based. Warnings from
‘-Wpedantic’ are given where they are required by the base standard. (It
does 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
Give an error whenever the base standard (see ‘-Wpedantic’) requires a diag-
nostic, in some cases where there is undefined behavior at compile-time and in
some other cases that do not prevent compilation of programs that are valid
according to the standard. This is not equivalent to ‘-Werror=pedantic’, since
there are errors enabled by this option and not enabled by the latter and vice
versa.
-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 Section 3.5 [C++ Dialect Options], page 52 and Section 3.6
[Objective-C and Objective-C++ Dialect Options], page 78.
96 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘-Wall’ turns on the following warning flags:

-Waddress
-Warray-bounds=1 (only with ‘-O2’)
-Warray-compare
-Warray-parameter=2 (C and Objective-C only)
-Wbool-compare
-Wbool-operation
-Wc++11-compat -Wc++14-compat
-Wcatch-value (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
-Wchar-subscripts
-Wcomment
-Wdangling-pointer=2
-Wduplicate-decl-specifier (C and Objective-C only)
-Wenum-compare (in C/ObjC; this is on by default in C++)
-Wenum-int-mismatch (C and Objective-C only)
-Wformat
-Wformat-overflow
-Wformat-truncation
-Wint-in-bool-context
-Wimplicit (C and Objective-C only)
-Wimplicit-int (C and Objective-C only)
-Wimplicit-function-declaration (C and Objective-C only)
-Winit-self (only for C++)
-Wlogical-not-parentheses
-Wmain (only for C/ObjC and unless ‘-ffreestanding’)
-Wmaybe-uninitialized
-Wmemset-elt-size
-Wmemset-transposed-args
-Wmisleading-indentation (only for C/C++)
-Wmismatched-dealloc
-Wmismatched-new-delete (only for C/C++)
-Wmissing-attributes
-Wmissing-braces (only for C/ObjC)
-Wmultistatement-macros
-Wnarrowing (only for C++)
-Wnonnull
-Wnonnull-compare
-Wopenmp-simd
-Wparentheses
-Wpessimizing-move (only for C++)
-Wpointer-sign
-Wrange-loop-construct (only for C++)
-Wreorder
-Wrestrict
-Wreturn-type
-Wself-move (only for C++)
-Wsequence-point
-Wsign-compare (only in C++)
-Wsizeof-array-div
-Wsizeof-pointer-div
-Wsizeof-pointer-memaccess
-Wstrict-aliasing
-Wstrict-overflow=1
-Wswitch
-Wtautological-compare
-Wtrigraphs
-Wuninitialized
-Wunknown-pragmas
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 97

-Wunused-function
-Wunused-label
-Wunused-value
-Wunused-variable
-Wuse-after-free=3
-Wvla-parameter (C and Objective-C only)
-Wvolatile-register-var
-Wzero-length-bounds
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 mod-
ify 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
-Wcast-function-type
-Wdeprecated-copy (C++ only)
-Wempty-body
-Wenum-conversion (C only)
-Wignored-qualifiers
-Wimplicit-fallthrough=3
-Wmissing-field-initializers
-Wmissing-parameter-type (C only)
-Wold-style-declaration (C only)
-Woverride-init
-Wsign-compare (C only)
-Wstring-compare
-Wredundant-move (only for C++)
-Wtype-limits
-Wuninitialized
-Wshift-negative-value (in C++11 to C++17 and in C99 and newer)
-Wunused-parameter (only with ‘-Wunused’ or ‘-Wall’)
-Wunused-but-set-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 condi-
tional expression.
• (C++ only) Ambiguous virtual bases.
• (C++ only) Subscripting an array that has been declared register.
• (C++ only) Taking the address of a variable that has been declared
register.
• (C++ only) A base class is not initialized in the copy constructor of a derived
class.
-Wabi (C, Objective-C, C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about code affected by ABI changes. This includes code that may not
be compatible with the vendor-neutral C++ ABI as well as the psABI for the
particular target.
98 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Since G++ now defaults to updating the ABI with each major release, normally
‘-Wabi’ warns only about C++ ABI compatibility problems if there is a check
added later in a release series for an ABI issue discovered since the initial
release. ‘-Wabi’ warns about more things if an older ABI version is selected
(with ‘-fabi-version=n’).
‘-Wabi’ can also be used with an explicit version number to warn about C++
ABI compatibility with a particular ‘-fabi-version’ level, e.g. ‘-Wabi=2’ to
warn about changes relative to ‘-fabi-version=2’.
If an explicit version number is provided and ‘-fabi-compat-version’ is
not specified, the version number from this option is used for compatibility
aliases. If no explicit version number is provided with this option, but
‘-fabi-compat-version’ is specified, that version number is used for C++
ABI warnings.
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 is 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.
Known incompatibilities in ‘-fabi-version=2’ (which was the default from
GCC 3.4 to 4.9) include:
• A template with a non-type template parameter of reference type was
mangled incorrectly:
extern int N;
template <int &> struct S {};
void n (S<N>) {2}
This was fixed in ‘-fabi-version=3’.
• SIMD vector types declared using __attribute ((vector_size)) were
mangled in a non-standard way that does not allow for overloading of
functions taking vectors of different sizes.
The mangling was changed in ‘-fabi-version=4’.
• __attribute ((const)) and noreturn were mangled as type qualifiers,
and decltype of a plain declaration was folded away.
These mangling issues were fixed in ‘-fabi-version=5’.
• Scoped enumerators passed as arguments to a variadic function are pro-
moted like unscoped enumerators, causing va_arg to complain. On most
targets this does not actually affect the parameter passing ABI, as there is
no way to pass an argument smaller than int.
Also, the ABI changed the mangling of template argument packs, const_
cast, static_cast, prefix increment/decrement, and a class scope func-
tion used as a template argument.
These issues were corrected in ‘-fabi-version=6’.
• Lambdas in default argument scope were mangled incorrectly, and the ABI
changed the mangling of nullptr_t.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 99

These issues were corrected in ‘-fabi-version=7’.

• When mangling a function type with function-cv-qualifiers, the un-qualified
function type was incorrectly treated as a substitution candidate.
This was fixed in ‘-fabi-version=8’, the default for GCC 5.1.
• decltype(nullptr) incorrectly had an alignment of 1, leading to un-
aligned accesses. Note that this did not affect the ABI of a function with
a nullptr_t parameter, as parameters have a minimum alignment.
This was fixed in ‘-fabi-version=9’, the default for GCC 5.2.
• Target-specific attributes that affect the identity of a type, such as ia32
calling conventions on a function type (stdcall, regparm, etc.), did not
affect the mangled name, leading to name collisions when function pointers
were used as template arguments.
This was fixed in ‘-fabi-version=10’, the default for GCC 6.1.
This option also enables warnings about psABI-related changes. The known
psABI changes at this point include:
• For SysV/x86-64, unions with long double members are passed in memory
as specified in psABI. Prior to GCC 4.4, this was not the case. For example:
union U {
long double ld;
int i;
};
union U is now always passed in memory.
-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’.
-Wno-coverage-mismatch
Warn if feedback profiles do not match when using the ‘-fprofile-use’ option.
If a source file is changed between compiling with ‘-fprofile-generate’ and
with ‘-fprofile-use’, the files with the profile feedback can fail to match the
source file and GCC cannot use the profile feedback information. By default,
this warning is enabled and is treated as an error. ‘-Wno-coverage-mismatch’
can be used to disable the warning or ‘-Wno-error=coverage-mismatch’ can
be used to disable the error. Disabling the error for this warning can result in
poorly optimized code and is useful only in the case of very minor changes such
as bug fixes to an existing code-base. Completely disabling the warning is not
recommended.
-Wno-coverage-invalid-line-number
Warn in case a function ends earlier than it begins due to an invalid linenum
macros. The warning is emitted only with ‘--coverage’ enabled.
By default, this warning is enabled and is treated as an error.
‘-Wno-coverage-invalid-line-number’ can be used to disable the warning
or ‘-Wno-error=coverage-invalid-line-number’ can be used to disable the
error.
100 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wno-cpp (C, Objective-C, C++, Objective-C++ and Fortran only)

Suppress warning messages emitted by #warning directives.
-Wdouble-promotion (C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Give a warning when a value of type float is implicitly promoted to double.
CPUs with a 32-bit “single-precision” floating-point unit implement float in
hardware, but emulate double in software. On such a machine, doing compu-
tations using double values is much more expensive because of the overhead
required for software emulation.
It is easy to accidentally do computations with double because floating-point
literals are implicitly of type double. For example, in:
float area(float radius)
{
return 3.14159 * radius * radius;
}
the compiler performs the entire computation with double because the floating-
point literal is a double.
-Wduplicate-decl-specifier (C and Objective-C only)
Warn if a declaration has duplicate const, volatile, restrict or _Atomic
specifier. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wformat
-Wformat=n
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 (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566), in the printf, scanf, strftime and strfmon (an X/Open exten-
sion, 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 at-
tribute 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 sup-
port warning about features that go beyond a particular library’s limitations.
However, if ‘-Wpedantic’ is used with ‘-Wformat’, warnings are given about
format features not in the selected standard version (but not for strfmon for-
mats, since those are not in any version of the C standard). See Section 3.4
[Options Controlling C Dialect], page 44.
-Wformat=1
-Wformat Option ‘-Wformat’ is equivalent to ‘-Wformat=1’, and
‘-Wno-format’ is equivalent to ‘-Wformat=0’. Since ‘-Wformat’
also checks for null format arguments for several functions,
‘-Wformat’ also implies ‘-Wnonnull’. Some aspects of this
level of format checking can be disabled by the options:
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 101

‘-Wno-format-contains-nul’, ‘-Wno-format-extra-args’, and

‘-Wno-format-zero-length’. ‘-Wformat’ is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wformat=2
Enable ‘-Wformat’ plus additional format checks. Currently equiv-
alent to ‘-Wformat -Wformat-nonliteral -Wformat-security
-Wformat-y2k’.
-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 sup-
presses the warning if the unused arguments are all pointers, since the Single
Unix Specification says that such unused arguments are allowed.
-Wformat-overflow
-Wformat-overflow=level
Warn about calls to formatted input/output functions such as sprintf and
vsprintf that might overflow the destination buffer. When the exact number
of bytes written by a format directive cannot be determined at compile-time
it is estimated based on heuristics that depend on the level argument and
on optimization. While enabling optimization will in most cases improve the
accuracy of the warning, it may also result in false positives.
-Wformat-overflow
-Wformat-overflow=1
Level 1 of ‘-Wformat-overflow’ enabled by ‘-Wformat’ employs a
conservative approach that warns only about calls that most likely
overflow the buffer. At this level, numeric arguments to format di-
rectives with unknown values are assumed to have the value of one,
and strings of unknown length to be empty. Numeric arguments
that are known to be bounded to a subrange of their type, or string
arguments whose output is bounded either by their directive’s pre-
cision or by a finite set of string literals, are assumed to take on the
value within the range that results in the most bytes on output. For
example, the call to sprintf below is diagnosed because even with
both a and b equal to zero, the terminating NUL character (’\0’)
appended by the function to the destination buffer will be written
past its end. Increasing the size of the buffer by a single byte is
sufficient to avoid the warning, though it may not be sufficient to
avoid the overflow.
102 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void f (int a, int b)

{
char buf [13];
sprintf (buf, "a = %i, b = %i\n", a, b);
}

-Wformat-overflow=2
Level 2 warns also about calls that might overflow the destination
buffer given an argument of sufficient length or magnitude. At level
2, unknown numeric arguments are assumed to have the minimum
representable value for signed types with a precision greater than 1,
and the maximum representable value otherwise. Unknown string
arguments whose length cannot be assumed to be bounded either
by the directive’s precision, or by a finite set of string literals they
may evaluate to, or the character array they may point to, are
assumed to be 1 character long.
At level 2, the call in the example above is again diagnosed, but this
time because with a equal to a 32-bit INT_MIN the first %i direc-
tive will write some of its digits beyond the end of the destination
buffer. To make the call safe regardless of the values of the two
variables, the size of the destination buffer must be increased to at
least 34 bytes. GCC includes the minimum size of the buffer in an
informational note following the warning.
An alternative to increasing the size of the destination buffer is to
constrain the range of formatted values. The maximum length of
string arguments can be bounded by specifying the precision in the
format directive. When numeric arguments of format directives can
be assumed to be bounded by less than the precision of their type,
choosing an appropriate length modifier to the format specifier will
reduce the required buffer size. For example, if a and b in the
example above can be assumed to be within the precision of the
short int type then using either the %hi format directive or casting
the argument to short reduces the maximum required size of the
buffer to 24 bytes.
void f (int a, int b)
{
char buf [23];
sprintf (buf, "a = %hi, b = %i\n", a, (short)b);
}

-Wno-format-zero-length
If ‘-Wformat’ is specified, do not warn about zero-length formats. The C stan-
dard 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 103

-Wformat-security
If ‘-Wformat’ is specified, also warn about uses of format functions that repre-
sent 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 fu-
ture warnings may be added to ‘-Wformat-security’ that are not included in
‘-Wformat-nonliteral’.)
-Wformat-signedness
If ‘-Wformat’ is specified, also warn if the format string requires an unsigned
argument and the argument is signed and vice versa.
-Wformat-truncation
-Wformat-truncation=level
Warn about calls to formatted input/output functions such as snprintf and
vsnprintf that might result in output truncation. When the exact number
of bytes written by a format directive cannot be determined at compile-time
it is estimated based on heuristics that depend on the level argument and
on optimization. While enabling optimization will in most cases improve the
accuracy of the warning, it may also result in false positives. Except as noted
otherwise, the option uses the same logic ‘-Wformat-overflow’.
-Wformat-truncation
-Wformat-truncation=1
Level 1 of ‘-Wformat-truncation’ enabled by ‘-Wformat’ employs
a conservative approach that warns only about calls to bounded
functions whose return value is unused and that will most likely
result in output truncation.
-Wformat-truncation=2
Level 2 warns also about calls to bounded functions whose return
value is used and that might result in truncation given an argument
of sufficient length or magnitude.
-Wformat-y2k
If ‘-Wformat’ is specified, also warn about strftime formats that may yield
only a two-digit year.
-Wnonnull
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.
-Wnonnull-compare
Warn when comparing an argument marked with the nonnull function at-
tribute against null inside the function.
‘-Wnonnull-compare’ is included in ‘-Wall’. It can be disabled with the
‘-Wno-nonnull-compare’ option.
104 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wnull-dereference
Warn if the compiler detects paths that trigger erroneous or undefined be-
havior due to dereferencing a null pointer. This option is only active when
‘-fdelete-null-pointer-checks’ is active, which is enabled by optimizations
in most targets. The precision of the warnings depends on the optimization
options used.

-Winfinite-recursion
Warn about infinitely recursive calls. The warning is effective at all optimization
levels but requires optimization in order to detect infinite recursion in calls
between two or more functions. ‘-Winfinite-recursion’ is included in ‘-Wall’.
Compare with ‘-Wanalyzer-infinite-recursion’ which provides a similar di-
agnostic, but is implemented in a different way (as part of ‘-fanalyzer’).

-Winit-self (C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)

Warn about uninitialized variables that are initialized with themselves. Note
this option can only be used with the ‘-Wuninitialized’ option.
For example, GCC warns about i being uninitialized in the following snippet
only when ‘-Winit-self’ has been specified:
int f()
{
int i = i;
return i;
}

This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’ in C++.

-Wno-implicit-int (C and Objective-C only)

This option controls warnings when a declaration does not specify a type. This
warning is enabled by default in C99 and later dialects of C, and also by ‘-Wall’.

-Wno-implicit-function-declaration (C and Objective-C only)

This option controls warnings when a function is used before being declared.
This warning is enabled by default in C99 and later dialects of C, and also by
‘-Wall’. The warning is made into an error by ‘-pedantic-errors’.

-Wimplicit (C and Objective-C only)

Same as ‘-Wimplicit-int’ and ‘-Wimplicit-function-declaration’. This
warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.

-Wimplicit-fallthrough
‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough’ is the same as ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=3’ and
‘-Wno-implicit-fallthrough’ is the same as ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=0’.

-Wimplicit-fallthrough=n
Warn when a switch case falls through. For example:
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 105

switch (cond)
{
case 1:
a = 1;
break;
case 2:
a = 2;
case 3:
a = 3;
break;
}
This warning does not warn when the last statement of a case cannot fall
through, e.g. when there is a return statement or a call to function declared with
the noreturn attribute. ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=’ also takes into account
control flow statements, such as ifs, and only warns when appropriate. E.g.
switch (cond)
{
case 1:
if (i > 3) {
bar (5);
break;
} else if (i < 1) {
bar (0);
} else
return;
default:
...
}
Since there are occasions where a switch case fall through is desirable, GCC
provides an attribute, __attribute__ ((fallthrough)), that is to be used
along with a null statement to suppress this warning that would normally occur:
switch (cond)
{
case 1:
bar (0);
__attribute__ ((fallthrough));
default:
...
}
C++17 provides a standard way to suppress the ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough’
warning using [[fallthrough]]; instead of the GNU attribute. In C++11 or
C++14 users can use [[gnu::fallthrough]];, which is a GNU extension. In-
stead of these attributes, it is also possible to add a fallthrough comment to
silence the warning. The whole body of the C or C++ style comment should
match the given regular expressions listed below. The option argument n spec-
ifies what kind of comments are accepted:
• ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=0’ disables the warning altogether.
• ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=1’ matches .* regular expression, any com-
ment is used as fallthrough comment.
• ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=2’ case insensitively matches .*falls?[ \t-
]*thr(ough|u).* regular expression.
106 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=3’ case sensitively matches one of the following

regular expressions:
• -fallthrough
• @fallthrough@
• lint -fallthrough[ \t]*
• [ \t.!]*(ELSE,? |INTENTIONAL(LY)? )?
FALL(S | |-)?THR(OUGH|U)[ \t.!]*(-[^\n\r]*)?
• [ \t.!]*(Else,? |Intentional(ly)? )?
Fall((s | |-)[Tt]|t)hr(ough|u)[ \t.!]*(-[^\n\r]*)?
• [ \t.!]*([Ee]lse,? |[Ii]ntentional(ly)? )?
fall(s | |-)?thr(ough|u)[ \t.!]*(-[^\n\r]*)?
• ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=4’ case sensitively matches one of the following
regular expressions:
• -fallthrough
• @fallthrough@
• lint -fallthrough[ \t]*
• [ \t]*FALLTHR(OUGH|U)[ \t]*
• ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=5’ doesn’t recognize any comments as
fallthrough comments, only attributes disable the warning.
The comment needs to be followed after optional whitespace and other com-
ments by case or default keywords or by a user label that precedes some case
or default label.
switch (cond)
{
case 1:
bar (0);
/* FALLTHRU */
default:
...
}
The ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough=3’ warning is enabled by ‘-Wextra’.
-Wno-if-not-aligned (C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Control if warnings triggered by the warn_if_not_aligned attribute should be
issued. These warnings are enabled by default.
-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’.
-Wno-ignored-attributes (C and C++ only)
This option controls warnings when an attribute is ignored. This is different
from the ‘-Wattributes’ option in that it warns whenever the compiler decides
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 107

to drop an attribute, not that the attribute is either unknown, used in a wrong
place, etc. This warning is enabled by default.
-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 ‘-Wpedantic’.
-Wmisleading-indentation (C and C++ only)
Warn when the indentation of the code does not reflect the block structure.
Specifically, a warning is issued for if, else, while, and for clauses with a
guarded statement that does not use braces, followed by an unguarded state-
ment with the same indentation.
In the following example, the call to “bar” is misleadingly indented as if it were
guarded by the “if” conditional.
if (some_condition ())
foo ();
bar (); /* Gotcha: this is not guarded by the "if". */
In the case of mixed tabs and spaces, the warning uses the ‘-ftabstop=’ option
to determine if the statements line up (defaulting to 8).
The warning is not issued for code involving multiline preprocessor logic such
as the following example.
if (flagA)
foo (0);
#if SOME_CONDITION_THAT_DOES_NOT_HOLD
if (flagB)
#endif
foo (1);
The warning is not issued after a #line directive, since this typically indicates
autogenerated code, and no assumptions can be made about the layout of the
file that the directive references.
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’ in C and C++.
-Wmissing-attributes
Warn when a declaration of a function is missing one or more attributes that
a related function is declared with and whose absence may adversely affect the
correctness or efficiency of generated code. For example, the warning is issued
for declarations of aliases that use attributes to specify less restrictive require-
ments than those of their targets. This typically represents a potential opti-
mization opportunity. By contrast, the ‘-Wattribute-alias=2’ option controls
warnings issued when the alias is more restrictive than the target, which could
lead to incorrect code generation. Attributes considered include alloc_align,
alloc_size, cold, const, hot, leaf, malloc, nonnull, noreturn, nothrow,
pure, returns_nonnull, and returns_twice.
In C++, the warning is issued when an explicit specialization of a primary
template declared with attribute alloc_align, alloc_size, assume_aligned,
format, format_arg, malloc, or nonnull is declared without it. Attributes
deprecated, error, and warning suppress the warning. (see Section 6.33
[Function Attributes], page 566).
108 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

You can use the copy attribute to apply the same set of attributes to a
declaration as that on another declaration without explicitly enumerating
the attributes. This attribute can be applied to declarations of functions
(see Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567), variables
(see Section 6.34.1 [Common Variable Attributes], page 633), or types (see
Section 6.35.1 [Common Type Attributes], page 647).
‘-Wmissing-attributes’ is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
For example, since the declaration of the primary function template below
makes use of both attribute malloc and alloc_size the declaration of the
explicit specialization of the template is diagnosed because it is missing one of
the attributes.
template <class T>
T* __attribute__ ((malloc, alloc_size (1)))
allocate (size_t);

template <>
void* __attribute__ ((malloc)) // missing alloc_size
allocate<void> (size_t);

-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, Objective-C++ and Fortran only)
Warn if a user-supplied include directory does not exist. This opions is dis-
abled by default for C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++. For Fortran, it is
partially enabled by default by warning for -I and -J, only.
-Wno-missing-profile
This option controls warnings if feedback profiles are missing when using the
‘-fprofile-use’ option. This option diagnoses those cases where a new func-
tion or a new file is added between compiling with ‘-fprofile-generate’ and
with ‘-fprofile-use’, without regenerating the profiles. In these cases, the
profile feedback data files do not contain any profile feedback information for
the newly added function or file respectively. Also, in the case when profile
count data (.gcda) files are removed, GCC cannot use any profile feedback in-
formation. In all these cases, warnings are issued to inform you that a profile
generation step is due. Ignoring the warning can result in poorly optimized
code. ‘-Wno-missing-profile’ can be used to disable the warning, but this is
not recommended and should be done only when non-existent profile data is
justified.
-Wmismatched-dealloc
Warn for calls to deallocation functions with pointer arguments returned from
from allocations functions for which the former isn’t a suitable deallocator.
A pair of functions can be associated as matching allocators and deallocators
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 109

by use of attribute malloc. Unless disabled by the ‘-fno-builtin’ option

the standard functions calloc, malloc, realloc, and free, as well as the
corresponding forms of C++ operator new and operator delete are implicitly
associated as matching allocators and deallocators. In the following example
mydealloc is the deallocator for pointers returned from myalloc.
void mydealloc (void*);

__attribute__ ((malloc (mydealloc, 1))) void*

myalloc (size_t);

void f (void)
{
void *p = myalloc (32);
// ...use p...
free (p); // warning: not a matching deallocator for myalloc
mydealloc (p); // ok
}
In C++, the related option ‘-Wmismatched-new-delete’ diagnoses mismatches
involving either operator new or operator delete.
Option ‘-Wmismatched-dealloc’ is included in ‘-Wall’.
-Wmultistatement-macros
Warn about unsafe multiple statement macros that appear to be guarded by a
clause such as if, else, for, switch, or while, in which only the first statement
is actually guarded after the macro is expanded.
For example:
#define DOIT x++; y++
if (c)
DOIT;
will increment y unconditionally, not just when c holds. The can usually be
fixed by wrapping the macro in a do-while loop:
#define DOIT do { x++; y++; } while (0)
if (c)
DOIT;
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’ in C and C++.
-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 mathemat-
ical notation.
Also warn for dangerous uses of the GNU extension to ?: with omitted middle
operand. When the condition in the ?: operator is a boolean expression, the
omitted value is always 1. Often programmers expect it to be a value computed
inside the conditional expression instead.
For C++ this also warns for some cases of unnecessary parentheses in declara-
tions, which can indicate an attempt at a function call instead of a declaration:
110 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

{
// Declares a local variable called mymutex.
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> (mymutex);
// User meant std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock (mymutex);
}
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wno-self-move (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
This warning warns when a value is moved to itself with std::move. Such a
std::move typically has no effect.
struct T {
...
};
void fn()
{
T t;
...
t = std::move (t);
}
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 define 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 evalua-
tion 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 ex-
pressed 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 111

The C++17 standard will define the order of evaluation of operands in more
cases: in particular it requires that the right-hand side of an assignment be
evaluated before the left-hand side, so the above examples are no longer unde-
fined. But this option will still warn about them, to help people avoid writing
code that is undefined in C and earlier revisions of C++.
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 https://gcc.gnu.org/readings.html.
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’ for C and C++.
-Wno-return-local-addr
Do not warn about returning a pointer (or in C++, a reference) to a variable
that goes out of scope after the function returns.
-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).
For C only, warn about a return statement with an expression in a function
whose return type is void, unless the expression type is also void. As a GNU
extension, the latter case is accepted without a warning unless ‘-Wpedantic’ is
used. Attempting to use the return value of a non-void function other than
main that flows off the end by reaching the closing curly brace that terminates
the function is undefined.
Unlike in C, in C++, flowing off the end of a non-void function other than main
results in undefined behavior even when the value of the function is not used.
This warning is enabled by default in C++ and by ‘-Wall’ otherwise.
-Wno-shift-count-negative
Controls warnings if a shift count is negative. This warning is enabled by
default.
-Wno-shift-count-overflow
Controls warnings if a shift count is greater than or equal to the bit width of
the type. This warning is enabled by default.
-Wshift-negative-value
Warn if left shifting a negative value. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wextra’ in
C99 (and newer) and C++11 to C++17 modes.
-Wno-shift-overflow
-Wshift-overflow=n
These options control warnings about left shift overflows.
-Wshift-overflow=1
This is the warning level of ‘-Wshift-overflow’ and is enabled by
default in C99 and C++11 modes (and newer). This warning level
does not warn about left-shifting 1 into the sign bit. (However, in
112 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

C, such an overflow is still rejected in contexts where an integer

constant expression is required.) No warning is emitted in C++20
mode (and newer), as signed left shifts always wrap.
-Wshift-overflow=2
This warning level also warns about left-shifting 1 into the sign bit,
unless C++14 mode (or newer) is active.
-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 (even if there is a default
label). 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.
The only difference between ‘-Wswitch’ and this option is that this option gives
a warning about an omitted enumeration code even if there is a default label.
-Wno-switch-bool
Do not warn when a switch statement has an index of boolean type and the
case values are outside the range of a boolean type. It is possible to suppress
this warning by casting the controlling expression to a type other than bool.
For example:
switch ((int) (a == 4))
{
...
}
This warning is enabled by default for C and C++ programs.
-Wno-switch-outside-range
This option controls warnings when a switch case has a value that is outside
of its respective type range. This warning is enabled by default for C and C++
programs.
-Wno-switch-unreachable
Do not warn when a switch statement contains statements between the con-
trolling expression and the first case label, which will never be executed. For
example:
switch (cond)
{
i = 15;
...
case 5:
...
}
‘-Wswitch-unreachable’ does not warn if the statement between the control-
ling expression and the first case label is just a declaration:
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 113

switch (cond)
{
int i;
...
case 5:
i = 5;
...
}
This warning is enabled by default for C and C++ programs.
-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.
-Wtrivial-auto-var-init
Warn when -ftrivial-auto-var-init cannot initialize the automatic vari-
able. A common situation is an automatic variable that is declared between
the controlling expression and the first case label of a switch statement.
-Wunused-but-set-parameter
Warn whenever a function parameter is assigned to, but otherwise unused (aside
from its declaration).
To suppress this warning use the unused attribute (see Section 6.34 [Variable
Attributes], page 633).
This warning is also enabled by ‘-Wunused’ together with ‘-Wextra’.
-Wunused-but-set-variable
Warn whenever a local variable is assigned to, but otherwise unused (aside from
its declaration). This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
To suppress this warning use the unused attribute (see Section 6.34 [Variable
Attributes], page 633).
This warning is also enabled by ‘-Wunused’, which 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 (see Section 6.34 [Variable
Attributes], page 633).
-Wunused-local-typedefs (C, Objective-C, C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn when a typedef locally defined in a function is not used. This warning is
enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wunused-parameter
Warn whenever a function parameter is unused aside from its declaration.
To suppress this warning use the unused attribute (see Section 6.34 [Variable
Attributes], page 633).
114 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wno-unused-result
Do not warn if a caller of a function marked with attribute warn_unused_
result (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566) does not use its return
value. The default is ‘-Wunused-result’.
-Wunused-variable
Warn whenever a local or static variable is unused aside from its declaration.
This option implies ‘-Wunused-const-variable=1’ for C, but not for C++. This
warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
To suppress this warning use the unused attribute (see Section 6.34 [Variable
Attributes], page 633).
-Wunused-const-variable
-Wunused-const-variable=n
Warn whenever a constant static variable is unused aside from its declaration.
‘-Wunused-const-variable=1’ is enabled by ‘-Wunused-variable’ for C, but
not for C++. In C this declares variable storage, but in C++ this is not an error
since const variables take the place of #defines.
To suppress this warning use the unused attribute (see Section 6.34 [Variable
Attributes], page 633).
-Wunused-const-variable=1
This is the warning level that is enabled by ‘-Wunused-variable’
for C. It warns only about unused static const variables defined
in the main compilation unit, but not about static const variables
declared in any header included.
-Wunused-const-variable=2
This warning level also warns for unused constant static variables
in headers (excluding system headers). This is the warning level
of ‘-Wunused-const-variable’ and must be explicitly requested
since in C++ this isn’t an error and in C it might be harder to clean
up all headers included.
-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] causes a warning,
while x[(void)i,j] does 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 sepa-
rately specify ‘-Wunused-parameter’.
-Wuninitialized
Warn if an object with automatic or allocated storage duration is used without
having been initialized. In C++, also warn if a non-static reference or non-static
const member appears in a class without constructors.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 115

In addition, passing a pointer (or in C++, a reference) to an uninitialized object

to a const-qualified argument of a built-in function known to read the object
is also diagnosed by this warning. (‘-Wmaybe-uninitialized’ is issued for
ordinary functions.)
If you want to warn about code that uses the uninitialized value of the variable
in its own initializer, use the ‘-Winit-self’ option.
These warnings occur for individual uninitialized elements of structure, union
or array variables as well as for variables that are uninitialized 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 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.
In C++, this warning also warns about using uninitialized objects in member-
initializer-lists. For example, GCC warns about b being uninitialized in the
following snippet:
struct A {
int a;
int b;
A() : a(b) { }
};
-Wno-invalid-memory-model
This option controls warnings for invocations of Section 6.55 [ atomic Builtins],
page 730, Section 6.54 [ sync Builtins], page 728, and the C11 atomic generic
functions with a memory consistency argument that is either invalid for the
operation or outside the range of values of the memory_order enumeration. For
example, since the __atomic_store and __atomic_store_n built-ins are only
defined for the relaxed, release, and sequentially consistent memory orders the
following code is diagnosed:
void store (int *i)
{
__atomic_store_n (i, 0, memory_order_consume);
}
‘-Winvalid-memory-model’ is enabled by default.
-Wmaybe-uninitialized
For an object with automatic or allocated storage duration, if there exists a
path from the function entry to a use of the object that is initialized, but there
exist some other paths for which the object is not initialized, the compiler emits
a warning if it cannot prove the uninitialized paths are not executed at run time.
In addition, passing a pointer (or in C++, a reference) to an uninitialized ob-
ject to a const-qualified function argument is also diagnosed by this warning.
(‘-Wuninitialized’ is issued for built-in functions known to read the object.)
Annotating the function with attribute access (none) indicates that the argu-
ment isn’t used to access the object and avoids the warning (see Section 6.33.1
[Common Function Attributes], page 567).
116 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

These warnings are only possible in optimizing compilation, because otherwise

GCC does not keep track of the state of variables.
These warnings are made optional because GCC may not be able to determine
when the code is correct in spite of 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. To suppress the warning, you need to provide a default case with
assert(0) or similar code.
This option also warns when a non-volatile automatic variable might be changed
by a call to longjmp. 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 that would
cause a problem.
Some spurious warnings can be avoided if you declare all the functions you
use that never return as noreturn. See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566.
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’ or ‘-Wextra’.
-Wunknown-pragmas
Warn when a #pragma directive is encountered that is not understood by GCC.
If this command-line option is used, warnings are even issued for unknown
pragmas in system header files. This is not the case if the warnings are 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’.
-Wno-prio-ctor-dtor
Do not warn if a priority from 0 to 100 is used for constructor or destructor.
The use of constructor and destructor attributes allow you to assign a priority
to the constructor/destructor to control its order of execution before main is
called or after it returns. The priority values must be greater than 100 as the
compiler reserves priority values between 0–100 for the implementation.
-Wstrict-aliasing
This option is only active when ‘-fstrict-aliasing’ is active. It warns about
code that might break the strict aliasing rules that the compiler is using for
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 117

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 that might break the strict aliasing rules that the compiler is using for op-
timization. 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=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 front end 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 front end 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 pun+dereference pattern in the front
end: *(int*)&some_float. If optimization is enabled, it also runs in the back
end, 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 signed overflow is undefined. It warns about
cases where the compiler optimizes based on the assumption that signed over-
flow 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 that 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 that is not actually a problem. To help focus on important issues,
several warning levels are defined. No warnings are issued for the use of unde-
fined signed overflow when estimating how many iterations a loop requires, in
particular when determining whether a loop will be executed at all.
-Wstrict-overflow=1
Warn about cases that are both questionable and easy to avoid.
For example the compiler simplifies x + 1 > x to 1. This level of
‘-Wstrict-overflow’ is enabled by ‘-Wall’; higher levels are not,
and must be explicitly requested.
118 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 signed integer overflow is undefined, 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 is simplified to x > 0.
-Wstrict-overflow=4
Also warn about other simplifications not covered by the above
cases. For example: (x * 10) / 5 is 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 is
simplified to x + 1 >= y. This is reported only at the highest warn-
ing level because this simplification applies to many comparisons,
so this warning level gives a very large number of false positives.
-Wstring-compare
Warn for calls to strcmp and strncmp whose result is determined to be either
zero or non-zero in tests for such equality owing to the length of one argument
being greater than the size of the array the other argument is stored in (or the
bound in the case of strncmp). Such calls could be mistakes. For example,
the call to strcmp below is diagnosed because its result is necessarily non-zero
irrespective of the contents of the array a.
extern char a[4];
void f (char *d)
{
strcpy (d, "string");
...
if (0 == strcmp (a, d)) // cannot be true
puts ("a and d are the same");
}
‘-Wstring-compare’ is enabled by ‘-Wextra’.
-Wno-stringop-overflow
-Wstringop-overflow
-Wstringop-overflow=type
Warn for calls to string manipulation functions such as memcpy and strcpy
that are determined to overflow the destination buffer. The optional argument
is one greater than the type of Object Size Checking to perform to determine
the size of the destination. See Section 6.58 [Object Size Checking], page 737.
The argument is meaningful only for functions that operate on character arrays
but not for raw memory functions like memcpy which always make use of Object
Size type-0. The option also warns for calls that specify a size in excess of the
largest possible object or at most SIZE_MAX / 2 bytes. The option produces
the best results with optimization enabled but can detect a small subset of
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 119

simple buffer overflows even without optimization in calls to the GCC built-in
functions like __builtin_memcpy that correspond to the standard functions. In
any case, the option warns about just a subset of buffer overflows detected by
the corresponding overflow checking built-ins. For example, the option issues a
warning for the strcpy call below because it copies at least 5 characters (the
string "blue" including the terminating NUL) into the buffer of size 4.
enum Color { blue, purple, yellow };
const char* f (enum Color clr)
{
static char buf [4];
const char *str;
switch (clr)
{
case blue: str = "blue"; break;
case purple: str = "purple"; break;
case yellow: str = "yellow"; break;
}

return strcpy (buf, str); // warning here

}
Option ‘-Wstringop-overflow=2’ is enabled by default.

-Wstringop-overflow
-Wstringop-overflow=1
The ‘-Wstringop-overflow=1’ option uses type-zero Object Size
Checking to determine the sizes of destination objects. At this set-
ting the option does not warn for writes past the end of subobjects
of larger objects accessed by pointers unless the size of the largest
surrounding object is known. When the destination may be one
of several objects it is assumed to be the largest one of them. On
Linux systems, when optimization is enabled at this setting the op-
tion warns for the same code as when the _FORTIFY_SOURCE macro
is defined to a non-zero value.

-Wstringop-overflow=2
The ‘-Wstringop-overflow=2’ option uses type-one Object Size
Checking to determine the sizes of destination objects. At this set-
ting the option warns about overflows when writing to members of
the largest complete objects whose exact size is known. However, it
does not warn for excessive writes to the same members of unknown
objects referenced by pointers since they may point to arrays con-
taining unknown numbers of elements. This is the default setting
of the option.

-Wstringop-overflow=3
The ‘-Wstringop-overflow=3’ option uses type-two Object Size
Checking to determine the sizes of destination objects. At this
setting the option warns about overflowing the smallest object or
data member. This is the most restrictive setting of the option that
may result in warnings for safe code.
120 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wstringop-overflow=4
The ‘-Wstringop-overflow=4’ option uses type-three Object Size
Checking to determine the sizes of destination objects. At this
setting the option warns about overflowing any data members, and
when the destination is one of several objects it uses the size of the
largest of them to decide whether to issue a warning. Similarly to
‘-Wstringop-overflow=3’ this setting of the option may result in
warnings for benign code.
-Wno-stringop-overread
Warn for calls to string manipulation functions such as memchr, or strcpy that
are determined to read past the end of the source sequence.
Option ‘-Wstringop-overread’ is enabled by default.
-Wno-stringop-truncation
Do not warn for calls to bounded string manipulation functions such as strncat,
strncpy, and stpncpy that may either truncate the copied string or leave the
destination unchanged.
In the following example, the call to strncat specifies a bound that is less
than the length of the source string. As a result, the copy of the source will
be truncated and so the call is diagnosed. To avoid the warning use bufsize -
strlen (buf) - 1) as the bound.
void append (char *buf, size_t bufsize)
{
strncat (buf, ".txt", 3);
}
As another example, the following call to strncpy results in copying to d just
the characters preceding the terminating NUL, without appending the NUL
to the end. Assuming the result of strncpy is necessarily a NUL-terminated
string is a common mistake, and so the call is diagnosed. To avoid the warning
when the result is not expected to be NUL-terminated, call memcpy instead.
void copy (char *d, const char *s)
{
strncpy (d, s, strlen (s));
}
In the following example, the call to strncpy specifies the size of the destination
buffer as the bound. If the length of the source string is equal to or greater
than this size the result of the copy will not be NUL-terminated. Therefore,
the call is also diagnosed. To avoid the warning, specify sizeof buf - 1 as the
bound and set the last element of the buffer to NUL.
void copy (const char *s)
{
char buf[80];
strncpy (buf, s, sizeof buf);
...
}
In situations where a character array is intended to store a sequence of bytes
with no terminating NUL such an array may be annotated with attribute
nonstring to avoid this warning. Such arrays, however, are not suitable
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 121

arguments to functions that expect NUL-terminated strings. To help detect

accidental misuses of such arrays GCC issues warnings unless it can prove that
the use is safe. See Section 6.34.1 [Common Variable Attributes], page 633.
-Wstrict-flex-arrays
Warn about inproper usages of flexible array members according to the level of
the strict_flex_array (level) attribute attached to the trailing array field
of a structure if it’s available, otherwise according to the level of the option
‘-fstrict-flex-arrays=level’.
This option is effective only when level is bigger than 0. Otherwise, it will be
ignored with a warning.
when level=1, warnings will be issued for a trailing array reference of a structure
that have 2 or more elements if the trailing array is referenced as a flexible array
member.
when level=2, in addition to level=1, additional warnings will be issued for a
trailing one-element array reference of a structure if the array is referenced as
a flexible array member.
when level=3, in addition to level=2, additional warnings will be issued for a
trailing zero-length array reference of a structure if the array is referenced as a
flexible array member.
-Wsuggest-attribute=[pure|const|noreturn|format|cold|malloc]
Warn for cases where adding an attribute may be beneficial. The attributes
currently supported are listed below.
-Wsuggest-attribute=pure
-Wsuggest-attribute=const
-Wsuggest-attribute=noreturn
-Wmissing-noreturn
-Wsuggest-attribute=malloc
Warn about functions that might be candidates for attributes pure,
const or noreturn or malloc. The compiler only warns for func-
tions visible in other compilation units or (in the case of pure and
const) if it cannot prove that the function returns normally. A
function returns normally if it doesn’t contain an infinite loop or
return abnormally by throwing, calling abort or trapping. This
analysis requires option ‘-fipa-pure-const’, which is enabled by
default at ‘-O’ and higher. Higher optimization levels improve the
accuracy of the analysis.
-Wsuggest-attribute=format
-Wmissing-format-attribute
Warn about function pointers that might be candidates for format
attributes. Note these are only possible candidates, not absolute
ones. GCC guesses 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
122 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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 also warns about function definitions that might be candi-
dates for format attributes. Again, these are only possible candi-
dates. GCC guesses 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.
-Wsuggest-attribute=cold
Warn about functions that might be candidates for cold attribute.
This is based on static detection and generally only warns about
functions which always leads to a call to another cold function such
as wrappers of C++ throw or fatal error reporting functions leading
to abort.
-Walloc-zero
Warn about calls to allocation functions decorated with attribute alloc_size
that specify zero bytes, including those to the built-in forms of the functions
aligned_alloc, alloca, calloc, malloc, and realloc. Because the behavior
of these functions when called with a zero size differs among implementations
(and in the case of realloc has been deprecated) relying on it may result in
subtle portability bugs and should be avoided.
-Walloc-size-larger-than=byte-size
Warn about calls to functions decorated with attribute alloc_size that
attempt to allocate objects larger than the specified number of bytes,
or where the result of the size computation in an integer type with
infinite precision would exceed the value of ‘PTRDIFF_MAX’ on the target.
‘-Walloc-size-larger-than=’‘PTRDIFF_MAX’ is enabled by default. Warnings
controlled by the option can be disabled either by specifying byte-size of
‘SIZE_MAX’ or more or by ‘-Wno-alloc-size-larger-than’. See Section 6.33
[Function Attributes], page 566.
-Wno-alloc-size-larger-than
Disable ‘-Walloc-size-larger-than=’ warnings. The option is equivalent to
‘-Walloc-size-larger-than=’‘SIZE_MAX’ or larger.
-Walloca This option warns on all uses of alloca in the source.
-Walloca-larger-than=byte-size
This option warns on calls to alloca with an integer argument whose value
is either zero, or that is not bounded by a controlling predicate that limits its
value to at most byte-size. It also warns for calls to alloca where the bound
value is unknown. Arguments of non-integer types are considered unbounded
even if they appear to be constrained to the expected range.
For example, a bounded case of alloca could be:
void func (size_t n)
{
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 123

void *p;
if (n <= 1000)
p = alloca (n);
else
p = malloc (n);
f (p);
}
In the above example, passing -Walloca-larger-than=1000 would not issue a
warning because the call to alloca is known to be at most 1000 bytes. However,
if -Walloca-larger-than=500 were passed, the compiler would emit a warning.
Unbounded uses, on the other hand, are uses of alloca with no controlling
predicate constraining its integer argument. For example:
void func ()
{
void *p = alloca (n);
f (p);
}
If -Walloca-larger-than=500 were passed, the above would trigger a warning,
but this time because of the lack of bounds checking.
Note, that even seemingly correct code involving signed integers could cause a
warning:
void func (signed int n)
{
if (n < 500)
{
p = alloca (n);
f (p);
}
}
In the above example, n could be negative, causing a larger than expected
argument to be implicitly cast into the alloca call.
This option also warns when alloca is used in a loop.
‘-Walloca-larger-than=’‘PTRDIFF_MAX’ is enabled by default but is usually
only effective when ‘-ftree-vrp’ is active (default for ‘-O2’ and above).
See also ‘-Wvla-larger-than=’‘byte-size’.
-Wno-alloca-larger-than
Disable ‘-Walloca-larger-than=’ warnings. The option is equivalent to
‘-Walloca-larger-than=’‘SIZE_MAX’ or larger.
-Warith-conversion
Do warn about implicit conversions from arithmetic operations even when
conversion of the operands to the same type cannot change their values.
This affects warnings from ‘-Wconversion’, ‘-Wfloat-conversion’, and
‘-Wsign-conversion’.
void f (char c, int i)
{
c = c + i; // warns with ‘-Wconversion’
c = c + 1; // only warns with ‘-Warith-conversion’
}
124 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Warray-bounds
-Warray-bounds=n
Warn about out of bounds subscripts or offsets into arrays. This warning is
enabled by ‘-Wall’. It is more effective when ‘-ftree-vrp’ is active (the de-
fault for ‘-O2’ and above) but a subset of instances are issued even without
optimization.
By default, the trailing array of a structure will be treated as a flexible array
member by ‘-Warray-bounds’ or ‘-Warray-bounds=n’ if it is declared as either
a flexible array member per C99 standard onwards (‘[]’), a GCC zero-length
array extension (‘[0]’), or an one-element array (‘[1]’). As a result, out of
bounds subscripts or offsets into zero-length arrays or one-element arrays are
not warned by default.
You can add the option ‘-fstrict-flex-arrays’ or ‘-fstrict-flex-arrays=level’
to control how this option treat trailing array of a structure as a flexible array
member:
when level<=1, no change to the default behavior.
when level=2, additional warnings will be issued for out of bounds subscripts
or offsets into one-element arrays;
when level=3, in addition to level=2, additional warnings will be issued for out
of bounds subscripts or offsets into zero-length arrays.
-Warray-bounds=1
This is the default warning level of ‘-Warray-bounds’ and is enabled
by ‘-Wall’; higher levels are not, and must be explicitly requested.
-Warray-bounds=2
This warning level also warns about the intermediate results of
pointer arithmetic that may yield out of bounds values. This warn-
ing level may give a larger number of false positives and is deacti-
vated by default.
-Warray-compare
Warn about equality and relational comparisons between two operands of array
type. This comparison was deprecated in C++20. For example:
int arr1[5];
int arr2[5];
bool same = arr1 == arr2;
‘-Warray-compare’ is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Warray-parameter
-Warray-parameter=n
Warn about redeclarations of functions involving arguments of array or pointer
types of inconsistent kinds or forms, and enable the detection of out-of-bounds
accesses to such parameters by warnings such as ‘-Warray-bounds’.
If the first function declaration uses the array form the bound specified in
the array is assumed to be the minimum number of elements expected to be
provided in calls to the function and the maximum number of elements ac-
cessed by it. Failing to provide arguments of sufficient size or accessing more
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 125

than the maximum number of elements may be diagnosed by warnings such as

‘-Warray-bounds’. At level 1 the warning diagnoses inconsistencies involving
array parameters declared using the T[static N] form.
For example, the warning triggers for the following redeclarations because the
first one allows an array of any size to be passed to f while the second one with
the keyword static specifies that the array argument must have at least four
elements.
void f (int[static 4]);
void f (int[]); // warning (inconsistent array form)

void g (void)
{
int *p = (int *)malloc (4);
f (p); // warning (array too small)
...
}

At level 2 the warning also triggers for redeclarations involving any other in-
consistency in array or pointer argument forms denoting array sizes. Pointers
and arrays of unspecified bound are considered equivalent and do not trigger a
warning.
void g (int*);
void g (int[]); // no warning
void g (int[8]); // warning (inconsistent array bound)

‘-Warray-parameter=2’ is included in ‘-Wall’. The ‘-Wvla-parameter’ option

triggers warnings for similar inconsistencies involving Variable Length Array
arguments.

-Wattribute-alias=n
-Wno-attribute-alias
Warn about declarations using the alias and similar attributes whose target is
incompatible with the type of the alias. See Section 6.33 [Declaring Attributes
of Functions], page 566.

-Wattribute-alias=1
The default warning level of the ‘-Wattribute-alias’ option diag-
noses incompatibilities between the type of the alias declaration and
that of its target. Such incompatibilities are typically indicative of
bugs.

-Wattribute-alias=2
At this level ‘-Wattribute-alias’ also diagnoses cases where the
attributes of the alias declaration are more restrictive than the at-
tributes applied to its target. These mismatches can potentially
result in incorrect code generation. In other cases they may be be-
nign and could be resolved simply by adding the missing attribute
to the target. For comparison, see the ‘-Wmissing-attributes’
option, which controls diagnostics when the alias declaration is less
restrictive than the target, rather than more restrictive.
126 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Attributes considered include alloc_align, alloc_size, cold,

const, hot, leaf, malloc, nonnull, noreturn, nothrow, pure,
returns_nonnull, and returns_twice.
‘-Wattribute-alias’ is equivalent to ‘-Wattribute-alias=1’. This is the de-
fault. You can disable these warnings with either ‘-Wno-attribute-alias’ or
‘-Wattribute-alias=0’.
-Wbidi-chars=[none|unpaired|any|ucn]
Warn about possibly misleading UTF-8 bidirectional control characters in com-
ments, string literals, character constants, and identifiers. Such characters can
change left-to-right writing direction into right-to-left (and vice versa), which
can cause confusion between the logical order and visual order. This may be
dangerous; for instance, it may seem that a piece of code is not commented out,
whereas it in fact is.
There are three levels of warning supported by GCC. The default is
‘-Wbidi-chars=unpaired’, which warns about improperly terminated bidi
contexts. ‘-Wbidi-chars=none’ turns the warning off. ‘-Wbidi-chars=any’
warns about any use of bidirectional control characters.
By default, this warning does not warn about UCNs. It is, however,
possible to turn on such checking by using ‘-Wbidi-chars=unpaired,ucn’ or
‘-Wbidi-chars=any,ucn’. Using ‘-Wbidi-chars=ucn’ is valid, and is equiv-
alent to ‘-Wbidi-chars=unpaired,ucn’, if no previous ‘-Wbidi-chars=any’
was specified.
-Wbool-compare
Warn about boolean expression compared with an integer value different from
true/false. For instance, the following comparison is always false:
int n = 5;
...
if ((n > 1) == 2) { ... }
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wbool-operation
Warn about suspicious operations on expressions of a boolean type. For in-
stance, bitwise negation of a boolean is very likely a bug in the program. For
C, this warning also warns about incrementing or decrementing a boolean,
which rarely makes sense. (In C++, decrementing a boolean is always invalid.
Incrementing a boolean is invalid in C++17, and deprecated otherwise.)
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wduplicated-branches
Warn when an if-else has identical branches. This warning detects cases like
if (p != NULL)
return 0;
else
return 0;
It doesn’t warn when both branches contain just a null statement. This warning
also warn for conditional operators:
int i = x ? *p : *p;
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 127

-Wduplicated-cond
Warn about duplicated conditions in an if-else-if chain. For instance, warn for
the following code:
if (p->q != NULL) { ... }
else if (p->q != NULL) { ... }

-Wframe-address
Warn when the ‘__builtin_frame_address’ or ‘__builtin_return_address’
is called with an argument greater than 0. Such calls may return indeterminate
values or crash the program. The warning is included in ‘-Wall’.
-Wno-discarded-qualifiers (C and Objective-C only)
Do not warn if type qualifiers on pointers are being discarded. Typically, the
compiler warns if a const char * variable is passed to a function that takes a
char * parameter. This option can be used to suppress such a warning.
-Wno-discarded-array-qualifiers (C and Objective-C only)
Do not warn if type qualifiers on arrays which are pointer targets are being
discarded. Typically, the compiler warns if a const int (*)[] variable is passed
to a function that takes a int (*)[] parameter. This option can be used to
suppress such a warning.
-Wno-incompatible-pointer-types (C and Objective-C only)
Do not warn when there is a conversion between pointers that have incompatible
types. This warning is for cases not covered by ‘-Wno-pointer-sign’, which
warns for pointer argument passing or assignment with different signedness.
-Wno-int-conversion (C and Objective-C only)
Do not warn about incompatible integer to pointer and pointer to integer con-
versions. This warning is about implicit conversions; for explicit conversions
the warnings ‘-Wno-int-to-pointer-cast’ and ‘-Wno-pointer-to-int-cast’
may be used.
-Wzero-length-bounds
Warn about accesses to elements of zero-length array members that might over-
lap other members of the same object. Declaring interior zero-length arrays is
discouraged because accesses to them are undefined. See See Section 6.18 [Zero
Length], page 558.
For example, the first two stores in function bad are diagnosed because the array
elements overlap the subsequent members b and c. The third store is diagnosed
by ‘-Warray-bounds’ because it is beyond the bounds of the enclosing object.
struct X { int a[0]; int b, c; };
struct X x;

void bad (void)

{
x.a[0] = 0; // -Wzero-length-bounds
x.a[1] = 1; // -Wzero-length-bounds
x.a[2] = 2; // -Warray-bounds
}
Option ‘-Wzero-length-bounds’ is enabled by ‘-Warray-bounds’.
128 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wno-div-by-zero
Do not warn about compile-time integer division by zero. Floating-point divi-
sion 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 does not warn about unknown pragmas
in system headers—for that, ‘-Wunknown-pragmas’ must also be used.

-Wtautological-compare
Warn if a self-comparison always evaluates to true or false. This warning detects
various mistakes such as:
int i = 1;
...
if (i > i) { ... }

This warning also warns about bitwise comparisons that always evaluate to true
or false, for instance:
if ((a & 16) == 10) { ... }

will always be false.

This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.

-Wtrampolines
Warn about trampolines generated for pointers to nested functions. A tram-
poline is a small piece of data or code that is created at run time on the stack
when the address of a nested function is taken, and is used to call the nested
function indirectly. For some targets, it is made up of data only and thus re-
quires no special treatment. But, for most targets, it is made up of code and
thus requires the stack to be made executable in order for the program to work
properly.

-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 should 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 129

-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 that 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 in
ISO C it does not.
• In traditional C, some preprocessor directives did not exist. Traditional
preprocessors only considered 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 ignores 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 tra-
ditional implementations do not recognize #elif, so this option 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
130 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

C causes 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 appear in your code when using libiberty’s traditional C com-
patibility 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. See Section 6.32 [Mixed Labels and
Declarations], page 566.

-Wshadow Warn whenever a local variable or type declaration shadows another

variable, parameter, type, class member (in C++), or instance variable (in
Objective-C) or whenever a built-in function is shadowed. Note that in C++,
the compiler warns if a local variable shadows an explicit typedef, but not if
it shadows a struct/class/enum. If this warning is enabled, it includes also
all instances of local shadowing. This means that ‘-Wno-shadow=local’ and
‘-Wno-shadow=compatible-local’ are ignored when ‘-Wshadow’ is used. Same
as ‘-Wshadow=global’.

-Wno-shadow-ivar (Objective-C only)

Do not warn whenever a local variable shadows an instance variable in an
Objective-C method.

-Wshadow=global
Warn for any shadowing. Same as ‘-Wshadow’.

-Wshadow=local
Warn when a local variable shadows another local variable or parameter.

-Wshadow=compatible-local
Warn when a local variable shadows another local variable or parameter whose
type is compatible with that of the shadowing variable. In C++, type compatibil-
ity here means the type of the shadowing variable can be converted to that of the
shadowed variable. The creation of this flag (in addition to ‘-Wshadow=local’)
is based on the idea that when a local variable shadows another one of incom-
patible type, it is most likely intentional, not a bug or typo, as shown in the
following example:
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 131

for (SomeIterator i = SomeObj.begin(); i != SomeObj.end(); ++i)

{
for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i)
{
...
}
...
}
Since the two variable i in the example above have incompatible types, enabling
only ‘-Wshadow=compatible-local’ does not emit a warning. Because their
types are incompatible, if a programmer accidentally uses one in place of the
other, type checking is expected to catch that and emit an error or warning.
Use of this flag instead of ‘-Wshadow=local’ can possibly reduce the number
of warnings triggered by intentional shadowing. Note that this also means that
shadowing const char *i by char *i does not emit a warning.
This warning is also enabled by ‘-Wshadow=local’.
-Wlarger-than=byte-size
Warn whenever an object is defined whose size exceeds byte-size.
‘-Wlarger-than=’‘PTRDIFF_MAX’ is enabled by default. Warnings controlled
by the option can be disabled either by specifying byte-size of ‘SIZE_MAX’ or
more or by ‘-Wno-larger-than’.
Also warn for calls to bounded functions such as memchr or strnlen that specify
a bound greater than the largest possible object, which is ‘PTRDIFF_MAX’ bytes
by default. These warnings can only be disabled by ‘-Wno-larger-than’.
-Wno-larger-than
Disable ‘-Wlarger-than=’ warnings. The option is equivalent to
‘-Wlarger-than=’‘SIZE_MAX’ or larger.
-Wframe-larger-than=byte-size
Warn if the size of a function frame exceeds byte-size. The computation done
to determine the stack frame size is approximate and not conservative. The
actual requirements may be somewhat greater than byte-size 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. ‘-Wframe-larger-than=’‘PTRDIFF_MAX’ is
enabled by default. Warnings controlled by the option can be disabled either by
specifying byte-size of ‘SIZE_MAX’ or more or by ‘-Wno-frame-larger-than’.
-Wno-frame-larger-than
Disable ‘-Wframe-larger-than=’ warnings. The option is equivalent to
‘-Wframe-larger-than=’‘SIZE_MAX’ or larger.
-Wfree-nonheap-object
Warn when attempting to deallocate an object that was either not allocated
on the heap, or by using a pointer that was not returned from a prior call to
the corresponding allocation function. For example, because the call to stpcpy
returns a pointer to the terminating nul character and not to the beginning of
the object, the call to free below is diagnosed.
132 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void f (char *p)

{
p = stpcpy (p, "abc");
// ...
free (p); // warning
}
‘-Wfree-nonheap-object’ is included in ‘-Wall’.
-Wstack-usage=byte-size
Warn if the stack usage of a function might exceed byte-size. The computation
done to determine the stack usage is conservative. Any space allocated via
alloca, variable-length arrays, or related constructs is included by the compiler
when determining whether or not to issue a warning.
The message is in keeping with the output of ‘-fstack-usage’.
• If the stack usage is fully static but exceeds the specified amount, it’s:
warning: stack usage is 1120 bytes
• If the stack usage is (partly) dynamic but bounded, it’s:
warning: stack usage might be 1648 bytes
• If the stack usage is (partly) dynamic and not bounded, it’s:
warning: stack usage might be unbounded

‘-Wstack-usage=’‘PTRDIFF_MAX’ is enabled by default. Warnings controlled by

the option can be disabled either by specifying byte-size of ‘SIZE_MAX’ or more
or by ‘-Wno-stack-usage’.
-Wno-stack-usage
Disable ‘-Wstack-usage=’ warnings. The option is equivalent to
‘-Wstack-usage=’‘SIZE_MAX’ or larger.
-Wunsafe-loop-optimizations
Warn if the loop cannot be optimized because the compiler cannot assume any-
thing on the bounds of the loop indices. With ‘-funsafe-loop-optimizations’
warn if the compiler makes such assumptions.
-Wno-pedantic-ms-format (MinGW targets only)
When used in combination with ‘-Wformat’ and ‘-pedantic’ without GNU
extensions, this option disables the warnings about non-ISO printf / scanf
format width specifiers I32, I64, and I used on Windows targets, which depend
on the MS runtime.
-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 ‘-Wpedantic’.
-Wno-pointer-compare
Do not warn if a pointer is compared with a zero character constant. This
usually means that the pointer was meant to be dereferenced. For example:
const char *p = foo ();
if (p == ’\0’)
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 133

return 42;
Note that the code above is invalid in C++11.
This warning is enabled by default.
-Wtsan Warn about unsupported features in ThreadSanitizer.
ThreadSanitizer does not support std::atomic_thread_fence and can report
false positives.
This warning is enabled by default.
-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’.
-Wabsolute-value (C and Objective-C only)
Warn for calls to standard functions that compute the absolute value of an
argument when a more appropriate standard function is available. For example,
calling abs(3.14) triggers the warning because the appropriate function to call
to compute the absolute value of a double argument is fabs. The option also
triggers warnings when the argument in a call to such a function has an unsigned
type. This warning can be suppressed with an explicit type cast and it is also
enabled by ‘-Wextra’.
-Wcomment
-Wcomments
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’.
-Wtrigraphs
Warn if any trigraphs are encountered that might change the meaning of the
program. Trigraphs within comments are not warned about, except those that
would form escaped newlines.
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’.
-Wundef Warn if an undefined identifier is evaluated in an #if directive. Such identifiers
are replaced with zero.
-Wexpansion-to-defined
Warn whenever ‘defined’ is encountered in the expansion of a macro (including
the case where the macro is expanded by an ‘#if’ directive). Such usage is not
portable. This warning is also enabled by ‘-Wpedantic’ and ‘-Wextra’.
-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 also
warns if the macro has not been used at the time it is redefined or undefined.
134 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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 the preprocessor reports 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

-Wno-endif-labels
Do not warn whenever an #else or an #endif are followed by text. This
sometimes happens in older programs with code of the form
#if FOO
...
#else FOO
...
#endif FOO
The second and third FOO should be in comments. This warning is on by default.

-Wbad-function-cast (C and Objective-C only)

Warn when a function call is cast to a non-matching type. For example, warn
if a call to a function returning an integer type is cast to a pointer type.

-Wc90-c99-compat (C and Objective-C only)

Warn about features not present in ISO C90, but present in ISO C99. For
instance, warn about use of variable length arrays, long long type, bool type,
compound literals, designated initializers, and so on. This option is independent
of the standards mode. Warnings are disabled in the expression that follows
__extension__.

-Wc99-c11-compat (C and Objective-C only)

Warn about features not present in ISO C99, but present in ISO C11. For in-
stance, warn about use of anonymous structures and unions, _Atomic type qual-
ifier, _Thread_local storage-class specifier, _Alignas specifier, Alignof opera-
tor, _Generic keyword, and so on. This option is independent of the standards
mode. Warnings are disabled in the expression that follows __extension__.

-Wc11-c2x-compat (C and Objective-C only)

Warn about features not present in ISO C11, but present in ISO C2X. For
instance, warn about omitting the string in _Static_assert, use of ‘[[]]’
syntax for attributes, use of decimal floating-point types, and so on. This
option is independent of the standards mode. Warnings are disabled in the
expression that follows __extension__.

-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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 135

-Wc++11-compat (C++ and Objective-C++ only)

Warn about C++ constructs whose meaning differs between ISO C++ 1998 and
ISO C++ 2011, e.g., identifiers in ISO C++ 1998 that are keywords in ISO C++
2011. This warning turns on ‘-Wnarrowing’ and is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wc++14-compat (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about C++ constructs whose meaning differs between ISO C++ 2011 and
ISO C++ 2014. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wc++17-compat (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about C++ constructs whose meaning differs between ISO C++ 2014 and
ISO C++ 2017. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wc++20-compat (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about C++ constructs whose meaning differs between ISO C++ 2017 and
ISO C++ 2020. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wno-c++11-extensions (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn about C++11 constructs in code being compiled using an older
C++ standard. Even without this option, some C++11 constructs will only be
diagnosed if ‘-Wpedantic’ is used.
-Wno-c++14-extensions (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn about C++14 constructs in code being compiled using an older
C++ standard. Even without this option, some C++14 constructs will only be
diagnosed if ‘-Wpedantic’ is used.
-Wno-c++17-extensions (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn about C++17 constructs in code being compiled using an older
C++ standard. Even without this option, some C++17 constructs will only be
diagnosed if ‘-Wpedantic’ is used.
-Wno-c++20-extensions (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn about C++20 constructs in code being compiled using an older
C++ standard. Even without this option, some C++20 constructs will only be
diagnosed if ‘-Wpedantic’ is used.
-Wno-c++23-extensions (C++ and Objective-C++ only)
Do not warn about C++23 constructs in code being compiled using an older
C++ standard. Even without this option, some C++23 constructs will only be
diagnosed if ‘-Wpedantic’ is used.
-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 *.
Also warn when making a cast that introduces a type qualifier in an unsafe way.
For example, casting char ** to const char ** is unsafe, as in this example:
/* p is char ** value. */
const char **q = (const char **) p;
/* Assignment of readonly string to const char * is OK. */
*q = "string";
/* Now char** pointer points to read-only memory. */
**p = ’b’;
136 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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.
-Wcast-align=strict
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 * regardless of the
target machine.
-Wcast-function-type
Warn when a function pointer is cast to an incompatible function pointer. In
a cast involving function types with a variable argument list only the types of
initial arguments that are provided are considered. Any parameter of pointer-
type matches any other pointer-type. Any benign differences in integral types
are ignored, like int vs. long on ILP32 targets. Likewise type qualifiers are
ignored. The function type void (*) (void) is special and matches everything,
which can be used to suppress this warning. In a cast involving pointer to
member types this warning warns whenever the type cast is changing the pointer
to member type. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wextra’.
-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 produces a warning.
These warnings 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 is just 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 confusing overload resolution for user-defined conver-
sions; and conversions that 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.
Warnings about conversion from arithmetic on a small type back to that type
are only given with ‘-Warith-conversion’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 137

-Wdangling-else
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 ex-
pected, as illustrated in the above example by indentation the programmer
chose. When there is the potential for this confusion, GCC issues a warn-
ing when this flag is specified. To eliminate the warning, add explicit braces
around the innermost if statement so there is no way the else can belong to
the enclosing if. The resulting code looks like this:
{
if (a)
{
if (b)
foo ();
else
bar ();
}
}
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wparentheses’.
-Wdangling-pointer
-Wdangling-pointer=n
Warn about uses of pointers (or C++ references) to objects with automatic
storage duration after their lifetime has ended. This includes local variables
declared in nested blocks, compound literals and other unnamed temporary
objects. In addition, warn about storing the address of such objects in es-
caped pointers. The warning is enabled at all optimization levels but may yield
different results with optimization than without.
-Wdangling-pointer=1
At level 1 the warning diagnoses only unconditional uses of dangling
pointers. For example
int f (int c1, int c2, x)
{
char *p = strchr ((char[]){ c1, c2 }, c3);
return p ? *p : ’x’; // warning: dangling pointer to a com-
pound literal
}
In the following function the store of the address of the local variable
x in the escaped pointer *p also triggers the warning.
void g (int **p)
{
int x = 7;
*p = &x; // warning: storing the address of a local variable in *p
138 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wdangling-pointer=2
At level 2, in addition to unconditional uses the warning also diag-
noses conditional uses of dangling pointers.
For example, because the array a in the following function is out of
scope when the pointer s that was set to point is used, the warning
triggers at this level.
void f (char *s)
{
if (!s)
{
char a[12] = "tmpname";
s = a;
}
strcat (s, ".tmp"); // warning: dangling pointer to a may be used
...
}

‘-Wdangling-pointer=2’ is included in ‘-Wall’.

-Wdate-time
Warn when macros __TIME__, __DATE__ or __TIMESTAMP__ are encountered as
they might prevent bit-wise-identical reproducible compilations.
-Wempty-body
Warn if an empty body occurs in an if, else or do while statement. This
warning is also enabled by ‘-Wextra’.
-Wno-endif-labels
Do not warn about stray tokens after #else and #endif.
-Wenum-compare
Warn about a comparison between values of different enumerated types. In
C++ enumerated type mismatches in conditional expressions are also diagnosed
and the warning is enabled by default. In C this warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wenum-conversion
Warn when a value of enumerated type is implicitly converted to a different
enumerated type. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wextra’ in C.
-Wenum-int-mismatch (C and Objective-C only)
Warn about mismatches between an enumerated type and an integer type in
declarations. For example:
enum E { l = -1, z = 0, g = 1 };
int foo(void);
enum E foo(void);
In C, an enumerated type is compatible with char, a signed integer type, or
an unsigned integer type. However, since the choice of the underlying type
of an enumerated type is implementation-defined, such mismatches may cause
portability issues. In C++, such mismatches are an error. In C, this warning is
enabled by ‘-Wall’ and ‘-Wc++-compat’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 139

-Wjump-misses-init (C, Objective-C only)

Warn if a goto statement or a switch statement jumps forward across the
initialization of a variable, or jumps backward to a label after the variable has
been initialized. This only warns about variables that are initialized when they
are declared. This warning is only supported for C and Objective-C; in C++
this sort of branch is an error in any case.
‘-Wjump-misses-init’ is included in ‘-Wc++-compat’. It can be disabled with
the ‘-Wno-jump-misses-init’ option.
-Wsign-compare
Warn when a comparison between signed and unsigned values could produce
an incorrect result when the signed value is converted to unsigned. In C++, this
warning is also enabled by ‘-Wall’. In C, it is also enabled by ‘-Wextra’.
-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’.
-Wfloat-conversion
Warn for implicit conversions that reduce the precision of a real value. This
includes conversions from real to integer, and from higher precision real to lower
precision real values. This option is also enabled by ‘-Wconversion’.
-Wno-scalar-storage-order
Do not warn on suspicious constructs involving reverse scalar storage order.
-Wsizeof-array-div
Warn about divisions of two sizeof operators when the first one is applied to an
array and the divisor does not equal the size of the array element. In such a
case, the computation will not yield the number of elements in the array, which
is likely what the user intended. This warning warns e.g. about
int fn ()
{
int arr[10];
return sizeof (arr) / sizeof (short);
}
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wsizeof-pointer-div
Warn for suspicious divisions of two sizeof expressions that divide the pointer
size by the element size, which is the usual way to compute the array size but
won’t work out correctly with pointers. This warning warns e.g. about sizeof
(ptr) / sizeof (ptr[0]) if ptr is not an array, but a pointer. This warning
is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wsizeof-pointer-memaccess
Warn for suspicious length parameters to certain string and memory built-
in functions if the argument uses sizeof. This warning triggers for example
for memset (ptr, 0, sizeof (ptr)); if ptr is not an array, but a pointer,
and suggests a possible fix, or about memcpy (&foo, ptr, sizeof (&foo));.
140 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘-Wsizeof-pointer-memaccess’ also warns about calls to bounded string copy

functions like strncat or strncpy that specify as the bound a sizeof expres-
sion of the source array. For example, in the following function the call to
strncat specifies the size of the source string as the bound. That is almost
certainly a mistake and so the call is diagnosed.
void make_file (const char *name)
{
char path[PATH_MAX];
strncpy (path, name, sizeof path - 1);
strncat (path, ".text", sizeof ".text");
...
}
The ‘-Wsizeof-pointer-memaccess’ option is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wno-sizeof-array-argument
Do not warn when the sizeof operator is applied to a parameter that is declared
as an array in a function definition. This warning is enabled by default for C
and C++ programs.
-Wmemset-elt-size
Warn for suspicious calls to the memset built-in function, if the first argument
references an array, and the third argument is a number equal to the number
of elements, but not equal to the size of the array in memory. This indicates
that the user has omitted a multiplication by the element size. This warning is
enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wmemset-transposed-args
Warn for suspicious calls to the memset built-in function where the second
argument is not zero and the third argument is zero. For example, the call
memset (buf, sizeof buf, 0) is diagnosed because memset (buf, 0, sizeof
buf) was meant instead. The diagnostic is only emitted if the third argument is
a literal zero. Otherwise, if it is an expression that is folded to zero, or a cast of
zero to some type, it is far less likely that the arguments have been mistakenly
transposed and no warning is emitted. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Waddress
Warn about suspicious uses of address expressions. These include comparing
the address of a function or a declared object to the null pointer constant such
as in
void f (void);
void g (void)
{
if (!f) // warning: expression evaluates to false
abort ();
}
comparisons of a pointer to a string literal, such as in
void f (const char *x)
{
if (x == "abc") // warning: expression evaluates to false
puts ("equal");
}
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 141

and tests of the results of pointer addition or subtraction for equality to null,
such as in
void f (const int *p, int i)
{
return p + i == NULL;
}
Such uses typically indicate a programmer error: the address of most functions
and objects necessarily evaluates to true (the exception are weak symbols), so
their use in a conditional might indicate missing parentheses in a function call
or a missing dereference in an array expression. The subset of the warning for
object pointers can be suppressed by casting the pointer operand to an integer
type such as intptr_t or uintptr_t. Comparisons against string literals result
in unspecified behavior and are not portable, and suggest the intent was to call
strcmp. The warning is suppressed if the suspicious expression is the result of
macro expansion. ‘-Waddress’ warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wno-address-of-packed-member
Do not warn when the address of packed member of struct or union is taken,
which usually results in an unaligned pointer value. This is enabled by default.
-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. Also warns when the operands of a logical operator are the same:
extern int a;
if (a < 0 && a < 0) { ... }

-Wlogical-not-parentheses
Warn about logical not used on the left hand side operand of a comparison.
This option does not warn if the right operand is considered to be a boolean
expression. Its purpose is to detect suspicious code like the following:
int a;
...
if (!a > 1) { ... }
It is possible to suppress the warning by wrapping the LHS into parentheses:
if ((!a) > 1) { ... }
This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-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-aggressive-loop-optimizations
Warn if in a loop with constant number of iterations the compiler detects un-
defined behavior in some statement during one or more of the iterations.
-Wno-attributes
Do not warn if an unexpected __attribute__ is used, such as unrecognized
attributes, function attributes applied to variables, etc. This does not stop
errors for incorrect use of supported attributes.
142 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Additionally, using ‘-Wno-attributes=’, it is possible to suppress warnings

about unknown scoped attributes (in C++11 and C2X). For example,
‘-Wno-attributes=vendor::attr’ disables warning about the following
declaration:
[[vendor::attr]] void f();
It is also possible to disable warning about all attributes in a namespace us-
ing ‘-Wno-attributes=vendor::’ which prevents warning about both of these
declarations:
[[vendor::safe]] void f();
[[vendor::unsafe]] void f2();
Note that ‘-Wno-attributes=’ does not imply ‘-Wno-attributes’.
-Wno-builtin-declaration-mismatch
Warn if a built-in function is declared with an incompatible signature or as a
non-function, or when a built-in function declared with a type that does not
include a prototype is called with arguments whose promoted types do not
match those expected by the function. When ‘-Wextra’ is specified, also warn
when a built-in function that takes arguments is declared without a prototype.
The ‘-Wbuiltin-declaration-mismatch’ warning is enabled by default. To
avoid the warning include the appropriate header to bring the prototypes of
built-in functions into scope.
For example, the call to memset below is diagnosed by the warning because the
function expects a value of type size_t as its argument but the type of 32 is
int. With ‘-Wextra’, the declaration of the function is diagnosed as well.
extern void* memset ();
void f (void *d)
{
memset (d, ’\0’, 32);
}

-Wno-builtin-macro-redefined
Do not warn if certain built-in macros are redefined. This suppresses warn-
ings 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 that 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. A definition using ‘()’ is not considered an old-style
definition in C2X mode, because it is equivalent to ‘(void)’ in that case, but
is considered an old-style definition for older standards.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 143

-Wmissing-parameter-type (C and Objective-C only)

A function parameter is declared without a type specifier in K&R-style func-
tions:
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 declara-
tion. This warning is issued even if the definition itself provides a proto-
type. Use this option to detect global functions that do not have a match-
ing prototype declaration in a header file. This option is not valid for C++
because all function declarations provide prototypes and a non-matching dec-
laration declares an overload rather than conflict with an earlier declaration.
Use ‘-Wmissing-declarations’ to detect missing declarations in C++.
-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 func-
tions that are not declared in header files. In C, no warnings are issued for func-
tions with previous non-prototype declarations; use ‘-Wmissing-prototypes’
to detect missing prototypes. In C++, no warnings are issued for function tem-
plates, 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 fol-
lowing code causes 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 mod-
ification does not trigger a warning:
struct s { int f, g, h; };
struct s x = { .f = 3, .g = 4 };
In C this option does not warn about the universal zero initializer ‘{ 0 }’:
struct s { int f, g, h; };
struct s x = { 0 };
Likewise, in C++ this option does not warn about the empty { } initializer, for
example:
struct s { int f, g, h; };
s x = { };
This warning is included in ‘-Wextra’. To get other ‘-Wextra’ warnings without
this one, use ‘-Wextra -Wno-missing-field-initializers’.
-Wno-missing-requires
By default, the compiler warns about a concept-id appearing as a C++20 simple-
requirement:
bool satisfied = requires { C<T> };
Here ‘satisfied’ will be true if ‘C<T>’ is a valid expression, which it is for all
T. Presumably the user meant to write
144 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

bool satisfied = requires { requires C<T> };

so ‘satisfied’ is only true if concept ‘C’ is satisfied for type ‘T’.
This warning can be disabled with ‘-Wno-missing-requires’.
-Wno-missing-template-keyword
The member access tokens ., -> and :: must be followed by the template
keyword if the parent object is dependent and the member being named is a
template.
template <class X>
void DoStuff (X x)
{
x.template DoSomeOtherStuff<X>(); // Good.
x.DoMoreStuff<X>(); // Warning, x is dependent.
}
In rare cases it is possible to get false positives. To silence this, wrap the
expression in parentheses. For example, the following is treated as a template,
even where m and N are integers:
void NotATemplate (my_class t)
{
int N = 5;

bool test = t.m < N > (0); // Treated as a template.

test = (t.m < N) > (0); // Same meaning, but not treated as a template.
}
This warning can be disabled with ‘-Wno-missing-template-keyword’.
-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 that have not been normalized; this option controls that warning.
There are four levels of warning supported by GCC. The default is
‘-Wnormalized=nfc’, which warns about any identifier that is not in the ISO
10646 “C” normalized form, NFC. NFC is the recommended form for most
uses. It is equivalent to ‘-Wnormalized’.
Unfortunately, there are some characters allowed in identifiers by ISO C and
ISO C++ that, when turned into NFC, are not allowed in 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 145

You can switch the warning off for all characters by writing
‘-Wnormalized=none’ or ‘-Wno-normalized’. You should only do
this if you are 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”, displays just
like a regular n that 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 warns 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
cannot be fixed to display these characters distinctly.
-Wno-attribute-warning
Do not warn about usage of functions (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566) declared with warning attribute. By default, this warning is
enabled. ‘-Wno-attribute-warning’ can be used to disable the warning or
‘-Wno-error=attribute-warning’ can be used to disable the error when
compiled with ‘-Werror’ flag.
-Wno-deprecated
Do not warn about usage of deprecated features. See Section 7.11 [Deprecated
Features], page 908.
-Wno-deprecated-declarations
Do not warn about uses of functions (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566), variables (see Section 6.34 [Variable Attributes], page 633), and types
(see Section 6.35 [Type Attributes], page 647) marked as deprecated by using
the deprecated attribute.
-Wno-overflow
Do not warn about compile-time overflow in constant expressions.
-Wno-odr Warn about One Definition Rule violations during link-time optimization. En-
abled by default.
-Wopenacc-parallelism
Warn about potentially suboptimal choices related to OpenACC parallelism.
-Wopenmp-simd
Warn if the vectorizer cost model overrides the OpenMP simd directive set by
user. The ‘-fsimd-cost-model=unlimited’ option can be used to relax the
cost model.
-Woverride-init (C and Objective-C only)
Warn if an initialized field without side effects is overridden when using desig-
nated initializers (see Section 6.29 [Designated Initializers], page 563).
This warning is included in ‘-Wextra’. To get other ‘-Wextra’ warnings without
this one, use ‘-Wextra -Wno-override-init’.
146 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wno-override-init-side-effects (C and Objective-C only)

Do not warn if an initialized field with side effects is overridden when using
designated initializers (see Section 6.29 [Designated Initializers], page 563). This
warning is enabled by default.

-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 is
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;
};

-Wnopacked-bitfield-compat
The 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 series of GCC ignore the packed attribute on bit-fields of
type char. This was 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.

-Wpacked-not-aligned (C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)

Warn if a structure field with explicitly specified alignment in a packed struct
or union is misaligned. For example, a warning will be issued on struct S, like,
warning: alignment 1 of ’struct S’ is less than 8, in this code:
struct __attribute__ ((aligned (8))) S8 { char a[8]; };
struct __attribute__ ((packed)) S {
struct S8 s8;
};

This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.

-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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 147

-Wrestrict
Warn when an object referenced by a restrict-qualified parameter (or, in
C++, a __restrict-qualified parameter) is aliased by another argument, or
when copies between such objects overlap. For example, the call to the strcpy
function below attempts to truncate the string by replacing its initial characters
with the last four. However, because the call writes the terminating NUL into
a[4], the copies overlap and the call is diagnosed.
void foo (void)
{
char a[] = "abcd1234";
strcpy (a, a + 4);
...
}
The ‘-Wrestrict’ option detects some instances of simple overlap even without
optimization but works best at ‘-O2’ and above. It is included in ‘-Wall’.
-Wnested-externs (C and Objective-C only)
Warn if an extern declaration is encountered within a function.
-Winline Warn if a function that is declared as inline cannot be inlined. Even with this
option, the compiler does 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 cur-
rent function. Therefore, seemingly insignificant changes in the source program
can cause the warnings produced by ‘-Winline’ to appear or disappear.
-Winterference-size
Warn about use of C++17 std::hardware_destructive_interference_size
without specifying its value with ‘--param destructive-interference-size’.
Also warn about questionable values for that option.
This variable is intended to be used for controlling class layout, to avoid false
sharing in concurrent code:
struct independent_fields {
alignas(std::hardware_destructive_interference_size) std::atomic<int> one;
alignas(std::hardware_destructive_interference_size) std::atomic<int> two;
};
Here ‘one’ and ‘two’ are intended to be far enough apart that stores to one
won’t require accesses to the other to reload the cache line.
By default, ‘--param destructive-interference-size’ and ‘--param
constructive-interference-size’ are set based on the current ‘-mtune’
option, typically to the L1 cache line size for the particular target CPU,
sometimes to a range if tuning for a generic target. So all translation units
that depend on ABI compatibility for the use of these variables must be
compiled with the same ‘-mtune’ (or ‘-mcpu’).
If ABI stability is important, such as if the use is in a header for a library,
you should probably not use the hardware interference size variables at all.
Alternatively, you can force a particular value with ‘--param’.
148 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

If you are confident that your use of the variable does not affect ABI
outside a single build of your project, you can turn off the warning with
‘-Wno-interference-size’.
-Wint-in-bool-context
Warn for suspicious use of integer values where boolean values are expected,
such as conditional expressions (?:) using non-boolean integer constants in
boolean context, like if (a <= b ? 2 : 3). Or left shifting of signed integers
in boolean context, like for (a = 0; 1 << a; a++);. Likewise for all kinds of
multiplications regardless of the data type. This warning is enabled by ‘-Wall’.
-Wno-int-to-pointer-cast
Suppress warnings from casts to pointer type of an integer of a different
size. In C++, casting to a pointer type of smaller size is an error.
‘Wint-to-pointer-cast’ is enabled by default.
-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 (see Section 3.22 [Precompiled Headers],
page 518) is found in the search path but cannot be used.
-Winvalid-utf8
Warn if an invalid UTF-8 character is found. This warning is on by default
for C++23 if ‘-finput-charset=UTF-8’ is used and turned into error with
‘-pedantic-errors’.
-Wno-unicode
Don’t diagnose invalid forms of delimited or named escape sequences which are
treated as separate tokens. ‘Wunicode’ is enabled by default.
-Wlong-long
Warn if long long type is used. This is enabled by either ‘-Wpedantic’ or
‘-Wtraditional’ in ISO C90 and C++98 modes. To inhibit the warning mes-
sages, use ‘-Wno-long-long’.
-Wvariadic-macros
Warn if variadic macros are used in ISO C90 mode, or if the GNU
alternate syntax is used in ISO C99 mode. This is enabled by either
‘-Wpedantic’ or ‘-Wtraditional’. To inhibit the warning messages, use
‘-Wno-variadic-macros’.
-Wno-varargs
Do not warn upon questionable usage of the macros used to handle variable
arguments like va_start. These warnings are enabled by default.
-Wvector-operation-performance
Warn if vector operation is not implemented via SIMD capabilities of the ar-
chitecture. Mainly useful for the performance tuning. Vector operation can be
implemented piecewise, which means that the scalar operation is performed
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 149

on every vector element; in parallel, which means that the vector operation
is implemented using scalars of wider type, which normally is more performance
efficient; and as a single scalar, which means that vector fits into a scalar
type.
-Wvla Warn if a variable-length array is used in the code. ‘-Wno-vla’ prevents the
‘-Wpedantic’ warning of the variable-length array.
-Wvla-larger-than=byte-size
If this option is used, the compiler warns for declarations of variable-length
arrays whose size is either unbounded, or bounded by an argument that
allows the array size to exceed byte-size bytes. This is similar to how
‘-Walloca-larger-than=’byte-size works, but with variable-length arrays.
Note that GCC may optimize small variable-length arrays of a known value
into plain arrays, so this warning may not get triggered for such arrays.
‘-Wvla-larger-than=’‘PTRDIFF_MAX’ is enabled by default but is typically only
effective when ‘-ftree-vrp’ is active (default for ‘-O2’ and above).
See also ‘-Walloca-larger-than=byte-size’.
-Wno-vla-larger-than
Disable ‘-Wvla-larger-than=’ warnings. The option is equivalent to
‘-Wvla-larger-than=’‘SIZE_MAX’ or larger.
-Wvla-parameter
Warn about redeclarations of functions involving arguments of Variable Length
Array types of inconsistent kinds or forms, and enable the detection of out-of-
bounds accesses to such parameters by warnings such as ‘-Warray-bounds’.
If the first function declaration uses the VLA form the bound specified in the
array is assumed to be the minimum number of elements expected to be pro-
vided in calls to the function and the maximum number of elements accessed
by it. Failing to provide arguments of sufficient size or accessing more than the
maximum number of elements may be diagnosed.
For example, the warning triggers for the following redeclarations because the
first one allows an array of any size to be passed to f while the second one
specifies that the array argument must have at least n elements. In addition,
calling f with the associated VLA bound parameter in excess of the actual VLA
bound triggers a warning as well.
void f (int n, int[n]);
void f (int, int[]); // warning: argument 2 previously declared as a VLA

void g (int n)
{
if (n > 4)
return;
int a[n];
f (sizeof a, a); // warning: access to a by f may be out of bounds
...
}

‘-Wvla-parameter’ is included in ‘-Wall’. The ‘-Warray-parameter’ option

triggers warnings for similar problems involving ordinary array arguments.
150 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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’.
-Wxor-used-as-pow (C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
Warn about uses of ^, the exclusive or operator, where it appears the user meant
exponentiation. Specifically, the warning occurs when the left-hand side is the
decimal constant 2 or 10 and the right-hand side is also a decimal constant.
In C and C++, ^ means exclusive or, whereas in some other languages (e.g. TeX
and some versions of BASIC) it means exponentiation.
This warning is enabled by default. It can be silenced by converting one of the
operands to hexadecimal.
-Wdisabled-optimization
Warn if a requested optimization pass is disabled. This warning does not gen-
erally indicate that there is anything wrong with your code; it merely indicates
that GCC’s optimizers are unable to handle the code effectively. Often, the
problem is that your code is too big or too complex; GCC refuses 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 ‘-Wpedantic’, 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 are not protected against stack smashing.
-Woverlength-strings
Warn about string constants that are longer than the “minimum maximum”
length specified in the C standard. Modern compilers generally allow string
constants that 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 C90, 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 ‘-Wpedantic’, and can be disabled with
‘-Wno-overlength-strings’.
-Wunsuffixed-float-constants (C and Objective-C only)
Issue a warning for any floating constant that does not have a suffix. When
used together with ‘-Wsystem-headers’ it warns about such constants in system
header files. This can be useful when preparing code to use with the FLOAT_
CONST_DECIMAL64 pragma from the decimal floating-point extension to C99.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 151

-Wno-lto-type-mismatch
During the link-time optimization, do not warn about type mismatches in global
declarations from different compilation units. Requires ‘-flto’ to be enabled.
Enabled by default.
-Wno-designated-init (C and Objective-C only)
Suppress warnings when a positional initializer is used to initialize a structure
that has been marked with the designated_init attribute.

3.9 Options That Control Static Analysis

-fanalyzer
This option enables an static analysis of program flow which looks for “interest-
ing” interprocedural paths through the code, and issues warnings for problems
found on them.
This analysis is much more expensive than other GCC warnings.
Enabling this option effectively enables the following warnings:

-Wanalyzer-allocation-size
-Wanalyzer-deref-before-check
-Wanalyzer-double-fclose
-Wanalyzer-double-free
-Wanalyzer-exposure-through-output-file
-Wanalyzer-exposure-through-uninit-copy
-Wanalyzer-fd-access-mode-mismatch
-Wanalyzer-fd-double-close
-Wanalyzer-fd-leak
-Wanalyzer-fd-phase-mismatch
-Wanalyzer-fd-type-mismatch
-Wanalyzer-fd-use-after-close
-Wanalyzer-fd-use-without-check
-Wanalyzer-file-leak
-Wanalyzer-free-of-non-heap
-Wanalyzer-imprecise-fp-arithmetic
-Wanalyzer-infinite-recursion
-Wanalyzer-jump-through-null
-Wanalyzer-malloc-leak
-Wanalyzer-mismatching-deallocation
-Wanalyzer-null-argument
-Wanalyzer-null-dereference
-Wanalyzer-out-of-bounds
-Wanalyzer-possible-null-argument
-Wanalyzer-possible-null-dereference
-Wanalyzer-putenv-of-auto-var
-Wanalyzer-shift-count-negative
-Wanalyzer-shift-count-overflow
-Wanalyzer-stale-setjmp-buffer
-Wanalyzer-unsafe-call-within-signal-handler
-Wanalyzer-use-after-free
-Wanalyzer-use-of-pointer-in-stale-stack-frame
-Wanalyzer-use-of-uninitialized-value
-Wanalyzer-va-arg-type-mismatch
-Wanalyzer-va-list-exhausted
-Wanalyzer-va-list-leak
-Wanalyzer-va-list-use-after-va-end
152 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wanalyzer-write-to-const
-Wanalyzer-write-to-string-literal

This option is only available if GCC was configured with analyzer support
enabled.
-Wanalyzer-too-complex
If ‘-fanalyzer’ is enabled, the analyzer uses various heuristics to attempt to
explore the control flow and data flow in the program, but these can be defeated
by sufficiently complicated code.
By default, the analysis silently stops if the code is too complicated
for the analyzer to fully explore and it reaches an internal limit. The
‘-Wanalyzer-too-complex’ option warns if this occurs.
-Wno-analyzer-allocation-size
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-allocation-size’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a pointer to a buffer
is assigned to point at a buffer with a size that is not a multiple of sizeof
(*pointer).
See CWE-131: Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size.
-Wno-analyzer-deref-before-check
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-deref-before-check’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a pointer is checked
for NULL *after* it has already been dereferenced, suggesting that the pointer
could have been NULL. Such cases suggest that the check for NULL is either
redundant, or that it needs to be moved to before the pointer is dereferenced.
This diagnostic also considers values passed to a function argument marked
with __attribute__((nonnull)) as requiring a non-NULL value, and thus
will complain if such values are checked for NULL after returning from such a
function call.
This diagnostic is unlikely to be reported when any level of optimization is
enabled, as GCC’s optimization logic will typically consider such checks for
NULL as being redundant, and optimize them away before the analyzer "sees"
them. Hence optimization should be disabled when attempting to trigger this
diagnostic.
-Wno-analyzer-double-fclose
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-double-fclose’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a FILE * can have
fclose called on it more than once.
See CWE-1341: Multiple Releases of Same Resource or Handle.
-Wno-analyzer-double-free
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-double-free’ to disable it.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 153

This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a pointer can have a
deallocator called on it more than once, either free, or a deallocator referenced
by attribute malloc.
See CWE-415: Double Free.
-Wno-analyzer-exposure-through-output-file
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-exposure-through-output-file’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a security-sensitive
value is written to an output file (such as writing a password to a log file).
See CWE-532: Information Exposure Through Log Files.
-Wanalyzer-exposure-through-uninit-copy
This warning requires both ‘-fanalyzer’ and the use of a plugin
to specify a function that copies across a “trust boundary”. Use
‘-Wno-analyzer-exposure-through-uninit-copy’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for “infoleaks” - paths through the code in which unini-
tialized values are copied across a security boundary (such as code within an
OS kernel that copies a partially-initialized struct on the stack to user space).
See CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor.
-Wno-analyzer-fd-access-mode-mismatch
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-fd-access-mode-mismatch’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through code in which a read on a write-only
file descriptor is attempted, or vice versa.
This diagnostic also warns for code paths in a which a function with attribute
fd_arg_read (N) is called with a file descriptor opened with O_WRONLY at ref-
erenced argument N or a function with attribute fd_arg_write (N) is called
with a file descriptor opened with O_RDONLY at referenced argument N.
-Wno-analyzer-fd-double-close
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-fd-double-close’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through code in which a file descriptor can be
closed more than once.
See CWE-1341: Multiple Releases of Same Resource or Handle.
-Wno-analyzer-fd-leak
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-fd-leak’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through code in which an open file descriptor
is leaked.
See CWE-775: Missing Release of File Descriptor or Handle after Effective
Lifetime.
-Wno-analyzer-fd-phase-mismatch
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-fd-phase-mismatch’ to disable it.
154 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

This diagnostic warns for paths through code in which an operation is attempted
in the wrong phase of a file descriptor’s lifetime. For example, it will warn
on attempts to call accept on a stream socket that has not yet had listen
successfully called on it.
See CWE-666: Operation on Resource in Wrong Phase of Lifetime.
-Wno-analyzer-fd-type-mismatch
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-fd-type-mismatch’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through code in which an operation is attempted
on the wrong type of file descriptor. For example, it will warn on attempts to
use socket operations on a file descriptor obtained via open, or when attempting
to use a stream socket operation on a datagram socket.
-Wno-analyzer-fd-use-after-close
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-fd-use-after-close’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through code in which a read or write is called
on a closed file descriptor.
This diagnostic also warns for paths through code in which a function with
attribute fd_arg (N) or fd_arg_read (N) or fd_arg_write (N) is called with
a closed file descriptor at referenced argument N.
-Wno-analyzer-fd-use-without-check
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-fd-use-without-check’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through code in which a file descriptor is used
without being checked for validity.
This diagnostic also warns for paths through code in which a function with
attribute fd_arg (N) or fd_arg_read (N) or fd_arg_write (N) is called with
a file descriptor, at referenced argument N, without being checked for validity.
-Wno-analyzer-file-leak
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-file-leak’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a <stdio.h> FILE
* stream object is leaked.
See CWE-775: Missing Release of File Descriptor or Handle after Effective
Lifetime.
-Wno-analyzer-free-of-non-heap
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-free-of-non-heap’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which free is called on a
non-heap pointer (e.g. an on-stack buffer, or a global).
See CWE-590: Free of Memory not on the Heap.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 155

-Wno-analyzer-imprecise-fp-arithmetic
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-imprecise-fp-arithmetic’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which floating-point arith-
metic is used in locations where precise computation is needed. This diagnostic
only warns on use of floating-point operands inside the calculation of an allo-
cation size at the moment.
-Wno-analyzer-infinite-recursion
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-infinite-recursion’ to disable it.
This diagnostics warns for paths through the code which appear to lead to
infinite recursion.
Specifically, when the analyzer "sees" a recursive call, it will compare the state
of memory at the entry to the new frame with that at the entry to the previous
frame of that function on the stack. The warning is issued if nothing in memory
appears to be changing; any changes observed to parameters or globals are
assumed to lead to termination of the recursion and thus suppress the warning.
This diagnostic is likely to miss cases of infinite recursion that are convered to
iteration by the optimizer before the analyzer "sees" them. Hence optimization
should be disabled when attempting to trigger this diagnostic.
Compare with ‘-Winfinite-recursion’, which provides a similar diagnostic,
but is implemented in a different way.
-Wno-analyzer-jump-through-null
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-jump-through-null’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a NULL function
pointer is called.
-Wno-analyzer-malloc-leak
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-malloc-leak’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a pointer allocated
via an allocator is leaked: either malloc, or a function marked with attribute
malloc.
See CWE-401: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime.
-Wno-analyzer-mismatching-deallocation
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-mismatching-deallocation’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which the wrong deal-
location function is called on a pointer value, based on which function was
used to allocate the pointer value. The diagnostic will warn about mismatches
between free, scalar delete and vector delete[], and those marked as allo-
cator/deallocator pairs using attribute malloc.
See CWE-762: Mismatched Memory Management Routines.
156 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wno-analyzer-out-of-bounds
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’ to enable it; use ‘-Wno-analyzer-out-of-bounds’
to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for path through the code in which a buffer is definitely
read or written out-of-bounds. The diagnostic applies for cases where the an-
alyzer is able to determine a constant offset and for accesses past the end of a
buffer, also a constant capacity. Further, the diagnostic does limited checking
for accesses past the end when the offset as well as the capacity is symbolic.
See CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a
Memory Buffer.
-Wno-analyzer-possible-null-argument
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-possible-null-argument’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a possibly-NULL
value is passed to a function argument marked with __attribute__
((nonnull)) as requiring a non-NULL value.
See CWE-690: Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference.
-Wno-analyzer-possible-null-dereference
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-possible-null-dereference’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a possibly-NULL
value is dereferenced.
See CWE-690: Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference.
-Wno-analyzer-null-argument
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-null-argument’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a value known
to be NULL is passed to a function argument marked with __attribute__
((nonnull)) as requiring a non-NULL value.
See CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference.
-Wno-analyzer-null-dereference
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-null-dereference’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a value known to be
NULL is dereferenced.
See CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference.
-Wno-analyzer-putenv-of-auto-var
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-putenv-of-auto-var’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a call to putenv is
passed a pointer to an automatic variable or an on-stack buffer.
See POS34-C. Do not call putenv() with a pointer to an automatic variable as
the argument.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 157

-Wno-analyzer-shift-count-negative
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-shift-count-negative’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a shift is attempted
with a negative count. It is analogous to the ‘-Wshift-count-negative’ di-
agnostic implemented in the C/C++ front ends, but is implemented based on
analyzing interprocedural paths, rather than merely parsing the syntax tree.
However, the analyzer does not prioritize detection of such paths, so false neg-
atives are more likely relative to other warnings.
-Wno-analyzer-shift-count-overflow
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-shift-count-overflow’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a shift is attempted
with a count greater than or equal to the precision of the operand’s type.
It is analogous to the ‘-Wshift-count-overflow’ diagnostic implemented in
the C/C++ front ends, but is implemented based on analyzing interprocedural
paths, rather than merely parsing the syntax tree. However, the analyzer does
not prioritize detection of such paths, so false negatives are more likely relative
to other warnings.
-Wno-analyzer-stale-setjmp-buffer
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-stale-setjmp-buffer’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which longjmp is called to
rewind to a jmp_buf relating to a setjmp call in a function that has returned.
When setjmp is called on a jmp_buf to record a rewind location, it records the
stack frame. The stack frame becomes invalid when the function containing the
setjmp call returns. Attempting to rewind to it via longjmp would reference a
stack frame that no longer exists, and likely lead to a crash (or worse).
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-allocation-size
This warning requires both ‘-fanalyzer’ and ‘-fanalyzer-checker=taint’ to
enable it; use ‘-Wno-analyzer-tainted-allocation-size’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a value that could
be under an attacker’s control is used as the size of an allocation without being
sanitized, so that an attacker could inject an excessively large allocation and
potentially cause a denial of service attack.
See CWE-789: Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value.
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-assertion
This warning requires both ‘-fanalyzer’ and ‘-fanalyzer-checker=taint’ to
enable it; use ‘-Wno-analyzer-tainted-assertion’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a value that could
be under an attacker’s control is used as part of a condition without being first
sanitized, and that condition guards a call to a function marked with attribute
noreturn (such as the function __builtin_unreachable). Such functions typi-
158 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

cally indicate abnormal termination of the program, such as for assertion failure
handlers. For example:
assert (some_tainted_value < SOME_LIMIT);
In such cases:
• when assertion-checking is enabled: an attacker could trigger a denial of
service by injecting an assertion failure
• when assertion-checking is disabled, such as by defining NDEBUG, an attacker
could inject data that subverts the process, since it presumably violates a
precondition that is being assumed by the code.
Note that when assertion-checking is disabled, the assertions are typically re-
moved by the preprocessor before the analyzer has a chance to "see" them, so
this diagnostic can only generate warnings on builds in which assertion-checking
is enabled.
For the purpose of this warning, any function marked with attribute noreturn
is considered as a possible assertion failure handler, including __builtin_
unreachable. Note that these functions are sometimes removed by the opti-
mizer before the analyzer "sees" them. Hence optimization should be disabled
when attempting to trigger this diagnostic.
See CWE-617: Reachable Assertion.
The warning can also report problematic constructions such as
switch (some_tainted_value) {
case 0:
/* [...etc; various valid cases omitted...] */
break;

default:
__builtin_unreachable (); /* BUG: attacker can trigger this */
}
despite the above not being an assertion failure, strictly speaking.
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-array-index
This warning requires both ‘-fanalyzer’ and ‘-fanalyzer-checker=taint’ to
enable it; use ‘-Wno-analyzer-tainted-array-index’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a value that could
be under an attacker’s control is used as the index of an array access without
being sanitized, so that an attacker could inject an out-of-bounds access.
See CWE-129: Improper Validation of Array Index.
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-divisor
This warning requires both ‘-fanalyzer’ and ‘-fanalyzer-checker=taint’ to
enable it; use ‘-Wno-analyzer-tainted-divisor’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a value that could
be under an attacker’s control is used as the divisor in a division or modulus
operation without being sanitized, so that an attacker could inject a division-
by-zero.
See CWE-369: Divide By Zero.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 159

-Wno-analyzer-tainted-offset
This warning requires both ‘-fanalyzer’ and ‘-fanalyzer-checker=taint’ to
enable it; use ‘-Wno-analyzer-tainted-offset’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a value that could be
under an attacker’s control is used as a pointer offset without being sanitized,
so that an attacker could inject an out-of-bounds access.
See CWE-823: Use of Out-of-range Pointer Offset.
-Wno-analyzer-tainted-size
This warning requires both ‘-fanalyzer’ and ‘-fanalyzer-checker=taint’ to
enable it; use ‘-Wno-analyzer-tainted-size’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a value that could
be under an attacker’s control is used as the size of an operation such as memset
without being sanitized, so that an attacker could inject an out-of-bounds ac-
cess.
See CWE-129: Improper Validation of Array Index.
-Wno-analyzer-unsafe-call-within-signal-handler
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-unsafe-call-within-signal-handler’ to disable
it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a function known to
be async-signal-unsafe (such as fprintf) is called from a signal handler.
See CWE-479: Signal Handler Use of a Non-reentrant Function.
-Wno-analyzer-use-after-free
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-use-after-free’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a pointer is used
after a deallocator is called on it: either free, or a deallocator referenced by
attribute malloc.
See CWE-416: Use After Free.
-Wno-analyzer-use-of-pointer-in-stale-stack-frame
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-use-of-pointer-in-stale-stack-frame’ to disable
it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which a pointer is derefer-
enced that points to a variable in a stale stack frame.
-Wno-analyzer-va-arg-type-mismatch
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-va-arg-type-mismatch’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for interprocedural paths through the code for which
the analyzer detects an attempt to use va_arg to extract a value passed to a
variadic call, but uses a type that does not match that of the expression passed
to the call.
See CWE-686: Function Call With Incorrect Argument Type.
160 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-Wno-analyzer-va-list-exhausted
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-va-list-exhausted’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for interprocedural paths through the code for which the
analyzer detects an attempt to use va_arg to access the next value passed to a
variadic call, but all of the values in the va_list have already been consumed.
See CWE-685: Function Call With Incorrect Number of Arguments.
-Wno-analyzer-va-list-leak
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-va-list-leak’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for interprocedural paths through the code for which
the analyzer detects that va_start or va_copy has been called on a va_list
without a corresponding call to va_end.
-Wno-analyzer-va-list-use-after-va-end
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-va-list-use-after-va-end’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for interprocedural paths through the code for which the
analyzer detects an attempt to use a va_list after va_end has been called on
it. va_list.
-Wno-analyzer-write-to-const
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-write-to-const’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which the analyzer detects
an attempt to write through a pointer to a const object. However, the analyzer
does not prioritize detection of such paths, so false negatives are more likely
relative to other warnings.
-Wno-analyzer-write-to-string-literal
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-write-to-string-literal’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which the analyzer detects
an attempt to write through a pointer to a string literal. However, the analyzer
does not prioritize detection of such paths, so false negatives are more likely
relative to other warnings.
-Wno-analyzer-use-of-uninitialized-value
This warning requires ‘-fanalyzer’, which enables it; use
‘-Wno-analyzer-use-of-uninitialized-value’ to disable it.
This diagnostic warns for paths through the code in which an uninitialized value
is used.
See CWE-457: Use of Uninitialized Variable.
The analyzer has hardcoded knowledge about the behavior of the following memory-
management functions:
• alloca
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 161

• The built-in functions __builtin_alloc, __builtin_alloc_with_align,

• __builtin_calloc, __builtin_free, __builtin_malloc, __builtin_memcpy,
__builtin_memcpy_chk, __builtin_memset, __builtin_memset_chk, __builtin_
realloc, __builtin_stack_restore, and __builtin_stack_save
• calloc
• free
• malloc
• memset
• operator delete
• operator delete []
• operator new
• operator new []
• realloc
• strdup
• strndup
of the following functions for working with file descriptors:
• open
• close
• creat
• dup, dup2 and dup3
• isatty
• pipe, and pipe2
• read
• write
• socket, bind, listen, accept, and connect
of the following functions for working with <stdio.h> streams:
• The built-in functions __builtin_fprintf, __builtin_fprintf_unlocked,
__builtin_fputc, __builtin_fputc_unlocked, __builtin_fputs, __builtin_
fputs_unlocked, __builtin_fwrite, __builtin_fwrite_unlocked, __builtin_
printf, __builtin_printf_unlocked, __builtin_putc, __builtin_putchar,
__builtin_putchar_unlocked, __builtin_putc_unlocked, __builtin_puts,
__builtin_puts_unlocked, __builtin_vfprintf, and __builtin_vprintf
• fopen
• fclose
• ferror
• fgets
• fgets_unlocked
• fileno
• fread
162 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• getc
• getchar
• fprintf
• printf
• fwrite
and of the following functions:
• The built-in functions __builtin_expect, __builtin_expect_with_probability, _
_builtin_strchr, __builtin_strcpy, __builtin_strcpy_chk, __builtin_strlen,
__builtin_va_copy, and __builtin_va_start
• The GNU extensions error and error_at_line
• getpass
• longjmp
• putenv
• setjmp
• siglongjmp
• signal
• sigsetjmp
• strchr
• strlen
In addition, various functions with an __analyzer_ prefix have special meaning to the
analyzer, described in the GCC Internals manual.
Pertinent parameters for controlling the exploration are: ‘--param analyzer-bb-explosion-factor=value’,
‘--param analyzer-max-enodes-per-program-point=value’, ‘--param analyzer-max-recursion-depth=va
and ‘--param analyzer-min-snodes-for-call-summary=value’.
The following options control the analyzer.
-fanalyzer-call-summaries
Simplify interprocedural analysis by computing the effect of certain calls, rather
than exploring all paths through the function from callsite to each possible
return.
If enabled, call summaries are only used for functions with more than
one call site, and that are sufficiently complicated (as per ‘--param
analyzer-min-snodes-for-call-summary=value’).
-fanalyzer-checker=name
Restrict the analyzer to run just the named checker, and enable it.
Some checkers are disabled by default (even with ‘-fanalyzer’), such as the
taint checker that implements ‘-Wanalyzer-tainted-array-index’, and this
option is required to enable them.
Note: currently, ‘-fanalyzer-checker=taint’ disables the following warnings
from ‘-fanalyzer’:
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 163

-Wanalyzer-deref-before-check
-Wanalyzer-double-fclose
-Wanalyzer-double-free
-Wanalyzer-exposure-through-output-file
-Wanalyzer-fd-access-mode-mismatch
-Wanalyzer-fd-double-close
-Wanalyzer-fd-leak
-Wanalyzer-fd-use-after-close
-Wanalyzer-fd-use-without-check
-Wanalyzer-file-leak
-Wanalyzer-free-of-non-heap
-Wanalyzer-malloc-leak
-Wanalyzer-mismatching-deallocation
-Wanalyzer-null-argument
-Wanalyzer-null-dereference
-Wanalyzer-possible-null-argument
-Wanalyzer-possible-null-dereference
-Wanalyzer-unsafe-call-within-signal-handler
-Wanalyzer-use-after-free
-Wanalyzer-va-list-leak
-Wanalyzer-va-list-use-after-va-end

-fno-analyzer-feasibility
This option is intended for analyzer developers.
By default the analyzer verifies that there is a feasible control flow path for each
diagnostic it emits: that the conditions that hold are not mutually exclusive.
Diagnostics for which no feasible path can be found are rejected. This filtering
can be suppressed with ‘-fno-analyzer-feasibility’, for debugging issues in
this code.
-fanalyzer-fine-grained
This option is intended for analyzer developers.
Internally the analyzer builds an “exploded graph” that combines control flow
graphs with data flow information.
By default, an edge in this graph can contain the effects of a run of multi-
ple statements within a basic block. With ‘-fanalyzer-fine-grained’, each
statement gets its own edge.
-fanalyzer-show-duplicate-count
This option is intended for analyzer developers: if multiple diagnostics have
been detected as being duplicates of each other, it emits a note when report-
ing the best diagnostic, giving the number of additional diagnostics that were
suppressed by the deduplication logic.
-fno-analyzer-state-merge
This option is intended for analyzer developers.
By default the analyzer attempts to simplify analysis by merging sufficiently
similar states at each program point as it builds its “exploded graph”. With
‘-fno-analyzer-state-merge’ this merging can be suppressed, for debugging
state-handling issues.
164 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fno-analyzer-state-purge
This option is intended for analyzer developers.
By default the analyzer attempts to simplify analysis by purging aspects of
state at a program point that appear to no longer be relevant e.g. the values
of locals that aren’t accessed later in the function and which aren’t relevant to
leak analysis.
With ‘-fno-analyzer-state-purge’ this purging of state can be suppressed,
for debugging state-handling issues.
-fanalyzer-transitivity
This option enables transitivity of constraints within the analyzer.
-fno-analyzer-undo-inlining
This option is intended for analyzer developers.
‘-fanalyzer’ runs relatively late compared to other code analysis tools, and
some optimizations have already been applied to the code. In particular func-
tion inlining may have occurred, leading to the interprocedural execution paths
emitted by the analyzer containing function frames that don’t correspond to
those in the original source code.
By default the analyzer attempts to reconstruct the original function frames,
and to emit events showing the inlined calls.
With ‘-fno-analyzer-undo-inlining’ this attempt to reconstruct the original
frame information can be be disabled, which may be of help when debugging
issues in the analyzer.
-fanalyzer-verbose-edges
This option is intended for analyzer developers. It enables more verbose, lower-
level detail in the descriptions of control flow within diagnostic paths.
-fanalyzer-verbose-state-changes
This option is intended for analyzer developers. It enables more verbose, lower-
level detail in the descriptions of events relating to state machines within diag-
nostic paths.
-fanalyzer-verbosity=level
This option controls the complexity of the control flow paths that are emitted
for analyzer diagnostics.
The level can be one of:
‘0’ At this level, interprocedural call and return events are displayed,
along with the most pertinent state-change events relating to a
diagnostic. For example, for a double-free diagnostic, both calls
to free will be shown.
‘1’ As per the previous level, but also show events for the entry to each
function.
‘2’ As per the previous level, but also show events relating to control
flow that are significant to triggering the issue (e.g. “true path
taken” at a conditional).
This level is the default.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 165

‘3’ As per the previous level, but show all control flow events, not just
significant ones.
‘4’ This level is intended for analyzer developers; it adds various other
events intended for debugging the analyzer.
-fdump-analyzer
Dump internal details about what the analyzer is doing to
‘file.analyzer.txt’. This option is overridden by ‘-fdump-analyzer-stderr’.
-fdump-analyzer-stderr
Dump internal details about what the analyzer is doing to stderr. This option
overrides ‘-fdump-analyzer’.
-fdump-analyzer-callgraph
Dump a representation of the call graph suitable for viewing with GraphViz to
‘file.callgraph.dot’.
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-graph
Dump a representation of the “exploded graph” suitable for viewing with
GraphViz to ‘file.eg.dot’. Nodes are color-coded based on state-machine
states to emphasize state changes.
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-nodes
Emit diagnostics showing where nodes in the “exploded graph” are in relation
to the program source.
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-nodes-2
Dump a textual representation of the “exploded graph” to ‘file.eg.txt’.
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-nodes-3
Dump a textual representation of the “exploded graph” to one dump file per
node, to ‘file.eg-id.txt’. This is typically a large number of dump files.
-fdump-analyzer-exploded-paths
Dump a textual representation of the “exploded path” for each diagnostic to
‘file.idx.kind.epath.txt’.
-fdump-analyzer-feasibility
Dump internal details about the analyzer’s search for feasible paths. The details
are written in a form suitable for viewing with GraphViz to filenames of the
form ‘file.*.fg.dot’, ‘file.*.tg.dot’, and ‘file.*.fpath.txt’.
-fdump-analyzer-json
Dump a compressed JSON representation of analyzer internals to
‘file.analyzer.json.gz’. The precise format is subject to change.
-fdump-analyzer-state-purge
As per ‘-fdump-analyzer-supergraph’, dump a representation of the “super-
graph” suitable for viewing with GraphViz, but annotate the graph with in-
formation on what state will be purged at each node. The graph is written to
‘file.state-purge.dot’.
166 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fdump-analyzer-supergraph
Dump representations of the “supergraph” suitable for viewing with GraphViz
to ‘file.supergraph.dot’ and to ‘file.supergraph-eg.dot’. These show
all of the control flow graphs in the program, with interprocedural edges for
calls and returns. The second dump contains annotations showing nodes in the
“exploded graph” and diagnostics associated with them.
-fdump-analyzer-untracked
Emit custom warnings with internal details intended for analyzer developers.

3.10 Options for Debugging Your Program

To tell GCC to emit extra information for use by a debugger, in almost all cases you need
only to add ‘-g’ to your other options. Some debug formats can co-exist (like DWARF
with CTF) when each of them is enabled explicitly by adding the respective command line
option to your other options.
GCC allows you to use ‘-g’ with ‘-O’. The shortcuts taken by optimized code may
occasionally be surprising: 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 are already at hand; some statements may
execute in different places because they have been moved out of loops. Nevertheless it
is possible to debug optimized output. This makes it reasonable to use the optimizer for
programs that might have bugs.
If you are not using some other optimization option, consider using ‘-Og’ (see Section 3.11
[Optimize Options], page 173) with ‘-g’. With no ‘-O’ option at all, some compiler passes
that collect information useful for debugging do not run at all, so that ‘-Og’ may result in
a better debugging experience.
-g Produce debugging information in the operating system’s native format (stabs,
COFF, XCOFF, or DWARF). 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 probably makes other debuggers crash or refuse to
read the program. If you want to control for certain whether to generate the
extra information, use ‘-gvms’ (see below).
-ggdb Produce debugging information for use by GDB. This means to use the most
expressive format available (DWARF, stabs, or the native format if neither of
those are supported), including GDB extensions if at all possible.
-gdwarf
-gdwarf-version
Produce debugging information in DWARF format (if that is supported). The
value of version may be either 2, 3, 4 or 5; the default version for most targets is
5 (with the exception of VxWorks, TPF and Darwin/Mac OS X, which default
to version 2, and AIX, which defaults to version 4).
Note that with DWARF Version 2, some ports require and always use some
non-conflicting DWARF 3 extensions in the unwind tables.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 167

Version 4 may require GDB 7.0 and ‘-fvar-tracking-assignments’ for max-

imum benefit. Version 5 requires GDB 8.0 or higher.
GCC no longer supports DWARF Version 1, which is substantially different
than Version 2 and later. For historical reasons, some other DWARF-related
options such as ‘-fno-dwarf2-cfi-asm’) retain a reference to DWARF Version
2 in their names, but apply to all currently-supported versions of DWARF.
-gbtf Request BTF debug information. BTF is the default debugging format for the
eBPF target. On other targets, like x86, BTF debug information can be gen-
erated along with DWARF debug information when both of the debug formats
are enabled explicitly via their respective command line options.
-gctf
-gctflevel
Request CTF debug information and use level to specify how much CTF debug
information should be produced. If ‘-gctf’ is specified without a value for level,
the default level of CTF debug information is 2.
CTF debug information can be generated along with DWARF debug informa-
tion when both of the debug formats are enabled explicitly via their respective
command line options.
Level 0 produces no CTF debug information at all. Thus, ‘-gctf0’ negates
‘-gctf’.
Level 1 produces CTF information for tracebacks only. This includes callsite
information, but does not include type information.
Level 2 produces type information for entities (functions, data objects etc.) at
file-scope or global-scope only.
-gvms Produce debugging information in Alpha/VMS debug format (if that is sup-
ported). This is the format used by DEBUG on Alpha/VMS systems.
-glevel
-ggdblevel
-gvmslevel
Request debugging information and also use level to specify how much infor-
mation. 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, and line number tables, but no information
about local variables.
Level 3 includes extra information, such as all the macro definitions present in
the program. Some debuggers support macro expansion when you use ‘-g3’.
If you use multiple ‘-g’ options, with or without level numbers, the last such
option is the one that is effective.
‘-gdwarf’ does not accept a concatenated debug level, to avoid confusion with
‘-gdwarf-level’. Instead use an additional ‘-glevel’ option to change the
debug level for DWARF.
168 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fno-eliminate-unused-debug-symbols
By default, no debug information is produced for symbols that are not actually
used. Use this option if you want debug information for all symbols.
-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 increases the size of debugging
information by as much as a factor of two.
-fno-merge-debug-strings
Direct the linker to not merge together strings in the debugging information
that 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 residing in directory ‘old’, record debugging information
describing them as if the files resided in directory ‘new’ instead. This can be
used to replace a build-time path with an install-time path in the debug info.
It can also be used to change an absolute path to a relative path by using ‘.’ for
new. This can give more reproducible builds, which are location independent,
but may require an extra command to tell GDB where to find the source files.
See also ‘-ffile-prefix-map’.
-fvar-tracking
Run variable tracking pass. It computes where variables are stored at each posi-
tion 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.
-fvar-tracking-assignments
Annotate assignments to user variables early in the compilation and attempt to
carry the annotations over throughout the compilation all the way to the end, in
an attempt to improve debug information while optimizing. Use of ‘-gdwarf-4’
is recommended along with it.
It can be enabled even if var-tracking is disabled, in which case annotations
are created and maintained, but discarded at the end. By default, this flag is
enabled together with ‘-fvar-tracking’, except when selective scheduling is
enabled.
-gsplit-dwarf
If DWARF debugging information is enabled, separate as much debugging in-
formation as possible into a separate output file with the extension ‘.dwo’. This
option allows the build system to avoid linking files with debug information.
To be useful, this option requires a debugger capable of reading ‘.dwo’ files.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 169

-gdwarf32
-gdwarf64
If DWARF debugging information is enabled, the ‘-gdwarf32’ selects the 32-bit
DWARF format and the ‘-gdwarf64’ selects the 64-bit DWARF format. The
default is target specific, on most targets it is ‘-gdwarf32’ though. The 32-bit
DWARF format is smaller, but can’t support more than 2GiB of debug infor-
mation in any of the DWARF debug information sections. The 64-bit DWARF
format allows larger debug information and might not be well supported by all
consumers yet.
-gdescribe-dies
Add description attributes to some DWARF DIEs that have no name attribute,
such as artificial variables, external references and call site parameter DIEs.
-gpubnames
Generate DWARF .debug_pubnames and .debug_pubtypes sections.
-ggnu-pubnames
Generate .debug_pubnames and .debug_pubtypes sections in a format suitable
for conversion into a GDB index. This option is only useful with a linker that
can produce GDB index version 7.
-fdebug-types-section
When using DWARF Version 4 or higher, type DIEs can be put into their own
.debug_types section instead of making them part of the .debug_info section.
It is more efficient to put them in a separate comdat section since the linker
can then remove duplicates. But not all DWARF consumers support .debug_
types sections yet and on some objects .debug_types produces larger instead
of smaller debugging information.
-grecord-gcc-switches
-gno-record-gcc-switches
This switch causes the command-line options used to invoke the compiler that
may affect code generation to be appended to the DW AT producer attribute
in DWARF debugging information. The options are concatenated with spaces
separating them from each other and from the compiler version. It is enabled by
default. See also ‘-frecord-gcc-switches’ for another way of storing compiler
options into the object file.
-gstrict-dwarf
Disallow using extensions of later DWARF standard version than selected with
‘-gdwarf-version’. On most targets using non-conflicting DWARF extensions
from later standard versions is allowed.
-gno-strict-dwarf
Allow using extensions of later DWARF standard version than selected with
‘-gdwarf-version’.
-gas-loc-support
Inform the compiler that the assembler supports .loc directives. It may then
use them for the assembler to generate DWARF2+ line number tables.
170 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

This is generally desirable, because assembler-generated line-number tables are

a lot more compact than those the compiler can generate itself.
This option will be enabled by default if, at GCC configure time, the assembler
was found to support such directives.
-gno-as-loc-support
Force GCC to generate DWARF2+ line number tables internally, if DWARF2+
line number tables are to be generated.
-gas-locview-support
Inform the compiler that the assembler supports view assignment and reset
assertion checking in .loc directives.
This option will be enabled by default if, at GCC configure time, the assembler
was found to support them.
-gno-as-locview-support
Force GCC to assign view numbers internally, if ‘-gvariable-location-views’
are explicitly requested.
-gcolumn-info
-gno-column-info
Emit location column information into DWARF debugging information, rather
than just file and line. This option is enabled by default.
-gstatement-frontiers
-gno-statement-frontiers
This option causes GCC to create markers in the internal representation at
the beginning of statements, and to keep them roughly in place throughout
compilation, using them to guide the output of is_stmt markers in the line
number table. This is enabled by default when compiling with optimization
(‘-Os’, ‘-O1’, ‘-O2’, . . . ), and outputting DWARF 2 debug information at the
normal level.
-gvariable-location-views
-gvariable-location-views=incompat5
-gno-variable-location-views
Augment variable location lists with progressive view numbers implied from the
line number table. This enables debug information consumers to inspect state
at certain points of the program, even if no instructions associated with the
corresponding source locations are present at that point. If the assembler lacks
support for view numbers in line number tables, this will cause the compiler to
emit the line number table, which generally makes them somewhat less com-
pact. The augmented line number tables and location lists are fully backward-
compatible, so they can be consumed by debug information consumers that are
not aware of these augmentations, but they won’t derive any benefit from them
either.
This is enabled by default when outputting DWARF 2 debug infor-
mation at the normal level, as long as there is assembler support,
‘-fvar-tracking-assignments’ is enabled and ‘-gstrict-dwarf’ is
not. When assembler support is not available, this may still be enabled,
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 171

but it will force GCC to output internal line number tables, and if
‘-ginternal-reset-location-views’ is not enabled, that will most certainly
lead to silently mismatching location views.
There is a proposed representation for view numbers that is not backward
compatible with the location list format introduced in DWARF 5, that can be
enabled with ‘-gvariable-location-views=incompat5’. This option may be
removed in the future, is only provided as a reference implementation of the
proposed representation. Debug information consumers are not expected to
support this extended format, and they would be rendered unable to decode
location lists using it.

-ginternal-reset-location-views
-gno-internal-reset-location-views
Attempt to determine location views that can be omitted from location view
lists. This requires the compiler to have very accurate insn length estimates,
which isn’t always the case, and it may cause incorrect view lists to be generated
silently when using an assembler that does not support location view lists. The
GNU assembler will flag any such error as a view number mismatch. This is
only enabled on ports that define a reliable estimation function.

-ginline-points
-gno-inline-points
Generate extended debug information for inlined functions. Location view
tracking markers are inserted at inlined entry points, so that address and view
numbers can be computed and output in debug information. This can be en-
abled independently of location views, in which case the view numbers won’t
be output, but it can only be enabled along with statement frontiers, and it is
only enabled by default if location views are enabled.

-gz[=type]
Produce compressed debug sections in DWARF format, if that is supported. If
type is not given, the default type depends on the capabilities of the assembler
and linker used. type may be one of ‘none’ (don’t compress debug sections),
or ‘zlib’ (use zlib compression in ELF gABI format). If the linker doesn’t
support writing compressed debug sections, the option is rejected. Otherwise,
if the assembler does not support them, ‘-gz’ is silently ignored when producing
object files.

-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 is
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 debug output.
172 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 is 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 debug output.
-femit-struct-debug-detailed[=spec-list]
Specify the struct-like types for which the compiler generates debug informa-
tion. The intent is to reduce duplicate struct debug information between dif-
ferent object files within the same program.
This option is a detailed version of ‘-femit-struct-debug-reduced’ and
‘-femit-struct-debug-baseonly’, which serves 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 is valid, 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
should 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 when compiling ‘foo.c’, debug
information is generated for types declared in that file and ‘foo.h’, but not other
header files. 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 debug output.
-fno-dwarf2-cfi-asm
Emit DWARF unwind info as compiler generated .eh_frame section instead of
using GAS .cfi_* directives.
-fno-eliminate-unused-debug-types
Normally, when producing DWARF output, GCC avoids producing debug sym-
bol output for types that are nowhere used in the source file being compiled.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 173

Sometimes it is useful to have GCC emit debugging information for all types
declared in a compilation unit, regardless of whether or not they are actually
used in that compilation unit, for example 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.

3.11 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 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. Com-
piling multiple files at once to a single output file mode allows the compiler to use informa-
tion 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.
Most optimizations are completely disabled at ‘-O0’ or if an ‘-O’ level is not set on the
command line, even if individual optimization flags are specified. Similarly, ‘-Og’ suppresses
many optimization passes.
Depending on the target and how GCC was configured, a slightly different set of opti-
mizations 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. See Section 3.2 [Overall Options], page 33, for examples.
-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
-fbranch-count-reg
-fcombine-stack-adjustments
-fcompare-elim
-fcprop-registers
-fdce
-fdefer-pop
-fdelayed-branch
-fdse
-fforward-propagate
-fguess-branch-probability
-fif-conversion
174 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fif-conversion2
-finline-functions-called-once
-fipa-modref
-fipa-profile
-fipa-pure-const
-fipa-reference
-fipa-reference-addressable
-fmerge-constants
-fmove-loop-invariants
-fmove-loop-stores
-fomit-frame-pointer
-freorder-blocks
-fshrink-wrap
-fshrink-wrap-separate
-fsplit-wide-types
-fssa-backprop
-fssa-phiopt
-ftree-bit-ccp
-ftree-ccp
-ftree-ch
-ftree-coalesce-vars
-ftree-copy-prop
-ftree-dce
-ftree-dominator-opts
-ftree-dse
-ftree-forwprop
-ftree-fre
-ftree-phiprop
-ftree-pta
-ftree-scev-cprop
-ftree-sink
-ftree-slsr
-ftree-sra
-ftree-ter
-funit-at-a-time

-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 ‘-O1’. It also turns on the
following optimization flags:
-falign-functions -falign-jumps
-falign-labels -falign-loops
-fcaller-saves
-fcode-hoisting
-fcrossjumping
-fcse-follow-jumps -fcse-skip-blocks
-fdelete-null-pointer-checks
-fdevirtualize -fdevirtualize-speculatively
-fexpensive-optimizations
-ffinite-loops
-fgcse -fgcse-lm
-fhoist-adjacent-loads
-finline-functions
-finline-small-functions
-findirect-inlining
-fipa-bit-cp -fipa-cp -fipa-icf
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 175

-fipa-ra -fipa-sra -fipa-vrp

-fisolate-erroneous-paths-dereference
-flra-remat
-foptimize-sibling-calls
-foptimize-strlen
-fpartial-inlining
-fpeephole2
-freorder-blocks-algorithm=stc
-freorder-blocks-and-partition -freorder-functions
-frerun-cse-after-loop
-fschedule-insns -fschedule-insns2
-fsched-interblock -fsched-spec
-fstore-merging
-fstrict-aliasing
-fthread-jumps
-ftree-builtin-call-dce
-ftree-loop-vectorize
-ftree-pre
-ftree-slp-vectorize
-ftree-switch-conversion -ftree-tail-merge
-ftree-vrp
-fvect-cost-model=very-cheap
Please note the warning under ‘-fgcse’ about invoking ‘-O2’ on programs that
use computed gotos.
-O3 Optimize yet more. ‘-O3’ turns on all optimizations specified by ‘-O2’ and also
turns on the following optimization flags:
-fgcse-after-reload
-fipa-cp-clone -floop-interchange
-floop-unroll-and-jam
-fpeel-loops
-fpredictive-commoning
-fsplit-loops
-fsplit-paths
-ftree-loop-distribution
-ftree-partial-pre
-funswitch-loops
-fvect-cost-model=dynamic
-fversion-loops-for-strides

-O0 Reduce compilation time and make debugging produce the expected results.
This is the default.
-Os Optimize for size. ‘-Os’ enables all ‘-O2’ optimizations except those that often
increase code size:
-falign-functions -falign-jumps
-falign-labels -falign-loops
-fprefetch-loop-arrays -freorder-blocks-algorithm=stc
It also enables ‘-finline-functions’, causes the compiler to tune for code
size rather than execution speed, and performs further optimizations designed
to reduce code size.
-Ofast Disregard strict standards compliance. ‘-Ofast’ enables all ‘-O3’ optimiza-
tions. It also enables optimizations that are not valid for all standard-compliant
programs. It turns on ‘-ffast-math’, ‘-fallow-store-data-races’ and the
176 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Fortran-specific ‘-fstack-arrays’, unless ‘-fmax-stack-var-size’ is speci-

fied, and ‘-fno-protect-parens’. It turns off ‘-fsemantic-interposition’.
-Og Optimize debugging experience. ‘-Og’ should be the optimization level of choice
for the standard edit-compile-debug cycle, offering a reasonable level of opti-
mization while maintaining fast compilation and a good debugging experience.
It is a better choice than ‘-O0’ for producing debuggable code because some
compiler passes that collect debug information are disabled at ‘-O0’.
Like ‘-O0’, ‘-Og’ completely disables a number of optimization passes so that
individual options controlling them have no effect. Otherwise ‘-Og’ enables all
‘-O1’ optimization flags except for those that may interfere with debugging:
-fbranch-count-reg -fdelayed-branch
-fdse -fif-conversion -fif-conversion2
-finline-functions-called-once
-fmove-loop-invariants -fmove-loop-stores -fssa-phiopt
-ftree-bit-ccp -ftree-dse -ftree-pta -ftree-sra
-Oz Optimize aggressively for size rather than speed. This may increase the number
of instructions executed if those instructions require fewer bytes to encode. ‘-Oz’
behaves similarly to ‘-Os’ including enabling most ‘-O2’ optimizations.
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’ is ‘-fno-foo’. In the table below,
only one of the forms is listed—the one you typically 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-defer-pop
For machines that must pop arguments after a function call, always pop
the arguments as soon as each function returns. At levels ‘-O1’ and higher,
‘-fdefer-pop’ is the default; this allows the compiler to let arguments
accumulate on the stack for several function calls and pop them all at once.
-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 ‘-O1’, ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-ffp-contract=style
‘-ffp-contract=off’ disables floating-point expression contraction.
‘-ffp-contract=fast’ enables floating-point expression contraction such as
forming of fused multiply-add operations if the target has native support for
them. ‘-ffp-contract=on’ enables floating-point expression contraction if
allowed by the language standard. This is currently not implemented and
treated equal to ‘-ffp-contract=off’.
The default is ‘-ffp-contract=fast’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 177

-fomit-frame-pointer
Omit the frame pointer in functions that don’t need one. This avoids the
instructions to save, set up and restore the frame pointer; on many targets it
also makes an extra register available.
On some targets this flag has no effect because the standard calling sequence
always uses a frame pointer, so it cannot be omitted.
Note that ‘-fno-omit-frame-pointer’ doesn’t guarantee the frame pointer is
used in all functions. Several targets always omit the frame pointer in leaf
functions.
Enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-foptimize-sibling-calls
Optimize sibling and tail recursive calls.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-foptimize-strlen
Optimize various standard C string functions (e.g. strlen, strchr or strcpy)
and their _FORTIFY_SOURCE counterparts into faster alternatives.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’.
-fno-inline
Do not expand any functions inline apart from those marked with the always_
inline attribute. This is the default when not optimizing.
Single functions can be exempted from inlining by marking them with the
noinline attribute.
-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 heuris-
tically decides which functions are simple enough to be worth integrating in this
way. This inlining applies to all functions, even those not declared inline.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-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 levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-finline-functions
Consider all functions for inlining, even if they are not declared inline. The
compiler heuristically decides which functions are 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 levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’. Also enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and
‘-fauto-profile’.
178 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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’, but not ‘-Og’.
-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.
-fipa-sra
Perform interprocedural scalar replacement of aggregates, removal of unused
parameters and replacement of parameters passed by reference by parameters
passed by value.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’ and ‘-Os’.
-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 spec-
ified 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 be-
havior.
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.
-fno-keep-inline-dllexport
This is a more fine-grained version of ‘-fkeep-inline-functions’, which ap-
plies only to functions that are declared using the dllexport attribute or de-
clspec. See Section 6.33 [Declaring Attributes of Functions], page 566.
-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
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 179

functions using the extern inline extension in GNU C90. In C++, emit any
and all inline functions into the object file.
-fkeep-static-functions
Emit static functions into the object file, even if the function is never used.
-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 a variable is 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 con-
stants) 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 ‘-O1’, ‘-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 vari-
ables 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 results 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 overlap-
ping 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 are deleted, which
triggers the generation of reg-moves based on the life-range analysis. This
option is effective only with ‘-fmodulo-sched’ enabled.
-fno-branch-count-reg
Disable the optimization pass that scans for opportunities to use “decrement
and branch” instructions on a count register instead of instruction sequences
that decrement a register, compare it against zero, and 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. Note that the
‘-fno-branch-count-reg’ option doesn’t remove the decrement and branch
instructions from the generated instruction stream introduced by other opti-
mization passes.
The default is ‘-fbranch-count-reg’ at ‘-O1’ and higher, except for ‘-Og’.
180 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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’.
-fthread-jumps
Perform optimizations that 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 ‘-O1’, ‘-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 ‘-O1’, ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-fsplit-wide-types-early
Fully split wide types early, instead of very late. This option has no effect unless
‘-fsplit-wide-types’ is turned on.
This is the default on some targets.
-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 follows 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 that
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’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 181

-frerun-cse-after-loop
Re-run common subexpression elimination after loop optimizations are per-
formed.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-fgcse Perform a global common subexpression elimination pass. This pass also per-
forms global constant and copy propagation.
Note: When compiling a program using computed gotos, a GCC extension,
you may get better run-time 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 at-
tempts to move loads that 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 ‘-fgcse’ is enabled.
-fgcse-sm
When ‘-fgcse-sm’ is enabled, a store motion pass is run after global common
subexpression elimination. This pass attempts to move stores out of loops.
When used in conjunction with ‘-fgcse-lm’, loops containing a load/store se-
quence 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 clean up redundant
spilling.
Enabled by ‘-O3’, ‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-faggressive-loop-optimizations
This option tells the loop optimizer to use language constraints to derive bounds
for the number of iterations of a loop. This assumes that loop code does not
invoke undefined behavior by for example causing signed integer overflows or
out-of-bound array accesses. The bounds for the number of iterations of a loop
are used to guide loop unrolling and peeling and loop exit test optimizations.
This option is enabled by default.
-funconstrained-commons
This option tells the compiler that variables declared in common blocks (e.g.
Fortran) may later be overridden with longer trailing arrays. This prevents
certain optimizations that depend on knowing the array bounds.
182 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fcrossjumping
Perform cross-jumping transformation. This transformation unifies equivalent
code and saves 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 ‘-O1’ and higher on architectures that support this.
-fdce Perform dead code elimination (DCE) on RTL. Enabled by default at ‘-O1’
and higher.
-fdse Perform dead store elimination (DSE) on RTL. Enabled by default at ‘-O1’
and higher.
-fif-conversion
Attempt to transform conditional jumps into branch-less equivalents. This
includes 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 ‘-fif-conversion2’.
Enabled at levels ‘-O1’, ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’, but not with ‘-Og’.
-fif-conversion2
Use conditional execution (where available) to transform conditional jumps into
branch-less equivalents.
Enabled at levels ‘-O1’, ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’, but not with ‘-Og’.
-fdeclone-ctor-dtor
The C++ ABI requires multiple entry points for constructors and destructors:
one for a base subobject, one for a complete object, and one for a virtual
destructor that calls operator delete afterwards. For a hierarchy with virtual
bases, the base and complete variants are clones, which means two copies of the
function. With this option, the base and complete variants are changed to be
thunks that call a common implementation.
Enabled by ‘-Os’.
-fdelete-null-pointer-checks
Assume that programs cannot safely dereference null pointers, and that no code
or data element resides at address zero. This option enables simple constant
folding optimizations at all optimization levels. In addition, other optimization
passes in GCC use this flag to control global dataflow analyses that eliminate
useless checks for null pointers; these assume that a memory access to address
zero always results in a trap, so that if a pointer is checked after it has already
been dereferenced, it cannot be null.
Note however that in some environments this assumption is not true.
Use ‘-fno-delete-null-pointer-checks’ to disable this optimization for
programs that depend on that behavior.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 183

This option is enabled by default on most targets. On Nios II ELF, it defaults

to off. On AVR and MSP430, this option is completely disabled.
Passes that use the dataflow information are enabled independently at different
optimization levels.
-fdevirtualize
Attempt to convert calls to virtual functions to direct calls. This is
done both within a procedure and interprocedurally as part of indirect
inlining (‘-findirect-inlining’) and interprocedural constant propagation
(‘-fipa-cp’). Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-fdevirtualize-speculatively
Attempt to convert calls to virtual functions to speculative direct calls. Based
on the analysis of the type inheritance graph, determine for a given call the
set of likely targets. If the set is small, preferably of size 1, change the call
into a conditional deciding between direct and indirect calls. The speculative
calls enable more optimizations, such as inlining. When they seem useless after
further optimization, they are converted back into original form.
-fdevirtualize-at-ltrans
Stream extra information needed for aggressive devirtualization when running
the link-time optimizer in local transformation mode. This option enables more
devirtualization but significantly increases the size of streamed data. For this
reason it is disabled by default.
-fexpensive-optimizations
Perform a number of minor optimizations that are relatively expensive.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-free Attempt to remove redundant extension instructions. This is especially helpful
for the x86-64 architecture, which implicitly zero-extends in 64-bit registers
after writing to their lower 32-bit half.
Enabled for Alpha, AArch64 and x86 at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-fno-lifetime-dse
In C++ the value of an object is only affected by changes within its lifetime:
when the constructor begins, the object has an indeterminate value, and
any changes during the lifetime of the object are dead when the object is
destroyed. Normally dead store elimination will take advantage of this; if your
code relies on the value of the object storage persisting beyond the lifetime
of the object, you can use this flag to disable this optimization. To preserve
stores before the constructor starts (e.g. because your operator new clears
the object storage) but still treat the object as dead after the destructor,
you can use ‘-flifetime-dse=1’. The default behavior can be explicitly
selected with ‘-flifetime-dse=2’. ‘-flifetime-dse=0’ is equivalent to
‘-fno-lifetime-dse’.
-flive-range-shrinkage
Attempt to decrease register pressure through register live range shrinkage.
This is helpful for fast processors with small or moderate size register sets.
184 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fira-algorithm=algorithm
Use the specified coloring algorithm for the integrated register allocator. The
algorithm argument can be ‘priority’, which specifies Chow’s priority coloring,
or ‘CB’, which specifies Chaitin-Briggs coloring. Chaitin-Briggs coloring is not
implemented for all architectures, but for those targets that do support it, it is
the default because it generates better code.
-fira-region=region
Use specified regions for the integrated register allocator. The region argument
should be one of the following:
‘all’ Use all loops as register allocation regions. This can give the best
results for machines with a small and/or irregular register set.
‘mixed’ Use all loops except for loops with small register pressure as the
regions. This value usually gives the best results in most cases and
for most architectures, and is enabled by default when compiling
with optimization for speed (‘-O’, ‘-O2’, . . . ).
‘one’ Use all functions as a single region. This typically results in the
smallest code size, and is enabled by default for ‘-Os’ or ‘-O0’.
-fira-hoist-pressure
Use IRA to evaluate register pressure in the code hoisting pass for decisions to
hoist expressions. This option usually results in smaller code, but it can slow
the compiler down.
This option is enabled at level ‘-Os’ for all targets.
-fira-loop-pressure
Use IRA to evaluate register pressure in loops for decisions to move loop in-
variants. This option usually results in generation of faster and smaller code on
machines with large register files (>= 32 registers), but it can slow the compiler
down.
This option is enabled at level ‘-O3’ for some targets.
-fno-ira-share-save-slots
Disable sharing of stack slots used for saving call-used hard registers living
through a call. Each hard register gets a separate stack slot, and as a result
function stack frames are larger.
-fno-ira-share-spill-slots
Disable sharing of stack slots allocated for pseudo-registers. Each pseudo-
register that does not get a hard register gets a separate stack slot, and as
a result function stack frames are larger.
-flra-remat
Enable CFG-sensitive rematerialization in LRA. Instead of loading values of
spilled pseudos, LRA tries to rematerialize (recalculate) values if it is profitable.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-fdelayed-branch
If supported for the target machine, attempt to reorder instructions to exploit
instruction slots available after delayed branch instructions.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 185

Enabled at levels ‘-O1’, ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’, but not at ‘-Og’.

-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
Disable instruction scheduling across basic blocks, which is normally enabled
when scheduling before register allocation, i.e. with ‘-fschedule-insns’ or at
‘-O2’ or higher.
-fno-sched-spec
Disable speculative motion of non-load instructions, which is normally enabled
when scheduling before register allocation, i.e. with ‘-fschedule-insns’ or at
‘-O2’ or higher.
-fsched-pressure
Enable register pressure sensitive insn scheduling before register allocation.
This only makes sense when scheduling before register allocation is enabled,
i.e. with ‘-fschedule-insns’ or at ‘-O2’ or higher. Usage of this option can
improve the generated code and decrease its size by preventing register pressure
increase above the number of available hard registers and subsequent spills in
register allocation.
-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 are moved prematurely,
‘-fsched-stalled-insns=0’ means there is no limit on how many queued
186 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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) are examined for a depen-
dency on a stalled insn that is a 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, use superblock scheduling. This al-
lows motion across basic block boundaries, resulting in 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.
-fsched-group-heuristic
Enable the group heuristic in the scheduler. This heuristic favors the instruction
that belongs to a schedule group. This is enabled by default when scheduling
is enabled, i.e. with ‘-fschedule-insns’ or ‘-fschedule-insns2’ or at ‘-O2’
or higher.
-fsched-critical-path-heuristic
Enable the critical-path heuristic in the scheduler. This heuristic favors in-
structions on the critical path. This is enabled by default when scheduling is
enabled, i.e. with ‘-fschedule-insns’ or ‘-fschedule-insns2’ or at ‘-O2’ or
higher.
-fsched-spec-insn-heuristic
Enable the speculative instruction heuristic in the scheduler. This heuristic
favors speculative instructions with greater dependency weakness. This is en-
abled by default when scheduling is enabled, i.e. with ‘-fschedule-insns’ or
‘-fschedule-insns2’ or at ‘-O2’ or higher.
-fsched-rank-heuristic
Enable the rank heuristic in the scheduler. This heuristic favors the instruc-
tion belonging to a basic block with greater size or frequency. This is en-
abled by default when scheduling is enabled, i.e. with ‘-fschedule-insns’ or
‘-fschedule-insns2’ or at ‘-O2’ or higher.
-fsched-last-insn-heuristic
Enable the last-instruction heuristic in the scheduler. This heuristic favors the
instruction that is less dependent on the last instruction scheduled. This is
enabled by default when scheduling is enabled, i.e. with ‘-fschedule-insns’
or ‘-fschedule-insns2’ or at ‘-O2’ or higher.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 187

-fsched-dep-count-heuristic
Enable the dependent-count heuristic in the scheduler. This heuristic favors
the instruction that has more instructions depending on it. This is enabled
by default when scheduling is enabled, i.e. with ‘-fschedule-insns’ or
‘-fschedule-insns2’ or at ‘-O2’ or higher.
-freschedule-modulo-scheduled-loops
Modulo scheduling is performed before traditional scheduling. If a loop is mod-
ulo scheduled, later scheduling passes may change its schedule. Use this option
to control that behavior.
-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 unless 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 unless ‘-fsel-sched-pipelining’ is turned on.
-fsemantic-interposition
Some object formats, like ELF, allow interposing of symbols by the dynamic
linker. This means that for symbols exported from the DSO, the compiler can-
not perform interprocedural propagation, inlining and other optimizations in
anticipation that the function or variable in question may change. While this
feature is useful, for example, to rewrite memory allocation functions by a de-
bugging implementation, it is expensive in the terms of code quality. With
‘-fno-semantic-interposition’ the compiler assumes that if interposition
happens for functions the overwriting function will have precisely the same
semantics (and side effects). Similarly if interposition happens for variables,
the constructor of the variable will be the same. The flag has no effect for
functions explicitly declared inline (where it is never allowed for interposition
to change semantics) and for symbols explicitly declared weak.
-fshrink-wrap
Emit function prologues only before parts of the function that need it, rather
than at the top of the function. This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O’ and
higher.
-fshrink-wrap-separate
Shrink-wrap separate parts of the prologue and epilogue separately, so that
those parts are only executed when needed. This option is on by default, but
has no effect unless ‘-fshrink-wrap’ is also turned on and the target supports
this.
188 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fcaller-saves
Enable allocation of values to registers that are 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.
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’.
-fcombine-stack-adjustments
Tracks stack adjustments (pushes and pops) and stack memory references and
then tries to find ways to combine them.
Enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-fipa-ra Use caller save registers for allocation if those registers are not used by any called
function. In that case it is not necessary to save and restore them around calls.
This is only possible if called functions are part of same compilation unit as
current function and they are compiled before it.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’, however the option is disabled if generated
code will be instrumented for profiling (‘-p’, or ‘-pg’) or if callee’s register usage
cannot be known exactly (this happens on targets that do not expose prologues
and epilogues in RTL).
-fconserve-stack
Attempt to minimize stack usage. The compiler attempts 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 ‘-O1’ and
higher.
-fcode-hoisting
Perform code hoisting. Code hoisting tries to move the evaluation of expressions
executed on all paths to the function exit as early as possible. This is especially
useful as a code size optimization, but it often helps for code speed as well.
This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O2’ and higher.
-ftree-pre
Perform partial redundancy elimination (PRE) on trees. This flag is enabled
by default at ‘-O2’ and ‘-O3’.
-ftree-partial-pre
Make partial redundancy elimination (PRE) more aggressive. This flag is en-
abled by default at ‘-O3’.
-ftree-forwprop
Perform forward propagation on trees. This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O1’
and higher.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 189

-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 ‘-O1’
and higher.
-ftree-phiprop
Perform hoisting of loads from conditional pointers on trees. This pass is en-
abled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-fhoist-adjacent-loads
Speculatively hoist loads from both branches of an if-then-else if the loads are
from adjacent locations in the same structure and the target architecture has
a conditional move instruction. This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O2’ and
higher.
-ftree-copy-prop
Perform copy propagation on trees. This pass eliminates unnecessary copy
operations. This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-fipa-pure-const
Discover which functions are pure or constant. Enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and
higher.
-fipa-reference
Discover which static variables do not escape the compilation unit. Enabled by
default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-fipa-reference-addressable
Discover read-only, write-only and non-addressable static variables. Enabled
by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-fipa-stack-alignment
Reduce stack alignment on call sites if possible. Enabled by default.
-fipa-pta
Perform interprocedural pointer analysis and interprocedural modification and
reference analysis. This option can cause excessive memory and compile-time
usage on large compilation units. It is not enabled by default at any optimiza-
tion level.
-fipa-profile
Perform interprocedural profile propagation. The functions called only from
cold functions are marked as cold. Also functions executed once (such as cold,
noreturn, static constructors or destructors) are identified. Cold functions and
loop less parts of functions executed once are then optimized for size. Enabled
by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-fipa-modref
Perform interprocedural mod/ref analysis. This optimization analyzes the side
effects of functions (memory locations that are modified or referenced) and
190 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

enables better optimization across the function call boundary. This flag is
enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-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 perfor-
mance if the application has constants passed to functions. This flag is enabled
by default at ‘-O2’, ‘-Os’ and ‘-O3’. It is also enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and
‘-fauto-profile’.
-fipa-cp-clone
Perform function cloning to make interprocedural constant propagation
stronger. When enabled, interprocedural constant propagation performs
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
ipa-cp-unit-growth=value’). This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O3’. It is
also enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-fipa-bit-cp
When enabled, perform interprocedural bitwise constant propagation. This flag
is enabled by default at ‘-O2’ and by ‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.
It requires that ‘-fipa-cp’ is enabled.
-fipa-vrp
When enabled, perform interprocedural propagation of value ranges. This flag
is enabled by default at ‘-O2’. It requires that ‘-fipa-cp’ is enabled.
-fipa-icf
Perform Identical Code Folding for functions and read-only variables. The
optimization reduces code size and may disturb unwind stacks by replacing a
function by equivalent one with a different name. The optimization works more
effectively with link-time optimization enabled.
Although the behavior is similar to the Gold Linker’s ICF optimization, GCC
ICF works on different levels and thus the optimizations are not same - there
are equivalences that are found only by GCC and equivalences found only by
Gold.
This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O2’ and ‘-Os’.
-flive-patching=level
Control GCC’s optimizations to produce output suitable for live-patching.
If the compiler’s optimization uses a function’s body or information extracted
from its body to optimize/change another function, the latter is called an im-
pacted function of the former. If a function is patched, its impacted functions
should be patched too.
The impacted functions are determined by the compiler’s interprocedural op-
timizations. For example, a caller is impacted when inlining a function into
its caller, cloning a function and changing its caller to call this new clone, or
extracting a function’s pureness/constness information to optimize its direct or
indirect callers, etc.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 191

Usually, the more IPA optimizations enabled, the larger the number of impacted
functions for each function. In order to control the number of impacted func-
tions and more easily compute the list of impacted function, IPA optimizations
can be partially enabled at two different levels.
The level argument should be one of the following:
‘inline-clone’
Only enable inlining and cloning optimizations, which includes in-
lining, cloning, interprocedural scalar replacement of aggregates
and partial inlining. As a result, when patching a function, all
its callers and its clones’ callers are impacted, therefore need to be
patched as well.
‘-flive-patching=inline-clone’ disables the following optimiza-
tion flags:
-fwhole-program -fipa-pta -fipa-reference -fipa-ra
-fipa-icf -fipa-icf-functions -fipa-icf-variables
-fipa-bit-cp -fipa-vrp -fipa-pure-const -fipa-reference-addressable
-fipa-stack-alignment -fipa-modref
‘inline-only-static’
Only enable inlining of static functions. As a result, when patching
a static function, all its callers are impacted and so need to be
patched as well.
In addition to all the flags that ‘-flive-patching=inline-clone’
disables, ‘-flive-patching=inline-only-static’ disables the
following additional optimization flags:
-fipa-cp-clone -fipa-sra -fpartial-inlining -fipa-cp
When ‘-flive-patching’ is specified without any value, the default value is
inline-clone.
This flag is disabled by default.
Note that ‘-flive-patching’ is not supported with link-time optimization
(‘-flto’).
-fisolate-erroneous-paths-dereference
Detect paths that trigger erroneous or undefined behavior due to dereferencing
a null pointer. Isolate those paths from the main control flow and turn the state-
ment with erroneous or undefined behavior into a trap. This flag is enabled by
default at ‘-O2’ and higher and depends on ‘-fdelete-null-pointer-checks’
also being enabled.
-fisolate-erroneous-paths-attribute
Detect paths that trigger erroneous or undefined behavior due to a null value
being used in a way forbidden by a returns_nonnull or nonnull attribute.
Isolate those paths from the main control flow and turn the statement with
erroneous or undefined behavior into a trap. This is not currently enabled, but
may be enabled by ‘-O2’ in the future.
-ftree-sink
Perform forward store motion on trees. This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O1’
and higher.
192 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-ftree-bit-ccp
Perform sparse conditional bit constant propagation on trees and propagate
pointer alignment information. This pass only operates on local scalar variables
and is enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher, except for ‘-Og’. It requires that
‘-ftree-ccp’ is enabled.
-ftree-ccp
Perform sparse conditional constant propagation (CCP) on trees. This pass
only operates on local scalar variables and is enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and
higher.
-fssa-backprop
Propagate information about uses of a value up the definition chain in order to
simplify the definitions. For example, this pass strips sign operations if the sign
of a value never matters. The flag is enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-fssa-phiopt
Perform pattern matching on SSA PHI nodes to optimize conditional code.
This pass is enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher, except for ‘-Og’.
-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-tail-merge
Look for identical code sequences. When found, replace one with a jump
to the other. This optimization is known as tail merging or cross jumping.
This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O2’ and higher. The compilation time in
this pass can be limited using ‘max-tail-merge-comparisons’ parameter and
‘max-tail-merge-iterations’ parameter.
-ftree-dce
Perform dead code elimination (DCE) on trees. This flag is enabled by default
at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-ftree-builtin-call-dce
Perform conditional dead code elimination (DCE) for calls to built-in functions
that may set errno but are otherwise free of side effects. This flag is enabled
by default at ‘-O2’ and higher if ‘-Os’ is not also specified.
-ffinite-loops
Assume that a loop with an exit will eventually take the exit and not loop
indefinitely. This allows the compiler to remove loops that otherwise have no
side-effects, not considering eventual endless looping as such.
This option is enabled by default at ‘-O2’ for C++ with -std=c++11 or higher.
-ftree-dominator-opts
Perform a variety of simple scalar cleanups (constant/copy propagation, redun-
dancy 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 ‘-O1’ and higher.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 193

-ftree-dse
Perform dead store elimination (DSE) on trees. A dead store is a store into a
memory location that is later overwritten by another store without any inter-
vening loads. In this case the earlier store can be deleted. This flag is enabled
by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-ftree-ch
Perform loop header copying on trees. This is beneficial since it increases ef-
fectiveness of code motion optimizations. It also saves one jump. This flag
is enabled by default at ‘-O1’ 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 ‘-O1’
and higher.
-ftree-loop-linear
-floop-strip-mine
-floop-block
Perform loop nest optimizations. Same as ‘-floop-nest-optimize’. To use
this code transformation, GCC has to be configured with ‘--with-isl’ to en-
able the Graphite loop transformation infrastructure.
-fgraphite-identity
Enable the identity transformation for graphite. For every SCoP we gener-
ate the polyhedral representation and transform it back to gimple. Using
‘-fgraphite-identity’ we can check the costs or benefits of the GIMPLE
-> GRAPHITE -> GIMPLE transformation. Some minimal optimizations are
also performed by the code generator isl, like index splitting and dead code
elimination in loops.
-floop-nest-optimize
Enable the isl based loop nest optimizer. This is a generic loop nest optimizer
based on the Pluto optimization algorithms. It calculates a loop structure
optimized for data-locality and parallelism. This option is experimental.
-floop-parallelize-all
Use the Graphite data dependence analysis to identify loops that can be paral-
lelized. Parallelize all the loops that can be analyzed to not contain loop carried
dependences without checking that it is profitable to parallelize the loops.
-ftree-coalesce-vars
While transforming the program out of the SSA representation, attempt to
reduce copying by coalescing versions of different user-defined variables, instead
of just compiler temporaries. This may severely limit the ability to debug an
optimized program compiled with ‘-fno-var-tracking-assignments’. In the
negated form, this flag prevents SSA coalescing of user variables. This option is
enabled by default if optimization is enabled, and it does very little otherwise.
-ftree-loop-if-convert
Attempt to transform conditional jumps in the innermost loops to branch-less
equivalents. The intent is to remove control-flow from the innermost loops in
194 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

order to improve the ability of the vectorization pass to handle these loops.
This is enabled by default if vectorization is enabled.
-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
This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O3’. It is also enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’
and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-ftree-loop-distribute-patterns
Perform loop distribution of patterns that can be code generated with calls
to a library. This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O2’ and higher, and by
‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.
This pass distributes the initialization loops and generates a call to memset
zero. For example, the loop
DO I = 1, N
A(I) = 0
B(I) = A(I) + I
ENDDO
is transformed to
DO I = 1, N
A(I) = 0
ENDDO
DO I = 1, N
B(I) = A(I) + I
ENDDO
and the initialization loop is transformed into a call to memset zero. This
flag is enabled by default at ‘-O3’. It is also enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and
‘-fauto-profile’.
-floop-interchange
Perform loop interchange outside of graphite. This flag can improve cache per-
formance on loop nest and allow further loop optimizations, like vectorization,
to take place. For example, the loop
for (int i = 0; i < N; i++)
for (int j = 0; j < N; j++)
for (int k = 0; k < N; k++)
c[i][j] = c[i][j] + a[i][k]*b[k][j];
is transformed to
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 195

for (int i = 0; i < N; i++)

for (int k = 0; k < N; k++)
for (int j = 0; j < N; j++)
c[i][j] = c[i][j] + a[i][k]*b[k][j];
This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O3’. It is also enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’
and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-floop-unroll-and-jam
Apply unroll and jam transformations on feasible loops. In a loop nest this un-
rolls the outer loop by some factor and fuses the resulting multiple inner loops.
This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O3’. It is also enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’
and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-ftree-loop-im
Perform loop invariant motion on trees. This pass moves only invariants that
are hard to handle at RTL level (function calls, operations that expand to non-
trivial 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 loops for which deter-
mining number of iterations requires complicated analysis. Later optimizations
then may determine the number easily. Useful especially in connection with
unrolling.
-ftree-scev-cprop
Perform final value replacement. If a variable is modified in a loop in such a
way that its value when exiting the loop can be determined using only its initial
value and the number of loop iterations, replace uses of the final value by such a
computation, provided it is sufficiently cheap. This reduces data dependencies
and may allow further simplifications. Enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-fivopts Perform induction variable optimizations (strength reduction, induction vari-
able 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 band-
width. This option implies ‘-pthread’, and thus is only supported on targets
that have support for ‘-pthread’.
-ftree-pta
Perform function-local points-to analysis on trees. This flag is enabled by de-
fault at ‘-O1’ and higher, except for ‘-Og’.
-ftree-sra
Perform scalar replacement of aggregates. This pass replaces structure refer-
ences with scalars to prevent committing structures to memory too early. This
flag is enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher, except for ‘-Og’.
196 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fstore-merging
Perform merging of narrow stores to consecutive memory addresses. This pass
merges contiguous stores of immediate values narrower than a word into fewer
wider stores to reduce the number of instructions. This is enabled by default
at ‘-O2’ and higher as well as ‘-Os’.
-ftree-ter
Perform temporary expression replacement during the SSA->normal phase. Sin-
gle use/single def temporaries are replaced at their use location with their defin-
ing 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 ‘-O1’ and higher.
-ftree-slsr
Perform straight-line strength reduction on trees. This recognizes related ex-
pressions involving multiplications and replaces them by less expensive calcu-
lations when possible. This is enabled by default at ‘-O1’ and higher.
-ftree-vectorize
Perform vectorization on trees. This flag enables ‘-ftree-loop-vectorize’
and ‘-ftree-slp-vectorize’ if not explicitly specified.
-ftree-loop-vectorize
Perform loop vectorization on trees. This flag is enabled by default at ‘-O2’
and by ‘-ftree-vectorize’, ‘-fprofile-use’, and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-ftree-slp-vectorize
Perform basic block vectorization on trees. This flag is enabled by default at
‘-O2’ and by ‘-ftree-vectorize’, ‘-fprofile-use’, and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-ftrivial-auto-var-init=choice
Initialize automatic variables with either a pattern or with zeroes to increase
the security and predictability of a program by preventing uninitialized
memory disclosure and use. GCC still considers an automatic variable
that doesn’t have an explicit initializer as uninitialized, ‘-Wuninitialized’
and ‘-Wanalyzer-use-of-uninitialized-value’ will still report warning
messages on such automatic variables and the compiler will perform
optimization as if the variable were uninitialized. With this option, GCC
will also initialize any padding of automatic variables that have structure or
union types to zeroes. However, the current implementation cannot initialize
automatic variables that are declared between the controlling expression and
the first case of a switch statement. Using ‘-Wtrivial-auto-var-init’ to
report all such cases.
The three values of choice are:
• ‘uninitialized’ doesn’t initialize any automatic variables. This is C and
C++’s default.
• ‘pattern’ Initialize automatic variables with values which will likely trans-
form logic bugs into crashes down the line, are easily recognized in a crash
dump and without being values that programmers can rely on for useful
program semantics. The current value is byte-repeatable pattern with byte
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 197

"0xFE". The values used for pattern initialization might be changed in the
future.
• ‘zero’ Initialize automatic variables with zeroes.
The default is ‘uninitialized’.
You can control this behavior for a specific variable by using the variable at-
tribute uninitialized (see Section 6.34 [Variable Attributes], page 633).
-fvect-cost-model=model
Alter the cost model used for vectorization. The model argument should be
one of ‘unlimited’, ‘dynamic’, ‘cheap’ or ‘very-cheap’. With the ‘unlimited’
model the vectorized code-path is assumed to be profitable while with the
‘dynamic’ model a runtime check guards the vectorized code-path to enable
it only for iteration counts that will likely execute faster than when executing
the original scalar loop. The ‘cheap’ model disables vectorization of loops where
doing so would be cost prohibitive for example due to required runtime checks
for data dependence or alignment but otherwise is equal to the ‘dynamic’ model.
The ‘very-cheap’ model only allows vectorization if the vector code would en-
tirely replace the scalar code that is being vectorized. For example, if each
iteration of a vectorized loop would only be able to handle exactly four itera-
tions of the scalar loop, the ‘very-cheap’ model would only allow vectorization
if the scalar iteration count is known to be a multiple of four.
The default cost model depends on other optimization flags and is either
‘dynamic’ or ‘cheap’.
-fsimd-cost-model=model
Alter the cost model used for vectorization of loops marked with the
OpenMP simd directive. The model argument should be one of ‘unlimited’,
‘dynamic’, ‘cheap’. All values of model have the same meaning as
described in ‘-fvect-cost-model’ and by default a cost model defined with
‘-fvect-cost-model’ is used.
-ftree-vrp
Perform Value Range Propagation on trees. This is similar to the constant prop-
agation 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.
-fsplit-paths
Split paths leading to loop backedges. This can improve dead code elimination
and common subexpression elimination. This is enabled by default at ‘-O3’ and
above.
-fsplit-ivs-in-unroller
Enables expression 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.
A combination of ‘-fweb’ and CSE is often sufficient to obtain the same effect.
However, that is not reliable in cases where the loop body is more complicated
198 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

than a single basic block. It also does not work at all on some architectures
due to restrictions in the CSE pass.
This optimization is enabled by default.
-fvariable-expansion-in-unroller
With this option, the compiler creates multiple copies of some local variables
when unrolling a loop, which can result in superior code.
This optimization is enabled by default for PowerPC targets, but disabled by
default otherwise.
-fpartial-inlining
Inline parts of functions. This option has any effect only when inlining itself
is turned on by the ‘-finline-functions’ or ‘-finline-small-functions’
options.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-fpredictive-commoning
Perform predictive commoning optimization, i.e., reusing computations (espe-
cially memory loads and stores) performed in previous iterations of loops.
This option is enabled at level ‘-O3’. It is also enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and
‘-fauto-profile’.
-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-printf-return-value
Do not substitute constants for known return value of formatted output func-
tions such as sprintf, snprintf, vsprintf, and vsnprintf (but not printf
of fprintf). This transformation allows GCC to optimize or even eliminate
branches based on the known return value of these functions called with ar-
guments that are either constant, or whose values are known to be in a range
that makes determining the exact return value possible. For example, when
‘-fprintf-return-value’ is in effect, both the branch and the body of the if
statement (but not the call to snprint) can be optimized away when i is a
32-bit or smaller integer because the return value is guaranteed to be at most
8.
char buf[9];
if (snprintf (buf, "%08x", i) >= sizeof buf)
...
The ‘-fprintf-return-value’ option relies on other optimizations and
yields best results with ‘-O2’ and above. It works in tandem with
the ‘-Wformat-overflow’ and ‘-Wformat-truncation’ options. The
‘-fprintf-return-value’ option is enabled by default.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 199

-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 uses 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 are 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.
It is also possible to specify expected probability of the expression with __
builtin_expect_with_probability built-in function.
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 ‘-O1’, ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-freorder-blocks-algorithm=algorithm
Use the specified algorithm for basic block reordering. The algorithm argument
can be ‘simple’, which does not increase code size (except sometimes due to
secondary effects like alignment), or ‘stc’, the “software trace cache” algorithm,
which tries to put all often executed code together, minimizing the number of
branches executed by making extra copies of code.
The default is ‘simple’ at levels ‘-O1’, ‘-Os’, and ‘stc’ 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 han-
dling or unwind tables (on targets using setjump/longjump or target specific
scheme), for linkonce sections, for functions with a user-defined section at-
tribute and on any architecture that does not support named sections. When
‘-fsplit-stack’ is used this option is not enabled by default (to avoid linker
errors), but may be enabled explicitly (if using a working linker).
Enabled for x86 at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
200 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-freorder-functions
Reorder functions in the object file in order to improve code locality. This is im-
plemented 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.
This option isn’t effective unless you either provide profile feedback (see
‘-fprofile-arcs’ for details) or manually annotate functions with hot or
cold attributes (see Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567).
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-fstrict-aliasing
Allow the compiler to assume the strictest aliasing rules applicable to the lan-
guage 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 works as expected. See
Section 4.9 [Structures unions enumerations and bit-fields implementation],
page 531. 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 deref-
erencing 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’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 201

-fipa-strict-aliasing
Controls whether rules of ‘-fstrict-aliasing’ are applied across function
boundaries. Note that if multiple functions gets inlined into a single func-
tion the memory accesses are no longer considered to be crossing a function
boundary.

The ‘-fipa-strict-aliasing’ option is enabled by default and is effective only

in combination with ‘-fstrict-aliasing’.

-falign-functions
-falign-functions=n
-falign-functions=n:m
-falign-functions=n:m:n2
-falign-functions=n:m:n2:m2
Align the start of functions to the next power-of-two greater than or equal to
n, skipping up to m-1 bytes. This ensures that at least the first m bytes of
the function can be fetched by the CPU without crossing an n-byte alignment
boundary.

If m is not specified, it defaults to n.

Examples: ‘-falign-functions=32’ aligns functions to the next 32-byte

boundary, ‘-falign-functions=24’ aligns to the next 32-byte boundary only
if this can be done by skipping 23 bytes or less, ‘-falign-functions=32:7’
aligns to the next 32-byte boundary only if this can be done by skipping 6
bytes or less.

The second pair of n2:m2 values allows you to specify a secondary alignment:
‘-falign-functions=64:7:32:3’ aligns to the next 64-byte boundary if this
can be done by skipping 6 bytes or less, otherwise aligns to the next 32-byte
boundary if this can be done by skipping 2 bytes or less. If m2 is not specified,
it defaults to n2.

Some assemblers only support this flag when n is a power of two; in that case,
it is rounded up.

‘-fno-align-functions’ and ‘-falign-functions=1’ are equivalent and mean

that functions are not aligned.

If n is not specified or is zero, use a machine-dependent default. The maximum

allowed n option value is 65536.

Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’.

-flimit-function-alignment
If this option is enabled, the compiler tries to avoid unnecessarily overaligning
functions. It attempts to instruct the assembler to align by the amount speci-
fied by ‘-falign-functions’, but not to skip more bytes than the size of the
function.
202 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-falign-labels
-falign-labels=n
-falign-labels=n:m
-falign-labels=n:m:n2
-falign-labels=n:m:n2:m2
Align all branch targets to a power-of-two boundary.
Parameters of this option are analogous to the ‘-falign-functions’ option.
‘-fno-align-labels’ and ‘-falign-labels=1’ are equivalent and mean that
labels are not 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. The maximum allowed n option value
is 65536.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’.
-falign-loops
-falign-loops=n
-falign-loops=n:m
-falign-loops=n:m:n2
-falign-loops=n:m:n2:m2
Align loops to a power-of-two boundary. If the loops are executed many times,
this makes up for any execution of the dummy padding instructions.
If ‘-falign-labels’ is greater than this value, then its value is used instead.
Parameters of this option are analogous to the ‘-falign-functions’ option.
‘-fno-align-loops’ and ‘-falign-loops=1’ are equivalent and mean that
loops are not aligned. The maximum allowed n option value is 65536.
If n is not specified or is zero, use a machine-dependent default.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’.
-falign-jumps
-falign-jumps=n
-falign-jumps=n:m
-falign-jumps=n:m:n2
-falign-jumps=n:m:n2:m2
Align branch targets to a power-of-two boundary, for branch targets where the
targets can only be reached by jumping. In this case, no dummy operations
need be executed.
If ‘-falign-labels’ is greater than this value, then its value is used instead.
Parameters of this option are analogous to the ‘-falign-functions’ option.
‘-fno-align-jumps’ and ‘-falign-jumps=1’ are equivalent and mean that
loops are not aligned.
If n is not specified or is zero, use a machine-dependent default. The maximum
allowed n option value is 65536.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 203

-fno-allocation-dce
Do not remove unused C++ allocations in dead code elimination.
-fallow-store-data-races
Allow the compiler to perform optimizations that may introduce new data races
on stores, without proving that the variable cannot be concurrently accessed by
other threads. Does not affect optimization of local data. It is safe to use this
option if it is known that global data will not be accessed by multiple threads.
Examples of optimizations enabled by ‘-fallow-store-data-races’ include
hoisting or if-conversions that may cause a value that was already in memory to
be re-written with that same value. Such re-writing is safe in a single threaded
context but may be unsafe in a multi-threaded context. Note that on some
processors, if-conversions may be required in order to enable vectorization.
Enabled at level ‘-Ofast’.
-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 are not removed. This option is intended to
support existing code that relies on a particular ordering. For new code, it is
better to use attributes when possible.
‘-ftoplevel-reorder’ is the default at ‘-O1’ and higher, and also
at ‘-O0’ if ‘-fsection-anchors’ is explicitly requested. Additionally
‘-fno-toplevel-reorder’ implies ‘-fno-section-anchors’.
-funreachable-traps
With this option, the compiler turns calls to __builtin_unreachable into
traps, instead of using them for optimization. This also affects any such calls
implicitly generated by the compiler.
This option has the same effect as ‘-fsanitize=unreachable
-fsanitize-trap=unreachable’, but does not affect the values of
those options. If ‘-fsanitize=unreachable’ is enabled, that option takes
priority over this one.
This option is enabled by default at ‘-O0’ and ‘-Og’.
-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 no longer stay in a “home
register”.
Enabled by default with ‘-funroll-loops’.
204 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fwhole-program
Assume that the current compilation unit represents the 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 effect are optimized more aggressively by interprocedural optimizers.
With ‘-flto’ this option has a limited use. In most cases the precise list of
symbols used or exported from the binary is known the resolution info passed
to the link-time optimizer by the linker plugin. It is still useful if no linker
plugin is used or during incremental link step when final code is produced
(with ‘-flto’ ‘-flinker-output=nolto-rel’).
-flto[=n]
This option runs the standard link-time optimizer. When invoked with source
code, it generates GIMPLE (one of GCC’s internal representations) and writes
it to special ELF sections in the object file. When the object files are linked
together, all the function bodies are read from these ELF sections and instan-
tiated as if they had been part of the same translation unit.
To use the link-time optimizer, ‘-flto’ and optimization options should be
specified at compile time and during the final link. It is recommended that you
compile all the files participating in the same link with the same options and
also specify those options at link time. For example:
gcc -c -O2 -flto foo.c
gcc -c -O2 -flto bar.c
gcc -o myprog -flto -O2 foo.o bar.o
The first two invocations to GCC save a bytecode representation of GIMPLE
into special ELF sections inside ‘foo.o’ and ‘bar.o’. The final invocation reads
the GIMPLE bytecode from ‘foo.o’ and ‘bar.o’, merges the two files into a
single internal image, and compiles the result as usual. Since both ‘foo.o’
and ‘bar.o’ are merged into a single image, this causes all the interprocedural
analyses and optimizations in GCC to work across the two files as if they were a
single one. This means, for example, that the inliner is able to inline functions
in ‘bar.o’ into functions in ‘foo.o’ and vice-versa.
Another (simpler) way to enable link-time optimization is:
gcc -o myprog -flto -O2 foo.c bar.c
The above generates bytecode for ‘foo.c’ and ‘bar.c’, merges them together
into a single GIMPLE representation and optimizes them as usual to produce
‘myprog’.
The important thing to keep in mind is that to enable link-time optimizations
you need to use the GCC driver to perform the link step. GCC automatically
performs link-time optimization if any of the objects involved were compiled
with the ‘-flto’ command-line option. You can always override the automatic
decision to do link-time optimization by passing ‘-fno-lto’ to the link com-
mand.
To make whole program optimization effective, it is necessary to make
certain whole program assumptions. The compiler needs to know what
functions and variables can be accessed by libraries and runtime outside
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 205

of the link-time optimized unit. When supported by the linker, the linker
plugin (see ‘-fuse-linker-plugin’) passes information to the compiler about
used and externally visible symbols. When the linker plugin is not available,
‘-fwhole-program’ should be used to allow the compiler to make these
assumptions, which leads to more aggressive optimization decisions.
When a file is compiled with ‘-flto’ without ‘-fuse-linker-plugin’, the gen-
erated object file is larger than a regular object file because it contains GIMPLE
bytecodes and the usual final code (see ‘-ffat-lto-objects’). This means
that object files with LTO information can be linked as normal object files; if
‘-fno-lto’ is passed to the linker, no interprocedural optimizations are applied.
Note that when ‘-fno-fat-lto-objects’ is enabled the compile stage is faster
but you cannot perform a regular, non-LTO link on them.
When producing the final binary, GCC only applies link-time optimizations to
those files that contain bytecode. Therefore, you can mix and match object
files and libraries with GIMPLE bytecodes and final object code. GCC auto-
matically selects which files to optimize in LTO mode and which files to link
without further processing.
Generally, options specified at link time override those specified at compile
time, although in some cases GCC attempts to infer link-time options from the
settings used to compile the input files.
If you do not specify an optimization level option ‘-O’ at link time, then GCC
uses the highest optimization level used when compiling the object files. Note
that it is generally ineffective to specify an optimization level option only at
link time and not at compile time, for two reasons. First, compiling without
optimization suppresses compiler passes that gather information needed for
effective optimization at link time. Second, some early optimization passes can
be performed only at compile time and not at link time.
There are some code generation flags preserved by GCC when generating byte-
codes, as they need to be used during the final link. Currently, the following
options and their settings are taken from the first object file that explicitly speci-
fies them: ‘-fcommon’, ‘-fexceptions’, ‘-fnon-call-exceptions’, ‘-fgnu-tm’
and all the ‘-m’ target flags.
The following options ‘-fPIC’, ‘-fpic’, ‘-fpie’ and ‘-fPIE’ are combined based
on the following scheme:
‘-fPIC’ + ‘-fpic’ = ‘-fpic’
‘-fPIC’ + ‘-fno-pic’ = ‘-fno-pic’
‘-fpic/-fPIC’ + (no option) = (no option)
‘-fPIC’ + ‘-fPIE’ = ‘-fPIE’
‘-fpic’ + ‘-fPIE’ = ‘-fpie’
‘-fPIC/-fpic’ + ‘-fpie’ = ‘-fpie’
Certain ABI-changing flags are required to match in all compilation units, and
trying to override this at link time with a conflicting value is ignored. This
includes options such as ‘-freg-struct-return’ and ‘-fpcc-struct-return’.
Other options such as ‘-ffp-contract’, ‘-fno-strict-overflow’, ‘-fwrapv’,
‘-fno-trapv’ or ‘-fno-strict-aliasing’ are passed through to the
link stage and merged conservatively for conflicting translation units.
206 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Specifically ‘-fno-strict-overflow’, ‘-fwrapv’ and ‘-fno-trapv’ take

precedence; and for example ‘-ffp-contract=off’ takes precedence over
‘-ffp-contract=fast’. You can override them at link time.
Diagnostic options such as ‘-Wstringop-overflow’ are passed through to the
link stage and their setting matches that of the compile-step at function granu-
larity. Note that this matters only for diagnostics emitted during optimization.
Note that code transforms such as inlining can lead to warnings being enabled
or disabled for regions if code not consistent with the setting at compile time.
When you need to pass options to the assembler via ‘-Wa’ or ‘-Xassembler’
make sure to either compile such translation units with ‘-fno-lto’ or con-
sistently use the same assembler options on all translation units. You can
alternatively also specify assembler options at LTO link time.
To enable debug info generation you need to supply ‘-g’ at compile time. If
any of the input files at link time were built with debug info generation enabled
the link will enable debug info generation as well. Any elaborate debug info
settings like the dwarf level ‘-gdwarf-5’ need to be explicitly repeated at the
linker command line and mixing different settings in different translation units
is discouraged.
If LTO encounters objects with C linkage declared with incompatible types in
separate translation units to be linked together (undefined behavior according
to ISO C99 6.2.7), a non-fatal diagnostic may be issued. The behavior is still
undefined at run time. Similar diagnostics may be raised for other languages.
Another feature of LTO is that it is possible to apply interprocedural optimiza-
tions on files written in different languages:
gcc -c -flto foo.c
g++ -c -flto bar.cc
gfortran -c -flto baz.f90
g++ -o myprog -flto -O3 foo.o bar.o baz.o -lgfortran
Notice that the final link is done with g++ to get the C++ runtime libraries and
‘-lgfortran’ is added to get the Fortran runtime libraries. In general, when
mixing languages in LTO mode, you should use the same link command options
as when mixing languages in a regular (non-LTO) compilation.
If object files containing GIMPLE bytecode are stored in a library archive, say
‘libfoo.a’, it is possible to extract and use them in an LTO link if you are
using a linker with plugin support. To create static libraries suitable for LTO,
use gcc-ar and gcc-ranlib instead of ar and ranlib; to show the symbols
of object files with GIMPLE bytecode, use gcc-nm. Those commands require
that ar, ranlib and nm have been compiled with plugin support. At link time,
use the flag ‘-fuse-linker-plugin’ to ensure that the library participates in
the LTO optimization process:
gcc -o myprog -O2 -flto -fuse-linker-plugin a.o b.o -lfoo
With the linker plugin enabled, the linker extracts the needed GIMPLE files
from ‘libfoo.a’ and passes them on to the running GCC to make them part
of the aggregated GIMPLE image to be optimized.
If you are not using a linker with plugin support and/or do not enable the linker
plugin, then the objects inside ‘libfoo.a’ are extracted and linked as usual,
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 207

but they do not participate in the LTO optimization process. In order to make
a static library suitable for both LTO optimization and usual linkage, compile
its object files with ‘-flto’ ‘-ffat-lto-objects’.
Link-time optimizations do not require the presence of the whole program to
operate. If the program does not require any symbols to be exported, it is pos-
sible to combine ‘-flto’ and ‘-fwhole-program’ to allow the interprocedural
optimizers to use more aggressive assumptions which may lead to improved op-
timization opportunities. Use of ‘-fwhole-program’ is not needed when linker
plugin is active (see ‘-fuse-linker-plugin’).
The current implementation of LTO makes no attempt to generate bytecode
that is portable between different types of hosts. The bytecode files are ver-
sioned and there is a strict version check, so bytecode files generated in one
version of GCC do not work with an older or newer version of GCC.
Link-time optimization does not work well with generation of debugging infor-
mation on systems other than those using a combination of ELF and DWARF.
If you specify the optional n, the optimization and code generation done at link
time is executed in parallel using n parallel jobs by utilizing an installed make
program. The environment variable MAKE may be used to override the program
used.
You can also specify ‘-flto=jobserver’ to use GNU make’s job server mode to
determine the number of parallel jobs. This is useful when the Makefile calling
GCC is already executing in parallel. You must prepend a ‘+’ to the command
recipe in the parent Makefile for this to work. This option likely only works if
MAKE is GNU make. Even without the option value, GCC tries to automatically
detect a running GNU make’s job server.
Use ‘-flto=auto’ to use GNU make’s job server, if available, or otherwise fall
back to autodetection of the number of CPU threads present in your system.
-flto-partition=alg
Specify the partitioning algorithm used by the link-time optimizer. The value
is either ‘1to1’ to specify a partitioning mirroring the original source files or
‘balanced’ to specify partitioning into equally sized chunks (whenever possi-
ble) or ‘max’ to create new partition for every symbol where possible. Specifying
‘none’ as an algorithm disables partitioning and streaming completely. The de-
fault value is ‘balanced’. While ‘1to1’ can be used as an workaround for various
code ordering issues, the ‘max’ partitioning is intended for internal testing only.
The value ‘one’ specifies that exactly one partition should be used while the
value ‘none’ bypasses partitioning and executes the link-time optimization step
directly from the WPA phase.
-flto-compression-level=n
This option specifies the level of compression used for intermediate language
written to LTO object files, and is only meaningful in conjunction with LTO
mode (‘-flto’). GCC currently supports two LTO compression algorithms.
For zstd, valid values are 0 (no compression) to 19 (maximum compression),
while zlib supports values from 0 to 9. Values outside this range are clamped
208 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

to either minimum or maximum of the supported values. If the option is not

given, a default balanced compression setting is used.
-fuse-linker-plugin
Enables the use of a linker plugin during link-time optimization. This option
relies on plugin support in the linker, which is available in gold or in GNU ld
2.21 or newer.
This option enables the extraction of object files with GIMPLE bytecode out
of library archives. This improves the quality of optimization by exposing more
code to the link-time optimizer. This information specifies what symbols can be
accessed externally (by non-LTO object or during dynamic linking). Resulting
code quality improvements on binaries (and shared libraries that use hidden
visibility) are similar to ‘-fwhole-program’. See ‘-flto’ for a description of
the effect of this flag and how to use it.
This option is enabled by default when LTO support in GCC is enabled and
GCC was configured for use with a linker supporting plugins (GNU ld 2.21 or
newer or gold).
-ffat-lto-objects
Fat LTO objects are object files that contain both the intermediate language
and the object code. This makes them usable for both LTO linking and normal
linking. This option is effective only when compiling with ‘-flto’ and is ignored
at link time.
‘-fno-fat-lto-objects’ improves compilation time over plain LTO, but re-
quires the complete toolchain to be aware of LTO. It requires a linker with linker
plugin support for basic functionality. Additionally, nm, ar and ranlib need
to support linker plugins to allow a full-featured build environment (capable of
building static libraries etc). GCC provides the gcc-ar, gcc-nm, gcc-ranlib
wrappers to pass the right options to these tools. With non fat LTO makefiles
need to be modified to use them.
Note that modern binutils provide plugin auto-load mechanism. Installing the
linker plugin into ‘$libdir/bfd-plugins’ has the same effect as usage of the
command wrappers (gcc-ar, gcc-nm and gcc-ranlib).
The default is ‘-fno-fat-lto-objects’ on targets with linker plugin support.
-fcompare-elim
After register allocation and post-register allocation instruction splitting, iden-
tify arithmetic instructions that compute processor flags similar to a comparison
operation based on that arithmetic. If possible, eliminate the explicit compar-
ison operation.
This pass only applies to certain targets that cannot explicitly represent the
comparison operation before register allocation is complete.
Enabled at levels ‘-O1’, ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-fcprop-registers
After register allocation and post-register allocation instruction splitting, per-
form a copy-propagation pass to try to reduce scheduling dependencies and
occasionally eliminate the copy.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 209

Enabled at levels ‘-O1’, ‘-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 spec-
ified, GCC uses heuristics to correct or smooth out such inconsistencies. By
default, GCC emits an error message when an inconsistent profile is detected.
This option is enabled by ‘-fauto-profile’.
-fprofile-partial-training
With -fprofile-use all portions of programs not executed during train run
are optimized agressively for size rather than speed. In some cases it is not
practical to train all possible hot paths in the program. (For example, program
may contain functions specific for a given hardware and trianing may not cover
all hardware configurations program is run on.) With -fprofile-partial-
training profile feedback will be ignored for all functions not executed during
the train run leading them to be optimized as if they were compiled without
profile feedback. This leads to better performance when train run is not repre-
sentative but also leads to significantly bigger code.
-fprofile-use
-fprofile-use=path
Enable profile feedback-directed optimizations, and the following optimizations,
many of which are generally profitable only with profile feedback available:
-fbranch-probabilities -fprofile-values
-funroll-loops -fpeel-loops -ftracer -fvpt
-finline-functions -fipa-cp -fipa-cp-clone -fipa-bit-cp
-fpredictive-commoning -fsplit-loops -funswitch-loops
-fgcse-after-reload -ftree-loop-vectorize -ftree-slp-vectorize
-fvect-cost-model=dynamic -ftree-loop-distribute-patterns
-fprofile-reorder-functions
Before you can use this option, you must first generate profiling information.
See Section 3.12 [Instrumentation Options], page 246, for information about
the ‘-fprofile-generate’ option.
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
‘-Wno-error=coverage-mismatch’. Note this may result in poorly optimized
code. Additionally, by default, GCC also emits a warning message if the
feedback profiles do not exist (see ‘-Wmissing-profile’).
If path is specified, GCC looks at the path to find the profile feedback data
files. See ‘-fprofile-dir’.
-fauto-profile
-fauto-profile=path
Enable sampling-based feedback-directed optimizations, and the following op-
timizations, many of which are generally profitable only with profile feedback
available:
-fbranch-probabilities -fprofile-values
-funroll-loops -fpeel-loops -ftracer -fvpt
-finline-functions -fipa-cp -fipa-cp-clone -fipa-bit-cp
210 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fpredictive-commoning -fsplit-loops -funswitch-loops

-fgcse-after-reload -ftree-loop-vectorize -ftree-slp-vectorize
-fvect-cost-model=dynamic -ftree-loop-distribute-patterns
-fprofile-correction
path is the name of a file containing AutoFDO profile information. If omitted,
it defaults to ‘fbdata.afdo’ in the current directory.
Producing an AutoFDO profile data file requires running your program with the
perf utility on a supported GNU/Linux target system. For more information,
see https://perf.wiki.kernel.org/.
E.g.
perf record -e br_inst_retired:near_taken -b -o perf.data \
-- your_program
Then use the create_gcov tool to convert the raw profile data to a format
that can be used by GCC. You must also supply the unstripped binary for your
program to this tool. See https://github.com/google/autofdo.
E.g.
create_gcov --binary=your_program.unstripped --profile=perf.data \
--gcov=profile.afdo
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.
-fexcess-precision=style
This option allows further control over excess precision on machines where
floating-point operations occur in a format with more precision or range
than the IEEE standard and interchange floating-point types. By default,
‘-fexcess-precision=fast’ is in effect; this means that operations may be
carried out in a wider precision than the types specified in the source if that
would result in faster code, and it is unpredictable when rounding to the
types specified in the source code takes place. When compiling C or C++, if
‘-fexcess-precision=standard’ is specified then excess precision follows the
rules specified in ISO C99 or C++; in particular, both casts and assignments
cause values to be rounded to their semantic types (whereas ‘-ffloat-store’
only affects assignments). This option is enabled by default for C or C++
if a strict conformance option such as ‘-std=c99’ or ‘-std=c++17’ is used.
‘-ffast-math’ enables ‘-fexcess-precision=fast’ by default regardless of
whether a strict conformance option is used.
‘-fexcess-precision=standard’ is not implemented for languages other than
C or C++. On the x86, it has no effect if ‘-mfpmath=sse’ or ‘-mfpmath=sse+387’
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 211

is specified; in the former case, IEEE semantics apply without excess precision,
and in the latter, rounding is unpredictable.
-ffast-math
Sets the options ‘-fno-math-errno’, ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’,
‘-ffinite-math-only’, ‘-fno-rounding-math’, ‘-fno-signaling-nans’,
‘-fcx-limited-range’ and ‘-fexcess-precision=fast’.
This option causes the preprocessor macro __FAST_MATH__ to be defined.
This option is not turned on by any ‘-O’ option besides ‘-Ofast’ since it can
result in incorrect output for programs that 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 specifica-
tions.
-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 that 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 argu-
ments 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 incor-
rect output for programs that 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 vi-
olates 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 code
that relies on rounding behavior like (x + 2**52) - 2**52. May also reorder
212 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

floating-point comparisons and thus may not be used when ordered compar-
isons 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’. For Fortran the option is automatically enabled when both
‘-fno-signed-zeros’ and ‘-fno-trapping-math’ are in effect.
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 that 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 that depend on an exact implementation of
IEEE or ISO rules/specifications for math functions.
The default is ‘-ftrapping-math’.
Future versions of GCC may provide finer control of this setting using C99’s
FENV_ACCESS pragma. This command-line option will be used along with
‘-frounding-math’ to specify the default state for FENV_ACCESS.
-frounding-math
Disable transformations and optimizations that assume default floating-point
rounding behavior. This is round-to-zero for all floating point to integer con-
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 213

versions, and round-to-nearest for all other arithmetic truncations. This option
should be specified for programs that change the FP rounding mode dynami-
cally, 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 along with ‘-ftrapping-math’ to specify the
default state for FENV_ACCESS.
-fsignaling-nans
Compile code assuming that IEEE signaling NaNs may generate user-visible
traps during floating-point operations. Setting this option disables optimiza-
tions 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.
-fno-fp-int-builtin-inexact
Do not allow the built-in functions ceil, floor, round and trunc, and their
float and long double variants, to generate code that raises the “inexact”
floating-point exception for noninteger arguments. ISO C99 and C11 allow
these functions to raise the “inexact” exception, but ISO/IEC TS 18661-1:2014,
the C bindings to IEEE 754-2008, as integrated into ISO C2X, does not allow
these functions to do so.
The default is ‘-ffp-int-builtin-inexact’, allowing the exception to be
raised, unless C2X or a later C standard is selected. This option does nothing
unless ‘-ftrapping-math’ is in effect.
Even if ‘-fno-fp-int-builtin-inexact’ is used, if the functions generate a
call to a library function then the “inexact” exception may be raised if the
library implementation does not follow TS 18661.
-fsingle-precision-constant
Treat floating-point constants as single precision instead of implicitly converting
them to double-precision constants.
-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’.
214 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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’ (see Section 3.12
[Instrumentation Options], page 246), you can compile it a second time
using ‘-fbranch-probabilities’, to improve optimizations based on
the number of times each branch was taken. When a 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.
See details about the file naming in ‘-fprofile-arcs’.
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.cc’, instead of guessing
which path a branch is most likely to take, the ‘REG_BR_PROB’ values are used
to exactly determine which path is taken more often.
Enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-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 profil-
ing values of expressions for usage in optimizations.
Enabled by ‘-fprofile-generate’, ‘-fprofile-use’, and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-fprofile-reorder-functions
Function reordering based on profile instrumentation collects first time of exe-
cution of a function and orders these functions in ascending order.
Enabled with ‘-fprofile-use’.
-fvpt If combined with ‘-fprofile-arcs’, this option instructs the compiler to add
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 operations using the knowledge about the value of the
denominator.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 215

Enabled with ‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.

-frename-registers
Attempt to avoid false dependencies in scheduled code by making use of registers
left over after register allocation. This optimization most benefits processors
with lots of registers. Depending on the debug information format adopted by
the target, however, it can make debugging impossible, since variables no longer
stay in a “home register”.
Enabled by default with ‘-funroll-loops’.
-fschedule-fusion
Performs a target dependent pass over the instruction stream to schedule in-
structions of same type together because target machine can execute them more
efficiently if they are adjacent to each other in the instruction flow.
Enabled at levels ‘-O2’, ‘-O3’, ‘-Os’.
-ftracer Perform tail duplication to enlarge superblock size. This transformation simpli-
fies the control flow of the function allowing other optimizations to do a better
job.
Enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-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 a small constant number of iterations). This
option makes code larger, and may or may not make it run faster.
Enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-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 loops for which there is enough information that they do not roll much
(from profile feedback or static analysis). It also turns on complete loop peeling
(i.e. complete removal of loops with small constant number of iterations).
Enabled by ‘-O3’, ‘-fprofile-use’, and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-fmove-loop-invariants
Enables the loop invariant motion pass in the RTL loop optimizer. Enabled at
level ‘-O1’ and higher, except for ‘-Og’.
-fmove-loop-stores
Enables the loop store motion pass in the GIMPLE loop optimizer. This moves
invariant stores to after the end of the loop in exchange for carrying the stored
value in a register across the iteration. Note for this option to have an effect
‘-ftree-loop-im’ has to be enabled as well. Enabled at level ‘-O1’ and higher,
except for ‘-Og’.
216 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fsplit-loops
Split a loop into two if it contains a condition that’s always true for one side of
the iteration space and false for the other.
Enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-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).
Enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and ‘-fauto-profile’.
-fversion-loops-for-strides
If a loop iterates over an array with a variable stride, create another version of
the loop that assumes the stride is always one. For example:
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
x[i * stride] = ...;
becomes:
if (stride == 1)
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
x[i] = ...;
else
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
x[i * stride] = ...;
This is particularly useful for assumed-shape arrays in Fortran where (for ex-
ample) it allows better vectorization assuming contiguous accesses. This flag
is enabled by default at ‘-O3’. It is also enabled by ‘-fprofile-use’ and
‘-fauto-profile’.
-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 have linkers with such optimizations. On AIX, the linker
rearranges sections (CSECTs) based on the call graph. The performance impact
varies.
Together with a linker garbage collection (linker ‘--gc-sections’ option) these
options may lead to smaller statically-linked executables (after stripping).
On ELF/DWARF systems these options do not degenerate the quality of the
debug information. There could be issues with other object files/debug info
formats.
Only use these options when there are significant benefits from doing so. When
you specify these options, the assembler and linker create larger object and
executable files and are also slower. These options affect code generation. They
prevent optimizations by the compiler and assembler using relative locations
inside a translation unit since the locations are unknown until link time. An
example of such an optimization is relaxing calls to short call instructions.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 217

-fstdarg-opt
Optimize the prologue of variadic argument functions with respect to usage of
those arguments.
-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; }
usually calculates the addresses of all three variables, but if you compile it with
‘-fsection-anchors’, it accesses 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.
-fzero-call-used-regs=choice
Zero call-used registers at function return to increase program security by ei-
ther mitigating Return-Oriented Programming (ROP) attacks or preventing
information leakage through registers.
The possible values of choice are the same as for the zero_call_used_regs
attribute (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566). The default is
‘skip’.
You can control this behavior for a specific function by using the function
attribute zero_call_used_regs (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566).
--param name=value
In some places, GCC uses various constants to control the amount of optimiza-
tion that is done. For example, GCC does not inline functions that contain
more than 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 order to get minimal, maximal and default value of a parameter, one can use
‘--help=param -Q’ options.
In each case, the value is an integer. The following choices of name are recog-
nized for all targets:
predictable-branch-outcome
When branch is predicted to be taken with probability lower than
this threshold (in percent), then it is considered well predictable.
218 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

max-rtl-if-conversion-insns
RTL if-conversion tries to remove conditional branches around a
block and replace them with conditionally executed instructions.
This parameter gives the maximum number of instructions in a
block which should be considered for if-conversion. The compiler
will also use other heuristics to decide whether if-conversion is likely
to be profitable.
max-rtl-if-conversion-predictable-cost
RTL if-conversion will try to remove conditional branches around
a block and replace them with conditionally executed instructions.
These parameters give the maximum permissible cost for the
sequence that would be generated by if-conversion depending on
whether the branch is statically determined to be predictable or
not. The units for this parameter are the same as those for the
GCC internal seq cost metric. The compiler will try to provide a
reasonable default for this parameter using the BRANCH COST
target macro.
max-crossjump-edges
The maximum number of incoming edges to consider for cross-
jumping. 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 compilation time
increase with probably small improvement in executable size.
min-crossjump-insns
The minimum number of instructions that must be matched at the
end of two blocks before cross-jumping is performed on them. This
value is ignored in the case where all instructions in the block being
cross-jumped from are matched.
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.
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.
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 are searched, the time savings from filling the delay
slot are minimal, so stop searching. Increasing values mean more
aggressive optimization, making the compilation time increase with
probably small improvement in execution time.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 219

max-delay-slot-live-search
When trying to fill delay slots, the maximum number of instruc-
tions to consider when searching for a block with valid live register
information. Increasing this arbitrarily chosen value means more
aggressive optimization, increasing the compilation time. This pa-
rameter 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 in kB that can be al-
located in order to perform the global common subexpression elim-
ination optimization. If more memory than specified is required,
the optimization is not done.
max-gcse-insertion-ratio
If the ratio of expression insertions to deletions is larger than this
value for any expression, then RTL PRE inserts or removes the
expression and thus leaves partially redundant computations in the
instruction stream.
max-pending-list-length
The maximum number of pending dependencies scheduling allows
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-modulo-backtrack-attempts
The maximum number of backtrack attempts the scheduler should
make when modulo scheduling a loop. Larger values can exponen-
tially increase compilation time.
max-inline-functions-called-once-loop-depth
Maximal loop depth of a call considered by inline heuristics that
tries to inline all functions called once.
max-inline-functions-called-once-insns
Maximal estimated size of functions produced while inlining func-
tions called once.
max-inline-insns-single
Several parameters control the tree inliner used in GCC. This num-
ber sets the maximum number of instructions (counted in GCC’s
internal representation) in a single function that the tree inliner
considers for inlining. This only affects functions declared inline
and methods implemented in a class declaration (C++).
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 are investigated. To those functions, a different (more re-
strictive) limit compared to functions declared inline can be applied
(‘--param max-inline-insns-auto’).
220 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

max-inline-insns-small
This is bound applied to calls which are considered relevant with
‘-finline-small-functions’.
max-inline-insns-size
This is bound applied to calls which are optimized for size. Small
growth may be desirable to anticipate optimization oppurtunities
exposed by inlining.
uninlined-function-insns
Number of instructions accounted by inliner for function overhead
such as function prologue and epilogue.
uninlined-function-time
Extra time accounted by inliner for function overhead such as time
needed to execute function prologue and epilogue.
inline-heuristics-hint-percent
The scale (in percents) applied to ‘inline-insns-single’,
‘inline-insns-single-O2’, ‘inline-insns-auto’ when inline
heuristics hints that inlining is very profitable (will enable later
optimizations).
uninlined-thunk-insns
uninlined-thunk-time
Same as ‘--param uninlined-function-insns’ and ‘--param
uninlined-function-time’ but applied to function thunks.
inline-min-speedup
When estimated performance improvement of caller + callee run-
time exceeds this threshold (in percent), the function can be inlined
regardless of the limit on ‘--param max-inline-insns-single’
and ‘--param max-inline-insns-auto’.
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 back end.
large-function-growth
Specifies maximal growth of large function caused by inlining in
percents. For example, parameter value 100 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.
For example, consider a unit consisting of function A that is
inline and B that just calls A three times. If B is small relative
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 221

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’.
lazy-modules
Maximum number of concurrently open C++ module files when lazy
loading.
inline-unit-growth
Specifies maximal overall growth of the compilation unit caused by
inlining. For example, parameter value 20 limits unit growth to 1.2
times the original size. Cold functions (either marked cold via an
attribute or by profile feedback) are not accounted into the unit
size.
ipa-cp-unit-growth
Specifies maximal overall growth of the compilation unit caused
by interprocedural constant propagation. For example, parameter
value 10 limits unit growth to 1.1 times the original size.
ipa-cp-large-unit-insns
The size of translation unit that IPA-CP pass considers large.
large-stack-frame
The limit specifying large stack frames. While inlining the algo-
rithm is trying to not grow past this limit too much.
large-stack-frame-growth
Specifies maximal growth of large stack frames caused by inlining
in percents. For example, parameter value 1000 limits large stack
frame growth to 11 times the original size.
max-inline-insns-recursive
max-inline-insns-recursive-auto
Specifies the maximum number of instructions an out-of-line copy of
a self-recursive inline function can grow into by performing recursive
inlining.
‘--param max-inline-insns-recursive’ applies to functions de-
clared inline. For functions not declared inline, recursive inlin-
ing happens only when ‘-finline-functions’ (included in ‘-O3’)
is enabled; ‘--param max-inline-insns-recursive-auto’ applies
instead.
max-inline-recursive-depth
max-inline-recursive-depth-auto
Specifies the maximum recursion depth used for recursive inlining.
‘--param max-inline-recursive-depth’ applies to functions de-
clared inline. For functions not declared inline, recursive inlin-
ing happens only when ‘-finline-functions’ (included in ‘-O3’)
222 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

is enabled; ‘--param max-inline-recursive-depth-auto’ applies

instead.
min-inline-recursive-probability
Recursive inlining is profitable only for function having deep re-
cursion 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 the probability that
function recurses via a given call expression. This parameter limits
inlining only to call expressions whose probability exceeds the given
threshold (in percents).
early-inlining-insns
Specify growth that the early inliner can make. In effect it increases
the amount of inlining for code having a large abstraction penalty.
max-early-inliner-iterations
Limit of iterations of the early inliner. This basically bounds the
number of nested indirect calls the early inliner can resolve. Deeper
chains are still handled by late inlining.
comdat-sharing-probability
Probability (in percent) that C++ inline function with comdat vis-
ibility are shared across multiple compilation units.
modref-max-bases
modref-max-refs
modref-max-accesses
Specifies the maximal number of base pointers, references and ac-
cesses stored for a single function by mod/ref analysis.
modref-max-tests
Specifies the maxmal number of tests alias oracle can perform to dis-
ambiguate memory locations using the mod/ref information. This
parameter ought to be bigger than ‘--param modref-max-bases’
and ‘--param modref-max-refs’.
modref-max-depth
Specifies the maximum depth of DFS walk used by modref escape
analysis. Setting to 0 disables the analysis completely.
modref-max-escape-points
Specifies the maximum number of escape points tracked by modref
per SSA-name.
modref-max-adjustments
Specifies the maximum number the access range is enlarged during
modref dataflow analysis.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 223

profile-func-internal-id
A parameter to control whether to use function internal id in profile
database lookup. If the value is 0, the compiler uses an id that
is based on function assembler name and filename, which makes
old profile data more tolerant to source changes such as function
reordering etc.
min-vect-loop-bound
The minimum number of iterations under which loops are not vec-
torized when ‘-ftree-vectorize’ is used. The number of itera-
tions after vectorization needs to be greater than the value specified
by this option to allow vectorization.
gcse-cost-distance-ratio
Scaling factor in calculation of maximum distance an expression can
be moved by GCSE optimizations. This is currently supported only
in the code hoisting pass. The bigger the ratio, the more aggres-
sive code hoisting is with simple expressions, i.e., the expressions
that have cost less than ‘gcse-unrestricted-cost’. Specifying 0
disables hoisting of simple expressions.
gcse-unrestricted-cost
Cost, roughly measured as the cost of a single typical machine
instruction, at which GCSE optimizations do not constrain the dis-
tance an expression can travel. This is currently supported only
in the code hoisting pass. The lesser the cost, the more aggres-
sive code hoisting is. Specifying 0 allows all expressions to travel
unrestricted distances.
max-hoist-depth
The depth of search in the dominator tree for expressions to hoist.
This is used to avoid quadratic behavior in hoisting algorithm. The
value of 0 does not limit on the search, but may slow down compi-
lation of huge functions.
max-tail-merge-comparisons
The maximum amount of similar bbs to compare a bb with. This
is used to avoid quadratic behavior in tree tail merging.
max-tail-merge-iterations
The maximum amount of iterations of the pass over the function.
This is used to limit compilation time in tree tail merging.
store-merging-allow-unaligned
Allow the store merging pass to introduce unaligned stores if it is
legal to do so.
max-stores-to-merge
The maximum number of stores to attempt to merge into wider
stores in the store merging pass.
224 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

max-store-chains-to-track
The maximum number of store chains to track at the same time in
the attempt to merge them into wider stores in the store merging
pass.
max-stores-to-track
The maximum number of stores to track at the same time in the
attemt to to merge them into wider stores in the store merging
pass.
max-unrolled-insns
The maximum number of instructions that a loop may have to be
unrolled. If a loop is unrolled, this parameter also 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 may have to be unrolled. If a loop is
unrolled, this parameter also 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 may have to be
peeled. If a loop is peeled, this parameter also determines how
many times the loop code is peeled.
max-peel-times
The maximum number of peelings of a single loop.
max-peel-branches
The maximum number of branches on the hot path through the
peeled sequence.
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-depth
The maximum depth of a loop nest to be unswitched.
lim-expensive
The minimum cost of an expensive expression in the loop invariant
motion.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 225

min-loop-cond-split-prob
When FDO profile information is available, ‘min-loop-cond-split-prob’
specifies minimum threshold for probability of semi-invariant
condition statement to trigger loop split.
iv-consider-all-candidates-bound
Bound on number of candidates for induction variables, below
which all candidates are considered for each use in induction
variable optimizations. If there are more candidates than this,
only the most relevant ones are considered 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 the number of candidates in the set is smaller than this value,
always try to remove unnecessary ivs from the set when adding a
new one.
avg-loop-niter
Average number of iterations of a loop.
dse-max-object-size
Maximum size (in bytes) of objects tracked bytewise by dead store
elimination. Larger values may result in larger compilation times.
dse-max-alias-queries-per-store
Maximum number of queries into the alias oracle per store. Larger
values result in larger compilation times and may result in more
removed dead stores.
scev-max-expr-size
Bound on size of expressions used in the scalar evolutions analyzer.
Large expressions slow the analyzer.
scev-max-expr-complexity
Bound on the complexity of the expressions in the scalar evolutions
analyzer. Complex expressions slow the analyzer.
max-tree-if-conversion-phi-args
Maximum number of arguments in a PHI supported by TREE if
conversion unless the loop is marked with simd pragma.
vect-max-layout-candidates
The maximum number of possible vector layouts (such as permu-
tations) to consider when optimizing to-be-vectorized code.
vect-max-version-for-alignment-checks
The maximum number of run-time checks that can be performed
when doing loop versioning for alignment in the vectorizer.
226 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vect-max-version-for-alias-checks
The maximum number of run-time checks that can be performed
when doing loop versioning for alias in the vectorizer.
vect-max-peeling-for-alignment
The maximum number of loop peels to enhance access alignment
for vectorizer. Value -1 means no limit.
max-iterations-to-track
The maximum number of iterations of a loop the brute-force algo-
rithm for analysis of the number of iterations of the loop tries to
evaluate.
hot-bb-count-fraction
The denominator n of fraction 1/n of the maximal execution count
of a basic block in the entire program that a basic block needs to
at least have in order to be considered hot. The default is 10000,
which means that a basic block is considered hot if its execution
count is greater than 1/10000 of the maximal execution count. 0
means that it is never considered hot. Used in non-LTO mode.
hot-bb-count-ws-permille
The number of most executed permilles, ranging from 0 to 1000, of
the profiled execution of the entire program to which the execution
count of a basic block must be part of in order to be considered hot.
The default is 990, which means that a basic block is considered
hot if its execution count contributes to the upper 990 permilles,
or 99.0%, of the profiled execution of the entire program. 0 means
that it is never considered hot. Used in LTO mode.
hot-bb-frequency-fraction
The denominator n of fraction 1/n of the execution frequency of the
entry block of a function that a basic block of this function needs
to at least have in order to be considered hot. The default is 1000,
which means that a basic block is considered hot in a function if
it is executed more frequently than 1/1000 of the frequency of the
entry block of the function. 0 means that it is never considered hot.
unlikely-bb-count-fraction
The denominator n of fraction 1/n of the number of profiled runs
of the entire program below which the execution count of a basic
block must be in order for the basic block to be considered unlikely
executed. The default is 20, which means that a basic block is
considered unlikely executed if it is executed in fewer than 1/20, or
5%, of the runs of the program. 0 means that it is always considered
unlikely executed.
max-predicted-iterations
The maximum number of loop iterations we predict statically. This
is useful in cases where a function contains a single loop with known
bound and another loop with unknown bound. The known number
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 227

of iterations is predicted correctly, while the unknown number of

iterations average to roughly 10. This means that the loop without
bounds appears artificially cold relative to the other one.
builtin-expect-probability
Control the probability of the expression having the specified value.
This parameter takes a percentage (i.e. 0 ... 100) as input.
builtin-string-cmp-inline-length
The maximum length of a constant string for a builtin string cmp
call eligible for inlining.
align-threshold
Select fraction of the maximal frequency of executions of a basic
block in a function to align the basic block.
align-loop-iterations
A loop expected to iterate at least the selected number of iterations
is aligned.
tracer-dynamic-coverage
tracer-dynamic-coverage-feedback
This value is used to limit superblock formation once the given per-
centage of executed instructions is covered. This limits unnecessary
code size expansion.
The ‘tracer-dynamic-coverage-feedback’ parameter 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 percent-
age. This is a rather artificial limit, as most of the duplicates are
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-probability
tracer-min-branch-probability-feedback
Stop forward growth if the best edge has probability lower than
this threshold.
Similarly to ‘tracer-dynamic-coverage’ two parameters are
provided. ‘tracer-min-branch-probability-feedback’
is used for compilation with profile feedback and
‘tracer-min-branch-probability’ compilation without.
The value for compilation with profile feedback needs to be more
conservative (higher) in order to make tracer effective.
228 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

stack-clash-protection-guard-size
Specify the size of the operating system provided stack guard as 2
raised to num bytes. Higher values may reduce the number of ex-
plicit probes, but a value larger than the operating system provided
guard will leave code vulnerable to stack clash style attacks.
stack-clash-protection-probe-interval
Stack clash protection involves probing stack space as it is allocated.
This param controls the maximum distance between probes into
the stack as 2 raised to num bytes. Higher values may reduce the
number of explicit probes, but a value larger than the operating
system provided guard will leave code vulnerable to stack clash
style attacks.
max-cse-path-length
The maximum number of basic blocks on path that CSE considers.
max-cse-insns
The maximum number of instructions CSE processes before flush-
ing.
ggc-min-expand
GCC uses a garbage collector to manage its own memory alloca-
tion. 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 no-
tion 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
that 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 229

max-reload-search-insns
The maximum number of instruction reload should look backward
for equivalent register. Increasing values mean more aggressive op-
timization, making the compilation time increase with probably
slightly better performance.
max-cselib-memory-locations
The maximum number of memory locations cselib should take into
account. Increasing values mean more aggressive optimization,
making the compilation time increase with probably slightly better
performance.
max-sched-ready-insns
The maximum number of instructions ready to be issued the sched-
uler 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.
max-sched-region-blocks
The maximum number of blocks in a region to be considered for
interblock scheduling.
max-pipeline-region-blocks
The maximum number of blocks in a region to be considered for
pipelining in the selective scheduler.
max-sched-region-insns
The maximum number of insns in a region to be considered for
interblock scheduling.
max-pipeline-region-insns
The maximum number of insns in a region to be considered for
pipelining in the selective scheduler.
min-spec-prob
The minimum probability (in percents) of reaching a source block
for interblock speculative scheduling.
max-sched-extend-regions-iters
The maximum number of iterations through CFG to extend regions.
A value of 0 disables region extensions.
max-sched-insn-conflict-delay
The maximum conflict delay for an insn to be considered for spec-
ulative motion.
sched-spec-prob-cutoff
The minimal probability of speculation success (in percents), so
that speculative insns are scheduled.
sched-state-edge-prob-cutoff
The minimum probability an edge must have for the scheduler to
save its state across it.
230 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

sched-mem-true-dep-cost
Minimal distance (in CPU cycles) between store and load targeting
same memory locations.
selsched-max-lookahead
The maximum size of the lookahead window of selective scheduling.
It is a depth of search for available instructions.
selsched-max-sched-times
The maximum number of times that an instruction is scheduled
during selective scheduling. This is the limit on the number of
iterations through which the instruction may be pipelined.
selsched-insns-to-rename
The maximum number of best instructions in the ready list that
are considered for renaming in the selective scheduler.
sms-min-sc
The minimum value of stage count that swing modulo scheduler
generates.
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.
max-combine-insns
The maximum number of instructions the RTL combiner tries to
combine.
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.
ssp-buffer-size
The minimum size of buffers (i.e. arrays) that receive stack smash-
ing protection when ‘-fstack-protector’ is used.
min-size-for-stack-sharing
The minimum size of variables taking part in stack slot sharing
when not optimizing.
max-jump-thread-duplication-stmts
Maximum number of statements allowed in a block that needs to
be duplicated when threading jumps.
max-jump-thread-paths
The maximum number of paths to consider when searching for jump
threading opportunities. When arriving at a block, incoming edges
are only considered if the number of paths to be searched so far
multiplied by the number of incoming edges does not exhaust the
specified maximum number of paths to consider.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 231

max-fields-for-field-sensitive
Maximum number of fields in a structure treated in a field sensitive
manner during pointer analysis.
prefetch-latency
Estimate on average number of instructions that are executed be-
fore prefetch finishes. The distance prefetched ahead is propor-
tional 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 data cache, in bytes.
l1-cache-size
The size of L1 data cache, in kilobytes.
l2-cache-size
The size of L2 data cache, in kilobytes.
prefetch-dynamic-strides
Whether the loop array prefetch pass should issue software prefetch
hints for strides that are non-constant. In some cases this may be
beneficial, though the fact the stride is non-constant may make it
hard to predict when there is clear benefit to issuing these hints.
Set to 1 if the prefetch hints should be issued for non-
constant strides. Set to 0 if prefetch hints should be issued
only for strides that are known to be constant and below
‘prefetch-minimum-stride’.
prefetch-minimum-stride
Minimum constant stride, in bytes, to start using prefetch hints for.
If the stride is less than this threshold, prefetch hints will not be
issued.
This setting is useful for processors that have hardware prefetchers,
in which case there may be conflicts between the hardware prefetch-
ers and the software prefetchers. If the hardware prefetchers have a
maximum stride they can handle, it should be used here to improve
the use of software prefetchers.
A value of -1 means we don’t have a threshold and therefore prefetch
hints can be issued for any constant stride.
This setting is only useful for strides that are known and constant.
destructive-interference-size
constructive-interference-size
The values for the C++17 variables std::hardware_destructive_
interference_size and std::hardware_constructive_
interference_size. The destructive interference size is
232 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

the minimum recommended offset between two independent

concurrently-accessed objects; the constructive interference size is
the maximum recommended size of contiguous memory accessed
together. Typically both will be the size of an L1 cache line for
the target, in bytes. For a generic target covering a range of L1
cache line sizes, typically the constructive interference size will be
the small end of the range and the destructive size will be the
large end.
The destructive interference size is intended to be used for layout,
and thus has ABI impact. The default value is not expected to
be stable, and on some targets varies with ‘-mtune’, so use of this
variable in a context where ABI stability is important, such as the
public interface of a library, is strongly discouraged; if it is used in
that context, users can stabilize the value using this option.
The constructive interference size is less sensitive, as it is typically
only used in a ‘static_assert’ to make sure that a type fits within
a cache line.
See also ‘-Winterference-size’.
loop-interchange-max-num-stmts
The maximum number of stmts in a loop to be interchanged.
loop-interchange-stride-ratio
The minimum ratio between stride of two loops for interchange to
be profitable.
min-insn-to-prefetch-ratio
The minimum ratio between the number of instructions and the
number of prefetches to enable prefetching in a loop.
prefetch-min-insn-to-mem-ratio
The minimum ratio between the number of instructions and the
number of memory references to enable prefetching in a loop.
use-canonical-types
Whether the compiler should use the “canonical” type system.
Should always be 1, which uses a more efficient internal mecha-
nism 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 refuses to create arrays that are big-
ger than ‘switch-conversion-max-branch-ratio’ times the num-
ber 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 en-
hanced partial redundancy elimination optimization can run away,
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 233

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 allows an unlimited set length.

rpo-vn-max-loop-depth
Maximum loop depth that is value-numbered optimistically. When
the limit hits the innermost rpo-vn-max-loop-depth loops and the
outermost loop in the loop nest are value-numbered optimistically
and the remaining ones not.

sccvn-max-alias-queries-per-access
Maximum number of alias-oracle queries we perform when looking
for redundancies for loads and stores. If this limit is hit the search
is aborted and the load or store is not considered redundant. The
number of queries is algorithmically limited to the number of stores
on all paths from the load to the function entry.

ira-max-loops-num
IRA uses regional register allocation by default. If a function con-
tains more loops than the number given by this parameter, only at
most the given number of the most frequently-executed loops form
regions for regional register allocation.

ira-max-conflict-table-size
Although IRA uses a sophisticated algorithm to compress the con-
flict table, the table can still require excessive amounts of memory
for huge functions. If the conflict table for a function could be more
than the size in MB given by this parameter, the register alloca-
tor instead uses a faster, simpler, and lower-quality algorithm that
does not require building a pseudo-register conflict table.

ira-loop-reserved-regs
IRA can be used to evaluate more accurate register pressure in
loops for decisions to move loop invariants (see ‘-O3’). The number
of available registers reserved for some other purposes is given by
this parameter. Default of the parameter is the best found from
numerous experiments.

ira-consider-dup-in-all-alts
Make IRA to consider matching constraint (duplicated operand
number) heavily in all available alternatives for preferred register
class. If it is set as zero, it means IRA only respects the match-
ing constraint when it’s in the only available alternative with an
appropriate register class. Otherwise, it means IRA will check all
available alternatives for preferred register class even if it has found
some choice with an appropriate register class and respect the found
qualified matching constraint.
234 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

lra-inheritance-ebb-probability-cutoff
LRA tries to reuse values reloaded in registers in subsequent in-
sns. This optimization is called inheritance. EBB is used as a
region to do this optimization. The parameter defines a minimal
fall-through edge probability in percentage used to add BB to inher-
itance EBB in LRA. The default value was chosen from numerous
runs of SPEC2000 on x86-64.
loop-invariant-max-bbs-in-loop
Loop invariant motion can be very expensive, both in compilation
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.
loop-max-datarefs-for-datadeps
Building data dependencies is expensive for very large loops. This
parameter limits the number of data references in loops that are
considered for data dependence analysis. These large loops are no
handled by the optimizations using loop data dependencies.
max-vartrack-size
Sets a maximum number of hash table slots to use during variable
tracking dataflow analysis of any function. If this limit is exceeded
with variable tracking at assignments enabled, analysis for that
function is retried without it, after removing all debug insns from
the function. If the limit is exceeded even without debug insns, var
tracking analysis is completely disabled for the function. Setting
the parameter to zero makes it unlimited.
max-vartrack-expr-depth
Sets a maximum number of recursion levels when attempting to
map variable names or debug temporaries to value expressions.
This trades compilation time for more complete debug information.
If this is set too low, value expressions that are available and could
be represented in debug information may end up not being used;
setting this higher may enable the compiler to find more complex
debug expressions, but compile time and memory use may grow.
max-debug-marker-count
Sets a threshold on the number of debug markers (e.g. begin stmt
markers) to avoid complexity explosion at inlining or expanding to
RTL. If a function has more such gimple stmts than the set limit,
such stmts will be dropped from the inlined copy of a function, and
from its RTL expansion.
min-nondebug-insn-uid
Use uids starting at this parameter for nondebug insns. The range
below the parameter is reserved exclusively for debug insns created
by ‘-fvar-tracking-assignments’, but debug insns may get (non-
overlapping) uids above it if the reserved range is exhausted.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 235

ipa-sra-deref-prob-threshold
IPA-SRA replaces a pointer which is known not be NULL with
one or more new parameters only when the probability (in percent,
relative to function entry) of it being dereferenced is higher than
this parameter.
ipa-sra-ptr-growth-factor
IPA-SRA replaces a pointer to an aggregate with one or more
new parameters only when their cumulative size is less or equal
to ‘ipa-sra-ptr-growth-factor’ times the size of the original
pointer parameter.
ipa-sra-ptrwrap-growth-factor
Additional maximum allowed growth of total size of new parameters
that ipa-sra replaces a pointer to an aggregate with, if it points to
a local variable that the caller only writes to and passes it as an
argument to other functions.
ipa-sra-max-replacements
Maximum pieces of an aggregate that IPA-SRA tracks. As a conse-
quence, it is also the maximum number of replacements of a formal
parameter.
sra-max-scalarization-size-Ospeed
sra-max-scalarization-size-Osize
The two Scalar Reduction of Aggregates passes (SRA and
IPA-SRA) aim to replace scalar parts of aggregates with
uses of independent scalar variables. These parameters
control the maximum size, in storage units, of aggregate
which is considered for replacement when compiling for
speed (‘sra-max-scalarization-size-Ospeed’) or size
(‘sra-max-scalarization-size-Osize’) respectively.
sra-max-propagations
The maximum number of artificial accesses that Scalar Replace-
ment of Aggregates (SRA) will track, per one local variable, in
order to facilitate copy propagation.
tm-max-aggregate-size
When making copies of thread-local variables in a transaction, this
parameter specifies the size in bytes after which variables are saved
with the logging functions as opposed to save/restore code sequence
pairs. This option only applies when using ‘-fgnu-tm’.
graphite-max-nb-scop-params
To avoid exponential effects in the Graphite loop transforms, the
number of parameters in a Static Control Part (SCoP) is bounded.
A value of zero can be used to lift the bound. A variable whose
value is unknown at compilation time and defined outside a SCoP
is a parameter of the SCoP.
236 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

loop-block-tile-size
Loop blocking or strip mining transforms, enabled with
‘-floop-block’ or ‘-floop-strip-mine’, strip mine each loop in
the loop nest by a given number of iterations. The strip length
can be changed using the ‘loop-block-tile-size’ parameter.
ipa-jump-function-lookups
Specifies number of statements visited during jump function offset
discovery.
ipa-cp-value-list-size
IPA-CP attempts to track all possible values and types passed to a
function’s parameter in order to propagate them and perform devir-
tualization. ‘ipa-cp-value-list-size’ is the maximum number
of values and types it stores per one formal parameter of a function.
ipa-cp-eval-threshold
IPA-CP calculates its own score of cloning profitability heuristics
and performs those cloning opportunities with scores that exceed
‘ipa-cp-eval-threshold’.
ipa-cp-max-recursive-depth
Maximum depth of recursive cloning for self-recursive function.
ipa-cp-min-recursive-probability
Recursive cloning only when the probability of call being executed
exceeds the parameter.
ipa-cp-profile-count-base
When using ‘-fprofile-use’ option, IPA-CP will consider the
measured execution count of a call graph edge at this percentage
position in their histogram as the basis for its heuristics calculation.
ipa-cp-recursive-freq-factor
The number of times interprocedural copy propagation expects re-
cursive functions to call themselves.
ipa-cp-recursion-penalty
Percentage penalty the recursive functions will receive when they
are evaluated for cloning.
ipa-cp-single-call-penalty
Percentage penalty functions containing a single call to another
function will receive when they are evaluated for cloning.
ipa-max-agg-items
IPA-CP is also capable to propagate a number of scalar values
passed in an aggregate. ‘ipa-max-agg-items’ controls the maxi-
mum number of such values per one parameter.
ipa-cp-loop-hint-bonus
When IPA-CP determines that a cloning candidate would make
the number of iterations of a loop known, it adds a bonus of
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 237

‘ipa-cp-loop-hint-bonus’ to the profitability score of the

candidate.
ipa-max-loop-predicates
The maximum number of different predicates IPA will use to de-
scribe when loops in a function have known properties.
ipa-max-aa-steps
During its analysis of function bodies, IPA-CP employs alias
analysis in order to track values pointed to by function parameters.
In order not spend too much time analyzing huge functions, it
gives up and consider all memory clobbered after examining
‘ipa-max-aa-steps’ statements modifying memory.
ipa-max-switch-predicate-bounds
Maximal number of boundary endpoints of case ranges of switch
statement. For switch exceeding this limit, IPA-CP will not con-
struct cloning cost predicate, which is used to estimate cloning
benefit, for default case of the switch statement.
ipa-max-param-expr-ops
IPA-CP will analyze conditional statement that references some
function parameter to estimate benefit for cloning upon certain
constant value. But if number of operations in a parameter expres-
sion exceeds ‘ipa-max-param-expr-ops’, the expression is treated
as complicated one, and is not handled by IPA analysis.
lto-partitions
Specify desired number of partitions produced during WHOPR
compilation. The number of partitions should exceed the number
of CPUs used for compilation.
lto-min-partition
Size of minimal partition for WHOPR (in estimated instructions).
This prevents expenses of splitting very small programs into too
many partitions.
lto-max-partition
Size of max partition for WHOPR (in estimated instructions). to
provide an upper bound for individual size of partition. Meant to
be used only with balanced partitioning.
lto-max-streaming-parallelism
Maximal number of parallel processes used for LTO streaming.
cxx-max-namespaces-for-diagnostic-help
The maximum number of namespaces to consult for suggestions
when C++ name lookup fails for an identifier.
sink-frequency-threshold
The maximum relative execution frequency (in percents) of the tar-
get block relative to a statement’s original block to allow statement
238 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

sinking of a statement. Larger numbers result in more aggressive

statement sinking. A small positive adjustment is applied for state-
ments with memory operands as those are even more profitable so
sink.
max-stores-to-sink
The maximum number of conditional store pairs that can be
sunk. Set to 0 if either vectorization (‘-ftree-vectorize’) or
if-conversion (‘-ftree-loop-if-convert’) is disabled.
case-values-threshold
The smallest number of different values for which it is best to use
a jump-table instead of a tree of conditional branches. If the value
is 0, use the default for the machine.
jump-table-max-growth-ratio-for-size
The maximum code size growth ratio when expanding into a jump
table (in percent). The parameter is used when optimizing for size.
jump-table-max-growth-ratio-for-speed
The maximum code size growth ratio when expanding into a jump
table (in percent). The parameter is used when optimizing for
speed.
tree-reassoc-width
Set the maximum number of instructions executed in parallel in re-
associated tree. This parameter overrides target dependent heuris-
tics used by default if has non zero value.
sched-pressure-algorithm
Choose between the two available implementations of
‘-fsched-pressure’. Algorithm 1 is the original implementation
and is the more likely to prevent instructions from being reordered.
Algorithm 2 was designed to be a compromise between the
relatively conservative approach taken by algorithm 1 and the
rather aggressive approach taken by the default scheduler. It relies
more heavily on having a regular register file and accurate register
pressure classes. See ‘haifa-sched.cc’ in the GCC sources for
more details.
The default choice depends on the target.
max-slsr-cand-scan
Set the maximum number of existing candidates that are consid-
ered when seeking a basis for a new straight-line strength reduction
candidate.
asan-globals
Enable buffer overflow detection for global objects. This
kind of protection is enabled by default if you are using
‘-fsanitize=address’ option. To disable global objects
protection use ‘--param asan-globals=0’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 239

asan-stack
Enable buffer overflow detection for stack objects. This kind of
protection is enabled by default when using ‘-fsanitize=address’.
To disable stack protection use ‘--param asan-stack=0’ option.
asan-instrument-reads
Enable buffer overflow detection for memory reads. This
kind of protection is enabled by default when using
‘-fsanitize=address’. To disable memory reads protection use
‘--param asan-instrument-reads=0’.
asan-instrument-writes
Enable buffer overflow detection for memory writes. This
kind of protection is enabled by default when using
‘-fsanitize=address’. To disable memory writes protection use
‘--param asan-instrument-writes=0’ option.
asan-memintrin
Enable detection for built-in functions. This kind of protection is
enabled by default when using ‘-fsanitize=address’. To disable
built-in functions protection use ‘--param asan-memintrin=0’.
asan-use-after-return
Enable detection of use-after-return. This kind of protection is
enabled by default when using the ‘-fsanitize=address’ option.
To disable it use ‘--param asan-use-after-return=0’.
Note: By default the check is disabled at run time. To enable it, add
detect_stack_use_after_return=1 to the environment variable
ASAN_OPTIONS.
asan-instrumentation-with-call-threshold
If number of memory accesses in function being instrumented
is greater or equal to this number, use callbacks instead
of inline checks. E.g. to disable inline code use ‘--param
asan-instrumentation-with-call-threshold=0’.
hwasan-instrument-stack
Enable hwasan instrumentation of statically sized stack-allocated
variables. This kind of instrumentation is enabled by default when
using ‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’ and disabled by default when using
‘-fsanitize=kernel-hwaddress’. To disable stack instrumenta-
tion use ‘--param hwasan-instrument-stack=0’, and to enable it
use ‘--param hwasan-instrument-stack=1’.
hwasan-random-frame-tag
When using stack instrumentation, decide tags for stack variables
using a deterministic sequence beginning at a random tag for
each frame. With this parameter unset tags are chosen using
the same sequence but beginning from 1. This is enabled
by default for ‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’ and unavailable for
240 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘-fsanitize=kernel-hwaddress’. To disable it use ‘--param

hwasan-random-frame-tag=0’.
hwasan-instrument-allocas
Enable hwasan instrumentation of dynamically sized stack-
allocated variables. This kind of instrumentation is enabled
by default when using ‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’ and disabled
by default when using ‘-fsanitize=kernel-hwaddress’.
To disable instrumentation of such variables use ‘--param
hwasan-instrument-allocas=0’, and to enable it use ‘--param
hwasan-instrument-allocas=1’.
hwasan-instrument-reads
Enable hwasan checks on memory reads. Instrumentation of
reads is enabled by default for both ‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’ and
‘-fsanitize=kernel-hwaddress’. To disable checking memory
reads use ‘--param hwasan-instrument-reads=0’.
hwasan-instrument-writes
Enable hwasan checks on memory writes. Instrumentation of
writes is enabled by default for both ‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’ and
‘-fsanitize=kernel-hwaddress’. To disable checking memory
writes use ‘--param hwasan-instrument-writes=0’.
hwasan-instrument-mem-intrinsics
Enable hwasan instrumentation of builtin functions. Instrumen-
tation of these builtin functions is enabled by default for both
‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’ and ‘-fsanitize=kernel-hwaddress’.
To disable instrumentation of builtin functions use ‘--param
hwasan-instrument-mem-intrinsics=0’.
use-after-scope-direct-emission-threshold
If the size of a local variable in bytes is smaller or equal to this
number, directly poison (or unpoison) shadow memory instead of
using run-time callbacks.
tsan-distinguish-volatile
Emit special instrumentation for accesses to volatiles.
tsan-instrument-func-entry-exit
Emit instrumentation calls to tsan func entry() and
tsan func exit().
max-fsm-thread-path-insns
Maximum number of instructions to copy when duplicating blocks
on a finite state automaton jump thread path.
threader-debug
threader-debug=[none|all] Enables verbose dumping of the
threader solver.
parloops-chunk-size
Chunk size of omp schedule for loops parallelized by parloops.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 241

parloops-schedule
Schedule type of omp schedule for loops parallelized by parloops
(static, dynamic, guided, auto, runtime).
parloops-min-per-thread
The minimum number of iterations per thread of an innermost
parallelized loop for which the parallelized variant is preferred over
the single threaded one. Note that for a parallelized loop nest the
minimum number of iterations of the outermost loop per thread is
two.
max-ssa-name-query-depth
Maximum depth of recursion when querying properties of SSA
names in things like fold routines. One level of recursion corre-
sponds to following a use-def chain.
max-speculative-devirt-maydefs
The maximum number of may-defs we analyze when looking for a
must-def specifying the dynamic type of an object that invokes a
virtual call we may be able to devirtualize speculatively.
evrp-sparse-threshold
Maximum number of basic blocks before EVRP uses a sparse cache.
ranger-debug
Specifies the type of debug output to be issued for ranges.
evrp-switch-limit
Specifies the maximum number of switch cases before EVRP ig-
nores a switch.
unroll-jam-min-percent
The minimum percentage of memory references that must be opti-
mized away for the unroll-and-jam transformation to be considered
profitable.
unroll-jam-max-unroll
The maximum number of times the outer loop should be unrolled
by the unroll-and-jam transformation.
max-rtl-if-conversion-unpredictable-cost
Maximum permissible cost for the sequence that would be gener-
ated by the RTL if-conversion pass for a branch that is considered
unpredictable.
max-variable-expansions-in-unroller
If ‘-fvariable-expansion-in-unroller’ is used, the maximum
number of times that an individual variable will be expanded during
loop unrolling.
partial-inlining-entry-probability
Maximum probability of the entry BB of split region (in percent
relative to entry BB of the function) to make partial inlining hap-
pen.
242 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

max-tracked-strlens
Maximum number of strings for which strlen optimization pass will
track string lengths.
gcse-after-reload-partial-fraction
The threshold ratio for performing partial redundancy elimination
after reload.
gcse-after-reload-critical-fraction
The threshold ratio of critical edges execution count that permit
performing redundancy elimination after reload.
max-loop-header-insns
The maximum number of insns in loop header duplicated by the
copy loop headers pass.
vect-epilogues-nomask
Enable loop epilogue vectorization using smaller vector size.
vect-partial-vector-usage
Controls when the loop vectorizer considers using partial vector
loads and stores as an alternative to falling back to scalar code. 0
stops the vectorizer from ever using partial vector loads and stores.
1 allows partial vector loads and stores if vectorization removes
the need for the code to iterate. 2 allows partial vector loads and
stores in all loops. The parameter only has an effect on targets that
support partial vector loads and stores.
vect-inner-loop-cost-factor
The maximum factor which the loop vectorizer applies to the cost
of statements in an inner loop relative to the loop being vectorized.
The factor applied is the maximum of the estimated number of
iterations of the inner loop and this parameter. The default value
of this parameter is 50.
vect-induction-float
Enable loop vectorization of floating point inductions.
avoid-fma-max-bits
Maximum number of bits for which we avoid creating FMAs.
sms-loop-average-count-threshold
A threshold on the average loop count considered by the swing
modulo scheduler.
sms-dfa-history
The number of cycles the swing modulo scheduler considers when
checking conflicts using DFA.
graphite-allow-codegen-errors
Whether codegen errors should be ICEs when ‘-fchecking’.
sms-max-ii-factor
A factor for tuning the upper bound that swing modulo scheduler
uses for scheduling a loop.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 243

lra-max-considered-reload-pseudos
The max number of reload pseudos which are considered during
spilling a non-reload pseudo.
max-pow-sqrt-depth
Maximum depth of sqrt chains to use when synthesizing exponen-
tiation by a real constant.
max-dse-active-local-stores
Maximum number of active local stores in RTL dead store elimi-
nation.
asan-instrument-allocas
Enable asan allocas/VLAs protection.
max-iterations-computation-cost
Bound on the cost of an expression to compute the number of iter-
ations.
max-isl-operations
Maximum number of isl operations, 0 means unlimited.
graphite-max-arrays-per-scop
Maximum number of arrays per scop.
max-vartrack-reverse-op-size
Max. size of loc list for which reverse ops should be added.
fsm-scale-path-stmts
Scale factor to apply to the number of statements in a threading
path when comparing to the number of (scaled) blocks.
uninit-control-dep-attempts
Maximum number of nested calls to search for control dependencies
during uninitialized variable analysis.
fsm-scale-path-blocks
Scale factor to apply to the number of blocks in a threading path
when comparing to the number of (scaled) statements.
sched-autopref-queue-depth
Hardware autoprefetcher scheduler model control flag. Number of
lookahead cycles the model looks into; at ’ ’ only enable instruction
sorting heuristic.
loop-versioning-max-inner-insns
The maximum number of instructions that an inner loop can have
before the loop versioning pass considers it too big to copy.
loop-versioning-max-outer-insns
The maximum number of instructions that an outer loop can have
before the loop versioning pass considers it too big to copy, dis-
counting any instructions in inner loops that directly benefit from
versioning.
244 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

ssa-name-def-chain-limit
The maximum number of SSA NAME assignments to follow in
determining a property of a variable such as its value. This limits
the number of iterations or recursive calls GCC performs when
optimizing certain statements or when determining their validity
prior to issuing diagnostics.
store-merging-max-size
Maximum size of a single store merging region in bytes.
hash-table-verification-limit
The number of elements for which hash table verification is done
for each searched element.
max-find-base-term-values
Maximum number of VALUEs handled during a single
find base term call.
analyzer-max-enodes-per-program-point
The maximum number of exploded nodes per program point within
the analyzer, before terminating analysis of that point.
analyzer-max-constraints
The maximum number of constraints per state.
analyzer-min-snodes-for-call-summary
The minimum number of supernodes within a function for the an-
alyzer to consider summarizing its effects at call sites.
analyzer-max-enodes-for-full-dump
The maximum depth of exploded nodes that should appear in a
dot dump before switching to a less verbose format.
analyzer-max-recursion-depth
The maximum number of times a callsite can appear in a call stack
within the analyzer, before terminating analysis of a call that would
recurse deeper.
analyzer-max-svalue-depth
The maximum depth of a symbolic value, before approximating the
value as unknown.
analyzer-max-infeasible-edges
The maximum number of infeasible edges to reject before declaring
a diagnostic as infeasible.
gimple-fe-computed-hot-bb-threshold
The number of executions of a basic block which is considered hot.
The parameter is used only in GIMPLE FE.
analyzer-bb-explosion-factor
The maximum number of ’after supernode’ exploded nodes within
the analyzer per supernode, before terminating analysis.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 245

ranger-logical-depth
Maximum depth of logical expression evaluation ranger will look
through when evaluating outgoing edge ranges.
relation-block-limit
Maximum number of relations the oracle will register in a basic
block.
min-pagesize
Minimum page size for warning purposes.
openacc-kernels
Specify mode of OpenACC ‘kernels’ constructs handling. With
‘--param=openacc-kernels=decompose’, OpenACC ‘kernels’ con-
structs are decomposed into parts, a sequence of compute con-
structs, each then handled individually. This is work in progress.
With ‘--param=openacc-kernels=parloops’, OpenACC ‘kernels’
constructs are handled by the ‘parloops’ pass, en bloc. This is the
current default.
openacc-privatization
Specify mode of OpenACC privatization diagnostics for
‘-fopt-info-omp-note’ and applicable ‘-fdump-tree-*-details’.
With ‘--param=openacc-privatization=quiet’,
don’t diagnose. This is the current default. With
‘--param=openacc-privatization=noisy’, do diagnose.
The following choices of name are available on AArch64 targets:
aarch64-sve-compare-costs
When vectorizing for SVE, consider using “unpacked” vectors for
smaller elements and use the cost model to pick the cheapest ap-
proach. Also use the cost model to choose between SVE and Ad-
vanced SIMD vectorization.
Using unpacked vectors includes storing smaller elements in larger
containers and accessing elements with extending loads and trun-
cating stores.
aarch64-float-recp-precision
The number of Newton iterations for calculating the reciprocal for
float type. The precision of division is proportional to this param
when division approximation is enabled. The default value is 1.
aarch64-double-recp-precision
The number of Newton iterations for calculating the reciprocal for
double type. The precision of division is propotional to this param
when division approximation is enabled. The default value is 2.
aarch64-autovec-preference
Force an ISA selection strategy for auto-vectorization. Accepts
values from 0 to 4, inclusive.
246 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘0’ Use the default heuristics.

‘1’ Use only Advanced SIMD for auto-vectorization.
‘2’ Use only SVE for auto-vectorization.
‘3’ Use both Advanced SIMD and SVE. Prefer Advanced
SIMD when the costs are deemed equal.
‘4’ Use both Advanced SIMD and SVE. Prefer SVE when
the costs are deemed equal.
The default value is 0.
aarch64-loop-vect-issue-rate-niters
The tuning for some AArch64 CPUs tries to take both latencies
and issue rates into account when deciding whether a loop should
be vectorized using SVE, vectorized using Advanced SIMD, or not
vectorized at all. If this parameter is set to n, GCC will not use
this heuristic for loops that are known to execute in fewer than n
Advanced SIMD iterations.
aarch64-vect-unroll-limit
The vectorizer will use available tuning information to determine
whether it would be beneficial to unroll the main vectorized loop
and by how much. This parameter set’s the upper bound of how
much the vectorizer will unroll the main loop. The default value is
four.
The following choices of name are available on i386 and x86 64 targets:
x86-stlf-window-ninsns
Instructions number above which STFL stall penalty can be com-
pensated.

3.12 Program Instrumentation Options

GCC supports a number of command-line options that control adding run-time instrumen-
tation to the code it normally generates. For example, one purpose of instrumentation is
collect profiling statistics for use in finding program hot spots, code coverage analysis, or
profile-guided optimizations. Another class of program instrumentation is adding run-time
checking to detect programming errors like invalid pointer dereferences or out-of-bounds
array accesses, as well as deliberately hostile attacks such as stack smashing or C++ vtable
hijacking. There is also a general hook which can be used to implement other forms of
tracing or function-level instrumentation for debug or program analysis purposes.
-p
-pg Generate extra code to write profile information suitable for the analysis pro-
gram prof (for ‘-p’) or gprof (for ‘-pg’). You must use this option when
compiling the source files you want data about, and you must also use it when
linking.
You can use the function attribute no_instrument_function to suppress
profiling of individual functions when compiling with these options. See
Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 247

-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. On targets that support constructors with
priority support, profiling properly handles constructors, destructors and C++
constructors (and destructors) of classes which are used as a type of a global
variable.
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’).
Note that if a command line directly links source files, the corresponding .gcda
files will be prefixed with the unsuffixed name of the output file. E.g. gcc a.c
b.c -o binary would generate ‘binary-a.gcda’ and ‘binary-b.gcda’ files.
See Section 10.5 [Cross-profiling], page 943.
--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 com-
piling) 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.
• Compile the source files additionally with ‘-fprofile-abs-path’ to create
absolute path names in the ‘.gcno’ files. This allows gcov to find the
correct sources in projects where compilations occur with different working
directories.
• 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. Unless a strict
ISO C dialect option is in effect, fork calls are detected and correctly
handled without double counting.
Moreover, an object file can be recompiled multiple times and the corre-
sponding ‘.gcda’ file merges as long as the source file and the compiler
options are unchanged.
• For profile-directed optimizations, compile the source files again
with the same optimization and code generation options plus
248 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘-fbranch-probabilities’ (see Section 3.11 [Options that Control

Optimization], page 173).
• 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 (see Chapter 10 [gcov—
a Test Coverage Program], page 931) 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 matches the source files more closely if you
do not optimize.
-fprofile-abs-path
Automatically convert relative source file names to absolute path names in the
‘.gcno’ files. This allows gcov to find the correct sources in projects where
compilations occur with different working directories.
-fprofile-dir=path
Set the directory to search for 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. Both absolute and
relative paths can be used. By default, GCC uses the current directory as
path, thus the profile data file appears in the same directory as the object file.
In order to prevent the file name clashing, if the object file name is not an
absolute path, we mangle the absolute path of the ‘sourcename.gcda’ file and
use it as the file name of a ‘.gcda’ file. See details about the file naming in
‘-fprofile-arcs’. See similar option ‘-fprofile-note’.
When an executable is run in a massive parallel environment, it is recommended
to save profile to different folders. That can be done with variables in path that
are exported during run-time:
%p process ID.
%q{VAR} value of environment variable VAR
-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
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 249

must use ‘-fprofile-generate’ both when compiling and when linking your
program.
The following options are enabled: ‘-fprofile-arcs’, ‘-fprofile-values’,
‘-finline-functions’, and ‘-fipa-bit-cp’.
If path is specified, GCC looks at the path to find the profile feedback data
files. See ‘-fprofile-dir’.
To optimize the program based on the collected profile information, use
‘-fprofile-use’. See Section 3.11 [Optimize Options], page 173, for more
information.
-fprofile-info-section
-fprofile-info-section=name
Register the profile information in the specified section instead of using a con-
structor/destructor. The section name is name if it is specified, otherwise the
section name defaults to .gcov_info. A pointer to the profile information
generated by ‘-fprofile-arcs’ is placed in the specified section for each trans-
lation unit. This option disables the profile information registration through
a constructor and it disables the profile information processing through a de-
structor. This option is not intended to be used in hosted environments such
as GNU/Linux. It targets freestanding environments (for example embedded
systems) with limited resources which do not support constructors/destructors
or the C library file I/O.
The linker could collect the input sections in a continuous memory block and
define start and end symbols. A GNU linker script example which defines a
linker output section follows:
.gcov_info :
{
PROVIDE (__gcov_info_start = .);
KEEP (*(.gcov_info))
PROVIDE (__gcov_info_end = .);
}
The program could dump the profiling information registered in this linker set
for example like this:
#include <gcov.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

extern const struct gcov_info *const __gcov_info_start[];

extern const struct gcov_info *const __gcov_info_end[];

static void
dump (const void *d, unsigned n, void *arg)
{
const unsigned char *c = d;

for (unsigned i = 0; i < n; ++i)

printf ("%02x", c[i]);
}

static void
filename (const char *f, void *arg)
250 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

{
__gcov_filename_to_gcfn (f, dump, arg );
}

static void *
allocate (unsigned length, void *arg)
{
return malloc (length);
}

static void
dump_gcov_info (void)
{
const struct gcov_info *const *info = __gcov_info_start;
const struct gcov_info *const *end = __gcov_info_end;

/* Obfuscate variable to prevent compiler optimizations. */

__asm__ ("" : "+r" (info));

while (info != end)

{
void *arg = NULL;
__gcov_info_to_gcda (*info, filename, dump, allocate, arg);
putchar (’\n’);
++info;
}
}

int
main (void)
{
dump_gcov_info ();
return 0;
}
The merge-stream subcommand of gcov-tool may be used to deserialize the
data stream generated by the __gcov_filename_to_gcfn and __gcov_info_
to_gcda functions and merge the profile information into ‘.gcda’ files on the
host filesystem.

-fprofile-note=path
If path is specified, GCC saves ‘.gcno’ file into path location. If you combine
the option with multiple source files, the ‘.gcno’ file will be overwritten.

-fprofile-prefix-path=path
This option can be used in combination with ‘profile-generate=’profile dir
and ‘profile-use=’profile dir to inform GCC where is the base directory of
built source tree. By default profile dir will contain files with mangled ab-
solute paths of all object files in the built project. This is not desirable
when directory used to build the instrumented binary differs from the direc-
tory used to build the binary optimized with profile feedback because the
profile data will not be found during the optimized build. In such setups
‘-fprofile-prefix-path=’path with path pointing to the base directory of
the build can be used to strip the irrelevant part of the path and keep all file
names relative to the main build directory.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 251

-fprofile-prefix-map=old=new
When compiling files residing in directory ‘old’, record profiling information
(with ‘--coverage’) describing them as if the files resided in directory ‘new’
instead. See also ‘-ffile-prefix-map’.
-fprofile-update=method
Alter the update method for an application instrumented for profile feedback
based optimization. The method argument should be one of ‘single’, ‘atomic’
or ‘prefer-atomic’. The first one is useful for single-threaded applications,
while the second one prevents profile corruption by emitting thread-safe code.
Warning: When an application does not properly join all threads (or creates
an detached thread), a profile file can be still corrupted.
Using ‘prefer-atomic’ would be transformed either to ‘atomic’, when sup-
ported by a target, or to ‘single’ otherwise. The GCC driver automatically
selects ‘prefer-atomic’ when ‘-pthread’ is present in the command line.
-fprofile-filter-files=regex
Instrument only functions from files whose name matches any of the regular
expressions (separated by semi-colons).
For example, ‘-fprofile-filter-files=main\.c;module.*\.c’ will instru-
ment only ‘main.c’ and all C files starting with ’module’.
-fprofile-exclude-files=regex
Instrument only functions from files whose name does not match any of the
regular expressions (separated by semi-colons).
For example, ‘-fprofile-exclude-files=/usr/.*’ will prevent instrumenta-
tion of all files that are located in the ‘/usr/’ folder.
-fprofile-reproducible=[multithreaded|parallel-runs|serial]
Control level of reproducibility of profile gathered by -fprofile-generate.
This makes it possible to rebuild program with same outcome which is useful,
for example, for distribution packages.
With ‘-fprofile-reproducible=serial’ the profile gathered by
‘-fprofile-generate’ is reproducible provided the trained program behaves
the same at each invocation of the train run, it is not multi-threaded and
profile data streaming is always done in the same order. Note that profile
streaming happens at the end of program run but also before fork function is
invoked.
Note that it is quite common that execution counts of some part of programs
depends, for example, on length of temporary file names or memory space ran-
domization (that may affect hash-table collision rate). Such non-reproducible
part of programs may be annotated by no_instrument_function function at-
tribute. gcov-dump with ‘-l’ can be used to dump gathered data and verify
that they are indeed reproducible.
With ‘-fprofile-reproducible=parallel-runs’ collected profile stays repro-
ducible regardless the order of streaming of the data into gcda files. This setting
makes it possible to run multiple instances of instrumented program in parallel
252 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

(such as with make -j). This reduces quality of gathered data, in particular of
indirect call profiling.
-fsanitize=address
Enable AddressSanitizer, a fast memory error detector. Memory access
instructions are instrumented to detect out-of-bounds and use-after-free bugs.
The option enables ‘-fsanitize-address-use-after-scope’. See https://
github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki/AddressSanitizer for more details.
The run-time behavior can be influenced using the ASAN_OPTIONS environment
variable. When set to help=1, the available options are shown at startup of
the instrumented program. See https://github.com/google/sanitizers/
wiki / AddressSanitizerFlags # run-time-flags for a list of supported
options. The option cannot be combined with ‘-fsanitize=thread’ or
‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’. Note that the only target ‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’
is currently supported on is AArch64.
To get more accurate stack traces, it is possible to use options such as
‘-O0’, ‘-O1’, or ‘-Og’ (which, for instance, prevent most function inlining),
‘-fno-optimize-sibling-calls’ (which prevents optimizing sibling and
tail recursive calls; this option is implicit for ‘-O0’, ‘-O1’, or ‘-Og’), or
‘-fno-ipa-icf’ (which disables Identical Code Folding for functions). Since
multiple runs of the program may yield backtraces with different addresses
due to ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization), it may be desirable to
turn ASLR off. On Linux, this can be achieved with ‘setarch ‘uname -m‘ -R
./prog’.
-fsanitize=kernel-address
Enable AddressSanitizer for Linux kernel. See https://github.com/google/
kasan for more details.
-fsanitize=hwaddress
Enable Hardware-assisted AddressSanitizer, which uses a hardware ability
to ignore the top byte of a pointer to allow the detection of memory
errors with a low memory overhead. Memory access instructions are
instrumented to detect out-of-bounds and use-after-free bugs. The option
enables ‘-fsanitize-address-use-after-scope’. See https: / / clang .
llvm.org/docs/HardwareAssistedAddressSanitizerDesign.html for more
details. The run-time behavior can be influenced using the HWASAN_OPTIONS
environment variable. When set to help=1, the available options are shown
at startup of the instrumented program. The option cannot be combined
with ‘-fsanitize=thread’ or ‘-fsanitize=address’, and is currently only
available on AArch64.
-fsanitize=kernel-hwaddress
Enable Hardware-assisted AddressSanitizer for compilation of the Linux kernel.
Similar to ‘-fsanitize=kernel-address’ but using an alternate instrumenta-
tion method, and similar to ‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’ but with instrumentation
differences necessary for compiling the Linux kernel. These differences are to
avoid hwasan library initialization calls and to account for the stack pointer
having a different value in its top byte.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 253

Note: This option has different defaults to the ‘-fsanitize=hwaddress’.

Instrumenting the stack and alloca calls are not on by default but
are still possible by specifying the command-line options ‘--param
hwasan-instrument-stack=1’ and ‘--param hwasan-instrument-allocas=1’
respectively. Using a random frame tag is not implemented for kernel
instrumentation.
-fsanitize=pointer-compare
Instrument comparison operation (<, <=, >, >=) with pointer operands.
The option must be combined with either ‘-fsanitize=kernel-address’
or ‘-fsanitize=address’ The option cannot be combined with
‘-fsanitize=thread’. Note: By default the check is disabled at run time.
To enable it, add detect_invalid_pointer_pairs=2 to the environment
variable ASAN_OPTIONS. Using detect_invalid_pointer_pairs=1 detects
invalid operation only when both pointers are non-null.
-fsanitize=pointer-subtract
Instrument subtraction with pointer operands. The option must be combined
with either ‘-fsanitize=kernel-address’ or ‘-fsanitize=address’ The op-
tion cannot be combined with ‘-fsanitize=thread’. Note: By default the
check is disabled at run time. To enable it, add detect_invalid_pointer_
pairs=2 to the environment variable ASAN_OPTIONS. Using detect_invalid_
pointer_pairs=1 detects invalid operation only when both pointers are non-
null.
-fsanitize=shadow-call-stack
Enable ShadowCallStack, a security enhancement mechanism used to protect
programs against return address overwrites (e.g. stack buffer overflows.) It
works by saving a function’s return address to a separately allocated shadow
call stack in the function prologue and restoring the return address from the
shadow call stack in the function epilogue. Instrumentation only occurs in
functions that need to save the return address to the stack.
Currently it only supports the aarch64 platform. It is specifically designed for
linux kernels that enable the CONFIG SHADOW CALL STACK option. For
the user space programs, runtime support is not currently provided in libc and
libgcc. Users who want to use this feature in user space need to provide their
own support for the runtime. It should be noted that this may cause the ABI
rules to be broken.
On aarch64, the instrumentation makes use of the platform register x18. This
generally means that any code that may run on the same thread as code com-
piled with ShadowCallStack must be compiled with the flag ‘-ffixed-x18’,
otherwise functions compiled without ‘-ffixed-x18’ might clobber x18 and so
corrupt the shadow stack pointer.
Also, because there is no userspace runtime support, code compiled with Shad-
owCallStack cannot use exception handling. Use ‘-fno-exceptions’ to turn
off exceptions.
See https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ShadowCallStack.html for more details.
254 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fsanitize=thread
Enable ThreadSanitizer, a fast data race detector. Memory access instructions
are instrumented to detect data race bugs. See https: / / github . com /
google/sanitizers/wiki#threadsanitizer for more details. The run-time
behavior can be influenced using the TSAN_OPTIONS environment variable; see
https: / / github . com / google / sanitizers / wiki / ThreadSanitizerFlags
for a list of supported options. The option cannot be combined with
‘-fsanitize=address’, ‘-fsanitize=leak’.
Note that sanitized atomic builtins cannot throw exceptions when
operating on invalid memory addresses with non-call exceptions
(‘-fnon-call-exceptions’).

-fsanitize=leak
Enable LeakSanitizer, a memory leak detector. This option only matters for
linking of executables and the executable is linked against a library that over-
rides malloc and other allocator functions. See https://github.com/google/
sanitizers/wiki/AddressSanitizerLeakSanitizer for more details. The
run-time behavior can be influenced using the LSAN_OPTIONS environment vari-
able. The option cannot be combined with ‘-fsanitize=thread’.

-fsanitize=undefined
Enable UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer, a fast undefined behavior detector. Var-
ious computations are instrumented to detect undefined behavior at runtime.
See https: / /clang .llvm .org /docs /UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer .html
for more details. The run-time behavior can be influenced using the UBSAN_
OPTIONS environment variable. Current suboptions are:

-fsanitize=shift
This option enables checking that the result of a shift operation
is not undefined. Note that what exactly is considered
undefined differs slightly between C and C++, as well as between
ISO C90 and C99, etc. This option has two suboptions,
‘-fsanitize=shift-base’ and ‘-fsanitize=shift-exponent’.

-fsanitize=shift-exponent
This option enables checking that the second argument of a shift
operation is not negative and is smaller than the precision of the
promoted first argument.

-fsanitize=shift-base
If the second argument of a shift operation is within range, check
that the result of a shift operation is not undefined. Note that what
exactly is considered undefined differs slightly between C and C++,
as well as between ISO C90 and C99, etc.

-fsanitize=integer-divide-by-zero
Detect integer division by zero.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 255

-fsanitize=unreachable
With this option, the compiler turns the __builtin_unreachable
call into a diagnostics message call instead. When reaching the
__builtin_unreachable call, the behavior is undefined.

-fsanitize=vla-bound
This option instructs the compiler to check that the size of a vari-
able length array is positive.

-fsanitize=null
This option enables pointer checking. Particularly, the application
built with this option turned on will issue an error message when
it tries to dereference a NULL pointer, or if a reference (possibly
an rvalue reference) is bound to a NULL pointer, or if a method is
invoked on an object pointed by a NULL pointer.

-fsanitize=return
This option enables return statement checking. Programs built
with this option turned on will issue an error message when the
end of a non-void function is reached without actually returning a
value. This option works in C++ only.

-fsanitize=signed-integer-overflow
This option enables signed integer overflow checking. We check that
the result of +, *, and both unary and binary - does not overflow
in the signed arithmetics. This also detects INT_MIN / -1 signed
division. Note, integer promotion rules must be taken into account.
That is, the following is not an overflow:
signed char a = SCHAR_MAX;
a++;

-fsanitize=bounds
This option enables instrumentation of array bounds. Various out
of bounds accesses are detected. Flexible array members, flexible
array member-like arrays, and initializers of variables with static
storage are not instrumented.

-fsanitize=bounds-strict
This option enables strict instrumentation of array bounds. Most
out of bounds accesses are detected, including flexible array mem-
bers and flexible array member-like arrays. Initializers of variables
with static storage are not instrumented.

-fsanitize=alignment
This option enables checking of alignment of pointers when they are
dereferenced, or when a reference is bound to insufficiently aligned
target, or when a method or constructor is invoked on insufficiently
aligned object.
256 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fsanitize=object-size
This option enables instrumentation of memory references using
the __builtin_dynamic_object_size function. Various out of
bounds pointer accesses are detected.
-fsanitize=float-divide-by-zero
Detect floating-point division by zero. Unlike other similar
options, ‘-fsanitize=float-divide-by-zero’ is not enabled by
‘-fsanitize=undefined’, since floating-point division by zero can
be a legitimate way of obtaining infinities and NaNs.
-fsanitize=float-cast-overflow
This option enables floating-point type to integer conversion check-
ing. We check that the result of the conversion does not overflow.
Unlike other similar options, ‘-fsanitize=float-cast-overflow’
is not enabled by ‘-fsanitize=undefined’. This option does not
work well with FE_INVALID exceptions enabled.
-fsanitize=nonnull-attribute
This option enables instrumentation of calls, checking whether null
values are not passed to arguments marked as requiring a non-null
value by the nonnull function attribute.
-fsanitize=returns-nonnull-attribute
This option enables instrumentation of return statements in func-
tions marked with returns_nonnull function attribute, to detect
returning of null values from such functions.
-fsanitize=bool
This option enables instrumentation of loads from bool. If a value
other than 0/1 is loaded, a run-time error is issued.
-fsanitize=enum
This option enables instrumentation of loads from an enum type.
If a value outside the range of values for the enum type is loaded,
a run-time error is issued.
-fsanitize=vptr
This option enables instrumentation of C++ member function calls,
member accesses and some conversions between pointers to base
and derived classes, to verify the referenced object has the correct
dynamic type.
-fsanitize=pointer-overflow
This option enables instrumentation of pointer arithmetics. If the
pointer arithmetics overflows, a run-time error is issued.
-fsanitize=builtin
This option enables instrumentation of arguments to selected
builtin functions. If an invalid value is passed to such arguments,
a run-time error is issued. E.g. passing 0 as the argument to
__builtin_ctz or __builtin_clz invokes undefined behavior
and is diagnosed by this option.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 257

Note that sanitizers tend to increase the rate of false positive warnings, most
notably those around ‘-Wmaybe-uninitialized’. We recommend against com-
bining ‘-Werror’ and [the use of] sanitizers.
While ‘-ftrapv’ causes traps for signed overflows to be emitted,
‘-fsanitize=undefined’ gives a diagnostic message. This currently works
only for the C family of languages.
-fno-sanitize=all
This option disables all previously enabled sanitizers. ‘-fsanitize=all’ is not
allowed, as some sanitizers cannot be used together.
-fasan-shadow-offset=number
This option forces GCC to use custom shadow offset in AddressSanitizer checks.
It is useful for experimenting with different shadow memory layouts in Kernel
AddressSanitizer.
-fsanitize-sections=s1,s2,...
Sanitize global variables in selected user-defined sections. si may contain wild-
cards.
-fsanitize-recover[=opts]
‘-fsanitize-recover=’ controls error recovery mode for sanitizers mentioned
in comma-separated list of opts. Enabling this option for a sanitizer component
causes it to attempt to continue running the program as if no error happened.
This means multiple runtime errors can be reported in a single program run,
and the exit code of the program may indicate success even when errors have
been reported. The ‘-fno-sanitize-recover=’ option can be used to alter
this behavior: only the first detected error is reported and program then exits
with a non-zero exit code.
Currently this feature only works for ‘-fsanitize=undefined’ (and its
suboptions except for ‘-fsanitize=unreachable’ and ‘-fsanitize=return’),
‘-fsanitize=float-cast-overflow’, ‘-fsanitize=float-divide-by-zero’,
‘-fsanitize=bounds-strict’, ‘-fsanitize=kernel-address’ and
‘-fsanitize=address’. For these sanitizers error recovery is turned on by
default, except ‘-fsanitize=address’, for which this feature is experimental.
‘-fsanitize-recover=all’ and ‘-fno-sanitize-recover=all’ is also
accepted, the former enables recovery for all sanitizers that support it, the
latter disables recovery for all sanitizers that support it.
Even if a recovery mode is turned on the compiler side, it needs to be also
enabled on the runtime library side, otherwise the failures are still fatal. The
runtime library defaults to halt_on_error=0 for ThreadSanitizer and Unde-
finedBehaviorSanitizer, while default value for AddressSanitizer is halt_on_
error=1. This can be overridden through setting the halt_on_error flag in
the corresponding environment variable.
Syntax without an explicit opts parameter is deprecated. It is equivalent to
specifying an opts list of:
undefined,float-cast-overflow,float-divide-by-zero,bounds-strict
258 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fsanitize-address-use-after-scope
Enable sanitization of local variables to detect use-after-scope bugs. The option
sets ‘-fstack-reuse’ to ‘none’.
-fsanitize-trap[=opts]
The ‘-fsanitize-trap=’ option instructs the compiler to report for sanitiz-
ers mentioned in comma-separated list of opts undefined behavior using __
builtin_trap rather than a libubsan library routine. If this option is enabled
for certain sanitizer, it takes precedence over the ‘-fsanitizer-recover=’
for that sanitizer, __builtin_trap will be emitted and be fatal regardless of
whether recovery is enabled or disabled using ‘-fsanitize-recover=’.
The advantage of this is that the libubsan library is not needed and is not
linked in, so this is usable even in freestanding environments.
Currently this feature works with ‘-fsanitize=undefined’ (and its subop-
tions except for ‘-fsanitize=vptr’), ‘-fsanitize=float-cast-overflow’,
‘-fsanitize=float-divide-by-zero’ and ‘-fsanitize=bounds-strict’.
-fsanitize-trap=all can be also specified, which enables it
for undefined suboptions, ‘-fsanitize=float-cast-overflow’,
‘-fsanitize=float-divide-by-zero’ and ‘-fsanitize=bounds-strict’.
If -fsanitize-trap=undefined or -fsanitize-trap=all is used and
-fsanitize=vptr is enabled on the command line, the instrumentation
is silently ignored as the instrumentation always needs libubsan support,
‘-fsanitize-trap=vptr’ is not allowed.
-fsanitize-undefined-trap-on-error
The ‘-fsanitize-undefined-trap-on-error’ option is deprecated equivalent
of ‘-fsanitize-trap=all’.
-fsanitize-coverage=trace-pc
Enable coverage-guided fuzzing code instrumentation. Inserts a call to __
sanitizer_cov_trace_pc into every basic block.
-fsanitize-coverage=trace-cmp
Enable dataflow guided fuzzing code instrumentation. Inserts a call
to __sanitizer_cov_trace_cmp1, __sanitizer_cov_trace_cmp2,
__sanitizer_cov_trace_cmp4 or __sanitizer_cov_trace_cmp8 for integral
comparison with both operands variable or __sanitizer_cov_trace_
const_cmp1, __sanitizer_cov_trace_const_cmp2, __sanitizer_cov_
trace_const_cmp4 or __sanitizer_cov_trace_const_cmp8 for integral
comparison with one operand constant, __sanitizer_cov_trace_cmpf
or __sanitizer_cov_trace_cmpd for float or double comparisons and
__sanitizer_cov_trace_switch for switch statements.
-fcf-protection=[full|branch|return|none|check]
Enable code instrumentation of control-flow transfers to increase program se-
curity by checking that target addresses of control-flow transfer instructions
(such as indirect function call, function return, indirect jump) are valid. This
prevents diverting the flow of control to an unexpected target. This is intended
to protect against such threats as Return-oriented Programming (ROP), and
similarly call/jmp-oriented programming (COP/JOP).
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 259

The value branch tells the compiler to implement checking of validity of control-
flow transfer at the point of indirect branch instructions, i.e. call/jmp instruc-
tions. The value return implements checking of validity at the point of return-
ing from a function. The value full is an alias for specifying both branch and
return. The value none turns off instrumentation.
The value check is used for the final link with link-time optimization (LTO). An
error is issued if LTO object files are compiled with different ‘-fcf-protection’
values. The value check is ignored at the compile time.
The macro __CET__ is defined when ‘-fcf-protection’ is used. The first bit
of __CET__ is set to 1 for the value branch and the second bit of __CET__ is set
to 1 for the return.
You can also use the nocf_check attribute to identify which functions and calls
should be skipped from instrumentation (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566).
Currently the x86 GNU/Linux target provides an implementation based on Intel
Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) which works for i686 processor or
newer.
-fharden-compares
For every logical test that survives gimple optimizations and is not the condition
in a conditional branch (for example, conditions tested for conditional moves,
or to store in boolean variables), emit extra code to compute and verify the
reversed condition, and to call __builtin_trap if the results do not match.
Use with ‘-fharden-conditional-branches’ to cover all conditionals.
-fharden-conditional-branches
For every non-vectorized conditional branch that survives gimple optimizations,
emit extra code to compute and verify the reversed condition, and to call __
builtin_trap if the result is unexpected. Use with ‘-fharden-compares’ to
cover all conditionals.
-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
or equal to 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. Only variables that are actually allocated
on the stack are considered, optimized away variables or variables allocated in
registers don’t count.
-fstack-protector-all
Like ‘-fstack-protector’ except that all functions are protected.
-fstack-protector-strong
Like ‘-fstack-protector’ but includes additional functions to be protected —
those that have local array definitions, or have references to local frame ad-
dresses. Only variables that are actually allocated on the stack are considered,
optimized away variables or variables allocated in registers don’t count.
260 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fstack-protector-explicit
Like ‘-fstack-protector’ but only protects those functions which have the
stack_protect attribute.

-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 you 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 sup-
port in the compiler but comes with the following drawbacks:
1. Modified allocation strategy for large objects: they are always allocated
dynamically if their size exceeds a fixed threshold. Note this may change
the semantics of some code.
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, code performance is 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-check=’ is designed for Ada’s needs to detect infinite recursion and
stack overflows. ‘specific’ is an excellent choice when compiling Ada code.
It is not generally sufficient to protect against stack-clash attacks. To protect
against those you want ‘-fstack-clash-protection’.

-fstack-clash-protection
Generate code to prevent stack clash style attacks. When this option is enabled,
the compiler will only allocate one page of stack space at a time and each page
is accessed immediately after allocation. Thus, it prevents allocations from
jumping over any stack guard page provided by the operating system.
Most targets do not fully support stack clash protection. However, on those
targets ‘-fstack-clash-protection’ will protect dynamic stack allocations.
‘-fstack-clash-protection’ may also provide limited protection for static
stack allocations if the target supports ‘-fstack-check=specific’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 261

-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 a larger stack is
required, a signal is raised at run time. 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.
You can locally override stack limit checking by using the no_stack_limit
function attribute (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566).
-fsplit-stack
Generate code to automatically split the stack before it overflows. The resulting
program has a discontiguous stack which can only overflow if the program is
unable to allocate any more memory. This is most useful when running threaded
programs, as it is no longer necessary to calculate a good stack size to use for
each thread. This is currently only implemented for the x86 targets running
GNU/Linux.
When code compiled with ‘-fsplit-stack’ calls code compiled without
‘-fsplit-stack’, there may not be much stack space available for the
latter code to run. If compiling all code, including library code, with
‘-fsplit-stack’ is not an option, then the linker can fix up these calls so that
the code compiled without ‘-fsplit-stack’ always has a large stack. Support
for this is implemented in the gold linker in GNU binutils release 2.21 and
later.
-fvtable-verify=[std|preinit|none]
This option is only available when compiling C++ code. It turns on (or off, if
using ‘-fvtable-verify=none’) the security feature that verifies at run time,
for every virtual call, that the vtable pointer through which the call is made
is valid for the type of the object, and has not been corrupted or overwritten.
If an invalid vtable pointer is detected at run time, an error is reported and
execution of the program is immediately halted.
This option causes run-time data structures to be built at program startup,
which are used for verifying the vtable pointers. The options ‘std’ and
‘preinit’ control the timing of when these data structures are built. In both
cases the data structures are built before execution reaches main. Using
‘-fvtable-verify=std’ causes the data structures to be built after shared
libraries have been loaded and initialized. ‘-fvtable-verify=preinit’ causes
them to be built before shared libraries have been loaded and initialized.
If this option appears multiple times in the command line with different values
specified, ‘none’ takes highest priority over both ‘std’ and ‘preinit’; ‘preinit’
takes priority over ‘std’.
262 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fvtv-debug
When used in conjunction with ‘-fvtable-verify=std’ or
‘-fvtable-verify=preinit’, causes debug versions of the runtime
functions for the vtable verification feature to be called. This flag also causes
the compiler to log information about which vtable pointers it finds for each
class. This information is written to a file named ‘vtv_set_ptr_data.log’
in the directory named by the environment variable VTV_LOGS_DIR if that is
defined or the current working directory otherwise.
Note: This feature appends data to the log file. If you want a fresh log file, be
sure to delete any existing one.
-fvtv-counts
This is a debugging flag. When used in conjunction with
‘-fvtable-verify=std’ or ‘-fvtable-verify=preinit’, this causes
the compiler to keep track of the total number of virtual calls it encounters
and the number of verifications it inserts. It also counts the number of calls to
certain run-time library functions that it inserts and logs this information for
each compilation unit. The compiler writes this information to a file named
‘vtv_count_data.log’ in the directory named by the environment variable
VTV_LOGS_DIR if that is defined or the current working directory otherwise. It
also counts the size of the vtable pointer sets for each class, and writes this
information to ‘vtv_class_set_sizes.log’ in the same directory.
Note: This feature appends data to the log files. To get fresh log files, be sure
to delete any existing ones.
-finstrument-functions
Generate instrumentation calls for entry and exit to functions. Just after func-
tion entry and just before function exit, the following profiling functions are
called with the address of the current function and its call site. (On some plat-
forms, __builtin_return_address does not work beyond the current function,
so the call site information may not be available to the profiling functions oth-
erwise.)
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 func-
tions. The profiling calls 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 anyway, but if you get lucky and the optimizer always ex-
pands the functions inline, you might have gotten away without providing static
copies.)
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 263

A function may be given the attribute no_instrument_function, in which case

this instrumentation is not 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). See Section 6.33.1
[Common Function Attributes], page 567.
-finstrument-functions-once
This is similar to ‘-finstrument-functions’, but the profiling functions are
called only once per instrumented function, i.e. the first profiling function
is called after the first entry into the instrumented function and the second
profiling function is called before the exit corresponding to this first entry.
The definition of once for the purpose of this option is a little vague because
the implementation is not protected against data races. As a result, the imple-
mentation only guarantees that the profiling functions are called at least once
per process and at most once per thread, but the calls are always paired, that
is to say, if a thread calls the first function, then it will call the second function,
unless it never reaches the exit of the instrumented function.
-finstrument-functions-exclude-file-list=file,file,...
Set the list of functions that are excluded from instrumentation (see the de-
scription 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
excludes 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. For C99 and C++ extended identifiers, the function name must be
given in UTF-8, not using universal character names.
-fpatchable-function-entry=N[,M]
Generate N NOPs right at the beginning of each function, with the function
entry point before the M th NOP. If M is omitted, it defaults to 0 so the func-
tion entry points to the address just at the first NOP. The NOP instructions
reserve extra space which can be used to patch in any desired instrumenta-
tion at run time, provided that the code segment is writable. The amount of
264 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

space is controllable indirectly via the number of NOPs; the NOP instruction
used corresponds to the instruction emitted by the internal GCC back-end in-
terface gen_nop. This behavior is target-specific and may also depend on the
architecture variant and/or other compilation options.
For run-time identification, the starting addresses of these areas, which corre-
spond to their respective function entries minus M, are additionally collected
in the __patchable_function_entries section of the resulting binary.
Note that the value of __attribute__ ((patchable_function_
entry (N,M))) takes precedence over command-line option
‘-fpatchable-function-entry=N,M’. This can be used to increase
the area size or to remove it completely on a single function. If N=0, no pad
location is recorded.
The NOP instructions are inserted at—and maybe before, depending on M—
the function entry address, even before the prologue. On PowerPC with the
ELFv2 ABI, for a function with dual entry points, the local entry point is this
function entry address.
The maximum value of N and M is 65535. On PowerPC with the ELFv2 ABI,
for a function with dual entry points, the supported values for M are 0, 2, 6
and 14.

3.13 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 un-
suitable for actual compilation.
In addition to the options listed here, there are a number of options to control search
paths for include files documented in Section 3.16 [Directory Options], page 278. Options
to control preprocessor diagnostics are listed in Section 3.8 [Warning Options], page 93.
-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 dur-
ing translation phase three in a ‘#define’ directive. In particular, the definition
is 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 should 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 265

-U name Cancel any previous definition of name, either built in or provided with a ‘-D’
option.
-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’.
-undef Do not predefine any system-specific or GCC-specific macros. The standard
predefined macros remain defined.
-pthread Define additional macros required for using the POSIX threads library. You
should use this option consistently for both compilation and linking. This
option is supported on GNU/Linux targets, most other Unix derivatives, and
also on x86 Cygwin and MinGW targets.
-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 ex-
plicitly specify the dependency output file with ‘-MF’, or use an environment
variable like DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT (see Section 3.21 [Environment Variables],
page 515). Debug output is still 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 appears in ‘-MM’
dependency output.
266 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 send preprocessed output.
When used with the driver options ‘-MD’ or ‘-MMD’, ‘-MF’ overrides the default
dependency output file.
If file is ‘-’, then the dependencies are written to ‘stdout’.
-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.
-Mno-modules
Disable dependency generation for compiled module interfaces.
-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 sets 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 (see [-MF], page 265), but if used without ‘-E’, each
‘-o’ is understood to specify a target object file.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 267

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.
-fpreprocessed
Indicate to the preprocessor that the input file has already been preprocessed.
This suppresses things like macro expansion, trigraph conversion, escaped new-
line 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’.
-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 and extended characters in identifiers. This
option is enabled by default for C99 (and later C standard versions) and C++.
-fno-canonical-system-headers
When preprocessing, do not shorten system header paths with canonicalization.
-fmax-include-depth=depth
Set the maximum depth of the nested #include. The default is 200.
-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.
-ftrack-macro-expansion[=level]
Track locations of tokens across macro expansions. This allows the compiler to
emit diagnostic about the current macro expansion stack when a compilation
268 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

error occurs in a macro expansion. Using this option makes the preprocessor
and the compiler consume more memory. The level parameter can be used
to choose the level of precision of token location tracking thus decreasing the
memory consumption if necessary. Value ‘0’ of level de-activates this option.
Value ‘1’ tracks tokens locations in a degraded mode for the sake of minimal
memory overhead. In this mode all tokens resulting from the expansion of an
argument of a function-like macro have the same location. Value ‘2’ tracks
tokens locations completely. This value is the most memory hungry. When this
option is given no argument, the default parameter value is ‘2’.
Note that -ftrack-macro-expansion=2 is activated by default.
-fmacro-prefix-map=old=new
When preprocessing files residing in directory ‘old’, expand the __FILE__ and
__BASE_FILE__ macros as if the files resided in directory ‘new’ instead. This
can be used to change an absolute path to a relative path by using ‘.’ for
new which can result in more reproducible builds that are location indepen-
dent. This option also affects __builtin_FILE() during compilation. See also
‘-ffile-prefix-map’.
-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 con-
stants. The default is one of UTF-32BE, UTF-32LE, UTF-16BE, or UTF-16LE,
whichever corresponds to the width of wchar_t and the big-endian or little-
endian byte order being used for code generation. As with ‘-fexec-charset’,
charset can be any encoding supported by the system’s iconv library rou-
tine; 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.
-fpch-deps
When using precompiled headers (see Section 3.22 [Precompiled Headers],
page 518), this flag causes the dependency-output flags to also list the
files from the precompiled header’s dependencies. If not specified, only the
precompiled header are 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 (see Section 3.22 [Precompiled
Headers], page 518) together with ‘-E’. It inserts a special #pragma, #pragma
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 269

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.
-fworking-directory
Enable generation of linemarkers in the preprocessor output that let the com-
piler know the current working directory at the time of preprocessing. When
this option is enabled, the preprocessor emits, after the initial linemarker, a
second linemarker with the current working directory followed by two slashes.
GCC uses this directory, when it’s present in the preprocessed input, as the di-
rectory 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.
-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.
-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 prepro-
cessor 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 turn-
ing 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.
-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.
270 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-traditional
-traditional-cpp
Try to imitate the behavior of pre-standard C preprocessors, as opposed to ISO
C preprocessors. See the GNU CPP manual for details.
Note that GCC does not otherwise attempt to emulate a pre-standard C com-
piler, and these options are only supported with the ‘-E’ switch, or when in-
voking CPP explicitly.
-trigraphs
Support ISO C trigraphs. 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.
The nine trigraphs and their replacements are
Trigraph: ??( ??) ??< ??> ??= ??/ ??’ ??! ??-
Replacement: [ ] { } # \ ^ | ~
By default, GCC ignores trigraphs, but in standard-conforming modes it con-
verts them. See the ‘-std’ and ‘-ansi’ options.
-remap Enable special code to work around file systems which only permit very short
file names, such as MS-DOS.
-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. Precom-
piled 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 ‘...!’ .
-dletters
Says to make debugging dumps during compilation as specified by letters. The
flags documented here are those relevant to the preprocessor. Other letters
are interpreted by the compiler proper, or reserved for future versions of GCC,
and so are silently ignored. If you specify letters whose behavior conflicts, the
result is undefined. See Section 3.18 [Developer Options], page 291, for more
information.
-dM 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
shows all the predefined macros.
If you use ‘-dM’ without the ‘-E’ option, ‘-dM’ is interpreted as a
synonym for ‘-fdump-rtl-mach’. See Section “Developer Options”
in gcc.
-dD Like ‘-dM’ 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 271

-dN Like ‘-dD’, but emit only the macro names, not their expansions.
-dI Output ‘#include’ directives in addition to the result of prepro-
cessing.
-dU Like ‘-dD’ except that only macros that are expanded, or whose de-
finedness 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.
-fdebug-cpp
This option is only useful for debugging GCC. When used from CPP or with
‘-E’, it dumps debugging information about location maps. Every token in the
output is preceded by the dump of the map its location belongs to.
When used from GCC without ‘-E’, this option has no effect.
-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 that GCC does not 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.
-no-integrated-cpp
Perform preprocessing as a separate pass before compilation. By default, GCC
performs preprocessing as an integrated part of input tokenization and parsing.
If this option is provided, the appropriate language front end (cc1, cc1plus,
or cc1obj for C, C++, and Objective-C, respectively) is instead invoked twice,
once for preprocessing only and once for actual compilation of the preprocessed
input. This option may be useful in conjunction with the ‘-B’ or ‘-wrapper’
options to specify an alternate preprocessor or perform additional processing of
the program source between normal preprocessing and compilation.
-flarge-source-files
Adjust GCC to expect large source files, at the expense of slower compilation
and higher memory usage.
Specifically, GCC normally tracks both column numbers and line numbers
within source files and it normally prints both of these numbers in diagnos-
tics. However, once it has processed a certain number of source lines, it stops
tracking column numbers and only tracks line numbers. This means that diag-
nostics for later lines do not include column numbers. It also means that op-
tions like ‘-Wmisleading-indentation’ cease to work at that point, although
272 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

the compiler prints a note if this happens. Passing ‘-flarge-source-files’

significantly increases the number of source lines that GCC can process before
it stops tracking columns.

3.14 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 that GCC does not 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.

3.15 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. See Section 3.2 [Overall Options], page 33.
-flinker-output=type
This option controls code generation of the link-time optimizer. By default the
linker output is automatically determined by the linker plugin. For debugging
the compiler and if incremental linking with a non-LTO object file is desired,
it may be useful to control the type manually.
If type is ‘exec’, code generation produces a static binary. In this case ‘-fpic’
and ‘-fpie’ are both disabled.
If type is ‘dyn’, code generation produces a shared library. In this case ‘-fpic’
or ‘-fPIC’ is preserved, but not enabled automatically. This allows to build
shared libraries without position-independent code on architectures where this
is possible, i.e. on x86.
If type is ‘pie’, code generation produces an ‘-fpie’ executable. This results
in similar optimizations as ‘exec’ except that ‘-fpie’ is not disabled if specified
at compilation time.
If type is ‘rel’, the compiler assumes that incremental linking is done.
The sections containing intermediate code for link-time optimization are
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 273

merged, pre-optimized, and output to the resulting object file. In addition, if

‘-ffat-lto-objects’ is specified, binary code is produced for future non-LTO
linking. The object file produced by incremental linking is smaller than a
static library produced from the same object files. At link time the result of
incremental linking also loads faster than a static library assuming that the
majority of objects in the library are used.
Finally ‘nolto-rel’ configures the compiler for incremental linking where code
generation is forced, a final binary is produced, and the intermediate code for
later link-time optimization is stripped. When multiple object files are linked to-
gether the resulting code is better optimized than with link-time optimizations
disabled (for example, cross-module inlining happens), but most of benefits of
whole program optimizations are lost.
During the incremental link (by ‘-r’) the linker plugin defaults to ‘rel’. With
current interfaces to GNU Binutils it is however not possible to incrementally
link LTO objects and non-LTO objects into a single mixed object file. If any
of object files in incremental link cannot be used for link-time optimization,
the linker plugin issues a warning and uses ‘nolto-rel’. To maintain whole
program optimization, it is recommended to link such objects into static library
instead. Alternatively it is possible to use H.J. Lu’s binutils with support for
mixed objects.
-fuse-ld=bfd
Use the bfd linker instead of the default linker.
-fuse-ld=gold
Use the gold linker instead of the default linker.
-fuse-ld=lld
Use the LLVM lld linker instead of the default linker.
-fuse-ld=mold
Use the Modern Linker (mold) instead of the default linker.
-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.)
The ‘-l’ option is passed directly to the linker by GCC. Refer to your linker
documentation for exact details. The general description below applies to the
GNU linker.
The linker searches a standard list of directories for the library. The directories
searched include several standard system directories plus any that you specify
with ‘-L’.
Static libraries are archives of object files, and have file names like
‘liblibrary.a’. Some targets also support shared libraries, which typically
have names like ‘liblibrary.so’. If both static and shared libraries are
found, the linker gives preference to linking with the shared library unless the
‘-static’ option is used.
274 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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 speci-
fied. 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.
-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’, ‘-nolibc’, or ‘-nodefaultlibs’
is used.
-nodefaultlibs
Do not use the standard system libraries when linking. Only the libraries you
specify are passed to the linker, and options specifying linkage of the system
libraries, such as ‘-static-libgcc’ or ‘-shared-libgcc’, are ignored. 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.
-nolibc Do not use the C library or system libraries tightly coupled with it when link-
ing. Still link with the startup files, ‘libgcc’ or toolchain provided language
support libraries such as ‘libgnat’, ‘libgfortran’ or ‘libstdc++’ unless op-
tions preventing their inclusion are used as well. This typically removes ‘-lc’
from the link command line, as well as system libraries that normally go with it
and become meaningless when absence of a C library is assumed, for example
‘-lpthread’ or ‘-lm’ in some configurations. This is intended for bare-board
targets when there is indeed no C library available.
-nostdlib
Do not use the standard system startup files or libraries when linking. No
startup files and only the libraries you specify are passed to the linker, and
options specifying linkage of the system libraries, such as ‘-static-libgcc’ or
‘-shared-libgcc’, are ignored.
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 which GCC uses to overcome
shortcomings of particular machines, or special needs for some languages. (See
Section “Interfacing to GCC Output” in GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) In-
ternals, for more discussion of ‘libgcc.a’.) In most cases, you need ‘libgcc.a’
even when you want to avoid other standard libraries. In other words, when you
specify ‘-nostdlib’ or ‘-nodefaultlibs’ you should usually specify ‘-lgcc’ as
well. This ensures that you have no unresolved references to internal GCC
library subroutines. (An example of such an internal subroutine is __main,
used to ensure C++ constructors are called; see Section “collect2” in GNU
Compiler Collection (GCC) Internals.)
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 275

-nostdlib++
Do not implicitly link with standard C++ libraries.
-e entry
--entry=entry
Specify that the program entry point is entry. The argument is interpreted by
the linker; the GNU linker accepts either a symbol name or an address.
-pie Produce a dynamically linked position independent executable on targets that
support it. For predictable results, you must also specify the same set of options
used for compilation (‘-fpie’, ‘-fPIE’, or model suboptions) when you specify
this linker option.
-no-pie Don’t produce a dynamically linked position independent executable.
-static-pie
Produce a static position independent executable on targets that support it.
A static position independent executable is similar to a static executable, but
can be loaded at any address without a dynamic linker. For predictable results,
you must also specify the same set of options used for compilation (‘-fpie’,
‘-fPIE’, or model suboptions) when you specify this linker option.
-pthread Link with the POSIX threads library. This option is supported on GNU/Linux
targets, most other Unix derivatives, and also on x86 Cygwin and MinGW
targets. On some targets this option also sets flags for the preprocessor, so it
should be used consistently for both compilation and linking.
-r Produce a relocatable object as output. This is also known as partial linking.
-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 overrides ‘-pie’ and 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 used for compilation (‘-fpic’,
‘-fPIC’, or model suboptions) when you specify this linker 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
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. For x86, crtfastmath.o will not be added when ‘-shared’ is specified.
276 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘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 li-
braries. In that case, each of the libraries as well as the application itself should
use the shared ‘libgcc’.
Therefore, the G++ driver automatically adds ‘-shared-libgcc’ whenever you
build a shared library or a main executable, because C++ 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 are not always 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 links the shared version of ‘libgcc’
into shared libraries by default. Otherwise, it takes advantage of the linker and
optimizes 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++ driver, or using the option
‘-shared-libgcc’, such that it is linked with the shared ‘libgcc’.
-static-libasan
When the ‘-fsanitize=address’ option is used to link a program, the GCC
driver automatically links against ‘libasan’. If ‘libasan’ is available as a
shared library, and the ‘-static’ option is not used, then this links against the
shared version of ‘libasan’. The ‘-static-libasan’ option directs the GCC
driver to link ‘libasan’ statically, without necessarily linking other libraries
statically.
-static-libtsan
When the ‘-fsanitize=thread’ option is used to link a program, the GCC
driver automatically links against ‘libtsan’. If ‘libtsan’ is available as a
shared library, and the ‘-static’ option is not used, then this links against the
shared version of ‘libtsan’. The ‘-static-libtsan’ option directs the GCC
driver to link ‘libtsan’ statically, without necessarily linking other libraries
statically.
-static-liblsan
When the ‘-fsanitize=leak’ option is used to link a program, the GCC driver
automatically links against ‘liblsan’. If ‘liblsan’ is available as a shared
library, and the ‘-static’ option is not used, then this links against the shared
version of ‘liblsan’. The ‘-static-liblsan’ option directs the GCC driver to
link ‘liblsan’ statically, without necessarily linking other libraries statically.
-static-libubsan
When the ‘-fsanitize=undefined’ option is used to link a program, the GCC
driver automatically links against ‘libubsan’. If ‘libubsan’ is available as a
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 277

shared library, and the ‘-static’ option is not used, then this links against the
shared version of ‘libubsan’. The ‘-static-libubsan’ option directs the GCC
driver to link ‘libubsan’ statically, without necessarily linking other libraries
statically.
-static-libstdc++
When the g++ program is used to link a C++ program, it normally automatically
links against ‘libstdc++’. If ‘libstdc++’ is available as a shared library, and
the ‘-static’ option is not used, then this links against the shared version of
‘libstdc++’. That is normally fine. However, it is sometimes useful to freeze
the version of ‘libstdc++’ used by the program without going all the way to
a fully static link. The ‘-static-libstdc++’ option directs the g++ driver to
link ‘libstdc++’ statically, without necessarily linking other libraries statically.
-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 oper-
ating 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 that GCC does not 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’.
-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.
278 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-z keyword
‘-z’ is passed directly on to the linker along with the keyword keyword. See
the section in the documentation of your linker for permitted values and their
meanings.

3.16 Options for Directory Search

These options specify directories to search for header files, for libraries and for parts of the
compiler:
-I dir
-iquote dir
-isystem dir
-idirafter dir
Add the directory dir to the list of directories to be searched for header files dur-
ing preprocessing. If dir begins with ‘=’ or $SYSROOT, then the ‘=’ or $SYSROOT
is replaced by the sysroot prefix; see ‘--sysroot’ and ‘-isysroot’.
Directories specified with ‘-iquote’ apply only to the quote form of the
directive, #include "file". Directories specified with ‘-I’, ‘-isystem’,
or ‘-idirafter’ apply to lookup for both the #include "file" and
#include <file> directives.
You can specify any number or combination of these options on the command
line to search for header files in several directories. The lookup order is as
follows:
1. For the quote form of the include directive, the directory of the current file
is searched first.
2. For the quote form of the include directive, the directories specified by
‘-iquote’ options are searched in left-to-right order, as they appear on the
command line.
3. Directories specified with ‘-I’ options are scanned in left-to-right order.
4. Directories specified with ‘-isystem’ options are scanned in left-to-right
order.
5. Standard system directories are scanned.
6. Directories specified with ‘-idirafter’ options are scanned in left-to-right
order.
You can use ‘-I’ to override a system header file, substituting your own ver-
sion, since these directories are searched before the standard 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.
The ‘-isystem’ and ‘-idirafter’ options also mark the directory as a system
directory, so that it gets the same special treatment that is applied to the
standard system directories.
If a standard system include directory, or a directory specified with ‘-isystem’,
is also specified with ‘-I’, the ‘-I’ option is ignored. The directory is still
searched but as a system directory at its normal position in the system include
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 279

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.
-I- Split the include path. This option has been deprecated. Please use ‘-iquote’
instead for ‘-I’ directories before the ‘-I-’ and remove the ‘-I-’ option.
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". There is no way to override
this effect of ‘-I-’.
-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
(except for Darwin targets, where it applies to both header files and libraries).
See the ‘--sysroot’ option for more information.
-imultilib dir
Use dir as a subdirectory of the directory containing target-specific C++ headers.
-nostdinc
Do not search the standard system directories for header files. Only the directo-
ries explicitly specified with ‘-I’, ‘-iquote’, ‘-isystem’, and/or ‘-idirafter’
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.)
-iplugindir=dir
Set the directory to search for plugins that are passed by ‘-fplugin=name’
instead of ‘-fplugin=path/name.so’. This option is not meant to be used by
the user, but only passed by the driver.
-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.
280 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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 the corresponding target machine
and compiler version.
For each subprogram to be run, the compiler driver first tries the ‘-B’ prefix, if
any. If that name is not found, or if ‘-B’ is not specified, the driver tries two
standard prefixes, ‘/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 checks to see if the path provided by ‘-B’ refers to a directory,
and if necessary it adds 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 include 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 runtime 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 envi-
ronment variable GCC_EXEC_PREFIX. See Section 3.21 [Environment Variables],
page 515.
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 is replaced by ‘[dir/]include’. This
is to help with boot-strapping the compiler.
-no-canonical-prefixes
Do not expand any symbolic links, resolve references to ‘/../’ or ‘/./’, or make
the path absolute when generating a relative prefix.
--sysroot=dir
Use dir as the logical root directory for headers and libraries. For example, if
the compiler normally searches for headers in ‘/usr/include’ and libraries in
‘/usr/lib’, it instead searches ‘dir/usr/include’ and ‘dir/usr/lib’.
If you use both this option and the ‘-isysroot’ option, then the ‘--sysroot’
option applies to libraries, but the ‘-isysroot’ option applies 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’ still works, but the library aspect does not.
--no-sysroot-suffix
For some targets, a suffix is added to the root directory specified with
‘--sysroot’, depending on the other options used, so that headers may for ex-
ample be found in ‘dir/suffix/usr/include’ instead of ‘dir/usr/include’.
This option disables the addition of such a suffix.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 281

3.17 Options for Code Generation Conventions

These machine-independent options control the interface conventions used in code genera-
tion.
Most of them have both positive and negative forms; the negative form of ‘-ffoo’ is
‘-fno-foo’. In the table below, only one of the forms is listed—the one that is not the
default. You can figure out the other form by either removing ‘no-’ or adding it.
-fstack-reuse=reuse-level
This option controls stack space reuse for user declared local/auto variables
and compiler generated temporaries. reuse level can be ‘all’, ‘named_vars’,
or ‘none’. ‘all’ enables stack reuse for all local variables and temporaries,
‘named_vars’ enables the reuse only for user defined local variables with names,
and ‘none’ disables stack reuse completely. The default value is ‘all’. The op-
tion is needed when the program extends the lifetime of a scoped local variable
or a compiler generated temporary beyond the end point defined by the lan-
guage. When a lifetime of a variable ends, and if the variable lives in memory,
the optimizing compiler has the freedom to reuse its stack space with other
temporaries or scoped local variables whose live range does not overlap with
it. Legacy code extending local lifetime is likely to break with the stack reuse
optimization.
For example,
int *p;
{
int local1;

p = &local1;
local1 = 10;
....
}
{
int local2;
local2 = 20;
...
}

if (*p == 10) // out of scope use of local1

{

}
Another example:

struct A
{
A(int k) : i(k), j(k) { }
int i;
int j;
};

A *ap;

void foo(const A& ar)

{
282 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

ap = &ar;
}

void bar()
{
foo(A(10)); // temp object’s lifetime ends when foo returns

{
A a(20);
....
}
ap->i+= 10; // ap references out of scope temp whose space
// is reused with a. What is the value of ap->i?
}

The lifetime of a compiler generated temporary is well defined by the C++

standard. When a lifetime of a temporary ends, and if the temporary lives
in memory, the optimizing compiler has the freedom to reuse its stack space
with other temporaries or scoped local variables whose live range does not
overlap with it. However some of the legacy code relies on the behavior of older
compilers in which temporaries’ stack space is not reused, the aggressive stack
reuse can lead to runtime errors. This option is used to control the temporary
stack reuse optimization.
-ftrapv This option generates traps for signed overflow on addition, subtraction, multi-
plication operations. The options ‘-ftrapv’ and ‘-fwrapv’ override each other,
so using ‘-ftrapv’ ‘-fwrapv’ on the command-line results in ‘-fwrapv’ being
effective. Note that only active options override, so using ‘-ftrapv’ ‘-fwrapv’
‘-fno-wrapv’ on the command-line results in ‘-ftrapv’ being effective.
-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.
The options ‘-ftrapv’ and ‘-fwrapv’ override each other, so using ‘-ftrapv’
‘-fwrapv’ on the command-line results in ‘-fwrapv’ being effective. Note that
only active options override, so using ‘-ftrapv’ ‘-fwrapv’ ‘-fno-wrapv’ on the
command-line results in ‘-ftrapv’ being effective.
-fwrapv-pointer
This option instructs the compiler to assume that pointer arithmetic overflow on
addition and subtraction wraps around using twos-complement representation.
This flag disables some optimizations which assume pointer overflow is invalid.
-fstrict-overflow
This option implies ‘-fno-wrapv’ ‘-fno-wrapv-pointer’ and when negated
implies ‘-fwrapv’ ‘-fwrapv-pointer’.
-fexceptions
Enable exception handling. Generates extra code needed to propagate excep-
tions. For some targets, this implies GCC generates 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 enables
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 283

it by default for languages like C++ that normally require exception handling,
and disables 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 inter-
operate 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 every-
where. 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. This enables
‘-fexceptions’.
-fdelete-dead-exceptions
Consider that instructions that may throw exceptions but don’t otherwise con-
tribute to the execution of the program can be optimized away. This does not
affect calls to functions except those with the pure or const attributes. This
option is enabled by default for the Ada and C++ compilers, as permitted by
the language specifications. Optimization passes that cause dead exceptions to
be removed are enabled independently at different optimization levels.
-funwind-tables
Similar to ‘-fexceptions’, except that it just generates any needed static data,
but does not affect the generated code in any other way. You normally do
not need to enable this option; instead, a language processor that needs this
handling enables it on your behalf.
-fasynchronous-unwind-tables
Generate unwind table in DWARF 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).
-fno-gnu-unique
On systems with recent GNU assembler and C library, the C++ compiler uses
the STB_GNU_UNIQUE binding to make sure that definitions of template static
data members and static local variables in inline functions are unique even in
the presence of RTLD_LOCAL; this is necessary to avoid problems with a library
used by two different RTLD_LOCAL plugins depending on a definition in one of
them and therefore disagreeing with the other one about the binding of the
symbol. But this causes dlclose to be ignored for affected DSOs; if your
program relies on reinitialization of a DSO via dlclose and dlopen, you can
use ‘-fno-gnu-unique’.
-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).
284 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The precise convention for returning structures in memory depends on the tar-
get 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 effi-
cient 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 is equivalent to the smallest integer
type that 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-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.
-fcommon In C code, this option controls the placement of global variables defined with-
out an initializer, known as tentative definitions in the C standard. Tentative
definitions are distinct from declarations of a variable with the extern keyword,
which do not allocate storage.
The default is ‘-fno-common’, which specifies that the compiler places unini-
tialized global variables in the BSS section of the object file. This inhibits the
merging of tentative definitions by the linker so you get a multiple-definition
error if the same variable is accidentally defined in more than one compilation
unit.
The ‘-fcommon’ places uninitialized global variables in a common block. This
allows the linker to resolve all tentative definitions of the same variable in
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 285

different compilation units to the same object, or to a non-tentative definition.

This behavior is inconsistent with C++, and on many targets implies a speed
and code size penalty on global variable references. It is mainly useful to enable
legacy code to link without errors.
-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 lo-
cations 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.
The added comments include:
• information on the compiler version and command-line options,
• the source code lines associated with the assembly instructions, in the form
FILENAME:LINENUMBER:CONTENT OF LINE,
• hints on which high-level expressions correspond to the various assembly
instruction operands.
For example, given this C source file:
int test (int n)
{
int i;
int total = 0;

for (i = 0; i < n; i++)

total += i * i;

return total;
}
compiling to (x86 64) assembly via ‘-S’ and emitting the result direct to stdout
via ‘-o’ ‘-’
gcc -S test.c -fverbose-asm -Os -o -
gives output similar to this:
.file "test.c"
# GNU C11 (GCC) version 7.0.0 20160809 (experimental) (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
[...snip...]
# options passed:
[...snip...]

.text
.globl test
286 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

.type test, @function

test:
.LFB0:
.cfi_startproc
# test.c:4: int total = 0;
xorl %eax, %eax # <retval>
# test.c:6: for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
xorl %edx, %edx # i
.L2:
# test.c:6: for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
cmpl %edi, %edx # n, i
jge .L5 #,
# test.c:7: total += i * i;
movl %edx, %ecx # i, tmp92
imull %edx, %ecx # i, tmp92
# test.c:6: for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
incl %edx # i
# test.c:7: total += i * i;
addl %ecx, %eax # tmp92, <retval>
jmp .L2 #
.L5:
# test.c:10: }
ret
.cfi_endproc
.LFE0:
.size test, .-test
.ident "GCC: (GNU) 7.0.0 20160809 (experimental)"
.section .note.GNU-stack,"",@progbits
The comments are intended for humans rather than machines and hence the
precise format of the comments is subject to change.
-frecord-gcc-switches
This switch causes the command line 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. See also ‘-grecord-gcc-switches’ for another way of
storing compiler options into 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, 28k on AArch64 and 32k on
the m68k and RS/6000. The x86 has no such limit.)
Position-independent code requires special support, and therefore works only on
certain machines. For the x86, GCC supports PIC for System V but not for the
Sun 386i. Code generated for the IBM RS/6000 is always position-independent.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 287

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 AArch64, 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 the generated position-
independent code can be only linked into executables. Usually these options
are used to compile code that will be linked using the ‘-pie’ GCC option.
‘-fpie’ and ‘-fPIE’ both define the macros __pie__ and __PIE__. The macros
have the value 1 for ‘-fpie’ and 2 for ‘-fPIE’.
-fno-plt Do not use the PLT for external function calls in position-independent code.
Instead, load the callee address at call sites from the GOT and branch to it.
This leads to more efficient code by eliminating PLT stubs and exposing GOT
loads to optimizations. On architectures such as 32-bit x86 where PLT stubs
expect the GOT pointer in a specific register, this gives more register allocation
freedom to the compiler. Lazy binding requires use of the PLT; with ‘-fno-plt’
all external symbols are resolved at load time.
Alternatively, the function attribute noplt can be used to avoid calls through
the PLT for specific external functions.
In position-dependent code, a few targets also convert calls to functions that
are marked to not use the PLT to use the GOT instead.
-fno-jump-tables
Do not use jump tables for switch statements even where it would be more effi-
cient than other code generation strategies. This option is of use in conjunction
with ‘-fpic’ or ‘-fPIC’ for building code that 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.
-fno-bit-tests
Do not use bit tests for switch statements even where it would be more efficient
than other code generation strategies.
-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 descrip-
tion macro file.
This flag does not have a negative form, because it specifies a three-way choice.
288 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fcall-used-reg
Treat the register named reg as an allocable register that is clobbered by func-
tion calls. It may be allocated for temporaries or variables that do not live
across a call. Functions compiled this way do not save and restore the register
reg.
It is an error to use 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 produces 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 save and restore the register reg if they use it.
It is an error to use 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 produces disastrous results.
A different sort of disaster results 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 are 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.
-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 (see Section 6.64 [Thread-
Local], page 893). The model argument should be one of ‘global-dynamic’,
‘local-dynamic’, ‘initial-exec’ or ‘local-exec’. Note that the choice is
subject to optimization: the compiler may use a more efficient model for sym-
bols not visible outside of the translation unit, or if ‘-fpic’ is not given on the
command line.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 289

The default without ‘-fpic’ is ‘initial-exec’; with ‘-fpic’ the default is

‘global-dynamic’.
-ftrampolines
For targets that normally need trampolines for nested functions, always gener-
ate them instead of using descriptors. Otherwise, for targets that do not need
them, like for example HP-PA or IA-64, do nothing.
A trampoline is a small piece of code that is created at run time on the stack
when the address of a nested function is taken, and is used to call the nested
function indirectly. Therefore, it requires the stack to be made executable in
order for the program to work properly.
‘-fno-trampolines’ is enabled by default on a language by language basis
to let the compiler avoid generating them, if it computes that this is safe,
and replace them with descriptors. Descriptors are made up of data only, but
the generated code must be prepared to deal with them. As of this writing,
‘-fno-trampolines’ is enabled by default only for Ada.
Moreover, code compiled with ‘-ftrampolines’ and code compiled with
‘-fno-trampolines’ are not binary compatible if nested functions are
present. This option must therefore be used on a program-wide basis and be
manipulated with extreme care.
For languages other than Ada, the -ftrampolines and -fno-trampolines op-
tions currently have no effect, and trampolines are always generated on plat-
forms that need them for nested functions.
-fvisibility=[default|internal|hidden|protected]
Set the default ELF image symbol visibility to the specified option—all symbols
are 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; i.e., 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 is
‘hidden’. The default if ‘-fvisibility’ isn’t specified is ‘default’, i.e., make
every symbol public.
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 https://www.akkadia.org/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 DLLs 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.
290 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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; i.e., 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 head-
ers 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 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 is be thrown between DSOs must
be explicitly marked with default visibility so that the ‘type_info’ nodes are
unified between the DSOs.
An overview of these techniques, their benefits and how to use them is at
https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Visibility.
-fstrict-volatile-bitfields
This option should be used if accesses to volatile bit-fields (or other structure
fields, although the compiler usually honors those types anyway) should use a
single access of the width of the field’s type, aligned to a natural alignment if
possible. For example, targets with memory-mapped peripheral registers might
require all such accesses to be 16 bits wide; with this flag you can declare
all peripheral bit-fields as unsigned short (assuming short is 16 bits on these
targets) to force GCC to use 16-bit accesses instead of, perhaps, a more efficient
32-bit access.
If this option is disabled, the compiler uses the most efficient instruction. In
the previous example, that might be a 32-bit load instruction, even though
that accesses bytes that do not contain any portion of the bit-field, or memory-
mapped registers unrelated to the one being updated.
In some cases, such as when the packed attribute is applied to a structure
field, it may not be possible to access the field with a single read or write that
is correctly aligned for the target machine. In this case GCC falls back to
generating multiple accesses rather than code that will fault or truncate the
result at run time.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 291

Note: Due to restrictions of the C/C++11 memory model, write accesses are not
allowed to touch non bit-field members. It is therefore recommended to define
all bits of the field’s type as bit-field members.
The default value of this option is determined by the application binary interface
for the target processor.
-fsync-libcalls
This option controls whether any out-of-line instance of the __sync family of
functions may be used to implement the C++11 __atomic family of functions.
The default value of this option is enabled, thus the only useful form of the
option is ‘-fno-sync-libcalls’. This option is used in the implementation of
the ‘libatomic’ runtime library.

3.18 GCC Developer Options

This section describes command-line options that are primarily of interest to GCC devel-
opers, including options to support compiler testing and investigation of compiler bugs and
compile-time performance problems. This includes options that produce debug dumps at
various points in the compilation; that print statistics such as memory use and execution
time; and that print information about GCC’s configuration, such as where it searches for
libraries. You should rarely need to use any of these options for ordinary compilation and
linking tasks.
Many developer options that cause GCC to dump output to a file take an optional
‘=filename’ suffix. You can specify ‘stdout’ or ‘-’ to dump to standard output, and
‘stderr’ for standard error.
If ‘=filename’ is omitted, a default dump file name is constructed by concatenating the
base dump file name, a pass number, phase letter, and pass name. The base dump file
name is the name of output file produced by the compiler if explicitly specified and not
an executable; otherwise it is the source file name. The pass number is determined by the
order passes are registered with the compiler’s pass manager. This is generally the same
as the order of execution, but passes registered by plugins, target-specific passes, or passes
that are otherwise registered late are numbered higher than the pass named ‘final’, even
if they are executed earlier. The phase letter is one of ‘i’ (inter-procedural analysis), ‘l’
(language-specific), ‘r’ (RTL), or ‘t’ (tree). The files are created in the directory of the
output file.
-fcallgraph-info
-fcallgraph-info=MARKERS
Makes the compiler output callgraph information for the program, on a per-
object-file basis. The information is generated in the common VCG format.
It can be decorated with additional, per-node and/or per-edge information,
if a list of comma-separated markers is additionally specified. When the su
marker is specified, the callgraph is decorated with stack usage information;
it is equivalent to ‘-fstack-usage’. When the da marker is specified, the
callgraph is decorated with information about dynamically allocated objects.
When compiling with ‘-flto’, no callgraph information is output along with
the object file. At LTO link time, ‘-fcallgraph-info’ may generate multiple
callgraph information files next to intermediate LTO output files.
292 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-dletters
-fdump-rtl-pass
-fdump-rtl-pass=filename
Says to make debugging dumps during compilation at times specified by letters.
This is used for debugging the RTL-based passes of the compiler.
Some ‘-dletters’ switches have different meaning when ‘-E’ is used for pre-
processing. See Section 3.13 [Preprocessor Options], page 264, for information
about preprocessor-specific dump options.
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 con-
straints.
-fdump-rtl-auto_inc_dec
Dump after auto-inc-dec discovery. This pass is only run on archi-
tectures 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’ en-
able dumping after the three if conversion passes.
-fdump-rtl-cprop_hardreg
Dump after hard register copy propagation.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 293

-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 subexpression 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 dump-
ing after the two forward propagation passes.
-fdump-rtl-gcse1
-fdump-rtl-gcse2
‘-fdump-rtl-gcse1’ and ‘-fdump-rtl-gcse2’ enable dumping af-
ter 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 optimiza-
tion passes.
294 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 prologues and epilogues.
-fdump-rtl-sched1
-fdump-rtl-sched2
‘-fdump-rtl-sched1’ and ‘-fdump-rtl-sched2’ enable dumping
after the basic block scheduling passes.
-fdump-rtl-ree
Dump after sign/zero 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
These options enable dumping after five rounds of instruction split-
ting.
-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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 295

-fdump-rtl-subreg1
-fdump-rtl-subreg2
‘-fdump-rtl-subreg1’ and ‘-fdump-rtl-subreg2’ enable dump-
ing 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.
-da
-fdump-rtl-all
Produce all the dumps listed above.
-dA Annotate the assembler output with miscellaneous debugging in-
formation.
-dD Dump all macro definitions, at the end of preprocessing, in addition
to normal output.
-dH Produce a core dump whenever an error occurs.
-dp Annotate the assembler output with a comment indicating which
pattern and alternative is used. The length and cost of each in-
struction are also printed.
-dP Dump the RTL in the assembler output as a comment before each
instruction. Also turns on ‘-dp’ annotation.
-dx Just generate RTL for a function instead of compiling it. Usually
used with ‘-fdump-rtl-expand’.
-fdump-debug
Dump debugging information generated during the debug generation phase.
-fdump-earlydebug
Dump debugging information generated during the early debug generation
phase.
-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
296 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

compiler binaries and/or different text / bss / data / heap / stack / dso start
locations.
-freport-bug
Collect and dump debug information into a temporary file if an internal compiler
error (ICE) occurs.
-fdump-unnumbered
When doing debugging dumps, suppress instruction numbers and address out-
put. This makes it more feasible to use diff on debugging dumps for compiler
invocations with different options, in particular with and without ‘-g’.
-fdump-unnumbered-links
When doing debugging dumps (see ‘-d’ option above), suppress instruction
numbers for the links to the previous and next instructions in a sequence.
-fdump-ipa-switch
-fdump-ipa-switch-options
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, and the file is created in the same directory as the output file.
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.
Additionally, the options ‘-optimized’, ‘-missed’, ‘-note’, and ‘-all’ can
be provided, with the same meaning as for ‘-fopt-info’, defaulting to
‘-optimized’.
For example, ‘-fdump-ipa-inline-optimized-missed’ will emit information
on callsites that were inlined, along with callsites that were not inlined.
By default, the dump will contain messages about successful optimizations
(equivalent to ‘-optimized’) together with low-level details about the analysis.
-fdump-lang
Dump language-specific information. The file name is made by appending
‘.lang’ to the source file name.
-fdump-lang-all
-fdump-lang-switch
-fdump-lang-switch-options
-fdump-lang-switch-options=filename
Control the dumping of language-specific information. The options and file-
name portions behave as described in the ‘-fdump-tree’ option. The following
switch values are accepted:
‘all’
Enable all language-specific dumps.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 297

‘class’ Dump class hierarchy information. Virtual table information is

emitted unless ’‘slim’’ is specified. This option is applicable to
C++ only.
‘module’ Dump module information. Options ‘lineno’ (locations), ‘graph’
(reachability), ‘blocks’ (clusters), ‘uid’ (serialization), ‘alias’
(mergeable), ‘asmname’ (Elrond), ‘eh’ (mapper) & ‘vops’ (macros)
may provide additional information. This option is applicable to
C++ only.
‘raw’ Dump the raw internal tree data. This option is applicable to C++
only.
-fdump-passes
Print on ‘stderr’ the list of optimization passes that are turned on and off by
the current command-line options.
-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, and the file is created in the same directory as the output file. If the
‘-option’ form is used, ‘-stats’ causes counters to be summed over the whole
compilation unit while ‘-details’ dumps every event as the passes generate
them. The default with no option is to sum counters for each function compiled.
-fdump-tree-all
-fdump-tree-switch
-fdump-tree-switch-options
-fdump-tree-switch-options=filename
Control the dumping at various stages of processing the intermediate language
tree to a file. If the ‘-options’ form is used, options is a list of ‘-’ separated
options which control the details of the dump. Not all options are applicable
to all dumps; those that are not meaningful are 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.
‘asmname’ If DECL_ASSEMBLER_NAME has been set for a given decl, use that
in the dump instead of DECL_NAME. Its primary use is ease of use
working backward from mangled names in the assembly file.
‘slim’ When dumping front-end intermediate representations, 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.
When dumping RTL, print the RTL in slim (condensed) form in-
stead of the default LISP-like representation.
298 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘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).
Also include information from the optimization passes.
‘stats’ Enable dumping various statistics about the pass (not honored by
every dump option).
‘blocks’ Enable showing basic block boundaries (disabled in raw dumps).
‘graph’ For each of the other indicated dump files (‘-fdump-rtl-pass’),
dump a representation of the control flow graph suitable for viewing
with GraphViz to ‘file.passid.pass.dot’. Each function in the
file is pretty-printed as a subgraph, so that GraphViz can render
them all in a single plot.
This option currently only works for RTL dumps, and the RTL is
always dumped in slim form.
‘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.
‘eh’ Enable showing the EH region number holding each statement.
‘scev’ Enable showing scalar evolution analysis details.
‘optimized’
Enable showing optimization information (only available in certain
passes).
‘missed’ Enable showing missed optimization information (only available in
certain passes).
‘note’ Enable other detailed optimization information (only available in
certain passes).
‘all’ Turn on all options, except ‘raw’, ‘slim’, ‘verbose’ and ‘lineno’.
‘optall’ Turn on all optimization options, i.e., ‘optimized’, ‘missed’, and
‘note’.
To determine what tree dumps are available or find the dump for a pass of
interest follow the steps below.
1. Invoke GCC with ‘-fdump-passes’ and in the ‘stderr’ output look for
a code that corresponds to the pass you are interested in. For example,
the codes tree-evrp, tree-vrp1, and tree-vrp2 correspond to the three
Value Range Propagation passes. The number at the end distinguishes
distinct invocations of the same pass.
2. To enable the creation of the dump file, append the pass code to the
‘-fdump-’ option prefix and invoke GCC with it. For example, to enable
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 299

the dump from the Early Value Range Propagation pass, invoke GCC with
the ‘-fdump-tree-evrp’ option. Optionally, you may specify the name of
the dump file. If you don’t specify one, GCC creates as described below.
3. Find the pass dump in a file whose name is composed of three components
separated by a period: the name of the source file GCC was invoked to
compile, a numeric suffix indicating the pass number followed by the letter
‘t’ for tree passes (and the letter ‘r’ for RTL passes), and finally the pass
code. For example, the Early VRP pass dump might be in a file named
‘myfile.c.038t.evrp’ in the current working directory. Note that the
numeric codes are not stable and may change from one version of GCC to
another.
-fopt-info
-fopt-info-options
-fopt-info-options=filename
Controls optimization dumps from various optimization passes. If the
‘-options’ form is used, options is a list of ‘-’ separated option keywords to
select the dump details and optimizations.
The options can be divided into three groups:
1. options describing what kinds of messages should be emitted,
2. options describing the verbosity of the dump, and
3. options describing which optimizations should be included.
The options from each group can be freely mixed as they are non-overlapping.
However, in case of any conflicts, the later options override the earlier options
on the command line.
The following options control which kinds of messages should be emitted:
‘optimized’
Print information when an optimization is successfully applied. It
is up to a pass to decide which information is relevant. For example,
the vectorizer passes print the source location of loops which are
successfully vectorized.
‘missed’ Print information about missed optimizations. Individual passes
control which information to include in the output.
‘note’ Print verbose information about optimizations, such as certain
transformations, more detailed messages about decisions etc.
‘all’ Print detailed optimization information. This includes
‘optimized’, ‘missed’, and ‘note’.
The following option controls the dump verbosity:
‘internals’
By default, only “high-level” messages are emitted. This option
enables additional, more detailed, messages, which are likely to
only be of interest to GCC developers.
300 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

One or more of the following option keywords can be used to describe a group
of optimizations:
‘ipa’ Enable dumps from all interprocedural optimizations.
‘loop’ Enable dumps from all loop optimizations.
‘inline’ Enable dumps from all inlining optimizations.
‘omp’ Enable dumps from all OMP (Offloading and Multi Processing)
optimizations.
‘vec’ Enable dumps from all vectorization optimizations.
‘optall’ Enable dumps from all optimizations. This is a superset of the
optimization groups listed above.
If options is omitted, it defaults to ‘optimized-optall’, which means to dump
messages about successful optimizations from all the passes, omitting messages
that are treated as “internals”.
If the filename is provided, then the dumps from all the applicable optimiza-
tions are concatenated into the filename. Otherwise the dump is output onto
‘stderr’. Though multiple ‘-fopt-info’ options are accepted, only one of them
can include a filename. If other filenames are provided then all but the first
such option are ignored.
Note that the output filename is overwritten in case of multiple translation
units. If a combined output from multiple translation units is desired, ‘stderr’
should be used instead.
In the following example, the optimization info is output to ‘stderr’:
gcc -O3 -fopt-info
This example:
gcc -O3 -fopt-info-missed=missed.all
outputs missed optimization report from all the passes into ‘missed.all’, and
this one:
gcc -O2 -ftree-vectorize -fopt-info-vec-missed
prints information about missed optimization opportunities from vectoriza-
tion passes on ‘stderr’. Note that ‘-fopt-info-vec-missed’ is equivalent
to ‘-fopt-info-missed-vec’. The order of the optimization group names and
message types listed after ‘-fopt-info’ does not matter.
As another example,
gcc -O3 -fopt-info-inline-optimized-missed=inline.txt
outputs information about missed optimizations as well as optimized locations
from all the inlining passes into ‘inline.txt’.
Finally, consider:
gcc -fopt-info-vec-missed=vec.miss -fopt-info-loop-optimized=loop.opt
Here the two output filenames ‘vec.miss’ and ‘loop.opt’ are in conflict since
only one output file is allowed. In this case, only the first option takes effect and
the subsequent options are ignored. Thus only ‘vec.miss’ is produced which
contains dumps from the vectorizer about missed opportunities.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 301

-fsave-optimization-record
Write a SRCFILE.opt-record.json.gz file detailing what optimizations were per-
formed, for those optimizations that support ‘-fopt-info’.
This option is experimental and the format of the data within the compressed
JSON file is subject to change.
It is roughly equivalent to a machine-readable version of ‘-fopt-info-all’, as
a collection of messages with source file, line number and column number, with
the following additional data for each message:
• the execution count of the code being optimized, along with metadata
about whether this was from actual profile data, or just an estimate, al-
lowing consumers to prioritize messages by code hotness,
• the function name of the code being optimized, where applicable,
• the “inlining chain” for the code being optimized, so that when a function
is inlined into several different places (which might themselves be inlined),
the reader can distinguish between the copies,
• objects identifying those parts of the message that refer to expressions,
statements or symbol-table nodes, which of these categories they are, and,
when available, their source code location,
• the GCC pass that emitted the message, and
• the location in GCC’s own code from which the message was emitted
Additionally, some messages are logically nested within other messages, reflect-
ing implementation details of the optimization passes.
-fsched-verbose=n
On targets that use instruction scheduling, this option controls the amount of
debugging output the scheduler prints to the dump files.
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.
-fenable-kind-pass
-fdisable-kind-pass=range-list
This is a set of options that are used to explicitly disable/enable optimization
passes. These options are intended for use for debugging GCC. Compiler users
should use regular options for enabling/disabling passes instead.
-fdisable-ipa-pass
Disable IPA pass pass. pass is the pass name. If the same pass
is statically invoked in the compiler multiple times, the pass name
should be appended with a sequential number starting from 1.
-fdisable-rtl-pass
-fdisable-rtl-pass=range-list
Disable RTL pass pass. pass is the pass name. If the same pass is
statically invoked in the compiler multiple times, the pass name
302 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

should be appended with a sequential number starting from 1.

range-list is a comma-separated list of function ranges or assem-
bler names. Each range is a number pair separated by a colon.
The range is inclusive in both ends. If the range is trivial, the
number pair can be simplified as a single number. If the function’s
call graph node’s uid falls within one of the specified ranges, the
pass is disabled for that function. The uid is shown in the function
header of a dump file, and the pass names can be dumped by using
option ‘-fdump-passes’.
-fdisable-tree-pass
-fdisable-tree-pass=range-list
Disable tree pass pass. See ‘-fdisable-rtl’ for the description of
option arguments.
-fenable-ipa-pass
Enable IPA pass pass. pass is the pass name. If the same pass
is statically invoked in the compiler multiple times, the pass name
should be appended with a sequential number starting from 1.
-fenable-rtl-pass
-fenable-rtl-pass=range-list
Enable RTL pass pass. See ‘-fdisable-rtl’ for option argument
description and examples.
-fenable-tree-pass
-fenable-tree-pass=range-list
Enable tree pass pass. See ‘-fdisable-rtl’ for the description of
option arguments.
Here are some examples showing uses of these options.

# disable ccp1 for all functions

-fdisable-tree-ccp1
# disable complete unroll for function whose cgraph node uid is 1
-fenable-tree-cunroll=1
# disable gcse2 for functions at the following ranges [1,1],
# [300,400], and [400,1000]
# disable gcse2 for functions foo and foo2
-fdisable-rtl-gcse2=foo,foo2
# disable early inlining
-fdisable-tree-einline
# disable ipa inlining
-fdisable-ipa-inline
# enable tree full unroll
-fenable-tree-unroll

-fchecking
-fchecking=n
Enable internal consistency checking. The default depends on the compiler
configuration. ‘-fchecking=2’ enables further internal consistency checking
that might affect code generation.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 303

-frandom-seed=string
This option provides a seed that GCC uses in place of random numbers in
generating 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 can either be a number (decimal, octal or hex) or an arbitrary string
(in which case it’s converted to a number by computing CRC32).
The string should be different for every file you compile.

-save-temps
Store the usual “temporary” intermediate files permanently; name them as
auxiliary output files, as specified described under ‘-dumpbase’ and ‘-dumpdir’.
When used in combination with the ‘-x’ command-line option, ‘-save-temps’ is
sensible enough to avoid overwriting 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’.

-save-temps=cwd
Equivalent to ‘-save-temps -dumpdir ./’.

-save-temps=obj
Equivalent to ‘-save-temps -dumpdir ‘outdir/’’, where ‘outdir/’ is the di-
rectory of the output file specified after the ‘-o’ option, including any directory
separators. If the ‘-o’ option is not used, the ‘-save-temps=obj’ switch behaves
like ‘-save-temps=cwd’.

-time[=file]
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).
Without the specification of an output file, 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.
With the specification of an output file, the output is appended to the named
file, and it looks like this:
0.12 0.01 cc1 options
0.00 0.01 as options

The “user time” and the “system time” are moved before the program name,
and the options passed to the program are displayed, so that one can later tell
what file was being compiled, and with which options.
304 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-fdump-final-insns[=file]
Dump the final internal representation (RTL) to file. If the optional argument
is omitted (or if file is .), the name of the dump file is determined by appending
.gkd to the dump base name, see ‘-dumpbase’.
-fcompare-debug[=opts]
If no error occurs during compilation, run the compiler a second time, adding
opts and ‘-fcompare-debug-second’ to the arguments passed to the second
compilation. Dump the final internal representation in both compilations, and
print an error if they differ.
If the equal sign is omitted, the default ‘-gtoggle’ is used.
The environment variable GCC_COMPARE_DEBUG, if defined, non-empty and
nonzero, implicitly enables ‘-fcompare-debug’. If GCC_COMPARE_DEBUG is
defined to a string starting with a dash, then it is used for opts, otherwise the
default ‘-gtoggle’ is used.
‘-fcompare-debug=’, with the equal sign but without opts, is equivalent to
‘-fno-compare-debug’, which disables the dumping of the final representation
and the second compilation, preventing even GCC_COMPARE_DEBUG from taking
effect.
To verify full coverage during ‘-fcompare-debug’ testing, set GCC_COMPARE_
DEBUG to say ‘-fcompare-debug-not-overridden’, which GCC rejects as
an invalid option in any actual compilation (rather than preprocessing,
assembly or linking). To get just a warning, setting GCC_COMPARE_DEBUG to
‘-w%n-fcompare-debug not overridden’ will do.
-fcompare-debug-second
This option is implicitly passed to the compiler for the second compilation
requested by ‘-fcompare-debug’, along with options to silence warnings, and
omitting other options that would cause the compiler to produce output to files
or to standard output as a side effect. Dump files and preserved temporary files
are renamed so as to contain the .gk additional extension during the second
compilation, to avoid overwriting those generated by the first.
When this option is passed to the compiler driver, it causes the first compilation
to be skipped, which makes it useful for little other than debugging the compiler
proper.
-gtoggle Turn off generation of debug info, if leaving out this option generates it, or turn
it on at level 2 otherwise. The position of this argument in the command line
does not matter; it takes effect after all other options are processed, and it does
so only once, no matter how many times it is given. This is mainly intended to
be used with ‘-fcompare-debug’.
-fvar-tracking-assignments-toggle
Toggle ‘-fvar-tracking-assignments’, in the same way that ‘-gtoggle’ tog-
gles ‘-g’.
-Q Makes the compiler print out each function name as it is compiled, and print
some statistics about each pass when it finishes.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 305

-ftime-report
Makes the compiler print some statistics about the time consumed by each pass
when it finishes.
-ftime-report-details
Record the time consumed by infrastructure parts separately for each pass.
-fira-verbose=n
Control the verbosity of the dump file for the integrated register allocator. The
default value is 5. If the value n is greater or equal to 10, the dump output is
sent to stderr using the same format as n minus 10.
-flto-report
Prints a report with internal details on the workings of the link-time optimizer.
The contents of this report vary from version to version. It is meant to be useful
to GCC developers when processing object files in LTO mode (via ‘-flto’).
Disabled by default.
-flto-report-wpa
Like ‘-flto-report’, but only print for the WPA phase of link-time optimiza-
tion.
-fmem-report
Makes the compiler print some statistics about permanent memory allocation
when it finishes.
-fmem-report-wpa
Makes the compiler print some statistics about permanent memory allocation
for the WPA phase only.
-fpre-ipa-mem-report
-fpost-ipa-mem-report
Makes the compiler print some statistics about permanent memory allocation
before or after interprocedural optimization.
-fmultiflags
This option enables multilib-aware TFLAGS to be used to build target libraries
with options different from those the compiler is configured to use by default,
through the use of specs (See Section 3.20 [Spec Files], page 506) set up by
compiler internals, by the target, or by builders at configure time.
Like TFLAGS, this allows the target libraries to be built for portable baseline
environments, while the compiler defaults to more demanding ones. That’s
useful because users can easily override the defaults the compiler is configured
to use to build their own programs, if the defaults are not ideal for their target
environment, whereas rebuilding the runtime libraries is usually not as easy or
desirable.
Unlike TFLAGS, the use of specs enables different flags to be se-
lected for different multilibs. The way to accomplish that
is to build with ‘make TFLAGS=-fmultiflags’, after configuring
‘--with-specs=%{fmultiflags:...}’.
This option is discarded by the driver once it’s done processing driver self spec.
306 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

It is also useful to check that TFLAGS are being used to build

all target libraries, by configuring a non-bootstrap compiler
‘--with-specs=’%{!fmultiflags:%emissing TFLAGS}’’ and building
the compiler and target libraries.

-fprofile-report
Makes the compiler print some statistics about consistency of the (estimated)
profile and effect of individual passes.

-fstack-usage
Makes the compiler output stack usage information for the program, on a per-
function basis. The filename for the dump is made by appending ‘.su’ to the
auxname. auxname 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. An entry is made up of three fields:
• The name of the function.
• A number of bytes.
• One or more qualifiers: static, dynamic, bounded.

The qualifier static means that the function manipulates the stack statically: a
fixed number of bytes are allocated for the frame on function entry and released
on function exit; no stack adjustments are otherwise made in the function. The
second field is this fixed number of bytes.
The qualifier dynamic means that the function manipulates the stack dynami-
cally: in addition to the static allocation described above, stack adjustments are
made in the body of the function, for example to push/pop arguments around
function calls. If the qualifier bounded is also present, the amount of these ad-
justments is bounded at compile time and the second field is an upper bound of
the total amount of stack used by the function. If it is not present, the amount
of these adjustments is not bounded at compile time and the second field only
represents the bounded part.

-fstats Emit statistics about front-end processing at the end of the compilation. This
option is supported only by the C++ front end, and the information is generally
only useful to the G++ development team.

-fdbg-cnt-list
Print the name and the counter upper bound for all debug counters.

-fdbg-cnt=counter-value-list
Set the internal debug counter lower and upper bound. counter-value-list is
a comma-separated list of name:lower bound1-upper bound1 [:lower bound2-
upper bound2...] tuples which sets the name of the counter and list of closed
intervals. The lower bound is optional and is zero initialized if not set. For
example, with ‘-fdbg-cnt=dce:2-4:10-11,tail_call:10’, dbg_cnt(dce) re-
turns true only for second, third, fourth, tenth and eleventh invocation. For
dbg_cnt(tail_call) true is returned for first 10 invocations.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 307

-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 ‘-’, without spaces between multiple
switches. This is supposed to ease shell processing.
-print-multi-os-directory
Print the path to OS libraries for the selected multilib, relative to some ‘lib’
subdirectory. If OS libraries are present in the ‘lib’ subdirectory and no mul-
tilibs are used, this is usually just ‘.’, if OS libraries are present in ‘libsuffix’
sibling directories this prints e.g. ‘../lib64’, ‘../lib’ or ‘../lib32’, or if
OS libraries are present in ‘lib/subdir’ subdirectories it prints e.g. ‘amd64’,
‘sparcv9’ or ‘ev6’.
-print-multiarch
Print the path to OS libraries for the selected multiarch, relative to some ‘lib’
subdirectory.
-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 searches—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 di-
rectory where you installed them. Don’t forget the trailing ‘/’. See Section 3.21
[Environment Variables], page 515.
-print-sysroot
Print the target sysroot directory that is 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.
308 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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, 6.3.0 or 7)—and don’t do any-
thing else. This is the compiler version used in filesystem paths and specs.
Depending on how the compiler has been configured it can be just a single
number (major version), two numbers separated by a dot (major and minor
version) or three numbers separated by dots (major, minor and patchlevel ver-
sion).
-dumpfullversion
Print the full compiler version—and don’t do anything else. The output is
always three numbers separated by dots, major, minor and patchlevel version.
-dumpspecs
Print the compiler’s built-in specs—and don’t do anything else. (This is used
when GCC itself is being built.) See Section 3.20 [Spec Files], page 506.

3.19 Machine-Dependent Options

Each target machine supported by GCC can have its own options—for example, to allow
you to compile for a particular processor variant or ABI, or to control optimizations specific
to that machine. By convention, the names of machine-specific options start with ‘-m’.
Some configurations of the compiler also support additional target-specific options, usu-
ally for compatibility with other compilers on the same platform.

3.19.1 AArch64 Options

These options are defined for AArch64 implementations:

-mabi=name
Generate code for the specified data model. Permissible values are ‘ilp32’ for
SysV-like data model where int, long int and pointers are 32 bits, and ‘lp64’
for SysV-like data model where int is 32 bits, but long int and pointers are 64
bits.
The default depends on the specific target configuration. Note that the LP64
and ILP32 ABIs are not link-compatible; you must compile your entire program
with the same ABI, and link with a compatible set of libraries.
-mbig-endian
Generate big-endian code. This is the default when GCC is configured for an
‘aarch64_be-*-*’ target.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 309

-mgeneral-regs-only
Generate code which uses only the general-purpose registers. This will prevent
the compiler from using floating-point and Advanced SIMD registers but will
not impose any restrictions on the assembler.
-mlittle-endian
Generate little-endian code. This is the default when GCC is configured for an
‘aarch64-*-*’ but not an ‘aarch64_be-*-*’ target.
-mcmodel=tiny
Generate code for the tiny code model. The program and its statically defined
symbols must be within 1MB of each other. Programs can be statically or
dynamically linked.
-mcmodel=small
Generate code for the small code model. The program and its statically defined
symbols must be within 4GB of each other. Programs can be statically or
dynamically linked. This is the default code model.
-mcmodel=large
Generate code for the large code model. This makes no assumptions about
addresses and sizes of sections. Programs can be statically linked only. The
‘-mcmodel=large’ option is incompatible with ‘-mabi=ilp32’, ‘-fpic’ and
‘-fPIC’.
-mstrict-align
-mno-strict-align
Avoid or allow generating memory accesses that may not be aligned on a natural
object boundary as described in the architecture specification.
-momit-leaf-frame-pointer
-mno-omit-leaf-frame-pointer
Omit or keep the frame pointer in leaf functions. The former behavior is the
default.
-mstack-protector-guard=guard
-mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg
-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset
Generate stack protection code using canary at guard. Supported locations are
‘global’ for a global canary or ‘sysreg’ for a canary in an appropriate system
register.
With the latter choice the options ‘-mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg’ and
‘-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset’ furthermore specify which sys-
tem register to use as base register for reading the canary, and from what offset
from that base register. There is no default register or offset as this is entirely
for use within the Linux kernel.
-mtls-dialect=desc
Use TLS descriptors as the thread-local storage mechanism for dynamic accesses
of TLS variables. This is the default.
310 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mtls-dialect=traditional
Use traditional TLS as the thread-local storage mechanism for dynamic accesses
of TLS variables.

-mtls-size=size
Specify bit size of immediate TLS offsets. Valid values are 12, 24, 32, 48. This
option requires binutils 2.26 or newer.

-mfix-cortex-a53-835769
-mno-fix-cortex-a53-835769
Enable or disable the workaround for the ARM Cortex-A53 erratum number
835769. This involves inserting a NOP instruction between memory instructions
and 64-bit integer multiply-accumulate instructions.

-mfix-cortex-a53-843419
-mno-fix-cortex-a53-843419
Enable or disable the workaround for the ARM Cortex-A53 erratum number
843419. This erratum workaround is made at link time and this will only pass
the corresponding flag to the linker.

-mlow-precision-recip-sqrt
-mno-low-precision-recip-sqrt
Enable or disable the reciprocal square root approximation. This option only
has an effect if ‘-ffast-math’ or ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ is used as
well. Enabling this reduces precision of reciprocal square root results to about
16 bits for single precision and to 32 bits for double precision.

-mlow-precision-sqrt
-mno-low-precision-sqrt
Enable or disable the square root approximation. This option only has an
effect if ‘-ffast-math’ or ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ is used as well.
Enabling this reduces precision of square root results to about 16 bits for
single precision and to 32 bits for double precision. If enabled, it implies
‘-mlow-precision-recip-sqrt’.

-mlow-precision-div
-mno-low-precision-div
Enable or disable the division approximation. This option only has an effect if
‘-ffast-math’ or ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ is used as well. Enabling
this reduces precision of division results to about 16 bits for single precision
and to 32 bits for double precision.

-mtrack-speculation
-mno-track-speculation
Enable or disable generation of additional code to track speculative execution
through conditional branches. The tracking state can then be used by the com-
piler when expanding calls to __builtin_speculation_safe_copy to permit
a more efficient code sequence to be generated.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 311

-moutline-atomics
-mno-outline-atomics
Enable or disable calls to out-of-line helpers to implement atomic operations.
These helpers will, at runtime, determine if the LSE instructions from
ARMv8.1-A can be used; if not, they will use the load/store-exclusive
instructions that are present in the base ARMv8.0 ISA.
This option is only applicable when compiling for the base ARMv8.0
instruction set. If using a later revision, e.g. ‘-march=armv8.1-a’ or
‘-march=armv8-a+lse’, the ARMv8.1-Atomics instructions will be used
directly. The same applies when using ‘-mcpu=’ when the selected cpu supports
the ‘lse’ feature. This option is on by default.
-march=name
Specify the name of the target architecture and, optionally, one or more feature
modifiers. This option has the form ‘-march=arch{+[no]feature}*’.
The table below summarizes the permissible values for arch and the features
that they enable by default:

arch value Architecture Includes by default

‘armv8-a’ Armv8-A ‘+fp’, ‘+simd’
‘armv8.1-a’ Armv8.1-A ‘armv8-a’, ‘+crc’, ‘+lse’, ‘+rdma’
‘armv8.2-a’ Armv8.2-A ‘armv8.1-a’
‘armv8.3-a’ Armv8.3-A ‘armv8.2-a’, ‘+pauth’
‘armv8.4-a’ Armv8.4-A ‘armv8.3-a’, ‘+flagm’, ‘+fp16fml’, ‘+dotprod’
‘armv8.5-a’ Armv8.5-A ‘armv8.4-a’, ‘+sb’, ‘+ssbs’, ‘+predres’
‘armv8.6-a’ Armv8.6-A ‘armv8.5-a’, ‘+bf16’, ‘+i8mm’
‘armv8.7-a’ Armv8.7-A ‘armv8.6-a’, ‘+ls64’
‘armv8.8-a’ Armv8.8-a ‘armv8.7-a’, ‘+mops’
‘armv9-a’ Armv9-A ‘armv8.5-a’, ‘+sve’, ‘+sve2’
‘armv9.1-a’ Armv9.1-A ‘armv9-a’, ‘+bf16’, ‘+i8mm’
‘armv9.2-a’ Armv9.2-A ‘armv9.1-a’, ‘+ls64’
‘armv9.3-a’ Armv9.3-A ‘armv9.2-a’, ‘+mops’
‘armv8-r’ Armv8-R ‘armv8-r’
The value ‘native’ is available on native AArch64 GNU/Linux and causes the
compiler to pick the architecture of the host system. This option has no effect
if the compiler is unable to recognize the architecture of the host system,
The permissible values for feature are listed in the sub-section on [‘-march’ and
‘-mcpu’ Feature Modifiers], page 314. Where conflicting feature modifiers are
specified, the right-most feature is used.
GCC uses name to determine what kind of instructions it can emit when gen-
erating assembly code. If ‘-march’ is specified without either of ‘-mtune’ or
‘-mcpu’ also being specified, the code is tuned to perform well across a range of
target processors implementing the target architecture.
-mtune=name
Specify the name of the target processor for which GCC should tune the
performance of the code. Permissible values for this option are: ‘generic’,
312 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘cortex-a35’, ‘cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a55’, ‘cortex-a57’, ‘cortex-a72’,

‘cortex-a73’, ‘cortex-a75’, ‘cortex-a76’, ‘cortex-a76ae’, ‘cortex-a77’,
‘cortex-a65’, ‘cortex-a65ae’, ‘cortex-a34’, ‘cortex-a78’, ‘cortex-a78ae’,
‘cortex-a78c’, ‘ares’, ‘exynos-m1’, ‘emag’, ‘falkor’, ‘neoverse-512tvb’,
‘neoverse-e1’, ‘neoverse-n1’, ‘neoverse-n2’, ‘neoverse-v1’,
‘neoverse-v2’, ‘qdf24xx’, ‘saphira’, ‘phecda’, ‘xgene1’, ‘vulcan’,
‘octeontx’, ‘octeontx81’, ‘octeontx83’, ‘octeontx2’, ‘octeontx2t98’,
‘octeontx2t96’ ‘octeontx2t93’, ‘octeontx2f95’, ‘octeontx2f95n’,
‘octeontx2f95mm’, ‘a64fx’, ‘thunderx’, ‘thunderxt88’, ‘thunderxt88p1’,
‘thunderxt81’, ‘tsv110’, ‘thunderxt83’, ‘thunderx2t99’, ‘thunderx3t110’,
‘zeus’, ‘cortex-a57.cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a72.cortex-a53’,
‘cortex-a73.cortex-a35’, ‘cortex-a73.cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a75.cortex-a55’,
‘cortex-a76.cortex-a55’, ‘cortex-r82’, ‘cortex-x1’, ‘cortex-x1c’,
‘cortex-x2’, ‘cortex-x3’, ‘cortex-a510’, ‘cortex-a710’, ‘cortex-a715’,
‘ampere1’, ‘ampere1a’, and ‘native’.
The values ‘cortex-a57.cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a72.cortex-a53’,
‘cortex-a73.cortex-a35’, ‘cortex-a73.cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a75.cortex-a55’,
‘cortex-a76.cortex-a55’ specify that GCC should tune for a big.LITTLE
system.
The value ‘neoverse-512tvb’ specifies that GCC should tune for Neoverse cores
that (a) implement SVE and (b) have a total vector bandwidth of 512 bits per
cycle. In other words, the option tells GCC to tune for Neoverse cores that can
execute 4 128-bit Advanced SIMD arithmetic instructions a cycle and that can
execute an equivalent number of SVE arithmetic instructions per cycle (2 for
256-bit SVE, 4 for 128-bit SVE). This is more general than tuning for a specific
core like Neoverse V1 but is more specific than the default tuning described
below.
Additionally on native AArch64 GNU/Linux systems the value ‘native’ tunes
performance to the host system. This option has no effect if the compiler is
unable to recognize the processor of the host system.
Where none of ‘-mtune=’, ‘-mcpu=’ or ‘-march=’ are specified, the code is tuned
to perform well across a range of target processors.
This option cannot be suffixed by feature modifiers.
-mcpu=name
Specify the name of the target processor, optionally suffixed by one or more
feature modifiers. This option has the form ‘-mcpu=cpu{+[no]feature}*’, where
the permissible values for cpu are the same as those available for ‘-mtune’. The
permissible values for feature are documented in the sub-section on [‘-march’
and ‘-mcpu’ Feature Modifiers], page 314. Where conflicting feature modifiers
are specified, the right-most feature is used.
GCC uses name to determine what kind of instructions it can emit when gen-
erating assembly code (as if by ‘-march’) and to determine the target processor
for which to tune for performance (as if by ‘-mtune’). Where this option is used
in conjunction with ‘-march’ or ‘-mtune’, those options take precedence over
the appropriate part of this option.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 313

‘-mcpu=neoverse-512tvb’ is special in that it does not refer to a specific core,

but instead refers to all Neoverse cores that (a) implement SVE and (b) have
a total vector bandwidth of 512 bits a cycle. Unless overridden by ‘-march’,
‘-mcpu=neoverse-512tvb’ generates code that can run on a Neoverse V1 core,
since Neoverse V1 is the first Neoverse core with these properties. Unless over-
ridden by ‘-mtune’, ‘-mcpu=neoverse-512tvb’ tunes code in the same way as
for ‘-mtune=neoverse-512tvb’.
-moverride=string
Override tuning decisions made by the back-end in response to a ‘-mtune=’
switch. The syntax, semantics, and accepted values for string in this option are
not guaranteed to be consistent across releases.
This option is only intended to be useful when developing GCC.
-mverbose-cost-dump
Enable verbose cost model dumping in the debug dump files. This option is
provided for use in debugging the compiler.
-mpc-relative-literal-loads
-mno-pc-relative-literal-loads
Enable or disable PC-relative literal loads. With this option literal pools are
accessed using a single instruction and emitted after each function. This lim-
its the maximum size of functions to 1MB. This is enabled by default for
‘-mcmodel=tiny’.
-msign-return-address=scope
Select the function scope on which return address signing will be applied. Per-
missible values are ‘none’, which disables return address signing, ‘non-leaf’,
which enables pointer signing for functions which are not leaf functions, and
‘all’, which enables pointer signing for all functions. The default value is
‘none’. This option has been deprecated by -mbranch-protection.
-mbranch-protection=none|standard|pac-ret[+leaf+b-key]|bti
Select the branch protection features to use. ‘none’ is the default and turns
off all types of branch protection. ‘standard’ turns on all types of branch
protection features. If a feature has additional tuning options, then ‘standard’
sets it to its standard level. ‘pac-ret[+leaf]’ turns on return address signing
to its standard level: signing functions that save the return address to memory
(non-leaf functions will practically always do this) using the a-key. The optional
argument ‘leaf’ can be used to extend the signing to include leaf functions. The
optional argument ‘b-key’ can be used to sign the functions with the B-key
instead of the A-key. ‘bti’ turns on branch target identification mechanism.
-mharden-sls=opts
Enable compiler hardening against straight line speculation (SLS). opts is a
comma-separated list of the following options:
‘retbr’
‘blr’
314 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

In addition, ‘-mharden-sls=all’ enables all SLS hardening while

‘-mharden-sls=none’ disables all SLS hardening.
-msve-vector-bits=bits
Specify the number of bits in an SVE vector register. This option only has an
effect when SVE is enabled.
GCC supports two forms of SVE code generation: “vector-length agnostic”
output that works with any size of vector register and “vector-length specific”
output that allows GCC to make assumptions about the vector length when it is
useful for optimization reasons. The possible values of ‘bits’ are: ‘scalable’,
‘128’, ‘256’, ‘512’, ‘1024’ and ‘2048’. Specifying ‘scalable’ selects vector-
length agnostic output. At present ‘-msve-vector-bits=128’ also generates
vector-length agnostic output for big-endian targets. All other values generate
vector-length specific code. The behavior of these values may change in future
releases and no value except ‘scalable’ should be relied on for producing code
that is portable across different hardware SVE vector lengths.
The default is ‘-msve-vector-bits=scalable’, which produces vector-length
agnostic code.

3.19.1.1 ‘-march’ and ‘-mcpu’ Feature Modifiers

Feature modifiers used with ‘-march’ and ‘-mcpu’ can be any of the following and their
inverses ‘nofeature’:
‘crc’ Enable CRC extension. This is on by default for ‘-march=armv8.1-a’.
‘crypto’ Enable Crypto extension. This also enables Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘fp’ Enable floating-point instructions. This is on by default for all possible values
for options ‘-march’ and ‘-mcpu’.
‘simd’ Enable Advanced SIMD instructions. This also enables floating-point instruc-
tions. This is on by default for all possible values for options ‘-march’ and
‘-mcpu’.
‘sve’ Enable Scalable Vector Extension instructions. This also enables Advanced
SIMD and floating-point instructions.
‘lse’ Enable Large System Extension instructions. This is on by default for
‘-march=armv8.1-a’.
‘rdma’ Enable Round Double Multiply Accumulate instructions. This is on by default
for ‘-march=armv8.1-a’.
‘fp16’ Enable FP16 extension. This also enables floating-point instructions.
‘fp16fml’ Enable FP16 fmla extension. This also enables FP16 extensions and floating-
point instructions. This option is enabled by default for ‘-march=armv8.4-a’.
Use of this option with architectures prior to Armv8.2-A is not supported.
‘rcpc’ Enable the RCpc extension. This enables the use of the LDAPR instructions
for load-acquire atomic semantics, and passes it on to the assembler, enabling
inline asm statements to use instructions from the RCpc extension.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 315

‘dotprod’ Enable the Dot Product extension. This also enables Advanced SIMD instruc-
tions.
‘aes’ Enable the Armv8-a aes and pmull crypto extension. This also enables Ad-
vanced SIMD instructions.
‘sha2’ Enable the Armv8-a sha2 crypto extension. This also enables Advanced SIMD
instructions.
‘sha3’ Enable the sha512 and sha3 crypto extension. This also enables Advanced
SIMD instructions. Use of this option with architectures prior to Armv8.2-A is
not supported.
‘sm4’ Enable the sm3 and sm4 crypto extension. This also enables Advanced SIMD
instructions. Use of this option with architectures prior to Armv8.2-A is not
supported.
‘profile’ Enable the Statistical Profiling extension. This option is only to enable the
extension at the assembler level and does not affect code generation.
‘rng’ Enable the Armv8.5-a Random Number instructions. This option is only to
enable the extension at the assembler level and does not affect code generation.
‘memtag’ Enable the Armv8.5-a Memory Tagging Extensions. Use of this option with
architectures prior to Armv8.5-A is not supported.
‘sb’ Enable the Armv8-a Speculation Barrier instruction. This option is only to
enable the extension at the assembler level and does not affect code generation.
This option is enabled by default for ‘-march=armv8.5-a’.
‘ssbs’ Enable the Armv8-a Speculative Store Bypass Safe instruction. This option is
only to enable the extension at the assembler level and does not affect code
generation. This option is enabled by default for ‘-march=armv8.5-a’.
‘predres’ Enable the Armv8-a Execution and Data Prediction Restriction instructions.
This option is only to enable the extension at the assembler level and does not af-
fect code generation. This option is enabled by default for ‘-march=armv8.5-a’.
‘sve2’ Enable the Armv8-a Scalable Vector Extension 2. This also enables SVE in-
structions.
‘sve2-bitperm’
Enable SVE2 bitperm instructions. This also enables SVE2 instructions.
‘sve2-sm4’
Enable SVE2 sm4 instructions. This also enables SVE2 instructions.
‘sve2-aes’
Enable SVE2 aes instructions. This also enables SVE2 instructions.
‘sve2-sha3’
Enable SVE2 sha3 instructions. This also enables SVE2 instructions.
‘tme’ Enable the Transactional Memory Extension.
316 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘i8mm’ Enable 8-bit Integer Matrix Multiply instructions. This also enables Advanced
SIMD and floating-point instructions. This option is enabled by default for
‘-march=armv8.6-a’. Use of this option with architectures prior to Armv8.2-A
is not supported.
‘f32mm’ Enable 32-bit Floating point Matrix Multiply instructions. This also enables
SVE instructions. Use of this option with architectures prior to Armv8.2-A is
not supported.
‘f64mm’ Enable 64-bit Floating point Matrix Multiply instructions. This also enables
SVE instructions. Use of this option with architectures prior to Armv8.2-A is
not supported.
‘bf16’ Enable brain half-precision floating-point instructions. This also enables Ad-
vanced SIMD and floating-point instructions. This option is enabled by de-
fault for ‘-march=armv8.6-a’. Use of this option with architectures prior to
Armv8.2-A is not supported.
‘ls64’ Enable the 64-byte atomic load and store instructions for accelerators. This
option is enabled by default for ‘-march=armv8.7-a’.
‘mops’ Enable the instructions to accelerate memory operations like memcpy, memmove,
memset. This option is enabled by default for ‘-march=armv8.8-a’
‘flagm’ Enable the Flag Manipulation instructions Extension.
‘pauth’ Enable the Pointer Authentication Extension.
‘cssc’ Enable the Common Short Sequence Compression instructions.
Feature ‘crypto’ implies ‘aes’, ‘sha2’, and ‘simd’, which implies ‘fp’. Conversely, ‘nofp’
implies ‘nosimd’, which implies ‘nocrypto’, ‘noaes’ and ‘nosha2’.

3.19.2 Adapteva Epiphany Options

These ‘-m’ options are defined for Adapteva Epiphany:
-mhalf-reg-file
Don’t allocate any register in the range r32. . . r63. That allows code to run
on hardware variants that lack these registers.
-mprefer-short-insn-regs
Preferentially allocate registers that allow short instruction generation. This
can result in increased instruction count, so this may either reduce or increase
overall code size.
-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.
-mcmove Enable the generation of conditional moves.
-mnops=num
Emit num NOPs before every other generated instruction.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 317

-mno-soft-cmpsf
For single-precision floating-point comparisons, emit an fsub instruction and
test the flags. This is faster than a software comparison, but can get incorrect re-
sults in the presence of NaNs, or when two different small numbers are compared
such that their difference is calculated as zero. The default is ‘-msoft-cmpsf’,
which uses slower, but IEEE-compliant, software comparisons.
-mstack-offset=num
Set the offset between the top of the stack and the stack pointer. E.g., a value
of 8 means that the eight bytes in the range sp+0...sp+7 can be used by leaf
functions without stack allocation. Values other than ‘8’ or ‘16’ are untested
and unlikely to work. Note also that this option changes the ABI; compiling
a program with a different stack offset than the libraries have been compiled
with generally does not work. This option can be useful if you want to evaluate
if a different stack offset would give you better code, but to actually use a
different stack offset to build working programs, it is recommended to configure
the toolchain with the appropriate ‘--with-stack-offset=num’ option.
-mno-round-nearest
Make the scheduler assume that the rounding mode has been set to truncating.
The default is ‘-mround-nearest’.
-mlong-calls
If not otherwise specified by an attribute, assume all calls might be beyond the
offset range of the b / bl instructions, and therefore load the function address
into a register before performing a (otherwise direct) call. This is the default.
-mshort-calls
If not otherwise specified by an attribute, assume all direct calls are in the range
of the b / bl instructions, so use these instructions for direct calls. The default
is ‘-mlong-calls’.
-msmall16
Assume addresses can be loaded as 16-bit unsigned values. This does not apply
to function addresses for which ‘-mlong-calls’ semantics are in effect.
-mfp-mode=mode
Set the prevailing mode of the floating-point unit. This determines the floating-
point mode that is provided and expected at function call and return time.
Making this mode match the mode you predominantly need at function start can
make your programs smaller and faster by avoiding unnecessary mode switches.
mode can be set to one the following values:
‘caller’ Any mode at function entry is valid, and retained or restored when
the function returns, and when it calls other functions. This mode
is useful for compiling libraries or other compilation units you might
want to incorporate into different programs with different prevail-
ing FPU modes, and the convenience of being able to use a single
object file outweighs the size and speed overhead for any extra
mode switching that might be needed, compared with what would
be needed with a more specific choice of prevailing FPU mode.
318 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘truncate’
This is the mode used for floating-point calculations with truncating
(i.e. round towards zero) rounding mode. That includes conversion
from floating point to integer.
‘round-nearest’
This is the mode used for floating-point calculations with round-
to-nearest-or-even rounding mode.
‘int’ This is the mode used to perform integer calculations in the FPU,
e.g. integer multiply, or integer multiply-and-accumulate.
The default is ‘-mfp-mode=caller’
-mno-split-lohi
-mno-postinc
-mno-postmodify
Code generation tweaks that disable, respectively, splitting of 32-bit loads, gen-
eration of post-increment addresses, and generation of post-modify addresses.
The defaults are ‘msplit-lohi’, ‘-mpost-inc’, and ‘-mpost-modify’.
-mnovect-double
Change the preferred SIMD mode to SImode. The default is ‘-mvect-double’,
which uses DImode as preferred SIMD mode.
-max-vect-align=num
The maximum alignment for SIMD vector mode types. num may be 4 or 8.
The default is 8. Note that this is an ABI change, even though many library
function interfaces are unaffected if they don’t use SIMD vector modes in places
that affect size and/or alignment of relevant types.
-msplit-vecmove-early
Split vector moves into single word moves before reload. In theory this can give
better register allocation, but so far the reverse seems to be generally the case.
-m1reg-reg
Specify a register to hold the constant −1, which makes loading small negative
constants and certain bitmasks faster. Allowable values for reg are ‘r43’ and
‘r63’, which specify use of that register as a fixed register, and ‘none’, which
means that no register is used for this purpose. The default is ‘-m1reg-none’.

3.19.3 AMD GCN Options

These options are defined specifically for the AMD GCN port.
-march=gpu
-mtune=gpu
Set architecture type or tuning for gpu. Supported values for gpu are
‘fiji’ Compile for GCN3 Fiji devices (gfx803).
‘gfx900’ Compile for GCN5 Vega 10 devices (gfx900).
‘gfx906’ Compile for GCN5 Vega 20 devices (gfx906).
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 319

‘gfx908’ Compile for CDNA1 Instinct MI100 series devices (gfx908).

‘gfx90a’ Compile for CDNA2 Instinct MI200 series devices (gfx90a).
-msram-ecc=on
-msram-ecc=off
-msram-ecc=any
Compile binaries suitable for devices with the SRAM-ECC feature enabled,
disabled, or either mode. This feature can be enabled per-process on some
devices. The compiled code must match the device mode. The default is ‘any’,
for devices that support it.
-mstack-size=bytes
Specify how many bytes of stack space will be requested for each GPU thread
(wave-front). Beware that there may be many threads and limited memory
available. The size of the stack allocation may also have an impact on run-time
performance. The default is 32KB when using OpenACC or OpenMP, and
1MB otherwise.
-mxnack Compile binaries suitable for devices with the XNACK feature enabled. Some
devices always require XNACK and some allow the user to configure XNACK.
The compiled code must match the device mode. The default is ‘-mno-xnack’.
At present this option is a placeholder for support that is not yet implemented.

3.19.4 ARC Options

The following options control the architecture variant for which code is being compiled:
-mbarrel-shifter
Generate instructions supported by barrel shifter. This is the default unless
‘-mcpu=ARC601’ or ‘-mcpu=ARCEM’ is in effect.
-mjli-always
Force to call a function using jli s instruction. This option is valid only for
ARCv2 architecture.
-mcpu=cpu
Set architecture type, register usage, and instruction scheduling parameters for
cpu. There are also shortcut alias options available for backward compatibility
and convenience. Supported values for cpu are
‘arc600’ Compile for ARC600. Aliases: ‘-mA6’, ‘-mARC600’.
‘arc601’ Compile for ARC601. Alias: ‘-mARC601’.
‘arc700’ Compile for ARC700. Aliases: ‘-mA7’, ‘-mARC700’. This is the
default when configured with ‘--with-cpu=arc700’.
‘arcem’ Compile for ARC EM.
‘archs’ Compile for ARC HS.
‘em’ Compile for ARC EM CPU with no hardware extensions.
‘em4’ Compile for ARC EM4 CPU.
320 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘em4_dmips’
Compile for ARC EM4 DMIPS CPU.
‘em4_fpus’
Compile for ARC EM4 DMIPS CPU with the single-precision
floating-point extension.
‘em4_fpuda’
Compile for ARC EM4 DMIPS CPU with single-precision floating-
point and double assist instructions.
‘hs’ Compile for ARC HS CPU with no hardware extensions except the
atomic instructions.
‘hs34’ Compile for ARC HS34 CPU.
‘hs38’ Compile for ARC HS38 CPU.
‘hs38_linux’
Compile for ARC HS38 CPU with all hardware extensions on.
‘hs4x’ Compile for ARC HS4x CPU.
‘hs4xd’ Compile for ARC HS4xD CPU.
‘hs4x_rel31’
Compile for ARC HS4x CPU release 3.10a.
‘arc600_norm’
Compile for ARC 600 CPU with norm instructions enabled.
‘arc600_mul32x16’
Compile for ARC 600 CPU with norm and 32x16-bit multiply in-
structions enabled.
‘arc600_mul64’
Compile for ARC 600 CPU with norm and mul64-family instruc-
tions enabled.
‘arc601_norm’
Compile for ARC 601 CPU with norm instructions enabled.
‘arc601_mul32x16’
Compile for ARC 601 CPU with norm and 32x16-bit multiply in-
structions enabled.
‘arc601_mul64’
Compile for ARC 601 CPU with norm and mul64-family instruc-
tions enabled.
‘nps400’ Compile for ARC 700 on NPS400 chip.
‘em_mini’ Compile for ARC EM minimalist configuration featuring reduced
register set.
-mdpfp
-mdpfp-compact
Generate double-precision FPX instructions, tuned for the compact implemen-
tation.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 321

-mdpfp-fast
Generate double-precision FPX instructions, tuned for the fast implementation.
-mno-dpfp-lrsr
Disable lr and sr instructions from using FPX extension aux registers.
-mea Generate extended arithmetic instructions. Currently only divaw, adds, subs,
and sat16 are supported. Only valid for ‘-mcpu=ARC700’.
-mno-mpy Do not generate mpy-family instructions for ARC700. This option is deprecated.
-mmul32x16
Generate 32x16-bit multiply and multiply-accumulate instructions.
-mmul64 Generate mul64 and mulu64 instructions. Only valid for ‘-mcpu=ARC600’.
-mnorm Generate norm instructions. This is the default if ‘-mcpu=ARC700’ is in effect.
-mspfp
-mspfp-compact
Generate single-precision FPX instructions, tuned for the compact implemen-
tation.
-mspfp-fast
Generate single-precision FPX instructions, tuned for the fast implementation.
-msimd Enable generation of ARC SIMD instructions via target-specific builtins. Only
valid for ‘-mcpu=ARC700’.
-msoft-float
This option ignored; it is provided for compatibility purposes only. Software
floating-point code is emitted by default, and this default can overridden by
FPX options; ‘-mspfp’, ‘-mspfp-compact’, or ‘-mspfp-fast’ for single preci-
sion, and ‘-mdpfp’, ‘-mdpfp-compact’, or ‘-mdpfp-fast’ for double precision.
-mswap Generate swap instructions.
-matomic This enables use of the locked load/store conditional extension to implement
atomic memory built-in functions. Not available for ARC 6xx or ARC EM
cores.
-mdiv-rem
Enable div and rem instructions for ARCv2 cores.
-mcode-density
Enable code density instructions for ARC EM. This option is on by default for
ARC HS.
-mll64 Enable double load/store operations for ARC HS cores.
-mtp-regno=regno
Specify thread pointer register number.
-mmpy-option=multo
Compile ARCv2 code with a multiplier design option. You can specify the
option using either a string or numeric value for multo. ‘wlh1’ is the default
value. The recognized values are:
322 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘0’
‘none’ No multiplier available.
‘1’
‘w’ 16x16 multiplier, fully pipelined. The following instructions are
enabled: mpyw and mpyuw.
‘2’
‘wlh1’ 32x32 multiplier, fully pipelined (1 stage). The following instruc-
tions are additionally enabled: mpy, mpyu, mpym, mpymu, and mpy_s.
‘3’
‘wlh2’ 32x32 multiplier, fully pipelined (2 stages). The following instruc-
tions are additionally enabled: mpy, mpyu, mpym, mpymu, and mpy_s.
‘4’
‘wlh3’ Two 16x16 multipliers, blocking, sequential. The following instruc-
tions are additionally enabled: mpy, mpyu, mpym, mpymu, and mpy_s.
‘5’
‘wlh4’ One 16x16 multiplier, blocking, sequential. The following instruc-
tions are additionally enabled: mpy, mpyu, mpym, mpymu, and mpy_s.
‘6’
‘wlh5’ One 32x4 multiplier, blocking, sequential. The following instruc-
tions are additionally enabled: mpy, mpyu, mpym, mpymu, and mpy_s.
‘7’
‘plus_dmpy’
ARC HS SIMD support.
‘8’
‘plus_macd’
ARC HS SIMD support.
‘9’
‘plus_qmacw’
ARC HS SIMD support.
This option is only available for ARCv2 cores.
-mfpu=fpu
Enables support for specific floating-point hardware extensions for ARCv2
cores. Supported values for fpu are:
‘fpus’ Enables support for single-precision floating-point hardware exten-
sions.
‘fpud’ Enables support for double-precision floating-point hardware exten-
sions. The single-precision floating-point extension is also enabled.
Not available for ARC EM.
‘fpuda’ Enables support for double-precision floating-point hardware
extensions using double-precision assist instructions. The
single-precision floating-point extension is also enabled. This
option is only available for ARC EM.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 323

‘fpuda_div’
Enables support for double-precision floating-point hardware
extensions using double-precision assist instructions. The
single-precision floating-point, square-root, and divide extensions
are also enabled. This option is only available for ARC EM.
‘fpuda_fma’
Enables support for double-precision floating-point hardware
extensions using double-precision assist instructions. The
single-precision floating-point and fused multiply and add
hardware extensions are also enabled. This option is only available
for ARC EM.
‘fpuda_all’
Enables support for double-precision floating-point hardware exten-
sions using double-precision assist instructions. All single-precision
floating-point hardware extensions are also enabled. This option is
only available for ARC EM.
‘fpus_div’
Enables support for single-precision floating-point, square-root and
divide hardware extensions.
‘fpud_div’
Enables support for double-precision floating-point, square-root
and divide hardware extensions. This option includes option
‘fpus_div’. Not available for ARC EM.
‘fpus_fma’
Enables support for single-precision floating-point and fused mul-
tiply and add hardware extensions.
‘fpud_fma’
Enables support for double-precision floating-point and fused mul-
tiply and add hardware extensions. This option includes option
‘fpus_fma’. Not available for ARC EM.
‘fpus_all’
Enables support for all single-precision floating-point hardware ex-
tensions.
‘fpud_all’
Enables support for all single- and double-precision floating-point
hardware extensions. Not available for ARC EM.
-mirq-ctrl-saved=register-range, blink, lp_count
Specifies general-purposes registers that the processor automatically
saves/restores on interrupt entry and exit. register-range is specified as two
registers separated by a dash. The register range always starts with r0, the
upper limit is fp register. blink and lp count are optional. This option is only
valid for ARC EM and ARC HS cores.
324 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mrgf-banked-regs=number
Specifies the number of registers replicated in second register bank on entry
to fast interrupt. Fast interrupts are interrupts with the highest priority level
P0. These interrupts save only PC and STATUS32 registers to avoid memory
transactions during interrupt entry and exit sequences. Use this option when
you are using fast interrupts in an ARC V2 family processor. Permitted values
are 4, 8, 16, and 32.
-mlpc-width=width
Specify the width of the lp_count register. Valid values for width are 8, 16, 20,
24, 28 and 32 bits. The default width is fixed to 32 bits. If the width is less than
32, the compiler does not attempt to transform loops in your program to use
the zero-delay loop mechanism unless it is known that the lp_count register
can hold the required loop-counter value. Depending on the width specified,
the compiler and run-time library might continue to use the loop mechanism for
various needs. This option defines macro __ARC_LPC_WIDTH__ with the value
of width.
-mrf16 This option instructs the compiler to generate code for a 16-entry register file.
This option defines the __ARC_RF16__ preprocessor macro.
-mbranch-index
Enable use of bi or bih instructions to implement jump tables.
The following options are passed through to the assembler, and also define preprocessor
macro symbols.
-mdsp-packa
Passed down to the assembler to enable the DSP Pack A extensions. Also sets
the preprocessor symbol __Xdsp_packa. This option is deprecated.
-mdvbf Passed down to the assembler to enable the dual Viterbi butterfly extension.
Also sets the preprocessor symbol __Xdvbf. This option is deprecated.
-mlock Passed down to the assembler to enable the locked load/store conditional ex-
tension. Also sets the preprocessor symbol __Xlock.
-mmac-d16
Passed down to the assembler. Also sets the preprocessor symbol __Xxmac_d16.
This option is deprecated.
-mmac-24 Passed down to the assembler. Also sets the preprocessor symbol __Xxmac_24.
This option is deprecated.
-mrtsc Passed down to the assembler to enable the 64-bit time-stamp counter exten-
sion instruction. Also sets the preprocessor symbol __Xrtsc. This option is
deprecated.
-mswape Passed down to the assembler to enable the swap byte ordering extension in-
struction. Also sets the preprocessor symbol __Xswape.
-mtelephony
Passed down to the assembler to enable dual- and single-operand instructions
for telephony. Also sets the preprocessor symbol __Xtelephony. This option is
deprecated.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 325

-mxy Passed down to the assembler to enable the XY memory extension. Also sets
the preprocessor symbol __Xxy.
The following options control how the assembly code is annotated:
-misize Annotate assembler instructions with estimated addresses.
-mannotate-align
Explain what alignment considerations lead to the decision to make an instruc-
tion short or long.
The following options are passed through to the linker:
-marclinux
Passed through to the linker, to specify use of the arclinux emulation. This
option is enabled by default in tool chains built for arc-linux-uclibc and
arceb-linux-uclibc targets when profiling is not requested.
-marclinux_prof
Passed through to the linker, to specify use of the arclinux_prof emulation.
This option is enabled by default in tool chains built for arc-linux-uclibc
and arceb-linux-uclibc targets when profiling is requested.
The following options control the semantics of generated code:
-mlong-calls
Generate calls as register indirect calls, thus providing access to the full 32-bit
address range.
-mmedium-calls
Don’t use less than 25-bit addressing range for calls, which is the offset avail-
able for an unconditional branch-and-link instruction. Conditional execution
of function calls is suppressed, to allow use of the 25-bit range, rather than
the 21-bit range with conditional branch-and-link. This is the default for tool
chains built for arc-linux-uclibc and arceb-linux-uclibc targets.
-G num Put definitions of externally-visible data in a small data section if that data
is no bigger than num bytes. The default value of num is 4 for any ARC
configuration, or 8 when we have double load/store operations.
-mno-sdata
Do not generate sdata references. This is the default for tool chains built for
arc-linux-uclibc and arceb-linux-uclibc targets.
-mvolatile-cache
Use ordinarily cached memory accesses for volatile references. This is the de-
fault.
-mno-volatile-cache
Enable cache bypass for volatile references.
The following options fine tune code generation:
-malign-call
Does nothing. Preserved for backward compatibility.
326 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mauto-modify-reg
Enable the use of pre/post modify with register displacement.
-mbbit-peephole
Enable bbit peephole2.
-mno-brcc
This option disables a target-specific pass in ‘arc_reorg’ to generate compare-
and-branch (brcc) instructions. It has no effect on generation of these instruc-
tions driven by the combiner pass.
-mcase-vector-pcrel
Use PC-relative switch case tables to enable case table shortening. This is the
default for ‘-Os’.
-mcompact-casesi
Enable compact casesi pattern. This is the default for ‘-Os’, and only available
for ARCv1 cores. This option is deprecated.
-mno-cond-exec
Disable the ARCompact-specific pass to generate conditional execution instruc-
tions.
Due to delay slot scheduling and interactions between operand numbers, literal
sizes, instruction lengths, and the support for conditional execution, the target-
independent pass to generate conditional execution is often lacking, so the ARC
port has kept a special pass around that tries to find more conditional execution
generation opportunities after register allocation, branch shortening, and delay
slot scheduling have been done. This pass generally, but not always, improves
performance and code size, at the cost of extra compilation time, which is why
there is an option to switch it off. If you have a problem with call instructions
exceeding their allowable offset range because they are conditionalized, you
should consider using ‘-mmedium-calls’ instead.
-mearly-cbranchsi
Enable pre-reload use of the cbranchsi pattern.
-mexpand-adddi
Expand adddi3 and subdi3 at RTL generation time into add.f, adc etc. This
option is deprecated.
-mindexed-loads
Enable the use of indexed loads. This can be problematic because some opti-
mizers then assume that indexed stores exist, which is not the case.
-mlra Enable Local Register Allocation. This is still experimental for ARC, so by
default the compiler uses standard reload (i.e. ‘-mno-lra’).
-mlra-priority-none
Don’t indicate any priority for target registers.
-mlra-priority-compact
Indicate target register priority for r0..r3 / r12..r15.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 327

-mlra-priority-noncompact
Reduce target register priority for r0..r3 / r12..r15.
-mmillicode
When optimizing for size (using ‘-Os’), prologues and epilogues that have to
save or restore a large number of registers are often shortened by using call
to a special function in libgcc; this is referred to as a millicode call. As these
calls can pose performance issues, and/or cause linking issues when linking
in a nonstandard way, this option is provided to turn on or off millicode call
generation.
-mcode-density-frame
This option enable the compiler to emit enter and leave instructions. These
instructions are only valid for CPUs with code-density feature.
-mmixed-code
Does nothing. Preserved for backward compatibility.
-mq-class
Ths option is deprecated. Enable ‘q’ instruction alternatives. This is the default
for ‘-Os’.
-mRcq Does nothing. Preserved for backward compatibility.
-mRcw Does nothing. Preserved for backward compatibility.
-msize-level=level
Fine-tune size optimization with regards to instruction lengths and alignment.
The recognized values for level are:
‘0’ No size optimization. This level is deprecated and treated like ‘1’.
‘1’ Short instructions are used opportunistically.
‘2’ In addition, alignment of loops and of code after barriers are
dropped.
‘3’ In addition, optional data alignment is dropped, and the option
‘Os’ is enabled.
This defaults to ‘3’ when ‘-Os’ is in effect. Otherwise, the behavior when this
is not set is equivalent to level ‘1’.
-mtune=cpu
Set instruction scheduling parameters for cpu, overriding any implied by
‘-mcpu=’.
Supported values for cpu are
‘ARC600’ Tune for ARC600 CPU.
‘ARC601’ Tune for ARC601 CPU.
‘ARC700’ Tune for ARC700 CPU with standard multiplier block.
‘ARC700-xmac’
Tune for ARC700 CPU with XMAC block.
328 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘ARC725D’ Tune for ARC725D CPU.

‘ARC750D’ Tune for ARC750D CPU.
‘core3’ Tune for ARCv2 core3 type CPU. This option enable usage of dbnz
instruction.
‘release31a’
Tune for ARC4x release 3.10a.
-mmultcost=num
Cost to assume for a multiply instruction, with ‘4’ being equal to a normal
instruction.
-munalign-prob-threshold=probability
Does nothing. Preserved for backward compatibility.
The following options are maintained for backward compatibility, but are now deprecated
and will be removed in a future release:
-margonaut
Obsolete FPX.
-mbig-endian
-EB Compile code for big-endian targets. Use of these options is now deprecated.
Big-endian code is supported by configuring GCC to build arceb-elf32 and
arceb-linux-uclibc targets, for which big endian is the default.
-mlittle-endian
-EL Compile code for little-endian targets. Use of these options is now deprecated.
Little-endian code is supported by configuring GCC to build arc-elf32 and
arc-linux-uclibc targets, for which little endian is the default.
-mbarrel_shifter
Replaced by ‘-mbarrel-shifter’.
-mdpfp_compact
Replaced by ‘-mdpfp-compact’.
-mdpfp_fast
Replaced by ‘-mdpfp-fast’.
-mdsp_packa
Replaced by ‘-mdsp-packa’.
-mEA Replaced by ‘-mea’.
-mmac_24 Replaced by ‘-mmac-24’.
-mmac_d16
Replaced by ‘-mmac-d16’.
-mspfp_compact
Replaced by ‘-mspfp-compact’.
-mspfp_fast
Replaced by ‘-mspfp-fast’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 329

-mtune=cpu
Values ‘arc600’, ‘arc601’, ‘arc700’ and ‘arc700-xmac’ for cpu are replaced by
‘ARC600’, ‘ARC601’, ‘ARC700’ and ‘ARC700-xmac’ respectively.
-multcost=num
Replaced by ‘-mmultcost’.

3.19.5 ARM Options

These ‘-m’ options are defined for the ARM port:
-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 Stan-
dard for all functions, even if this is not strictly necessary for correct execution of
the code. Specifying ‘-fomit-frame-pointer’ with this option causes the stack
frames not to be generated for leaf functions. The default is ‘-mno-apcs-frame’.
This option is deprecated.
-mapcs This is a synonym for ‘-mapcs-frame’ and is deprecated.
-mthumb-interwork
Generate code that supports calling between the ARM and Thumb
instruction sets. Without this option, on pre-v5 architectures, 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. In AAPCS configurations this option is
meaningless.
-mno-sched-prolog
Prevent the reordering of instructions in the function prologue, or the merging
of those instruction with the instructions in the function’s body. This means
that all functions 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 of 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 hard-
ware 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.
330 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mgeneral-regs-only
Generate code which uses only the general-purpose registers. This will prevent
the compiler from using floating-point and Advanced SIMD registers but will
not impose any restrictions on the assembler.
-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.
-mbe8
-mbe32 When linking a big-endian image select between BE8 and BE32 formats. The
option has no effect for little-endian images and is ignored. The default is de-
pendent on the selected target architecture. For ARMv6 and later architectures
the default is BE8, for older architectures the default is BE32. BE32 format
has been deprecated by ARM.
-march=name[+extension...]
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: ‘armv4t’, ‘armv5t’, ‘armv5te’, ‘armv6’, ‘armv6j’,
‘armv6k’, ‘armv6kz’, ‘armv6t2’, ‘armv6z’, ‘armv6zk’, ‘armv7’, ‘armv7-a’,
‘armv7ve’, ‘armv8-a’, ‘armv8.1-a’, ‘armv8.2-a’, ‘armv8.3-a’, ‘armv8.4-a’,
‘armv8.5-a’, ‘armv8.6-a’, ‘armv9-a’, ‘armv7-r’, ‘armv8-r’, ‘armv6-m’,
‘armv6s-m’, ‘armv7-m’, ‘armv7e-m’, ‘armv8-m.base’, ‘armv8-m.main’,
‘armv8.1-m.main’, ‘armv9-a’, ‘iwmmxt’ and ‘iwmmxt2’.
Additionally, the following architectures, which lack support for the Thumb
execution state, are recognized but support is deprecated: ‘armv4’.
Many of the architectures support extensions. These can be added by append-
ing ‘+extension’ to the architecture name. Extension options are processed in
order and capabilities accumulate. An extension will also enable any necessary
base extensions upon which it depends. For example, the ‘+crypto’ extension
will always enable the ‘+simd’ extension. The exception to the additive con-
struction is for extensions that are prefixed with ‘+no...’: these extensions
disable the specified option and any other extensions that may depend on the
presence of that extension.
For example, ‘-march=armv7-a+simd+nofp+vfpv4’ is equivalent to writing
‘-march=armv7-a+vfpv4’ since the ‘+simd’ option is entirely disabled by the
‘+nofp’ option that follows it.
Most extension names are generically named, but have an effect that is depen-
dent upon the architecture to which it is applied. For example, the ‘+simd’
option can be applied to both ‘armv7-a’ and ‘armv8-a’ architectures, but will
enable the original ARMv7-A Advanced SIMD (Neon) extensions for ‘armv7-a’
and the ARMv8-A variant for ‘armv8-a’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 331

The table below lists the supported extensions for each architecture. Architec-
tures not mentioned do not support any extensions.
‘armv5te’
‘armv6’
‘armv6j’
‘armv6k’
‘armv6kz’
‘armv6t2’
‘armv6z’
‘armv6zk’
‘+fp’ The VFPv2 floating-point instructions. The extension
‘+vfpv2’ can be used as an alias for this extension.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point instructions.
‘armv7’ The common subset of the ARMv7-A, ARMv7-R and ARMv7-M
architectures.
‘+fp’ The VFPv3 floating-point instructions, with 16 double-
precision registers. The extension ‘+vfpv3-d16’ can be
used as an alias for this extension. Note that floating-
point is not supported by the base ARMv7-M architec-
ture, but is compatible with both the ARMv7-A and
ARMv7-R architectures.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point instructions.
‘armv7-a’
‘+mp’ The multiprocessing extension.
‘+sec’ The security extension.
‘+fp’ The VFPv3 floating-point instructions, with 16 double-
precision registers. The extension ‘+vfpv3-d16’ can be
used as an alias for this extension.
‘+simd’ The Advanced SIMD (Neon) v1 and the VFPv3
floating-point instructions. The extensions ‘+neon’
and ‘+neon-vfpv3’ can be used as aliases for this
extension.
‘+vfpv3’ The VFPv3 floating-point instructions, with 32 double-
precision registers.
‘+vfpv3-d16-fp16’
The VFPv3 floating-point instructions, with 16 double-
precision registers and the half-precision floating-point
conversion operations.
‘+vfpv3-fp16’
The VFPv3 floating-point instructions, with 32 double-
precision registers and the half-precision floating-point
conversion operations.
332 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘+vfpv4-d16’
The VFPv4 floating-point instructions, with 16 double-
precision registers.
‘+vfpv4’ The VFPv4 floating-point instructions, with 32 double-
precision registers.
‘+neon-fp16’
The Advanced SIMD (Neon) v1 and the VFPv3
floating-point instructions, with the half-precision
floating-point conversion operations.
‘+neon-vfpv4’
The Advanced SIMD (Neon) v2 and the VFPv4
floating-point instructions.
‘+nosimd’ Disable the Advanced SIMD instructions (does not dis-
able floating point).
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point and Advanced SIMD instruc-
tions.
‘armv7ve’ The extended version of the ARMv7-A architecture with support
for virtualization.
‘+fp’ The VFPv4 floating-point instructions, with 16 double-
precision registers. The extension ‘+vfpv4-d16’ can be
used as an alias for this extension.
‘+simd’ The Advanced SIMD (Neon) v2 and the VFPv4
floating-point instructions. The extension
‘+neon-vfpv4’ can be used as an alias for this
extension.
‘+vfpv3-d16’
The VFPv3 floating-point instructions, with 16 double-
precision registers.
‘+vfpv3’ The VFPv3 floating-point instructions, with 32 double-
precision registers.
‘+vfpv3-d16-fp16’
The VFPv3 floating-point instructions, with 16 double-
precision registers and the half-precision floating-point
conversion operations.
‘+vfpv3-fp16’
The VFPv3 floating-point instructions, with 32 double-
precision registers and the half-precision floating-point
conversion operations.
‘+vfpv4-d16’
The VFPv4 floating-point instructions, with 16 double-
precision registers.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 333

‘+vfpv4’ The VFPv4 floating-point instructions, with 32 double-

precision registers.
‘+neon’ The Advanced SIMD (Neon) v1 and the VFPv3
floating-point instructions. The extension
‘+neon-vfpv3’ can be used as an alias for this
extension.
‘+neon-fp16’
The Advanced SIMD (Neon) v1 and the VFPv3
floating-point instructions, with the half-precision
floating-point conversion operations.
‘+nosimd’ Disable the Advanced SIMD instructions (does not dis-
able floating point).
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point and Advanced SIMD instruc-
tions.
‘armv8-a’
‘+crc’ The Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) instructions.
‘+simd’ The ARMv8-A Advanced SIMD and floating-point in-
structions.
‘+crypto’ The cryptographic instructions.
‘+nocrypto’
Disable the cryptographic instructions.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point, Advanced SIMD and cryp-
tographic instructions.
‘+sb’ Speculation Barrier Instruction.
‘+predres’
Execution and Data Prediction Restriction
Instructions.
‘armv8.1-a’
‘+simd’ The ARMv8.1-A Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘+crypto’ The cryptographic instructions. This also enables the
Advanced SIMD and floating-point instructions.
‘+nocrypto’
Disable the cryptographic instructions.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point, Advanced SIMD and cryp-
tographic instructions.
‘+sb’ Speculation Barrier Instruction.
‘+predres’
Execution and Data Prediction Restriction
Instructions.
334 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘armv8.2-a’
‘armv8.3-a’
‘+fp16’ The half-precision floating-point data processing
instructions. This also enables the Advanced SIMD
and floating-point instructions.
‘+fp16fml’
The half-precision floating-point fmla extension. This
also enables the half-precision floating-point extension
and Advanced SIMD and floating-point instructions.
‘+simd’ The ARMv8.1-A Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘+crypto’ The cryptographic instructions. This also enables the
Advanced SIMD and floating-point instructions.
‘+dotprod’
Enable the Dot Product extension. This also enables
Advanced SIMD instructions.
‘+nocrypto’
Disable the cryptographic extension.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point, Advanced SIMD and cryp-
tographic instructions.
‘+sb’ Speculation Barrier Instruction.
‘+predres’
Execution and Data Prediction Restriction
Instructions.
‘+i8mm’ 8-bit Integer Matrix Multiply instructions. This
also enables Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘+bf16’ Brain half-precision floating-point instructions. This
also enables Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘armv8.4-a’
‘+fp16’ The half-precision floating-point data processing
instructions. This also enables the Advanced SIMD
and floating-point instructions as well as the Dot
Product extension and the half-precision floating-point
fmla extension.
‘+simd’ The ARMv8.3-A Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions as well as the Dot Product extension.
‘+crypto’ The cryptographic instructions. This also enables the
Advanced SIMD and floating-point instructions as well
as the Dot Product extension.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 335

‘+nocrypto’
Disable the cryptographic extension.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point, Advanced SIMD and cryp-
tographic instructions.
‘+sb’ Speculation Barrier Instruction.
‘+predres’
Execution and Data Prediction Restriction
Instructions.
‘+i8mm’ 8-bit Integer Matrix Multiply instructions. This
also enables Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘+bf16’ Brain half-precision floating-point instructions. This
also enables Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘armv8.5-a’
‘+fp16’ The half-precision floating-point data processing
instructions. This also enables the Advanced SIMD
and floating-point instructions as well as the Dot
Product extension and the half-precision floating-point
fmla extension.
‘+simd’ The ARMv8.3-A Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions as well as the Dot Product extension.
‘+crypto’ The cryptographic instructions. This also enables the
Advanced SIMD and floating-point instructions as well
as the Dot Product extension.
‘+nocrypto’
Disable the cryptographic extension.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point, Advanced SIMD and cryp-
tographic instructions.
‘+i8mm’ 8-bit Integer Matrix Multiply instructions. This
also enables Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘+bf16’ Brain half-precision floating-point instructions. This
also enables Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘armv8.6-a’
‘+fp16’ The half-precision floating-point data processing
instructions. This also enables the Advanced SIMD
and floating-point instructions as well as the Dot
Product extension and the half-precision floating-point
fmla extension.
336 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘+simd’ The ARMv8.3-A Advanced SIMD and floating-point

instructions as well as the Dot Product extension.
‘+crypto’ The cryptographic instructions. This also enables the
Advanced SIMD and floating-point instructions as well
as the Dot Product extension.
‘+nocrypto’
Disable the cryptographic extension.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point, Advanced SIMD and cryp-
tographic instructions.
‘+i8mm’ 8-bit Integer Matrix Multiply instructions. This
also enables Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘+bf16’ Brain half-precision floating-point instructions. This
also enables Advanced SIMD and floating-point
instructions.
‘armv7-r’
‘+fp.sp’ The single-precision VFPv3 floating-point instructions.
The extension ‘+vfpv3xd’ can be used as an alias for
this extension.
‘+fp’ The VFPv3 floating-point instructions with 16 double-
precision registers. The extension +vfpv3-d16 can be
used as an alias for this extension.
‘+vfpv3xd-d16-fp16’
The single-precision VFPv3 floating-point instruc-
tions with 16 double-precision registers and the
half-precision floating-point conversion operations.
‘+vfpv3-d16-fp16’
The VFPv3 floating-point instructions with 16 double-
precision registers and the half-precision floating-point
conversion operations.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point extension.
‘+idiv’ The ARM-state integer division instructions.
‘+noidiv’ Disable the ARM-state integer division extension.
‘armv7e-m’
‘+fp’ The single-precision VFPv4 floating-point instructions.
‘+fpv5’ The single-precision FPv5 floating-point instructions.
‘+fp.dp’ The single- and double-precision FPv5 floating-point
instructions.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point extensions.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 337

‘armv8.1-m.main’
‘+dsp’ The DSP instructions.
‘+mve’ The M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE) integer instruc-
tions.
‘+mve.fp’ The M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE) integer and
single precision floating-point instructions.
‘+fp’ The single-precision floating-point instructions.
‘+fp.dp’ The single- and double-precision floating-point instruc-
tions.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point extension.
‘+cdecp0, +cdecp1, ... , +cdecp7’
Enable the Custom Datapath Extension (CDE) on se-
lected coprocessors according to the numbers given in
the options in the range 0 to 7.
‘armv8-m.main’
‘+dsp’ The DSP instructions.
‘+nodsp’ Disable the DSP extension.
‘+fp’ The single-precision floating-point instructions.
‘+fp.dp’ The single- and double-precision floating-point instruc-
tions.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point extension.
‘+cdecp0, +cdecp1, ... , +cdecp7’
Enable the Custom Datapath Extension (CDE) on se-
lected coprocessors according to the numbers given in
the options in the range 0 to 7.
‘armv8-r’
‘+crc’ The Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) instructions.
‘+fp.sp’ The single-precision FPv5 floating-point instructions.
‘+simd’ The ARMv8-A Advanced SIMD and floating-point in-
structions.
‘+crypto’ The cryptographic instructions.
‘+nocrypto’
Disable the cryptographic instructions.
‘+nofp’ Disable the floating-point, Advanced SIMD and cryp-
tographic instructions.
‘-march=native’ causes the compiler to auto-detect the architecture of the build
computer. At present, this feature is only supported on GNU/Linux, and not
all architectures are recognized. If the auto-detect is unsuccessful the option
has no effect.
338 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mtune=name
This option specifies the name of the target ARM processor for which GCC
should tune the performance of the code. For some ARM implementations
better performance can be obtained by using this option. Permissible
names are: ‘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’, ‘arm1156t2f-s’,
‘arm1176jz-s’, ‘arm1176jzf-s’, ‘generic-armv7-a’, ‘cortex-a5’,
‘cortex-a7’, ‘cortex-a8’, ‘cortex-a9’, ‘cortex-a12’, ‘cortex-a15’,
‘cortex-a17’, ‘cortex-a32’, ‘cortex-a35’, ‘cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a55’,
‘cortex-a57’, ‘cortex-a72’, ‘cortex-a73’, ‘cortex-a75’, ‘cortex-a76’,
‘cortex-a76ae’, ‘cortex-a77’, ‘cortex-a78’, ‘cortex-a78ae’, ‘cortex-a78c’,
‘cortex-a710’, ‘ares’, ‘cortex-r4’, ‘cortex-r4f’, ‘cortex-r5’,
‘cortex-r7’, ‘cortex-r8’, ‘cortex-r52’, ‘cortex-r52plus’, ‘cortex-m0’,
‘cortex-m0plus’, ‘cortex-m1’, ‘cortex-m3’, ‘cortex-m4’, ‘cortex-m7’,
‘cortex-m23’, ‘cortex-m33’, ‘cortex-m35p’, ‘cortex-m55’, ‘cortex-x1’,
‘cortex-x1c’, ‘cortex-m1.small-multiply’, ‘cortex-m0.small-multiply’,
‘cortex-m0plus.small-multiply’, ‘exynos-m1’, ‘marvell-pj4’,
‘neoverse-n1’, ‘neoverse-n2’, ‘neoverse-v1’, ‘xscale’, ‘iwmmxt’, ‘iwmmxt2’,
‘ep9312’, ‘fa526’, ‘fa626’, ‘fa606te’, ‘fa626te’, ‘fmp626’, ‘fa726te’,
‘star-mc1’, ‘xgene1’.
Additionally, this option can specify that GCC should tune the
performance of the code for a big.LITTLE system. Permissible
names are: ‘cortex-a15.cortex-a7’, ‘cortex-a17.cortex-a7’,
‘cortex-a57.cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a72.cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a72.cortex-a35’,
‘cortex-a73.cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a75.cortex-a55’, ‘cortex-a76.cortex-a55’.
‘-mtune=generic-arch’ specifies that GCC should tune the performance for a
blend of processors within architecture arch. The aim is to generate code that
run well on the current most popular processors, balancing between optimiza-
tions that benefit some CPUs in the range, and avoiding performance pitfalls
of other CPUs. The effects of this option may change in future GCC versions
as CPU models come and go.
‘-mtune’ permits the same extension options as ‘-mcpu’, but the extension op-
tions do not affect the tuning of the generated code.
‘-mtune=native’ causes the compiler to auto-detect the CPU of the build com-
puter. At present, this feature is only supported on GNU/Linux, and not all
architectures are recognized. If the auto-detect is unsuccessful the option has
no effect.

-mcpu=name[+extension...]
This specifies the name of the target ARM processor. GCC uses this name to
derive the name of the target ARM architecture (as if specified by ‘-march’) and
the ARM processor type for which to tune for performance (as if specified by
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 339

‘-mtune’). Where this option is used in conjunction with ‘-march’ or ‘-mtune’,

those options take precedence over the appropriate part of this option.
Many of the supported CPUs implement optional architectural extensions.
Where this is so the architectural extensions are normally enabled by default. If
implementations that lack the extension exist, then the extension syntax can be
used to disable those extensions that have been omitted. For floating-point and
Advanced SIMD (Neon) instructions, the settings of the options ‘-mfloat-abi’
and ‘-mfpu’ must also be considered: floating-point and Advanced SIMD in-
structions will only be used if ‘-mfloat-abi’ is not set to ‘soft’; and any setting
of ‘-mfpu’ other than ‘auto’ will override the available floating-point and SIMD
extension instructions.
For example, ‘cortex-a9’ can be found in three major configurations: integer
only, with just a floating-point unit or with floating-point and Advanced SIMD.
The default is to enable all the instructions, but the extensions ‘+nosimd’ and
‘+nofp’ can be used to disable just the SIMD or both the SIMD and floating-
point instructions respectively.
Permissible names for this option are the same as those for ‘-mtune’.
The following extension options are common to the listed CPUs:
‘+nodsp’ Disable the DSP instructions on ‘cortex-m33’, ‘cortex-m35p’
and ‘cortex-m55’. Also disable the M-Profile Vector Extension
(MVE) integer and single precision floating-point instructions on
‘cortex-m55’.
‘+nomve’ Disable the M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE) integer and single
precision floating-point instructions on ‘cortex-m55’.
‘+nomve.fp’
Disable the M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE) single precision
floating-point instructions on ‘cortex-m55’.
‘+nofp’ Disables the floating-point instructions on ‘arm9e’, ‘arm946e-s’,
‘arm966e-s’, ‘arm968e-s’, ‘arm10e’, ‘arm1020e’, ‘arm1022e’,
‘arm926ej-s’, ‘arm1026ej-s’, ‘cortex-r5’, ‘cortex-r7’,
‘cortex-r8’, ‘cortex-m4’, ‘cortex-m7’, ‘cortex-m33’,
‘cortex-m35p’ and ‘cortex-m55’. Disables the floating-point
and SIMD instructions on ‘generic-armv7-a’, ‘cortex-a5’,
‘cortex-a7’, ‘cortex-a8’, ‘cortex-a9’, ‘cortex-a12’,
‘cortex-a15’, ‘cortex-a17’, ‘cortex-a15.cortex-a7’,
‘cortex-a17.cortex-a7’, ‘cortex-a32’, ‘cortex-a35’,
‘cortex-a53’ and ‘cortex-a55’.
‘+nofp.dp’
Disables the double-precision component of the floating-point
instructions on ‘cortex-r5’, ‘cortex-r7’, ‘cortex-r8’,
‘cortex-r52’, ‘cortex-r52plus’ and ‘cortex-m7’.
‘+nosimd’ Disables the SIMD (but not floating-point) instructions on
‘generic-armv7-a’, ‘cortex-a5’, ‘cortex-a7’ and ‘cortex-a9’.
340 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘+crypto’ Enables the cryptographic instructions on ‘cortex-a32’,

‘cortex-a35’, ‘cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a55’, ‘cortex-a57’,
‘cortex-a72’, ‘cortex-a73’, ‘cortex-a75’, ‘exynos-m1’,
‘xgene1’, ‘cortex-a57.cortex-a53’, ‘cortex-a72.cortex-a53’,
‘cortex-a73.cortex-a35’, ‘cortex-a73.cortex-a53’ and
‘cortex-a75.cortex-a55’.
Additionally the ‘generic-armv7-a’ pseudo target defaults to VFPv3 with 16
double-precision registers. It supports the following extension options: ‘mp’,
‘sec’, ‘vfpv3-d16’, ‘vfpv3’, ‘vfpv3-d16-fp16’, ‘vfpv3-fp16’, ‘vfpv4-d16’,
‘vfpv4’, ‘neon’, ‘neon-vfpv3’, ‘neon-fp16’, ‘neon-vfpv4’. The meanings are
the same as for the extensions to ‘-march=armv7-a’.
‘-mcpu=generic-arch’ is also permissible, and is equivalent to ‘-march=arch
-mtune=generic-arch’. See ‘-mtune’ for more information.
‘-mcpu=native’ causes the compiler to auto-detect the CPU of the build com-
puter. At present, this feature is only supported on GNU/Linux, and not all
architectures are recognized. If the auto-detect is unsuccessful the option has
no effect.
-mfpu=name
This specifies what floating-point hardware (or hardware emulation) is available
on the target. Permissible names are: ‘auto’, ‘vfpv2’, ‘vfpv3’, ‘vfpv3-fp16’,
‘vfpv3-d16’, ‘vfpv3-d16-fp16’, ‘vfpv3xd’, ‘vfpv3xd-fp16’, ‘neon-vfpv3’,
‘neon-fp16’, ‘vfpv4’, ‘vfpv4-d16’, ‘fpv4-sp-d16’, ‘neon-vfpv4’, ‘fpv5-d16’,
‘fpv5-sp-d16’, ‘fp-armv8’, ‘neon-fp-armv8’ and ‘crypto-neon-fp-armv8’.
Note that ‘neon’ is an alias for ‘neon-vfpv3’ and ‘vfp’ is an alias for ‘vfpv2’.
The setting ‘auto’ is the default and is special. It causes the compiler to select
the floating-point and Advanced SIMD instructions based on the settings of
‘-mcpu’ and ‘-march’.
If the selected floating-point hardware includes the NEON extension (e.g.
‘-mfpu=neon’), note that floating-point operations are not generated by
GCC’s auto-vectorization pass unless ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ is
also specified. This is because NEON hardware does not fully implement the
IEEE 754 standard for floating-point arithmetic (in particular denormal values
are treated as zero), so the use of NEON instructions may lead to a loss of
precision.
You can also set the fpu name at function level by using the target("fpu=")
function attributes (see Section 6.33.5 [ARM Function Attributes], page 598)
or pragmas (see Section 6.62.15 [Function Specific Option Pragmas], page 891).
-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. See Section 6.13 [Half-Precision], page 551, for
more information.
-mstructure-size-boundary=n
The sizes of all structures and unions are rounded up to a multiple of the
number of bits set by this option. Permissible values are 8, 32 and 64. The
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 341

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 a 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.
This option is deprecated.
-mabort-on-noreturn
Generate a call to the function abort at the end of a noreturn function. It is
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 lies 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 are turned into long calls.
The heuristic is that static functions, functions that have the short_call at-
tribute, functions that are inside the scope of a #pragma no_long_calls di-
rective, and functions whose definitions have already been compiled within the
current compilation unit are not turned into long calls. The exceptions to this
rule are 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 are always turned into long calls.
This feature is not enabled by default. Specifying ‘-mno-long-calls’ restores
the default behavior, as does 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 runtime 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. For standard PIC base case,
the default is any suitable register determined by compiler. For single PIC base
case, the default is ‘R9’ if target is EABI based or stack-checking is enabled,
otherwise the default is ‘R10’.
-mpic-data-is-text-relative
Assume that the displacement between the text and data segments is fixed at
static link time. This permits using PC-relative addressing operations to access
data known to be in the data segment. For non-VxWorks RTP targets, this
342 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

option is enabled by default. When disabled on such targets, it will enable

‘-msingle-pic-base’ by default.
-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
-marm
Select between generating code that executes in ARM and Thumb states.
The default for most configurations is to generate code that executes in
ARM state, but the default can be changed by configuring GCC with the
‘--with-mode=’state configure option.
You can also override the ARM and Thumb mode for each function by using the
target("thumb") and target("arm") function attributes (see Section 6.33.5
[ARM Function Attributes], page 598) or pragmas (see Section 6.62.15 [Function
Specific Option Pragmas], page 891).
-mflip-thumb
Switch ARM/Thumb modes on alternating functions. This option is provided
for regression testing of mixed Thumb/ARM code generation, and is not in-
tended for ordinary use in compiling code.
-mtpcs-frame
Generate a stack frame that is compliant with the Thumb Procedure Call Stan-
dard 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 Stan-
dard 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 in-
struction 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. This option is not valid in AAPCS configurations because interworking
is enabled by default.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 343

-mcaller-super-interworking
Allows calls via function pointers (including virtual functions) to execute cor-
rectly 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. This option is not valid in AAPCS configurations
because interworking is enabled by default.
-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’.
-mtls-dialect=dialect
Specify the dialect to use for accessing thread local storage. Two dialects are
supported—‘gnu’ and ‘gnu2’. The ‘gnu’ dialect selects the original GNU scheme
for supporting local and global dynamic TLS models. The ‘gnu2’ dialect selects
the GNU descriptor scheme, which provides better performance for shared li-
braries. The GNU descriptor scheme is compatible with the original scheme,
but does require new assembler, linker and library support. Initial and local
exec TLS models are unaffected by this option and always use the original
scheme.
-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. This
option conflicts with ‘-mslow-flash-data’.
-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.
-mfix-cortex-a57-aes-1742098
-mno-fix-cortex-a57-aes-1742098
-mfix-cortex-a72-aes-1655431
-mno-fix-cortex-a72-aes-1655431
Enable (disable) mitigation for an erratum on Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A72 that
affects the AES cryptographic instructions. This option is enabled by default
when either ‘-mcpu=cortex-a57’ or ‘-mcpu=cortex-a72’ is specified.
-munaligned-access
-mno-unaligned-access
Enables (or disables) reading and writing of 16- and 32- bit values from ad-
dresses that are not 16- or 32- bit aligned. By default unaligned access is
disabled for all pre-ARMv6, all ARMv6-M and for ARMv8-M Baseline archi-
tectures, and enabled for all other architectures. If unaligned access is not
enabled then words in packed data structures are accessed a byte at a time.
344 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The ARM attribute Tag_CPU_unaligned_access is set in the generated object

file to either true or false, depending upon the setting of this option. If unaligned
access is enabled then the preprocessor symbol __ARM_FEATURE_UNALIGNED is
also defined.

-mneon-for-64bits
This option is deprecated and has no effect.

-mslow-flash-data
Assume loading data from flash is slower than fetching instruction. Therefore
literal load is minimized for better performance. This option is only supported
when compiling for ARMv7 M-profile and off by default. It conflicts with
‘-mword-relocations’.

-masm-syntax-unified
Assume inline assembler is using unified asm syntax. The default is currently off
which implies divided syntax. This option has no impact on Thumb2. However,
this may change in future releases of GCC. Divided syntax should be considered
deprecated.

-mrestrict-it
Restricts generation of IT blocks to conform to the rules of ARMv8-A. IT blocks
can only contain a single 16-bit instruction from a select set of instructions. This
option is on by default for ARMv8-A Thumb mode.

-mprint-tune-info
Print CPU tuning information as comment in assembler file. This is an option
used only for regression testing of the compiler and not intended for ordinary
use in compiling code. This option is disabled by default.

-mverbose-cost-dump
Enable verbose cost model dumping in the debug dump files. This option is
provided for use in debugging the compiler.

-mpure-code
Do not allow constant data to be placed in code sections. Additionally, when
compiling for ELF object format give all text sections the ELF processor-specific
section attribute SHF_ARM_PURECODE. This option is only available when gen-
erating non-pic code for M-profile targets.

-mcmse Generate secure code as per the "ARMv8-M Security Extensions: Require-
ments on Development Tools Engineering Specification", which can be found
on https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ecm0359818/latest/.

-mfix-cmse-cve-2021-35465
Mitigate against a potential security issue with the VLLDM instruction in some
M-profile devices when using CMSE (CVE-2021-365465). This option is enabled
by default when the option ‘-mcpu=’ is used with cortex-m33, cortex-m35p,
cortex-m55 or star-mc1. The option ‘-mno-fix-cmse-cve-2021-35465’ can
be used to disable the mitigation.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 345

-mstack-protector-guard=guard
-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset
Generate stack protection code using canary at guard. Supported locations
are ‘global’ for a global canary or ‘tls’ for a canary accessible via the TLS
register. The option ‘-mstack-protector-guard-offset=’ is for use with
‘-fstack-protector-guard=tls’ and not for use in user-land code.
-mfdpic
-mno-fdpic
Select the FDPIC ABI, which uses 64-bit function descriptors to represent
pointers to functions. When the compiler is configured for arm-*-
uclinuxfdpiceabi targets, this option is on by default and implies ‘-fPIE’
if none of the PIC/PIE-related options is provided. On other targets, it only
enables the FDPIC-specific code generation features, and the user should
explicitly provide the PIC/PIE-related options as needed.
Note that static linking is not supported because it would still involve the
dynamic linker when the program self-relocates. If such behavior is acceptable,
use -static and -Wl,-dynamic-linker options.
The opposite ‘-mno-fdpic’ option is useful (and required) to build the Linux
kernel using the same (arm-*-uclinuxfdpiceabi) toolchain as the one used to
build the userland programs.

3.19.6 AVR Options

These options are defined for AVR implementations:
-mmcu=mcu
Specify Atmel AVR instruction set architectures (ISA) or MCU type.
The default for this option is ‘avr2’.
GCC supports the following AVR devices and ISAs:
avr2 “Classic” devices with up to 8 KiB of program memory.
mcu = attiny22, attiny26, at90s2313, at90s2323, at90s2333,
at90s2343, at90s4414, at90s4433, at90s4434, at90c8534,
at90s8515, at90s8535.
avr25 “Classic” devices with up to 8 KiB of program memory and with
the MOVW instruction.
mcu = attiny13, attiny13a, attiny24, attiny24a, attiny25,
attiny261, attiny261a, attiny2313, attiny2313a, attiny43u,
attiny44, attiny44a, attiny45, attiny48, attiny441,
attiny461, attiny461a, attiny4313, attiny84, attiny84a,
attiny85, attiny87, attiny88, attiny828, attiny841,
attiny861, attiny861a, ata5272, ata6616c, at86rf401.
avr3 “Classic” devices with 16 KiB up to 64 KiB of program memory.
mcu = at76c711, at43usb355.
avr31 “Classic” devices with 128 KiB of program memory.
mcu = atmega103, at43usb320.
346 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

avr35 “Classic” devices with 16 KiB up to 64 KiB of program memory

and with the MOVW instruction.
mcu = attiny167, attiny1634, atmega8u2, atmega16u2,
atmega32u2, ata5505, ata6617c, ata664251, at90usb82,
at90usb162.
avr4 “Enhanced” devices with up to 8 KiB of program memory.
mcu = atmega48, atmega48a, atmega48p, atmega48pa,
atmega48pb, atmega8, atmega8a, atmega8hva, atmega88,
atmega88a, atmega88p, atmega88pa, atmega88pb, atmega8515,
atmega8535, ata6285, ata6286, ata6289, ata6612c, at90pwm1,
at90pwm2, at90pwm2b, at90pwm3, at90pwm3b, at90pwm81.
avr5 “Enhanced” devices with 16 KiB up to 64 KiB of program
memory.
mcu = atmega16, atmega16a, atmega16hva, atmega16hva2,
atmega16hvb, atmega16hvbrevb, atmega16m1, atmega16u4,
atmega161, atmega162, atmega163, atmega164a, atmega164p,
atmega164pa, atmega165, atmega165a, atmega165p,
atmega165pa, atmega168, atmega168a, atmega168p,
atmega168pa, atmega168pb, atmega169, atmega169a,
atmega169p, atmega169pa, atmega32, atmega32a, atmega32c1,
atmega32hvb, atmega32hvbrevb, atmega32m1, atmega32u4,
atmega32u6, atmega323, atmega324a, atmega324p, atmega324pa,
atmega324pb, atmega325, atmega325a, atmega325p,
atmega325pa, atmega328, atmega328p, atmega328pb,
atmega329, atmega329a, atmega329p, atmega329pa, atmega3250,
atmega3250a, atmega3250p, atmega3250pa, atmega3290,
atmega3290a, atmega3290p, atmega3290pa, atmega406,
atmega64, atmega64a, atmega64c1, atmega64hve, atmega64hve2,
atmega64m1, atmega64rfr2, atmega640, atmega644, atmega644a,
atmega644p, atmega644pa, atmega644rfr2, atmega645,
atmega645a, atmega645p, atmega649, atmega649a, atmega649p,
atmega6450, atmega6450a, atmega6450p, atmega6490,
atmega6490a, atmega6490p, ata5795, ata5790, ata5790n,
ata5791, ata6613c, ata6614q, ata5782, ata5831, ata8210,
ata8510, ata5702m322, at90pwm161, at90pwm216, at90pwm316,
at90can32, at90can64, at90scr100, at90usb646, at90usb647,
at94k, m3000.
avr51 “Enhanced” devices with 128 KiB of program memory.
mcu = atmega128, atmega128a, atmega128rfa1, atmega128rfr2,
atmega1280, atmega1281, atmega1284, atmega1284p,
atmega1284rfr2, at90can128, at90usb1286, at90usb1287.
avr6 “Enhanced” devices with 3-byte PC, i.e. with more than 128 KiB
of program memory.
mcu = atmega256rfr2, atmega2560, atmega2561,
atmega2564rfr2.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 347

avrxmega2
“XMEGA” devices with more than 8 KiB and up to 64 KiB of
program memory.
mcu = atxmega8e5, atxmega16a4, atxmega16a4u, atxmega16c4,
atxmega16d4, atxmega16e5, atxmega32a4, atxmega32a4u,
atxmega32c3, atxmega32c4, atxmega32d3, atxmega32d4,
atxmega32e5, avr64da28, avr64da32, avr64da48, avr64da64,
avr64db28, avr64db32, avr64db48, avr64db64.
avrxmega3
“XMEGA” devices with up to 64 KiB of combined program
memory and RAM, and with program memory visible in the RAM
address space.
mcu = attiny202, attiny204, attiny212, attiny214,
attiny402, attiny404, attiny406, attiny412, attiny414,
attiny416, attiny417, attiny804, attiny806, attiny807,
attiny814, attiny816, attiny817, attiny1604, attiny1606,
attiny1607, attiny1614, attiny1616, attiny1617, attiny3214,
attiny3216, attiny3217, atmega808, atmega809, atmega1608,
atmega1609, atmega3208, atmega3209, atmega4808, atmega4809,
avr32da28, avr32da32, avr32da48, avr32db28, avr32db32,
avr32db48.
avrxmega4
“XMEGA” devices with more than 64 KiB and up to 128 KiB of
program memory.
mcu = atxmega64a3, atxmega64a3u, atxmega64a4u,
atxmega64b1, atxmega64b3, atxmega64c3, atxmega64d3,
atxmega64d4, avr128da28, avr128da32, avr128da48,
avr128da64, avr128db28, avr128db32, avr128db48, avr128db64.
avrxmega5
“XMEGA” devices with more than 64 KiB and up to 128 KiB of
program memory and more than 64 KiB of RAM.
mcu = atxmega64a1, atxmega64a1u.
avrxmega6
“XMEGA” devices with more than 128 KiB of program memory.
mcu = atxmega128a3, atxmega128a3u, atxmega128b1,
atxmega128b3, atxmega128c3, atxmega128d3, atxmega128d4,
atxmega192a3, atxmega192a3u, atxmega192c3, atxmega192d3,
atxmega256a3, atxmega256a3b, atxmega256a3bu,
atxmega256a3u, atxmega256c3, atxmega256d3, atxmega384c3,
atxmega384d3.
avrxmega7
“XMEGA” devices with more than 128 KiB of program memory
and more than 64 KiB of RAM.
mcu = atxmega128a1, atxmega128a1u, atxmega128a4u.
348 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

avrtiny “TINY” Tiny core devices with 512 B up to 4 KiB of program

memory.
mcu = attiny4, attiny5, attiny9, attiny10, attiny20,
attiny40.
avr1 This ISA is implemented by the minimal AVR core and supported
for assembler only.
mcu = attiny11, attiny12, attiny15, attiny28, at90s1200.
-mabsdata
Assume that all data in static storage can be accessed by LDS / STS instruc-
tions. This option has only an effect on reduced Tiny devices like ATtiny40.
See also the absdata Section 6.34.3 [AVR Variable Attributes], page 641.
-maccumulate-args
Accumulate outgoing function arguments and acquire/release the needed stack
space for outgoing function arguments once in function prologue/epilogue.
Without this option, outgoing arguments are pushed before calling a function
and popped afterwards.
Popping the arguments after the function call can be expensive on AVR so
that accumulating the stack space might lead to smaller executables because
arguments need not be removed from the stack after such a function call.
This option can lead to reduced code size for functions that perform several
calls to functions that get their arguments on the stack like calls to printf-like
functions.
-mbranch-cost=cost
Set the branch costs for conditional branch instructions to cost. Reasonable
values for cost are small, non-negative integers. The default branch cost is 0.
-mcall-prologues
Functions prologues/epilogues are expanded as calls to appropriate subroutines.
Code size is smaller.
-mdouble=bits
-mlong-double=bits
Set the size (in bits) of the double or long double type, respectively. Possible
values for bits are 32 and 64. Whether or not a specific value for bits is allowed
depends on the --with-double= and --with-long-double= configure options,
and the same applies for the default values of the options.
-mgas-isr-prologues
Interrupt service routines (ISRs) may use the __gcc_isr pseudo instruction
supported by GNU Binutils. If this option is on, the feature can still be dis-
abled for individual ISRs by means of the Section 6.33.6 [no_gccisr], page 600
function attribute. This feature is activated per default if optimization is on
(but not with ‘-Og’, see Section 3.11 [Optimize Options], page 173), and if GNU
Binutils support PR21683.
-mint8 Assume int to be 8-bit integer. This affects the sizes of all types: a char is 1
byte, an int is 1 byte, a long is 2 bytes, and long long is 4 bytes. Please note
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 349

that this option does not conform to the C standards, but it results in smaller
code size.
-mmain-is-OS_task
Do not save registers in main. The effect is the same like attaching attribute
Section 6.33.6 [OS_task], page 600 to main. It is activated per default if opti-
mization is on.
-mn-flash=num
Assume that the flash memory has a size of num times 64 KiB.
-mno-interrupts
Generated code is not compatible with hardware interrupts. Code size is
smaller.
-mrelax Try to replace CALL resp. JMP instruction by the shorter RCALL resp. RJMP in-
struction if applicable. Setting ‘-mrelax’ just adds the ‘--mlink-relax’ option
to the assembler’s command line and the ‘--relax’ option to the linker’s com-
mand line.
Jump relaxing is performed by the linker because jump offsets are not known
before code is located. Therefore, the assembler code generated by the compiler
is the same, but the instructions in the executable may differ from instructions
in the assembler code.
Relaxing must be turned on if linker stubs are needed, see the section on EIND
and linker stubs below.
-mrmw Assume that the device supports the Read-Modify-Write instructions XCH, LAC,
LAS and LAT.
-mshort-calls
Assume that RJMP and RCALL can target the whole program memory.
This option is used internally for multilib selection. It is not an optimization
option, and you don’t need to set it by hand.
-msp8 Treat the stack pointer register as an 8-bit register, i.e. assume the high byte of
the stack pointer is zero. In general, you don’t need to set this option by hand.
This option is used internally by the compiler to select and build multilibs
for architectures avr2 and avr25. These architectures mix devices with and
without SPH. For any setting other than ‘-mmcu=avr2’ or ‘-mmcu=avr25’ the
compiler driver adds or removes this option from the compiler proper’s com-
mand line, because the compiler then knows if the device or architecture has
an 8-bit stack pointer and thus no SPH register or not.
-mstrict-X
Use address register X in a way proposed by the hardware. This means that X
is only used in indirect, post-increment or pre-decrement addressing.
Without this option, the X register may be used in the same way as Y or Z which
then is emulated by additional instructions. For example, loading a value with
X+const addressing with a small non-negative const < 64 to a register Rn is
performed as
350 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

adiw r26, const ; X += const

ld Rn, X ; Rn = *X
sbiw r26, const ; X -= const
-mtiny-stack
Only change the lower 8 bits of the stack pointer.
-mfract-convert-truncate
Allow to use truncation instead of rounding towards zero for fractional fixed-
point types.
-nodevicelib
Don’t link against AVR-LibC’s device specific library lib<mcu>.a.
-nodevicespecs
Don’t add ‘-specs=device-specs/specs-mcu’ to the compiler driver’s com-
mand line. The user takes responsibility for supplying the sub-processes like
compiler proper, assembler and linker with appropriate command line options.
This means that the user has to supply her private device specs file by means of
‘-specs=path-to-specs-file’. There is no more need for option ‘-mmcu=mcu’.
This option can also serve as a replacement for the older way of specifying
custom device-specs files that needed ‘-B some-path’ to point to a directory
which contains a folder named device-specs which contains a specs file named
specs-mcu, where mcu was specified by ‘-mmcu=mcu’.
-Waddr-space-convert
Warn about conversions between address spaces in the case where the resulting
address space is not contained in the incoming address space.
-Wmisspelled-isr
Warn if the ISR is misspelled, i.e. without vector prefix. Enabled by default.

3.19.6.1 EIND and Devices with More Than 128 Ki Bytes of Flash
Pointers in the implementation are 16 bits wide. The address of a function or label is
represented as word address so that indirect jumps and calls can target any code address
in the range of 64 Ki words.
In order to facilitate indirect jump on devices with more than 128 Ki bytes of program
memory space, there is a special function register called EIND that serves as most significant
part of the target address when EICALL or EIJMP instructions are used.
Indirect jumps and calls on these devices are handled as follows by the compiler and are
subject to some limitations:
• The compiler never sets EIND.
• The compiler uses EIND implicitly in EICALL/EIJMP instructions or might read EIND
directly in order to emulate an indirect call/jump by means of a RET instruction.
• The compiler assumes that EIND never changes during the startup code or during the
application. In particular, EIND is not saved/restored in function or interrupt service
routine prologue/epilogue.
• For indirect calls to functions and computed goto, the linker generates stubs. Stubs are
jump pads sometimes also called trampolines. Thus, the indirect call/jump jumps to
such a stub. The stub contains a direct jump to the desired address.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 351

• Linker relaxation must be turned on so that the linker generates the stubs correctly
in all situations. See the compiler option ‘-mrelax’ and the linker option ‘--relax’.
There are corner cases where the linker is supposed to generate stubs but aborts without
relaxation and without a helpful error message.
• The default linker script is arranged for code with EIND = 0. If code is supposed to
work for a setup with EIND != 0, a custom linker script has to be used in order to place
the sections whose name start with .trampolines into the segment where EIND points
to.
• The startup code from libgcc never sets EIND. Notice that startup code is a blend
of code from libgcc and AVR-LibC. For the impact of AVR-LibC on EIND, see the
AVR-LibC user manual.
• It is legitimate for user-specific startup code to set up EIND early, for example by means
of initialization code located in section .init3. Such code runs prior to general startup
code that initializes RAM and calls constructors, but after the bit of startup code from
AVR-LibC that sets EIND to the segment where the vector table is located.
#include <avr/io.h>

static void
__attribute__((section(".init3"),naked,used,no_instrument_function))
init3_set_eind (void)
{
__asm volatile ("ldi r24,pm_hh8(__trampolines_start)\n\t"
"out %i0,r24" :: "n" (&EIND) : "r24","memory");
}
The __trampolines_start symbol is defined in the linker script.
• Stubs are generated automatically by the linker if the following two conditions are met:
− The address of a label is taken by means of the gs modifier (short for generate
stubs) like so:
LDI r24, lo8(gs(func))
LDI r25, hi8(gs(func))
− The final location of that label is in a code segment outside the segment where the
stubs are located.
• The compiler emits such gs modifiers for code labels in the following situations:
− Taking address of a function or code label.
− Computed goto.
− If prologue-save function is used, see ‘-mcall-prologues’ command-line option.
− Switch/case dispatch tables. If you do not want such dispatch tables you can
specify the ‘-fno-jump-tables’ command-line option.
− C and C++ constructors/destructors called during startup/shutdown.
− If the tools hit a gs() modifier explained above.
• Jumping to non-symbolic addresses like so is not supported:
int main (void)
{
352 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

/* Call function at word address 0x2 */

return ((int(*)(void)) 0x2)();
}
Instead, a stub has to be set up, i.e. the function has to be called through a symbol
(func_4 in the example):
int main (void)
{
extern int func_4 (void);

/* Call function at byte address 0x4 */

return func_4();
}
and the application be linked with ‘-Wl,--defsym,func_4=0x4’. Alternatively, func_4
can be defined in the linker script.
3.19.6.2 Handling of the RAMPD, RAMPX, RAMPY and RAMPZ Special
Function Registers
Some AVR devices support memories larger than the 64 KiB range that can be accessed
with 16-bit pointers. To access memory locations outside this 64 KiB range, the content of a
RAMP register is used as high part of the address: The X, Y, Z address register is concatenated
with the RAMPX, RAMPY, RAMPZ special function register, respectively, to get a wide address.
Similarly, RAMPD is used together with direct addressing.
• The startup code initializes the RAMP special function registers with zero.
• If a [AVR Named Address Spaces], page 555 other than generic or __flash is used,
then RAMPZ is set as needed before the operation.
• If the device supports RAM larger than 64 KiB and the compiler needs to change RAMPZ
to accomplish an operation, RAMPZ is reset to zero after the operation.
• If the device comes with a specific RAMP register, the ISR prologue/epilogue
saves/restores that SFR and initializes it with zero in case the ISR code might
(implicitly) use it.
• RAM larger than 64 KiB is not supported by GCC for AVR targets. If you use inline
assembler to read from locations outside the 16-bit address range and change one of
the RAMP registers, you must reset it to zero after the access.

3.19.6.3 AVR Built-in Macros

GCC defines several built-in macros so that the user code can test for the presence or
absence of features. Almost any of the following built-in macros are deduced from device
capabilities and thus triggered by the ‘-mmcu=’ command-line option.
For even more AVR-specific built-in macros see [AVR Named Address Spaces], page 555
and Section 6.60.10 [AVR Built-in Functions], page 768.
__AVR_ARCH__
Build-in macro that resolves to a decimal number that identifies the architecture
and depends on the ‘-mmcu=mcu’ option. Possible values are:
2, 25, 3, 31, 35, 4, 5, 51, 6
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 353

for mcu=avr2, avr25, avr3, avr31, avr35, avr4, avr5, avr51, avr6,
respectively and
100, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107
for mcu=avrtiny, avrxmega2, avrxmega3, avrxmega4, avrxmega5, avrxmega6,
avrxmega7, respectively. If mcu specifies a device, this built-in macro is set
accordingly. For example, with ‘-mmcu=atmega8’ the macro is defined to 4.
__AVR_Device__
Setting ‘-mmcu=device’ defines this built-in macro which reflects the
device’s name. For example, ‘-mmcu=atmega8’ defines the built-in macro
__AVR_ATmega8__, ‘-mmcu=attiny261a’ defines __AVR_ATtiny261A__, etc.
The built-in macros’ names follow the scheme __AVR_Device__ where Device is
the device name as from the AVR user manual. The difference between Device
in the built-in macro and device in ‘-mmcu=device’ is that the latter is always
lowercase.
If device is not a device but only a core architecture like ‘avr51’, this macro is
not defined.
__AVR_DEVICE_NAME__
Setting ‘-mmcu=device’ defines this built-in macro to the device’s name. For
example, with ‘-mmcu=atmega8’ the macro is defined to atmega8.
If device is not a device but only a core architecture like ‘avr51’, this macro is
not defined.
__AVR_XMEGA__
The device / architecture belongs to the XMEGA family of devices.
__AVR_HAVE_ELPM__
The device has the ELPM instruction.
__AVR_HAVE_ELPMX__
The device has the ELPM Rn,Z and ELPM Rn,Z+ instructions.
__AVR_HAVE_MOVW__
The device has the MOVW instruction to perform 16-bit register-register moves.
__AVR_HAVE_LPMX__
The device has the LPM Rn,Z and LPM Rn,Z+ instructions.
__AVR_HAVE_MUL__
The device has a hardware multiplier.
__AVR_HAVE_JMP_CALL__
The device has the JMP and CALL instructions. This is the case for devices with
more than 8 KiB of program memory.
__AVR_HAVE_EIJMP_EICALL__
__AVR_3_BYTE_PC__
The device has the EIJMP and EICALL instructions. This is the case for devices
with more than 128 KiB of program memory. This also means that the program
counter (PC) is 3 bytes wide.
354 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

__AVR_2_BYTE_PC__
The program counter (PC) is 2 bytes wide. This is the case for devices with up
to 128 KiB of program memory.
__AVR_HAVE_8BIT_SP__
__AVR_HAVE_16BIT_SP__
The stack pointer (SP) register is treated as 8-bit respectively 16-bit register
by the compiler. The definition of these macros is affected by ‘-mtiny-stack’.
__AVR_HAVE_SPH__
__AVR_SP8__
The device has the SPH (high part of stack pointer) special function register
or has an 8-bit stack pointer, respectively. The definition of these macros is
affected by ‘-mmcu=’ and in the cases of ‘-mmcu=avr2’ and ‘-mmcu=avr25’ also
by ‘-msp8’.
__AVR_HAVE_RAMPD__
__AVR_HAVE_RAMPX__
__AVR_HAVE_RAMPY__
__AVR_HAVE_RAMPZ__
The device has the RAMPD, RAMPX, RAMPY, RAMPZ special function register, re-
spectively.
__NO_INTERRUPTS__
This macro reflects the ‘-mno-interrupts’ command-line option.
__AVR_ERRATA_SKIP__
__AVR_ERRATA_SKIP_JMP_CALL__
Some AVR devices (AT90S8515, ATmega103) must not skip 32-bit instructions
because of a hardware erratum. Skip instructions are SBRS, SBRC, SBIS, SBIC
and CPSE. The second macro is only defined if __AVR_HAVE_JMP_CALL__ is also
set.
__AVR_ISA_RMW__
The device has Read-Modify-Write instructions (XCH, LAC, LAS and LAT).
__AVR_SFR_OFFSET__=offset
Instructions that can address I/O special function registers directly like IN, OUT,
SBI, etc. may use a different address as if addressed by an instruction to access
RAM like LD or STS. This offset depends on the device architecture and has to
be subtracted from the RAM address in order to get the respective I/O address.
__AVR_SHORT_CALLS__
The ‘-mshort-calls’ command line option is set.
__AVR_PM_BASE_ADDRESS__=addr
Some devices support reading from flash memory by means of LD* instructions.
The flash memory is seen in the data address space at an offset of __AVR_PM_
BASE_ADDRESS__. If this macro is not defined, this feature is not available. If
defined, the address space is linear and there is no need to put .rodata into
RAM. This is handled by the default linker description file, and is currently
available for avrtiny and avrxmega3. Even more convenient, there is no need
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 355

to use address spaces like __flash or features like attribute progmem and pgm_
read_*.
__WITH_AVRLIBC__
The compiler is configured to be used together with AVR-Libc. See the
‘--with-avrlibc’ configure option.
__HAVE_DOUBLE_MULTILIB__
Defined if ‘-mdouble=’ acts as a multilib option.
__HAVE_DOUBLE32__
__HAVE_DOUBLE64__
Defined if the compiler supports 32-bit double resp. 64-bit double. The actual
layout is specified by option ‘-mdouble=’.
__DEFAULT_DOUBLE__
The size in bits of double if ‘-mdouble=’ is not set. To test the layout of double
in a program, use the built-in macro __SIZEOF_DOUBLE__.
__HAVE_LONG_DOUBLE32__
__HAVE_LONG_DOUBLE64__
__HAVE_LONG_DOUBLE_MULTILIB__
__DEFAULT_LONG_DOUBLE__
Same as above, but for long double instead of double.
__WITH_DOUBLE_COMPARISON__
Reflects the --with-double-comparison={tristate|bool|libf7}
configure option and is defined to 2 or 3.
__WITH_LIBF7_LIBGCC__
__WITH_LIBF7_MATH__
__WITH_LIBF7_MATH_SYMBOLS__
Reflects the --with-libf7={libgcc|math|math-symbols} configure option.

3.19.7 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’, ‘bf542m’, ‘bf544m’,
‘bf547m’, ‘bf548m’, ‘bf549m’, ‘bf561’, ‘bf592’.
The optional sirevision specifies the silicon revision of the target Blackfin pro-
cessor. Any workarounds available for the targeted silicon revision are en-
abled. If sirevision is ‘none’, no workarounds are enabled. If sirevision is
‘any’, all workarounds for the targeted processor are 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.
356 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

GCC defines a preprocessor macro for the specified cpu. For the ‘bfin-elf’
toolchain, this option causes the hardware BSP provided by libgloss to be linked
in if ‘-msim’ is not given.
Without this option, ‘bf532’ is used as the processor by default.
Note that support for ‘bf561’ is incomplete. For ‘bf561’, only the preprocessor
macro is defined.
-msim Specifies that the program will be run on the simulator. This causes the simu-
lator 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.
-mspecld-anomaly
When enabled, the compiler ensures 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 ensures 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.
-mlow64k When enabled, the compiler is free to take advantage of the knowledge that the
entire program fits into the low 64k of memory.
-mno-low64k
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 vir-
tual 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 357

-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 is generated for jump and call insns.
-mshared-library-id=n
Specifies the identification number of the ID-based shared library being com-
piled. Specifying a value of 0 generates more compact code; specifying other
values forces 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 environ-
ment 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 lies 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’ restores
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 a standalone application for multicore Blackfin processors. This
option causes proper start files and link scripts supporting multicore to be
used, and defines the macro __BFIN_MULTICORE. It can only be used with
‘-mcpu=bf561[-sirevision]’.
This option can be used with ‘-mcorea’ or ‘-mcoreb’, which selects the one-
application-per-core programming model. Without ‘-mcorea’ or ‘-mcoreb’, the
358 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

single-application/dual-core programming model is used. In this model, the

main function of Core B should be named as coreb_main.
If this option is not used, the single-core application programming model is
used.
-mcorea Build a standalone application for Core A of BF561 when using the one-
application-per-core programming model. Proper start files and link scripts
are used to support Core A, and the macro __BFIN_COREA is defined. This
option can only be used in conjunction with ‘-mmulticore’.
-mcoreb Build a standalone application for Core B of BF561 when using the
one-application-per-core programming model. Proper start files and link
scripts are used to support Core B, and the macro __BFIN_COREB is defined.
When this option is used, coreb_main should be used instead of main. This
option can only be used in conjunction with ‘-mmulticore’.
-msdram Build a standalone application for SDRAM. Proper start files and link scripts
are used to put the application into SDRAM, and the macro __BFIN_SDRAM is
defined. The loader should initialize SDRAM before loading the application.
-micplb Assume that ICPLBs are enabled at run time. 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.

3.19.8 C6X Options

-march=name
This specifies the name of the target architecture. GCC uses this name to
determine what kind of instructions it can emit when generating assembly code.
Permissible names are: ‘c62x’, ‘c64x’, ‘c64x+’, ‘c67x’, ‘c67x+’, ‘c674x’.
-mbig-endian
Generate code for a big-endian target.
-mlittle-endian
Generate code for a little-endian target. This is the default.
-msim Choose startup files and linker script suitable for the simulator.
-msdata=default
Put small global and static data in the .neardata section, which is pointed
to by register B14. Put small uninitialized global and static data in the .bss
section, which is adjacent to the .neardata section. Put small read-only data
into the .rodata section. The corresponding sections used for large pieces of
data are .fardata, .far and .const.
-msdata=all
Put all data, not just small objects, into the sections reserved for small data,
and use addressing relative to the B14 register to access them.
-msdata=none
Make no use of the sections reserved for small data, and use absolute addresses
to access all data. Put all initialized global and static data in the .fardata
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 359

section, and all uninitialized data in the .far section. Put all constant data
into the .const section.

3.19.9 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’.
-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 disabled by default.
-mpdebug Enable CRIS-specific verbose debug-related information in the assembly code.
This option also has the effect of turning 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 com-
pare 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) arrange (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.
360 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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
which set 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 variables needs to be
allocated.
-melf Legacy no-op option.
-sim This option arranges to link with input-output functions from a simulator li-
brary. Code, initialized data and zero-initialized data are allocated consecu-
tively.
-sim2 Like ‘-sim’, but pass linker options to locate initialized data at 0x40000000 and
zero-initialized data at 0x80000000.

3.19.10 C-SKY Options

GCC supports these options when compiling for C-SKY V2 processors.
-march=arch
Specify the C-SKY target architecture. Valid values for arch are: ‘ck801’,
‘ck802’, ‘ck803’, ‘ck807’, and ‘ck810’. The default is ‘ck810’.
-mcpu=cpu
Specify the C-SKY target processor. Valid values for cpu are: ‘ck801’,
‘ck801t’, ‘ck802’, ‘ck802t’, ‘ck802j’, ‘ck803’, ‘ck803h’, ‘ck803t’, ‘ck803ht’,
‘ck803f’, ‘ck803fh’, ‘ck803e’, ‘ck803eh’, ‘ck803et’, ‘ck803eht’, ‘ck803ef’,
‘ck803efh’, ‘ck803ft’, ‘ck803eft’, ‘ck803efht’, ‘ck803r1’, ‘ck803hr1’,
‘ck803tr1’, ‘ck803htr1’, ‘ck803fr1’, ‘ck803fhr1’, ‘ck803er1’, ‘ck803ehr1’,
‘ck803etr1’, ‘ck803ehtr1’, ‘ck803efr1’, ‘ck803efhr1’, ‘ck803ftr1’,
‘ck803eftr1’, ‘ck803efhtr1’, ‘ck803s’, ‘ck803st’, ‘ck803se’, ‘ck803sf’,
‘ck803sef’, ‘ck803seft’, ‘ck807e’, ‘ck807ef’, ‘ck807’, ‘ck807f’, ‘ck810e’,
‘ck810et’, ‘ck810ef’, ‘ck810eft’, ‘ck810’, ‘ck810v’, ‘ck810f’, ‘ck810t’,
‘ck810fv’, ‘ck810tv’, ‘ck810ft’, and ‘ck810ftv’.
-mbig-endian
-EB
-mlittle-endian
-EL
Select big- or little-endian code. The default is little-endian.
-mfloat-abi=name
Specifies which floating-point ABI to use. Permissible values are: ‘soft’,
‘softfp’ and ‘hard’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 361

Specifying ‘soft’ causes GCC to generate output containing library calls for
floating-point operations. ‘softfp’ allows the generation of code using hard-
ware 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
-msoft-float
Select hardware or software floating-point implementations. The default is soft
float.
-mdouble-float
-mno-double-float
When ‘-mhard-float’ is in effect, enable generation of double-precision float
instructions. This is the default except when compiling for CK803.
-mfdivdu
-mno-fdivdu
When ‘-mhard-float’ is in effect, enable generation of frecipd, fsqrtd, and
fdivd instructions. This is the default except when compiling for CK803.
-mfpu=fpu
Select the floating-point processor. This option can only be used
with ‘-mhard-float’. Values for fpu are ‘fpv2_sf’ (equivalent to
‘-mno-double-float -mno-fdivdu’), ‘fpv2’ (‘-mdouble-float -mno-divdu’),
and ‘fpv2_divd’ (‘-mdouble-float -mdivdu’).
-melrw
-mno-elrw
Enable the extended lrw instruction. This option defaults to on for CK801 and
off otherwise.
-mistack
-mno-istack
Enable interrupt stack instructions; the default is off.
The ‘-mistack’ option is required to handle the interrupt and isr function
attributes (see Section 6.33.9 [C-SKY Function Attributes], page 602).
-mmp Enable multiprocessor instructions; the default is off.
-mcp Enable coprocessor instructions; the default is off.
-mcache Enable coprocessor instructions; the default is off.
-msecurity
Enable C-SKY security instructions; the default is off.
-mtrust Enable C-SKY trust instructions; the default is off.
362 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mdsp
-medsp
-mvdsp Enable C-SKY DSP, Enhanced DSP, or Vector DSP instructions, respectively.
All of these options default to off.
-mdiv
-mno-div Generate divide instructions. Default is off.
-msmart
-mno-smart
Generate code for Smart Mode, using only registers numbered 0-7 to allow use of
16-bit instructions. This option is ignored for CK801 where this is the required
behavior, and it defaults to on for CK802. For other targets, the default is off.
-mhigh-registers
-mno-high-registers
Generate code using the high registers numbered 16-31. This option is not
supported on CK801, CK802, or CK803, and is enabled by default for other
processors.
-manchor
-mno-anchor
Generate code using global anchor symbol addresses.
-mpushpop
-mno-pushpop
Generate code using push and pop instructions. This option defaults to on.
-mmultiple-stld
-mstm
-mno-multiple-stld
-mno-stm Generate code using stm and ldm instructions. This option isn’t supported on
CK801 but is enabled by default on other processors.
-mconstpool
-mno-constpool
Create constant pools in the compiler instead of deferring it to the assembler.
This option is the default and required for correct code generation on CK801
and CK802, and is optional on other processors.
-mstack-size
-mno-stack-size
Emit .stack_size directives for each function in the assembly output. This
option defaults to off.
-mccrt
-mno-ccrt
Generate code for the C-SKY compiler runtime instead of libgcc. This option
defaults to off.
-mbranch-cost=n
Set the branch costs to roughly n instructions. The default is 1.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 363

-msched-prolog
-mno-sched-prolog
Permit scheduling of function prologue and epilogue sequences. Using this
option can result in code that is not compliant with the C-SKY V2 ABI prologue
requirements and that cannot be debugged or backtraced. It is disabled by
default.
-msim Links the library libsemi.a which is in compatible with simulator. Applicable
to ELF compiler only.

3.19.11 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 creates an object file for the
single architecture that GCC 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 targeting, 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’, only permits instructions to be used that are valid for the subtype of the
file it is generating, so you cannot put 64-bit instructions in a ‘ppc750’ object file. The
linker for shared libraries, ‘/usr/bin/libtool’, fails and prints 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, quietly
gives 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 is 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.
364 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 that are compatible with as many systems and
code bases as possible.
-mkernel Enable kernel development mode. The ‘-mkernel’ option sets
‘-static’, ‘-fno-common’, ‘-fno-use-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 sys-
tem 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 turnaround development, such as to
allow 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 informa-
tion.
-arch_errors_fatal
Cause the errors having to do with files that have the wrong architecture to be
fatal.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 365

-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 load the build output file being
linked. See man ld(1) for more information.

-dynamiclib
When passed this option, GCC produces a dynamic library instead of an exe-
cutable when linking, using the Darwin ‘libtool’ command.

-force_cpusubtype_ALL
This causes GCC’s output file to have the ‘ALL’ subtype, instead of one con-
trolled 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
366 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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.

3.19.12 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 op-
erations. When ‘-msoft-float’ is specified, functions in ‘libgcc.a’ are used
to perform floating-point operations. Unless they are replaced by routines that
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 367

emulate the floating-point operations, or compiled in such a way as to call such

emulations routines, these routines 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 max-
imum performance. It is mostly compliant with the IEEE floating-point stan-
dard. 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 spec-
ify 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 en-
abled 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.
368 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘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 to-
wards zero.
‘d’ Dynamic rounding mode. A field in the floating-point control reg-
ister (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 with-
out 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 loca-
tion 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.
-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 outputs
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 369

the constant as a literal and generates code to load it from the data segment
at run time.
Use this option to require GCC to construct all integer constants using code,
even if it takes more instructions (the maximum is six).
You 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.

-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 is 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 al-
lows 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’.
370 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 in-
struction. 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 chooses the default values for the instruction set from
the processor you specify. If you do not specify a processor type, GCC defaults
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 ex-
tensions.
‘ev67’
‘21264a’ Schedules as an EV6 and supports the BWX, CIX, FIX, and MAX
extensions.
Native toolchains also support the value ‘native’, which selects the best ar-
chitecture 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 toolchains also support the value ‘native’, which selects the best archi-
tecture option for the host processor. ‘-mtune=native’ has no effect if GCC
does not recognize the processor.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 371

-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.

3.19.13 eBPF Options

-mframe-limit=bytes
This specifies the hard limit for frame sizes, in bytes. Currently, the value that
can be specified should be less than or equal to ‘32767’. Defaults to whatever
limit is imposed by the version of the Linux kernel targeted.
-mkernel=version
This specifies the minimum version of the kernel that will run the compiled
program. GCC uses this version to determine which instructions to use, what
kernel helpers to allow, etc. Currently, version can be one of ‘4.0’, ‘4.1’, ‘4.2’,
‘4.3’, ‘4.4’, ‘4.5’, ‘4.6’, ‘4.7’, ‘4.8’, ‘4.9’, ‘4.10’, ‘4.11’, ‘4.12’, ‘4.13’, ‘4.14’,
‘4.15’, ‘4.16’, ‘4.17’, ‘4.18’, ‘4.19’, ‘4.20’, ‘5.0’, ‘5.1’, ‘5.2’, ‘latest’ and
‘native’.
-mbig-endian
Generate code for a big-endian target.
-mlittle-endian
Generate code for a little-endian target. This is the default.
-mjmpext Enable generation of extra conditional-branch instructions. Enabled for CPU
v2 and above.
-mjmp32 Enable 32-bit jump instructions. Enabled for CPU v3 and above.
-malu32 Enable 32-bit ALU instructions. Enabled for CPU v3 and above.
-mcpu=version
This specifies which version of the eBPF ISA to target. Newer versions may
not be supported by all kernels. The default is ‘v3’.
Supported values for version are:
‘v1’ The first stable eBPF ISA with no special features or extensions.
‘v2’ Supports the jump extensions, as in ‘-mjmpext’.
372 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘v3’ All features of v2, plus:

− 32-bit jump operations, as in ‘-mjmp32’
− 32-bit ALU operations, as in ‘-malu32’
-mco-re Enable BPF Compile Once - Run Everywhere (CO-RE) support. Requires and
is implied by ‘-gbtf’.
-mno-co-re
Disable BPF Compile Once - Run Everywhere (CO-RE) support. BPF CO-RE
support is enabled by default when generating BTF debug information for the
BPF target.
-mxbpf Generate code for an expanded version of BPF, which relaxes some of the
restrictions imposed by the BPF architecture:
− Save and restore callee-saved registers at function entry and exit, respec-
tively.

3.19.14 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 fit into a 20-bit range.
-mno-lsim
Assume that runtime support has been provided and so there is no need to
include the simulator library (‘libsim.a’) on the linker command line.

3.19.15 FT32 Options

These options are defined specifically for the FT32 port.
-msim Specifies that the program will be run on the simulator. This causes an alternate
runtime startup and library to be linked. 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.
-mlra Enable Local Register Allocation. This is still experimental for FT32, so by
default the compiler uses standard reload.
-mnodiv Do not use div and mod instructions.
-mft32b Enable use of the extended instructions of the FT32B processor.
-mcompress
Compress all code using the Ft32B code compression scheme.
-mnopm Do not generate code that reads program memory.

3.19.16 FRV Options

-mgpr-32
Only use the first 32 general-purpose registers.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 373

-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, which 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’.
374 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 in-
struction 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 375

-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.
376 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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’.

3.19.17 GNU/Linux Options

These ‘-m’ options are defined for GNU/Linux targets:
-mglibc Use the GNU C library. This is the default except on ‘*-*-linux-*uclibc*’,
‘*-*-linux-*musl*’ and ‘*-*-linux-*android*’ targets.
-muclibc Use uClibc C library. This is the default on ‘*-*-linux-*uclibc*’ targets.
-mmusl Use the musl C library. This is the default on ‘*-*-linux-*musl*’ targets.
-mbionic Use Bionic C library. This is the default on ‘*-*-linux-*android*’ targets.
-mandroid
Compile code compatible with Android platform. This is the default on
‘*-*-linux-*android*’ targets.
When compiling, this option enables ‘-mbionic’, ‘-fPIC’, ‘-fno-exceptions’
and ‘-fno-rtti’ by default. When linking, this option makes the GCC driver
pass Android-specific options to the linker. Finally, this option causes the
preprocessor macro __ANDROID__ to be defined.
-tno-android-cc
Disable compilation effects of ‘-mandroid’, i.e., do not enable ‘-mbionic’,
‘-fPIC’, ‘-fno-exceptions’ and ‘-fno-rtti’ by default.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 377

-tno-android-ld
Disable linking effects of ‘-mandroid’, i.e., pass standard Linux linking options
to the linker.

3.19.18 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’. See Section “ld and the H8/300” in Using ld, for a fuller
description.
-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’.
-mexr Extended registers are stored on stack before execution of function with monitor
attribute. Default option is ‘-mexr’. This option is valid only for H8S targets.
-mno-exr Extended registers are not stored on stack before execution of function with
monitor attribute. Default option is ‘-mno-exr’. This option is valid only for
H8S targets.
-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.

3.19.19 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 archi-
tectures runs 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.
-mcaller-copies
The caller copies function arguments passed by hidden reference. This option
should be used with care as it is not compatible with the default 32-bit runtime.
378 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

However, only aggregates larger than eight bytes are passed by hidden reference
and the option provides better compatibility with OpenMP.
-mjump-in-delay
This option is ignored and provided for compatibility purposes only.
-mdisable-fpregs
Prevent floating-point registers from being used in any manner. This is neces-
sary for compiling kernels that perform lazy context switching of floating-point
registers. If you use this option and attempt to perform floating-point opera-
tions, the compiler aborts.
-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 that performs faster indirect calls.
This option does 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 regis-
ter is one that the register allocator cannot 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 379

-msoft-float
Generate output containing library calls for floating point. Warning: the req-
uisite 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 particu-
lar, 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 gen-
erates the predefines, __hp9000s700, __hp9000s700__ and _WSIO, for worksta-
tion IO. These options are available under HP-UX and HI-UX.
-mgnu-ld Use options specific to GNU ld. This passes ‘-shared’ to ld when building a
shared library. It is the default when GCC is configured, explicitly or implic-
itly, with the GNU linker. This option does not affect 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 us-
ing ‘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 options specific to HP ld. 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 op-
tion does not affect 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’ con-
figure 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 degrades performance. How-
ever, it may be useful in large applications, particularly when partial linking is
used to build the application.
380 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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 stan-
dard. 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.

3.19.20 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 381

-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 state-
ments.
-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.
-mno-inline-float-divide
Do not generate inline code for divides of floating-point values.
-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 through-
put algorithm.
-mno-inline-int-divide
Do not generate inline code for divides of integer values.
382 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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-inline-sqrt
Do not generate inline code for sqrt.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Do (don’t) generate code that uses the fused multiply/add or multiply/subtract
instructions. The default is to use these instructions.
-mno-dwarf2-asm
-mdwarf2-asm
Don’t (or do) generate assembler code for the DWARF 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 regis-
ter is one that the register allocator cannot 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’.
-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 results in gen-
eration of ld.a instructions and the corresponding check instructions (ld.c /
chk.a). The default setting is disabled.
-msched-ar-data-spec
-mno-sched-ar-data-spec
(En/Dis)able data speculative scheduling after reload. This results in gener-
ation of ld.a instructions and the corresponding check instructions (ld.c /
chk.a). The default setting is enabled.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 383

-mno-sched-control-spec
-msched-control-spec
(Dis/En)able control speculative scheduling. This feature is available only dur-
ing region scheduling (i.e. before reload). This results in generation of the
ld.s instructions and the corresponding check instructions chk.s. The default
setting is disabled.
-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 setting is enabled.
-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 setting is enabled.
-msched-in-control-spec
-mno-sched-in-control-spec
(En/Dis)able speculative scheduling of the instructions that are de-
pendent on the control speculative loads. This is effective only with
‘-msched-control-spec’ enabled. The default setting is enabled.
-mno-sched-prefer-non-data-spec-insns
-msched-prefer-non-data-spec-insns
If enabled, data-speculative instructions are chosen for schedule only if there
are no other choices at the moment. This makes the use of the data speculation
much more conservative. The default setting is disabled.
-mno-sched-prefer-non-control-spec-insns
-msched-prefer-non-control-spec-insns
If enabled, control-speculative instructions are chosen for schedule only if there
are no other choices at the moment. This makes the use of the control specu-
lation much more conservative. The default setting is disabled.
-mno-sched-count-spec-in-critical-path
-msched-count-spec-in-critical-path
If enabled, speculative dependencies are considered during computation of the
instructions priorities. This makes the use of the speculation a bit more con-
servative. The default setting is disabled.
-msched-spec-ldc
Use a simple data speculation check. This option is on by default.
-msched-control-spec-ldc
Use a simple check for control speculation. This option is on by default.
-msched-stop-bits-after-every-cycle
Place a stop bit after every cycle when scheduling. This option is on by default.
384 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-msched-fp-mem-deps-zero-cost
Assume that floating-point stores and loads are not likely to cause a conflict
when placed into the same instruction group. This option is disabled by default.
-msel-sched-dont-check-control-spec
Generate checks for control speculation in selective scheduling. This flag is
disabled by default.
-msched-max-memory-insns=max-insns
Limit on the number of memory insns per instruction group, giving lower prior-
ity to subsequent memory insns attempting to schedule in the same instruction
group. Frequently useful to prevent cache bank conflicts. The default value is
1.
-msched-max-memory-insns-hard-limit
Makes the limit specified by ‘msched-max-memory-insns’ a hard limit, disal-
lowing more than that number in an instruction group. Otherwise, the limit
is “soft”, meaning that non-memory operations are preferred when the limit is
reached, but memory operations may still be scheduled.

3.19.21 LM32 Options

These ‘-m’ options are defined for the LatticeMico32 architecture:
-mbarrel-shift-enabled
Enable barrel-shift instructions.
-mdivide-enabled
Enable divide and modulus instructions.
-mmultiply-enabled
Enable multiply instructions.
-msign-extend-enabled
Enable sign extend instructions.
-muser-enabled
Enable user-defined instructions.

3.19.22 LoongArch Options

These command-line options are defined for LoongArch targets:
-march=cpu-type
Generate instructions for the machine type cpu-type. In contrast to
‘-mtune=cpu-type’, which merely tunes the generated code for the specified
cpu-type, ‘-march=cpu-type’ allows GCC to generate code that may
not run at all on processors other than the one indicated. Specifying
‘-march=cpu-type’ implies ‘-mtune=cpu-type’, except where noted otherwise.
The choices for cpu-type are:
‘native’ This selects the CPU to generate code for at compilation time by
determining the processor type of the compiling machine. Using
‘-march=native’ enables all instruction subsets supported by the
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 385

local machine (hence the result might not run on different ma-
chines). Using ‘-mtune=native’ produces code optimized for the
local machine under the constraints of the selected instruction set.
‘loongarch64’
A generic CPU with 64-bit extensions.
‘la464’ LoongArch LA464 CPU with LBT, LSX, LASX, LVZ.
-mtune=cpu-type
Optimize the output for the given processor, specified by microarchitecture
name.
-mabi=base-abi-type
Generate code for the specified calling convention. base-abi-type can be one of:
‘lp64d’ Uses 64-bit general purpose registers and 32/64-bit floating-point
registers for parameter passing. Data model is LP64, where ‘int’
is 32 bits, while ‘long int’ and pointers are 64 bits.
‘lp64f’ Uses 64-bit general purpose registers and 32-bit floating-point reg-
isters for parameter passing. Data model is LP64, where ‘int’ is
32 bits, while ‘long int’ and pointers are 64 bits.
‘lp64s’ Uses 64-bit general purpose registers and no floating-point registers
for parameter passing. Data model is LP64, where ‘int’ is 32 bits,
while ‘long int’ and pointers are 64 bits.
-mfpu=fpu-type
Generate code for the specified FPU type, which can be one of:
‘64’ Allow the use of hardware floating-point instructions for 32-bit and
64-bit operations.
‘32’ Allow the use of hardware floating-point instructions for 32-bit op-
erations.
‘none’
‘0’ Prevent the use of hardware floating-point instructions.
-msoft-float
Force ‘-mfpu=none’ and prevents the use of floating-point registers for param-
eter passing. This option may change the target ABI.
-msingle-float
Force ‘-mfpu=32’ and allow the use of 32-bit floating-point registers for param-
eter passing. This option may change the target ABI.
-mdouble-float
Force ‘-mfpu=64’ and allow the use of 32/64-bit floating-point registers for
parameter passing. This option may change the target ABI.
-mbranch-cost=n
Set the cost of branches to roughly n instructions.
386 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mcheck-zero-division
-mno-check-zero-divison
Trap (do not trap) on integer division by zero. The default is
‘-mcheck-zero-division’ for ‘-O0’ or ‘-Og’, and ‘-mno-check-zero-division’
for other optimization levels.
-mcond-move-int
-mno-cond-move-int
Conditional moves for integral data in general-purpose registers are enabled
(disabled). The default is ‘-mcond-move-int’.
-mcond-move-float
-mno-cond-move-float
Conditional moves for floating-point registers are enabled (disabled). The de-
fault is ‘-mcond-move-float’.
-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. Setting
optimization level to ‘-Os’ also forces the use of memcpy, but ‘-mno-memcpy’
may override this behavior if explicitly specified, regardless of the order these
options on the command line.
-mstrict-align
-mno-strict-align
Avoid or allow generating memory accesses that may not be aligned on a natural
object boundary as described in the architecture specification. The default is
‘-mno-strict-align’.
-msmall-data-limit=number
Put global and static data smaller than number bytes into a special section (on
some targets). The default value is 0.
-mmax-inline-memcpy-size=n
Inline all block moves (such as calls to memcpy or structure copies) less than or
equal to n bytes. The default value of n is 1024.
-mcmodel=code-model
Set the code model to one of:
‘tiny-static (Not implemented yet)’
‘tiny (Not implemented yet)’
‘normal’ The text segment must be within 128MB addressing space. The
data segment must be within 2GB addressing space.
‘medium’ The text segment and data segment must be within 2GB addressing
space.
‘large (Not implemented yet)’
‘extreme’ This mode does not limit the size of the code segment and data
segment. The ‘-mcmodel=extreme’ option is incompatible with
‘-fplt’ and ‘-mno-explicit-relocs’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 387

The default code model is normal.

-mexplicit-relocs
-mno-explicit-relocs
Use or do not use assembler relocation operators when dealing with symbolic
addresses. The alternative is to use assembler macros instead, which may limit
optimization. The default value for the option is determined during GCC build-
time by detecting corresponding assembler support: -mexplicit-relocs if said
support is present, -mno-explicit-relocs otherwise. This option is mostly
useful for debugging, or interoperation with assemblers different from the build-
time one.
-mdirect-extern-access
-mno-direct-extern-access
Do not use or use GOT to access external symbols. The default is
‘-mno-direct-extern-access’: GOT is used for external symbols with
default visibility, but not used for other external symbols.
With ‘-mdirect-extern-access’, GOT is not used and all external symbols are
PC-relatively addressed. It is only suitable for environments where no dynamic
link is performed, like firmwares, OS kernels, executables linked with ‘-static’
or ‘-static-pie’. ‘-mdirect-extern-access’ is not compatible with ‘-fPIC’
or ‘-fpic’.

3.19.23 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 uses during code
generation. These pseudo-registers are 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 GCC’s default runtime libraries.

3.19.24 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.
388 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 reach-
able 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
generates seth/add3 instructions to load their addresses), and assume all sub-
routines are reachable with the bl instruction.
-mmodel=large
Assume objects may be anywhere in the 32-bit address space (the compiler gen-
erates seth/add3 instructions to load their addresses), and assume subroutines
may not be reachable with the bl instruction (the compiler generates the much
slower seth/add3/jl instruction sequence).
-msdata=none
Disable use of the small data area. Variables are 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 gives an
error message—incorrect code is not 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 389

-mbranch-cost=number
number can only be 1 or 2. If it is 1 then branches are preferred over conditional
code, if it is 2, then the opposite applies.
-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 is only used if a trap is not
available.
-mno-flush-func
Indicates that there is no OS function for flushing the cache.

3.19.25 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’ ‘51ag’ ‘51cn’ ‘51em’ ‘51je’ ‘51jf’ ‘51jg’ ‘51jm’ ‘51mm’ ‘51qe’
‘51qm’
‘5206’ ‘5202’ ‘5204’ ‘5206’
‘5206e’ ‘5206e’
‘5208’ ‘5207’ ‘5208’
‘5211a’ ‘5210a’ ‘5211a’
‘5213’ ‘5211’ ‘5212’ ‘5213’
390 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘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 microarchi-
tecture 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 391

-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 em-
ulated 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 config-
ured 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 com-
piler 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 in-
cludes 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 that can run relatively efficiently on either a 68020/68881 or a
392 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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 that 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 instruc-
tions. If ‘-march’ is used without ‘-mcpu’, the default is “on” for ColdFire ar-
chitectures 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 argu-
ments 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 393

Also, you must provide function prototypes for all functions that take variable
numbers of arguments (including printf); otherwise incorrect code is generated
for calls to those functions.
In addition, seriously incorrect code results 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.
The default is ‘-mno-rtd’.
-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 aligns structures contain-
ing the above types differently than most published application binary interface
specifications for the m68k.
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 are handled by the sys-
tem.
-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 environ-
ment 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 vir-
tual 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
Specifies the identification number of the ID-based shared library being com-
piled. Specifying a value of 0 generates more compact code; specifying other
394 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

values forces 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.
-mlong-jump-table-offsets
Use 32-bit offsets in switch tables. The default is to use 16-bit offsets.

3.19.26 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 4-byte boundary.
-mcallgraph-data
-mno-callgraph-data
Emit callgraph information.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 395

-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 runtime 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 that 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.

3.19.27 MicroBlaze Options

-msoft-float
Use software emulation for floating point (default).
-mhard-float
Use hardware floating-point instructions.
-mmemcpy Do not optimize block moves, use memcpy.
-mno-clearbss
This option is deprecated. Use ‘-fno-zero-initialized-in-bss’ instead.
-mcpu=cpu-type
Use features of, and schedule code for, the given CPU. Supported values are in
the format ‘vX.YY.Z’, where X is a major version, YY is the minor version, and
Z is compatibility code. Example values are ‘v3.00.a’, ‘v4.00.b’, ‘v5.00.a’,
‘v5.00.b’, ‘v6.00.a’.
-mxl-soft-mul
Use software multiply emulation (default).
-mxl-soft-div
Use software emulation for divides (default).
-mxl-barrel-shift
Use the hardware barrel shifter.
-mxl-pattern-compare
Use pattern compare instructions.
-msmall-divides
Use table lookup optimization for small signed integer divisions.
396 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mxl-stack-check
This option is deprecated. Use ‘-fstack-check’ instead.
-mxl-gp-opt
Use GP-relative .sdata/.sbss sections.
-mxl-multiply-high
Use multiply high instructions for high part of 32x32 multiply.
-mxl-float-convert
Use hardware floating-point conversion instructions.
-mxl-float-sqrt
Use hardware floating-point square root instruction.
-mbig-endian
Generate code for a big-endian target.
-mlittle-endian
Generate code for a little-endian target.
-mxl-reorder
Use reorder instructions (swap and byte reversed load/store).
-mxl-mode-app-model
Select application model app-model. Valid models are
‘executable’
normal executable (default), uses startup code ‘crt0.o’.
‘xmdstub’ for use with Xilinx Microprocessor Debugger (XMD) based soft-
ware intrusive debug agent called xmdstub. This uses startup file
‘crt1.o’ and sets the start address of the program to 0x800.
‘bootstrap’
for applications that are loaded using a bootloader. This model uses
startup file ‘crt2.o’ which does not contain a processor reset vector
handler. This is suitable for transferring control on a processor reset
to the bootloader rather than the application.
‘novectors’
for applications that do not require any of the MicroBlaze vectors.
This option may be useful for applications running within a moni-
toring application. This model uses ‘crt3.o’ as a startup file.
Option ‘-xl-mode-app-model’ is a deprecated alias for ‘-mxl-mode-app-
model’.
-mpic-data-is-text-relative
Assume that the displacement between the text and data segments is fixed at
static link time. This allows data to be referenced by offset from start of text
address instead of GOT since PC-relative addressing is not supported.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 397

3.19.28 MIPS Options

-EB Generate big-endian code.

-EL Generate little-endian code. This is the default for ‘mips*el-*-*’ configura-
tions.

-march=arch
Generate code that runs 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’, ‘mips32r3’, ‘mips32r5’,
‘mips32r6’, ‘mips64’, ‘mips64r2’, ‘mips64r3’, ‘mips64r5’ and ‘mips64r6’.
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’, ‘34kn’, ‘74kc’, ‘74kf2_1’, ‘74kf1_1’,
‘74kf3_2’, ‘1004kc’, ‘1004kf2_1’, ‘1004kf1_1’, ‘i6400’, ‘i6500’, ‘interaptiv’,
‘loongson2e’, ‘loongson2f’, ‘loongson3a’, ‘gs464’, ‘gs464e’, ‘gs264e’, ‘m4k’,
‘m14k’, ‘m14kc’, ‘m14ke’, ‘m14kec’, ‘m5100’, ‘m5101’, ‘octeon’, ‘octeon+’,
‘octeon2’, ‘octeon3’, ‘orion’, ‘p5600’, ‘p6600’, ‘r2000’, ‘r3000’, ‘r3900’,
‘r4000’, ‘r4400’, ‘r4600’, ‘r4650’, ‘r4700’, ‘r5900’, ‘r6000’, ‘r8000’, ‘rm7000’,
‘rm9000’, ‘r10000’, ‘r12000’, ‘r14000’, ‘r16000’, ‘sb1’, ‘sr71000’, ‘vr4100’,
‘vr4111’, ‘vr4120’, ‘vr4130’, ‘vr4300’, ‘vr5000’, ‘vr5400’, ‘vr5500’, ‘xlr’ and
‘xlp’. 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).
The native Linux/GNU toolchain also supports 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’ sets _MIPS_ARCH to "r2000" and defines
the macro _MIPS_ARCH_R2000.
Note that the _MIPS_ARCH macro uses the processor names given above. In
other words, it has the full prefix and does 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.
398 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mtune=arch
Optimize for arch. Among other things, this option controls the way instruc-
tions 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 optimizes for the processor specified by
‘-march’. By using ‘-march’ and ‘-mtune’ together, it is possible to generate
code that runs 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’.
-mips32r3
Equivalent to ‘-march=mips32r3’.
-mips32r5
Equivalent to ‘-march=mips32r5’.
-mips32r6
Equivalent to ‘-march=mips32r6’.
-mips64 Equivalent to ‘-march=mips64’.
-mips64r2
Equivalent to ‘-march=mips64r2’.
-mips64r3
Equivalent to ‘-march=mips64r3’.
-mips64r5
Equivalent to ‘-march=mips64r5’.
-mips64r6
Equivalent to ‘-march=mips64r6’.
-mips16
-mno-mips16
Generate (do not generate) MIPS16 code. If GCC is targeting a MIPS32 or
MIPS64 architecture, it makes use of the MIPS16e ASE.
MIPS16 code generation can also be controlled on a per-function basis by means
of mips16 and nomips16 attributes. See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566, for more information.
-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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 399

-minterlink-compressed
-mno-interlink-compressed
Require (do not require) that code using the standard (uncompressed) MIPS
ISA be link-compatible with MIPS16 and microMIPS code, and vice versa.
For example, code using the standard ISA encoding cannot jump directly to
MIPS16 or microMIPS code; it must either use a call or an indirect jump.
‘-minterlink-compressed’ therefore disables direct jumps unless GCC knows
that the target of the jump is not compressed.

-minterlink-mips16
-mno-interlink-mips16
Aliases of ‘-minterlink-compressed’ and ‘-mno-interlink-compressed’.
These options predate the microMIPS ASE and are retained for backwards
compatibility.

-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 https://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, MIPS32R3 and MIPS32R5 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 in
that the even-numbered double-precision registers are saved.
Two additional variants of the o32 ABI are supported to enable a transition from
32-bit to 64-bit registers. These are FPXX (‘-mfpxx’) and FP64A (‘-mfp64’
‘-mno-odd-spreg’). The FPXX extension mandates that all code must execute
correctly when run using 32-bit or 64-bit registers. The code can be interlinked
with either FP32 or FP64, but not both. The FP64A extension is similar to the
FP64 extension but forbids the use of odd-numbered single-precision registers.
This can be used in conjunction with the FRE mode of FPUs in MIPS32R5
processors and allows both FP32 and FP64A code to interlink and run in the
same process without changing FPU modes.
400 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mabicalls
-mno-abicalls
Generate (do not generate) code that is suitable for SVR4-style dynamic ob-
jects. ‘-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’ generally makes 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 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_MIPS_GOT16 foobar
If this happens, you should recompile your code with ‘-mxgot’. This works with
very large GOTs, although the code is also less efficient, since it takes 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 401

-mfp64 Assume that floating-point registers are 64 bits wide.

-mfpxx Do not assume the width of floating-point registers.
-mhard-float
Use floating-point coprocessor instructions.
-msoft-float
Do not use floating-point coprocessor instructions. Implement floating-point
calculations using library calls instead.
-mno-float
Equivalent to ‘-msoft-float’, but additionally asserts that the program be-
ing compiled does not perform any floating-point operations. This option is
presently supported only by some bare-metal MIPS configurations, where it
may select a special set of libraries that lack all floating-point support (includ-
ing, for example, the floating-point printf formats). If code compiled with
‘-mno-float’ accidentally contains floating-point operations, it is likely to suf-
fer a link-time or run-time failure.
-msingle-float
Assume that the floating-point coprocessor only supports single-precision oper-
ations.
-mdouble-float
Assume that the floating-point coprocessor supports double-precision opera-
tions. This is the default.
-modd-spreg
-mno-odd-spreg
Enable the use of odd-numbered single-precision floating-point registers for the
o32 ABI. This is the default for processors that are known to support these
registers. When using the o32 FPXX ABI, ‘-mno-odd-spreg’ is set by default.
-mabs=2008
-mabs=legacy
These options control the treatment of the special not-a-number (NaN) IEEE
754 floating-point data with the abs.fmt and neg.fmt machine instructions.
By default or when ‘-mabs=legacy’ is used the legacy treatment is selected. In
this case these instructions are considered arithmetic and avoided where correct
operation is required and the input operand might be a NaN. A longer sequence
of instructions that manipulate the sign bit of floating-point datum manually is
used instead unless the ‘-ffinite-math-only’ option has also been specified.
The ‘-mabs=2008’ option selects the IEEE 754-2008 treatment. In this case
these instructions are considered non-arithmetic and therefore operating cor-
rectly in all cases, including in particular where the input operand is a NaN.
These instructions are therefore always used for the respective operations.
-mnan=2008
-mnan=legacy
These options control the encoding of the special not-a-number (NaN) IEEE
754 floating-point data.
402 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The ‘-mnan=legacy’ option selects the legacy encoding. In this case quiet NaNs
(qNaNs) are denoted by the first bit of their trailing significand field being 0,
whereas signaling NaNs (sNaNs) are denoted by the first bit of their trailing
significand field being 1.
The ‘-mnan=2008’ option selects the IEEE 754-2008 encoding. In this case
qNaNs are denoted by the first bit of their trailing significand field being 1,
whereas sNaNs are denoted by the first bit of their trailing significand field
being 0.
The default is ‘-mnan=legacy’ unless GCC has been configured with
‘--with-nan=2008’.

-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 uses 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 configu-
rations; see the installation documentation for details.

-mdsp
-mno-dsp Use (do not use) revision 1 of the MIPS DSP ASE. See Section 6.60.14 [MIPS
DSP Built-in Functions], page 776. 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. See Section 6.60.14 [MIPS
DSP Built-in Functions], page 776. 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. See Section 6.60.15
[MIPS Paired-Single Support], page 780. 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 403

-mips3d
-mno-mips3d
Use (do not use) the MIPS-3D ASE. See Section 6.60.16.3 [MIPS-3D Built-in
Functions], page 784. The option ‘-mips3d’ implies ‘-mpaired-single’.
-mmicromips
-mno-micromips
Generate (do not generate) microMIPS code.
MicroMIPS code generation can also be controlled on a per-function basis by
means of micromips and nomicromips attributes. See Section 6.33 [Function
Attributes], page 566, for more information.
-mmt
-mno-mt Use (do not use) MT Multithreading instructions.
-mmcu
-mno-mcu Use (do not use) the MIPS MCU ASE instructions.
-meva
-mno-eva Use (do not use) the MIPS Enhanced Virtual Addressing instructions.
-mvirt
-mno-virt
Use (do not use) the MIPS Virtualization (VZ) instructions.
-mxpa
-mno-xpa Use (do not use) the MIPS eXtended Physical Address (XPA) instructions.
-mcrc
-mno-crc Use (do not use) the MIPS Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) instructions.
-mginv
-mno-ginv
Use (do not use) the MIPS Global INValidate (GINV) instructions.
-mloongson-mmi
-mno-loongson-mmi
Use (do not use) the MIPS Loongson MultiMedia extensions Instructions
(MMI).
-mloongson-ext
-mno-loongson-ext
Use (do not use) the MIPS Loongson EXTensions (EXT) instructions.
-mloongson-ext2
-mno-loongson-ext2
Use (do not use) the MIPS Loongson EXTensions r2 (EXT2) 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 ints, longs and pointers depends on the ABI. All the
supported ABIs use 32-bit ints. The n64 ABI uses 64-bit longs, as does the
404 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

64-bit EABI; the others use 32-bit longs. Pointers are the same size as longs,
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 refer-
ences 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 generate more efficient accesses to
the data; 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 is in a small data section
if the size of 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 compil-
ing the library with the highest supported ‘-G’ setting and additionally us-
ing ‘-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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 405

‘-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 pass an unknown value
in $gp. (In such situations, the boot monitor itself is usually 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 de-
fault setting.

-mcode-readable=pcrel
MIPS16 PC-relative load instructions can access executable sec-
tions, 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 instruc-
tion/data SRAM interface but that (unlike the M4K) do not auto-
matically 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.
406 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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 as-
sembler 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’.
-mload-store-pairs
-mno-load-store-pairs
Enable (disable) an optimization that pairs consecutive load or store instruc-
tions to enable load/store bonding. This option is enabled by default but only
takes effect when the selected architecture is known to support bonding.
-munaligned-access
-mno-unaligned-access
Enable (disable) direct unaligned access for MIPS Release 6. MIPSr6 re-
quires load/store unaligned-access support, by hardware or trap&emulate. So
‘-mno-unaligned-access’ may be needed by kernel.
-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’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 407

-mmad
-mno-mad Enable (disable) use of the mad, madu and mul instructions, as provided by the
R4650 ISA.
-mimadd
-mno-imadd
Enable (disable) use of the madd and msub integer instructions. The default
is ‘-mimadd’ on architectures that support madd and msub except for the 74k
architecture where it was found to generate slower code.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Enable (disable) use of the floating-point multiply-accumulate instructions,
when they are available. The default is ‘-mfused-madd’.
On the R8000 CPU when multiply-accumulate instructions are used, the in-
termediate product is calculated to infinite precision and is not subject to the
FCSR Flush to Zero bit. This may be undesirable in some circumstances. On
other processors the result is numerically identical to the equivalent computa-
tion using separate multiply, add, subtract and negate instructions.
-nocpp Tell the MIPS assembler to not run its preprocessor over user assembler files
(with a ‘.s’ suffix) when assembling them.
-mfix-24k
-mno-fix-24k
Work around the 24K E48 (lost data on stores during refill) errata. The
workarounds are implemented by the assembler rather than by GCC.
-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.
408 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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-r5900
-mno-fix-r5900
Do not attempt to schedule the preceding instruction into the delay slot of a
branch instruction placed at the end of a short loop of six instructions or fewer
and always schedule a nop instruction there instead. The short loop bug under
certain conditions causes loops to execute only once or twice, due to a hardware
bug in the R5900 chip. The workaround is implemented by the assembler rather
than by GCC.
-mfix-rm7000
-mno-fix-rm7000
Work around the RM7000 dmult/dmultu errata. The workarounds are imple-
mented by the assembler rather than by GCC.
-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 configura-
tions.
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 avoids 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 is wrong.
However, on the R10K, even aborted instructions can have side effects.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 409

This problem only affects kernel stores and, depending on the system, kernel
loads. As an example, a speculatively-executed store may load the target mem-
ory 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 overwrites the DMA-ed data. See the
R10K processor manual for a full description, including other potential prob-
lems.
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 implemen-
tation of this workaround. It assumes that aborted accesses to any byte in the
following regions does 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 specula-
tively 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.
410 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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 that implement
those architectures; for those, Branch Likely instructions are not be generated
by default because the MIPS32 and MIPS64 architectures specifically deprecate
their use.

-mcompact-branches=never
-mcompact-branches=optimal
-mcompact-branches=always
These options control which form of branches will be generated. The default is
‘-mcompact-branches=optimal’.
The ‘-mcompact-branches=never’ option ensures that compact branch instruc-
tions will never be generated.
The ‘-mcompact-branches=always’ option ensures that a compact branch in-
struction will be generated if available for MIPS Release 6 onwards. If a compact
branch instruction is not available (or pre-R6), a delay slot form of the branch
will be used instead.
If it is used for MIPS16/microMIPS targets, it will be just ignored now. The
behaviour for MIPS16/microMIPS may change in future, since they do have
some compact branch instructions.
The ‘-mcompact-branches=optimal’ option will cause a delay slot branch to
be used if one is available in the current ISA and the delay slot is successfully
filled. If the delay slot is not filled, a compact branch will be chosen if one is
available.

-mfp-exceptions
-mno-fp-exceptions
Specifies whether FP exceptions are enabled. This affects how FP instructions
are scheduled for some processors. The default is that FP exceptions are en-
abled.
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
aligns pairs of instructions that it thinks should execute in parallel.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 411

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’.
-msynci
-mno-synci
Enable (disable) generation of synci instructions on architectures that sup-
port it. The synci instructions (if enabled) are generated when __builtin__
_clear_cache is compiled.
This option defaults to ‘-mno-synci’, but the default can be overridden by
configuring GCC with ‘--with-synci’.
When compiling code for single processor systems, it is generally safe to use
synci. However, on many multi-core (SMP) systems, it does not invalidate the
instruction caches on all cores and may lead to undefined behavior.
-mrelax-pic-calls
-mno-relax-pic-calls
Try to turn PIC calls that are normally dispatched via register $25 into direct
calls. This is only possible if the linker can resolve the destination at link time
and if the destination is within range for a direct call.
‘-mrelax-pic-calls’ is the default if GCC was configured to use an
assembler and a linker that support the .reloc assembly directive and
‘-mexplicit-relocs’ is in effect. With ‘-mno-explicit-relocs’, this
optimization can be performed by the assembler and the linker alone without
help from the compiler.
-mmcount-ra-address
-mno-mcount-ra-address
Emit (do not emit) code that allows _mcount to modify the calling function’s
return address. When enabled, this option extends the usual _mcount interface
with a new ra-address parameter, which has type intptr_t * and is passed in
register $12. _mcount can then modify the return address by doing both of the
following:
• Returning the new address in register $31.
• Storing the new address in *ra-address, if ra-address is nonnull.
The default is ‘-mno-mcount-ra-address’.
-mframe-header-opt
-mno-frame-header-opt
Enable (disable) frame header optimization in the o32 ABI. When using the o32
ABI, calling functions will allocate 16 bytes on the stack for the called function
to write out register arguments. When enabled, this optimization will suppress
the allocation of the frame header if it can be determined that it is unused.
This optimization is off by default at all optimization levels.
-mlxc1-sxc1
-mno-lxc1-sxc1
When applicable, enable (disable) the generation of lwxc1, swxc1, ldxc1, sdxc1
instructions. Enabled by default.
412 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mmadd4
-mno-madd4
When applicable, enable (disable) the generation of 4-operand madd.s, madd.d
and related instructions. Enabled by default.

3.19.29 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 predic-
tion 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)
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 413

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.

3.19.30 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 using features specific to the AM33 processor.
-mno-am33
Do not generate code using features specific to the AM33 processor. This is the
default.
-mam33-2 Generate code using features specific to the AM33/2.0 processor.
-mam34 Generate code using features specific to the AM34 processor.
-mtune=cpu-type
Use the timing characteristics of the indicated CPU type when scheduling in-
structions. This does not change the targeted processor type. The CPU type
must be one of ‘mn10300’, ‘am33’, ‘am33-2’ or ‘am34’.
-mreturn-pointer-on-d0
When generating a function that 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 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.
-mliw Allow the compiler to generate Long Instruction Word instructions if the target
is the ‘AM33’ or later. This is the default. This option defines the preprocessor
macro __LIW__.
414 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mno-liw Do not allow the compiler to generate Long Instruction Word instructions. This
option defines the preprocessor macro __NO_LIW__.
-msetlb Allow the compiler to generate the SETLB and Lcc instructions if the target
is the ‘AM33’ or later. This is the default. This option defines the preprocessor
macro __SETLB__.
-mno-setlb
Do not allow the compiler to generate SETLB or Lcc instructions. This option
defines the preprocessor macro __NO_SETLB__.

3.19.31 Moxie Options

-meb Generate big-endian code. This is the default for ‘moxie-*-*’ configurations.
-mel Generate little-endian code.
-mmul.x Generate mul.x and umul.x instructions. This is the default for ‘moxiebox-*-*’
configurations.
-mno-crt0
Do not link in the C run-time initialization object file.

3.19.32 MSP430 Options

These options are defined for the MSP430:
-masm-hex
Force assembly output to always use hex constants. Normally such constants
are signed decimals, but this option is available for testsuite and/or aesthetic
purposes.
-mmcu= Select the MCU to target. This is used to create a C preprocessor symbol
based upon the MCU name, converted to upper case and pre- and post-fixed
with ‘__’. This in turn is used by the ‘msp430.h’ header file to select an MCU-
specific supplementary header file.
The option also sets the ISA to use. If the MCU name is one that is known
to only support the 430 ISA then that is selected, otherwise the 430X ISA is
selected. A generic MCU name of ‘msp430’ can also be used to select the 430
ISA. Similarly the generic ‘msp430x’ MCU name selects the 430X ISA.
In addition an MCU-specific linker script is added to the linker command line.
The script’s name is the name of the MCU with ‘.ld’ appended. Thus specifying
‘-mmcu=xxx’ on the gcc command line defines the C preprocessor symbol __XXX_
_ and cause the linker to search for a script called ‘xxx.ld’.
The ISA and hardware multiply supported for the different MCUs is hard-coded
into GCC. However, an external ‘devices.csv’ file can be used to extend device
support beyond those that have been hard-coded.
GCC searches for the ‘devices.csv’ file using the following methods in the
given precedence order, where the first method takes precendence over the sec-
ond which takes precedence over the third.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 415

Include path specified with -I and -L

‘devices.csv’ will be searched for in each of the directories speci-
fied by include paths and linker library search paths.
Path specified by the environment variable ‘MSP430_GCC_INCLUDE_DIR’
Define the value of the global environment variable
‘MSP430_GCC_INCLUDE_DIR’ to the full path to the directory
containing devices.csv, and GCC will search this directory for
devices.csv. If devices.csv is found, this directory will also be
registered as an include path, and linker library path. Header files
and linker scripts in this directory can therefore be used without
manually specifying -I and -L on the command line.
The ‘msp430-elf{,bare}/include/devices’ directory
Finally, GCC will examine ‘msp430-elf{,bare}/include/devices’
from the toolchain root directory. This directory does not exist
in a default installation, but if the user has created it and copied
‘devices.csv’ there, then the MCU data will be read. As above,
this directory will also be registered as an include path, and linker
library path.
If none of the above search methods find ‘devices.csv’, then the hard-coded
MCU data is used.
-mwarn-mcu
-mno-warn-mcu
This option enables or disables warnings about conflicts between the MCU name
specified by the ‘-mmcu’ option and the ISA set by the ‘-mcpu’ option and/or
the hardware multiply support set by the ‘-mhwmult’ option. It also toggles
warnings about unrecognized MCU names. This option is on by default.
-mcpu= Specifies the ISA to use. Accepted values are ‘msp430’, ‘msp430x’ and
‘msp430xv2’. This option is deprecated. The ‘-mmcu=’ option should be used
to select the ISA.
-msim Link to the simulator runtime libraries and linker script. Overrides any scripts
that would be selected by the ‘-mmcu=’ option.
-mlarge Use large-model addressing (20-bit pointers, 20-bit size_t).
-msmall Use small-model addressing (16-bit pointers, 16-bit size_t).
-mrelax This option is passed to the assembler and linker, and allows the linker to
perform certain optimizations that cannot be done until the final link.
mhwmult= Describes the type of hardware multiply supported by the target. Accepted
values are ‘none’ for no hardware multiply, ‘16bit’ for the original 16-bit-only
multiply supported by early MCUs. ‘32bit’ for the 16/32-bit multiply sup-
ported by later MCUs and ‘f5series’ for the 16/32-bit multiply supported by
F5-series MCUs. A value of ‘auto’ can also be given. This tells GCC to deduce
the hardware multiply support based upon the MCU name provided by the
‘-mmcu’ option. If no ‘-mmcu’ option is specified or if the MCU name is not
416 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

recognized then no hardware multiply support is assumed. auto is the default

setting.
Hardware multiplies are normally performed by calling a library routine. This
saves space in the generated code. When compiling at ‘-O3’ or higher however
the hardware multiplier is invoked inline. This makes for bigger, but faster
code.
The hardware multiply routines disable interrupts whilst running and restore
the previous interrupt state when they finish. This makes them safe to use
inside interrupt handlers as well as in normal code.
-minrt Enable the use of a minimum runtime environment - no static initializers or
constructors. This is intended for memory-constrained devices. The compiler
includes special symbols in some objects that tell the linker and runtime which
code fragments are required.
-mtiny-printf
Enable reduced code size printf and puts library functions. The ‘tiny’ imple-
mentations of these functions are not reentrant, so must be used with caution
in multi-threaded applications.
Support for streams has been removed and the string to be printed will always
be sent to stdout via the write syscall. The string is not buffered before it is
sent to write.
This option requires Newlib Nano IO, so GCC must be configured with
‘--enable-newlib-nano-formatted-io’.
-mmax-inline-shift=
This option takes an integer between 0 and 64 inclusive, and sets the maximum
number of inline shift instructions which should be emitted to perform a shift
operation by a constant amount. When this value needs to be exceeded, an
mspabi helper function is used instead. The default value is 4.
This only affects cases where a shift by multiple positions cannot be completed
with a single instruction (e.g. all shifts >1 on the 430 ISA).
Shifts of a 32-bit value are at least twice as costly, so the value passed for this
option is divided by 2 and the resulting value used instead.
-mcode-region=
-mdata-region=
These options tell the compiler where to place functions and data that do not
have one of the lower, upper, either or section attributes. Possible values
are lower, upper, either or any. The first three behave like the corresponding
attribute. The fourth possible value - any - is the default. It leaves placement
entirely up to the linker script and how it assigns the standard sections (.text,
.data, etc) to the memory regions.
-msilicon-errata=
This option passes on a request to assembler to enable the fixes for the named
silicon errata.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 417

-msilicon-errata-warn=
This option passes on a request to the assembler to enable warning messages
when a silicon errata might need to be applied.
-mwarn-devices-csv
-mno-warn-devices-csv
Warn if ‘devices.csv’ is not found or there are problem parsing it (default:
on).

3.19.33 NDS32 Options

These options are defined for NDS32 implementations:
-mbig-endian
Generate code in big-endian mode.
-mlittle-endian
Generate code in little-endian mode.
-mreduced-regs
Use reduced-set registers for register allocation.
-mfull-regs
Use full-set registers for register allocation.
-mcmov Generate conditional move instructions.
-mno-cmov
Do not generate conditional move instructions.
-mext-perf
Generate performance extension instructions.
-mno-ext-perf
Do not generate performance extension instructions.
-mext-perf2
Generate performance extension 2 instructions.
-mno-ext-perf2
Do not generate performance extension 2 instructions.
-mext-string
Generate string extension instructions.
-mno-ext-string
Do not generate string extension instructions.
-mv3push Generate v3 push25/pop25 instructions.
-mno-v3push
Do not generate v3 push25/pop25 instructions.
-m16-bit Generate 16-bit instructions.
-mno-16-bit
Do not generate 16-bit instructions.
418 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-misr-vector-size=num
Specify the size of each interrupt vector, which must be 4 or 16.
-mcache-block-size=num
Specify the size of each cache block, which must be a power of 2 between 4 and
512.
-march=arch
Specify the name of the target architecture.
-mcmodel=code-model
Set the code model to one of
‘small’ All the data and read-only data segments must be within 512KB
addressing space. The text segment must be within 16MB address-
ing space.
‘medium’ The data segment must be within 512KB while the read-only data
segment can be within 4GB addressing space. The text segment
should be still within 16MB addressing space.
‘large’ All the text and data segments can be within 4GB addressing space.
-mctor-dtor
Enable constructor/destructor feature.
-mrelax Guide linker to relax instructions.

3.19.34 Nios II Options

These are the options defined for the Altera Nios II processor.
-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.
-mgpopt=option
-mgpopt
-mno-gpopt
Generate (do not generate) GP-relative accesses. The following option names
are recognized:
‘none’ Do not generate GP-relative accesses.
‘local’ Generate GP-relative accesses for small data objects that are not
external, weak, or uninitialized common symbols. Also use GP-
relative addressing for objects that have been explicitly placed in a
small data section via a section attribute.
‘global’ As for ‘local’, but also generate GP-relative accesses for small data
objects that are external, weak, or common. If you use this option,
you must ensure that all parts of your program (including libraries)
are compiled with the same ‘-G’ setting.
‘data’ Generate GP-relative accesses for all data objects in the program.
If you use this option, the entire data and BSS segments of your
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 419

program must fit in 64K of memory and you must use an appropri-
ate linker script to allocate them within the addressable range of
the global pointer.
‘all’ Generate GP-relative addresses for function pointers as well as data
pointers. If you use this option, the entire text, data, and BSS
segments of your program must fit in 64K of memory and you
must use an appropriate linker script to allocate them within the
addressable range of the global pointer.
‘-mgpopt’ is equivalent to ‘-mgpopt=local’, and ‘-mno-gpopt’ is equivalent to
‘-mgpopt=none’.
The default is ‘-mgpopt’ except when ‘-fpic’ or ‘-fPIC’ is specified to generate
position-independent code. Note that the Nios II ABI does not permit GP-
relative accesses from shared libraries.
You may need to specify ‘-mno-gpopt’ explicitly when building programs that
include large amounts of small data, including large GOT data sections. In this
case, the 16-bit offset for GP-relative addressing may not be large enough to
allow access to the entire small data section.
-mgprel-sec=regexp
This option specifies additional section names that can be accessed via GP-
relative addressing. It is most useful in conjunction with section attributes
on variable declarations (see Section 6.34.1 [Common Variable Attributes],
page 633) and a custom linker script. The regexp is a POSIX Extended Regular
Expression.
This option does not affect the behavior of the ‘-G’ option, and the specified
sections are in addition to the standard .sdata and .sbss small-data sections
that are recognized by ‘-mgpopt’.
-mr0rel-sec=regexp
This option specifies names of sections that can be accessed via a 16-bit offset
from r0; that is, in the low 32K or high 32K of the 32-bit address space. It is
most useful in conjunction with section attributes on variable declarations (see
Section 6.34.1 [Common Variable Attributes], page 633) and a custom linker
script. The regexp is a POSIX Extended Regular Expression.
In contrast to the use of GP-relative addressing for small data, zero-based
addressing is never generated by default and there are no conventional section
names used in standard linker scripts for sections in the low or high areas of
memory.
-mel
-meb Generate little-endian (default) or big-endian (experimental) code, respectively.
-march=arch
This specifies the name of the target Nios II architecture. GCC uses this name
to determine what kind of instructions it can emit when generating assembly
code. Permissible names are: ‘r1’, ‘r2’.
The preprocessor macro __nios2_arch__ is available to programs, with value
1 or 2, indicating the targeted ISA level.
420 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mbypass-cache
-mno-bypass-cache
Force all load and store instructions to always bypass cache by using I/O vari-
ants of the instructions. The default is not to bypass the cache.
-mno-cache-volatile
-mcache-volatile
Volatile memory access bypass the cache using the I/O variants of the load and
store instructions. The default is not to bypass the cache.
-mno-fast-sw-div
-mfast-sw-div
Do not use table-based fast divide for small numbers. The default is to use the
fast divide at ‘-O3’ and above.
-mno-hw-mul
-mhw-mul
-mno-hw-mulx
-mhw-mulx
-mno-hw-div
-mhw-div Enable or disable emitting mul, mulx and div family of instructions by the
compiler. The default is to emit mul and not emit div and mulx.
-mbmx
-mno-bmx
-mcdx
-mno-cdx Enable or disable generation of Nios II R2 BMX (bit manipulation) and
CDX (code density) instructions. Enabling these instructions also requires
‘-march=r2’. Since these instructions are optional extensions to the R2
architecture, the default is not to emit them.
-mcustom-insn=N
-mno-custom-insn
Each ‘-mcustom-insn=N’ option enables use of a custom instruction
with encoding N when generating code that uses insn. For example,
‘-mcustom-fadds=253’ generates custom instruction 253 for single-precision
floating-point add operations instead of the default behavior of using a library
call.
The following values of insn are supported. Except as otherwise noted, floating-
point operations are expected to be implemented with normal IEEE 754 seman-
tics and correspond directly to the C operators or the equivalent GCC built-in
functions (see Section 6.59 [Other Builtins], page 739).
Single-precision floating point:
‘fadds’, ‘fsubs’, ‘fdivs’, ‘fmuls’
Binary arithmetic operations.
‘fnegs’ Unary negation.
‘fabss’ Unary absolute value.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 421

‘fcmpeqs’, ‘fcmpges’, ‘fcmpgts’, ‘fcmples’, ‘fcmplts’, ‘fcmpnes’

Comparison operations.
‘fmins’, ‘fmaxs’
Floating-point minimum and maximum. These instructions are
only generated if ‘-ffinite-math-only’ is specified.
‘fsqrts’ Unary square root operation.
‘fcoss’, ‘fsins’, ‘ftans’, ‘fatans’, ‘fexps’, ‘flogs’
Floating-point trigonometric and exponential functions. These in-
structions are only generated if ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’
is also specified.
Double-precision floating point:
‘faddd’, ‘fsubd’, ‘fdivd’, ‘fmuld’
Binary arithmetic operations.
‘fnegd’ Unary negation.
‘fabsd’ Unary absolute value.
‘fcmpeqd’, ‘fcmpged’, ‘fcmpgtd’, ‘fcmpled’, ‘fcmpltd’, ‘fcmpned’
Comparison operations.
‘fmind’, ‘fmaxd’
Double-precision minimum and maximum. These instructions are
only generated if ‘-ffinite-math-only’ is specified.
‘fsqrtd’ Unary square root operation.
‘fcosd’, ‘fsind’, ‘ftand’, ‘fatand’, ‘fexpd’, ‘flogd’
Double-precision trigonometric and exponential functions. These
instructions are only generated if ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’
is also specified.
Conversions:
‘fextsd’ Conversion from single precision to double precision.
‘ftruncds’
Conversion from double precision to single precision.
‘fixsi’, ‘fixsu’, ‘fixdi’, ‘fixdu’
Conversion from floating point to signed or unsigned integer types,
with truncation towards zero.
‘round’ Conversion from single-precision floating point to signed integer,
rounding to the nearest integer and ties away from zero.
This corresponds to the __builtin_lroundf function when
‘-fno-math-errno’ is used.
‘floatis’, ‘floatus’, ‘floatid’, ‘floatud’
Conversion from signed or unsigned integer types to floating-point
types.
422 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

In addition, all of the following transfer instructions for internal registers X and
Y must be provided to use any of the double-precision floating-point instruc-
tions. Custom instructions taking two double-precision source operands expect
the first operand in the 64-bit register X. The other operand (or only operand
of a unary operation) is given to the custom arithmetic instruction with the
least significant half in source register src1 and the most significant half in src2.
A custom instruction that returns a double-precision result returns the most
significant 32 bits in the destination register and the other half in 32-bit register
Y. GCC automatically generates the necessary code sequences to write register
X and/or read register Y when double-precision floating-point instructions are
used.
‘fwrx’ Write src1 into the least significant half of X and src2 into the most
significant half of X.
‘fwry’ Write src1 into Y.
‘frdxhi’, ‘frdxlo’
Read the most or least (respectively) significant half of X and store
it in dest.
‘frdy’ Read the value of Y and store it into dest.
Note that you can gain more local control over generation of Nios II custom in-
structions by using the target("custom-insn=N") and target("no-custom-
insn") function attributes (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566)
or pragmas (see Section 6.62.15 [Function Specific Option Pragmas], page 891).
-mcustom-fpu-cfg=name
This option enables a predefined, named set of custom instruction encodings
(see ‘-mcustom-insn’ above). Currently, the following sets are defined:
‘-mcustom-fpu-cfg=60-1’ is equivalent to:
-mcustom-fmuls=252
-mcustom-fadds=253
-mcustom-fsubs=254
-fsingle-precision-constant
‘-mcustom-fpu-cfg=60-2’ is equivalent to:
-mcustom-fmuls=252
-mcustom-fadds=253
-mcustom-fsubs=254
-mcustom-fdivs=255
-fsingle-precision-constant
‘-mcustom-fpu-cfg=72-3’ is equivalent to:
-mcustom-floatus=243
-mcustom-fixsi=244
-mcustom-floatis=245
-mcustom-fcmpgts=246
-mcustom-fcmples=249
-mcustom-fcmpeqs=250
-mcustom-fcmpnes=251
-mcustom-fmuls=252
-mcustom-fadds=253
-mcustom-fsubs=254
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 423

-mcustom-fdivs=255
-fsingle-precision-constant

‘-mcustom-fpu-cfg=fph2’ is equivalent to:

-mcustom-fabss=224
-mcustom-fnegs=225
-mcustom-fcmpnes=226
-mcustom-fcmpeqs=227
-mcustom-fcmpges=228
-mcustom-fcmpgts=229
-mcustom-fcmples=230
-mcustom-fcmplts=231
-mcustom-fmaxs=232
-mcustom-fmins=233
-mcustom-round=248
-mcustom-fixsi=249
-mcustom-floatis=250
-mcustom-fsqrts=251
-mcustom-fmuls=252
-mcustom-fadds=253
-mcustom-fsubs=254
-mcustom-fdivs=255

Custom instruction assignments given by individual ‘-mcustom-insn=’ options

override those given by ‘-mcustom-fpu-cfg=’, regardless of the order of the
options on the command line.
Note that you can gain more local control over selection of a FPU configu-
ration by using the target("custom-fpu-cfg=name") function attribute (see
Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566) or pragma (see Section 6.62.15
[Function Specific Option Pragmas], page 891).
The name fph2 is an abbreviation for Nios II Floating Point Hardware
2 Component. Please note that the custom instructions enabled by
‘-mcustom-fmins=233’ and ‘-mcustom-fmaxs=234’ are only generated if
‘-ffinite-math-only’ is specified. The custom instruction enabled by
‘-mcustom-round=248’ is only generated if ‘-fno-math-errno’ is specified. In
contrast to the other configurations, ‘-fsingle-precision-constant’ is not
set.

These additional ‘-m’ options are available for the Altera Nios II ELF (bare-metal) target:

-mhal Link with HAL BSP. This suppresses linking with the GCC-provided C run-
time startup and termination code, and is typically used in conjunction with
‘-msys-crt0=’ to specify the location of the alternate startup code provided by
the HAL BSP.

-msmallc Link with a limited version of the C library, ‘-lsmallc’, rather than Newlib.

-msys-crt0=startfile
startfile is the file name of the startfile (crt0) to use when linking. This option
is only useful in conjunction with ‘-mhal’.
424 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-msys-lib=systemlib
systemlib is the library name of the library that provides low-level system calls
required by the C library, e.g. read and write. This option is typically used to
link with a library provided by a HAL BSP.

3.19.35 Nvidia PTX Options

These options are defined for Nvidia PTX:
-m64 Ignored, but preserved for backward compatibility. Only 64-bit ABI is sup-
ported.
-march=architecture-string
Generate code for the specified PTX ISA target architecture (e.g. ‘sm_35’).
Valid architecture strings are ‘sm_30’, ‘sm_35’, ‘sm_53’, ‘sm_70’, ‘sm_75’ and
‘sm_80’. The default depends on how the compiler has been configured, see
‘--with-arch’.
This option sets the value of the preprocessor macro __PTX_SM__; for instance,
for ‘sm_35’, it has the value ‘350’.
-misa=architecture-string
Alias of ‘-march=’.
-march-map=architecture-string
Select the closest available ‘-march=’ value that is not more capable.
For instance, for ‘-march-map=sm_50’ select ‘-march=sm_35’, and for
‘-march-map=sm_53’ select ‘-march=sm_53’.
-mptx=version-string
Generate code for the specified PTX ISA version (e.g. ‘7.0’). Valid version
strings include ‘3.1’, ‘6.0’, ‘6.3’, and ‘7.0’. The default PTX ISA version is
6.0, unless a higher version is required for specified PTX ISA target architecture
via option ‘-march=’.
This option sets the values of the preprocessor macros __PTX_ISA_VERSION_
MAJOR__ and __PTX_ISA_VERSION_MINOR__; for instance, for ‘3.1’ the macros
have the values ‘3’ and ‘1’, respectively.
-mmainkernel
Link in code for a main kernel. This is for stand-alone instead of offloading
execution.
-moptimize
Apply partitioned execution optimizations. This is the default when any level
of optimization is selected.
-msoft-stack
Generate code that does not use .local memory directly for stack storage.
Instead, a per-warp stack pointer is maintained explicitly. This enables variable-
length stack allocation (with variable-length arrays or alloca), and when global
memory is used for underlying storage, makes it possible to access automatic
variables from other threads, or with atomic instructions. This code generation
variant is used for OpenMP offloading, but the option is exposed on its own for
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 425

the purpose of testing the compiler; to generate code suitable for linking into
programs using OpenMP offloading, use option ‘-mgomp’.
-muniform-simt
Switch to code generation variant that allows to execute all threads in each
warp, while maintaining memory state and side effects as if only one thread in
each warp was active outside of OpenMP SIMD regions. All atomic operations
and calls to runtime (malloc, free, vprintf) are conditionally executed (iff current
lane index equals the master lane index), and the register being assigned is
copied via a shuffle instruction from the master lane. Outside of SIMD regions
lane 0 is the master; inside, each thread sees itself as the master. Shared
memory array int __nvptx_uni[] stores all-zeros or all-ones bitmasks for each
warp, indicating current mode (0 outside of SIMD regions). Each thread can
bitwise-and the bitmask at position tid.y with current lane index to compute
the master lane index.
-mgomp Generate code for use in OpenMP offloading: enables ‘-msoft-stack’ and
‘-muniform-simt’ options, and selects corresponding multilib variant.

3.19.36 OpenRISC Options

These options are defined for OpenRISC:
-mboard=name
Configure a board specific runtime. This will be passed to the linker for newlib
board library linking. The default is or1ksim.
-mnewlib This option is ignored; it is for compatibility purposes only. This used to select
linker and preprocessor options for use with newlib.
-msoft-div
-mhard-div
Select software or hardware divide (l.div, l.divu) instructions. This default
is hardware divide.
-msoft-mul
-mhard-mul
Select software or hardware multiply (l.mul, l.muli) instructions. This default
is hardware multiply.
-msoft-float
-mhard-float
Select software or hardware for floating point operations. The default is soft-
ware.
-mdouble-float
When ‘-mhard-float’ is selected, enables generation of double-precision float-
ing point instructions. By default functions from ‘libgcc’ are used to perform
double-precision floating point operations.
-munordered-float
When ‘-mhard-float’ is selected, enables generation of unordered floating
point compare and set flag (lf.sfun*) instructions. By default functions from
426 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘libgcc’ are used to perform unordered floating point compare and set flag
operations.
-mcmov Enable generation of conditional move (l.cmov) instructions. By default the
equivalent will be generated using set and branch.
-mror Enable generation of rotate right (l.ror) instructions. By default functions
from ‘libgcc’ are used to perform rotate right operations.
-mrori Enable generation of rotate right with immediate (l.rori) instructions. By
default functions from ‘libgcc’ are used to perform rotate right with immediate
operations.
-msext Enable generation of sign extension (l.ext*) instructions. By default memory
loads are used to perform sign extension.
-msfimm Enable generation of compare and set flag with immediate (l.sf*i) instruc-
tions. By default extra instructions will be generated to store the immediate
to a register first.
-mshftimm
Enable generation of shift with immediate (l.srai, l.srli, l.slli) instruc-
tions. By default extra instructions will be generated to store the immediate
to a register first.
-mcmodel=small
Generate OpenRISC code for the small model: The GOT is limited to 64k.
This is the default model.
-mcmodel=large
Generate OpenRISC code for the large model: The GOT may grow up to 4G
in size.

3.19.37 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.) Implies -m45.
-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. Implies -msoft-float -mno-split.
-m45 Generate code for a PDP-11/45. This is the default.
-m10 Generate code for a PDP-11/10. Implies -msoft-float -mno-split.
-mint16
-mno-int32
Use 16-bit int. This is the default.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 427

-mint32
-mno-int16
Use 32-bit int.
-msplit Target has split instruction and data space. Implies -m45.
-munix-asm
Use Unix assembler syntax.
-mdec-asm
Use DEC assembler syntax.
-mgnu-asm
Use GNU assembler syntax. This is the default.
-mlra Use the new LRA register allocator. By default, the old “reload” allocator is
used.

3.19.38 PowerPC Options

These are listed under See Section 3.19.42 [RS/6000 and PowerPC Options], page 433.

3.19.39 PRU Options

These command-line options are defined for PRU target:
-minrt Link with a minimum runtime environment, with no support for static initial-
izers and constructors. Using this option can significantly reduce the size of
the final ELF binary. Beware that the compiler could still generate code with
static initializers and constructors. It is up to the programmer to ensure that
the source program will not use those features.
-mmcu=mcu
Specify the PRU MCU variant to use. Check Newlib for the exact list of
supported MCUs.
-mno-relax
Make GCC pass the ‘--no-relax’ command-line option to the linker instead
of the ‘--relax’ option.
-mloop Allow (or do not allow) GCC to use the LOOP instruction.
-mabi=variant
Specify the ABI variant to output code for. ‘-mabi=ti’ selects the unmodified
TI ABI while ‘-mabi=gnu’ selects a GNU variant that copes more naturally
with certain GCC assumptions. These are the differences:
‘Function Pointer Size’
TI ABI specifies that function (code) pointers are 16-bit, whereas
GNU supports only 32-bit data and code pointers.
‘Optional Return Value Pointer’
Function return values larger than 64 bits are passed by using a hid-
den pointer as the first argument of the function. TI ABI, though,
mandates that the pointer can be NULL in case the caller is not
428 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

using the returned value. GNU always passes and expects a valid
return value pointer.
The current ‘-mabi=ti’ implementation simply raises a compile error when any
of the above code constructs is detected. As a consequence the standard C
library cannot be built and it is omitted when linking with ‘-mabi=ti’.
Relaxation is a GNU feature and for safety reasons is disabled when using
‘-mabi=ti’. The TI toolchain does not emit relocations for QBBx instructions,
so the GNU linker cannot adjust them when shortening adjacent LDI32 pseudo
instructions.

3.19.40 RISC-V Options

These command-line options are defined for RISC-V targets:
-mbranch-cost=n
Set the cost of branches to roughly n instructions.
-mplt
-mno-plt When generating PIC code, do or don’t allow the use of PLTs. Ignored for
non-PIC. The default is ‘-mplt’.
-mabi=ABI-string
Specify integer and floating-point calling convention. ABI-string contains two
parts: the size of integer types and the registers used for floating-point types.
For example ‘-march=rv64ifd -mabi=lp64d’ means that ‘long’ and pointers
are 64-bit (implicitly defining ‘int’ to be 32-bit), and that floating-point values
up to 64 bits wide are passed in F registers. Contrast this with ‘-march=rv64ifd
-mabi=lp64f’, which still allows the compiler to generate code that uses the
F and D extensions but only allows floating-point values up to 32 bits long to
be passed in registers; or ‘-march=rv64ifd -mabi=lp64’, in which no floating-
point arguments will be passed in registers.
The default for this argument is system dependent, users who want a spe-
cific calling convention should specify one explicitly. The valid calling con-
ventions are: ‘ilp32’, ‘ilp32f’, ‘ilp32d’, ‘lp64’, ‘lp64f’, and ‘lp64d’. Some
calling conventions are impossible to implement on some ISAs: for example,
‘-march=rv32if -mabi=ilp32d’ is invalid because the ABI requires 64-bit val-
ues be passed in F registers, but F registers are only 32 bits wide. There is also
the ‘ilp32e’ ABI that can only be used with the ‘rv32e’ architecture. This
ABI is not well specified at present, and is subject to change.
-mfdiv
-mno-fdiv
Do or don’t use hardware floating-point divide and square root instructions.
This requires the F or D extensions for floating-point registers. The default is
to use them if the specified architecture has these instructions.
-mdiv
-mno-div Do or don’t use hardware instructions for integer division. This requires the
M extension. The default is to use them if the specified architecture has these
instructions.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 429

-misa-spec=ISA-spec-string
Specify the version of the RISC-V Unprivileged (formerly User-Level) ISA spec-
ification to produce code conforming to. The possibilities for ISA-spec-string
are:
2.2 Produce code conforming to version 2.2.
20190608 Produce code conforming to version 20190608.
20191213 Produce code conforming to version 20191213.
The default is ‘-misa-spec=20191213’ unless GCC has been configured with
‘--with-isa-spec=’ specifying a different default version.
-march=ISA-string
Generate code for given RISC-V ISA (e.g. ‘rv64im’). ISA strings must be
lower-case. Examples include ‘rv64i’, ‘rv32g’, ‘rv32e’, and ‘rv32imaf’.
When ‘-march=’ is not specified, use the setting from ‘-mcpu’.
If both ‘-march’ and ‘-mcpu=’ are not specified, the default for this argument
is system dependent, users who want a specific architecture extensions should
specify one explicitly.
-mcpu=processor-string
Use architecture of and optimize the output for the given processor, specified
by particular CPU name. Permissible values for this option are: ‘sifive-e20’,
‘sifive-e21’, ‘sifive-e24’, ‘sifive-e31’, ‘sifive-e34’, ‘sifive-e76’,
‘sifive-s21’, ‘sifive-s51’, ‘sifive-s54’, ‘sifive-s76’, ‘sifive-u54’, and
‘sifive-u74’.
-mtune=processor-string
Optimize the output for the given processor, specified by microarchitecture
or particular CPU name. Permissible values for this option are: ‘rocket’,
‘sifive-3-series’, ‘sifive-5-series’, ‘sifive-7-series’, ‘thead-c906’,
‘size’, and all valid options for ‘-mcpu=’.
When ‘-mtune=’ is not specified, use the setting from ‘-mcpu’, the default is
‘rocket’ if both are not specified.
The ‘size’ choice is not intended for use by end-users. This is used when ‘-Os’
is specified. It overrides the instruction cost info provided by ‘-mtune=’, but
does not override the pipeline info. This helps reduce code size while still giving
good performance.
-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).
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.
-msmall-data-limit=n
Put global and static data smaller than n bytes into a special section (on some
targets).
430 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-msave-restore
-mno-save-restore
Do or don’t use smaller but slower prologue and epilogue code that uses library
function calls. The default is to use fast inline prologues and epilogues.

-mshorten-memrefs
-mno-shorten-memrefs
Do or do not attempt to make more use of compressed load/store instructions
by replacing a load/store of ’base register + large offset’ with a new load/store
of ’new base + small offset’. If the new base gets stored in a compressed register,
then the new load/store can be compressed. Currently targets 32-bit integer
load/stores only.

-mstrict-align
-mno-strict-align
Do not or do generate unaligned memory accesses. The default is set depending
on whether the processor we are optimizing for supports fast unaligned access
or not.

-mcmodel=medlow
Generate code for the medium-low code model. The program and its statically
defined symbols must lie within a single 2 GiB address range and must lie
between absolute addresses −2 GiB and +2 GiB. Programs can be statically or
dynamically linked. This is the default code model.

-mcmodel=medany
Generate code for the medium-any code model. The program and its statically
defined symbols must be within any single 2 GiB address range. Programs can
be statically or dynamically linked.
The code generated by the medium-any code model is position-independent, but
is not guaranteed to function correctly when linked into position-independent
executables or libraries.

-mexplicit-relocs
-mno-exlicit-relocs
Use or do not use assembler relocation operators when dealing with symbolic
addresses. The alternative is to use assembler macros instead, which may limit
optimization.

-mrelax
-mno-relax
Take advantage of linker relaxations to reduce the number of instructions re-
quired to materialize symbol addresses. The default is to take advantage of
linker relaxations.

-mriscv-attribute
-mno-riscv-attribute
Emit (do not emit) RISC-V attribute to record extra information into ELF
objects. This feature requires at least binutils 2.32.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 431

-mcsr-check
-mno-csr-check
Enables or disables the CSR checking.
-malign-data=type
Control how GCC aligns variables and constants of array, structure, or union
types. Supported values for type are ‘xlen’ which uses x register width as the
alignment value, and ‘natural’ which uses natural alignment. ‘xlen’ is the
default.
-mbig-endian
Generate big-endian code. This is the default when GCC is configured for a
‘riscv64be-*-*’ or ‘riscv32be-*-*’ target.
-mlittle-endian
Generate little-endian code. This is the default when GCC is configured
for a ‘riscv64-*-*’ or ‘riscv32-*-*’ but not a ‘riscv64be-*-*’ or
‘riscv32be-*-*’ target.
-mstack-protector-guard=guard
-mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg
-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset
Generate stack protection code using canary at guard. Supported locations are
‘global’ for a global canary or ‘tls’ for per-thread canary in the TLS block.
With the latter choice the options ‘-mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg’ and
‘-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset’ furthermore specify which regis-
ter to use as base register for reading the canary, and from what offset from
that base register. There is no default register or offset as this is entirely for
use within the Linux kernel.

3.19.41 RL78 Options

-msim Links in additional target libraries to support operation within a simulator.
-mmul=none
-mmul=g10
-mmul=g13
-mmul=g14
-mmul=rl78
Specifies the type of hardware multiplication and division support to be used.
The simplest is none, which uses software for both multiplication and division.
This is the default. The g13 value is for the hardware multiply/divide peripheral
found on the RL78/G13 (S2 core) targets. The g14 value selects the use of the
multiplication and division instructions supported by the RL78/G14 (S3 core)
parts. The value rl78 is an alias for g14 and the value mg10 is an alias for
none.
In addition a C preprocessor macro is defined, based upon the setting of this
option. Possible values are: __RL78_MUL_NONE__, __RL78_MUL_G13__ or __
RL78_MUL_G14__.
432 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mcpu=g10
-mcpu=g13
-mcpu=g14
-mcpu=rl78
Specifies the RL78 core to target. The default is the G14 core, also known
as an S3 core or just RL78. The G13 or S2 core does not have multiply or
divide instructions, instead it uses a hardware peripheral for these operations.
The G10 or S1 core does not have register banks, so it uses a different calling
convention.
If this option is set it also selects the type of hardware multiply support to
use, unless this is overridden by an explicit ‘-mmul=none’ option on the com-
mand line. Thus specifying ‘-mcpu=g13’ enables the use of the G13 hardware
multiply peripheral and specifying ‘-mcpu=g10’ disables the use of hardware
multiplications altogether.
Note, although the RL78/G14 core is the default target, specifying ‘-mcpu=g14’
or ‘-mcpu=rl78’ on the command line does change the behavior of the toolchain
since it also enables G14 hardware multiply support. If these options are not
specified on the command line then software multiplication routines will be used
even though the code targets the RL78 core. This is for backwards compatibility
with older toolchains which did not have hardware multiply and divide support.
In addition a C preprocessor macro is defined, based upon the setting of this
option. Possible values are: __RL78_G10__, __RL78_G13__ or __RL78_G14__.
-mg10
-mg13
-mg14
-mrl78 These are aliases for the corresponding ‘-mcpu=’ option. They are provided for
backwards compatibility.
-mallregs
Allow the compiler to use all of the available registers. By default registers
r24..r31 are reserved for use in interrupt handlers. With this option enabled
these registers can be used in ordinary functions as well.
-m64bit-doubles
-m32bit-doubles
Make the double data type be 64 bits (‘-m64bit-doubles’) or 32 bits
(‘-m32bit-doubles’) in size. The default is ‘-m32bit-doubles’.
-msave-mduc-in-interrupts
-mno-save-mduc-in-interrupts
Specifies that interrupt handler functions should preserve the MDUC registers.
This is only necessary if normal code might use the MDUC registers, for example
because it performs multiplication and division operations. The default is to
ignore the MDUC registers as this makes the interrupt handlers faster. The
target option -mg13 needs to be passed for this to work as this feature is only
available on the G13 target (S2 core). The MDUC registers will only be saved if
the interrupt handler performs a multiplication or division operation or it calls
another function.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 433

3.19.42 IBM RS/6000 and PowerPC Options

These ‘-m’ options are defined for the IBM RS/6000 and PowerPC:

-mpowerpc-gpopt
-mno-powerpc-gpopt
-mpowerpc-gfxopt
-mno-powerpc-gfxopt
-mpowerpc64
-mno-powerpc64
-mmfcrf
-mno-mfcrf
-mpopcntb
-mno-popcntb
-mpopcntd
-mno-popcntd
-mfprnd
-mno-fprnd
-mcmpb
-mno-cmpb
-mhard-dfp
-mno-hard-dfp
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.
Specifying ‘-mpowerpc-gpopt’ allows GCC to use the optional PowerPC ar-
chitecture instructions in the General Purpose group, including floating-point
square root. Specifying ‘-mpowerpc-gfxopt’ 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 ‘-mpopcntd’ option allows GCC
to generate the popcount instruction implemented on the POWER7 proces-
sor and other processors that support the PowerPC V2.06 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 ‘-mhard-dfp’
option allows GCC to generate the decimal floating-point instructions imple-
mented on some POWER processors.
434 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The ‘-mpowerpc64’ option allows GCC to generate the additional 64-bit instruc-
tions that are found in the full PowerPC64 architecture and to treat GPRs as
64-bit, doubleword quantities. GCC defaults to ‘-mno-powerpc64’.

-mcpu=cpu_type
Set architecture type, register usage, and instruction scheduling parameters for
machine type cpu type. Supported values for cpu type are ‘401’, ‘403’, ‘405’,
‘405fp’, ‘440’, ‘440fp’, ‘464’, ‘464fp’, ‘476’, ‘476fp’, ‘505’, ‘601’, ‘602’, ‘603’,
‘603e’, ‘604’, ‘604e’, ‘620’, ‘630’, ‘740’, ‘7400’, ‘7450’, ‘750’, ‘801’, ‘821’, ‘823’,
‘860’, ‘970’, ‘8540’, ‘a2’, ‘e300c2’, ‘e300c3’, ‘e500mc’, ‘e500mc64’, ‘e5500’,
‘e6500’, ‘ec603e’, ‘G3’, ‘G4’, ‘G5’, ‘titan’, ‘power3’, ‘power4’, ‘power5’,
‘power5+’, ‘power6’, ‘power6x’, ‘power7’, ‘power8’, ‘power9’, ‘power10’,
‘powerpc’, ‘powerpc64’, ‘powerpc64le’, ‘rs64’, and ‘native’.
‘-mcpu=powerpc’, ‘-mcpu=powerpc64’, and ‘-mcpu=powerpc64le’ specify pure
32-bit PowerPC (either endian), 64-bit big endian PowerPC and 64-bit little
endian PowerPC architecture machine types, with an appropriate, generic pro-
cessor model assumed for scheduling purposes.
Specifying ‘native’ as cpu type detects and selects the architecture option that
corresponds to the host processor of the system performing the compilation.
‘-mcpu=native’ has no effect if GCC does not recognize the processor.
The other options specify a specific processor. Code generated under those
options runs 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
-mpopcntb -mpopcntd -mpowerpc64
-mpowerpc-gpopt -mpowerpc-gfxopt
-mmulhw -mdlmzb -mmfpgpr -mvsx
-mcrypto -mhtm -mpower8-fusion -mpower8-vector
-mquad-memory -mquad-memory-atomic -mfloat128
-mfloat128-hardware -mprefixed -mpcrel -mmma
-mrop-protect
The particular options set for any particular CPU varies 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 or register usage, as ‘-mcpu=cpu_type’ does. The
same values for cpu type are used for ‘-mtune’ as for ‘-mcpu’. If both are
specified, the code generated uses the architecture and registers set by ‘-mcpu’,
but the scheduling parameters set by ‘-mtune’.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 435

-mcmodel=small
Generate PowerPC64 code for the small model: The TOC is limited to 64k.
-mcmodel=medium
Generate PowerPC64 code for the medium model: The TOC and other static
data may be up to a total of 4G in size. This is the default for 64-bit Linux.
-mcmodel=large
Generate PowerPC64 code for the large model: The TOC may be up to 4G in
size. Other data and code is only limited by the 64-bit address space.
-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.
When ‘-maltivec’ is used, the element order for AltiVec intrinsics such as vec_
splat, vec_extract, and vec_insert match array element order correspond-
ing to the endianness of the target. That is, element zero identifies the leftmost
element in a vector register when targeting a big-endian platform, and iden-
tifies the rightmost element in a vector register when targeting a little-endian
platform.
-mvrsave
-mno-vrsave
Generate VRSAVE instructions when generating AltiVec code.
-msecure-plt
Generate code that allows ld and ld.so to build executables and shared li-
braries with non-executable .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 Pow-
erPC 32-bit SYSV ABI option.
-misel
-mno-isel
This switch enables or disables the generation of ISEL instructions.
-mvsx
-mno-vsx Generate code that uses (does not use) vector/scalar (VSX) instructions, and
also enable the use of built-in functions that allow more direct access to the
VSX instruction set.
-mcrypto
-mno-crypto
Enable the use (disable) of the built-in functions that allow direct access to
the cryptographic instructions that were added in version 2.07 of the PowerPC
ISA.
436 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mhtm
-mno-htm Enable (disable) the use of the built-in functions that allow direct access to
the Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM) instructions that were added in
version 2.07 of the PowerPC ISA.
-mpower8-fusion
-mno-power8-fusion
Generate code that keeps (does not keeps) some integer operations adjacent so
that the instructions can be fused together on power8 and later processors.
-mpower8-vector
-mno-power8-vector
Generate code that uses (does not use) the vector and scalar instructions that
were added in version 2.07 of the PowerPC ISA. Also enable the use of built-in
functions that allow more direct access to the vector instructions.
-mquad-memory
-mno-quad-memory
Generate code that uses (does not use) the non-atomic quad word memory
instructions. The ‘-mquad-memory’ option requires use of 64-bit mode.
-mquad-memory-atomic
-mno-quad-memory-atomic
Generate code that uses (does not use) the atomic quad word memory instruc-
tions. The ‘-mquad-memory-atomic’ option requires use of 64-bit mode.
-mfloat128
-mno-float128
Enable/disable the float128 keyword for IEEE 128-bit floating point and use
either software emulation for IEEE 128-bit floating point or hardware instruc-
tions.
The VSX instruction set (‘-mvsx’) must be enabled to use the IEEE 128-bit
floating point support. The IEEE 128-bit floating point is only supported on
Linux.
The default for ‘-mfloat128’ is enabled on PowerPC Linux systems using the
VSX instruction set, and disabled on other systems.
If you use the ISA 3.0 instruction set (‘-mpower9-vector’ or ‘-mcpu=power9’)
on a 64-bit system, the IEEE 128-bit floating point support will also enable the
generation of ISA 3.0 IEEE 128-bit floating point instructions. Otherwise, if
you do not specify to generate ISA 3.0 instructions or you are targeting a 32-
bit big endian system, IEEE 128-bit floating point will be done with software
emulation.
-mfloat128-hardware
-mno-float128-hardware
Enable/disable using ISA 3.0 hardware instructions to support the float128
data type.
The default for ‘-mfloat128-hardware’ is enabled on PowerPC Linux systems
using the ISA 3.0 instruction set, and disabled on other systems.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 437

-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 allocates at least one TOC entry for each unique non-automatic variable
reference in your program. GCC also places 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 avail-
able 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 produces
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’, 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 func-
tions 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 han-
dle 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
438 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

floating-point arguments that 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 ap-
plication to run. The system must have PE installed in the standard loca-
tion (‘/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.

-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 these instructions 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 439

-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 targeting
Power6 and disabled otherwise.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Generate code that uses (does not use) the floating-point multiply and ac-
cumulate instructions. These instructions are generated by default if hard-
ware floating point is used. The machine-dependent ‘-mfused-madd’ option is
now mapped to the machine-independent ‘-ffp-contract=fast’ option, and
‘-mno-fused-madd’ is mapped to ‘-ffp-contract=off’.
-mmulhw
-mno-mulhw
Generate code that uses (does not use) the half-word multiply and multiply-
accumulate instructions on the IBM 405, 440, 464 and 476 processors. These
instructions are generated by default when targeting those processors.
-mdlmzb
-mno-dlmzb
Generate code that uses (does not use) the string-search ‘dlmzb’ instruction on
the IBM 405, 440, 464 and 476 processors. This instruction is generated by
default when targeting 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 is aligned to a 4-byte boundary and has a size of 4 bytes. By
using ‘-mno-bit-align’, the structure is aligned to a 1-byte boundary and is 1
byte in size.
-mno-strict-align
-mstrict-align
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems do not (do) assume that un-
aligned memory references are handled by the system.
-mrelocatable
-mno-relocatable
Generate code that allows (does not allow) a static executable to be relocated
to a different address at run time. A simple embedded PowerPC system loader
should relocate the entire contents of .got2 and 4-byte locations listed in the
.fixup section, a table of 32-bit addresses generated by this option. For this
to work, all objects linked together must be compiled with ‘-mrelocatable’
or ‘-mrelocatable-lib’. ‘-mrelocatable’ code aligns the stack to an 8-byte
boundary.
440 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mrelocatable-lib
-mno-relocatable-lib
Like ‘-mrelocatable’, ‘-mrelocatable-lib’ generates a .fixup section to al-
low static executables to be relocated at run time, but ‘-mrelocatable-lib’
does not use the smaller stack alignment of ‘-mrelocatable’. Objects com-
piled with ‘-mrelocatable-lib’ may be linked with objects compiled with any
combination of the ‘-mrelocatable’ options.
-mno-toc
-mtoc On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems do not (do) assume that reg-
ister 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.
-msingle-pic-base
Treat the register used for PIC addressing as read-only, rather than loading
it in the prologue for each function. The runtime system is responsible for
initializing this register with an appropriate value before execution begins.
-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’, or ‘2’ to assign no, highest, or second-highest (respectively)
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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 441

number Any dependence for which the latency is greater than or equal to
number is costly.
-minsert-sched-nops=scheme
This option controls which NOP insertion scheme is 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 that 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 adhere 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
-mcall-eabi
Specify both ‘-mcall-sysv’ and ‘-meabi’ options.
-mcall-sysv-noeabi
Specify both ‘-mcall-sysv’ and ‘-mno-eabi’ options.
-mcall-aixdesc
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the AIX
operating system.
-mcall-linux
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the Linux-
based GNU system.
-mcall-freebsd
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the FreeBSD
operating system.
-mcall-netbsd
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the NetBSD
operating system.
-mcall-openbsd
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems compile code for the OpenBSD
operating system.
-mtraceback=traceback_type
Select the type of traceback table. Valid values for traceback type are ‘full’,
‘part’, and ‘no’.
442 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-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’, ‘ibmlongdouble’,
‘ieeelongdouble’, ‘elfv1’, ‘elfv2’, and for AIX: ‘vec-extabi’,
‘vec-default’.
-mabi=ibmlongdouble
Change the current ABI to use IBM extended-precision long double. This is
not likely to work if your system defaults to using IEEE extended-precision long
double. If you change the long double type from IEEE extended-precision, the
compiler will issue a warning unless you use the ‘-Wno-psabi’ option. Requires
‘-mlong-double-128’ to be enabled.
-mabi=ieeelongdouble
Change the current ABI to use IEEE extended-precision long double. This is
not likely to work if your system defaults to using IBM extended-precision long
double. If you change the long double type from IBM extended-precision, the
compiler will issue a warning unless you use the ‘-Wno-psabi’ option. Requires
‘-mlong-double-128’ to be enabled.
-mabi=elfv1
Change the current ABI to use the ELFv1 ABI. This is the default ABI for
big-endian PowerPC 64-bit Linux. Overriding the default ABI requires special
system support and is likely to fail in spectacular ways.
-mabi=elfv2
Change the current ABI to use the ELFv2 ABI. This is the default ABI for
little-endian PowerPC 64-bit Linux. Overriding the default ABI requires special
system support and is likely to fail in spectacular ways.
-mgnu-attribute
-mno-gnu-attribute
Emit .gnu attribute assembly directives to set tag/value pairs in a
.gnu.attributes section that specify ABI variations in function parameters or
return values.
-mprototype
-mno-prototype
On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems assume that all calls to vari-
able 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 are passed
in the floating-point registers in case the function takes variable arguments.
With ‘-mprototype’, only calls to prototyped variable argument functions set
or clear the bit.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 443

-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 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, no EABI initialization function is called
from main, and the ‘-msdata’ option only uses 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 sec-
tion, 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.
444 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-msdata=default
-msdata On System V.4 and embedded PowerPC systems, if ‘-meabi’ is used, com-
pile 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.
-mreadonly-in-sdata
Put read-only objects in the .sdata section as well. This is the default.
-mblock-move-inline-limit=num
Inline all block moves (such as calls to memcpy or structure copies) less than or
equal to num bytes. The minimum value for num is 32 bytes on 32-bit targets
and 64 bytes on 64-bit targets. The default value is target-specific.
-mblock-compare-inline-limit=num
Generate non-looping inline code for all block compares (such as calls to memcmp
or structure compares) less than or equal to num bytes. If num is 0, all inline
expansion (non-loop and loop) of block compare is disabled. The default value
is target-specific.
-mblock-compare-inline-loop-limit=num
Generate an inline expansion using loop code for all block compares that are
less than or equal to num bytes, but greater than the limit for non-loop inline
block compare expansion. If the block length is not constant, at most num
bytes will be compared before memcmp is called to compare the remainder of the
block. The default value is target-specific.
-mstring-compare-inline-limit=num
Compare at most num string bytes with inline code. If the difference or end of
string is not found at the end of the inline compare a call to strcmp or strncmp
will take care of the rest of the comparison. The default is 64 bytes.
-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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 445

-mlongcall
-mno-longcall
By default assume that all calls are far away so that a longer and more expensive
calling sequence is required. This is required for calls farther than 32 megabytes
(33,554,432 bytes) from the current location. A short call is 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 PowerPC64 ELFv2 and 32-bit PowerPC systems with newer GNU linkers,
GCC can generate long calls using an inline PLT call sequence (see ‘-mpltseq’).
PowerPC with ‘-mbss-plt’ and PowerPC64 ELFv1 (big-endian) do not support
inline PLT calls.
On Darwin/PPC systems, #pragma longcall generates jbsr callee, L42,
plus a branch island (glue code). The two target addresses represent the callee
and the branch island. The Darwin/PPC linker prefers the first address and
generates a bl callee if the PPC bl instruction reaches the callee directly;
otherwise, the linker generates 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, GCC may ignore all longcall specifications when the linker is
known to generate glue.

-mpltseq
-mno-pltseq
Implement (do not implement) -fno-plt and long calls using an inline PLT call
sequence that supports lazy linking and long calls to functions in dlopen’d
shared libraries. Inline PLT calls are only supported on PowerPC64 ELFv2
and 32-bit PowerPC systems with newer GNU linkers, and are enabled by
default if the support is detected when configuring GCC, and, in the case of
32-bit PowerPC, if GCC is configured with ‘--enable-secureplt’. ‘-mpltseq’
code and ‘-mbss-plt’ 32-bit PowerPC relocatable objects may not be linked
together.

-mtls-markers
-mno-tls-markers
Mark (do not mark) calls to __tls_get_addr with a relocation specifying the
function argument. The relocation allows the linker to reliably associate func-
tion call with argument setup instructions for TLS optimization, which in turn
allows GCC to better schedule the sequence.
446 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mrecip
-mno-recip
This option enables use of the reciprocal estimate and reciprocal square
root estimate instructions with additional Newton-Raphson steps to increase
precision instead of doing a divide or square root and divide for floating-point
arguments. You should use the ‘-ffast-math’ option when using ‘-mrecip’
(or at least ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’, ‘-ffinite-math-only’,
‘-freciprocal-math’ and ‘-fno-trapping-math’). Note that while the
throughput of the sequence is generally 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) for reciprocal square
roots.
-mrecip=opt
This option controls which reciprocal estimate instructions may be used. opt
is a comma-separated list of options, which may be preceded by a ! to invert
the option:
‘all’ Enable all estimate instructions.
‘default’ Enable the default instructions, equivalent to ‘-mrecip’.
‘none’ Disable all estimate instructions, equivalent to ‘-mno-recip’.
‘div’ Enable the reciprocal approximation instructions for both single
and double precision.
‘divf’ Enable the single-precision reciprocal approximation instructions.
‘divd’ Enable the double-precision reciprocal approximation instructions.
‘rsqrt’ Enable the reciprocal square root approximation instructions for
both single and double precision.
‘rsqrtf’ Enable the single-precision reciprocal square root approximation
instructions.
‘rsqrtd’ Enable the double-precision reciprocal square root approximation
instructions.
So, for example, ‘-mrecip=all,!rsqrtd’ enables all of the reciprocal estimate
instructions, except for the FRSQRTE, XSRSQRTEDP, and XVRSQRTEDP instructions
which handle the double-precision reciprocal square root calculations.
-mrecip-precision
-mno-recip-precision
Assume (do not assume) that the reciprocal estimate instructions provide
higher-precision estimates than is mandated by the PowerPC ABI. Selecting
‘-mcpu=power6’, ‘-mcpu=power7’ or ‘-mcpu=power8’ automatically selects
‘-mrecip-precision’. The double-precision square root estimate instructions
are not generated by default on low-precision machines, since they do not
provide an estimate that converges after three steps.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 447

-mveclibabi=type
Specifies the ABI type to use for vectorizing intrinsics using an external
library. The only type supported at present is ‘mass’, which specifies to use
IBM’s Mathematical Acceleration Subsystem (MASS) libraries for vectorizing
intrinsics using external libraries. GCC currently emits calls to acosd2,
acosf4, acoshd2, acoshf4, asind2, asinf4, asinhd2, asinhf4, atan2d2,
atan2f4, atand2, atanf4, atanhd2, atanhf4, cbrtd2, cbrtf4, cosd2, cosf4,
coshd2, coshf4, erfcd2, erfcf4, erfd2, erff4, exp2d2, exp2f4, expd2,
expf4, expm1d2, expm1f4, hypotd2, hypotf4, lgammad2, lgammaf4, log10d2,
log10f4, log1pd2, log1pf4, log2d2, log2f4, logd2, logf4, powd2, powf4,
sind2, sinf4, sinhd2, sinhf4, sqrtd2, sqrtf4, tand2, tanf4, tanhd2, and
tanhf4 when generating code for power7. Both ‘-ftree-vectorize’ and
‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ must also be enabled. The MASS libraries
must be specified at link time.

-mfriz
-mno-friz
Generate (do not generate) the friz instruction when the
‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ option is used to optimize rounding
of floating-point values to 64-bit integer and back to floating point. The friz
instruction does not return the same value if the floating-point number is too
large to fit in an integer.

-mpointers-to-nested-functions
-mno-pointers-to-nested-functions
Generate (do not generate) code to load up the static chain register (r11) when
calling through a pointer on AIX and 64-bit Linux systems where a function
pointer points to a 3-word descriptor giving the function address, TOC value to
be loaded in register r2, and static chain value to be loaded in register r11. The
‘-mpointers-to-nested-functions’ is on by default. You cannot call through
pointers to nested functions or pointers to functions compiled in other languages
that use the static chain if you use ‘-mno-pointers-to-nested-functions’.

-msave-toc-indirect
-mno-save-toc-indirect
Generate (do not generate) code to save the TOC value in the reserved stack
location in the function prologue if the function calls through a pointer on AIX
and 64-bit Linux systems. If the TOC value is not saved in the prologue, it is
saved just before the call through the pointer. The ‘-mno-save-toc-indirect’
option is the default.

-mcompat-align-parm
-mno-compat-align-parm
Generate (do not generate) code to pass structure parameters with a maximum
alignment of 64 bits, for compatibility with older versions of GCC.
Older versions of GCC (prior to 4.9.0) incorrectly did not align a structure
parameter on a 128-bit boundary when that structure contained a member
requiring 128-bit alignment. This is corrected in more recent versions of GCC.
448 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

This option may be used to generate code that is compatible with functions
compiled with older versions of GCC.
The ‘-mno-compat-align-parm’ option is the default.
-mstack-protector-guard=guard
-mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg
-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset
-mstack-protector-guard-symbol=symbol
Generate stack protection code using canary at guard. Supported locations are
‘global’ for global canary or ‘tls’ for per-thread canary in the TLS block (the
default with GNU libc version 2.4 or later).
With the latter choice the options ‘-mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg’ and
‘-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset’ furthermore specify which regis-
ter to use as base register for reading the canary, and from what offset from
that base register. The default for those is as specified in the relevant ABI.
‘-mstack-protector-guard-symbol=symbol’ overrides the offset with a sym-
bol reference to a canary in the TLS block.
-mpcrel
-mno-pcrel
Generate (do not generate) pc-relative addressing. The ‘-mpcrel’ option re-
quires that the medium code model (‘-mcmodel=medium’) and prefixed address-
ing (‘-mprefixed’) options are enabled.
-mprefixed
-mno-prefixed
Generate (do not generate) addressing modes using prefixed load and store in-
structions. The ‘-mprefixed’ option requires that the option ‘-mcpu=power10’
(or later) is enabled.
-mmma
-mno-mma Generate (do not generate) the MMA instructions. The ‘-mma’ option requires
that the option ‘-mcpu=power10’ (or later) is enabled.
-mrop-protect
-mno-rop-protect
Generate (do not generate) ROP protection instructions when the target proces-
sor supports them. Currently this option disables the shrink-wrap optimization
(‘-fshrink-wrap’).
-mprivileged
-mno-privileged
Generate (do not generate) code that will run in privileged state.
-mblock-ops-unaligned-vsx
-mno-block-ops-unaligned-vsx
Generate (do not generate) unaligned vsx loads and stores for inline expansion
of memcpy and memmove.
--param rs6000-vect-unroll-limit=
The vectorizer will check with target information to determine whether it would
be beneficial to unroll the main vectorized loop and by how much. This pa-
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 449

rameter sets the upper bound of how much the vectorizer will unroll the main
loop. The default value is four.

3.19.43 RX Options
These command-line options are defined for RX targets:
-m64bit-doubles
-m32bit-doubles
Make the double data type be 64 bits (‘-m64bit-doubles’) or 32 bits
(‘-m32bit-doubles’) in size. The default is ‘-m32bit-doubles’. Note RX
floating-point hardware only works on 32-bit values, which is why the default
is ‘-m32bit-doubles’.
-fpu
-nofpu Enables (‘-fpu’) or disables (‘-nofpu’) the use of RX floating-point hardware.
The default is enabled for the RX600 series and disabled for the RX200 series.
Floating-point instructions are only generated for 32-bit floating-point values,
however, so the FPU hardware is not used for doubles if the ‘-m64bit-doubles’
option is used.
Note If the ‘-fpu’ option is enabled then ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ is
also enabled automatically. This is because the RX FPU instructions are them-
selves unsafe.
-mcpu=name
Selects the type of RX CPU to be targeted. Currently three types are sup-
ported, the generic ‘RX600’ and ‘RX200’ series hardware and the specific ‘RX610’
CPU. The default is ‘RX600’.
The only difference between ‘RX600’ and ‘RX610’ is that the ‘RX610’ does not
support the MVTIPL instruction.
The ‘RX200’ series does not have a hardware floating-point unit and so ‘-nofpu’
is enabled by default when this type is selected.
-mbig-endian-data
-mlittle-endian-data
Store data (but not code) in the big-endian format. The default is
‘-mlittle-endian-data’, i.e. to store data in the little-endian format.
-msmall-data-limit=N
Specifies the maximum size in bytes of global and static variables which can be
placed into the small data area. Using the small data area can lead to smaller
and faster code, but the size of area is limited and it is up to the programmer to
ensure that the area does not overflow. Also when the small data area is used
one of the RX’s registers (usually r13) is reserved for use pointing to this area,
so it is no longer available for use by the compiler. This could result in slower
and/or larger code if variables are pushed onto the stack instead of being held
in this register.
Note, common variables (variables that have not been initialized) and constants
are not placed into the small data area as they are assigned to other sections
in the output executable.
450 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The default value is zero, which disables this feature. Note, this feature is not
enabled by default with higher optimization levels (‘-O2’ etc) because of the
potentially detrimental effects of reserving a register. It is up to the programmer
to experiment and discover whether this feature is of benefit to their program.
See the description of the ‘-mpid’ option for a description of how the actual
register to hold the small data area pointer is chosen.
-msim
-mno-sim Use the simulator runtime. The default is to use the libgloss board-specific
runtime.
-mas100-syntax
-mno-as100-syntax
When generating assembler output use a syntax that is compatible with Rene-
sas’s AS100 assembler. This syntax can also be handled by the GAS assembler,
but it has some restrictions so it is not generated by default.
-mmax-constant-size=N
Specifies the maximum size, in bytes, of a constant that can be used as an
operand in a RX instruction. Although the RX instruction set does allow
constants of up to 4 bytes in length to be used in instructions, a longer value
equates to a longer instruction. Thus in some circumstances it can be beneficial
to restrict the size of constants that are used in instructions. Constants that
are too big are instead placed into a constant pool and referenced via register
indirection.
The value N can be between 0 and 4. A value of 0 (the default) or 4 means
that constants of any size are allowed.
-mrelax Enable linker relaxation. Linker relaxation is a process whereby the linker
attempts to reduce the size of a program by finding shorter versions of various
instructions. Disabled by default.
-mint-register=N
Specify the number of registers to reserve for fast interrupt handler functions.
The value N can be between 0 and 4. A value of 1 means that register r13 is
reserved for the exclusive use of fast interrupt handlers. A value of 2 reserves
r13 and r12. A value of 3 reserves r13, r12 and r11, and a value of 4 reserves
r13 through r10. A value of 0, the default, does not reserve any registers.
-msave-acc-in-interrupts
Specifies that interrupt handler functions should preserve the accumulator reg-
ister. This is only necessary if normal code might use the accumulator register,
for example because it performs 64-bit multiplications. The default is to ignore
the accumulator as this makes the interrupt handlers faster.
-mpid
-mno-pid Enables the generation of position independent data. When enabled any access
to constant data is done via an offset from a base address held in a register.
This allows the location of constant data to be determined at run time with-
out requiring the executable to be relocated, which is a benefit to embedded
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 451

applications with tight memory constraints. Data that can be modified is not
affected by this option.
Note, using this feature reserves a register, usually r13, for the constant data
base address. This can result in slower and/or larger code, especially in com-
plicated functions.
The actual register chosen to hold the constant data base address depends upon
whether the ‘-msmall-data-limit’ and/or the ‘-mint-register’ command-
line options are enabled. Starting with register r13 and proceeding downwards,
registers are allocated first to satisfy the requirements of ‘-mint-register’,
then ‘-mpid’ and finally ‘-msmall-data-limit’. Thus it is possible for the
small data area register to be r8 if both ‘-mint-register=4’ and ‘-mpid’ are
specified on the command line.
By default this feature is not enabled. The default can be restored via the
‘-mno-pid’ command-line option.
-mno-warn-multiple-fast-interrupts
-mwarn-multiple-fast-interrupts
Prevents GCC from issuing a warning message if it finds more than one fast
interrupt handler when it is compiling a file. The default is to issue a warning
for each extra fast interrupt handler found, as the RX only supports one such
interrupt.
-mallow-string-insns
-mno-allow-string-insns
Enables or disables the use of the string manipulation instructions SMOVF,
SCMPU, SMOVB, SMOVU, SUNTIL SWHILE and also the RMPA instruction. These
instructions may prefetch data, which is not safe to do if accessing an I/O
register. (See section 12.2.7 of the RX62N Group User’s Manual for more in-
formation).
The default is to allow these instructions, but it is not possible for GCC to
reliably detect all circumstances where a string instruction might be used to
access an I/O register, so their use cannot be disabled automatically. Instead it
is reliant upon the programmer to use the ‘-mno-allow-string-insns’ option
if their program accesses I/O space.
When the instructions are enabled GCC defines the C preprocessor symbol _
_RX_ALLOW_STRING_INSNS__, otherwise it defines the symbol __RX_DISALLOW_
STRING_INSNS__.
-mjsr
-mno-jsr Use only (or not only) JSR instructions to access functions. This option can be
used when code size exceeds the range of BSR instructions. Note that ‘-mno-jsr’
does not mean to not use JSR but instead means that any type of branch may
be used.
Note: The generic GCC command-line option ‘-ffixed-reg’ has special significance to
the RX port when used with the interrupt function attribute. This attribute indicates a
function intended to process fast interrupts. GCC ensures that it only uses the registers r10,
r11, r12 and/or r13 and only provided that the normal use of the corresponding registers
have been restricted via the ‘-ffixed-reg’ or ‘-mint-register’ command-line options.
452 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

3.19.44 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’ are 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’ are 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 64 bits 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 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 com-
piled with ‘-mno-backchain’; however, use of the backchain for debugging pur-
poses 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 spec-
ified, 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
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 453

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’.

-mhtm
-mno-htm The ‘-mhtm’ option enables a set of builtins making use of instructions available
with the transactional execution facility introduced with the IBM zEnterprise
EC12 machine generation Section 6.60.29 [S/390 System z Built-in Functions],
page 850. ‘-mhtm’ is enabled by default when using ‘-march=zEC12’.

-mvx
-mno-vx When ‘-mvx’ is specified, generate code using the instructions available with the
vector extension facility introduced with the IBM z13 machine generation. This
option changes the ABI for some vector type values with regard to alignment
and calling conventions. In case vector type values are being used in an ABI-
relevant context a GAS ‘.gnu_attribute’ command will be added to mark the
resulting binary with the ABI used. ‘-mvx’ is enabled by default when using
‘-march=z13’.
454 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mzvector
-mno-zvector
The ‘-mzvector’ option enables vector language extensions and builtins using
instructions available with the vector extension facility introduced with the
IBM z13 machine generation. This option adds support for ‘vector’ to be
used as a keyword to define vector type variables and arguments. ‘vector’
is only available when GNU extensions are enabled. It will not be expanded
when requesting strict standard compliance e.g. with ‘-std=c99’. In addition
to the GCC low-level builtins ‘-mzvector’ enables a set of builtins added for
compatibility with AltiVec-style implementations like Power and Cell. In order
to make use of these builtins the header file ‘vecintrin.h’ needs to be included.
‘-mzvector’ is disabled by default.
-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 runs on cpu-type, which is the name of a system
representing a certain processor type. Possible values for cpu-type are
‘z900’/‘arch5’, ‘z990’/‘arch6’, ‘z9-109’, ‘z9-ec’/‘arch7’, ‘z10’/‘arch8’,
‘z196’/‘arch9’, ‘zEC12’, ‘z13’/‘arch11’, ‘z14’/‘arch12’, ‘z15’/‘arch13’,
‘z16’/‘arch14’, and ‘native’.
The default is ‘-march=z900’.
Specifying ‘native’ as cpu type can be used to select the best architecture
option for the host processor. ‘-march=native’ has no effect if GCC does not
recognize the processor.
-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.
-mtpf-trace-skip
-mno-tpf-trace-skip
Generate code that changes (does not change) the default branch targets en-
abled by ‘-mtpf-trace’ to point to specialized trace routines providing the
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 455

ability of selectively skipping function trace entries for the TPF OS. This op-
tion is off by default, even when compiling for the TPF OS and specifying
‘-mtpf-trace’.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Generate code that uses (does not use) the floating-point multiply and accu-
mulate 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 that 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 S/390 back end emits additional instructions
in the function prologue that trigger a trap if the stack size is stack-guard bytes
above the stack-size (remember that the stack on S/390 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.
-mhotpatch=pre-halfwords,post-halfwords
If the hotpatch option is enabled, a “hot-patching” function prologue is gener-
ated for all functions in the compilation unit. The funtion label is prepended
with the given number of two-byte NOP instructions (pre-halfwords, maximum
1000000). After the label, 2 * post-halfwords bytes are appended, using the
largest NOP like instructions the architecture allows (maximum 1000000).
If both arguments are zero, hotpatching is disabled.
This option can be overridden for individual functions with the hotpatch at-
tribute.

3.19.45 SH Options
These ‘-m’ options are defined for the SH implementations:
-m1 Generate code for the SH1.
456 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-m2 Generate code for the SH2.

-m2e Generate code for the SH2e.
-m2a-nofpu
Generate code for the SH2a without FPU, or for a SH2a-FPU in such a way
that the floating-point unit is not used.
-m2a-single-only
Generate code for the SH2a-FPU, in such a way that no double-precision
floating-point operations are used.
-m2a-single
Generate code for the SH2a-FPU assuming the floating-point unit is in single-
precision mode by default.
-m2a Generate code for the SH2a-FPU assuming the floating-point unit is in double-
precision mode by default.
-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.
-m4-100 Generate code for SH4-100.
-m4-100-nofpu
Generate code for SH4-100 in such a way that the floating-point unit is not
used.
-m4-100-single
Generate code for SH4-100 assuming the floating-point unit is in single-precision
mode by default.
-m4-100-single-only
Generate code for SH4-100 in such a way that no double-precision floating-point
operations are used.
-m4-200 Generate code for SH4-200.
-m4-200-nofpu
Generate code for SH4-200 without in such a way that the floating-point unit
is not used.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 457

-m4-200-single
Generate code for SH4-200 assuming the floating-point unit is in single-precision
mode by default.
-m4-200-single-only
Generate code for SH4-200 in such a way that no double-precision floating-point
operations are used.
-m4-300 Generate code for SH4-300.
-m4-300-nofpu
Generate code for SH4-300 without in such a way that the floating-point unit
is not used.
-m4-300-single
Generate code for SH4-300 in such a way that no double-precision floating-point
operations are used.
-m4-300-single-only
Generate code for SH4-300 in such a way that no double-precision floating-point
operations are used.
-m4-340 Generate code for SH4-340 (no MMU, no FPU).
-m4-500 Generate code for SH4-500 (no FPU). Passes ‘-isa=sh4-nofpu’ to the assem-
bler.
-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 conven-
tions, and thus some functions from the standard C library do 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.
458 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mbitops Enable the use of bit manipulation instructions on SH2A.

-mfmovd Enable the use of the instruction fmovd. Check ‘-mdalign’ for alignment con-
straints.
-mrenesas
Comply with the calling conventions defined by Renesas.
-mno-renesas
Comply with the calling conventions defined for GCC before the Renesas con-
ventions were available. This option is the default for all targets of the SH
toolchain.
-mnomacsave
Mark the MAC register as call-clobbered, even if ‘-mrenesas’ is given.
-mieee
-mno-ieee
Control the IEEE compliance of floating-point comparisons, which affects the
handling of cases where the result of a comparison is unordered. By default
‘-mieee’ is implicitly enabled. If ‘-ffinite-math-only’ is enabled ‘-mno-ieee’
is implicitly set, which results in faster floating-point greater-equal and less-
equal comparisons. The implicit settings can be overridden by specifying either
‘-mieee’ or ‘-mno-ieee’.
-minline-ic_invalidate
Inline code to invalidate instruction cache entries after setting up nested func-
tion 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 ma-
nipulates the instruction cache address array directly with an associative write.
This not only requires privileged mode at run time, but it also fails 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.
-matomic-model=model
Sets the model of atomic operations and additional parameters as a comma
separated list. For details on the atomic built-in functions see Section 6.55
[ atomic Builtins], page 730. The following models and parameters are sup-
ported:
‘none’ Disable compiler generated atomic sequences and emit library calls
for atomic operations. This is the default if the target is not sh*-
*-linux*.
‘soft-gusa’
Generate GNU/Linux compatible gUSA software atomic sequences
for the atomic built-in functions. The generated atomic sequences
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 459

require additional support from the interrupt/exception handling

code of the system and are only suitable for SH3* and SH4* single-
core systems. This option is enabled by default when the target
is sh*-*-linux* and SH3* or SH4*. When the target is SH4A,
this option also partially utilizes the hardware atomic instructions
movli.l and movco.l to create more efficient code, unless ‘strict’
is specified.
‘soft-tcb’
Generate software atomic sequences that use a variable in the
thread control block. This is a variation of the gUSA sequences
which can also be used on SH1* and SH2* targets. The
generated atomic sequences require additional support from the
interrupt/exception handling code of the system and are only
suitable for single-core systems. When using this model, the
‘gbr-offset=’ parameter has to be specified as well.
‘soft-imask’
Generate software atomic sequences that temporarily disable inter-
rupts by setting SR.IMASK = 1111. This model works only when the
program runs in privileged mode and is only suitable for single-core
systems. Additional support from the interrupt/exception handling
code of the system is not required. This model is enabled by default
when the target is sh*-*-linux* and SH1* or SH2*.
‘hard-llcs’
Generate hardware atomic sequences using the movli.l and
movco.l instructions only. This is only available on SH4A and is
suitable for multi-core systems. Since the hardware instructions
support only 32 bit atomic variables access to 8 or 16 bit variables
is emulated with 32 bit accesses. Code compiled with this
option is also compatible with other software atomic model
interrupt/exception handling systems if executed on an SH4A
system. Additional support from the interrupt/exception handling
code of the system is not required for this model.
‘gbr-offset=’
This parameter specifies the offset in bytes of the variable in the
thread control block structure that should be used by the generated
atomic sequences when the ‘soft-tcb’ model has been selected. For
other models this parameter is ignored. The specified value must
be an integer multiple of four and in the range 0-1020.
‘strict’ This parameter prevents mixed usage of multiple atomic models,
even if they are compatible, and makes the compiler generate
atomic sequences of the specified model only.
-mtas Generate the tas.b opcode for __atomic_test_and_set. Notice that depend-
ing on the particular hardware and software configuration this can degrade
overall performance due to the operand cache line flushes that are implied by
460 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

the tas.b instruction. On multi-core SH4A processors the tas.b instruction

must be used with caution since it can result in data corruption for certain
cache configurations.

-mprefergot
When generating position-independent code, emit function calls using the
Global Offset Table instead of the Procedure Linkage Table.

-musermode
-mno-usermode
Don’t allow (allow) the compiler generating privileged mode code. Specifying
‘-musermode’ also implies ‘-mno-inline-ic_invalidate’ if the inlined code
would not work in user mode. ‘-musermode’ is the default when the target is
sh*-*-linux*. If the target is SH1* or SH2* ‘-musermode’ has no effect, since
there is no user mode.

-multcost=number
Set the cost to assume for a multiply insn.

-mdiv=strategy
Set the division strategy to be used for integer division operations. strategy
can be one of:

‘call-div1’
Calls a library function that uses the single-step division instruc-
tion div1 to perform the operation. Division by zero calculates an
unspecified result and does not trap. This is the default except for
SH4, SH2A and SHcompact.

‘call-fp’ Calls a library function that performs the operation in double pre-
cision floating point. Division by zero causes a floating-point ex-
ception. This is the default for SHcompact with FPU. Specifying
this for targets that do not have a double precision FPU defaults
to call-div1.

‘call-table’
Calls a library function that uses a lookup table for small divisors
and the div1 instruction with case distinction for larger divisors.
Division by zero calculates an unspecified result and does not trap.
This is the default for SH4. Specifying this for targets that do not
have dynamic shift instructions defaults to call-div1.

When a division strategy has not been specified the default strategy is selected
based on the current target. For SH2A the default strategy is to use the divs
and divu instructions instead of library function calls.

-maccumulate-outgoing-args
Reserve space once for outgoing arguments in the function prologue rather than
around each call. Generally beneficial for performance and size. Also needed
for unwinding to avoid changing the stack frame around conditional code.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 461

-mdivsi3_libfunc=name
Set the name of the library function used for 32-bit signed division to name.
This only affects the name used in the ‘call’ division strategies, and the com-
piler still expects the same sets of input/output/clobbered registers as if this
option were not present.
-mfixed-range=register-range
Generate code treating the given register range as fixed registers. A fixed regis-
ter is one that the register allocator cannot 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.
-mbranch-cost=num
Assume num to be the cost for a branch instruction. Higher numbers make the
compiler try to generate more branch-free code if possible. If not specified the
value is selected depending on the processor type that is being compiled for.
-mzdcbranch
-mno-zdcbranch
Assume (do not assume) that zero displacement conditional branch instruc-
tions bt and bf are fast. If ‘-mzdcbranch’ is specified, the compiler prefers
zero displacement branch code sequences. This is enabled by default when
generating code for SH4 and SH4A. It can be explicitly disabled by specifying
‘-mno-zdcbranch’.
-mcbranch-force-delay-slot
Force the usage of delay slots for conditional branches, which stuffs the delay
slot with a nop if a suitable instruction cannot be found. By default this option
is disabled. It can be enabled to work around hardware bugs as found in the
original SH7055.
-mfused-madd
-mno-fused-madd
Generate code that uses (does not use) the floating-point multiply and ac-
cumulate instructions. These instructions are generated by default if hard-
ware floating point is used. The machine-dependent ‘-mfused-madd’ option is
now mapped to the machine-independent ‘-ffp-contract=fast’ option, and
‘-mno-fused-madd’ is mapped to ‘-ffp-contract=off’.
-mfsca
-mno-fsca
Allow or disallow the compiler to emit the fsca instruction for sine and co-
sine approximations. The option ‘-mfsca’ must be used in combination with
‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’. It is enabled by default when generating
code for SH4A. Using ‘-mno-fsca’ disables sine and cosine approximations even
if ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ is in effect.
-mfsrra
-mno-fsrra
Allow or disallow the compiler to emit the fsrra instruction for reciprocal
square root approximations. The option ‘-mfsrra’ must be used in combina-
462 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

tion with ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ and ‘-ffinite-math-only’. It is

enabled by default when generating code for SH4A. Using ‘-mno-fsrra’ disables
reciprocal square root approximations even if ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’
and ‘-ffinite-math-only’ are in effect.
-mpretend-cmove
Prefer zero-displacement conditional branches for conditional move instruction
patterns. This can result in faster code on the SH4 processor.
-mfdpic Generate code using the FDPIC ABI.

3.19.46 Solaris 2 Options

These ‘-m’ options are supported on Solaris 2:
-mclear-hwcap
‘-mclear-hwcap’ tells the compiler to remove the hardware capabilities gener-
ated by the Solaris assembler. This is only necessary when object files use ISA
extensions not supported by the current machine, but check at runtime whether
or not to use them.
-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 reloca-
tions 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’.
These switches are supported in addition to the above on Solaris 2:
-pthreads
This is a synonym for ‘-pthread’.

3.19.47 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. Like the global register
1, each global register 2 through 4 is then treated as an allocable register that
is clobbered by function calls. 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.
-mflat
-mno-flat
With ‘-mflat’, the compiler does not generate save/restore instructions and
uses a “flat” or single register window model. This model is compatible with
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 463

the regular register window model. The local registers and the input registers
(0–5) are still treated as “call-saved” registers and are saved on the stack as
needed.
With ‘-mno-flat’ (the default), the compiler generates save/restore instruc-
tions (except for leaf functions). This is the normal operating mode.

-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 req-
uisite 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 particu-
lar, 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 instruc-
tions.

-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 align-
ment 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, espe-
cially for floating-point code.
464 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-muser-mode
-mno-user-mode
Do not generate code that can only run in supervisor mode. This is relevant
only for the casa instruction emitted for the LEON3 processor. This is the
default.
-mfaster-structs
-mno-faster-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 is not directly in line with the rules of the ABI.
-mstd-struct-return
-mno-std-struct-return
With ‘-mstd-struct-return’, the compiler generates checking code in func-
tions returning structures or unions to detect size mismatches between the two
sides of function calls, as per the 32-bit ABI.
The default is ‘-mno-std-struct-return’. This option has no effect in 64-bit
mode.
-mlra
-mno-lra Enable Local Register Allocation. This is the default for SPARC since GCC 7
so ‘-mno-lra’ needs to be passed to get old Reload.
-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’, ‘hypersparc’, ‘leon’, ‘leon3’, ‘leon3v7’, ‘leon5’,
‘sparclite’, ‘f930’, ‘f934’, ‘sparclite86x’, ‘sparclet’, ‘tsc701’, ‘v9’,
‘ultrasparc’, ‘ultrasparc3’, ‘niagara’, ‘niagara2’, ‘niagara3’, ‘niagara4’,
‘niagara7’ and ‘m8’.
Native Solaris and GNU/Linux 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.
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 implementa-
tions.
v7 cypress, leon3v7
v8 supersparc, hypersparc, leon, leon3, leon5
sparclite f930, f934, sparclite86x
sparclet tsc701
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 465

v9 ultrasparc, ultrasparc3, niagara, niagara2, niagara3, niagara4, nia-

gara7, m8
By default (unless configured otherwise), GCC generates code for the V7 vari-
ant of the SPARC architecture. With ‘-mcpu=cypress’, the compiler addition-
ally optimizes it for the Cypress CY7C602 chip, as used in the SPARCSta-
tion/SPARCServer 3xx series. This is also appropriate for the older SPARC-
Station 1, 2, IPX etc.
With ‘-mcpu=v8’, GCC generates code for the V8 variant of the SPARC archi-
tecture. 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 ar-
chitecture. This adds 64-bit integer and floating-point move instructions, 3
additional floating-point condition code registers and conditional move instruc-
tions. With ‘-mcpu=ultrasparc’, the compiler additionally optimizes it for the
Sun UltraSPARC I/II/IIi chips. With ‘-mcpu=ultrasparc3’, the compiler addi-
tionally optimizes it for the Sun UltraSPARC III/III+/IIIi/IIIi+/IV/IV+ chips.
With ‘-mcpu=niagara’, the compiler additionally optimizes it for Sun Ultra-
SPARC T1 chips. With ‘-mcpu=niagara2’, the compiler additionally optimizes
it for Sun UltraSPARC T2 chips. With ‘-mcpu=niagara3’, the compiler addi-
tionally optimizes it for Sun UltraSPARC T3 chips. With ‘-mcpu=niagara4’,
the compiler additionally optimizes it for Sun UltraSPARC T4 chips. With
‘-mcpu=niagara7’, the compiler additionally optimizes it for Oracle SPARC
M7 chips. With ‘-mcpu=m8’, the compiler additionally optimizes it for Oracle
M8 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’
does.
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 implemen-
466 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

tation. Those are ‘cypress’, ‘supersparc’, ‘hypersparc’, ‘leon’, ‘leon3’,

‘leon3v7’, ‘leon5’, ‘f930’, ‘f934’, ‘sparclite86x’, ‘tsc701’, ‘ultrasparc’,
‘ultrasparc3’, ‘niagara’, ‘niagara2’, ‘niagara3’, ‘niagara4’, ‘niagara7’ and
‘m8’. With native Solaris and GNU/Linux toolchains, ‘native’ can also be used.
-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 bits
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’.
-mvis2
-mno-vis2
With ‘-mvis2’, GCC generates code that takes advantage of version 2.0 of the
UltraSPARC Visual Instruction Set extensions. The default is ‘-mvis2’ when
targeting a cpu that supports such instructions, such as UltraSPARC-III and
later. Setting ‘-mvis2’ also sets ‘-mvis’.
-mvis3
-mno-vis3
With ‘-mvis3’, GCC generates code that takes advantage of version 3.0 of the
UltraSPARC Visual Instruction Set extensions. The default is ‘-mvis3’ when
targeting a cpu that supports such instructions, such as niagara-3 and later.
Setting ‘-mvis3’ also sets ‘-mvis2’ and ‘-mvis’.
-mvis4
-mno-vis4
With ‘-mvis4’, GCC generates code that takes advantage of version 4.0 of the
UltraSPARC Visual Instruction Set extensions. The default is ‘-mvis4’ when
targeting a cpu that supports such instructions, such as niagara-7 and later.
Setting ‘-mvis4’ also sets ‘-mvis3’, ‘-mvis2’ and ‘-mvis’.
-mvis4b
-mno-vis4b
With ‘-mvis4b’, GCC generates code that takes advantage of version 4.0 of
the UltraSPARC Visual Instruction Set extensions, plus the additional VIS
instructions introduced in the Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017. The default
is ‘-mvis4b’ when targeting a cpu that supports such instructions, such as m8
and later. Setting ‘-mvis4b’ also sets ‘-mvis4’, ‘-mvis3’, ‘-mvis2’ and ‘-mvis’.
-mcbcond
-mno-cbcond
With ‘-mcbcond’, GCC generates code that takes advantage of the
UltraSPARC Compare-and-Branch-on-Condition instructions. The default is
‘-mcbcond’ when targeting a CPU that supports such instructions, such as
Niagara-4 and later.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 467

-mfmaf
-mno-fmaf
With ‘-mfmaf’, GCC generates code that takes advantage of the UltraSPARC
Fused Multiply-Add Floating-point instructions. The default is ‘-mfmaf’ when
targeting a CPU that supports such instructions, such as Niagara-3 and later.
-mfsmuld
-mno-fsmuld
With ‘-mfsmuld’, GCC generates code that takes advantage of the
Floating-point Multiply Single to Double (FsMULd) instruction. The default
is ‘-mfsmuld’ when targeting a CPU supporting the architecture versions V8
or V9 with FPU except ‘-mcpu=leon’.
-mpopc
-mno-popc
With ‘-mpopc’, GCC generates code that takes advantage of the UltraSPARC
Population Count instruction. The default is ‘-mpopc’ when targeting a CPU
that supports such an instruction, such as Niagara-2 and later.
-msubxc
-mno-subxc
With ‘-msubxc’, GCC generates code that takes advantage of the UltraSPARC
Subtract-Extended-with-Carry instruction. The default is ‘-msubxc’ when tar-
geting a CPU that supports such an instruction, such as Niagara-7 and later.
-mfix-at697f
Enable the documented workaround for the single erratum of the Atmel AT697F
processor (which corresponds to erratum #13 of the AT697E processor).
-mfix-ut699
Enable the documented workarounds for the floating-point errata and the data
cache nullify errata of the UT699 processor.
-mfix-ut700
Enable the documented workaround for the back-to-back store errata of the
UT699E/UT700 processor.
-mfix-gr712rc
Enable the documented workaround for the back-to-back store errata of the
GR712RC processor.
These ‘-m’ options are supported in addition to the above on SPARC-V9 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. The 64-bit environment sets int to 32 bits and
long and pointer to 64 bits.
-mcmodel=which
Set the code model to one of
468 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘medlow’ 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.
‘medmid’ 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.
‘medany’ 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.
‘embmedany’
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.
-mmemory-model=mem-model
Set the memory model in force on the processor to one of
‘default’ The default memory model for the processor and operating system.
‘rmo’ Relaxed Memory Order
‘pso’ Partial Store Order
‘tso’ Total Store Order
‘sc’ Sequential Consistency
These memory models are formally defined in Appendix D of the SPARC-V9
architecture manual, as set in the processor’s PSTATE.MM field.
-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.

3.19.48 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).
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 469

-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.

3.19.49 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 always loads the function’s address into a register, and calls 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.
-mv850e3v5
Specify that the target processor is the V850E3V5. The preprocessor constant
__v850e3v5__ is defined if this option is used.
-mv850e2v4
Specify that the target processor is the V850E3V5. This is an alias for the
‘-mv850e3v5’ option.
-mv850e2v3
Specify that the target processor is the V850E2V3. The preprocessor constant
__v850e2v3__ is defined if this option is used.
-mv850e2 Specify that the target processor is the V850E2. The preprocessor constant
__v850e2__ is defined if this option is used.
470 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mv850e1 Specify that the target processor is the V850E1. The preprocessor constants
__v850e1__ and __v850e__ are defined if this option is used.
-mv850es Specify that the target processor is the V850ES. This is an alias for the
‘-mv850e1’ option.
-mv850e Specify that the target processor is the V850E. The preprocessor constant
__v850e__ is defined if this option is used.
If neither ‘-mv850’ nor ‘-mv850e’ nor ‘-mv850e1’ nor ‘-mv850e2’ nor
‘-mv850e2v3’ nor ‘-mv850e3v5’ are defined then a default target processor is
chosen and the relevant ‘__v850*__’ preprocessor constant is defined.
The preprocessor constants __v850 and __v851__ are always defined, regardless
of which processor variant is the target.
-mdisable-callt
-mno-disable-callt
This option suppresses generation of the CALLT instruction for the v850e,
v850e1, v850e2, v850e2v3 and v850e3v5 flavors of the v850 architecture.
This option is enabled by default when the RH850 ABI is in use (see
‘-mrh850-abi’), and disabled by default when the GCC ABI is in use. If
CALLT instructions are being generated then the C preprocessor symbol
__V850_CALLT__ is defined.
-mrelax
-mno-relax
Pass on (or do not pass on) the ‘-mrelax’ command-line option to the assembler.
-mlong-jumps
-mno-long-jumps
Disable (or re-enable) the generation of PC-relative jump instructions.
-msoft-float
-mhard-float
Disable (or re-enable) the generation of hardware floating point instructions.
This option is only significant when the target architecture is ‘V850E2V3’ or
higher. If hardware floating point instructions are being generated then the C
preprocessor symbol __FPU_OK__ is defined, otherwise the symbol __NO_FPU__
is defined.
-mloop Enables the use of the e3v5 LOOP instruction. The use of this instruction is
not enabled by default when the e3v5 architecture is selected because its use is
still experimental.
-mrh850-abi
-mghs Enables support for the RH850 version of the V850 ABI. This is the default.
With this version of the ABI the following rules apply:
• Integer sized structures and unions are returned via a memory pointer
rather than a register.
• Large structures and unions (more than 8 bytes in size) are passed by value.
• Functions are aligned to 16-bit boundaries.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 471

• The ‘-m8byte-align’ command-line option is supported.

• The ‘-mdisable-callt’ command-line option is enabled by default. The
‘-mno-disable-callt’ command-line option is not supported.
When this version of the ABI is enabled the C preprocessor symbol __V850_
RH850_ABI__ is defined.
-mgcc-abi
Enables support for the old GCC version of the V850 ABI. With this version
of the ABI the following rules apply:
• Integer sized structures and unions are returned in register r10.
• Large structures and unions (more than 8 bytes in size) are passed by
reference.
• Functions are aligned to 32-bit boundaries, unless optimizing for size.
• The ‘-m8byte-align’ command-line option is not supported.
• The ‘-mdisable-callt’ command-line option is supported but not enabled
by default.
When this version of the ABI is enabled the C preprocessor symbol __V850_
GCC_ABI__ is defined.
-m8byte-align
-mno-8byte-align
Enables support for double and long long types to be aligned on 8-byte bound-
aries. The default is to restrict the alignment of all objects to at most 4-bytes.
When ‘-m8byte-align’ is in effect the C preprocessor symbol __V850_8BYTE_
ALIGN__ is defined.
-mbig-switch
Generate code suitable for big switch tables. Use this option only if the assem-
bler/linker complain about out of range branches within a switch table.
-mapp-regs
This option causes r2 and r5 to be used in the code generated by the compiler.
This setting is the default.
-mno-app-regs
This option causes r2 and r5 to be treated as fixed registers.

3.19.50 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 the GNU assembler
is being used.
-mg Output code for G-format floating-point numbers instead of D-format.
-mlra
-mno-lra Enable Local Register Allocation. This is still experimental for the VAX, so by
default the compiler uses standard reload.
472 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

3.19.51 Visium Options

-mdebug A program which performs file I/O and is destined to run on an MCM target
should be linked with this option. It causes the libraries libc.a and libdebug.a
to be linked. The program should be run on the target under the control of the
GDB remote debugging stub.
-msim A program which performs file I/O and is destined to run on the simulator
should be linked with option. This causes libraries libc.a and libsim.a to be
linked.
-mfpu
-mhard-float
Generate code containing floating-point instructions. This is the default.
-mno-fpu
-msoft-float
Generate code containing library calls for floating-point.
‘-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 particu-
lar, you need to compile ‘libgcc.a’, the library that comes with GCC, with
‘-msoft-float’ in order for this to work.
-mcpu=cpu_type
Set the instruction set, register set, and instruction scheduling parameters for
machine type cpu type. Supported values for cpu type are ‘mcm’, ‘gr5’ and
‘gr6’.
‘mcm’ is a synonym of ‘gr5’ present for backward compatibility.
By default (unless configured otherwise), GCC generates code for the GR5
variant of the Visium architecture.
With ‘-mcpu=gr6’, GCC generates code for the GR6 variant of the Visium
architecture. The only difference from GR5 code is that the compiler will
generate block move instructions.
-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.
-msv-mode
Generate code for the supervisor mode, where there are no restrictions on the
access to general registers. This is the default.
-muser-mode
Generate code for the user mode, where the access to some general registers is
forbidden: on the GR5, registers r24 to r31 cannot be accessed in this mode;
on the GR6, only registers r29 to r31 are affected.

3.19.52 VMS Options

These ‘-m’ options are defined for the VMS implementations:
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 473

-mvms-return-codes
Return VMS condition codes from main. The default is to return POSIX-style
condition (e.g. error) codes.
-mdebug-main=prefix
Flag the first routine whose name starts with prefix as the main routine for the
debugger.
-mmalloc64
Default to 64-bit memory allocation routines.
-mpointer-size=size
Set the default size of pointers. Possible options for size are ‘32’ or ‘short’ for
32 bit pointers, ‘64’ or ‘long’ for 64 bit pointers, and ‘no’ for supporting only
32 bit pointers. The later option disables pragma pointer_size.

3.19.53 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 (see Section 3.15
[Link Options], page 272); ‘-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.

3.19.54 x86 Options

These ‘-m’ options are defined for the x86 family of computers.
-march=cpu-type
Generate instructions for the machine type cpu-type. In contrast to
‘-mtune=cpu-type’, which merely tunes the generated code for the specified
cpu-type, ‘-march=cpu-type’ allows GCC to generate code that may
not run at all on processors other than the one indicated. Specifying
‘-march=cpu-type’ implies ‘-mtune=cpu-type’, except where noted otherwise.
The choices for cpu-type are:
474 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘native’ This selects the CPU to generate code for at compilation time by
determining the processor type of the compiling machine. Using
‘-march=native’ enables all instruction subsets supported by the
local machine (hence the result might not run on different ma-
chines). Using ‘-mtune=native’ produces code optimized for the
local machine under the constraints of the selected instruction set.
‘x86-64’ A generic CPU with 64-bit extensions.
‘x86-64-v2’
‘x86-64-v3’
‘x86-64-v4’
These choices for cpu-type select the corresponding micro-
architecture level from the x86-64 psABI. On ABIs other than the
x86-64 psABI they select the same CPU features as the x86-64
psABI documents for the particular micro-architecture level.
Since these cpu-type values do not have a corresponding ‘-mtune’
setting, using ‘-march’ with these values enables generic tuning.
Specific tuning can be enabled using the ‘-mtune=other-cpu-type’
option with an appropriate other-cpu-type value.
‘i386’ Original Intel i386 CPU.
‘i486’ Intel i486 CPU. (No scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
‘i586’
‘pentium’ Intel Pentium CPU with no MMX support.
‘lakemont’
Intel Lakemont MCU, based on Intel Pentium CPU.
‘pentium-mmx’
Intel Pentium MMX CPU, based on Pentium core with MMX in-
struction set support.
‘pentiumpro’
Intel Pentium Pro CPU.
‘i686’ When used with ‘-march’, the Pentium Pro instruction set is used,
so the code runs on all i686 family chips. When used with ‘-mtune’,
it has the same meaning as ‘generic’.
‘pentium2’
Intel Pentium II CPU, based on Pentium Pro core with MMX and
FXSR instruction set support.
‘pentium3’
‘pentium3m’
Intel Pentium III CPU, based on Pentium Pro core with MMX,
FXSR and SSE instruction set support.
‘pentium-m’
Intel Pentium M; low-power version of Intel Pentium III CPU with
MMX, SSE, SSE2 and FXSR instruction set support. Used by
Centrino notebooks.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 475

‘pentium4’
‘pentium4m’
Intel Pentium 4 CPU with MMX, SSE, SSE2 and FXSR instruction
set support.
‘prescott’
Improved version of Intel Pentium 4 CPU with MMX, SSE, SSE2,
SSE3 and FXSR instruction set support.
‘nocona’ Improved version of Intel Pentium 4 CPU with 64-bit extensions,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and FXSR instruction set support.
‘core2’ Intel Core 2 CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3,
SSSE3, CX16, SAHF and FXSR instruction set support.
‘nehalem’ Intel Nehalem CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2,
SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16, SAHF and FXSR
instruction set support.
‘westmere’
Intel Westmere CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2,
SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16, SAHF, FXSR
and PCLMUL instruction set support.
‘sandybridge’
Intel Sandy Bridge CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2,
SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16, SAHF, FXSR,
AVX, XSAVE and PCLMUL instruction set support.
‘ivybridge’
Intel Ivy Bridge CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2,
SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16, SAHF, FXSR,
AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND and F16C instruc-
tion set support.
‘haswell’ Intel Haswell CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX, SSE,
SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16, SAHF,
FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND, F16C,
AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE and HLE instruction
set support.
‘broadwell’
Intel Broadwell CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX, SSE,
SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16, SAHF,
FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND, F16C,
AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE, HLE, RDSEED,
ADCX and PREFETCHW instruction set support.
‘skylake’ Intel Skylake CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX, SSE,
SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16, SAHF,
FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND, F16C,
AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE, HLE, RDSEED,
476 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT, XSAVEC,

XSAVES and SGX instruction set support.
‘bonnell’ Intel Bonnell CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX, SSE,
SSE2, SSE3 and SSSE3 instruction set support.
‘silvermont’
Intel Silvermont CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX, SSE,
SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16, SAHF,
FXSR, PCLMUL, PREFETCHW and RDRND instruction set sup-
port.
‘goldmont’
Intel Goldmont CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX, SSE,
SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16, SAHF,
FXSR, PCLMUL, PREFETCHW, RDRND, AES, SHA, RDSEED,
XSAVE, XSAVEC, XSAVES, XSAVEOPT, CLFLUSHOPT and
FSGSBASE instruction set support.
‘goldmont-plus’
Intel Goldmont Plus CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT,
CX16, SAHF, FXSR, PCLMUL, PREFETCHW, RDRND, AES,
SHA, RDSEED, XSAVE, XSAVEC, XSAVES, XSAVEOPT,
CLFLUSHOPT, FSGSBASE, PTWRITE, RDPID and SGX
instruction set support.
‘tremont’ Intel Tremont CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX,
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16,
SAHF, FXSR, PCLMUL, PREFETCHW, RDRND, AES,
SHA, RDSEED, XSAVE, XSAVEC, XSAVES, XSAVEOPT,
CLFLUSHOPT, FSGSBASE, PTWRITE, RDPID, SGX,
CLWB, GFNI-SSE, MOVDIRI, MOVDIR64B, CLDEMOTE and
WAITPKG instruction set support.
‘sierraforest’
Intel Sierra Forest CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT,
AES, PREFETCHW, PCLMUL, RDRND, XSAVE, XSAVEC,
XSAVES, XSAVEOPT, FSGSBASE, PTWRITE, RDPID, SGX,
GFNI-SSE, CLWB, MOVDIRI, MOVDIR64B, CLDEMOTE,
WAITPKG, ADCX, AVX, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, F16C, FMA,
LZCNT, PCONFIG, PKU, VAES, VPCLMULQDQ, SERIALIZE,
HRESET, KL, WIDEKL, AVX-VNNI, AVXIFMA, AVXVNNI-
INT8, AVXNECONVERT and CMPCCXADD instruction set
support.
‘grandridge’
Intel Grand Ridge CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT,
AES, PREFETCHW, PCLMUL, RDRND, XSAVE, XSAVEC,
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 477

XSAVES, XSAVEOPT, FSGSBASE, PTWRITE, RDPID, SGX,

GFNI-SSE, CLWB, MOVDIRI, MOVDIR64B, CLDEMOTE,
WAITPKG, ADCX, AVX, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, F16C, FMA,
LZCNT, PCONFIG, PKU, VAES, VPCLMULQDQ, SERIALIZE,
HRESET, KL, WIDEKL, AVX-VNNI, AVXIFMA, AVXVN-
NIINT8, AVXNECONVERT, CMPCCXADD and RAOINT
instruction set support.
‘knl’ Intel Knight’s Landing CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT,
CX16, SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE,
RDRND, F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE,
HLE, RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AVX512PF, AVX512ER,
AVX512F, AVX512CD and PREFETCHWT1 instruction set
support.
‘knm’ Intel Knights Mill CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX,
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16,
SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND,
F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE, HLE,
RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AVX512PF, AVX512ER,
AVX512F, AVX512CD and PREFETCHWT1, AVX5124VNNIW,
AVX5124FMAPS and AVX512VPOPCNTDQ instruction set
support.
‘skylake-avx512’
Intel Skylake Server CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT,
CX16, SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE,
RDRND, F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE,
HLE, RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT,
XSAVEC, XSAVES, SGX, AVX512F, CLWB, AVX512VL,
AVX512BW, AVX512DQ and AVX512CD instruction set support.
‘cannonlake’
Intel Cannonlake Server CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT,
CX16, SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE,
RDRND, F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE,
HLE, RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT,
XSAVEC, XSAVES, SGX, AVX512F, AVX512VL, AVX512BW,
AVX512DQ, AVX512CD, PKU, AVX512VBMI, AVX512IFMA
and SHA instruction set support.
‘icelake-client’
Intel Icelake Client CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX,
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16,
SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND,
F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE, HLE, RD-
SEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT, XSAVEC,
478 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

XSAVES, SGX, AVX512F, AVX512VL, AVX512BW, AVX512DQ,

AVX512CD, PKU, AVX512VBMI, AVX512IFMA, SHA,
AVX512VNNI, GFNI, VAES, AVX512VBMI2 , VPCLMULQDQ,
AVX512BITALG, RDPID and AVX512VPOPCNTDQ instruction
set support.

‘icelake-server’
Intel Icelake Server CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT,
CX16, SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE,
RDRND, F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE,
HLE, RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT,
XSAVEC, XSAVES, SGX, AVX512F, AVX512VL, AVX512BW,
AVX512DQ, AVX512CD, PKU, AVX512VBMI, AVX512IFMA,
SHA, AVX512VNNI, GFNI, VAES, AVX512VBMI2 , VP-
CLMULQDQ, AVX512BITALG, RDPID, AVX512VPOPCNTDQ,
PCONFIG, WBNOINVD and CLWB instruction set support.

‘cascadelake’
Intel Cascadelake CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX,
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16,
SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND,
F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE, HLE,
RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT,
XSAVEC, XSAVES, SGX, AVX512F, CLWB, AVX512VL,
AVX512BW, AVX512DQ, AVX512CD and AVX512VNNI
instruction set support.

‘cooperlake’
Intel cooperlake CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX,
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16,
SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND,
F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE, HLE,
RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT,
XSAVEC, XSAVES, SGX, AVX512F, CLWB, AVX512VL,
AVX512BW, AVX512DQ, AVX512CD, AVX512VNNI and
AVX512BF16 instruction set support.

‘tigerlake’
Intel Tigerlake CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX,
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16,
SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND,
F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE, HLE,
RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT,
XSAVEC, XSAVES, SGX, AVX512F, AVX512VL, AVX512BW,
AVX512DQ, AVX512CD PKU, AVX512VBMI, AVX512IFMA,
SHA, AVX512VNNI, GFNI, VAES, AVX512VBMI2, VP-
CLMULQDQ, AVX512BITALG, RDPID, AVX512VPOPCNTDQ,
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 479

MOVDIRI, MOVDIR64B, CLWB, AVX512VP2INTERSECT and

KEYLOCKER instruction set support.
‘sapphirerapids’
Intel sapphirerapids CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT,
CX16, SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE,
RDRND, F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE,
HLE, RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT,
XSAVEC, XSAVES, SGX, AVX512F, AVX512VL, AVX512BW,
AVX512DQ, AVX512CD, PKU, AVX512VBMI, AVX512IFMA,
SHA, AVX512VNNI, GFNI, VAES, AVX512VBMI2, VP-
CLMULQDQ, AVX512BITALG, RDPID, AVX512VPOPCNTDQ,
PCONFIG, WBNOINVD, CLWB, MOVDIRI, MOVDIR64B,
ENQCMD, CLDEMOTE, PTWRITE, WAITPKG, SERIALIZE,
TSXLDTRK, UINTR, AMX-BF16, AMX-TILE, AMX-INT8,
AVX-VNNI, AVX512FP16 and AVX512BF16 instruction set
support.
‘alderlake’
Intel Alderlake CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX,
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, AES,
PREFETCHW, PCLMUL, RDRND, XSAVE, XSAVEC,
XSAVES, XSAVEOPT, FSGSBASE, PTWRITE, RDPID, SGX,
GFNI-SSE, CLWB, MOVDIRI, MOVDIR64B, CLDEMOTE,
WAITPKG, ADCX, AVX, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, F16C, FMA,
LZCNT, PCONFIG, PKU, VAES, VPCLMULQDQ, SERIALIZE,
HRESET, KL, WIDEKL and AVX-VNNI instruction set support.
‘rocketlake’
Intel Rocketlake CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE, MMX,
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3 , SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT, CX16,
SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND,
F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE, HLE, RD-
SEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT, XSAVEC,
XSAVES, AVX512F, AVX512VL, AVX512BW, AVX512DQ,
AVX512CD PKU, AVX512VBMI, AVX512IFMA, SHA,
AVX512VNNI, GFNI, VAES, AVX512VBMI2, VPCLMULQDQ,
AVX512BITALG, RDPID and AVX512VPOPCNTDQ instruction
set support.
‘graniterapids’
Intel graniterapids CPU with 64-bit extensions, MOVBE,
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT,
CX16, SAHF, FXSR, AVX, XSAVE, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE,
RDRND, F16C, AVX2, BMI, BMI2, LZCNT, FMA, MOVBE,
HLE, RDSEED, ADCX, PREFETCHW, AES, CLFLUSHOPT,
XSAVEC, XSAVES, SGX, AVX512F, AVX512VL, AVX512BW,
AVX512DQ, AVX512CD, PKU, AVX512VBMI, AVX512IFMA,
480 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

SHA, AVX512VNNI, GFNI, VAES, AVX512VBMI2, VP-

CLMULQDQ, AVX512BITALG, RDPID, AVX512VPOPCNTDQ,
PCONFIG, WBNOINVD, CLWB, MOVDIRI, MOVDIR64B,
AVX512VP2INTERSECT, ENQCMD, CLDEMOTE, PTWRITE,
WAITPKG, SERIALIZE, TSXLDTRK, UINTR, AMX-
BF16, AMX-TILE, AMX-INT8, AVX-VNNI, AVX512FP16,
AVX512BF16, AMX-FP16 and PREFETCHI 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! in-
struction 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’
Processors based on the AMD K8 core with x86-64 instruction set
support, including the AMD Opteron, Athlon 64, and Athlon 64 FX
processors. (This supersets MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNow!, enhanced
3DNow! and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)
‘k8-sse3’
‘opteron-sse3’
‘athlon64-sse3’
Improved versions of AMD K8 cores with SSE3 instruction set sup-
port.
‘amdfam10’
‘barcelona’
CPUs based on AMD Family 10h cores with x86-64 instruction
set support. (This supersets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A,
3DNow!, enhanced 3DNow!, ABM and 64-bit instruction set exten-
sions.)
‘bdver1’ CPUs based on AMD Family 15h cores with x86-64 instruction
set support. (This supersets FMA4, AVX, XOP, LWP, AES,
PCLMUL, CX16, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A, SSSE3,
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, ABM and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 481

‘bdver2’ AMD Family 15h core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set sup-
port. (This supersets BMI, TBM, F16C, FMA, FMA4, AVX, XOP,
LWP, AES, PCLMUL, CX16, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A,
SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, ABM and 64-bit instruction set exten-
sions.)
‘bdver3’ AMD Family 15h core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set
support. (This supersets BMI, TBM, F16C, FMA, FMA4, FS-
GSBASE, AVX, XOP, LWP, AES, PCLMUL, CX16, MMX, SSE,
SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, ABM and 64-bit in-
struction set extensions.)
‘bdver4’ AMD Family 15h core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set
support. (This supersets BMI, BMI2, TBM, F16C, FMA, FMA4,
FSGSBASE, AVX, AVX2, XOP, LWP, AES, PCLMUL, CX16,
MOVBE, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A, SSSE3, SSE4.1,
SSE4.2, ABM and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)
‘znver1’ AMD Family 17h core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set
support. (This supersets BMI, BMI2, F16C, FMA, FSGSBASE,
AVX, AVX2, ADCX, RDSEED, MWAITX, SHA, CLZERO,
AES, PCLMUL, CX16, MOVBE, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3,
SSE4A, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, ABM, XSAVEC, XSAVES,
CLFLUSHOPT, POPCNT, and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)
‘znver2’ AMD Family 17h core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set
support. (This supersets BMI, BMI2, CLWB, F16C, FMA,
FSGSBASE, AVX, AVX2, ADCX, RDSEED, MWAITX, SHA,
CLZERO, AES, PCLMUL, CX16, MOVBE, MMX, SSE, SSE2,
SSE3, SSE4A, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, ABM, XSAVEC, XSAVES,
CLFLUSHOPT, POPCNT, RDPID, WBNOINVD, and 64-bit
instruction set extensions.)
‘znver3’ AMD Family 19h core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set
support. (This supersets BMI, BMI2, CLWB, F16C, FMA,
FSGSBASE, AVX, AVX2, ADCX, RDSEED, MWAITX, SHA,
CLZERO, AES, PCLMUL, CX16, MOVBE, MMX, SSE, SSE2,
SSE3, SSE4A, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, ABM, XSAVEC, XSAVES,
CLFLUSHOPT, POPCNT, RDPID, WBNOINVD, PKU,
VPCLMULQDQ, VAES, and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)
‘znver4’ AMD Family 19h core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set
support. (This supersets BMI, BMI2, CLWB, F16C, FMA,
FSGSBASE, AVX, AVX2, ADCX, RDSEED, MWAITX, SHA,
CLZERO, AES, PCLMUL, CX16, MOVBE, MMX, SSE,
SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, ABM, XSAVEC,
XSAVES, CLFLUSHOPT, POPCNT, RDPID, WBNOINVD,
PKU, VPCLMULQDQ, VAES, AVX512F, AVX512DQ,
AVX512IFMA, AVX512CD, AVX512BW, AVX512VL,
AVX512BF16, AVX512VBMI, AVX512VBMI2, AVX512VNNI,
482 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

AVX512BITALG, AVX512VPOPCNTDQ, GFNI and 64-bit

instruction set extensions.)
‘btver1’ CPUs based on AMD Family 14h cores with x86-64 instruction set
support. (This supersets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4A,
CX16, ABM and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)
‘btver2’ CPUs based on AMD Family 16h cores with x86-64 instruction
set support. This includes MOVBE, F16C, BMI, AVX, PCLMUL,
AES, SSE4.2, SSE4.1, CX16, ABM, SSE4A, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2,
SSE, MMX 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 WinChip 2 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 (Nehemiah/C5XL) CPU with MMX and SSE instruction
set support. (No scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
‘c7’ VIA C7 (Esther) CPU with MMX, SSE, SSE2 and SSE3 instruction
set support. (No scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
‘samuel-2’
VIA Eden Samuel 2 CPU with MMX and 3DNow! instruction set
support. (No scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
‘nehemiah’
VIA Eden Nehemiah CPU with MMX and SSE instruction set sup-
port. (No scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
‘esther’ VIA Eden Esther CPU with MMX, SSE, SSE2 and SSE3 instruc-
tion set support. (No scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
‘eden-x2’ VIA Eden X2 CPU with x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2 and SSE3 in-
struction set support. (No scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
‘eden-x4’ VIA Eden X4 CPU with x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3,
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX and AVX2 instruction set support. (No
scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
‘nano’ Generic VIA Nano CPU with x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and
SSSE3 instruction set support. (No scheduling is implemented for
this chip.)
‘nano-1000’
VIA Nano 1xxx CPU with x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and
SSSE3 instruction set support. (No scheduling is implemented for
this chip.)
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 483

‘nano-2000’
VIA Nano 2xxx CPU with x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and
SSSE3 instruction set support. (No scheduling is implemented for
this chip.)
‘nano-3000’
VIA Nano 3xxx CPU with x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3
and SSE4.1 instruction set support. (No scheduling is implemented
for this chip.)
‘nano-x2’ VIA Nano Dual Core CPU with x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3,
SSSE3 and SSE4.1 instruction set support. (No scheduling is im-
plemented for this chip.)
‘nano-x4’ VIA Nano Quad Core CPU with x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3,
SSSE3 and SSE4.1 instruction set support. (No scheduling is im-
plemented for this chip.)
‘lujiazui’
ZHAOXIN lujiazui CPU with x86-64, MOVBE, MMX, SSE, SSE2,
SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, POPCNT, AES, PCLMUL,
RDRND, XSAVE, XSAVEOPT, FSGSBASE, CX16, ABM, BMI,
BMI2, F16C, FXSR, RDSEED instruction set support.
‘geode’ AMD Geode embedded processor with MMX and 3DNow! instruc-
tion set support.
-mtune=cpu-type
Tune to cpu-type everything applicable about the generated code, except for
the ABI and the set of available instructions. While picking a specific cpu-type
schedules things appropriately for that particular chip, the compiler does not
generate any code that cannot run on the default machine type unless you use
a ‘-march=cpu-type’ option. For example, if GCC is configured for i686-pc-
linux-gnu then ‘-mtune=pentium4’ generates code that is tuned for Pentium 4
but still runs on i686 machines.
The choices for cpu-type are the same as for ‘-march’. In addition, ‘-mtune’
supports 2 extra choices for cpu-type:
‘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’ or ‘-march’
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, code generation controlled by this option will change to
reflect the processors that are most common at the time that version
of GCC is released.
There is no ‘-march=generic’ option because ‘-march’ indicates
the instruction set the compiler can use, and there is no generic
484 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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.
‘intel’ Produce code optimized for the most current Intel processors, which
are Haswell and Silvermont for this version of GCC. If you know
the CPU on which your code will run, then you should use the cor-
responding ‘-mtune’ or ‘-march’ option instead of ‘-mtune=intel’.
But, if you want your application performs better on both Haswell
and Silvermont, then you should use this option.
As new Intel processors are deployed in the marketplace, the be-
havior of this option will change. Therefore, if you upgrade to a
newer version of GCC, code generation controlled by this option
will change to reflect the most current Intel processors at the time
that version of GCC is released.
There is no ‘-march=intel’ option because ‘-march’ indicates the
instruction set the compiler can use, and there is no common in-
struction set applicable to all processors. In contrast, ‘-mtune’
indicates the processor (or, in this case, collection of processors)
for which the code is optimized.
-mcpu=cpu-type
A deprecated synonym for ‘-mtune’.
-mfpmath=unit
Generate floating-point arithmetic for selected unit unit. The choices for unit
are:
‘387’ Use the standard 387 floating-point coprocessor present on the ma-
jority of chips and emulated otherwise. Code compiled with this
option runs almost everywhere. The temporary results are com-
puted in 80-bit precision instead of the 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 non-Darwin x86-32 targets.
‘sse’ Use scalar floating-point instructions present in the SSE instruction
set. This instruction set is supported by Pentium III and newer
chips, and in the AMD line by Athlon-4, Athlon XP and Athlon MP
chips. The earlier version of the SSE instruction set supports only
single-precision arithmetic, thus the double and extended-precision
arithmetic are still done using 387. A later version, present only
in Pentium 4 and AMD x86-64 chips, supports double-precision
arithmetic too.
For the x86-32 compiler, you must 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.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 485

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 80
bits.
This is the default choice for the x86-64 compiler, Darwin x86-32
targets, and the default choice for x86-32 targets with the SSE2
instruction set when ‘-ffast-math’ is enabled.
‘sse,387’
‘sse+387’
‘both’ Attempt to utilize both instruction sets at once. This effectively
doubles the amount of available registers, and on chips with sepa-
rate 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 unstable performance.
-masm=dialect
Output assembly instructions using selected dialect. Also affects which dialect
is used for basic asm (see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666) and extended asm
(see Section 6.47.2 [Extended Asm], page 668). Supported choices (in dialect
order) are ‘att’ or ‘intel’. The default is ‘att’. Darwin does not support
‘intel’.
-mieee-fp
-mno-ieee-fp
Control whether or not the compiler uses IEEE floating-point comparisons.
These correctly handle the case where the result of a comparison is unordered.
-m80387
-mhard-float
Generate output containing 80387 instructions for floating point.
-mno-80387
-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 cannot 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.
486 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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
overridden when ‘-march’ indicates that the target CPU always has an FPU
and so the instruction does not need emulation. 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 produces 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 are aligned differently than the published application binary inter-
face specifications for the x86-32 and are not 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 x86-32 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) prefer long double to be aligned
to an 8- or 16-byte boundary. In arrays or structures conforming to the ABI,
this is not possible. So specifying ‘-m128bit-long-double’ aligns 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 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, this changes
the size of structures and arrays containing long double variables, as well as
modifying the function calling convention for functions taking long double.
Hence they are not binary-compatible with code compiled without that switch.
-mlong-double-64
-mlong-double-80
-mlong-double-128
These switches control the size of long double type. A size of 64 bits makes the
long double type equivalent to the double type. This is the default for 32-bit
Bionic C library. A size of 128 bits makes the long double type equivalent to
the __float128 type. This is the default for 64-bit Bionic C library.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 487

Warning: if you override the default value for your target ABI, this changes
the size of structures and arrays containing long double variables, as well as
modifying the function calling convention for functions taking long double.
Hence they are not binary-compatible with code compiled without that switch.
-malign-data=type
Control how GCC aligns variables. Supported values for type are ‘compat’
uses increased alignment value compatible uses GCC 4.8 and earlier, ‘abi’ uses
alignment value as specified by the psABI, and ‘cacheline’ uses increased
alignment value to match the cache line size. ‘compat’ is the default.
-mlarge-data-threshold=threshold
When ‘-mcmodel=medium’ is specified, data objects larger than threshold are
placed in the large data section. This value must be the same across all objects
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. See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566.
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 is generated
for calls to those functions.
In addition, seriously incorrect code results 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. See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566.
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 func-
tion attribute sseregparm. See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566.
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.
488 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mvect8-ret-in-mem
Return 8-byte vectors in memory instead of MMX registers. This is the de-
fault on VxWorks to match the ABI of the Sun Studio compilers until version
12. Only use this option if you need to remain compatible with existing code
produced by those previous compiler versions or older versions of GCC.
-mpc32
-mpc64
-mpc80
Set 80387 floating-point precision to 32, 64 or 80 bits. When ‘-mpc32’ is speci-
fied, 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.
-mdaz-ftz
The flush-to-zero (FTZ) and denormals-are-zero (DAZ) flags in the MXCSR
register are used to control floating-point calculations.SSE and AVX instruc-
tions including scalar and vector instructions could benefit from enabling the
FTZ and DAZ flags when ‘-mdaz-ftz’ is specified. Don’t set FTZ/DAZ flags
when ‘-mno-daz-ftz’ or ‘-shared’ is specified, ‘-mdaz-ftz’ will set FTZ/DAZ
flags even with ‘-shared’.
-mstackrealign
Realign the stack at entry. On the x86, the ‘-mstackrealign’ option generates
an alternate prologue and epilogue that realigns the run-time stack if necessary.
This supports mixing legacy codes that keep 4-byte stack alignment with mod-
ern codes that keep 16-byte stack alignment 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).
Warning: When generating code for the x86-64 architecture with SSE exten-
sions disabled, ‘-mpreferred-stack-boundary=3’ can be used to keep the stack
boundary aligned to 8 byte boundary. Since x86-64 ABI require 16 byte stack
alignment, this is ABI incompatible and intended to be used in controlled envi-
ronment where stack space is important limitation. This option leads to wrong
code when functions compiled with 16 byte stack alignment (such as functions
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 489

from a standard library) are called with misaligned stack. In this case, SSE
instructions may lead to misaligned memory access traps. In addition, variable
arguments are handled incorrectly for 16 byte aligned objects (including x87
long double and int128), leading to wrong results. You must build all modules
with ‘-mpreferred-stack-boundary=3’, including any libraries. This includes
the system libraries and startup modules.
-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’ is used.
On Pentium and Pentium Pro, 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 most likely misaligns
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
-msse
-msse2
-msse3
-mssse3
-msse4
-msse4a
-msse4.1
-msse4.2
-mavx
-mavx2
-mavx512f
-mavx512pf
-mavx512er
-mavx512cd
-mavx512vl
-mavx512bw
-mavx512dq
-mavx512ifma
-mavx512vbmi
-msha
-maes
-mpclmul
490 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mclflushopt
-mclwb
-mfsgsbase
-mptwrite
-mrdrnd
-mf16c
-mfma
-mpconfig
-mwbnoinvd
-mfma4
-mprfchw
-mrdpid
-mprefetchwt1
-mrdseed
-msgx
-mxop
-mlwp
-m3dnow
-m3dnowa
-mpopcnt
-mabm
-madx
-mbmi
-mbmi2
-mlzcnt
-mfxsr
-mxsave
-mxsaveopt
-mxsavec
-mxsaves
-mrtm
-mhle
-mtbm
-mmwaitx
-mclzero
-mpku
-mavx512vbmi2
-mavx512bf16
-mavx512fp16
-mgfni
-mvaes
-mwaitpkg
-mvpclmulqdq
-mavx512bitalg
-mmovdiri
-mmovdir64b
-menqcmd
-muintr
-mtsxldtrk
-mavx512vpopcntdq
-mavx512vp2intersect
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 491

-mavx5124fmaps
-mavx512vnni
-mavxvnni
-mavx5124vnniw
-mcldemote
-mserialize
-mamx-tile
-mamx-int8
-mamx-bf16
-mhreset
-mkl
-mwidekl
-mavxifma
-mavxvnniint8
-mavxneconvert
-mcmpccxadd
-mamx-fp16
-mprefetchi
-mraoint These switches enable the use of instructions in the MMX, SSE, SSE2,
SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4, SSE4A, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, AVX512F,
AVX512PF, AVX512ER, AVX512CD, AVX512VL, AVX512BW, AVX512DQ,
AVX512IFMA, AVX512VBMI, SHA, AES, PCLMUL, CLFLUSHOPT, CLWB,
FSGSBASE, PTWRITE, RDRND, F16C, FMA, PCONFIG, WBNOINVD,
FMA4, PREFETCHW, RDPID, PREFETCHWT1, RDSEED, SGX, XOP,
LWP, 3DNow!, enhanced 3DNow!, POPCNT, ABM, ADX, BMI, BMI2,
LZCNT, FXSR, XSAVE, XSAVEOPT, XSAVEC, XSAVES, RTM, HLE,
TBM, MWAITX, CLZERO, PKU, AVX512VBMI2, GFNI, VAES, WAITPKG,
VPCLMULQDQ, AVX512BITALG, MOVDIRI, MOVDIR64B, AVX512BF16,
ENQCMD, AVX512VPOPCNTDQ, AVX5124FMAPS, AVX512VNNI,
AVX5124VNNIW, SERIALIZE, UINTR, HRESET, AMXTILE, AMXINT8,
AMXBF16, KL, WIDEKL, AVXVNNI, AVX512FP16, AVXIFMA, AVXVN-
NIINT8, AVXNECONVERT, CMPCCXADD, AMX-FP16, PREFETCHI,
RAOINT or CLDEMOTE extended instruction sets. Each has a corresponding
‘-mno-’ option to disable use of these instructions.
These extensions are also available as built-in functions: see Section 6.60.33 [x86
Built-in Functions], page 857, for details of the functions enabled and disabled
by these switches.
To generate SSE/SSE2 instructions automatically from floating-point code (as
opposed to 387 instructions), see ‘-mfpmath=sse’.
GCC depresses SSEx instructions when ‘-mavx’ is used. Instead, it gener-
ates new AVX instructions or AVX equivalence for all SSEx instructions when
needed.
These options enable GCC to use these extended instructions in generated
code, even without ‘-mfpmath=sse’. Applications that perform run-time 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.
492 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mdump-tune-features
This option instructs GCC to dump the names of the x86 performance
tuning features and default settings. The names can be used in
‘-mtune-ctrl=feature-list’.
-mtune-ctrl=feature-list
This option is used to do fine grain control of x86 code generation
features. feature-list is a comma separated list of feature names. See also
‘-mdump-tune-features’. When specified, the feature is turned on if it is not
preceded with ‘^’, otherwise, it is turned off. ‘-mtune-ctrl=feature-list’
is intended to be used by GCC developers. Using it may lead to code paths
not covered by testing and can potentially result in compiler ICEs or runtime
errors.
-mno-default
This option instructs GCC to turn off all tunable features. See also
‘-mtune-ctrl=feature-list’ and ‘-mdump-tune-features’.
-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.
-mvzeroupper
This option instructs GCC to emit a vzeroupper instruction before a transfer of
control flow out of the function to minimize the AVX to SSE transition penalty
as well as remove unnecessary zeroupper intrinsics.
-mprefer-avx128
This option instructs GCC to use 128-bit AVX instructions instead of 256-bit
AVX instructions in the auto-vectorizer.
-mprefer-vector-width=opt
This option instructs GCC to use opt-bit vector width in instructions instead
of default on the selected platform.
-mmove-max=bits
This option instructs GCC to set the maximum number of bits can be moved
from memory to memory efficiently to bits. The valid bits are 128, 256 and
512.
-mstore-max=bits
This option instructs GCC to set the maximum number of bits can be stored
to memory efficiently to bits. The valid bits are 128, 256 and 512.
‘none’ No extra limitations applied to GCC other than defined by the
selected platform.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 493

‘128’ Prefer 128-bit vector width for instructions.

‘256’ Prefer 256-bit vector width for instructions.
‘512’ Prefer 512-bit vector width for instructions.
-mcx16 This option enables GCC to generate CMPXCHG16B instructions in 64-bit code
to implement compare-and-exchange operations on 16-byte aligned 128-bit ob-
jects. This is useful for atomic updates of data structures exceeding one machine
word in size. The compiler uses this instruction to implement Section 6.54
[ sync Builtins], page 728. However, for Section 6.55 [ atomic Builtins],
page 730 operating on 128-bit integers, a library call is always used.
-msahf This option enables generation of SAHF instructions in 64-bit code. Early Intel
Pentium 4 CPUs with Intel 64 support, prior to the introduction of Pentium
4 G1 step in December 2005, lacked the LAHF and SAHF instructions which are
supported by AMD64. These are load and store instructions, respectively, for
certain status flags. In 64-bit mode, the SAHF instruction is used to optimize
fmod, drem, and remainder built-in functions; see Section 6.59 [Other Builtins],
page 739 for details.
-mmovbe This option enables use of the movbe instruction to implement __builtin_
bswap32 and __builtin_bswap64.
-mshstk The ‘-mshstk’ option enables shadow stack built-in functions from x86 Control-
flow Enforcement Technology (CET).
-mcrc32 This option enables built-in functions __builtin_ia32_crc32qi, __builtin_
ia32_crc32hi, __builtin_ia32_crc32si and __builtin_ia32_crc32di to
generate the crc32 machine instruction.
-mmwait This option enables built-in functions __builtin_ia32_monitor, and
__builtin_ia32_mwait to generate the monitor and mwait machine
instructions.
-mrecip This option enables use of 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 ‘-ffinite-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).
Note that GCC implements 1.0f/sqrtf(x) in terms of RSQRTSS (or RSQRTPS)
already with ‘-ffast-math’ (or the above option combination), and doesn’t
need ‘-mrecip’.
Also note that GCC emits the above sequence with additional Newton-Raphson
step for vectorized single-float division and vectorized sqrtf(x) already with
‘-ffast-math’ (or the above option combination), and doesn’t need ‘-mrecip’.
494 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mrecip=opt
This option controls which reciprocal estimate instructions may be used. opt
is a comma-separated list of options, which may be preceded by a ‘!’ to invert
the option:
‘all’ Enable all estimate instructions.
‘default’ Enable the default instructions, equivalent to ‘-mrecip’.
‘none’ Disable all estimate instructions, equivalent to ‘-mno-recip’.
‘div’ Enable the approximation for scalar division.
‘vec-div’ Enable the approximation for vectorized division.
‘sqrt’ Enable the approximation for scalar square root.
‘vec-sqrt’
Enable the approximation for vectorized square root.
So, for example, ‘-mrecip=all,!sqrt’ enables all of the reciprocal approxima-
tions, except for square root.
-mveclibabi=type
Specifies the ABI type to use for vectorizing intrinsics using an external li-
brary. Supported values for type are ‘svml’ for the Intel short vector math
library and ‘acml’ for the AMD math core library. To use this option, both
‘-ftree-vectorize’ and ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ have to be enabled,
and an SVML or ACML ABI-compatible library must be specified at link time.
GCC currently emits calls to vmldExp2, vmldLn2, vmldLog102, vmldPow2,
vmldTanh2, vmldTan2, vmldAtan2, vmldAtanh2, vmldCbrt2, vmldSinh2,
vmldSin2, vmldAsinh2, vmldAsin2, vmldCosh2, vmldCos2, vmldAcosh2,
vmldAcos2, vmlsExp4, vmlsLn4, 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 the corresponding
function type when ‘-mveclibabi=acml’ is used.
-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 Microsoft Windows
and the SysV ABI on all other systems. You can control this behavior for
specific functions by using the function attributes ms_abi and sysv_abi. See
Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566.
-mforce-indirect-call
Force all calls to functions to be indirect. This is useful when using Intel
Processor Trace where it generates more precise timing information for function
calls.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 495

-mmanual-endbr
Insert ENDBR instruction at function entry only via the cf_check function
attribute. This is useful when used with the option ‘-fcf-protection=branch’
to control ENDBR insertion at the function entry.

-mcet-switch
By default, CET instrumentation is turned off on switch statements that use
a jump table and indirect branch track is disabled. Since jump tables are
stored in read-only memory, this does not result in a direct loss of hardening.
But if the jump table index is attacker-controlled, the indirect jump may not
be constrained by CET. This option turns on CET instrumentation to enable
indirect branch track for switch statements with jump tables which leads to the
jump targets reachable via any indirect jumps.

-mcall-ms2sysv-xlogues
Due to differences in 64-bit ABIs, any Microsoft ABI function that calls a Sys-
tem V ABI function must consider RSI, RDI and XMM6-15 as clobbered. By
default, the code for saving and restoring these registers is emitted inline, result-
ing in fairly lengthy prologues and epilogues. Using ‘-mcall-ms2sysv-xlogues’
emits prologues and epilogues that use stubs in the static portion of libgcc to
perform these saves and restores, thus reducing function size at the cost of a
few extra instructions.

-mtls-dialect=type
Generate code to access thread-local storage using the ‘gnu’ or ‘gnu2’ conven-
tions. ‘gnu’ is the conservative default; ‘gnu2’ is more efficient, but it may add
compile- and run-time requirements that cannot be satisfied on all systems.

-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
is computed in the function prologue. This is faster on most modern CPUs
because of reduced dependencies, improved scheduling and reduced stack usage
when the 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 MinGW. Programs that rely
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.
496 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mms-bitfields
-mno-ms-bitfields
Enable/disable bit-field layout compatible with the native Microsoft Windows
compiler.
If packed is used on a structure, or if bit-fields are used, it may be that the
Microsoft ABI lays out the structure differently than the way GCC normally
does. Particularly when moving packed data between functions compiled with
GCC and the native Microsoft compiler (either via function call or as data in
a file), it may be necessary to access either format.
This option is enabled by default for Microsoft Windows targets. This behav-
ior can also be controlled locally by use of variable or type attributes. For
more information, see Section 6.34.15 [x86 Variable Attributes], page 646 and
Section 6.35.6 [x86 Type Attributes], page 656.
The Microsoft structure layout algorithm is fairly simple with the exception of
the bit-field packing. The padding and alignment of members of structures and
whether a bit-field can straddle a storage-unit boundary are determine by these
rules:
1. Structure members are stored sequentially in the order in which they are
declared: the first member has the lowest memory address and the last
member the highest.
2. Every data object has an alignment requirement. The alignment require-
ment for all data except structures, unions, and arrays is either the size of
the object or the current packing size (specified with either the aligned
attribute or the pack pragma), whichever is less. For structures, unions,
and arrays, the alignment requirement is the largest alignment requirement
of its members. Every object is allocated an offset so that:
offset % alignment_requirement == 0
3. Adjacent bit-fields are packed into the same 1-, 2-, or 4-byte allocation
unit if the integral types are the same size and if the next bit-field fits into
the current allocation unit without crossing the boundary imposed by the
common alignment requirements of the bit-fields.
MSVC interprets zero-length bit-fields in the following ways:
1. If a zero-length bit-field is inserted between two bit-fields that are normally
coalesced, the bit-fields are not coalesced.
For example:
struct
{
unsigned long bf_1 : 12;
unsigned long : 0;
unsigned long bf_2 : 12;
} t1;
The size of t1 is 8 bytes with the zero-length bit-field. If the zero-length
bit-field were removed, t1’s size would be 4 bytes.
2. If a zero-length bit-field is inserted after a bit-field, foo, and the alignment
of the zero-length bit-field is greater than the member that follows it, bar,
bar is aligned as the type of the zero-length bit-field.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 497

For example:
struct
{
char foo : 4;
short : 0;
char bar;
} t2;

struct
{
char foo : 4;
short : 0;
double bar;
} t3;
For t2, bar is placed at offset 2, rather than offset 1. Accordingly, the size
of t2 is 4. For t3, the zero-length bit-field does not affect the alignment of
bar or, as a result, the size of the structure.
Taking this into account, it is important to note the following:
1. If a zero-length bit-field follows a normal bit-field, the type of the zero-
length bit-field may affect the alignment of the structure as whole. For
example, t2 has a size of 4 bytes, since the zero-length bit-field follows
a normal bit-field, and is of type short.
2. Even if a zero-length bit-field is not followed by a normal bit-field, it
may still affect the alignment of the structure:
struct
{
char foo : 6;
long : 0;
} t4;
Here, t4 takes up 4 bytes.
3. Zero-length bit-fields following non-bit-field members are ignored:
struct
{
char foo;
long : 0;
char bar;
} t5;
Here, t5 takes up 2 bytes.
-mno-align-stringops
Do not align the 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 the destination is known to
be aligned to least a 4-byte boundary. This enables more inlining and increases
code size, but may improve performance of code that depends on fast memcpy
and memset for short lengths. The option enables inline expansion of strlen
for all pointer alignments.
498 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-minline-stringops-dynamically
For string operations of unknown size, use run-time checks with inline code for
small blocks and a library call for large blocks.
-mstringop-strategy=alg
Override the internal decision heuristic for the particular algorithm to use for
inlining string operations. The allowed values for alg are:
‘rep_byte’
‘rep_4byte’
‘rep_8byte’
Expand using i386 rep prefix of the specified size.
‘byte_loop’
‘loop’
‘unrolled_loop’
Expand into an inline loop.
‘libcall’ Always use a library call.
-mmemcpy-strategy=strategy
Override the internal decision heuristic to decide if __builtin_memcpy
should be inlined and what inline algorithm to use when the expected
size of the copy operation is known. strategy is a comma-separated list of
alg:max size:dest align triplets. alg is specified in ‘-mstringop-strategy’,
max size specifies the max byte size with which inline algorithm alg is allowed.
For the last triplet, the max size must be -1. The max size of the triplets in
the list must be specified in increasing order. The minimal byte size for alg is
0 for the first triplet and max_size + 1 of the preceding range.
-mmemset-strategy=strategy
The option is similar to ‘-mmemcpy-strategy=’ except that it is to control __
builtin_memset expansion.
-momit-leaf-frame-pointer
Don’t keep the frame pointer in a register for leaf functions. This avoids the in-
structions to save, set up, and restore frame pointers and makes an extra register
available in leaf functions. The option ‘-fomit-leaf-frame-pointer’ removes
the frame pointer for leaf 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 valid depends on the operating
system, and whether it maps the segment to cover the entire TLS area.
For systems that use the GNU C Library, the default is on.
-msse2avx
-mno-sse2avx
Specify that the assembler should encode SSE instructions with VEX prefix.
The option ‘-mavx’ turns this on by default.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 499

-mfentry
-mno-fentry
If profiling is active (‘-pg’), put the profiling counter call before the prologue.
Note: On x86 architectures the attribute ms_hook_prologue isn’t possible at
the moment for ‘-mfentry’ and ‘-pg’.
-mrecord-mcount
-mno-record-mcount
If profiling is active (‘-pg’), generate a mcount loc section that contains point-
ers to each profiling call. This is useful for automatically patching and out calls.
-mnop-mcount
-mno-nop-mcount
If profiling is active (‘-pg’), generate the calls to the profiling functions as NOPs.
This is useful when they should be patched in later dynamically. This is likely
only useful together with ‘-mrecord-mcount’.
-minstrument-return=type
Instrument function exit in -pg -mfentry instrumented functions with call to
specified function. This only instruments true returns ending with ret, but not
sibling calls ending with jump. Valid types are none to not instrument, call to
generate a call to return , or nop5 to generate a 5 byte nop.
-mrecord-return
-mno-record-return
Generate a return loc section pointing to all return instrumentation code.
-mfentry-name=name
Set name of fentry symbol called at function entry for -pg -mfentry func-
tions.
-mfentry-section=name
Set name of section to record -mrecord-mcount calls (default mcount loc).
-mskip-rax-setup
-mno-skip-rax-setup
When generating code for the x86-64 architecture with SSE extensions disabled,
‘-mskip-rax-setup’ can be used to skip setting up RAX register when there
are no variable arguments passed in vector registers.
Warning: Since RAX register is used to avoid unnecessarily saving vector reg-
isters on stack when passing variable arguments, the impacts of this option are
callees may waste some stack space, misbehave or jump to a random location.
GCC 4.4 or newer don’t have those issues, regardless the RAX register value.
-m8bit-idiv
-mno-8bit-idiv
On some processors, like Intel Atom, 8-bit unsigned integer divide is much faster
than 32-bit/64-bit integer divide. This option generates a run-time check. If
both dividend and divisor are within range of 0 to 255, 8-bit unsigned integer
divide is used instead of 32-bit/64-bit integer divide.
500 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mavx256-split-unaligned-load
-mavx256-split-unaligned-store
Split 32-byte AVX unaligned load and store.
-mstack-protector-guard=guard
-mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg
-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset
Generate stack protection code using canary at guard. Supported locations
are ‘global’ for global canary or ‘tls’ for per-thread canary in the TLS block
(the default). This option has effect only when ‘-fstack-protector’ or
‘-fstack-protector-all’ is specified.
With the latter choice the options ‘-mstack-protector-guard-reg=reg’ and
‘-mstack-protector-guard-offset=offset’ furthermore specify which seg-
ment register (%fs or %gs) to use as base register for reading the canary, and
from what offset from that base register. The default for those is as specified
in the relevant ABI.
-mgeneral-regs-only
Generate code that uses only the general-purpose registers. This prevents the
compiler from using floating-point, vector, mask and bound registers.
-mrelax-cmpxchg-loop
When emitting a compare-and-swap loop for Section 6.54 [ sync Builtins],
page 728 and Section 6.55 [ atomic Builtins], page 730 lacking a native in-
struction, optimize for the highly contended case by issuing an atomic load
before the CMPXCHG instruction, and using the PAUSE instruction to save CPU
power when restarting the loop.
-mindirect-branch=choice
Convert indirect call and jump with choice. The default is ‘keep’, which keeps
indirect call and jump unmodified. ‘thunk’ converts indirect call and jump
to call and return thunk. ‘thunk-inline’ converts indirect call and jump to
inlined call and return thunk. ‘thunk-extern’ converts indirect call and jump
to external call and return thunk provided in a separate object file. You can
control this behavior for a specific function by using the function attribute
indirect_branch. See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566.
Note that ‘-mcmodel=large’ is incompatible with ‘-mindirect-branch=thunk’
and ‘-mindirect-branch=thunk-extern’ since the thunk function may not be
reachable in the large code model.
Note that ‘-mindirect-branch=thunk-extern’ is compatible with
‘-fcf-protection=branch’ since the external thunk can be made to enable
control-flow check.
-mfunction-return=choice
Convert function return with choice. The default is ‘keep’, which keeps func-
tion return unmodified. ‘thunk’ converts function return to call and return
thunk. ‘thunk-inline’ converts function return to inlined call and return
thunk. ‘thunk-extern’ converts function return to external call and return
thunk provided in a separate object file. You can control this behavior for
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 501

a specific function by using the function attribute function_return. See

Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566.
Note that ‘-mindirect-return=thunk-extern’ is compatible with
‘-fcf-protection=branch’ since the external thunk can be made to enable
control-flow check.
Note that ‘-mcmodel=large’ is incompatible with ‘-mfunction-return=thunk’
and ‘-mfunction-return=thunk-extern’ since the thunk function may not be
reachable in the large code model.
-mindirect-branch-register
Force indirect call and jump via register.
-mharden-sls=choice
Generate code to mitigate against straight line speculation (SLS) with choice.
The default is ‘none’ which disables all SLS hardening. ‘return’ enables SLS
hardening for function returns. ‘indirect-jmp’ enables SLS hardening for in-
direct jumps. ‘all’ enables all SLS hardening.
-mindirect-branch-cs-prefix
Add CS prefix to call and jmp to indirect thunk with branch target in r8-r15
registers so that the call and jmp instruction length is 6 bytes to allow them
to be replaced with ‘lfence; call *%r8-r15’ or ‘lfence; jmp *%r8-r15’ at
run-time.
These ‘-m’ switches are supported in addition to the above on x86-64 processors in 64-bit
environments.
-m32
-m64
-mx32
-m16
-miamcu Generate code for a 16-bit, 32-bit or 64-bit environment. The ‘-m32’ option
sets int, long, and pointer types to 32 bits, and generates code that runs on
any i386 system.
The ‘-m64’ option sets int to 32 bits and long and pointer types to 64 bits, and
generates code for the x86-64 architecture. For Darwin only the ‘-m64’ option
also turns off the ‘-fno-pic’ and ‘-mdynamic-no-pic’ options.
The ‘-mx32’ option sets int, long, and pointer types to 32 bits, and generates
code for the x86-64 architecture.
The ‘-m16’ option is the same as ‘-m32’, except for that it outputs the
.code16gcc assembly directive at the beginning of the assembly output so
that the binary can run in 16-bit mode.
The ‘-miamcu’ option generates code which conforms to Intel MCU psABI. It
requires the ‘-m32’ option to be turned on.
-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 is not modified by signal or interrupt handlers and therefore can be used for
502 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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.
-maddress-mode=long
Generate code for long address mode. This is only supported for 64-bit and
x32 environments. It is the default address mode for 64-bit environments.
-maddress-mode=short
Generate code for short address mode. This is only supported for 32-bit and x32
environments. It is the default address mode for 32-bit and x32 environments.
-mneeded
-mno-needed
Emit GNU PROPERTY X86 ISA 1 NEEDED GNU property for Linux target
to indicate the micro-architecture ISA level required to execute the binary.
-mno-direct-extern-access
Without ‘-fpic’ nor ‘-fPIC’, always use the GOT pointer to access external
symbols. With ‘-fpic’ or ‘-fPIC’, treat access to protected symbols as local
symbols. The default is ‘-mdirect-extern-access’.
Warning: shared libraries compiled with ‘-mno-direct-extern-access’ and
executable compiled with ‘-mdirect-extern-access’ may not be binary com-
patible if protected symbols are used in shared libraries and executable.
-munroll-only-small-loops
Controls conservative small loop unrolling. It is default enabled by O2, and
unrolls loop with less than 4 insns by 1 time. Explicit -f[no-]unroll-[all-]loops
would disable this flag to avoid any unintended unrolling behavior that user
does not want.
-mlam=choice
LAM(linear-address masking) allows special bits in the pointer to be used for
metadata. The default is ‘none’. With ‘u48’, pointer bits in positions 62:48 can
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 503

be used for metadata; With ‘u57’, pointer bits in positions 62:57 can be used
for metadata.

3.19.55 x86 Windows Options

These additional options are available for Microsoft Windows targets:
-mconsole
This option 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 option is available for Cygwin and MinGW targets and is enabled by
default on those targets.
-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.
-mthreads
This option is available for MinGW targets. It specifies that MinGW-specific
thread support is to be used.
-municode
This option is available for MinGW-w64 targets. It causes the UNICODE prepro-
cessor macro to be predefined, and chooses Unicode-capable runtime startup
code.
-mwin32 This option is available for Cygwin and MinGW targets. It specifies that the
typical Microsoft Windows predefined 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.
-fno-set-stack-executable
This option is available for MinGW targets. It specifies that the executable flag
for the stack used by nested functions isn’t set. This is necessary for binaries
running in kernel mode of Microsoft Windows, as there the User32 API, which
is used to set executable privileges, isn’t available.
-fwritable-relocated-rdata
This option is available for MinGW and Cygwin targets. It specifies that
relocated-data in read-only section is put into the .data section. This is a
necessary for older runtimes not supporting modification of .rdata sections for
pseudo-relocation.
-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
504 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

COMMON variables should be used when generating code. It is enabled by

default if GCC detects that the target assembler found during configuration
supports the feature.

See also under Section 3.19.54 [x86 Options], page 473 for standard options.

3.19.56 Xstormy16 Options

These options are defined for Xstormy16:

-msim Choose startup files and linker script suitable for the simulator.

3.19.57 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 in-
structions. 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 in-
structions 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 in-
structions 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 oper-
ations.

-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.

-mforce-no-pic
For targets, like GNU/Linux, where all user-mode Xtensa code must be
position-independent code (PIC), this option disables PIC for compiling kernel
code.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 505

-mtext-section-literals
-mno-text-section-literals
These options 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. Literals for each function are placed right
before that function.

-mauto-litpools
-mno-auto-litpools
These options control the treatment of literal pools. The default is
‘-mno-auto-litpools’, which places literals in a separate section in the output
file unless ‘-mtext-section-literals’ is used. With ‘-mauto-litpools’ the
literals are interspersed in the text section by the assembler. Compiler does
not produce explicit .literal directives and loads literals into registers with
MOVI instructions instead of L32R to let the assembler do relaxation and place
literals as necessary. This option allows assembler to create several literal
pools per function and assemble very big functions, which may not be possible
with ‘-mtext-section-literals’.

-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 is performed. The default is
‘-mtarget-align’. These options do not affect the treatment of auto-aligned
instructions like LOOP, which the assembler always aligns, either by widening
density instructions or by inserting NOP 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 still shows
direct call instructions—look at the disassembled object code to see the actual
instructions. Note that the assembler uses an indirect call for every cross-file
call, not just those that really are out of range.
506 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-mabi=name
Generate code for the specified ABI. Permissible values are: ‘call0’,
‘windowed’. Default ABI is chosen by the Xtensa core configuration.
-mabi=call0
When this option is enabled function parameters are passed in registers a2
through a7, registers a12 through a15 are caller-saved, and register a15 may
be used as a frame pointer. When this version of the ABI is enabled the C
preprocessor symbol __XTENSA_CALL0_ABI__ is defined.
-mabi=windowed
When this option is enabled function parameters are passed in registers a10
through a15, and called function rotates register window by 8 registers on entry
so that its arguments are found in registers a2 through a7. Register a7 may
be used as a frame pointer. Register window is rotated 8 registers back upon
return. When this version of the ABI is enabled the C preprocessor symbol
__XTENSA_WINDOWED_ABI__ is defined.
-mextra-l32r-costs=n
Specify an extra cost of instruction RAM/ROM access for L32R instructions,
in clock cycles. This affects, when optimizing for speed, whether loading a
constant from literal pool using L32R or synthesizing the constant from a small
one with a couple of arithmetic instructions. The default value is 0.

3.19.58 zSeries Options

These are listed under See Section 3.19.44 [S/390 and zSeries Options], page 452.

3.20 Specifying Subprocesses and the Switches to Pass to

Them
gcc is a driver program. It performs its job by invoking a sequence of other programs to do
the work of compiling, assembling and linking. GCC interprets its command-line parameters
and uses these to deduce which programs it should invoke, and which command-line options
it ought to place on their command lines. This behavior is controlled by spec strings. In
most cases there is one spec string for each program that GCC can invoke, but a few
programs have multiple spec strings to control their behavior. The spec strings built into
GCC can be overridden by using the ‘-specs=’ command-line switch to specify a spec file.
Spec files are plain-text files that are used to construct spec strings. They consist of a
sequence of directives separated by blank lines. The type of directive is determined by the
first non-whitespace character on the line, which can be one of the following:
%command Issues a command to the spec file processor. The commands that can appear
here are:
%include <file>
Search for file and insert its text at the current point in the specs
file.
%include_noerr <file>
Just like ‘%include’, but do not generate an error message if the
include file cannot be found.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 507

%rename old_name new_name

Rename the spec string old name to new name.
*[spec_name]:
This tells the compiler to create, override or delete the named spec string. All
lines after this directive up to the next directive or blank line are considered to
be the text for the spec string. If this results in an empty string then the spec
is deleted. (Or, if the spec did not exist, then nothing happens.) Otherwise, if
the spec does not currently exist a new spec is created. If the spec does exist
then its contents are overridden by the text of this directive, unless the first
character of that text is the ‘+’ character, in which case the text is appended
to the spec.
[suffix]:
Creates a new ‘[suffix] spec’ pair. All lines after this directive and up to the
next directive or blank line are considered to make up the spec string for the
indicated suffix. When the compiler encounters an input file with the named
suffix, it processes the spec string in order to work out how to compile that file.
For example:
.ZZ:
z-compile -input %i
This says that any input file whose name ends in ‘.ZZ’ should be passed to the
program ‘z-compile’, which should be invoked with the command-line switch
‘-input’ and with the result of performing the ‘%i’ substitution. (See below.)
As an alternative to providing a spec string, the text following a suffix directive
can be one of the following:
@language
This says that the suffix is an alias for a known language. This is
similar to using the ‘-x’ command-line switch to GCC to specify a
language explicitly. For example:
.ZZ:
@c++
Says that .ZZ files are, in fact, C++ source files.
#name This causes an error messages saying:
name compiler not installed on this system.

GCC already has an extensive list of suffixes built into it. This directive adds
an entry to the end of the list of suffixes, but since the list is searched from
the end backwards, it is effectively possible to override earlier entries using this
technique.
GCC has the following spec strings built into it. Spec files can override these strings or
create their own. Note that individual targets can also add their own spec strings to this
list.
asm Options to pass to the assembler
asm_final Options to pass to the assembler post-processor
cpp Options to pass to the C preprocessor
cc1 Options to pass to the C compiler
cc1plus Options to pass to the C++ compiler
508 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

endfile Object files to include at the end of the link

link Options to pass to the linker
lib Libraries to include on the command line to the linker
libgcc Decides which GCC support library to pass to the linker
linker Sets the name of the linker
predefines Defines to be passed to the C preprocessor
signed_char Defines to pass to CPP to say whether char is signed
by default
startfile Object files to include at the start of the link
Here is a small example of a spec file:
%rename lib old_lib

*lib:
--start-group -lgcc -lc -leval1 --end-group %(old_lib)
This example renames the spec called ‘lib’ to ‘old_lib’ and then overrides the previous
definition of ‘lib’ with a new one. The new definition adds in some extra command-line
options before including the text of the old definition.
Spec strings are a list of command-line options to be passed to their corresponding pro-
gram. In addition, the spec strings can contain ‘%’-prefixed sequences to substitute variable
text or to conditionally insert text into the command line. Using these constructs it is
possible to generate quite complex command lines.
Here is a table of all defined ‘%’-sequences for spec strings. Note that spaces are not
generated automatically around the results of expanding these sequences. Therefore you
can concatenate them together or combine them with constant text in a single argument.
%% Substitute one ‘%’ into the program name or argument.
%" Substitute an empty argument.
%i Substitute the name of the input file being processed.
%b Substitute the basename for outputs related with the input file being processed.
This is often the substring up to (and not including) the last period and not
including the directory but, unless %w is active, it expands to the basename
for auxiliary outputs, which may be influenced by an explicit output name, and
by various other options that control how auxiliary outputs are named.
%B This is the same as ‘%b’, but include the file suffix (text after the last period).
Without %w, it expands to the basename for dump outputs.
%d Marks the argument containing or following the ‘%d’ as a temporary file name,
so that that file is deleted if GCC exits successfully. Unlike ‘%g’, this contributes
no text to the argument.
%gsuffix Substitute a file name that has suffix suffix and is chosen once per compilation,
and mark the argument in the same way as ‘%d’. To reduce exposure to denial-
of-service attacks, the file name is now chosen in a way that is hard to predict
even when previously chosen file names are known. For example, ‘%g.s ...
%g.o ... %g.s’ might turn into ‘ccUVUUAU.s ccXYAXZ12.o ccUVUUAU.s’. suffix
matches the regexp ‘[.A-Za-z]*’ or the special string ‘%O’, which is treated
exactly as if ‘%O’ had been preprocessed. Previously, ‘%g’ was simply substituted
with a file name chosen once per compilation, without regard to any appended
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 509

suffix (which was therefore treated just like ordinary text), making such attacks
more likely to succeed.
%usuffix Like ‘%g’, but generates a new temporary file name each time it appears instead
of once per compilation.
%Usuffix Substitutes the last file name generated with ‘%usuffix’, generating a new
one if there is no such last file name. In the absence of any ‘%usuffix’, this
is just like ‘%gsuffix’, except they don’t share the same suffix space, so ‘%g.s
... %U.s ... %g.s ... %U.s’ involves the generation of two distinct file names,
one for each ‘%g.s’ and another for each ‘%U.s’. Previously, ‘%U’ was simply
substituted with a file name chosen for the previous ‘%u’, without regard to any
appended suffix.
%jsuffix Substitutes the name of the HOST_BIT_BUCKET, if any, and if it is writable, and
if ‘-save-temps’ is not used; otherwise, substitute the name of a temporary
file, just like ‘%u’. This temporary file is not meant for communication between
processes, but rather as a junk disposal mechanism.
%|suffix
%msuffix Like ‘%g’, except if ‘-pipe’ is in effect. In that case ‘%|’ substitutes a single
dash and ‘%m’ substitutes nothing at all. These are the two most common
ways to instruct a program that it should read from standard input or write
to standard output. If you need something more elaborate you can use an
‘%{pipe:X}’ construct: see for example ‘gcc/fortran/lang-specs.h’.
%.SUFFIX Substitutes .SUFFIX for the suffixes of a matched switch’s args when it is
subsequently output with ‘%*’. SUFFIX is terminated by the next space or %.
%w Marks the argument containing or following the ‘%w’ as the designated output
file of this compilation. This puts the argument into the sequence of arguments
that ‘%o’ substitutes.
%V Indicates that this compilation produces no output file.
%o Substitutes the names of all the output files, with spaces automatically placed
around them. You should write spaces around the ‘%o’ as well or the results are
undefined. ‘%o’ is for use in the specs for running the linker. Input files whose
names have no recognized suffix are not compiled at all, but they are included
among the output files, so they are linked.
%O Substitutes the suffix for object files. Note that this is handled specially when
it immediately follows ‘%g, %u, or %U’, because of the need for those to form
complete file names. The handling is such that ‘%O’ is treated exactly as if it
had already been substituted, except that ‘%g, %u, and %U’ do not currently
support additional suffix characters following ‘%O’ as they do following, for
example, ‘.o’.
%I Substitute any of ‘-iprefix’ (made from GCC_EXEC_PREFIX), ‘-isysroot’
(made from TARGET_SYSTEM_ROOT), ‘-isystem’ (made from COMPILER_PATH
and ‘-B’ options) and ‘-imultilib’ as necessary.
510 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

%s Current argument is the name of a library or startup file of some sort. Search
for that file in a standard list of directories and substitute the full name found.
The current working directory is included in the list of directories scanned.
%T Current argument is the name of a linker script. Search for that file in the
current list of directories to scan for libraries. If the file is located insert a
‘--script’ option into the command line followed by the full path name found.
If the file is not found then generate an error message. Note: the current
working directory is not searched.
%estr Print str as an error message. str is terminated by a newline. Use this when
inconsistent options are detected.
%nstr Print str as a notice. str is terminated by a newline.
%(name) Substitute the contents of spec string name at this point.
%x{option}
Accumulate an option for ‘%X’.
%X Output the accumulated linker options specified by a ‘%x’ spec string.
%Y Output the accumulated assembler options specified by ‘-Wa’.
%Z Output the accumulated preprocessor options specified by ‘-Wp’.
%M Output multilib_os_dir.
%R Output the concatenation of target_system_root and target_sysroot_
suffix.
%a Process the asm spec. This is used to compute the switches to be passed to the
assembler.
%A Process the asm_final spec. This is a spec string for passing switches to an
assembler post-processor, if such a program is needed.
%l Process the link spec. This is the spec for computing the command line passed
to the linker. Typically it makes use of the ‘%L %G %S %D and %E’ sequences.
%D Dump out a ‘-L’ option for each directory that GCC believes might contain
startup files. If the target supports multilibs then the current multilib directory
is prepended to each of these paths.
%L Process the lib spec. This is a spec string for deciding which libraries are
included on the command line to the linker.
%G Process the libgcc spec. This is a spec string for deciding which GCC support
library is included on the command line to the linker.
%S Process the startfile spec. This is a spec for deciding which object files are
the first ones passed to the linker. Typically this might be a file named ‘crt0.o’.
%E Process the endfile spec. This is a spec string that specifies the last object
files that are passed to the linker.
%C Process the cpp spec. This is used to construct the arguments to be passed to
the C preprocessor.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 511

%1 Process the cc1 spec. This is used to construct the options to be passed to the
actual C compiler (cc1).
%2 Process the cc1plus spec. This is used to construct the options to be passed
to the actual C++ compiler (cc1plus).
%* Substitute the variable part of a matched option. See below. Note that each
comma in the substituted string is replaced by a single space.
%<S Remove all occurrences of -S from the command line. Note—this command is
position dependent. ‘%’ commands in the spec string before this one see -S, ‘%’
commands in the spec string after this one do not.
%<S* Similar to ‘%<S’, but match all switches beginning with -S.
%>S Similar to ‘%<S’, but keep -S in the GCC command line.
%:function(args)
Call the named function function, passing it args. args is first processed as a
nested spec string, then split into an argument vector in the usual fashion. The
function returns a string which is processed as if it had appeared literally as
part of the current spec.
The following built-in spec functions are provided:
getenv The getenv spec function takes two arguments: an environment
variable name and a string. If the environment variable is not
defined, a fatal error is issued. Otherwise, the return value is the
value of the environment variable concatenated with the string. For
example, if TOPDIR is defined as ‘/path/to/top’, then:
%:getenv(TOPDIR /include)
expands to ‘/path/to/top/include’.
if-exists
The if-exists spec function takes one argument, an absolute
pathname to a file. If the file exists, if-exists returns the path-
name. Here is a small example of its usage:
*startfile:
crt0%O%s %:if-exists(crti%O%s) crtbegin%O%s
if-exists-else
The if-exists-else spec function is similar to the if-exists spec
function, except that it takes two arguments. The first argument is
an absolute pathname to a file. If the file exists, if-exists-else
returns the pathname. If it does not exist, it returns the second
argument. This way, if-exists-else can be used to select one
file or another, based on the existence of the first. Here is a small
example of its usage:
*startfile:
crt0%O%s %:if-exists(crti%O%s) \
%:if-exists-else(crtbeginT%O%s crtbegin%O%s)
if-exists-then-else
The if-exists-then-else spec function takes at least two argu-
ments and an optional third one. The first argument is an absolute
512 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

pathname to a file. If the file exists, the function returns the second
argument. If the file does not exist, the function returns the third
argument if there is one, or NULL otherwise. This can be used to
expand one text, or optionally another, based on the existence of a
file. Here is a small example of its usage:
-l%:if-exists-then-else(%:getenv(VSB_DIR rtnet.h) rtnet net)

sanitize The sanitize spec function takes no arguments. It returns non-

NULL if any address, thread or undefined behavior sanitizers are
active.
%{%:sanitize(address):-funwind-tables}

replace-outfile
The replace-outfile spec function takes two arguments. It looks
for the first argument in the outfiles array and replaces it with the
second argument. Here is a small example of its usage:
%{fgnu-runtime:%:replace-outfile(-lobjc -lobjc-gnu)}

remove-outfile
The remove-outfile spec function takes one argument. It looks
for the first argument in the outfiles array and removes it. Here is
a small example its usage:
%:remove-outfile(-lm)

version-compare
The version-compare spec function takes four or five arguments
of the following form:
<comparison-op> <arg1> [<arg2>] <switch> <result>
It returns result if the comparison evaluates to true, and NULL
if it doesn’t. The supported comparison-op values are:
>= True if switch is a later (or same) version than arg1
!> Opposite of >=
< True if switch is an earlier version than arg1
!< Opposite of <
>< True if switch is arg1 or later, and earlier than arg2
<> True if switch is earlier than arg1, or is arg2 or later
If the switch is not present at all, the condition is false unless the
first character of the comparison-op is !.
%:version-compare(>= 10.3 mmacosx-version-min= -lmx)
The above example would add ‘-lmx’ if ‘-mmacosx-version-min=10.3.9’
was passed.
include The include spec function behaves much like %include, with the
advantage that it can be nested inside a spec and thus be condi-
tionalized. It takes one argument, the filename, and looks for it in
the startfile path. It always returns NULL.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 513

%{static-libasan|static:%:include(libsanitizer.spec)%(link_libasan)}

pass-through-libs
The pass-through-libs spec function takes any number of argu-
ments. It finds any ‘-l’ options and any non-options ending in
‘.a’ (which it assumes are the names of linker input library archive
files) and returns a result containing all the found arguments each
prepended by ‘-plugin-opt=-pass-through=’ and joined by spa-
ces. This list is intended to be passed to the LTO linker plugin.
%:pass-through-libs(%G %L %G)

print-asm-header
The print-asm-header function takes no arguments and simply
prints a banner like:
Assembler options
=================

Use "-Wa,OPTION" to pass "OPTION" to the assembler.

It is used to separate compiler options from assembler options in
the ‘--target-help’ output.
gt The gt spec function takes two or more arguments. It returns ""
(the empty string) if the second-to-last argument is greater than the
last argument, and NULL otherwise. The following example inserts
the link_gomp spec if the last ‘-ftree-parallelize-loops=’ op-
tion given on the command line is greater than 1:
%{%:gt(%{ftree-parallelize-loops=*:%*} 1):%:include(libgomp.spec)%(link_gomp)}

debug-level-gt
The debug-level-gt spec function takes one argument and returns
"" (the empty string) if debug_info_level is greater than the
specified number, and NULL otherwise.
%{%:debug-level-gt(0):%{gdwarf*:--gdwarf2}}

%{S} Substitutes the -S switch, if that switch is given to GCC. If that switch is
not specified, this substitutes nothing. Note that the leading dash is omitted
when specifying this option, and it is automatically inserted if the substitution
is performed. Thus the spec string ‘%{foo}’ matches the command-line option
‘-foo’ and outputs the command-line option ‘-foo’.
%W{S} Like %{S} but mark last argument supplied within as a file to be deleted on
failure.
%@{S} Like %{S} but puts the result into a FILE and substitutes @FILE if an @file
argument has been supplied.
%{S*} Substitutes all the switches specified to GCC whose names start with -S, but
which also take an argument. This is used for switches like ‘-o’, ‘-D’, ‘-I’, etc.
GCC considers ‘-o foo’ as being one switch whose name starts with ‘o’. %{o*}
substitutes this text, including the space. Thus two arguments are generated.
514 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

%{S*&T*} Like %{S*}, but preserve order of S and T options (the order of S and T in
the spec is not significant). There can be any number of ampersand-separated
variables; for each the wild card is optional. Useful for CPP as ‘%{D*&U*&A*}’.
%{S:X} Substitutes X, if the ‘-S’ switch is given to GCC.
%{!S:X} Substitutes X, if the ‘-S’ switch is not given to GCC.
%{S*:X} Substitutes X if one or more switches whose names start with -S are specified to
GCC. Normally X is substituted only once, no matter how many such switches
appeared. However, if %* appears somewhere in X, then X is substituted once for
each matching switch, with the %* replaced by the part of that switch matching
the *.
If %* appears as the last part of a spec sequence then a space is added after
the end of the last substitution. If there is more text in the sequence, however,
then a space is not generated. This allows the %* substitution to be used as
part of a larger string. For example, a spec string like this:
%{mcu=*:--script=%*/memory.ld}
when matching an option like ‘-mcu=newchip’ produces:
--script=newchip/memory.ld

%{.S:X} Substitutes X, if processing a file with suffix S.

%{!.S:X} Substitutes X, if not processing a file with suffix S.
%{,S:X} Substitutes X, if processing a file for language S.
%{!,S:X} Substitutes X, if not processing a file for language S.
%{S|P:X} Substitutes X if either -S or -P is given to GCC. This may be combined with
‘!’, ‘.’, ‘,’, and * sequences as well, although they have a stronger binding than
the ‘|’. If %* appears in X, all of the alternatives must be starred, and only the
first matching alternative is substituted.
For example, a spec string like this:
%{.c:-foo} %{!.c:-bar} %{.c|d:-baz} %{!.c|d:-boggle}
outputs the following command-line options from the following input command-
line options:
fred.c -foo -baz
jim.d -bar -boggle
-d fred.c -foo -baz -boggle
-d jim.d -bar -baz -boggle

%{%:function(args):X}
Call function named function with args args. If the function returns non-NULL,
then X is substituted, if it returns NULL, it isn’t substituted.
%{S:X; T:Y; :D}
If S is given to GCC, substitutes X; else if T is given to GCC, substitutes Y;
else substitutes D. There can be as many clauses as you need. This may be
combined with ., ,, !, |, and * as needed.
The switch matching text S in a ‘%{S}’, ‘%{S:X}’ or similar construct can use a backslash
to ignore the special meaning of the character following it, thus allowing literal matching
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 515

of a character that is otherwise specially treated. For example, ‘%{std=iso9899\:1999:X}’

substitutes X if the ‘-std=iso9899:1999’ option is given.
The conditional text X in a ‘%{S:X}’ or similar construct may contain other nested ‘%’
constructs or spaces, or even newlines. They are processed as usual, as described above.
Trailing white space in X is ignored. White space may also appear anywhere on the left side
of the colon in these constructs, except between . or * and the corresponding word.
The ‘-O’, ‘-f’, ‘-m’, and ‘-W’ switches are handled specifically in these constructs. If
another value of ‘-O’ or the negated form of a ‘-f’, ‘-m’, or ‘-W’ switch is found later in
the command line, the earlier switch value is ignored, except with {S*} where S is just one
letter, which passes all matching options.
The character ‘|’ at the beginning of the predicate text is used to indicate that a command
should be piped to the following command, but only if ‘-pipe’ is specified.
It is built into GCC which switches take arguments and which do not. (You might think
it would be useful to generalize this to allow each compiler’s spec to say which switches
take arguments. But this cannot be done in a consistent fashion. GCC cannot even decide
which input files have been specified without knowing which switches take arguments, and
it must know which input files to compile in order to tell which compilers to run).
GCC also knows implicitly that arguments starting in ‘-l’ are to be treated as compiler
output files, and passed to the linker in their proper position among the other output files.

3.21 Environment Variables Affecting GCC

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’ (see Section 3.16 [Directory Options], page 278). These take precedence over places
specified using environment variables, which in turn take precedence over those specified by
the configuration of GCC. See Section “Controlling the Compilation Driver ‘gcc’” in GNU
Compiler Collection (GCC) Internals.
LANG
LC_CTYPE
LC_MESSAGES
LC_ALL These environment variables control the way that GCC uses localization infor-
mation which allows GCC to work with different national conventions. GCC
inspects the locale categories LC_CTYPE and LC_MESSAGES if it has been config-
ured 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 are otherwise
interpreted as a string end or escape.
The LC_MESSAGES environment variable specifies the language to use in diag-
nostic messages.
516 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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_COMPARE_DEBUG
Setting GCC_COMPARE_DEBUG is nearly equivalent to passing ‘-fcompare-debug’
to the compiler driver. See the documentation of this option for more details.
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 attempts to figure out an appropriate
prefix to use based on the pathname it is 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 searches
‘foo/bar’ just before it searches the standard directory ‘/usr/local/lib/bar’.
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 cannot 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 cannot 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).
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 517

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 uses
mblen and mbtowc as defined by the default locale to recognize and translate
multibyte characters.
GCC_EXTRA_DIAGNOSTIC_OUTPUT
If GCC_EXTRA_DIAGNOSTIC_OUTPUT is set to one of the following
values, then additional text will be emitted to stderr when fix-
it hints are emitted. ‘-fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits’ and
‘-fno-diagnostics-parseable-fixits’ take precedence over this
environment variable.
‘fixits-v1’
Emit parseable fix-it hints, equivalent to ‘-fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits’.
In particular, columns are expressed as a count of bytes, starting
at byte 1 for the initial column.
‘fixits-v2’
As fixits-v1, but columns are expressed as display columns, as
per ‘-fdiagnostics-column-unit=display’.
Some additional environment 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 Mi-
crosoft 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 par-
ticular 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
518 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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’ (see Section 3.13 [Preprocessor Options], page 264), 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. See Section 3.13 [Preprocessor
Options], page 264.
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
If this variable is set, its value specifies a UNIX timestamp to be used in re-
placement of the current date and time in the __DATE__ and __TIME__ macros,
so that the embedded timestamps become reproducible.
The value of SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH must be a UNIX timestamp, defined as the
number of seconds (excluding leap seconds) since 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 repre-
sented in ASCII; identical to the output of date +%s on GNU/Linux and other
systems that support the %s extension in the date command.
The value should be a known timestamp such as the last modification time of
the source or package and it should be set by the build process.

3.22 Using Precompiled Headers

Often large projects have many header files that are included in every source file. The time
the compiler takes to process these header files over and over again can account for nearly
all of the time required to build the project. To make builds faster, GCC allows you to
precompile a header file.
To create a precompiled header file, simply compile it as you would any other file, if
necessary using the ‘-x’ option to make the driver treat it as a C or C++ header file. You
may want to use a tool like make to keep the precompiled header up-to-date when the
headers it contains change.
A precompiled header file is searched for when #include is seen in the compilation. As
it searches for the included file (see Section “Search Path” in The C Preprocessor) the
compiler looks for a precompiled header in each directory just before it looks for the include
file in that directory. The name searched for is the name specified in the #include with
‘.gch’ appended. If the precompiled header file cannot be used, it is ignored.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 519

For instance, if you have #include "all.h", and you have ‘all.h.gch’ in the same
directory as ‘all.h’, then the precompiled header file is used if possible, and the original
header is used otherwise.
Alternatively, you might decide to put the precompiled header file in a directory and use
‘-I’ to ensure that directory is searched before (or instead of) the directory containing the
original header. Then, if you want to check that the precompiled header file is always used,
you can put a file of the same name as the original header in this directory containing an
#error command.
This also works with ‘-include’. So yet another way to use precompiled headers, good
for projects not designed with precompiled header files in mind, is to simply take most
of the header files used by a project, include them from another header file, precompile
that header file, and ‘-include’ the precompiled header. If the header files have guards
against multiple inclusion, they are skipped because they’ve already been included (in the
precompiled header).
If you need to precompile the same header file for different languages, targets, or compiler
options, you can instead make a directory named like ‘all.h.gch’, and put each precompiled
header in the directory, perhaps using ‘-o’. It doesn’t matter what you call the files in the
directory; every precompiled header in the directory is considered. The first precompiled
header encountered in the directory that is valid for this compilation is used; they’re searched
in no particular order.
There are many other possibilities, limited only by your imagination, good sense, and the
constraints of your build system.
A precompiled header file can be used only when these conditions apply:
• Only one precompiled header can be used in a particular compilation.
• A precompiled header cannot be used once the first C token is seen. You can have
preprocessor directives before a precompiled header; you cannot include a precompiled
header from inside another header.
• The precompiled header file must be produced for the same language as the current
compilation. You cannot use a C precompiled header for a C++ compilation.
• The precompiled header file must have been produced by the same compiler binary as
the current compilation is using.
• Any macros defined before the precompiled header is included must either be defined
in the same way as when the precompiled header was generated, or must not affect the
precompiled header, which usually means that they don’t appear in the precompiled
header at all.
The ‘-D’ option is one way to define a macro before a precompiled header is included;
using a #define can also do it. There are also some options that define macros im-
plicitly, like ‘-O’ and ‘-Wdeprecated’; the same rule applies to macros defined this
way.
• If debugging information is output when using the precompiled header, using ‘-g’ or
similar, the same kind of debugging information must have been output when building
the precompiled header. However, a precompiled header built using ‘-g’ can be used
in a compilation when no debugging information is being output.
520 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• The same ‘-m’ options must generally be used when building and using the precompiled
header. See Section 3.19 [Submodel Options], page 308, for any cases where this rule
is relaxed.
• Each of the following options must be the same when building and using the precom-
piled header:
-fexceptions
• Some other command-line options starting with ‘-f’, ‘-p’, or ‘-O’ must be defined in
the same way as when the precompiled header was generated. At present, it’s not clear
which options are safe to change and which are not; the safest choice is to use exactly
the same options when generating and using the precompiled header. The following
are known to be safe:
-fmessage-length= -fpreprocessed -fsched-interblock
-fsched-spec -fsched-spec-load -fsched-spec-load-dangerous
-fsched-verbose=number -fschedule-insns -fvisibility=
-pedantic-errors
• Address space layout randomization (ASLR) can lead to not binary identical PCH files.
If you rely on stable PCH file contents disable ASLR when generating PCH files.
For all of these except the last, the compiler automatically ignores the precompiled header
if the conditions aren’t met. If you find an option combination that doesn’t work and
doesn’t cause the precompiled header to be ignored, please consider filing a bug report, see
Chapter 15 [Bugs], page 975.
If you do use differing options when generating and using the precompiled header, the
actual behavior is a mixture of the behavior for the options. For instance, if you use ‘-g’ to
generate the precompiled header but not when using it, you may or may not get debugging
information for routines in the precompiled header.

3.23 C++ Modules

Modules are a C++20 language feature. As the name suggests, they provides a modular
compilation system, intending to provide both faster builds and better library isolation.
The “Merging Modules” paper https://wg21.link/p1103, provides the easiest to read set
of changes to the standard, although it does not capture later changes.
G++’s modules support is not complete. Other than bugs, the known missing pieces are:
Private Module Fragment
The Private Module Fragment is recognized, but an error is emitted.
Partition definition visibility rules
Entities may be defined in implementation partitions, and those definitions are
not available outside of the module. This is not implemented, and the definitions
are available to extra-module use.
Textual merging of reachable GM entities
Entities may be multiply defined across different header-units. These must
be de-duplicated, and this is implemented across imports, or when an import
redefines a textually-defined entity. However the reverse is not implemented—
textually redefining an entity that has been defined in an imported header-unit.
A redefinition error is emitted.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 521

Translation-Unit local referencing rules

Papers p1815 (https://wg21.link/p1815) and p2003 (https://wg21.link/
p2003) add limitations on which entities an exported region may reference (for
instance, the entities an exported template definition may reference). These
are not fully implemented.
Standard Library Header Units
The Standard Library is not provided as importable header units. If you want
to import such units, you must explicitly build them first. If you do not do this
with care, you may have multiple declarations, which the module machinery
must merge—compiler resource usage can be affected by how you partition
header files into header units.
Modular compilation is not enabled with just the ‘-std=c++20’ option. You must explic-
itly enable it with the ‘-fmodules-ts’ option. It is independent of the language version
selected, although in pre-C++20 versions, it is of course an extension.
No new source file suffixes are required or supported. If you wish to use a non-standard
suffix (see Section 3.2 [Overall Options], page 33), you also need to provide a ‘-x c++’ option
too.2
Compiling a module interface unit produces an additional output (to the assembly or
object file), called a Compiled Module Interface (CMI). This encodes the exported declara-
tions of the module. Importing a module reads in the CMI. The import graph is a Directed
Acyclic Graph (DAG). You must build imports before the importer.
Header files may themselves be compiled to header units, which are a transitional ability
aiming at faster compilation. The ‘-fmodule-header’ option is used to enable this, and
implies the ‘-fmodules-ts’ option. These CMIs are named by the fully resolved underlying
header file, and thus may be a complete pathname containing subdirectories. If the header
file is found at an absolute pathname, the CMI location is still relative to a CMI root
directory.
As header files often have no suffix, you commonly have to specify a ‘-x’ option to tell the
compiler the source is a header file. You may use ‘-x c++-header’, ‘-x c++-user-header’
or ‘-x c++-system-header’. When used in conjunction with ‘-fmodules-ts’, these all
imply an appropriate ‘-fmodule-header’ option. The latter two variants use the user or
system include path to search for the file specified. This allows you to, for instance, compile
standard library header files as header units, without needing to know exactly where they
are installed. Specifying the language as one of these variants also inhibits output of the
object file, as header files have no associated object file.
The ‘-fmodule-only’ option disables generation of the associated object file for compiling
a module interface. Only the CMI is generated. This option is implied when using the
‘-fmodule-header’ option.
The ‘-flang-info-include-translate’ and ‘-flang-info-include-translate-not’
options notes whether include translation occurs or not. With no argument, the first will
note all include translation. The second will note all non-translations of include files not
2
Some users like to distinguish module interface files with a new suffix, such as naming the source
module.cppm, which involves teaching all tools about the new suffix. A different scheme, such as naming
module-m.cpp would be less invasive.
522 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

known to intentionally be textual. With an argument, queries about include translation of

a header files with that particular trailing pathname are noted. You may repeat this form
to cover several different header files. This option may be helpful in determining whether
include translation is happening—if it is working correctly, it behaves as if it isn’t there at
all.
The ‘-flang-info-module-cmi’ option can be used to determine where the compiler
is reading a CMI from. Without the option, the compiler is silent when such a read is
successful. This option has an optional argument, which will restrict the notification to just
the set of named modules or header units specified.
The ‘-Winvalid-imported-macros’ option causes all imported macros to be resolved at
the end of compilation. Without this, imported macros are only resolved when expanded
or (re)defined. This option detects conflicting import definitions for all macros.
For details of the ‘-fmodule-mapper’ family of options, see Section 3.23.1 [C++ Module
Mapper], page 522.

3.23.1 Module Mapper

A module mapper provides a server or file that the compiler queries to determine the
mapping between module names and CMI files. It is also used to build CMIs on demand.
Mapper functionality is in its infancy and is intended for experimentation with build system
interactions.
You can specify a mapper with the ‘-fmodule-mapper=val’ option or CXX_MODULE_
MAPPER environment variable. The value may have one of the following forms:
[hostname]:port[?ident]
An optional hostname and a numeric port number to connect to. If the host-
name is omitted, the loopback address is used. If the hostname corresponds
to multiple IPV6 addresses, these are tried in turn, until one is successful. If
your host lacks IPv6, this form is non-functional. If you must use IPv4 use
‘-fmodule-mapper=’|ncat ipv4host port’’.
=socket[?ident]
A local domain socket. If your host lacks local domain sockets, this form is
non-functional.
|program[?ident] [args...]
A program to spawn, and communicate with on its stdin/stdout streams. Your
PATH environment variable is searched for the program. Arguments are sepa-
rated by space characters, (it is not possible for one of the arguments delivered
to the program to contain a space). An exception is if program begins with @.
In that case program (sans @) is looked for in the compiler’s internal binary
directory. Thus the sample mapper-server can be specified with @g++-mapper-
server.
<>[?ident]
<>inout[?ident]
<in>out[?ident]
Named pipes or file descriptors to communicate over. The first form, ‘<>’,
communicates over stdin and stdout. The other forms allow you to specify a
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 523

file descriptor or name a pipe. A numeric value is interpreted as a file descriptor,

otherwise named pipe is opened. The second form specifies a bidirectional pipe
and the last form allows specifying two independent pipes. Using file descriptors
directly in this manner is fragile in general, as it can require the cooperation
of intermediate processes. In particular using stdin & stdout is fraught with
danger as other compiler options might also cause the compiler to read stdin
or write stdout, and it can have unfortunate interactions with signal delivery
from the terminal.
file[?ident]
A mapping file consisting of space-separated module-name, filename pairs, one
per line. Only the mappings for the direct imports and any module export
name need be provided. If other mappings are provided, they override those
stored in any imported CMI files. A repository root may be specified in the
mapping file by using ‘$root’ as the module name in the first active line. Use
of this option will disable any default module->CMI name mapping.
As shown, an optional ident may suffix the first word of the option, indicated by a ‘?’
prefix. The value is used in the initial handshake with the module server, or to specify a
prefix on mapping file lines. In the server case, the main source file name is used if no ident
is specified. In the file case, all non-blank lines are significant, unless a value is specified, in
which case only lines beginning with ident are significant. The ident must be separated by
whitespace from the module name. Be aware that ‘<’, ‘>’, ‘?’, and ‘|’ characters are often
significant to the shell, and therefore may need quoting.
The mapper is connected to or loaded lazily, when the first module mapping is required.
The networking protocols are only supported on hosts that provide networking. If no
mapper is specified a default is provided.
A project-specific mapper is expected to be provided by the build system that invokes the
compiler. It is not expected that a general-purpose server is provided for all compilations.
As such, the server will know the build configuration, the compiler it invoked, and the
environment (such as working directory) in which that is operating. As it may parallelize
builds, several compilations may connect to the same socket.
The default mapper generates CMI files in a ‘gcm.cache’ directory. CMI files have a
‘.gcm’ suffix. The module unit name is used directly to provide the basename. Header
units construct a relative path using the underlying header file name. If the path is already
relative, a ‘,’ directory is prepended. Internal ‘..’ components are translated to ‘,,’. No
attempt is made to canonicalize these filenames beyond that done by the preprocessor’s
include search algorithm, as in general it is ambiguous when symbolic links are present.
The mapper protocol was published as “A Module Mapper” https://wg21.link/p1184.
The implementation is provided by libcody, https://github.com/urnathan/libcody,
which specifies the canonical protocol definition. A proof of concept server implementation
embedded in make was described in ”Make Me A Module”, https://wg21.link/p1602.

3.23.2 Module Preprocessing

Modules affect preprocessing because of header units and include translation. Some uses of
the preprocessor as a separate step either do not produce a correct output, or require CMIs
to be available.
524 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Header units import macros. These macros can affect later conditional inclusion, which
therefore can cascade to differing import sets. When preprocessing, it is necessary to load
the CMI. If a header unit is unavailable, the preprocessor issues a warning and continue
(when not just preprocessing, an error is emitted). Detecting such imports requires prepro-
cessor tokenization of the input stream to phase 4 (macro expansion).
Include translation converts #include, #include_next and #import directives to internal
import declarations. Whether a particular directive is translated is controlled by the module
mapper. Header unit names are canonicalized during preprocessing.
Dependency information can be emitted for macro import, extending the functionality
of ‘-MD’ and ‘-MMD’ options. Detection of import declarations also requires phase 4 prepro-
cessing, and thus requires full preprocessing (or compilation).
The ‘-M’, ‘-MM’ and ‘-E -fdirectives-only’ options halt preprocessing before phase 4.
The ‘-save-temps’ option uses ‘-fdirectives-only’ for preprocessing, and preserve the
macro definitions in the preprocessed output. Usually you also want to use this option when
explicitly preprocessing a header-unit, or consuming such preprocessed output:
g++ -fmodules-ts -E -fdirectives-only my-header.hh -o my-header.ii
g++ -x c++-header -fmodules-ts -fpreprocessed -fdirectives-only my-header.ii

3.23.3 Compiled Module Interface

CMIs are an additional artifact when compiling named module interfaces, partitions or
header units. These are read when importing. CMI contents are implementation-specific,
and in GCC’s case tied to the compiler version. Consider them a rebuildable cache artifact,
not a distributable object.
When creating an output CMI, any missing directory components are created in a man-
ner that is safe for concurrent builds creating multiple, different, CMIs within a common
subdirectory tree.
CMI contents are written to a temporary file, which is then atomically renamed. Ob-
servers either see old contents (if there is an existing file), or complete new contents. They
do not observe the CMI during its creation. This is unlike object file writing, which may
be observed by an external process.
CMIs are read in lazily, if the host OS provides mmap functionality. Generally blocks
are read when name lookup or template instantiation occurs. To inhibit this, the
‘-fno-module-lazy’ option may be used.
The ‘--param lazy-modules=n’ parameter controls the limit on the number of concur-
rently open module files during lazy loading. Should more modules be imported, an LRU
algorithm is used to determine which files to close—until that file is needed again. This
limit may be exceeded with deep module dependency hierarchies. With large code bases
there may be more imports than the process limit of file descriptors. By default, the limit
is a few less than the per-process file descriptor hard limit, if that is determinable.3
GCC CMIs use ELF32 as an architecture-neutral encapsulation mechanism. You may
use readelf to inspect them, although section contents are largely undecipherable. There
is a section named .gnu.c++.README, which contains human-readable text. Other than the
first line, each line consists of tag: value tuples.
3
Where applicable the soft limit is incremented as needed towards the hard limit.
Chapter 3: GCC Command Options 525

> readelf -p.gnu.c++.README gcm.cache/foo.gcm

String dump of section ’.gnu.c++.README’:

[ 0] GNU C++ primary module interface
[ 21] compiler: 11.0.0 20201116 (experimental) [c++-modules revision 20201116-0454]
[ 6f] version: 2020/11/16-04:54
[ 89] module: foo
[ 95] source: c_b.ii
[ a4] dialect: C++20/coroutines
[ be] cwd: /data/users/nathans/modules/obj/x86_64/gcc
[ ee] repository: gcm.cache
[ 104] buildtime: 2020/11/16 15:03:21 UTC
[ 127] localtime: 2020/11/16 07:03:21 PST
[ 14a] export: foo:part1 foo-part1.gcm
Amongst other things, this lists the source that was built, C++ dialect used and imports
of the module.4 The timestamp is the same value as that provided by the __DATE__ &
__TIME__ macros, and may be explicitly specified with the environment variable SOURCE_
DATE_EPOCH. For further details see Section 3.21 [Environment Variables], page 515.
A set of related CMIs may be copied, provided the relative pathnames are preserved.
The .gnu.c++.README contents do not affect CMI integrity, and it may be removed or
altered. The section numbering of the sections whose names do not begin with .gnu.c++.,
or are not the string section is significant and must not be altered.

4
The precise contents of this output may change.
Chapter 4: C Implementation-Defined Behavior 527

4 C Implementation-Defined Behavior
A conforming implementation of ISO C is required to document its choice of behavior in
each of the areas that are designated “implementation defined”. The following lists all such
areas, along with the section numbers from the ISO/IEC 9899:1990, ISO/IEC 9899:1999
and ISO/IEC 9899:2011 standards. Some areas are only implementation-defined in one
version of the standard.
Some choices depend on the externally determined ABI for the platform (including stan-
dard character encodings) which GCC follows; these are listed as “determined by ABI”
below. See Chapter 9 [Binary Compatibility], page 927, and https: / /gcc .gnu .org /
readings.html. Some choices are documented in the preprocessor manual. See Section
“Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor. Some choices are made by
the library and operating system (or other environment when compiling for a freestanding
environment); refer to their documentation for details.

4.1 Translation
• How a diagnostic is identified (C90 3.7, C99 and C11 3.10, C90, C99 and C11 5.1.1.3).
Diagnostics consist of all the output sent to stderr by GCC.
• Whether each nonempty sequence of white-space characters other than new-line is
retained or replaced by one space character in translation phase 3 (C90, C99 and C11
5.1.1.2).
See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor.

4.2 Environment
The behavior of most of these points are dependent on the implementation of the C library,
and are not defined by GCC itself.
• The mapping between physical source file multibyte characters and the source character
set in translation phase 1 (C90, C99 and C11 5.1.1.2).
See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor.

4.3 Identifiers
• Which additional multibyte characters may appear in identifiers and their correspon-
dence to universal character names (C99 and C11 6.4.2).
See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor.
• The number of significant initial characters in an identifier (C90 6.1.2, C90, C99 and
C11 5.2.4.1, C99 and C11 6.4.2).
For internal names, all characters are significant. For external names, the number of
significant characters are defined by the linker; for almost all targets, all characters are
significant.
• Whether case distinctions are significant in an identifier with external linkage (C90
6.1.2).
This is a property of the linker. C99 and C11 require that case distinctions are always
significant in identifiers with external linkage and systems without this property are
not supported by GCC.
528 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

4.4 Characters
• The number of bits in a byte (C90 3.4, C99 and C11 3.6).
Determined by ABI.
• The values of the members of the execution character set (C90, C99 and C11 5.2.1).
Determined by ABI.
• The unique value of the member of the execution character set produced for each of
the standard alphabetic escape sequences (C90, C99 and C11 5.2.2).
Determined by ABI.
• The value of a char object into which has been stored any character other than a
member of the basic execution character set (C90 6.1.2.5, C99 and C11 6.2.5).
Determined by ABI.
• Which of signed char or unsigned char has the same range, representation, and be-
havior as “plain” char (C90 6.1.2.5, C90 6.2.1.1, C99 and C11 6.2.5, C99 and C11
6.3.1.1).
Determined by ABI. The options ‘-funsigned-char’ and ‘-fsigned-char’ change the
default. See Section 3.4 [Options Controlling C Dialect], page 44.
• The mapping of members of the source character set (in character constants and string
literals) to members of the execution character set (C90 6.1.3.4, C99 and C11 6.4.4.4,
C90, C99 and C11 5.1.1.2).
Determined by ABI.
• The value of an integer character constant containing more than one character or
containing a character or escape sequence that does not map to a single-byte execution
character (C90 6.1.3.4, C99 and C11 6.4.4.4).
See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor.
• The value of a wide character constant containing more than one multibyte character or
a single multibyte character that maps to multiple members of the extended execution
character set, or containing a multibyte character or escape sequence not represented
in the extended execution character set (C90 6.1.3.4, C99 and C11 6.4.4.4).
See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor.
• The current locale used to convert a wide character constant consisting of a single
multibyte character that maps to a member of the extended execution character set
into a corresponding wide character code (C90 6.1.3.4, C99 and C11 6.4.4.4).
See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor.
• Whether differently-prefixed wide string literal tokens can be concatenated and, if so,
the treatment of the resulting multibyte character sequence (C11 6.4.5).
Such tokens may not be concatenated.
• The current locale used to convert a wide string literal into corresponding wide char-
acter codes (C90 6.1.4, C99 and C11 6.4.5).
See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor.
• The value of a string literal containing a multibyte character or escape sequence not
represented in the execution character set (C90 6.1.4, C99 and C11 6.4.5).
See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor.
Chapter 4: C Implementation-Defined Behavior 529

• The encoding of any of wchar_t, char16_t, and char32_t where the corresponding
standard encoding macro (__STDC_ISO_10646__, __STDC_UTF_16__, or __STDC_UTF_
32__) is not defined (C11 6.10.8.2).
See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor. char16_t and
char32_t literals are always encoded in UTF-16 and UTF-32 respectively.

4.5 Integers
• Any extended integer types that exist in the implementation (C99 and C11 6.2.5).
GCC does not support any extended integer types.
• Whether signed integer types are represented using sign and magnitude, two’s comple-
ment, or one’s complement, and whether the extraordinary value is a trap representa-
tion or an ordinary value (C99 and C11 6.2.6.2).
GCC supports only two’s complement integer types, and all bit patterns are ordinary
values.
• The rank of any extended integer type relative to another extended integer type with
the same precision (C99 and C11 6.3.1.1).
GCC does not support any extended integer types.
• The result of, or the signal raised by, converting an integer to a signed integer type
when the value cannot be represented in an object of that type (C90 6.2.1.2, C99 and
C11 6.3.1.3).
For conversion to a type of width N , the value is reduced modulo 2N to be within range
of the type; no signal is raised.
• The results of some bitwise operations on signed integers (C90 6.3, C99 and C11 6.5).
Bitwise operators act on the representation of the value including both the sign and
value bits, where the sign bit is considered immediately above the highest-value value
bit. Signed ‘>>’ acts on negative numbers by sign extension.
As an extension to the C language, GCC does not use the latitude given in C99 and C11
only to treat certain aspects of signed ‘<<’ as undefined. However, ‘-fsanitize=shift’
(and ‘-fsanitize=undefined’) will diagnose such cases. They are also diagnosed where
constant expressions are required.
• The sign of the remainder on integer division (C90 6.3.5).
GCC always follows the C99 and C11 requirement that the result of division is truncated
towards zero.

4.6 Floating Point

• The accuracy of the floating-point operations and of the library functions in <math.h>
and <complex.h> that return floating-point results (C90, C99 and C11 5.2.4.2.2).
The accuracy is unknown.
• The rounding behaviors characterized by non-standard values of FLT_ROUNDS
(C90, C99 and C11 5.2.4.2.2).
GCC does not use such values.
530 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• The evaluation methods characterized by non-standard negative values of FLT_EVAL_

METHOD (C99 and C11 5.2.4.2.2).
GCC does not use such values.
• The direction of rounding when an integer is converted to a floating-point number that
cannot exactly represent the original value (C90 6.2.1.3, C99 and C11 6.3.1.4).
C99 Annex F is followed.
• The direction of rounding when a floating-point number is converted to a narrower
floating-point number (C90 6.2.1.4, C99 and C11 6.3.1.5).
C99 Annex F is followed.
• How the nearest representable value or the larger or smaller representable value im-
mediately adjacent to the nearest representable value is chosen for certain floating
constants (C90 6.1.3.1, C99 and C11 6.4.4.2).
C99 Annex F is followed.
• Whether and how floating expressions are contracted when not disallowed by the FP_
CONTRACT pragma (C99 and C11 6.5).
Expressions are currently only contracted if ‘-ffp-contract=fast’,
‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ or ‘-ffast-math’ are used. This is subject
to change.
• The default state for the FENV_ACCESS pragma (C99 and C11 7.6.1).
This pragma is not implemented, but the default is to “off” unless ‘-frounding-math’
is used and ‘-fno-trapping-math’ is not in which case it is “on”.
• Additional floating-point exceptions, rounding modes, environments, and classifica-
tions, and their macro names (C99 and C11 7.6, C99 and C11 7.12).
This is dependent on the implementation of the C library, and is not defined by GCC
itself.
• The default state for the FP_CONTRACT pragma (C99 and C11 7.12.2).
This pragma is not implemented. Expressions are currently only contracted if
‘-ffp-contract=fast’, ‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ or ‘-ffast-math’ are used.
This is subject to change.
• Whether the “inexact” floating-point exception can be raised when the rounded result
actually does equal the mathematical result in an IEC 60559 conformant implementa-
tion (C99 F.9).
This is dependent on the implementation of the C library, and is not defined by GCC
itself.
• Whether the “underflow” (and “inexact”) floating-point exception can be raised when
a result is tiny but not inexact in an IEC 60559 conformant implementation (C99 F.9).
This is dependent on the implementation of the C library, and is not defined by GCC
itself.

4.7 Arrays and Pointers

• The result of converting a pointer to an integer or vice versa (C90 6.3.4, C99 and C11
6.3.2.3).
Chapter 4: C Implementation-Defined Behavior 531

A cast from pointer to integer discards most-significant bits if the pointer representation
is larger than the integer type, sign-extends1 if the pointer representation is smaller
than the integer type, otherwise the bits are unchanged.
A cast from integer to pointer discards most-significant bits if the pointer representation
is smaller than the integer type, extends according to the signedness of the integer type
if the pointer representation is larger than the integer type, otherwise the bits are
unchanged.
When casting from pointer to integer and back again, the resulting pointer must ref-
erence the same object as the original pointer, otherwise the behavior is undefined.
That is, one may not use integer arithmetic to avoid the undefined behavior of pointer
arithmetic as proscribed in C99 and C11 6.5.6/8.
• The size of the result of subtracting two pointers to elements of the same array (C90
6.3.6, C99 and C11 6.5.6).
The value is as specified in the standard and the type is determined by the ABI.

4.8 Hints
• The extent to which suggestions made by using the register storage-class specifier
are effective (C90 6.5.1, C99 and C11 6.7.1).
The register specifier affects code generation only in these ways:
• When used as part of the register variable extension, see Section 6.47.5 [Explicit
Register Variables], page 718.
• When ‘-O0’ is in use, the compiler allocates distinct stack memory for all variables
that do not have the register storage-class specifier; if register is specified, the
variable may have a shorter lifespan than the code would indicate and may never
be placed in memory.
• On some rare x86 targets, setjmp doesn’t save the registers in all circumstances.
In those cases, GCC doesn’t allocate any variables in registers unless they are
marked register.
• The extent to which suggestions made by using the inline function specifier are effective
(C99 and C11 6.7.4).
GCC will not inline any functions if the ‘-fno-inline’ option is used or if ‘-O0’ is
used. Otherwise, GCC may still be unable to inline a function for many reasons; the
‘-Winline’ option may be used to determine if a function has not been inlined and why
not.

4.9 Structures, Unions, Enumerations, and Bit-Fields

• A member of a union object is accessed using a member of a different type (C90 6.3.2.3).
The relevant bytes of the representation of the object are treated as an object of the type
used for the access. See [Type-punning], page 200. This may be a trap representation.
• Whether a “plain” int bit-field is treated as a signed int bit-field or as an unsigned
int bit-field (C90 6.5.2, C90 6.5.2.1, C99 and C11 6.7.2, C99 and C11 6.7.2.1).
1
Future versions of GCC may zero-extend, or use a target-defined ptr_extend pattern. Do not rely on
sign extension.
532 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

By default it is treated as signed int but this may be changed by the

‘-funsigned-bitfields’ option.
• Allowable bit-field types other than _Bool, signed int, and unsigned int (C99 and
C11 6.7.2.1).
Other integer types, such as long int, and enumerated types are permitted even in
strictly conforming mode.
• Whether atomic types are permitted for bit-fields (C11 6.7.2.1).
Atomic types are not permitted for bit-fields.
• Whether a bit-field can straddle a storage-unit boundary (C90 6.5.2.1, C99 and C11
6.7.2.1).
Determined by ABI.
• The order of allocation of bit-fields within a unit (C90 6.5.2.1, C99 and C11 6.7.2.1).
Determined by ABI.
• The alignment of non-bit-field members of structures (C90 6.5.2.1, C99 and C11
6.7.2.1).
Determined by ABI.
• The integer type compatible with each enumerated type (C90 6.5.2.2, C99 and C11
6.7.2.2).
Normally, the type is unsigned int if there are no negative values in the enumeration,
otherwise int. If ‘-fshort-enums’ is specified, then if there are negative values it is
the first of signed char, short and int that can represent all the values, otherwise it
is the first of unsigned char, unsigned short and unsigned int that can represent
all the values.
On some targets, ‘-fshort-enums’ is the default; this is determined by the ABI.

4.10 Qualifiers
• What constitutes an access to an object that has volatile-qualified type (C90 6.5.3, C99
and C11 6.7.3).
Such an object is normally accessed by pointers and used for accessing hardware. In
most expressions, it is intuitively obvious what is a read and what is a write. For
example
volatile int *dst = somevalue;
volatile int *src = someothervalue;
*dst = *src;
will cause a read of the volatile object pointed to by src and store the value into the
volatile object pointed to by dst. There is no guarantee that these reads and writes
are atomic, especially for objects larger than int.
However, if the volatile storage is not being modified, and the value of the volatile
storage is not used, then the situation is less obvious. For example
volatile int *src = somevalue;
*src;
According to the C standard, such an expression is an rvalue whose type is the unqual-
ified version of its original type, i.e. int. Whether GCC interprets this as a read of the
Chapter 4: C Implementation-Defined Behavior 533

volatile object being pointed to or only as a request to evaluate the expression for its
side effects depends on this type.
If it is a scalar type, or on most targets an aggregate type whose only member object
is of a scalar type, or a union type whose member objects are of scalar types, the
expression is interpreted by GCC as a read of the volatile object; in the other cases,
the expression is only evaluated for its side effects.
When an object of an aggregate type, with the same size and alignment as a scalar
type S, is the subject of a volatile access by an assignment expression or an atomic
function, the access to it is performed as if the object’s declared type were volatile
S.

4.11 Declarators
• The maximum number of declarators that may modify an arithmetic, structure or
union type (C90 6.5.4).
GCC is only limited by available memory.

4.12 Statements
• The maximum number of case values in a switch statement (C90 6.6.4.2).
GCC is only limited by available memory.

4.13 Preprocessing Directives

See Section “Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor, for details of these
aspects of implementation-defined behavior.
• The locations within #pragma directives where header name preprocessing tokens are
recognized (C11 6.4, C11 6.4.7).
• How sequences in both forms of header names are mapped to headers or external source
file names (C90 6.1.7, C99 and C11 6.4.7).
• Whether the value of a character constant in a constant expression that controls con-
ditional inclusion matches the value of the same character constant in the execution
character set (C90 6.8.1, C99 and C11 6.10.1).
• Whether the value of a single-character character constant in a constant expression
that controls conditional inclusion may have a negative value (C90 6.8.1, C99 and C11
6.10.1).
• The places that are searched for an included ‘<>’ delimited header, and how the places
are specified or the header is identified (C90 6.8.2, C99 and C11 6.10.2).
• How the named source file is searched for in an included ‘""’ delimited header (C90
6.8.2, C99 and C11 6.10.2).
• The method by which preprocessing tokens (possibly resulting from macro expansion)
in a #include directive are combined into a header name (C90 6.8.2, C99 and C11
6.10.2).
• The nesting limit for #include processing (C90 6.8.2, C99 and C11 6.10.2).
534 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• Whether the ‘#’ operator inserts a ‘\’ character before the ‘\’ character that begins
a universal character name in a character constant or string literal (C99 and C11
6.10.3.2).
• The behavior on each recognized non-STDC #pragma directive (C90 6.8.6, C99 and C11
6.10.6).
See Section “Pragmas” in The C Preprocessor, for details of pragmas accepted by GCC
on all targets. See Section 6.62 [Pragmas Accepted by GCC], page 885, for details of
target-specific pragmas.
• The definitions for __DATE__ and __TIME__ when respectively, the date and time of
translation are not available (C90 6.8.8, C99 6.10.8, C11 6.10.8.1).

4.14 Library Functions

The behavior of most of these points are dependent on the implementation of the C library,
and are not defined by GCC itself.
• The null pointer constant to which the macro NULL expands (C90 7.1.6, C99 7.17, C11
7.19).
In <stddef.h>, NULL expands to ((void *)0). GCC does not provide the other headers
which define NULL and some library implementations may use other definitions in those
headers.

4.15 Architecture
• The values or expressions assigned to the macros specified in the headers <float.h>,
<limits.h>, and <stdint.h> (C90, C99 and C11 5.2.4.2, C99 7.18.2, C99 7.18.3, C11
7.20.2, C11 7.20.3).
Determined by ABI.
• The result of attempting to indirectly access an object with automatic or thread storage
duration from a thread other than the one with which it is associated (C11 6.2.4).
Such accesses are supported, subject to the same requirements for synchronization for
concurrent accesses as for concurrent accesses to any object.
• The number, order, and encoding of bytes in any object (when not explicitly specified
in this International Standard) (C99 and C11 6.2.6.1).
Determined by ABI.
• Whether any extended alignments are supported and the contexts in which they are
supported (C11 6.2.8).
Extended alignments up to 228 (bytes) are supported for objects of automatic storage
duration. Alignments supported for objects of static and thread storage duration are
determined by the ABI.
• Valid alignment values other than those returned by an Alignof expression for funda-
mental types, if any (C11 6.2.8).
Valid alignments are powers of 2 up to and including 228 .
• The value of the result of the sizeof and _Alignof operators (C90 6.3.3.4, C99 and
C11 6.5.3.4).
Determined by ABI.
Chapter 4: C Implementation-Defined Behavior 535

4.16 Locale-Specific Behavior

The behavior of these points are dependent on the implementation of the C library, and are
not defined by GCC itself.
Chapter 5: C++ Implementation-Defined Behavior 537

5 C++ Implementation-Defined Behavior

A conforming implementation of ISO C++ is required to document its choice of behavior
in each of the areas that are designated “implementation defined”. The following lists all
such areas, along with the section numbers from the ISO/IEC 14882:1998 and ISO/IEC
14882:2003 standards. Some areas are only implementation-defined in one version of the
standard.
Some choices depend on the externally determined ABI for the platform (including stan-
dard character encodings) which GCC follows; these are listed as “determined by ABI”
below. See Chapter 9 [Binary Compatibility], page 927, and https: / /gcc .gnu .org /
readings.html. Some choices are documented in the preprocessor manual. See Section
“Implementation-defined behavior” in The C Preprocessor. Some choices are documented
in the corresponding document for the C language. See Chapter 4 [C Implementation],
page 527. Some choices are made by the library and operating system (or other environ-
ment when compiling for a freestanding environment); refer to their documentation for
details.

5.1 Conditionally-Supported Behavior

Each implementation shall include documentation that identifies all conditionally-supported
constructs that it does not support (C++0x 1.4).
• Whether an argument of class type with a non-trivial copy constructor or destructor
can be passed to ... (C++0x 5.2.2).
Such argument passing is supported, using the same pass-by-invisible-reference ap-
proach used for normal function arguments of such types.

5.2 Exception Handling

• In the situation where no matching handler is found, it is implementation-defined
whether or not the stack is unwound before std::terminate() is called (C++98 15.5.1).
The stack is not unwound before std::terminate is called.
c Copyright (C) 1988-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 539

6 Extensions to the C Language Family

GNU C provides several language features not found in ISO standard C. (The ‘-pedantic’
option directs GCC to print a warning message if any of these features is used.) To test for
the availability of these features in conditional compilation, check for a predefined macro
__GNUC__, which is always defined under GCC.
These extensions are available in C and Objective-C. Most of them are also available in
C++. See Chapter 7 [Extensions to the C++ Language], page 897, for extensions that apply
only to C++.
Some features that are in ISO C99 but not C90 or C++ are also, as extensions, accepted
by GCC in C90 mode and in C++.

6.1 Statements and Declarations in Expressions

A compound statement enclosed in parentheses may appear as an expression in GNU C.
This allows you to use loops, switches, and local variables within an expression.
Recall that a compound statement is a sequence of statements surrounded by braces; in
this construct, parentheses go around the braces. For example:
({ int y = foo (); int z;
if (y > 0) z = y;
else z = - y;
z; })
is a valid (though slightly more complex than necessary) expression for the absolute value
of foo ().
The last thing in the compound statement should be an expression followed by a semi-
colon; the value of this subexpression serves as the value of the entire construct. (If you use
some other kind of statement last within the braces, the construct has type void, and thus
effectively no value.)
This feature is especially useful in making macro definitions “safe” (so that they evaluate
each operand exactly once). For example, the “maximum” function is commonly defined
as a macro in standard C as follows:
#define max(a,b) ((a) > (b) ? (a) : (b))
But this definition computes either a or b twice, with bad results if the operand has side
effects. In GNU C, if you know the type of the operands (here taken as int), you can avoid
this problem by defining the macro as follows:
#define maxint(a,b) \
({int _a = (a), _b = (b); _a > _b ? _a : _b; })
Note that introducing variable declarations (as we do in maxint) can cause variable
shadowing, so while this example using the max macro produces correct results:
int _a = 1, _b = 2, c;
c = max (_a, _b);
this example using maxint will not:
int _a = 1, _b = 2, c;
c = maxint (_a, _b);
This problem may for instance occur when we use this pattern recursively, like so:
540 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

#define maxint3(a, b, c) \
({int _a = (a), _b = (b), _c = (c); maxint (maxint (_a, _b), _c); })
Embedded statements are not allowed in constant expressions, such as the value of an
enumeration constant, the width of a bit-field, or the initial value of a static variable.
If you don’t know the type of the operand, you can still do this, but you must use typeof
or __auto_type (see Section 6.7 [Typeof], page 547).
In G++, the result value of a statement expression undergoes array and function pointer
decay, and is returned by value to the enclosing expression. For instance, if A is a class,
then
A a;

({a;}).Foo ()
constructs a temporary A object to hold the result of the statement expression, and that is
used to invoke Foo. Therefore the this pointer observed by Foo is not the address of a.
In a statement expression, any temporaries created within a statement are destroyed at
that statement’s end. This makes statement expressions inside macros slightly different
from function calls. In the latter case temporaries introduced during argument evaluation
are destroyed at the end of the statement that includes the function call. In the statement
expression case they are destroyed during the statement expression. For instance,
#define macro(a) ({__typeof__(a) b = (a); b + 3; })
template<typename T> T function(T a) { T b = a; return b + 3; }

void foo ()
{
macro (X ());
function (X ());
}
has different places where temporaries are destroyed. For the macro case, the temporary
X is destroyed just after the initialization of b. In the function case that temporary is
destroyed when the function returns.
These considerations mean that it is probably a bad idea to use statement expressions of
this form in header files that are designed to work with C++. (Note that some versions of
the GNU C Library contained header files using statement expressions that lead to precisely
this bug.)
Jumping into a statement expression with goto or using a switch statement outside the
statement expression with a case or default label inside the statement expression is not
permitted. Jumping into a statement expression with a computed goto (see Section 6.3
[Labels as Values], page 542) has undefined behavior. Jumping out of a statement expres-
sion is permitted, but if the statement expression is part of a larger expression then it is
unspecified which other subexpressions of that expression have been evaluated except where
the language definition requires certain subexpressions to be evaluated before or after the
statement expression. A break or continue statement inside of a statement expression
used in while, do or for loop or switch statement condition or for statement init or in-
crement expressions jumps to an outer loop or switch statement if any (otherwise it is an
error), rather than to the loop or switch statement in whose condition or init or increment
expression it appears. In any case, as with a function call, the evaluation of a statement
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 541

expression is not interleaved with the evaluation of other parts of the containing expression.
For example,
foo (), (({ bar1 (); goto a; 0; }) + bar2 ()), baz();
calls foo and bar1 and does not call baz but may or may not call bar2. If bar2 is called,
it is called after foo and before bar1.

6.2 Locally Declared Labels

GCC allows you to declare local labels in any nested block scope. A local label is just like
an ordinary label, but you can only reference it (with a goto statement, or by taking its
address) within the block in which it is declared.
A local label declaration looks like this:
__label__ label;
or
__label__ label1, label2, /* . . . */;
Local label declarations must come at the beginning of the block, before any ordinary
declarations or statements.
The label declaration defines the label name, but does not define the label itself. You must
do this in the usual way, with label:, within the statements of the statement expression.
The local label feature is useful for complex macros. If a macro contains nested loops,
a goto can be useful for breaking out of them. However, an ordinary label whose scope
is the whole function cannot be used: if the macro can be expanded several times in one
function, the label is multiply defined in that function. A local label avoids this problem.
For example:
#define SEARCH(value, array, target) \
do { \
__label__ found; \
typeof (target) _SEARCH_target = (target); \
typeof (*(array)) *_SEARCH_array = (array); \
int i, j; \
int value; \
for (i = 0; i < max; i++) \
for (j = 0; j < max; j++) \
if (_SEARCH_array[i][j] == _SEARCH_target) \
{ (value) = i; goto found; } \
(value) = -1; \
found:; \
} while (0)
This could also be written using a statement expression:
#define SEARCH(array, target) \
({ \
__label__ found; \
typeof (target) _SEARCH_target = (target); \
typeof (*(array)) *_SEARCH_array = (array); \
int i, j; \
int value; \
for (i = 0; i < max; i++) \
for (j = 0; j < max; j++) \
if (_SEARCH_array[i][j] == _SEARCH_target) \
{ value = i; goto found; } \
542 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

value = -1; \
found: \
value; \
})
Local label declarations also make the labels they declare visible to nested functions, if
there are any. See Section 6.4 [Nested Functions], page 543, for details.

6.3 Labels as Values

You can get the address of a label defined in the current function (or a containing function)
with the unary operator ‘&&’. The value has type void *. This value is a constant and can
be used wherever a constant of that type is valid. For example:
void *ptr;
/* . . . */
ptr = &&foo;
To use these values, you need to be able to jump to one. This is done with the computed
goto statement1 , goto *exp;. For example,
goto *ptr;
Any expression of type void * is allowed.
One way of using these constants is in initializing a static array that serves as a jump
table:
static void *array[] = { &&foo, &&bar, &&hack };
Then you can select a label with indexing, like this:
goto *array[i];
Note that this does not check whether the subscript is in bounds—array indexing in C never
does that.
Such an array of label values serves a purpose much like that of the switch statement.
The switch statement is cleaner, so use that rather than an array unless the problem does
not fit a switch statement very well.
Another use of label values is in an interpreter for threaded code. The labels within the
interpreter function can be stored in the threaded code for super-fast dispatching.
You may not use this mechanism to jump to code in a different function. If you do that,
totally unpredictable things happen. The best way to avoid this is to store the label address
only in automatic variables and never pass it as an argument.
An alternate way to write the above example is
static const int array[] = { &&foo - &&foo, &&bar - &&foo,
&&hack - &&foo };
goto *(&&foo + array[i]);
This is more friendly to code living in shared libraries, as it reduces the number of dynamic
relocations that are needed, and by consequence, allows the data to be read-only. This
alternative with label differences is not supported for the AVR target, please use the first
approach for AVR programs.
The &&foo expressions for the same label might have different values if the contain-
ing function is inlined or cloned. If a program relies on them being always the same,
1
The analogous feature in Fortran is called an assigned goto, but that name seems inappropriate in C,
where one can do more than simply store label addresses in label variables.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 543

__attribute__((__noinline__,__noclone__)) should be used to prevent inlining and

cloning. If &&foo is used in a static variable initializer, inlining and cloning is forbidden.

6.4 Nested Functions

A nested function is a function defined inside another function. Nested functions are sup-
ported as an extension in GNU C, but are not supported by GNU C++.
The nested function’s name is local to the block where it is defined. For example, here
we define a nested function named square, and call it twice:
foo (double a, double b)
{
double square (double z) { return z * z; }

return square (a) + square (b);

}

The nested function can access all the variables of the containing function that are visible
at the point of its definition. This is called lexical scoping. For example, here we show a
nested function which uses an inherited variable named offset:
bar (int *array, int offset, int size)
{
int access (int *array, int index)
{ return array[index + offset]; }
int i;
/* . . . */
for (i = 0; i < size; i++)
/* . . . */ access (array, i) /* . . . */
}

Nested function definitions are permitted within functions in the places where variable
definitions are allowed; that is, in any block, mixed with the other declarations and state-
ments in the block.
It is possible to call the nested function from outside the scope of its name by storing its
address or passing the address to another function:
hack (int *array, int size)
{
void store (int index, int value)
{ array[index] = value; }

intermediate (store, size);

}

Here, the function intermediate receives the address of store as an argument. If

intermediate calls store, the arguments given to store are used to store into array.
But this technique works only so long as the containing function (hack, in this example)
does not exit.
If you try to call the nested function through its address after the containing function
exits, all hell breaks loose. If you try to call it after a containing scope level exits, and if it
refers to some of the variables that are no longer in scope, you may be lucky, but it’s not
wise to take the risk. If, however, the nested function does not refer to anything that has
gone out of scope, you should be safe.
544 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

GCC implements taking the address of a nested function using a technique called tram-
polines. This technique was described in Lexical Closures for C++ (Thomas M. Breuel,
USENIX C++ Conference Proceedings, October 17-21, 1988).
A nested function can jump to a label inherited from a containing function, provided
the label is explicitly declared in the containing function (see Section 6.2 [Local Labels],
page 541). Such a jump returns instantly to the containing function, exiting the nested
function that did the goto and any intermediate functions as well. Here is an example:
bar (int *array, int offset, int size)
{
__label__ failure;
int access (int *array, int index)
{
if (index > size)
goto failure;
return array[index + offset];
}
int i;
/* . . . */
for (i = 0; i < size; i++)
/* . . . */ access (array, i) /* . . . */
/* . . . */
return 0;

/* Control comes here from access

if it detects an error. */
failure:
return -1;
}

A nested function always has no linkage. Declaring one with extern or static is erro-
neous. If you need to declare the nested function before its definition, use auto (which is
otherwise meaningless for function declarations).
bar (int *array, int offset, int size)
{
__label__ failure;
auto int access (int *, int);
/* . . . */
int access (int *array, int index)
{
if (index > size)
goto failure;
return array[index + offset];
}
/* . . . */
}

6.5 Nonlocal Gotos

GCC provides the built-in functions __builtin_setjmp and __builtin_longjmp which are
similar to, but not interchangeable with, the C library functions setjmp and longjmp. The
built-in versions are used internally by GCC’s libraries to implement exception handling on
some targets. You should use the standard C library functions declared in <setjmp.h> in
user code instead of the builtins.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 545

The built-in versions of these functions use GCC’s normal mechanisms to save and restore
registers using the stack on function entry and exit. The jump buffer argument buf holds
only the information needed to restore the stack frame, rather than the entire set of saved
register values.
An important caveat is that GCC arranges to save and restore only those registers known
to the specific architecture variant being compiled for. This can make __builtin_setjmp
and __builtin_longjmp more efficient than their library counterparts in some cases, but
it can also cause incorrect and mysterious behavior when mixing with code that uses the
full register set.
You should declare the jump buffer argument buf to the built-in functions as:
#include <stdint.h>
intptr_t buf[5];

int __builtin_setjmp (intptr t *buf) [Built-in Function]

This function saves the current stack context in buf. __builtin_setjmp returns 0
when returning directly, and 1 when returning from __builtin_longjmp using the
same buf.

void __builtin_longjmp (intptr t *buf, int val) [Built-in Function]

This function restores the stack context in buf, saved by a previous call to __builtin_
setjmp. After __builtin_longjmp is finished, the program resumes execution as if
the matching __builtin_setjmp returns the value val, which must be 1.
Because __builtin_longjmp depends on the function return mechanism to restore
the stack context, it cannot be called from the same function calling __builtin_
setjmp to initialize buf. It can only be called from a function called (directly or
indirectly) from the function calling __builtin_setjmp.

6.6 Constructing Function Calls

Using the built-in functions described below, you can record the arguments a function
received, and call another function with the same arguments, without knowing the number
or types of the arguments.
You can also record the return value of that function call, and later return that value,
without knowing what data type the function tried to return (as long as your caller expects
that data type).
However, these built-in functions may interact badly with some sophisticated features or
other extensions of the language. It is, therefore, not recommended to use them outside
very simple functions acting as mere forwarders for their arguments.

void * __builtin_apply_args () [Built-in Function]

This built-in function returns a pointer to data describing how to perform a call with
the same arguments as are passed to the current function.
The function saves the arg pointer register, structure value address, and all registers
that might be used to pass arguments to a function into a block of memory allocated
on the stack. Then it returns the address of that block.
546 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void * __builtin_apply (void (*function)(), void [Built-in Function]

*arguments, size t size)
This built-in function invokes function with a copy of the parameters described by
arguments and size.
The value of arguments should be the value returned by __builtin_apply_args.
The argument size specifies the size of the stack argument data, in bytes.
This function returns a pointer to data describing how to return whatever value is
returned by function. The data is saved in a block of memory allocated on the stack.
It is not always simple to compute the proper value for size. The value is used by
__builtin_apply to compute the amount of data that should be pushed on the stack
and copied from the incoming argument area.

void __builtin_return (void *result) [Built-in Function]

This built-in function returns the value described by result from the containing func-
tion. You should specify, for result, a value returned by __builtin_apply.

__builtin_va_arg_pack () [Built-in Function]

This built-in function represents all anonymous arguments of an inline function. It
can be used only in inline functions that are always inlined, never compiled as a
separate function, such as those using __attribute__ ((__always_inline__)) or _
_attribute__ ((__gnu_inline__)) extern inline functions. It must be only passed
as last argument to some other function with variable arguments. This is useful for
writing small wrapper inlines for variable argument functions, when using preproces-
sor macros is undesirable. For example:
extern int myprintf (FILE *f, const char *format, ...);
extern inline __attribute__ ((__gnu_inline__)) int
myprintf (FILE *f, const char *format, ...)
{
int r = fprintf (f, "myprintf: ");
if (r < 0)
return r;
int s = fprintf (f, format, __builtin_va_arg_pack ());
if (s < 0)
return s;
return r + s;
}

size_t __builtin_va_arg_pack_len () [Built-in Function]

This built-in function returns the number of anonymous arguments of an inline func-
tion. It can be used only in inline functions that are always inlined, never compiled as
a separate function, such as those using __attribute__ ((__always_inline__)) or
__attribute__ ((__gnu_inline__)) extern inline functions. For example following
does link- or run-time checking of open arguments for optimized code:
#ifdef __OPTIMIZE__
extern inline __attribute__((__gnu_inline__)) int
myopen (const char *path, int oflag, ...)
{
if (__builtin_va_arg_pack_len () > 1)
warn_open_too_many_arguments ();

if (__builtin_constant_p (oflag))
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 547

{
if ((oflag & O_CREAT) != 0 && __builtin_va_arg_pack_len () < 1)
{
warn_open_missing_mode ();
return __open_2 (path, oflag);
}
return open (path, oflag, __builtin_va_arg_pack ());
}

if (__builtin_va_arg_pack_len () < 1)
return __open_2 (path, oflag);

return open (path, oflag, __builtin_va_arg_pack ());

}
#endif

6.7 Referring to a Type with typeof

Another way to refer to the type of an expression is with typeof. The syntax of using of
this keyword looks like sizeof, but the construct acts semantically like a type name defined
with typedef.
There are two ways of writing the argument to typeof: with an expression or with a
type. Here is an example with an expression:
typeof (x[0](1))
This assumes that x is an array of pointers to functions; the type described is that of the
values of the functions.
Here is an example with a typename as the argument:
typeof (int *)
Here the type described is that of pointers to int.
If you are writing a header file that must work when included in ISO C programs, write
__typeof__ instead of typeof. See Section 6.48 [Alternate Keywords], page 721.
A typeof construct can be used anywhere a typedef name can be used. For example,
you can use it in a declaration, in a cast, or inside of sizeof or typeof.
The operand of typeof is evaluated for its side effects if and only if it is an expression of
variably modified type or the name of such a type.
typeof is often useful in conjunction with statement expressions (see Section 6.1 [State-
ment Exprs], page 539). Here is how the two together can be used to define a safe “max-
imum” macro which operates on any arithmetic type and evaluates each of its arguments
exactly once:
#define max(a,b) \
({ typeof (a) _a = (a); \
typeof (b) _b = (b); \
_a > _b ? _a : _b; })
The reason for using names that start with underscores for the local variables is to avoid
conflicts with variable names that occur within the expressions that are substituted for a
and b. Eventually we hope to design a new form of declaration syntax that allows you to
declare variables whose scopes start only after their initializers; this will be a more reliable
way to prevent such conflicts.
Some more examples of the use of typeof:
548 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• This declares y with the type of what x points to.

typeof (*x) y;
• This declares y as an array of such values.
typeof (*x) y[4];
• This declares y as an array of pointers to characters:
typeof (typeof (char *)[4]) y;
It is equivalent to the following traditional C declaration:
char *y[4];
To see the meaning of the declaration using typeof, and why it might be a useful way
to write, rewrite it with these macros:
#define pointer(T) typeof(T *)
#define array(T, N) typeof(T [N])
Now the declaration can be rewritten this way:
array (pointer (char), 4) y;
Thus, array (pointer (char), 4) is the type of arrays of 4 pointers to char.
In GNU C, but not GNU C++, you may also declare the type of a variable as __auto_type.
In that case, the declaration must declare only one variable, whose declarator must just be
an identifier, the declaration must be initialized, and the type of the variable is determined
by the initializer; the name of the variable is not in scope until after the initializer. (In C++,
you should use C++11 auto for this purpose.) Using __auto_type, the “maximum” macro
above could be written as:
#define max(a,b) \
({ __auto_type _a = (a); \
__auto_type _b = (b); \
_a > _b ? _a : _b; })
Using __auto_type instead of typeof has two advantages:
• Each argument to the macro appears only once in the expansion of the macro. This
prevents the size of the macro expansion growing exponentially when calls to such
macros are nested inside arguments of such macros.
• If the argument to the macro has variably modified type, it is evaluated only once when
using __auto_type, but twice if typeof is used.

6.8 Conditionals with Omitted Operands

The middle operand in a conditional expression may be omitted. Then if the first operand
is nonzero, its value is the value of the conditional expression.
Therefore, the expression
x ? : y
has the value of x if that is nonzero; otherwise, the value of y.
This example is perfectly equivalent to
x ? x : y
In this simple case, the ability to omit the middle operand is not especially useful. When it
becomes useful is when the first operand does, or may (if it is a macro argument), contain a
side effect. Then repeating the operand in the middle would perform the side effect twice.
Omitting the middle operand uses the value already computed without the undesirable
effects of recomputing it.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 549

6.9 128-bit Integers

As an extension the integer scalar type __int128 is supported for targets which have an
integer mode wide enough to hold 128 bits. Simply write __int128 for a signed 128-bit
integer, or unsigned __int128 for an unsigned 128-bit integer. There is no support in GCC
for expressing an integer constant of type __int128 for targets with long long integer less
than 128 bits wide.

6.10 Double-Word Integers

ISO C99 and ISO C++11 support data types for integers that are at least 64 bits wide, and
as an extension GCC supports them in C90 and C++98 modes. Simply write long long
int for a signed integer, or unsigned long long int for an unsigned integer. To make an
integer constant of type long long int, add the suffix ‘LL’ to the integer. To make an
integer constant of type unsigned long long int, add the suffix ‘ULL’ to the integer.
You can use these types in arithmetic like any other integer types. Addition, subtraction,
and bitwise boolean operations on these types are open-coded on all types of machines.
Multiplication is open-coded if the machine supports a fullword-to-doubleword widening
multiply instruction. Division and shifts are open-coded only on machines that provide
special support. The operations that are not open-coded use special library routines that
come with GCC.
There may be pitfalls when you use long long types for function arguments without
function prototypes. If a function expects type int for its argument, and you pass a value
of type long long int, confusion results because the caller and the subroutine disagree
about the number of bytes for the argument. Likewise, if the function expects long long
int and you pass int. The best way to avoid such problems is to use prototypes.

6.11 Complex Numbers

ISO C99 supports complex floating data types, and as an extension GCC supports them in
C90 mode and in C++. GCC also supports complex integer data types which are not part
of ISO C99. You can declare complex types using the keyword _Complex. As an extension,
the older GNU keyword __complex__ is also supported.
For example, ‘_Complex double x;’ declares x as a variable whose real part and imagi-
nary part are both of type double. ‘_Complex short int y;’ declares y to have real and
imaginary parts of type short int; this is not likely to be useful, but it shows that the set
of complex types is complete.
To write a constant with a complex data type, use the suffix ‘i’ or ‘j’ (either one; they
are equivalent). For example, 2.5fi has type _Complex float and 3i has type _Complex
int. Such a constant always has a pure imaginary value, but you can form any complex
value you like by adding one to a real constant. This is a GNU extension; if you have
an ISO C99 conforming C library (such as the GNU C Library), and want to construct
complex constants of floating type, you should include <complex.h> and use the macros I
or _Complex_I instead.
The ISO C++14 library also defines the ‘i’ suffix, so C++14 code that includes the
‘<complex>’ header cannot use ‘i’ for the GNU extension. The ‘j’ suffix still has the
GNU meaning.
550 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

GCC can handle both implicit and explicit casts between the _Complex types and other
_Complex types as casting both the real and imaginary parts to the scalar type. GCC can
handle implicit and explicit casts from a scalar type to a _Complex type and where the
imaginary part will be considered zero. The C front-end can handle implicit and explicit
casts from a _Complex type to a scalar type where the imaginary part will be ignored. In
C++ code, this cast is considered illformed and G++ will error out.
GCC provides a built-in function __builtin_complex will can be used to construct a
complex value.
GCC has a few extensions which can be used to extract the real and the imaginary part
of the complex-valued expression. Note these expressions are lvalues if the exp is an lvalue.
These expressions operands have the type of a complex type which might get prompoted
to a complex type from a scalar type. E.g. __real__ (int)x is the same as casting to
_Complex int before __real__ is done.

Expression Description
__real__ exp Extract the real part of exp.
__imag__ exp Extract the imaginary part of exp.
For values of floating point, you should use the ISO C99 functions, declared in
<complex.h> and also provided as built-in functions by GCC.

Expression float double long double

__real__ exp crealf creal creall
__imag__ exp cimagf cimag cimagl
The operator ‘~’ performs complex conjugation when used on a value with a complex
type. This is a GNU extension; for values of floating type, you should use the ISO C99
functions conjf, conj and conjl, declared in <complex.h> and also provided as built-in
functions by GCC. Note unlike the __real__ and __imag__ operators, this operator will
not do an implicit cast to the complex type because the ‘~’ is already a normal operator.
GCC can allocate complex automatic variables in a noncontiguous fashion; it’s even
possible for the real part to be in a register while the imaginary part is on the stack (or
vice versa). Only the DWARF debug info format can represent this, so use of DWARF is
recommended. If you are using the stabs debug info format, GCC describes a noncontiguous
complex variable as if it were two separate variables of noncomplex type. If the variable’s
actual name is foo, the two fictitious variables are named foo$real and foo$imag. You
can examine and set these two fictitious variables with your debugger.
type __builtin_complex (real, imag) [Built-in Function]
The built-in function __builtin_complex is provided for use in implementing the
ISO C11 macros CMPLXF, CMPLX and CMPLXL. real and imag must have the same type,
a real binary floating-point type, and the result has the corresponding complex type
with real and imaginary parts real and imag. Unlike ‘real + I * imag’, this works
even when infinities, NaNs and negative zeros are involved.

6.12 Additional Floating Types

ISO/IEC TS 18661-3:2015 defines C support for additional floating types _Floatn and _
Floatnx, and GCC supports these type names; the set of types supported depends on the
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 551

target architecture. These types are not supported when compiling C++. Constants with
these types use suffixes fn or Fn and fnx or Fnx. These type names can be used together
with _Complex to declare complex types.
As an extension, GNU C and GNU C++ support additional floating types, which are not
supported by all targets.
• __float128 is available on i386, x86 64, IA-64, and hppa HP-UX, as well as on Pow-
erPC GNU/Linux targets that enable the vector scalar (VSX) instruction set. __
float128 supports the 128-bit floating type. On i386, x86 64, PowerPC, and IA-64
other than HP-UX, __float128 is an alias for _Float128. On hppa and IA-64 HP-UX,
__float128 is an alias for long double.
• __float80 is available on the i386, x86 64, and IA-64 targets, and supports the 80-bit
(XFmode) floating type. It is an alias for the type name _Float64x on these targets.
• __ibm128 is available on PowerPC targets, and provides access to the IBM extended
double format which is the current format used for long double. When long double
transitions to __float128 on PowerPC in the future, __ibm128 will remain for use in
conversions between the two types.
Support for these additional types includes the arithmetic operators: add, subtract, mul-
tiply, divide; unary arithmetic operators; relational operators; equality operators; and con-
versions to and from integer and other floating types. Use a suffix ‘w’ or ‘W’ in a literal
constant of type __float80 or type __ibm128. Use a suffix ‘q’ or ‘Q’ for __float128.
In order to use _Float128, __float128, and __ibm128 on PowerPC Linux systems, you
must use the ‘-mfloat128’ option. It is expected in future versions of GCC that _Float128
and __float128 will be enabled automatically.
The _Float128 type is supported on all systems where __float128 is supported or
where long double has the IEEE binary128 format. The _Float64x type is supported
on all systems where __float128 is supported. The _Float32 type is supported on all
systems supporting IEEE binary32; the _Float64 and _Float32x types are supported on all
systems supporting IEEE binary64. The _Float16 type is supported on AArch64 systems
by default, on ARM systems when the IEEE format for 16-bit floating-point types is selected
with ‘-mfp16-format=ieee’ and, for both C and C++, on x86 systems with SSE2 enabled.
GCC does not currently support _Float128x on any systems.
On the i386, x86 64, IA-64, and HP-UX targets, you can declare complex types using
the corresponding internal complex type, XCmode for __float80 type and TCmode for __
float128 type:
typedef _Complex float __attribute__((mode(TC))) _Complex128;
typedef _Complex float __attribute__((mode(XC))) _Complex80;
On the PowerPC Linux VSX targets, you can declare complex types using the corre-
sponding internal complex type, KCmode for __float128 type and ICmode for __ibm128
type:
typedef _Complex float __attribute__((mode(KC))) _Complex_float128;
typedef _Complex float __attribute__((mode(IC))) _Complex_ibm128;

6.13 Half-Precision Floating Point

On ARM and AArch64 targets, GCC supports half-precision (16-bit) floating point via
the __fp16 type defined in the ARM C Language Extensions. On ARM systems, you must
552 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

enable this type explicitly with the ‘-mfp16-format’ command-line option in order to use it.
On x86 targets with SSE2 enabled, GCC supports half-precision (16-bit) floating point via
the _Float16 type. For C++, x86 provides a builtin type named _Float16 which contains
same data format as C.
ARM targets support two incompatible representations for half-precision floating-point
values. You must choose one of the representations and use it consistently in your program.
Specifying ‘-mfp16-format=ieee’ selects the IEEE 754-2008 format. This format can
represent normalized values in the range of 2−14 to 65504. There are 11 bits of significand
precision, approximately 3 decimal digits.
Specifying ‘-mfp16-format=alternative’ selects the ARM alternative format. This rep-
resentation is similar to the IEEE format, but does not support infinities or NaNs. Instead,
the range of exponents is extended, so that this format can represent normalized values in
the range of 2−14 to 131008.
The GCC port for AArch64 only supports the IEEE 754-2008 format, and does not
require use of the ‘-mfp16-format’ command-line option.
The __fp16 type may only be used as an argument to intrinsics defined in <arm_fp16.h>,
or as a storage format. For purposes of arithmetic and other operations, __fp16 values in
C or C++ expressions are automatically promoted to float.
The ARM target provides hardware support for conversions between __fp16 and float
values as an extension to VFP and NEON (Advanced SIMD), and from ARMv8-A provides
hardware support for conversions between __fp16 and double values. GCC generates
code using these hardware instructions if you compile with options to select an FPU that
provides them; for example, ‘-mfpu=neon-fp16 -mfloat-abi=softfp’, in addition to the
‘-mfp16-format’ option to select a half-precision format.
Language-level support for the __fp16 data type is independent of whether GCC gen-
erates code using hardware floating-point instructions. In cases where hardware support
is not specified, GCC implements conversions between __fp16 and other types as library
calls.
It is recommended that portable code use the _Float16 type defined by ISO/IEC TS
18661-3:2015. See Section 6.12 [Floating Types], page 550.
On x86 targets with SSE2 enabled, without ‘-mavx512fp16’, all operations will be emu-
lated by software emulation and the float instructions. The default behavior for FLT_EVAL_
METHOD is to keep the intermediate result of the operation as 32-bit precision. This may
lead to inconsistent behavior between software emulation and AVX512-FP16 instructions.
Using ‘-fexcess-precision=16’ will force round back after each operation.
Using ‘-mavx512fp16’ will generate AVX512-FP16 instructions instead of software em-
ulation. The default behavior of FLT_EVAL_METHOD is to round after each operation. The
same is true with ‘-fexcess-precision=standard’ and ‘-mfpmath=sse’. If there is no
‘-mfpmath=sse’, ‘-fexcess-precision=standard’ alone does the same thing as before, It
is useful for code that does not have _Float16 and runs on the x87 FPU.

6.14 Decimal Floating Types

As an extension, GNU C supports decimal floating types as defined in the N1312 draft of
ISO/IEC WDTR24732. Support for decimal floating types in GCC will evolve as the draft
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 553

technical report changes. Calling conventions for any target might also change. Not all
targets support decimal floating types.
The decimal floating types are _Decimal32, _Decimal64, and _Decimal128. They use a
radix of ten, unlike the floating types float, double, and long double whose radix is not
specified by the C standard but is usually two.
Support for decimal floating types includes the arithmetic operators add, subtract, mul-
tiply, divide; unary arithmetic operators; relational operators; equality operators; and con-
versions to and from integer and other floating types. Use a suffix ‘df’ or ‘DF’ in a literal
constant of type _Decimal32, ‘dd’ or ‘DD’ for _Decimal64, and ‘dl’ or ‘DL’ for _Decimal128.
GCC support of decimal float as specified by the draft technical report is incomplete:
• When the value of a decimal floating type cannot be represented in the integer type to
which it is being converted, the result is undefined rather than the result value specified
by the draft technical report.
• GCC does not provide the C library functionality associated with ‘math.h’, ‘fenv.h’,
‘stdio.h’, ‘stdlib.h’, and ‘wchar.h’, which must come from a separate C library
implementation. Because of this the GNU C compiler does not define macro __STDC_
DEC_FP__ to indicate that the implementation conforms to the technical report.
Types _Decimal32, _Decimal64, and _Decimal128 are supported by the DWARF debug
information format.

6.15 Hex Floats

ISO C99 and ISO C++17 support floating-point numbers written not only in the usual
decimal notation, such as 1.55e1, but also numbers such as 0x1.fp3 written in hexadecimal
format. As a GNU extension, GCC supports this in C90 mode (except in some cases when
strictly conforming) and in C++98, C++11 and C++14 modes. In that format the ‘0x’ hex
introducer and the ‘p’ or ‘P’ exponent field are mandatory. The exponent is a decimal
number that indicates the power of 2 by which the significant part is multiplied. Thus
15
‘0x1.f’ is 1 16 , ‘p3’ multiplies it by 8, and the value of 0x1.fp3 is the same as 1.55e1.
Unlike for floating-point numbers in the decimal notation the exponent is always required
in the hexadecimal notation. Otherwise the compiler would not be able to resolve the
ambiguity of, e.g., 0x1.f. This could mean 1.0f or 1.9375 since ‘f’ is also the extension
for floating-point constants of type float.

6.16 Fixed-Point Types

As an extension, GNU C supports fixed-point types as defined in the N1169 draft of ISO/IEC
DTR 18037. Support for fixed-point types in GCC will evolve as the draft technical report
changes. Calling conventions for any target might also change. Not all targets support
fixed-point types.
The fixed-point types are short _Fract, _Fract, long _Fract, long long _Fract,
unsigned short _Fract, unsigned _Fract, unsigned long _Fract, unsigned long long
_Fract, _Sat short _Fract, _Sat _Fract, _Sat long _Fract, _Sat long long _Fract,
_Sat unsigned short _Fract, _Sat unsigned _Fract, _Sat unsigned long _Fract, _Sat
unsigned long long _Fract, short _Accum, _Accum, long _Accum, long long _Accum,
unsigned short _Accum, unsigned _Accum, unsigned long _Accum, unsigned long long
554 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

_Accum, _Sat short _Accum, _Sat _Accum, _Sat long _Accum, _Sat long long _Accum,
_Sat unsigned short _Accum, _Sat unsigned _Accum, _Sat unsigned long _Accum, _Sat
unsigned long long _Accum.
Fixed-point data values contain fractional and optional integral parts. The format of
fixed-point data varies and depends on the target machine.
Support for fixed-point types includes:
• prefix and postfix increment and decrement operators (++, --)
• unary arithmetic operators (+, -, !)
• binary arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /)
• binary shift operators (<<, >>)
• relational operators (<, <=, >=, >)
• equality operators (==, !=)
• assignment operators (+=, -=, *=, /=, <<=, >>=)
• conversions to and from integer, floating-point, or fixed-point types

Use a suffix in a fixed-point literal constant:

• ‘hr’ or ‘HR’ for short _Fract and _Sat short _Fract
• ‘r’ or ‘R’ for _Fract and _Sat _Fract
• ‘lr’ or ‘LR’ for long _Fract and _Sat long _Fract
• ‘llr’ or ‘LLR’ for long long _Fract and _Sat long long _Fract
• ‘uhr’ or ‘UHR’ for unsigned short _Fract and _Sat unsigned short _Fract
• ‘ur’ or ‘UR’ for unsigned _Fract and _Sat unsigned _Fract
• ‘ulr’ or ‘ULR’ for unsigned long _Fract and _Sat unsigned long _Fract
• ‘ullr’ or ‘ULLR’ for unsigned long long _Fract and _Sat unsigned long long
_Fract
• ‘hk’ or ‘HK’ for short _Accum and _Sat short _Accum
• ‘k’ or ‘K’ for _Accum and _Sat _Accum
• ‘lk’ or ‘LK’ for long _Accum and _Sat long _Accum
• ‘llk’ or ‘LLK’ for long long _Accum and _Sat long long _Accum
• ‘uhk’ or ‘UHK’ for unsigned short _Accum and _Sat unsigned short _Accum
• ‘uk’ or ‘UK’ for unsigned _Accum and _Sat unsigned _Accum
• ‘ulk’ or ‘ULK’ for unsigned long _Accum and _Sat unsigned long _Accum
• ‘ullk’ or ‘ULLK’ for unsigned long long _Accum and _Sat unsigned long long
_Accum

GCC support of fixed-point types as specified by the draft technical report is incomplete:
• Pragmas to control overflow and rounding behaviors are not implemented.

Fixed-point types are supported by the DWARF debug information format.

Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 555

6.17 Named Address Spaces

As an extension, GNU C supports named address spaces as defined in the N1275 draft of
ISO/IEC DTR 18037. Support for named address spaces in GCC will evolve as the draft
technical report changes. Calling conventions for any target might also change. At present,
only the AVR, M32C, PRU, RL78, and x86 targets support address spaces other than the
generic address space.
Address space identifiers may be used exactly like any other C type qualifier (e.g., const
or volatile). See the N1275 document for more details.

6.17.1 AVR Named Address Spaces

On the AVR target, there are several address spaces that can be used in order to put read-
only data into the flash memory and access that data by means of the special instructions
LPM or ELPM needed to read from flash.
Devices belonging to avrtiny and avrxmega3 can access flash memory by means of LD*
instructions because the flash memory is mapped into the RAM address space. There is no
need for language extensions like __flash or attribute Section 6.34.3 [progmem], page 641.
The default linker description files for these devices cater for that feature and .rodata
stays in flash: The compiler just generates LD* instructions, and the linker script adds core
specific offsets to all .rodata symbols: 0x4000 in the case of avrtiny and 0x8000 in the
case of avrxmega3. See Section 3.19.6 [AVR Options], page 345 for a list of respective
devices.
For devices not in avrtiny or avrxmega3, any data including read-only data is located in
RAM (the generic address space) because flash memory is not visible in the RAM address
space. In order to locate read-only data in flash memory and to generate the right instruc-
tions to access this data without using (inline) assembler code, special address spaces are
needed.
__flash The __flash qualifier locates data in the .progmem.data section. Data is read
using the LPM instruction. Pointers to this address space are 16 bits wide.
__flash1
__flash2
__flash3
__flash4
__flash5 These are 16-bit address spaces locating data in section .progmemN.data where
N refers to address space __flashN. The compiler sets the RAMPZ segment
register appropriately before reading data by means of the ELPM instruction.
__memx This is a 24-bit address space that linearizes flash and RAM: If the high bit
of the address is set, data is read from RAM using the lower two bytes as
RAM address. If the high bit of the address is clear, data is read from flash
with RAMPZ set according to the high byte of the address. See Section 6.60.10
[__builtin_avr_flash_segment], page 768.
Objects in this address space are located in .progmemx.data.
Example
char my_read (const __flash char ** p)
{
556 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

/* p is a pointer to RAM that points to a pointer to flash.

The first indirection of p reads that flash pointer
from RAM and the second indirection reads a char from this
flash address. */

return **p;
}

/* Locate array[] in flash memory */

const __flash int array[] = { 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 };

int i = 1;

int main (void)

{
/* Return 17 by reading from flash memory */
return array[array[i]];
}

For each named address space supported by avr-gcc there is an equally named but uppercase
built-in macro defined. The purpose is to facilitate testing if respective address space
support is available or not:
#ifdef __FLASH
const __flash int var = 1;

int read_var (void)

{
return var;
}
#else
#include <avr/pgmspace.h> /* From AVR-LibC */

const int var PROGMEM = 1;

int read_var (void)

{
return (int) pgm_read_word (&var);
}
#endif /* __FLASH */

Notice that attribute Section 6.34.3 [progmem], page 641 locates data in flash but accesses
to these data read from generic address space, i.e. from RAM, so that you need special
accessors like pgm_read_byte from AVR-LibC together with attribute progmem.
Limitations and caveats
• Reading across the 64 KiB section boundary of the __flash or __flashN address spaces
shows undefined behavior. The only address space that supports reading across the
64 KiB flash segment boundaries is __memx.
• If you use one of the __flashN address spaces you must arrange your linker script to
locate the .progmemN.data sections according to your needs.
• Any data or pointers to the non-generic address spaces must be qualified as const,
i.e. as read-only data. This still applies if the data in one of these address spaces like
software version number or calibration lookup table are intended to be changed after
load time by, say, a boot loader. In this case the right qualification is const volatile
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 557

so that the compiler must not optimize away known values or insert them as immediates
into operands of instructions.
• The following code initializes a variable pfoo located in static storage with a 24-bit
address:
extern const __memx char foo;
const __memx void *pfoo = &foo;
• On the reduced Tiny devices like ATtiny40, no address spaces are supported. Just
use vanilla C / C++ code without overhead as outlined above. Attribute progmem is
supported but works differently, see Section 6.34.3 [AVR Variable Attributes], page 641.

6.17.2 M32C Named Address Spaces

On the M32C target, with the R8C and M16C CPU variants, variables qualified with __far
are accessed using 32-bit addresses in order to access memory beyond the first 64 Ki bytes.
If __far is used with the M32CM or M32C CPU variants, it has no effect.

6.17.3 PRU Named Address Spaces

On the PRU target, variables qualified with __regio_symbol are aliases used to access the
special I/O CPU registers. They must be declared as extern because such variables will
not be allocated in any data memory. They must also be marked as volatile, and can
only be 32-bit integer types. The only names those variables can have are __R30 and __R31,
representing respectively the R30 and R31 special I/O CPU registers. Hence the following
example is the only valid usage of __regio_symbol:
extern volatile __regio_symbol uint32_t __R30;
extern volatile __regio_symbol uint32_t __R31;

6.17.4 RL78 Named Address Spaces

On the RL78 target, variables qualified with __far are accessed with 32-bit pointers (20-
bit addresses) rather than the default 16-bit addresses. Non-far variables are assumed to
appear in the topmost 64 KiB of the address space.

6.17.5 x86 Named Address Spaces

On the x86 target, variables may be declared as being relative to the %fs or %gs segments.

__seg_fs
__seg_gs The object is accessed with the respective segment override prefix.
The respective segment base must be set via some method specific to the op-
erating system. Rather than require an expensive system call to retrieve the
segment base, these address spaces are not considered to be subspaces of the
generic (flat) address space. This means that explicit casts are required to con-
vert pointers between these address spaces and the generic address space. In
practice the application should cast to uintptr_t and apply the segment base
offset that it installed previously.
The preprocessor symbols __SEG_FS and __SEG_GS are defined when these ad-
dress spaces are supported.
558 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.18 Arrays of Length Zero

Declaring zero-length arrays is allowed in GNU C as an extension. A zero-length array
can be useful as the last element of a structure that is really a header for a variable-length
object:
struct line {
int length;
char contents[0];
};

struct line *thisline = (struct line *)

malloc (sizeof (struct line) + this_length);
thisline->length = this_length;
Although the size of a zero-length array is zero, an array member of this kind may increase
the size of the enclosing type as a result of tail padding. The offset of a zero-length array
member from the beginning of the enclosing structure is the same as the offset of an array
with one or more elements of the same type. The alignment of a zero-length array is the
same as the alignment of its elements.
Declaring zero-length arrays in other contexts, including as interior members of structure
objects or as non-member objects, is discouraged. Accessing elements of zero-length arrays
declared in such contexts is undefined and may be diagnosed.
In the absence of the zero-length array extension, in ISO C90 the contents array in
the example above would typically be declared to have a single element. Unlike a zero-
length array which only contributes to the size of the enclosing structure for the purposes of
alignment, a one-element array always occupies at least as much space as a single object of
the type. Although using one-element arrays this way is discouraged, GCC handles accesses
to trailing one-element array members analogously to zero-length arrays.
The preferred mechanism to declare variable-length types like struct line above is the
ISO C99 flexible array member, with slightly different syntax and semantics:
• Flexible array members are written as contents[] without the 0.
• Flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof operator may not
be applied. As a quirk of the original implementation of zero-length arrays, sizeof
evaluates to zero.
• Flexible array members may only appear as the last member of a struct that is
otherwise non-empty.
• A structure containing a flexible array member, or a union containing such a structure
(possibly recursively), may not be a member of a structure or an element of an array.
(However, these uses are permitted by GCC as extensions.)
Non-empty initialization of zero-length arrays is treated like any case where there are
more initializer elements than the array holds, in that a suitable warning about “excess
elements in array” is given, and the excess elements (all of them, in this case) are ignored.
GCC allows static initialization of flexible array members. This is equivalent to defining
a new structure containing the original structure followed by an array of sufficient size to
contain the data. E.g. in the following, f1 is constructed as if it were declared like f2.
struct f1 {
int x; int y[];
} f1 = { 1, { 2, 3, 4 } };
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 559

struct f2 {
struct f1 f1; int data[3];
} f2 = { { 1 }, { 2, 3, 4 } };
The convenience of this extension is that f1 has the desired type, eliminating the need to
consistently refer to f2.f1.
This has symmetry with normal static arrays, in that an array of unknown size is also
written with [].
Of course, this extension only makes sense if the extra data comes at the end of a top-level
object, as otherwise we would be overwriting data at subsequent offsets. To avoid undue
complication and confusion with initialization of deeply nested arrays, we simply disallow
any non-empty initialization except when the structure is the top-level object. For example:
struct foo { int x; int y[]; };
struct bar { struct foo z; };

struct foo a = { 1, { 2, 3, 4 } }; // Valid.

struct bar b = { { 1, { 2, 3, 4 } } }; // Invalid.
struct bar c = { { 1, { } } }; // Valid.
struct foo d[1] = { { 1, { 2, 3, 4 } } }; // Invalid.

6.19 Structures with No Members

GCC permits a C structure to have no members:
struct empty {
};
The structure has size zero. In C++, empty structures are part of the language. G++
treats empty structures as if they had a single member of type char.

6.20 Arrays of Variable Length

Variable-length automatic arrays are allowed in ISO C99, and as an extension GCC accepts
them in C90 mode and in C++. These arrays are declared like any other automatic arrays,
but with a length that is not a constant expression. The storage is allocated at the point
of declaration and deallocated when the block scope containing the declaration exits. For
example:
FILE *
concat_fopen (char *s1, char *s2, char *mode)
{
char str[strlen (s1) + strlen (s2) + 1];
strcpy (str, s1);
strcat (str, s2);
return fopen (str, mode);
}
Jumping or breaking out of the scope of the array name deallocates the storage. Jumping
into the scope is not allowed; you get an error message for it.
As an extension, GCC accepts variable-length arrays as a member of a structure or a
union. For example:
void
foo (int n)
{
560 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

struct S { int x[n]; };

}
You can use the function alloca to get an effect much like variable-length arrays. The
function alloca is available in many other C implementations (but not in all). On the
other hand, variable-length arrays are more elegant.
There are other differences between these two methods. Space allocated with alloca
exists until the containing function returns. The space for a variable-length array is deal-
located as soon as the array name’s scope ends, unless you also use alloca in this scope.
You can also use variable-length arrays as arguments to functions:
struct entry
tester (int len, char data[len][len])
{
/* . . . */
}
The length of an array is computed once when the storage is allocated and is remembered
for the scope of the array in case you access it with sizeof.
If you want to pass the array first and the length afterward, you can use a forward
declaration in the parameter list—another GNU extension.
struct entry
tester (int len; char data[len][len], int len)
{
/* . . . */
}
The ‘int len’ before the semicolon is a parameter forward declaration, and it serves the
purpose of making the name len known when the declaration of data is parsed.
You can write any number of such parameter forward declarations in the parameter list.
They can be separated by commas or semicolons, but the last one must end with a semicolon,
which is followed by the “real” parameter declarations. Each forward declaration must
match a “real” declaration in parameter name and data type. ISO C99 does not support
parameter forward declarations.

6.21 Macros with a Variable Number of Arguments.

In the ISO C standard of 1999, a macro can be declared to accept a variable number of
arguments much as a function can. The syntax for defining the macro is similar to that of
a function. Here is an example:
#define debug(format, ...) fprintf (stderr, format, __VA_ARGS__)
Here ‘...’ is a variable argument. In the invocation of such a macro, it represents the
zero or more tokens until the closing parenthesis that ends the invocation, including any
commas. This set of tokens replaces the identifier __VA_ARGS__ in the macro body wherever
it appears. See the CPP manual for more information.
GCC has long supported variadic macros, and used a different syntax that allowed you
to give a name to the variable arguments just like any other argument. Here is an example:
#define debug(format, args...) fprintf (stderr, format, args)
This is in all ways equivalent to the ISO C example above, but arguably more readable and
descriptive.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 561

GNU CPP has two further variadic macro extensions, and permits them to be used with
either of the above forms of macro definition.
In standard C, you are not allowed to leave the variable argument out entirely; but you
are allowed to pass an empty argument. For example, this invocation is invalid in ISO C,
because there is no comma after the string:
debug ("A message")
GNU CPP permits you to completely omit the variable arguments in this way. In the
above examples, the compiler would complain, though since the expansion of the macro still
has the extra comma after the format string.
To help solve this problem, CPP behaves specially for variable arguments used with the
token paste operator, ‘##’. If instead you write
#define debug(format, ...) fprintf (stderr, format, ## __VA_ARGS__)
and if the variable arguments are omitted or empty, the ‘##’ operator causes the preprocessor
to remove the comma before it. If you do provide some variable arguments in your macro
invocation, GNU CPP does not complain about the paste operation and instead places the
variable arguments after the comma. Just like any other pasted macro argument, these
arguments are not macro expanded.

6.22 Slightly Looser Rules for Escaped Newlines

The preprocessor treatment of escaped newlines is more relaxed than that specified by
the C90 standard, which requires the newline to immediately follow a backslash. GCC’s
implementation allows whitespace in the form of spaces, horizontal and vertical tabs, and
form feeds between the backslash and the subsequent newline. The preprocessor issues a
warning, but treats it as a valid escaped newline and combines the two lines to form a single
logical line. This works within comments and tokens, as well as between tokens. Comments
are not treated as whitespace for the purposes of this relaxation, since they have not yet
been replaced with spaces.

6.23 Non-Lvalue Arrays May Have Subscripts

In ISO C99, arrays that are not lvalues still decay to pointers, and may be subscripted,
although they may not be modified or used after the next sequence point and the unary
‘&’ operator may not be applied to them. As an extension, GNU C allows such arrays to
be subscripted in C90 mode, though otherwise they do not decay to pointers outside C99
mode. For example, this is valid in GNU C though not valid in C90:
struct foo {int a[4];};

struct foo f();

bar (int index)

{
return f().a[index];
}

6.24 Arithmetic on void- and Function-Pointers

In GNU C, addition and subtraction operations are supported on pointers to void and on
pointers to functions. This is done by treating the size of a void or of a function as 1.
562 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

A consequence of this is that sizeof is also allowed on void and on function types, and
returns 1.
The option ‘-Wpointer-arith’ requests a warning if these extensions are used.

6.25 Pointer Arguments in Variadic Functions

Standard C requires that pointer types used with va_arg in functions with variable argu-
ment lists either must be compatible with that of the actual argument, or that one type
must be a pointer to void and the other a pointer to a character type. GNU C implements
the POSIX XSI extension that additionally permits the use of va_arg with a pointer type
to receive arguments of any other pointer type.
In particular, in GNU C ‘va_arg (ap, void *)’ can safely be used to consume an argu-
ment of any pointer type.

6.26 Pointers to Arrays with Qualifiers Work as Expected

In GNU C, pointers to arrays with qualifiers work similar to pointers to other qualified
types. For example, a value of type int (*)[5] can be used to initialize a variable of type
const int (*)[5]. These types are incompatible in ISO C because the const qualifier is
formally attached to the element type of the array and not the array itself.
extern void
transpose (int N, int M, double out[M][N], const double in[N][M]);
double x[3][2];
double y[2][3];
...
transpose(3, 2, y, x);

6.27 Non-Constant Initializers

As in standard C++ and ISO C99, the elements of an aggregate initializer for an automatic
variable are not required to be constant expressions in GNU C. Here is an example of an
initializer with run-time varying elements:
foo (float f, float g)
{
float beat_freqs[2] = { f-g, f+g };
/* . . . */
}

6.28 Compound Literals

A compound literal looks like a cast of a brace-enclosed aggregate initializer list. Its value is
an object of the type specified in the cast, containing the elements specified in the initializer.
Unlike the result of a cast, a compound literal is an lvalue. ISO C99 and later support
compound literals. As an extension, GCC supports compound literals also in C90 mode
and in C++, although as explained below, the C++ semantics are somewhat different.
Usually, the specified type of a compound literal is a structure. Assume that struct foo
and structure are declared as shown:
struct foo {int a; char b[2];} structure;
Here is an example of constructing a struct foo with a compound literal:
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 563

structure = ((struct foo) {x + y, ’a’, 0});

This is equivalent to writing the following:
{
struct foo temp = {x + y, ’a’, 0};
structure = temp;
}
You can also construct an array, though this is dangerous in C++, as explained below.
If all the elements of the compound literal are (made up of) simple constant expressions
suitable for use in initializers of objects of static storage duration, then the compound literal
can be coerced to a pointer to its first element and used in such an initializer, as shown
here:
char **foo = (char *[]) { "x", "y", "z" };
Compound literals for scalar types and union types are also allowed. In the following
example the variable i is initialized to the value 2, the result of incrementing the unnamed
object created by the compound literal.
int i = ++(int) { 1 };
As a GNU extension, GCC allows initialization of objects with static storage duration
by compound literals (which is not possible in ISO C99 because the initializer is not a
constant). It is handled as if the object were initialized only with the brace-enclosed list if
the types of the compound literal and the object match. The elements of the compound
literal must be constant. If the object being initialized has array type of unknown size, the
size is determined by the size of the compound literal.
static struct foo x = (struct foo) {1, ’a’, ’b’};
static int y[] = (int []) {1, 2, 3};
static int z[] = (int [3]) {1};
The above lines are equivalent to the following:
static struct foo x = {1, ’a’, ’b’};
static int y[] = {1, 2, 3};
static int z[] = {1, 0, 0};
In C, a compound literal designates an unnamed object with static or automatic storage
duration. In C++, a compound literal designates a temporary object that only lives until
the end of its full-expression. As a result, well-defined C code that takes the address of
a subobject of a compound literal can be undefined in C++, so G++ rejects the conversion
of a temporary array to a pointer. For instance, if the array compound literal example
above appeared inside a function, any subsequent use of foo in C++ would have undefined
behavior because the lifetime of the array ends after the declaration of foo.
As an optimization, G++ sometimes gives array compound literals longer lifetimes: when
the array either appears outside a function or has a const-qualified type. If foo and its
initializer had elements of type char *const rather than char *, or if foo were a global
variable, the array would have static storage duration. But it is probably safest just to
avoid the use of array compound literals in C++ code.

6.29 Designated Initializers

Standard C90 requires the elements of an initializer to appear in a fixed order, the same as
the order of the elements in the array or structure being initialized.
564 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

In ISO C99 you can give the elements in any order, specifying the array indices or structure
field names they apply to, and GNU C allows this as an extension in C90 mode as well.
This extension is not implemented in GNU C++.
To specify an array index, write ‘[index] =’ before the element value. For example,
int a[6] = { [4] = 29, [2] = 15 };
is equivalent to
int a[6] = { 0, 0, 15, 0, 29, 0 };
The index values must be constant expressions, even if the array being initialized is auto-
matic.
An alternative syntax for this that has been obsolete since GCC 2.5 but GCC still accepts
is to write ‘[index]’ before the element value, with no ‘=’.
To initialize a range of elements to the same value, write ‘[first ... last] = value’.
This is a GNU extension. For example,
int widths[] = { [0 ... 9] = 1, [10 ... 99] = 2, [100] = 3 };
If the value in it has side effects, the side effects happen only once, not for each initialized
field by the range initializer.
Note that the length of the array is the highest value specified plus one.
In a structure initializer, specify the name of a field to initialize with ‘.fieldname =’
before the element value. For example, given the following structure,
struct point { int x, y; };
the following initialization
struct point p = { .y = yvalue, .x = xvalue };
is equivalent to
struct point p = { xvalue, yvalue };
Another syntax that has the same meaning, obsolete since GCC 2.5, is ‘fieldname:’, as
shown here:
struct point p = { y: yvalue, x: xvalue };
Omitted fields are implicitly initialized the same as for objects that have static storage
duration.
The ‘[index]’ or ‘.fieldname’ is known as a designator. You can also use a designator
(or the obsolete colon syntax) when initializing a union, to specify which element of the
union should be used. For example,
union foo { int i; double d; };

union foo f = { .d = 4 };
converts 4 to a double to store it in the union using the second element. By contrast,
casting 4 to type union foo stores it into the union as the integer i, since it is an integer.
See Section 6.31 [Cast to Union], page 565.
You can combine this technique of naming elements with ordinary C initialization of
successive elements. Each initializer element that does not have a designator applies to the
next consecutive element of the array or structure. For example,
int a[6] = { [1] = v1, v2, [4] = v4 };
is equivalent to
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 565

int a[6] = { 0, v1, v2, 0, v4, 0 };

Labeling the elements of an array initializer is especially useful when the indices are
characters or belong to an enum type. For example:
int whitespace[256]
= { [’ ’] = 1, [’\t’] = 1, [’\h’] = 1,
[’\f’] = 1, [’\n’] = 1, [’\r’] = 1 };
You can also write a series of ‘.fieldname’ and ‘[index]’ designators before an ‘=’ to
specify a nested subobject to initialize; the list is taken relative to the subobject correspond-
ing to the closest surrounding brace pair. For example, with the ‘struct point’ declaration
above:
struct point ptarray[10] = { [2].y = yv2, [2].x = xv2, [0].x = xv0 };
If the same field is initialized multiple times, or overlapping fields of a union are initialized,
the value from the last initialization is used. When a field of a union is itself a structure,
the entire structure from the last field initialized is used. If any previous initializer has side
effect, it is unspecified whether the side effect happens or not. Currently, GCC discards the
side-effecting initializer expressions and issues a warning.

6.30 Case Ranges

You can specify a range of consecutive values in a single case label, like this:
case low ... high:
This has the same effect as the proper number of individual case labels, one for each integer
value from low to high, inclusive.
This feature is especially useful for ranges of ASCII character codes:
case ’A’ ... ’Z’:
Be careful: Write spaces around the ..., for otherwise it may be parsed wrong when you
use it with integer values. For example, write this:
case 1 ... 5:
rather than this:
case 1...5:

6.31 Cast to a Union Type

A cast to a union type is a C extension not available in C++. It looks just like ordinary
casts with the constraint that the type specified is a union type. You can specify the type
either with the union keyword or with a typedef name that refers to a union. The result
of a cast to a union is a temporary rvalue of the union type with a member whose type
matches that of the operand initialized to the value of the operand. The effect of a cast to
a union is similar to a compound literal except that it yields an rvalue like standard casts
do. See Section 6.28 [Compound Literals], page 562.
Expressions that may be cast to the union type are those whose type matches at least
one of the members of the union. Thus, given the following union and variables:
union foo { int i; double d; };
int x;
double y;
union foo z;
both x and y can be cast to type union foo and the following assignments
566 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

z = (union foo) x;
z = (union foo) y;
are shorthand equivalents of these
z = (union foo) { .i = x };
z = (union foo) { .d = y };
However, (union foo) FLT_MAX; is not a valid cast because the union has no member of
type float.
Using the cast as the right-hand side of an assignment to a variable of union type is
equivalent to storing in a member of the union with the same type
union foo u;
/* . . . */
u = (union foo) x ≡ u.i = x
u = (union foo) y ≡ u.d = y
You can also use the union cast as a function argument:
void hack (union foo);
/* . . . */
hack ((union foo) x);

6.32 Mixed Declarations, Labels and Code

ISO C99 and ISO C++ allow declarations and code to be freely mixed within compound
statements. ISO C2X allows labels to be placed before declarations and at the end of a
compound statement. As an extension, GNU C also allows all this in C90 mode. For
example, you could do:
int i;
/* . . . */
i++;
int j = i + 2;
Each identifier is visible from where it is declared until the end of the enclosing block.

6.33 Declaring Attributes of Functions

In GNU C and C++, you can use function attributes to specify certain function properties
that may help the compiler optimize calls or check code more carefully for correctness.
For example, you can use attributes to specify that a function never returns (noreturn),
returns a value depending only on the values of its arguments (const), or has printf-style
arguments (format).
You can also use attributes to control memory placement, code generation options or
call/return conventions within the function being annotated. Many of these attributes are
target-specific. For example, many targets support attributes for defining interrupt handler
functions, which typically must follow special register usage and return conventions. Such
attributes are described in the subsection for each target. However, a considerable number of
attributes are supported by most, if not all targets. Those are described in the Section 6.33.1
[Common Function Attributes], page 567 section.
Function attributes are introduced by the __attribute__ keyword in the declaration
of a function, followed by an attribute specification enclosed in double parentheses. You
can specify multiple attributes in a declaration by separating them by commas within the
double parentheses or by immediately following one attribute specification with another.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 567

See Section 6.39 [Attribute Syntax], page 658, for the exact rules on attribute syntax and
placement. Compatible attribute specifications on distinct declarations of the same function
are merged. An attribute specification that is not compatible with attributes already applied
to a declaration of the same function is ignored with a warning.
Some function attributes take one or more arguments that refer to the function’s param-
eters by their positions within the function parameter list. Such attribute arguments are
referred to as positional arguments. Unless specified otherwise, positional arguments that
specify properties of parameters with pointer types can also specify the same properties
of the implicit C++ this argument in non-static member functions, and of parameters of
reference to a pointer type. For ordinary functions, position one refers to the first parameter
on the list. In C++ non-static member functions, position one refers to the implicit this
pointer. The same restrictions and effects apply to function attributes used with ordinary
functions or C++ member functions.
GCC also supports attributes on variable declarations (see Section 6.34 [Variable At-
tributes], page 633), labels (see Section 6.36 [Label Attributes], page 656), enumerators (see
Section 6.37 [Enumerator Attributes], page 657), statements (see Section 6.38 [Statement
Attributes], page 658), types (see Section 6.35 [Type Attributes], page 647), and on field
declarations (for tainted_args).
There is some overlap between the purposes of attributes and pragmas (see Section 6.62
[Pragmas Accepted by GCC], page 885). It has been found convenient to use __attribute_
_ to achieve a natural attachment of attributes to their corresponding declarations, whereas
#pragma is of use for compatibility with other compilers or constructs that do not naturally
form part of the grammar.
In addition to the attributes documented here, GCC plugins may provide their own
attributes.

6.33.1 Common Function Attributes

The following attributes are supported on most targets.
access (access-mode, ref-index)
access (access-mode, ref-index, size-index)
The access attribute enables the detection of invalid or unsafe accesses by
functions to which they apply or their callers, as well as write-only accesses to
objects that are never read from. Such accesses may be diagnosed by warnings
such as ‘-Wstringop-overflow’, ‘-Wuninitialized’, ‘-Wunused’, and others.
The access attribute specifies that a function to whose by-reference arguments
the attribute applies accesses the referenced object according to access-mode.
The access-mode argument is required and must be one of four names: read_
only, read_write, write_only, or none. The remaining two are positional
arguments.
The required ref-index positional argument denotes a function argument of
pointer (or in C++, reference) type that is subject to the access. The same
pointer argument can be referenced by at most one distinct access attribute.
The optional size-index positional argument denotes a function argument of
integer type that specifies the maximum size of the access. The size is the
number of elements of the type referenced by ref-index, or the number of bytes
568 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

when the pointer type is void*. When no size-index argument is specified,

the pointer argument must be either null or point to a space that is suitably
aligned and large for at least one object of the referenced type (this implies that
a past-the-end pointer is not a valid argument). The actual size of the access
may be less but it must not be more.
The read_only access mode specifies that the pointer to which it applies is
used to read the referenced object but not write to it. Unless the argument
specifying the size of the access denoted by size-index is zero, the referenced
object must be initialized. The mode implies a stronger guarantee than the
const qualifier which, when cast away from a pointer, does not prevent the
pointed-to object from being modified. Examples of the use of the read_only
access mode is the argument to the puts function, or the second and third
arguments to the memcpy function.
__attribute__ ((access (read_only, 1))) int puts (const char*);
__attribute__ ((access (read_only, 2, 3))) void* memcpy (void*, const void*, size_t);

The read_write access mode applies to arguments of pointer types without the
const qualifier. It specifies that the pointer to which it applies is used to both
read and write the referenced object. Unless the argument specifying the size
of the access denoted by size-index is zero, the object referenced by the pointer
must be initialized. An example of the use of the read_write access mode is
the first argument to the strcat function.
__attribute__ ((access (read_write, 1), access (read_only, 2))) char* strcat (char*, const ch

The write_only access mode applies to arguments of pointer types without

the const qualifier. It specifies that the pointer to which it applies is used to
write to the referenced object but not read from it. The object referenced by the
pointer need not be initialized. An example of the use of the write_only access
mode is the first argument to the strcpy function, or the first two arguments
to the fgets function.
__attribute__ ((access (write_only, 1), access (read_only, 2))) char* strcpy (char*, const ch
__attribute__ ((access (write_only, 1, 2), access (read_write, 3))) int fgets (char*, int, FI

The access mode none specifies that the pointer to which it applies is not used
to access the referenced object at all. Unless the pointer is null the pointed-
to object must exist and have at least the size as denoted by the size-index
argument. When the optional size-index argument is omitted for an argument
of void* type the actual pointer agument is ignored. The referenced object
need not be initialized. The mode is intended to be used as a means to help
validate the expected object size, for example in functions that call __builtin_
object_size. See Section 6.58 [Object Size Checking], page 737.
Note that the access attribute merely specifies how an object referenced by
the pointer argument can be accessed; it does not imply that an access will
happen. Also, the access attribute does not imply the attribute nonnull; it
may be appropriate to add both attributes at the declaration of a function that
unconditionally manipulates a buffer via a pointer argument. See the nonnull
attribute for more information and caveats.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 569

alias ("target")
The alias attribute causes the declaration to be emitted as an alias for another
symbol, which must have been previously declared with the same type, and for
variables, also the same size and alignment. Declaring an alias with a different
type than the target is undefined and may be diagnosed. As an example, the
following declarations:
void __f () { /* Do something. */; }
void f () __attribute__ ((weak, alias ("__f")));
define ‘f’ to be a weak alias for ‘__f’. In C++, the mangled name for the target
must be used. It is an error if ‘__f’ is not defined in the same translation unit.
This attribute requires assembler and object file support, and may not be avail-
able on all targets.
aligned
aligned (alignment)
The aligned attribute specifies a minimum alignment for the first instruction
of the function, measured in bytes. When specified, alignment must be an
integer constant power of 2. Specifying no alignment argument implies the ideal
alignment for the target. The __alignof__ operator can be used to determine
what that is (see Section 6.44 [Alignment], page 663). The attribute has no
effect when a definition for the function is not provided in the same translation
unit.
The attribute cannot be used to decrease the alignment of a function previously
declared with a more restrictive alignment; only to increase it. Attempts to do
otherwise are diagnosed. Some targets specify a minimum default alignment for
functions that is greater than 1. On such targets, specifying a less restrictive
alignment is silently ignored. Using the attribute overrides the effect of the
‘-falign-functions’ (see Section 3.11 [Optimize Options], page 173) option
for this function.
Note that the effectiveness of aligned attributes may be limited by inherent
limitations in the system linker and/or object file format. On some systems, the
linker is only able to arrange for functions to be aligned up to a certain maximum
alignment. (For some linkers, the maximum supported alignment may be very
very small.) See your linker documentation for further information.
The aligned attribute can also be used for variables and fields (see Section 6.34
[Variable Attributes], page 633.)
alloc_align (position)
The alloc_align attribute may be applied to a function that returns a pointer
and takes at least one argument of an integer or enumerated type. It indicates
that the returned pointer is aligned on a boundary given by the function ar-
gument at position. Meaningful alignments are powers of 2 greater than one.
GCC uses this information to improve pointer alignment analysis.
The function parameter denoting the allocated alignment is specified by one
constant integer argument whose number is the argument of the attribute. Ar-
gument numbering starts at one.
For instance,
570 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void* my_memalign (size_t, size_t) __attribute__ ((alloc_align (1)));

declares that my_memalign returns memory with minimum alignment given by
parameter 1.
alloc_size (position)
alloc_size (position-1, position-2)
The alloc_size attribute may be applied to a function that returns a pointer
and takes at least one argument of an integer or enumerated type. It indicates
that the returned pointer points to memory whose size is given by the function
argument at position-1, or by the product of the arguments at position-1 and
position-2. Meaningful sizes are positive values less than PTRDIFF_MAX. GCC
uses this information to improve the results of __builtin_object_size.
The function parameter(s) denoting the allocated size are specified by one or
two integer arguments supplied to the attribute. The allocated size is either
the value of the single function argument specified or the product of the two
function arguments specified. Argument numbering starts at one for ordinary
functions, and at two for C++ non-static member functions.
For instance,
void* my_calloc (size_t, size_t) __attribute__ ((alloc_size (1, 2)));
void* my_realloc (void*, size_t) __attribute__ ((alloc_size (2)));
declares that my_calloc returns memory of the size given by the product of
parameter 1 and 2 and that my_realloc returns memory of the size given by
parameter 2.
always_inline
Generally, functions are not inlined unless optimization is specified. For func-
tions declared inline, this attribute inlines the function independent of any
restrictions that otherwise apply to inlining. Failure to inline such a function
is diagnosed as an error. Note that if such a function is called indirectly the
compiler may or may not inline it depending on optimization level and a failure
to inline an indirect call may or may not be diagnosed.
artificial
This attribute is useful for small inline wrappers that if possible should appear
during debugging as a unit. Depending on the debug info format it either means
marking the function as artificial or using the caller location for all instructions
within the inlined body.
assume_aligned (alignment)
assume_aligned (alignment, offset)
The assume_aligned attribute may be applied to a function that returns a
pointer. It indicates that the returned pointer is aligned on a boundary given
by alignment. If the attribute has two arguments, the second argument is mis-
alignment offset. Meaningful values of alignment are powers of 2 greater than
one. Meaningful values of offset are greater than zero and less than alignment.
For instance
void* my_alloc1 (size_t) __attribute__((assume_aligned (16)));
void* my_alloc2 (size_t) __attribute__((assume_aligned (32, 8)));
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 571

declares that my_alloc1 returns 16-byte aligned pointers and that my_alloc2
returns a pointer whose value modulo 32 is equal to 8.
cold The cold attribute on functions is used to inform the compiler that the function
is unlikely to be executed. The function is optimized for size rather than speed
and on many targets it is placed into a special subsection of the text section
so all cold functions appear close together, improving code locality of non-cold
parts of program. The paths leading to calls of cold functions within code are
marked as unlikely by the branch prediction mechanism. It is thus useful to
mark functions used to handle unlikely conditions, such as perror, as cold to
improve optimization of hot functions that do call marked functions in rare
occasions.
When profile feedback is available, via ‘-fprofile-use’, cold functions are
automatically detected and this attribute is ignored.
const Calls to functions whose return value is not affected by changes to the observable
state of the program and that have no observable effects on such state other
than to return a value may lend themselves to optimizations such as common
subexpression elimination. Declaring such functions with the const attribute
allows GCC to avoid emitting some calls in repeated invocations of the function
with the same argument values.
For example,
int square (int) __attribute__ ((const));
tells GCC that subsequent calls to function square with the same argument
value can be replaced by the result of the first call regardless of the statements
in between.
The const attribute prohibits a function from reading objects that affect its
return value between successive invocations. However, functions declared with
the attribute can safely read objects that do not change their return value, such
as non-volatile constants.
The const attribute imposes greater restrictions on a function’s definition than
the similar pure attribute. Declaring the same function with both the const
and the pure attribute is diagnosed. Because a const function cannot have any
observable side effects it does not make sense for it to return void. Declaring
such a function is diagnosed.
Note that a function that has pointer arguments and examines the data pointed
to must not be declared const if the pointed-to data might change between
successive invocations of the function. In general, since a function cannot dis-
tinguish data that might change from data that cannot, const functions should
never take pointer or, in C++, reference arguments. Likewise, a function that
calls a non-const function usually must not be const itself.
constructor
destructor
constructor (priority)
destructor (priority)
The constructor attribute causes the function to be called automatically be-
fore execution enters main (). Similarly, the destructor attribute causes the
572 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

function to be called automatically after main () completes or exit () is called.

Functions with these attributes are useful for initializing data that is used im-
plicitly during the execution of the program.

On some targets the attributes also accept an integer argument to specify a

priority to control the order in which constructor and destructor functions are
run. A constructor with a smaller priority number runs before a constructor
with a larger priority number; the opposite relationship holds for destructors.
Note that priorities 0-100 are reserved. So, if you have a constructor that
allocates a resource and a destructor that deallocates the same resource, both
functions typically have the same priority. The priorities for constructor and
destructor functions are the same as those specified for namespace-scope C++
objects (see Section 7.7 [C++ Attributes], page 903). However, at present, the
order in which constructors for C++ objects with static storage duration and
functions decorated with attribute constructor are invoked is unspecified. In
mixed declarations, attribute init_priority can be used to impose a specific
ordering.

Using the argument forms of the constructor and destructor attributes on

targets where the feature is not supported is rejected with an error.

copy
copy (function)
The copy attribute applies the set of attributes with which function has been
declared to the declaration of the function to which the attribute is applied. The
attribute is designed for libraries that define aliases or function resolvers that
are expected to specify the same set of attributes as their targets. The copy
attribute can be used with functions, variables, or types. However, the kind of
symbol to which the attribute is applied (either function or variable) must match
the kind of symbol to which the argument refers. The copy attribute copies
only syntactic and semantic attributes but not attributes that affect a symbol’s
linkage or visibility such as alias, visibility, or weak. The deprecated
and target_clones attribute are also not copied. See Section 6.35.1 [Common
Type Attributes], page 647. See Section 6.34.1 [Common Variable Attributes],
page 633.

For example, the StrongAlias macro below makes use of the alias and copy
attributes to define an alias named alloc for function allocate declared with
attributes alloc size, malloc, and nothrow. Thanks to the __typeof__ operator
the alias has the same type as the target function. As a result of the copy
attribute the alias also shares the same attributes as the target.
#define StrongAlias(TargetFunc, AliasDecl) \
extern __typeof__ (TargetFunc) AliasDecl \
__attribute__ ((alias (#TargetFunc), copy (TargetFunc)));

extern __attribute__ ((alloc_size (1), malloc, nothrow))

void* allocate (size_t);
StrongAlias (allocate, alloc);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 573

deprecated
deprecated (msg)
The deprecated attribute results in a warning if the function is used anywhere
in the source file. This is useful when identifying functions that are expected
to be removed in a future version of a program. The warning also includes the
location of the declaration of the deprecated function, to enable users to easily
find further information about why the function is deprecated, or what they
should do instead. Note that the warnings only occurs for uses:
int old_fn () __attribute__ ((deprecated));
int old_fn ();
int (*fn_ptr)() = old_fn;
results in a warning on line 3 but not line 2. The optional msg argument, which
must be a string, is printed in the warning if present.
The deprecated attribute can also be used for variables and types (see
Section 6.34 [Variable Attributes], page 633, see Section 6.35 [Type Attributes],
page 647.)
The message attached to the attribute is affected by the setting of the
‘-fmessage-length’ option.
unavailable
unavailable (msg)
The unavailable attribute results in an error if the function is used anywhere
in the source file. This is useful when identifying functions that have been
removed from a particular variation of an interface. Other than emitting an
error rather than a warning, the unavailable attribute behaves in the same
manner as deprecated.
The unavailable attribute can also be used for variables and types (see
Section 6.34 [Variable Attributes], page 633, see Section 6.35 [Type Attributes],
page 647.)
error ("message")
warning ("message")
If the error or warning attribute is used on a function declaration and a call to
such a function is not eliminated through dead code elimination or other opti-
mizations, an error or warning (respectively) that includes message is diagnosed.
This is useful for compile-time checking, especially together with __builtin_
constant_p and inline functions where checking the inline function arguments
is not possible through extern char [(condition) ? 1 : -1]; tricks.
While it is possible to leave the function undefined and thus invoke a link failure
(to define the function with a message in .gnu.warning* section), when using
these attributes the problem is diagnosed earlier and with exact location of
the call even in presence of inline functions or when not emitting debugging
information.
externally_visible
This attribute, attached to a global variable or function, nullifies the effect
of the ‘-fwhole-program’ command-line option, so the object remains visible
outside the current compilation unit.
574 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

If ‘-fwhole-program’ is used together with ‘-flto’ and gold is used as the

linker plugin, externally_visible attributes are automatically added to func-
tions (not variable yet due to a current gold issue) that are accessed outside of
LTO objects according to resolution file produced by gold. For other linkers
that cannot generate resolution file, explicit externally_visible attributes
are still necessary.
fd_arg
fd_arg (N)
The fd_arg attribute may be applied to a function that takes an open file
descriptor at referenced argument N.
It indicates that the passed filedescriptor must not have been closed. There-
fore, when the analyzer is enabled with ‘-fanalyzer’, the analyzer may emit
a ‘-Wanalyzer-fd-use-after-close’ diagnostic if it detects a code path in
which a function with this attribute is called with a closed file descriptor.
The attribute also indicates that the file descriptor must have been
checked for validity before usage. Therefore, analyzer may emit
‘-Wanalyzer-fd-use-without-check’ diagnostic if it detects a code path in
which a function with this attribute is called with a file descriptor that has not
been checked for validity.
fd_arg_read
fd_arg_read (N)
The fd_arg_read is identical to fd_arg, but with the additional requirement
that it might read from the file descriptor, and thus, the file descriptor must
not have been opened as write-only.
The analyzer may emit a ‘-Wanalyzer-access-mode-mismatch’ diagnostic if
it detects a code path in which a function with this attribute is called on a file
descriptor opened with O_WRONLY.
fd_arg_write
fd_arg_write (N)
The fd_arg_write is identical to fd_arg_read except that the analyzer may
emit a ‘-Wanalyzer-access-mode-mismatch’ diagnostic if it detects a code
path in which a function with this attribute is called on a file descriptor opened
with O_RDONLY.
flatten Generally, inlining into a function is limited. For a function marked with this
attribute, every call inside this function is inlined, if possible. Functions de-
clared with attribute noinline and similar are not inlined. Whether the func-
tion itself is considered for inlining depends on its size and the current inlining
parameters.
format (archetype, string-index, first-to-check)
The format attribute specifies that a function takes printf, scanf, strftime
or strfmon style arguments that should be type-checked against a format string.
For example, the declaration:
extern int
my_printf (void *my_object, const char *my_format, ...)
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 575

__attribute__ ((format (printf, 2, 3)));

causes the compiler to check the arguments in calls to my_printf for consistency
with the printf style format string argument my_format.
The parameter archetype determines how the format string is interpreted, and
should be printf, scanf, strftime, gnu_printf, gnu_scanf, gnu_strftime
or strfmon. (You can also use __printf__, __scanf__, __strftime__ or __
strfmon__.) On MinGW targets, ms_printf, ms_scanf, and ms_strftime are
also present. archetype values such as printf refer to the formats accepted by
the system’s C runtime library, while values prefixed with ‘gnu_’ always refer to
the formats accepted by the GNU C Library. On Microsoft Windows targets,
values prefixed with ‘ms_’ refer to the formats accepted by the ‘msvcrt.dll’
library. The parameter string-index specifies which argument is the format
string argument (starting from 1), while first-to-check is the number of the
first argument to check against the format string. For functions where the
arguments are not available to be checked (such as vprintf), specify the third
parameter as zero. In this case the compiler only checks the format string for
consistency. For strftime formats, the third parameter is required to be zero.
Since non-static C++ methods have an implicit this argument, the arguments
of such methods should be counted from two, not one, when giving values for
string-index and first-to-check.
In the example above, the format string (my_format) is the second argument
of the function my_print, and the arguments to check start with the third
argument, so the correct parameters for the format attribute are 2 and 3.
The format attribute allows you to identify your own functions that take for-
mat strings as arguments, so that GCC can check the calls to these functions
for errors. The compiler always (unless ‘-ffreestanding’ or ‘-fno-builtin’
is used) checks formats for the standard library functions printf, fprintf,
sprintf, scanf, fscanf, sscanf, strftime, vprintf, vfprintf and vsprintf
whenever such warnings are requested (using ‘-Wformat’), so there is no need
to modify the header file ‘stdio.h’. In C99 mode, the functions snprintf,
vsnprintf, vscanf, vfscanf and vsscanf are also checked. Except in strictly
conforming C standard modes, the X/Open function strfmon is also checked
as are printf_unlocked and fprintf_unlocked. See Section 3.4 [Options
Controlling C Dialect], page 44.
For Objective-C dialects, NSString (or __NSString__) is recognized in the
same context. Declarations including these format attributes are parsed for
correct syntax, however the result of checking of such format strings is not yet
defined, and is not carried out by this version of the compiler.
The target may also provide additional types of format checks. See Section 6.61
[Format Checks Specific to Particular Target Machines], page 884.
format_arg (string-index)
The format_arg attribute specifies that a function takes one or more format
strings for a printf, scanf, strftime or strfmon style function and modifies it
(for example, to translate it into another language), so the result can be passed
to a printf, scanf, strftime or strfmon style function (with the remaining
576 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

arguments to the format function the same as they would have been for the
unmodified string). Multiple format_arg attributes may be applied to the
same function, each designating a distinct parameter as a format string. For
example, the declaration:
extern char *
my_dgettext (char *my_domain, const char *my_format)
__attribute__ ((format_arg (2)));
causes the compiler to check the arguments in calls to a printf, scanf,
strftime or strfmon type function, whose format string argument is a
call to the my_dgettext function, for consistency with the format string
argument my_format. If the format_arg attribute had not been specified, all
the compiler could tell in such calls to format functions would be that the
format string argument is not constant; this would generate a warning when
‘-Wformat-nonliteral’ is used, but the calls could not be checked without
the attribute.
In calls to a function declared with more than one format_arg attribute, each
with a distinct argument value, the corresponding actual function arguments are
checked against all format strings designated by the attributes. This capability
is designed to support the GNU ngettext family of functions.
The parameter string-index specifies which argument is the format string argu-
ment (starting from one). Since non-static C++ methods have an implicit this
argument, the arguments of such methods should be counted from two.
The format_arg attribute allows you to identify your own functions that modify
format strings, so that GCC can check the calls to printf, scanf, strftime or
strfmon type function whose operands are a call to one of your own function.
The compiler always treats gettext, dgettext, and dcgettext in this manner
except when strict ISO C support is requested by ‘-ansi’ or an appropriate
‘-std’ option, or ‘-ffreestanding’ or ‘-fno-builtin’ is used. See Section 3.4
[Options Controlling C Dialect], page 44.
For Objective-C dialects, the format-arg attribute may refer to an NSString
reference for compatibility with the format attribute above.
The target may also allow additional types in format-arg attributes. See
Section 6.61 [Format Checks Specific to Particular Target Machines], page 884.
gnu_inline
This attribute should be used with a function that is also declared with the
inline keyword. It directs GCC to treat the function as if it were defined in
gnu90 mode even when compiling in C99 or gnu99 mode.
If the function is declared extern, then this definition of the function is used
only for inlining. In no case is the function compiled as a standalone function,
not even if you take its address explicitly. Such an address becomes an external
reference, as if you had only declared the function, and had not defined it. This
has almost the effect of a macro. The way to use this is to put a function
definition in a header file with this attribute, and put another copy of the
function, without extern, in a library file. The definition in the header file
causes most calls to the function to be inlined. If any uses of the function
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 577

remain, they refer to the single copy in the library. Note that the two definitions
of the functions need not be precisely the same, although if they do not have
the same effect your program may behave oddly.
In C, if the function is neither extern nor static, then the function is compiled
as a standalone function, as well as being inlined where possible.
This is how GCC traditionally handled functions declared inline. Since ISO
C99 specifies a different semantics for inline, this function attribute is provided
as a transition measure and as a useful feature in its own right. This attribute
is available in GCC 4.1.3 and later. It is available if either of the preproces-
sor macros __GNUC_GNU_INLINE__ or __GNUC_STDC_INLINE__ are defined. See
Section 6.45 [An Inline Function is As Fast As a Macro], page 664.
In C++, this attribute does not depend on extern in any way, but it still requires
the inline keyword to enable its special behavior.
hot The hot attribute on a function is used to inform the compiler that the func-
tion is a hot spot of the compiled program. The function is optimized more
aggressively and on many targets it is placed into a special subsection of the
text section so all hot functions appear close together, improving locality.
When profile feedback is available, via ‘-fprofile-use’, hot functions are au-
tomatically detected and this attribute is ignored.
ifunc ("resolver")
The ifunc attribute is used to mark a function as an indirect function using the
STT GNU IFUNC symbol type extension to the ELF standard. This allows the
resolution of the symbol value to be determined dynamically at load time, and
an optimized version of the routine to be selected for the particular processor or
other system characteristics determined then. To use this attribute, first define
the implementation functions available, and a resolver function that returns a
pointer to the selected implementation function. The implementation functions’
declarations must match the API of the function being implemented. The
resolver should be declared to be a function taking no arguments and returning
a pointer to a function of the same type as the implementation. For example:
void *my_memcpy (void *dst, const void *src, size_t len)
{
...
return dst;
}

static void * (*resolve_memcpy (void))(void *, const void *, size_t)

{
return my_memcpy; // we will just always select this routine
}
The exported header file declaring the function the user calls would contain:
extern void *memcpy (void *, const void *, size_t);
allowing the user to call memcpy as a regular function, unaware of the actual
implementation. Finally, the indirect function needs to be defined in the same
translation unit as the resolver function:
void *memcpy (void *, const void *, size_t)
__attribute__ ((ifunc ("resolve_memcpy")));
578 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

In C++, the ifunc attribute takes a string that is the mangled name of the
resolver function. A C++ resolver for a non-static member function of class
C should be declared to return a pointer to a non-member function taking
pointer to C as the first argument, followed by the same arguments as of
the implementation function. G++ checks the signatures of the two functions
and issues a ‘-Wattribute-alias’ warning for mismatches. To suppress a
warning for the necessary cast from a pointer to the implementation mem-
ber function to the type of the corresponding non-member function use the
‘-Wno-pmf-conversions’ option. For example:
class S
{
private:
int debug_impl (int);
int optimized_impl (int);

typedef int Func (S*, int);

static Func* resolver ();

public:

int interface (int);

};

int S::debug_impl (int) { /* . . . */ }

int S::optimized_impl (int) { /* . . . */ }

S::Func* S::resolver ()
{
int (S::*pimpl) (int)
= getenv ("DEBUG") ? &S::debug_impl : &S::optimized_impl;

// Cast triggers -Wno-pmf-conversions.

return reinterpret_cast<Func*>(pimpl);
}

int S::interface (int) __attribute__ ((ifunc ("_ZN1S8resolverEv")));

Indirect functions cannot be weak. Binutils version 2.20.1 or higher and GNU
C Library version 2.11.1 are required to use this feature.
interrupt
interrupt_handler
Many GCC back ends support attributes to indicate that a function is an in-
terrupt handler, which tells the compiler to generate function entry and exit
sequences that differ from those from regular functions. The exact syntax and
behavior are target-specific; refer to the following subsections for details.
leaf Calls to external functions with this attribute must return to the current com-
pilation unit only by return or by exception handling. In particular, a leaf
function is not allowed to invoke callback functions passed to it from the cur-
rent compilation unit, directly call functions exported by the unit, or longjmp
into the unit. Leaf functions might still call functions from other compilation
units and thus they are not necessarily leaf in the sense that they contain no
function calls at all.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 579

The attribute is intended for library functions to improve dataflow analysis.

The compiler takes the hint that any data not escaping the current compilation
unit cannot be used or modified by the leaf function. For example, the sin
function is a leaf function, but qsort is not.
Note that leaf functions might indirectly run a signal handler defined in the
current compilation unit that uses static variables. Similarly, when lazy symbol
resolution is in effect, leaf functions might invoke indirect functions whose re-
solver function or implementation function is defined in the current compilation
unit and uses static variables. There is no standard-compliant way to write such
a signal handler, resolver function, or implementation function, and the best
that you can do is to remove the leaf attribute or mark all such static variables
volatile. Lastly, for ELF-based systems that support symbol interposition,
care should be taken that functions defined in the current compilation unit do
not unexpectedly interpose other symbols based on the defined standards mode
and defined feature test macros; otherwise an inadvertent callback would be
added.
The attribute has no effect on functions defined within the current compilation
unit. This is to allow easy merging of multiple compilation units into one, for
example, by using the link-time optimization. For this reason the attribute is
not allowed on types to annotate indirect calls.
malloc
malloc (deallocator)
malloc (deallocator, ptr-index)
Attribute malloc indicates that a function is malloc-like, i.e., that the pointer
P returned by the function cannot alias any other pointer valid when the func-
tion returns, and moreover no pointers to valid objects occur in any storage
addressed by P. In addition, the GCC predicts that a function with the at-
tribute returns non-null in most cases.
Independently, the form of the attribute with one or two arguments associates
deallocator as a suitable deallocation function for pointers returned from the
malloc-like function. ptr-index denotes the positional argument to which when
the pointer is passed in calls to deallocator has the effect of deallocating it.
Using the attribute with no arguments is designed to improve optimization by
relying on the aliasing property it implies. Functions like malloc and calloc
have this property because they return a pointer to uninitialized or zeroed-
out, newly obtained storage. However, functions like realloc do not have this
property, as they may return pointers to storage containing pointers to existing
objects. Additionally, since all such functions are assumed to return null only
infrequently, callers can be optimized based on that assumption.
Associating a function with a deallocator helps detect calls to mismatched al-
location and deallocation functions and diagnose them under the control of
options such as ‘-Wmismatched-dealloc’. It also makes it possible to diag-
nose attempts to deallocate objects that were not allocated dynamically, by
‘-Wfree-nonheap-object’. To indicate that an allocation function both satisi-
fies the nonaliasing property and has a deallocator associated with it, both the
580 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

plain form of the attribute and the one with the deallocator argument must be
used. The same function can be both an allocator and a deallocator. Since in-
lining one of the associated functions but not the other could result in apparent
mismatches, this form of attribute malloc is not accepted on inline functions.
For the same reason, using the attribute prevents both the allocation and deal-
location functions from being expanded inline.
For example, besides stating that the functions return pointers that do not
alias any others, the following declarations make fclose a suitable deallocator
for pointers returned from all functions except popen, and pclose as the only
suitable deallocator for pointers returned from popen. The deallocator functions
must be declared before they can be referenced in the attribute.
int fclose (FILE*);
int pclose (FILE*);

__attribute__ ((malloc, malloc (fclose, 1)))

FILE* fdopen (int, const char*);
__attribute__ ((malloc, malloc (fclose, 1)))
FILE* fopen (const char*, const char*);
__attribute__ ((malloc, malloc (fclose, 1)))
FILE* fmemopen(void *, size_t, const char *);
__attribute__ ((malloc, malloc (pclose, 1)))
FILE* popen (const char*, const char*);
__attribute__ ((malloc, malloc (fclose, 1)))
FILE* tmpfile (void);
The warnings guarded by ‘-fanalyzer’ respect allocation and deallocation pairs
marked with the malloc. In particular:
• The analyzer will emit a ‘-Wanalyzer-mismatching-deallocation’ diag-
nostic if there is an execution path in which the result of an allocation call
is passed to a different deallocator.
• The analyzer will emit a ‘-Wanalyzer-double-free’ diagnostic if there is
an execution path in which a value is passed more than once to a deallo-
cation call.
• The analyzer will consider the possibility that an alloca-
tion function could fail and return NULL. It will emit
‘-Wanalyzer-possible-null-dereference’ and ‘-Wanalyzer-possible-null-argument’
diagnostics if there are execution paths in which an unchecked result of an
allocation call is dereferenced or passed to a function requiring a non-null
argument. If the allocator always returns non-null, use __attribute__
((returns_nonnull)) to suppress these warnings. For example:
char *xstrdup (const char *)
__attribute__((malloc (free), returns_nonnull));
• The analyzer will emit a ‘-Wanalyzer-use-after-free’ diagnostic if there
is an execution path in which the memory passed by pointer to a dealloca-
tion call is used after the deallocation.
• The analyzer will emit a ‘-Wanalyzer-malloc-leak’ diagnostic if there is
an execution path in which the result of an allocation call is leaked (without
being passed to the deallocation function).
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 581

• The analyzer will emit a ‘-Wanalyzer-free-of-non-heap’ diagnostic if a

deallocation function is used on a global or on-stack variable.

The analyzer assumes that deallocators can gracefully handle the

NULL pointer. If this is not the case, the deallocator can be marked
with __attribute__((nonnull)) so that ‘-fanalyzer’ can emit a
‘-Wanalyzer-possible-null-argument’ diagnostic for code paths in which
the deallocator is called with NULL.

no_icf This function attribute prevents a functions from being merged with another
semantically equivalent function.

no_instrument_function
If any of ‘-finstrument-functions’, ‘-p’, or ‘-pg’ are given, profiling function
calls are generated at entry and exit of most user-compiled functions. Functions
with this attribute are not so instrumented.

no_profile_instrument_function
The no_profile_instrument_function attribute on functions is used to in-
form the compiler that it should not process any profile feedback based opti-
mization code instrumentation.

no_reorder
Do not reorder functions or variables marked no_reorder against each other or
top level assembler statements the executable. The actual order in the program
will depend on the linker command line. Static variables marked like this are
also not removed. This has a similar effect as the ‘-fno-toplevel-reorder’
option, but only applies to the marked symbols.

no_sanitize ("sanitize_option")
The no_sanitize attribute on functions is used to inform the compiler that it
should not do sanitization of any option mentioned in sanitize option. A list of
values acceptable by the ‘-fsanitize’ option can be provided.
void __attribute__ ((no_sanitize ("alignment", "object-size")))
f () { /* Do something. */; }
void __attribute__ ((no_sanitize ("alignment,object-size")))
g () { /* Do something. */; }

no_sanitize_address
no_address_safety_analysis
The no_sanitize_address attribute on functions is used to inform the com-
piler that it should not instrument memory accesses in the function when
compiling with the ‘-fsanitize=address’ option. The no_address_safety_
analysis is a deprecated alias of the no_sanitize_address attribute, new
code should use no_sanitize_address.

no_sanitize_thread
The no_sanitize_thread attribute on functions is used to inform the compiler
that it should not instrument memory accesses in the function when compiling
with the ‘-fsanitize=thread’ option.
582 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

no_sanitize_undefined
The no_sanitize_undefined attribute on functions is used to inform the com-
piler that it should not check for undefined behavior in the function when com-
piling with the ‘-fsanitize=undefined’ option.
no_sanitize_coverage
The no_sanitize_coverage attribute on functions is used to inform the
compiler that it should not do coverage-guided fuzzing code instrumentation
(‘-fsanitize-coverage’).
no_split_stack
If ‘-fsplit-stack’ is given, functions have a small prologue which decides
whether to split the stack. Functions with the no_split_stack attribute do
not have that prologue, and thus may run with only a small amount of stack
space available.
no_stack_limit
This attribute locally overrides the ‘-fstack-limit-register’ and
‘-fstack-limit-symbol’ command-line options; it has the effect of disabling
stack limit checking in the function it applies to.
noclone This function attribute prevents a function from being considered for cloning—a
mechanism that produces specialized copies of functions and which is (currently)
performed by interprocedural constant propagation.
noinline This function attribute prevents a function from being considered for inlining.
If the function does not have side effects, there are optimizations other than
inlining that cause function calls to be optimized away, although the function
call is live. To keep such calls from being optimized away, put
asm ("");
(see Section 6.47.2 [Extended Asm], page 668) in the called function, to serve
as a special side effect.
noipa Disable interprocedural optimizations between the function with this attribute
and its callers, as if the body of the function is not available when optimizing
callers and the callers are unavailable when optimizing the body. This attribute
implies noinline, noclone and no_icf attributes. However, this attribute is
not equivalent to a combination of other attributes, because its purpose is to
suppress existing and future optimizations employing interprocedural analysis,
including those that do not have an attribute suitable for disabling them in-
dividually. This attribute is supported mainly for the purpose of testing the
compiler.
nonnull
nonnull (arg-index, ...)
The nonnull attribute may be applied to a function that takes at least one
argument of a pointer type. It indicates that the referenced arguments must be
non-null pointers. For instance, the declaration:
extern void *
my_memcpy (void *dest, const void *src, size_t len)
__attribute__((nonnull (1, 2)));
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 583

informs the compiler that, in calls to my_memcpy, arguments dest and src must
be non-null.
The attribute has an effect both on functions calls and function definitions.
For function calls:
• If the compiler determines that a null pointer is passed in an argument slot
marked as non-null, and the ‘-Wnonnull’ option is enabled, a warning is
issued. See Section 3.8 [Warning Options], page 93.
• The ‘-fisolate-erroneous-paths-attribute’ option can be specified to
have GCC transform calls with null arguments to non-null functions into
traps. See Section 3.11 [Optimize Options], page 173.
• The compiler may also perform optimizations based on the knowledge
that certain function arguments cannot be null. These optimizations can
be disabled by the ‘-fno-delete-null-pointer-checks’ option. See
Section 3.11 [Optimize Options], page 173.
For function definitions:
• If the compiler determines that a function parameter that is marked with
nonnull is compared with null, and ‘-Wnonnull-compare’ option is enabled,
a warning is issued. See Section 3.8 [Warning Options], page 93.
• The compiler may also perform optimizations based on the knowledge that
nonnul parameters cannot be null. This can currently not be disabled
other than by removing the nonnull attribute.
If no arg-index is given to the nonnull attribute, all pointer arguments are
marked as non-null. To illustrate, the following declaration is equivalent to the
previous example:
extern void *
my_memcpy (void *dest, const void *src, size_t len)
__attribute__((nonnull));

noplt The noplt attribute is the counterpart to option ‘-fno-plt’. Calls to functions
marked with this attribute in position-independent code do not use the PLT.
/* Externally defined function foo. */
int foo () __attribute__ ((noplt));

int
main (/* . . . */)
{
/* . . . */
foo ();
/* . . . */
}
The noplt attribute on function foo tells the compiler to assume that the
function foo is externally defined and that the call to foo must avoid the PLT
in position-independent code.
In position-dependent code, a few targets also convert calls to functions that
are marked to not use the PLT to use the GOT instead.
noreturn A few standard library functions, such as abort and exit, cannot return. GCC
knows this automatically. Some programs define their own functions that never
584 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

return. You can declare them noreturn to tell the compiler this fact. For
example,
void fatal () __attribute__ ((noreturn));

void
fatal (/* . . . */)
{
/* . . . */ /* Print error message. */ /* . . . */
exit (1);
}
The noreturn keyword tells the compiler to assume that fatal cannot return.
It can then optimize without regard to what would happen if fatal ever did
return. This makes slightly better code. More importantly, it helps avoid
spurious warnings of uninitialized variables.
The noreturn keyword does not affect the exceptional path when that applies:
a noreturn-marked function may still return to the caller by throwing an ex-
ception or calling longjmp.
In order to preserve backtraces, GCC will never turn calls to noreturn functions
into tail calls.
Do not assume that registers saved by the calling function are restored before
calling the noreturn function.
It does not make sense for a noreturn function to have a return type other
than void.
nothrow The nothrow attribute is used to inform the compiler that a function cannot
throw an exception. For example, most functions in the standard C library can
be guaranteed not to throw an exception with the notable exceptions of qsort
and bsearch that take function pointer arguments.
optimize (level, ...)
optimize (string, ...)
The optimize attribute is used to specify that a function is to be compiled
with different optimization options than specified on the command line. The
optimize attribute arguments of a function behave behave as if appended to the
command-line.
Valid arguments are constant non-negative integers and strings. Each numeric
argument specifies an optimization level. Each string argument consists of one
or more comma-separated substrings. Each substring that begins with the letter
O refers to an optimization option such as ‘-O0’ or ‘-Os’. Other substrings are
taken as suffixes to the -f prefix jointly forming the name of an optimization
option. See Section 3.11 [Optimize Options], page 173.
‘#pragma GCC optimize’ can be used to set optimization options for more than
one function. See Section 6.62.15 [Function Specific Option Pragmas], page 891,
for details about the pragma.
Providing multiple strings as arguments separated by commas to specify mul-
tiple options is equivalent to separating the option suffixes with a comma (‘,’)
within a single string. Spaces are not permitted within the strings.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 585

Not every optimization option that starts with the -f prefix specified by the
attribute necessarily has an effect on the function. The optimize attribute
should be used for debugging purposes only. It is not suitable in production
code.
patchable_function_entry
In case the target’s text segment can be made writable at run time by any
means, padding the function entry with a number of NOPs can be used to
provide a universal tool for instrumentation.
The patchable_function_entry function attribute can be used to change the
number of NOPs to any desired value. The two-value syntax is the same as
for the command-line switch ‘-fpatchable-function-entry=N,M’, generating
N NOPs, with the function entry point before the M th NOP instruction. M
defaults to 0 if omitted e.g. function entry point is before the first NOP.
If patchable function entries are enabled globally using the command-line op-
tion ‘-fpatchable-function-entry=N,M’, then you must disable instrumenta-
tion on all functions that are part of the instrumentation framework with the
attribute patchable_function_entry (0) to prevent recursion.
pure
Calls to functions that have no observable effects on the state of the program
other than to return a value may lend themselves to optimizations such as
common subexpression elimination. Declaring such functions with the pure
attribute allows GCC to avoid emitting some calls in repeated invocations of
the function with the same argument values.
The pure attribute prohibits a function from modifying the state of the program
that is observable by means other than inspecting the function’s return value.
However, functions declared with the pure attribute can safely read any non-
volatile objects, and modify the value of objects in a way that does not affect
their return value or the observable state of the program.
For example,
int hash (char *) __attribute__ ((pure));
tells GCC that subsequent calls to the function hash with the same string can
be replaced by the result of the first call provided the state of the program
observable by hash, including the contents of the array itself, does not change
in between. Even though hash takes a non-const pointer argument it must
not modify the array it points to, or any other object whose value the rest
of the program may depend on. However, the caller may safely change the
contents of the array between successive calls to the function (doing so disables
the optimization). The restriction also applies to member objects referenced by
the this pointer in C++ non-static member functions.
Some common examples of pure functions are strlen or memcmp. Interest-
ing non-pure functions are functions with infinite loops or those depending on
volatile memory or other system resource, that may change between consecutive
calls (such as the standard C feof function in a multithreading environment).
The pure attribute imposes similar but looser restrictions on a function’s defini-
tion than the const attribute: pure allows the function to read any non-volatile
586 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

memory, even if it changes in between successive invocations of the function.

Declaring the same function with both the pure and the const attribute is
diagnosed. Because a pure function cannot have any observable side effects
it does not make sense for such a function to return void. Declaring such a
function is diagnosed.
returns_nonnull
The returns_nonnull attribute specifies that the function return value should
be a non-null pointer. For instance, the declaration:
extern void *
mymalloc (size_t len) __attribute__((returns_nonnull));
lets the compiler optimize callers based on the knowledge that the return value
will never be null.
returns_twice
The returns_twice attribute tells the compiler that a function may return
more than one time. The compiler ensures that all registers are dead before
calling such a function and emits a warning about the variables that may be
clobbered after the second return from the function. Examples of such functions
are setjmp and vfork. The longjmp-like counterpart of such function, if any,
might need to be marked with the noreturn attribute.
section ("section-name")
Normally, the compiler places the code it generates in the text section. Some-
times, however, you need additional sections, or you need certain particular
functions to appear in special sections. The section attribute specifies that a
function lives in a particular section. For example, the declaration:
extern void foobar (void) __attribute__ ((section ("bar")));
puts the function foobar in the bar section.
Some file formats do not support arbitrary sections so the section attribute
is not available on all platforms. If you need to map the entire contents of a
module to a particular section, consider using the facilities of the linker instead.
sentinel
sentinel (position)
This function attribute indicates that an argument in a call to the function
is expected to be an explicit NULL. The attribute is only valid on variadic
functions. By default, the sentinel is expected to be the last argument of the
function call. If the optional position argument is specified to the attribute, the
sentinel must be located at position counting backwards from the end of the
argument list.
__attribute__ ((sentinel))
is equivalent to
__attribute__ ((sentinel(0)))
The attribute is automatically set with a position of 0 for the built-in functions
execl and execlp. The built-in function execle has the attribute set with a
position of 1.
A valid NULL in this context is defined as zero with any object pointer type.
If your system defines the NULL macro with an integer type then you need to
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 587

add an explicit cast. During installation GCC replaces the system <stddef.h>
header with a copy that redefines NULL appropriately.
The warnings for missing or incorrect sentinels are enabled with ‘-Wformat’.
simd
simd("mask")
This attribute enables creation of one or more function versions that can process
multiple arguments using SIMD instructions from a single invocation. Speci-
fying this attribute allows compiler to assume that such versions are available
at link time (provided in the same or another translation unit). Generated
versions are target-dependent and described in the corresponding Vector ABI
document. For x86 64 target this document can be found here.
The optional argument mask may have the value notinbranch or inbranch,
and instructs the compiler to generate non-masked or masked clones corre-
spondingly. By default, all clones are generated.
If the attribute is specified and #pragma omp declare simd is present on a
declaration and the ‘-fopenmp’ or ‘-fopenmp-simd’ switch is specified, then
the attribute is ignored.
stack_protect
This attribute adds stack protection code to the function if
flags ‘-fstack-protector’, ‘-fstack-protector-strong’ or
‘-fstack-protector-explicit’ are set.
no_stack_protector
This attribute prevents stack protection code for the function.
target (string, ...)
Multiple target back ends implement the target attribute to specify that a
function is to be compiled with different target options than specified on the
command line. The original target command-line options are ignored. One
or more strings can be provided as arguments. Each string consists of one or
more comma-separated suffixes to the -m prefix jointly forming the name of
a machine-dependent option. See Section 3.19 [Machine-Dependent Options],
page 308.
The target attribute can be used for instance to have a function compiled
with a different ISA (instruction set architecture) than the default. ‘#pragma
GCC target’ can be used to specify target-specific options for more than one
function. See Section 6.62.15 [Function Specific Option Pragmas], page 891, for
details about the pragma.
For instance, on an x86, you could declare one function with
the target("sse4.1,arch=core2") attribute and another with
target("sse4a,arch=amdfam10"). This is equivalent to compiling the first
function with ‘-msse4.1’ and ‘-march=core2’ options, and the second function
with ‘-msse4a’ and ‘-march=amdfam10’ options. It is up to you to make sure
that a function is only invoked on a machine that supports the particular
ISA it is compiled for (for example by using cpuid on x86 to determine what
feature bits and architecture family are used).
588 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

int core2_func (void) __attribute__ ((__target__ ("arch=core2")));

int sse3_func (void) __attribute__ ((__target__ ("sse3")));
Providing multiple strings as arguments separated by commas to specify mul-
tiple options is equivalent to separating the option suffixes with a comma (‘,’)
within a single string. Spaces are not permitted within the strings.
The options supported are specific to each target; refer to Section 6.33.33 [x86
Function Attributes], page 620, Section 6.33.24 [PowerPC Function Attributes],
page 613, Section 6.33.5 [ARM Function Attributes], page 598, Section 6.33.2
[AArch64 Function Attributes], page 593, Section 6.33.22 [Nios II Function
Attributes], page 612, and Section 6.33.28 [S/390 Function Attributes], page 618
for details.
symver ("name2@nodename")
On ELF targets this attribute creates a symbol version. The name2 part of
the parameter is the actual name of the symbol by which it will be externally
referenced. The nodename portion should be the name of a node specified in the
version script supplied to the linker when building a shared library. Versioned
symbol must be defined and must be exported with default visibility.
__attribute__ ((__symver__ ("foo@VERS_1"))) int
foo_v1 (void)
{
}
Will produce a .symver foo_v1, foo@VERS_1 directive in the assembler output.
One can also define multiple version for a given symbol (starting from binutils
2.35).
__attribute__ ((__symver__ ("foo@VERS_2"), __symver__ ("foo@VERS_3")))
int symver_foo_v1 (void)
{
}
This example creates a symbol name symver_foo_v1 which will be version
VERS_2 and VERS_3 of foo.
If you have an older release of binutils, then symbol alias needs to be used:
__attribute__ ((__symver__ ("foo@VERS_2")))
int foo_v1 (void)
{
return 0;
}

__attribute__ ((__symver__ ("foo@VERS_3")))

__attribute__ ((alias ("foo_v1")))
int symver_foo_v1 (void);
Finally if the parameter is "name2@@nodename" then in addition to creating a
symbol version (as if "name2@nodename" was used) the version will be also used
to resolve name2 by the linker.
tainted_args
The tainted_args attribute is used to specify that a function is called in a way
that requires sanitization of its arguments, such as a system call in an operating
system kernel. Such a function can be considered part of the “attack surface” of
the program. The attribute can be used both on function declarations, and on
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 589

field declarations containing function pointers. In the latter case, any function
used as an initializer of such a callback field will be treated as being called with
tainted arguments.
The analyzer will pay particular attention to such functions when both
‘-fanalyzer’ and ‘-fanalyzer-checker=taint’ are supplied, potentially
issuing warnings guarded by ‘-Wanalyzer-tainted-allocation-size’,
‘-Wanalyzer-tainted-array-index’, ‘-Wanalyzer-tainted-divisor’,
‘-Wanalyzer-tainted-offset’, and ‘-Wanalyzer-tainted-size’.
target_clones (options)
The target_clones attribute is used to specify that a function be cloned into
multiple versions compiled with different target options than specified on the
command line. The supported options and restrictions are the same as for
target attribute.
For instance, on an x86, you could compile a function with target_
clones("sse4.1,avx"). GCC creates two function clones, one compiled with
‘-msse4.1’ and another with ‘-mavx’.
On a PowerPC, you can compile a function with target_
clones("cpu=power9,default"). GCC will create two function
clones, one compiled with ‘-mcpu=power9’ and another with the default
options. GCC must be configured to use GLIBC 2.23 or newer in order to use
the target_clones attribute.
It also creates a resolver function (see the ifunc attribute above) that dynam-
ically selects a clone suitable for current architecture. The resolver is created
only if there is a usage of a function with target_clones attribute.
Note that any subsequent call of a function without target_clone from a
target_clone caller will not lead to copying (target clone) of the called func-
tion. If you want to enforce such behaviour, we recommend declaring the calling
function with the flatten attribute?
unused This attribute, attached to a function, means that the function is meant to be
possibly unused. GCC does not produce a warning for this function.
used This attribute, attached to a function, means that code must be emitted for the
function even if it appears that the function is not referenced. This is useful,
for example, when the function is referenced only in inline assembly.
When applied to a member function of a C++ class template, the attribute also
means that the function is instantiated if the class itself is instantiated.
retain For ELF targets that support the GNU or FreeBSD OSABIs, this attribute
will save the function from linker garbage collection. To support this behavior,
functions that have not been placed in specific sections (e.g. by the section
attribute, or the -ffunction-sections option), will be placed in new, unique
sections.
This additional functionality requires Binutils version 2.36 or later.
visibility ("visibility_type")
This attribute affects the linkage of the declaration to which it is attached. It
can be applied to variables (see Section 6.34.1 [Common Variable Attributes],
590 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

page 633) and types (see Section 6.35.1 [Common Type Attributes], page 647)
as well as functions.
There are four supported visibility type values: default, hidden, protected or
internal visibility.
void __attribute__ ((visibility ("protected")))
f () { /* Do something. */; }
int i __attribute__ ((visibility ("hidden")));
The possible values of visibility type correspond to the visibility settings in the
ELF gABI.
default Default visibility is the normal case for the object file format. This
value is available for the visibility attribute to override other options
that may change the assumed visibility of entities.
On ELF, default visibility means that the declaration is visible to
other modules and, in shared libraries, means that the declared
entity may be overridden.
On Darwin, default visibility means that the declaration is visible
to other modules.
Default visibility corresponds to “external linkage” in the language.
hidden Hidden visibility indicates that the entity declared has a new form
of linkage, which we call “hidden linkage”. Two declarations of an
object with hidden linkage refer to the same object if they are in
the same shared object.
internal Internal visibility is like hidden visibility, but with additional pro-
cessor specific semantics. Unless otherwise specified by the psABI,
GCC defines internal visibility to mean that a function is never
called from another module. Compare this with hidden functions
which, while they cannot be referenced directly by other modules,
can be referenced indirectly via function pointers. By indicating
that a function cannot be called from outside the module, GCC
may for instance omit the load of a PIC register since it is known
that the calling function loaded the correct value.
protected
Protected visibility is like default visibility except that it indicates
that references within the defining module bind to the definition in
that module. That is, the declared entity cannot be overridden by
another module.
All visibilities are supported on many, but not all, ELF targets (supported
when the assembler supports the ‘.visibility’ pseudo-op). Default visibility
is supported everywhere. Hidden visibility is supported on Darwin targets.
The visibility attribute should be applied only to declarations that would other-
wise have external linkage. The attribute should be applied consistently, so that
the same entity should not be declared with different settings of the attribute.
In C++, the visibility attribute applies to types as well as functions and objects,
because in C++ types have linkage. A class must not have greater visibility than
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 591

its non-static data member types and bases, and class members default to the
visibility of their class. Also, a declaration without explicit visibility is limited
to the visibility of its type.
In C++, you can mark member functions and static member variables of a class
with the visibility attribute. This is useful if you know a particular method or
static member variable should only be used from one shared object; then you
can mark it hidden while the rest of the class has default visibility. Care must
be taken to avoid breaking the One Definition Rule; for example, it is usually
not useful to mark an inline method as hidden without marking the whole class
as hidden.
A C++ namespace declaration can also have the visibility attribute.
namespace nspace1 __attribute__ ((visibility ("protected")))
{ /* Do something. */; }

This attribute applies only to the particular namespace body, not to other
definitions of the same namespace; it is equivalent to using ‘#pragma GCC
visibility’ before and after the namespace definition (see Section 6.62.13
[Visibility Pragmas], page 891).
In C++, if a template argument has limited visibility, this restriction is implicitly
propagated to the template instantiation. Otherwise, template instantiations
and specializations default to the visibility of their template.
If both the template and enclosing class have explicit visibility, the visibility
from the template is used.

warn_unused_result
The warn_unused_result attribute causes a warning to be emitted if a caller of
the function with this attribute does not use its return value. This is useful for
functions where not checking the result is either a security problem or always
a bug, such as realloc.
int fn () __attribute__ ((warn_unused_result));
int foo ()
{
if (fn () < 0) return -1;
fn ();
return 0;
}

results in warning on line 5.

weak The weak attribute causes a declaration of an external symbol to be emitted as

a weak symbol rather than a global. This is primarily useful in defining library
functions that can be overridden in user code, though it can also be used with
non-function declarations. The overriding symbol must have the same type as
the weak symbol. In addition, if it designates a variable it must also have the
same size and alignment as the weak symbol. Weak symbols are supported for
ELF targets, and also for a.out targets when using the GNU assembler and
linker.
592 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

weakref
weakref ("target")
The weakref attribute marks a declaration as a weak reference. Without ar-
guments, it should be accompanied by an alias attribute naming the target
symbol. Alternatively, target may be given as an argument to weakref itself,
naming the target definition of the alias. The target must have the same type
as the declaration. In addition, if it designates a variable it must also have the
same size and alignment as the declaration. In either form of the declaration
weakref implicitly marks the declared symbol as weak. Without a target given
as an argument to weakref or to alias, weakref is equivalent to weak (in that
case the declaration may be extern).
/* Given the declaration: */
extern int y (void);

/* the following... */
static int x (void) __attribute__ ((weakref ("y")));

/* is equivalent to... */
static int x (void) __attribute__ ((weakref, alias ("y")));

/* or, alternatively, to... */

static int x (void) __attribute__ ((weakref));
static int x (void) __attribute__ ((alias ("y")));
A weak reference is an alias that does not by itself require a definition to be
given for the target symbol. If the target symbol is only referenced through
weak references, then it becomes a weak undefined symbol. If it is directly
referenced, however, then such strong references prevail, and a definition is
required for the symbol, not necessarily in the same translation unit.
The effect is equivalent to moving all references to the alias to a separate trans-
lation unit, renaming the alias to the aliased symbol, declaring it as weak, com-
piling the two separate translation units and performing a link with relocatable
output (i.e. ld -r) on them.
A declaration to which weakref is attached and that is associated with a named
target must be static.
zero_call_used_regs ("choice")
The zero_call_used_regs attribute causes the compiler to zero a subset of
all call-used registers2 at function return. This is used to increase program
security by either mitigating Return-Oriented Programming (ROP) attacks or
preventing information leakage through registers.
In order to satisfy users with different security needs and control the run-time
overhead at the same time, the choice parameter provides a flexible way to
choose the subset of the call-used registers to be zeroed. The three basic values
of choice are:
• ‘skip’ doesn’t zero any call-used registers.
2
A “call-used” register is a register whose contents can be changed by a function call; therefore, a caller
cannot assume that the register has the same contents on return from the function as it had before calling
the function. Such registers are also called “call-clobbered”, “caller-saved”, or “volatile”.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 593

• ‘used’ only zeros call-used registers that are used in the function. A “used”
register is one whose content has been set or referenced in the function.
• ‘all’ zeros all call-used registers.
In addition to these three basic choices, it is possible to modify ‘used’ or ‘all’
as follows:
• Adding ‘-gpr’ restricts the zeroing to general-purpose registers.
• Adding ‘-arg’ restricts the zeroing to registers that can sometimes be used
to pass function arguments. This includes all argument registers defined by
the platform’s calling conversion, regardless of whether the function uses
those registers for function arguments or not.
The modifiers can be used individually or together. If they are used together,
they must appear in the order above.
The full list of choices is therefore:
skip doesn’t zero any call-used register.
used only zeros call-used registers that are used in the function.
used-gpr only zeros call-used general purpose registers that are used in the
function.
used-arg only zeros call-used registers that are used in the function and pass
arguments.
used-gpr-arg
only zeros call-used general purpose registers that are used in the
function and pass arguments.
all zeros all call-used registers.
all-gpr zeros all call-used general purpose registers.
all-arg zeros all call-used registers that pass arguments.
all-gpr-arg
zeros all call-used general purpose registers that pass arguments.
Of this list, ‘used-arg’, ‘used-gpr-arg’, ‘all-arg’, and ‘all-gpr-arg’ are
mainly used for ROP mitigation.
The default for the attribute is controlled by ‘-fzero-call-used-regs’.

6.33.2 AArch64 Function Attributes

The following target-specific function attributes are available for the AArch64 target. For
the most part, these options mirror the behavior of similar command-line options (see
Section 3.19.1 [AArch64 Options], page 308), but on a per-function basis.
general-regs-only
Indicates that no floating-point or Advanced SIMD registers should be used
when generating code for this function. If the function explicitly uses floating-
point code, then the compiler gives an error. This is the same behavior as that
of the command-line option ‘-mgeneral-regs-only’.
594 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

fix-cortex-a53-835769
Indicates that the workaround for the Cortex-A53 erratum 835769 should be
applied to this function. To explicitly disable the workaround for this function
specify the negated form: no-fix-cortex-a53-835769. This corresponds to
the behavior of the command line options ‘-mfix-cortex-a53-835769’ and
‘-mno-fix-cortex-a53-835769’.
cmodel= Indicates that code should be generated for a particular code model for this
function. The behavior and permissible arguments are the same as for the
command line option ‘-mcmodel=’.
strict-align
no-strict-align
strict-align indicates that the compiler should not assume that unaligned
memory references are handled by the system. To allow the compiler to assume
that aligned memory references are handled by the system, the inverse attribute
no-strict-align can be specified. The behavior is same as for the command-
line option ‘-mstrict-align’ and ‘-mno-strict-align’.
omit-leaf-frame-pointer
Indicates that the frame pointer should be omitted for a leaf function
call. To keep the frame pointer, the inverse attribute no-omit-leaf-
frame-pointer can be specified. These attributes have the same
behavior as the command-line options ‘-momit-leaf-frame-pointer’ and
‘-mno-omit-leaf-frame-pointer’.
tls-dialect=
Specifies the TLS dialect to use for this function. The behavior and permissible
arguments are the same as for the command-line option ‘-mtls-dialect=’.
arch= Specifies the architecture version and architectural extensions to use for this
function. The behavior and permissible arguments are the same as for the
‘-march=’ command-line option.
tune= Specifies the core for which to tune the performance of this function. The behav-
ior and permissible arguments are the same as for the ‘-mtune=’ command-line
option.
cpu= Specifies the core for which to tune the performance of this function and also
whose architectural features to use. The behavior and valid arguments are the
same as for the ‘-mcpu=’ command-line option.
sign-return-address
Select the function scope on which return address signing will be applied. The
behavior and permissible arguments are the same as for the command-line op-
tion ‘-msign-return-address=’. The default value is none. This attribute is
deprecated. The branch-protection attribute should be used instead.
branch-protection
Select the function scope on which branch protection will be applied. The be-
havior and permissible arguments are the same as for the command-line option
‘-mbranch-protection=’. The default value is none.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 595

outline-atomics
Enable or disable calls to out-of-line helpers to implement atomic
operations. This corresponds to the behavior of the command line options
‘-moutline-atomics’ and ‘-mno-outline-atomics’.
The above target attributes can be specified as follows:
__attribute__((target("attr-string")))
int
f (int a)
{
return a + 5;
}
where attr-string is one of the attribute strings specified above.
Additionally, the architectural extension string may be specified on its own. This can
be used to turn on and off particular architectural extensions without having to specify a
particular architecture version or core. Example:
__attribute__((target("+crc+nocrypto")))
int
foo (int a)
{
return a + 5;
}
In this example target("+crc+nocrypto") enables the crc extension and disables the
crypto extension for the function foo without modifying an existing ‘-march=’ or ‘-mcpu’
option.
Multiple target function attributes can be specified by separating them with a comma.
For example:
__attribute__((target("arch=armv8-a+crc+crypto,tune=cortex-a53")))
int
foo (int a)
{
return a + 5;
}
is valid and compiles function foo for ARMv8-A with crc and crypto extensions and
tunes it for cortex-a53.

6.33.2.1 Inlining rules

Specifying target attributes on individual functions or performing link-time optimization
across translation units compiled with different target options can affect function inlining
rules:
In particular, a caller function can inline a callee function only if the architectural
features available to the callee are a subset of the features available to the caller.
For example: A function foo compiled with ‘-march=armv8-a+crc’, or tagged with
the equivalent arch=armv8-a+crc attribute, can inline a function bar compiled with
‘-march=armv8-a+nocrc’ because the all the architectural features that function bar
requires are available to function foo. Conversely, function bar cannot inline function foo.
Additionally inlining a function compiled with ‘-mstrict-align’ into a function compiled
without -mstrict-align is not allowed. However, inlining a function compiled without
‘-mstrict-align’ into a function compiled with ‘-mstrict-align’ is allowed.
596 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Note that CPU tuning options and attributes such as the ‘-mcpu=’, ‘-mtune=’ do not
inhibit inlining unless the CPU specified by the ‘-mcpu=’ option or the cpu= attribute
conflicts with the architectural feature rules specified above.

6.33.3 AMD GCN Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the AMD GCN back end:
amdgpu_hsa_kernel
This attribute indicates that the corresponding function should be compiled as
a kernel function, that is an entry point that can be invoked from the host via
the HSA runtime library. By default functions are only callable only from other
GCN functions.
This attribute is implicitly applied to any function named main, using default
parameters.
Kernel functions may return an integer value, which will be written to a con-
ventional place within the HSA "kernargs" region.
The attribute parameters configure what values are passed into the kernel func-
tion by the GPU drivers, via the initial register state. Some values are used
by the compiler, and therefore forced on. Enabling other options may break
assumptions in the compiler and/or run-time libraries.
private_segment_buffer
Set enable_sgpr_private_segment_buffer flag. Always on (re-
quired to locate the stack).
dispatch_ptr
Set enable_sgpr_dispatch_ptr flag. Always on (required to lo-
cate the launch dimensions).
queue_ptr
Set enable_sgpr_queue_ptr flag. Always on (required to convert
address spaces).
kernarg_segment_ptr
Set enable_sgpr_kernarg_segment_ptr flag. Always on (required
to locate the kernel arguments, "kernargs").
dispatch_id
Set enable_sgpr_dispatch_id flag.
flat_scratch_init
Set enable_sgpr_flat_scratch_init flag.
private_segment_size
Set enable_sgpr_private_segment_size flag.
grid_workgroup_count_X
Set enable_sgpr_grid_workgroup_count_x flag. Always on (re-
quired to use OpenACC/OpenMP).
grid_workgroup_count_Y
Set enable_sgpr_grid_workgroup_count_y flag.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 597

grid_workgroup_count_Z
Set enable_sgpr_grid_workgroup_count_z flag.
workgroup_id_X
Set enable_sgpr_workgroup_id_x flag.
workgroup_id_Y
Set enable_sgpr_workgroup_id_y flag.
workgroup_id_Z
Set enable_sgpr_workgroup_id_z flag.
workgroup_info
Set enable_sgpr_workgroup_info flag.
private_segment_wave_offset
Set enable_sgpr_private_segment_wave_byte_offset flag. Al-
ways on (required to locate the stack).
work_item_id_X
Set enable_vgpr_workitem_id parameter. Always on (can’t be
disabled).
work_item_id_Y
Set enable_vgpr_workitem_id parameter. Always on (required to
enable vectorization.)
work_item_id_Z
Set enable_vgpr_workitem_id parameter. Always on (required to
use OpenACC/OpenMP).

6.33.4 ARC Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the ARC back end:
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
On the ARC, you must specify the kind of interrupt to be handled in a param-
eter to the interrupt attribute like this:
void f () __attribute__ ((interrupt ("ilink1")));
Permissible values for this parameter are: ilink1 and ilink2 for ARCv1 ar-
chitecture, and ilink and firq for ARCv2 architecture.
long_call
medium_call
short_call
These attributes specify how a particular function is called. These attributes
override the ‘-mlong-calls’ and ‘-mmedium-calls’ (see Section 3.19.4 [ARC
Options], page 319) command-line switches and #pragma long_calls settings.
For ARC, a function marked with the long_call attribute is always called
using register-indirect jump-and-link instructions, thereby enabling the called
598 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

function to be placed anywhere within the 32-bit address space. A function

marked with the medium_call attribute will always be close enough to be called
with an unconditional branch-and-link instruction, which has a 25-bit offset
from the call site. A function marked with the short_call attribute will always
be close enough to be called with a conditional branch-and-link instruction,
which has a 21-bit offset from the call site.
jli_always
Forces a particular function to be called using jli instruction. The jli instruc-
tion makes use of a table stored into .jlitab section, which holds the location
of the functions which are addressed using this instruction.
jli_fixed
Identical like the above one, but the location of the function in the jli table is
known and given as an attribute parameter.
secure_call
This attribute allows one to mark secure-code functions that are callable from
normal mode. The location of the secure call function into the sjli table needs
to be passed as argument.
naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.

6.33.5 ARM Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported for ARM targets:
general-regs-only
Indicates that no floating-point or Advanced SIMD registers should be used
when generating code for this function. If the function explicitly uses floating-
point code, then the compiler gives an error. This is the same behavior as that
of the command-line option ‘-mgeneral-regs-only’.
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
You can specify the kind of interrupt to be handled by adding an optional
parameter to the interrupt attribute like this:
void f () __attribute__ ((interrupt ("IRQ")));
Permissible values for this parameter are: IRQ, FIQ, SWI, ABORT and UNDEF.
On ARMv7-M the interrupt type is ignored, and the attribute means the func-
tion may be called with a word-aligned stack pointer.
isr Use this attribute on ARM to write Interrupt Service Routines. This is an alias
to the interrupt attribute above.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 599

long_call
short_call
These attributes specify how a particular function is called. These attributes
override the ‘-mlong-calls’ (see Section 3.19.5 [ARM Options], page 329)
command-line switch and #pragma long_calls settings. For ARM, the long_
call attribute indicates that the function might be far away from the call site
and require a different (more expensive) calling sequence. The short_call at-
tribute always places the offset to the function from the call site into the ‘BL’
instruction directly.
naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.
pcs
The pcs attribute can be used to control the calling convention used for a
function on ARM. The attribute takes an argument that specifies the calling
convention to use.
When compiling using the AAPCS ABI (or a variant of it) then valid values for
the argument are "aapcs" and "aapcs-vfp". In order to use a variant other
than "aapcs" then the compiler must be permitted to use the appropriate co-
processor registers (i.e., the VFP registers must be available in order to use
"aapcs-vfp"). For example,
/* Argument passed in r0, and result returned in r0+r1. */
double f2d (float) __attribute__((pcs("aapcs")));
Variadic functions always use the "aapcs" calling convention and the compiler
rejects attempts to specify an alternative.
target (options)
As discussed in Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567, this
attribute allows specification of target-specific compilation options.
On ARM, the following options are allowed:
‘thumb’ Force code generation in the Thumb (T16/T32) ISA, depending on
the architecture level.
‘arm’ Force code generation in the ARM (A32) ISA.
Functions from different modes can be inlined in the caller’s mode.
‘fpu=’ Specifies the fpu for which to tune the performance of this function.
The behavior and permissible arguments are the same as for the
‘-mfpu=’ command-line option.
‘arch=’ Specifies the architecture version and architectural extensions to
use for this function. The behavior and permissible arguments are
the same as for the ‘-march=’ command-line option.
600 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The above target attributes can be specified as follows:

__attribute__((target("arch=armv8-a+crc")))
int
f (int a)
{
return a + 5;
}
Additionally, the architectural extension string may be specified on
its own. This can be used to turn on and off particular architec-
tural extensions without having to specify a particular architecture
version or core. Example:
__attribute__((target("+crc+nocrypto")))
int
foo (int a)
{
return a + 5;
}
In this example target("+crc+nocrypto") enables the crc exten-
sion and disables the crypto extension for the function foo without
modifying an existing ‘-march=’ or ‘-mcpu’ option.

6.33.6 AVR Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the AVR back end:
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
On the AVR, the hardware globally disables interrupts when an interrupt is
executed. The first instruction of an interrupt handler declared with this at-
tribute is a SEI instruction to re-enable interrupts. See also the signal function
attribute that does not insert a SEI instruction. If both signal and interrupt
are specified for the same function, signal is silently ignored.
naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.
no_gccisr
Do not use __gcc_isr pseudo instructions in a function with the interrupt or
signal attribute aka. interrupt service routine (ISR). Use this attribute if the
preamble of the ISR prologue should always read
push __zero_reg__
push __tmp_reg__
in __tmp_reg__, __SREG__
push __tmp_reg__
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 601

clr __zero_reg__
and accordingly for the postamble of the epilogue — no matter whether the
mentioned registers are actually used in the ISR or not. Situations where you
might want to use this attribute include:
• Code that (effectively) clobbers bits of SREG other than the I-flag by writing
to the memory location of SREG.
• Code that uses inline assembler to jump to a different function which ex-
pects (parts of) the prologue code as outlined above to be present.
To disable __gcc_isr generation for the whole compilation unit, there is option
‘-mno-gas-isr-prologues’, see Section 3.19.6 [AVR Options], page 345.
OS_main
OS_task On AVR, functions with the OS_main or OS_task attribute do not save/restore
any call-saved register in their prologue/epilogue.
The OS_main attribute can be used when there is guarantee that interrupts are
disabled at the time when the function is entered. This saves resources when
the stack pointer has to be changed to set up a frame for local variables.
The OS_task attribute can be used when there is no guarantee that interrupts
are disabled at that time when the function is entered like for, e.g. task functions
in a multi-threading operating system. In that case, changing the stack pointer
register is guarded by save/clear/restore of the global interrupt enable flag.
The differences to the naked function attribute are:
• naked functions do not have a return instruction whereas OS_main and
OS_task functions have a RET or RETI return instruction.
• naked functions do not set up a frame for local variables or a frame pointer
whereas OS_main and OS_task do this as needed.
signal Use this attribute on the AVR to indicate that the specified function is an
interrupt handler. The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences
suitable for use in an interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
See also the interrupt function attribute.
The AVR hardware globally disables interrupts when an interrupt is executed.
Interrupt handler functions defined with the signal attribute do not re-enable
interrupts. It is save to enable interrupts in a signal handler. This “save” only
applies to the code generated by the compiler and not to the IRQ layout of the
application which is responsibility of the application.
If both signal and interrupt are specified for the same function, signal is
silently ignored.

6.33.7 Blackfin Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the Blackfin back end:
exception_handler
Use this attribute on the Blackfin to indicate that the specified function is an
exception handler. The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences
suitable for use in an exception handler when this attribute is present.
602 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

interrupt_handler
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
kspisusp When used together with interrupt_handler, exception_handler or nmi_
handler, code is generated to load the stack pointer from the USP register in
the function prologue.
l1_text This attribute specifies a function to be placed into L1 Instruction SRAM.
The function is put into a specific section named .l1.text. With ‘-mfdpic’,
function calls with a such function as the callee or caller uses inlined PLT.
l2 This attribute specifies a function to be placed into L2 SRAM. The function
is put into a specific section named .l2.text. With ‘-mfdpic’, callers of such
functions use an inlined PLT.
longcall
shortcall
The longcall attribute indicates that the function might be far away from
the call site and require a different (more expensive) calling sequence. The
shortcall attribute indicates that the function is always close enough for the
shorter calling sequence to be used. These attributes override the ‘-mlongcall’
switch.
nesting Use this attribute together with interrupt_handler, exception_handler or
nmi_handler to indicate that the function entry code should enable nested
interrupts or exceptions.
nmi_handler
Use this attribute on the Blackfin to indicate that the specified function is an
NMI handler. The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable
for use in an NMI handler when this attribute is present.
saveall Use this attribute to indicate that all registers except the stack pointer should
be saved in the prologue regardless of whether they are used or not.

6.33.8 BPF Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the BPF back end:
kernel_helper
use this attribute to indicate the specified function declaration is a kernel helper.
The helper function is passed as an argument to the attribute. Example:
int bpf_probe_read (void *dst, int size, const void *unsafe_ptr)
__attribute__ ((kernel_helper (4)));

6.33.9 C-SKY Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the C-SKY back end:
interrupt
isr Use these attributes to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt han-
dler. The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use
in an interrupt handler when either of these attributes are present.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 603

Use of these options requires the ‘-mistack’ command-line option to enable

support for the necessary interrupt stack instructions. They are ignored with a
warning otherwise. See Section 3.19.10 [C-SKY Options], page 360.
naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.

6.33.10 Epiphany Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the Epiphany back end:
disinterrupt
This attribute causes the compiler to emit instructions to disable interrupts for
the duration of the given function.
forwarder_section
This attribute modifies the behavior of an interrupt handler. The interrupt
handler may be in external memory which cannot be reached by a branch
instruction, so generate a local memory trampoline to transfer control. The
single parameter identifies the section where the trampoline is placed.
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present. It may also generate a special
section with code to initialize the interrupt vector table.
On Epiphany targets one or more optional parameters can be added like this:
void __attribute__ ((interrupt ("dma0, dma1"))) universal_dma_handler ();
Permissible values for these parameters are: reset, software_exception,
page_miss, timer0, timer1, message, dma0, dma1, wand and swi. Multiple
parameters indicate that multiple entries in the interrupt vector table should
be initialized for this function, i.e. for each parameter name, a jump to the
function is emitted in the section ivt entry name. The parameter(s) may be
omitted entirely, in which case no interrupt vector table entry is provided.
Note that interrupts are enabled inside the function unless the disinterrupt
attribute is also specified.
The following examples are all valid uses of these attributes on Epiphany tar-
gets:
void __attribute__ ((interrupt)) universal_handler ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt ("dma1"))) dma1_handler ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt ("dma0, dma1")))
universal_dma_handler ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt ("timer0"), disinterrupt))
fast_timer_handler ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt ("dma0, dma1"),
604 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

forwarder_section ("tramp")))
external_dma_handler ();

long_call
short_call
These attributes specify how a particular function is called. These attributes
override the ‘-mlong-calls’ (see Section 3.19.2 [Adapteva Epiphany Options],
page 316) command-line switch and #pragma long_calls settings.

6.33.11 H8/300 Function Attributes

These function attributes are available for H8/300 targets:

function_vector
Use this attribute on the H8/300, H8/300H, and H8S to indicate that the spec-
ified function should be called through the function vector. Calling a function
through the function vector reduces code size; however, the function vector
has a limited size (maximum 128 entries on the H8/300 and 64 entries on the
H8/300H and H8S) and shares space with the interrupt vector.
interrupt_handler
Use this attribute on the H8/300, H8/300H, and H8S to indicate that the
specified function is an interrupt handler. The compiler generates function
entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an interrupt handler when this
attribute is present.
saveall Use this attribute on the H8/300, H8/300H, and H8S to indicate that all reg-
isters except the stack pointer should be saved in the prologue regardless of
whether they are used or not.

6.33.12 IA-64 Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported on IA-64 targets:

syscall_linkage
This attribute is used to modify the IA-64 calling convention by marking all
input registers as live at all function exits. This makes it possible to restart a
system call after an interrupt without having to save/restore the input registers.
This also prevents kernel data from leaking into application code.
version_id
This IA-64 HP-UX attribute, attached to a global variable or function, renames
a symbol to contain a version string, thus allowing for function level versioning.
HP-UX system header files may use function level versioning for some system
calls.
extern int foo () __attribute__((version_id ("20040821")));
Calls to foo are mapped to calls to foo{20040821}.

6.33.13 M32C Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the M32C back end:
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 605

bank_switch
When added to an interrupt handler with the M32C port, causes the prologue
and epilogue to use bank switching to preserve the registers rather than saving
them on the stack.

fast_interrupt
Use this attribute on the M32C port to indicate that the specified function is
a fast interrupt handler. This is just like the interrupt attribute, except that
freit is used to return instead of reit.

function_vector
On M16C/M32C targets, the function_vector attribute declares a special
page subroutine call function. Use of this attribute reduces the code size by 2
bytes for each call generated to the subroutine. The argument to the attribute is
the vector number entry from the special page vector table which contains the 16
low-order bits of the subroutine’s entry address. Each vector table has special
page number (18 to 255) that is used in jsrs instructions. Jump addresses
of the routines are generated by adding 0x0F0000 (in case of M16C targets)
or 0xFF0000 (in case of M32C targets), to the 2-byte addresses set in the
vector table. Therefore you need to ensure that all the special page vector
routines should get mapped within the address range 0x0F0000 to 0x0FFFFF
(for M16C) and 0xFF0000 to 0xFFFFFF (for M32C).
In the following example 2 bytes are saved for each call to function foo.
void foo (void) __attribute__((function_vector(0x18)));
void foo (void)
{
}

void bar (void)

{
foo();
}
If functions are defined in one file and are called in another file, then be sure
to write this declaration in both files.
This attribute is ignored for R8C target.

interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.

6.33.14 M32R/D Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the M32R/D back end:

interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
606 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

model (model-name)
On the M32R/D, use this attribute to set the addressability of an object, and of
the code generated for a function. The identifier model-name is one of small,
medium, or large, representing each of the code models.
Small model objects live in the lower 16MB of memory (so that their addresses
can be loaded with the ld24 instruction), and are callable with the bl instruc-
tion.
Medium model objects may live anywhere in the 32-bit address space (the
compiler generates seth/add3 instructions to load their addresses), and are
callable with the bl instruction.
Large model objects may live anywhere in the 32-bit address space (the com-
piler generates seth/add3 instructions to load their addresses), and may not
be reachable with the bl instruction (the compiler generates the much slower
seth/add3/jl instruction sequence).

6.33.15 m68k Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the m68k back end:
interrupt
interrupt_handler
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present. Either name may be used.
interrupt_thread
Use this attribute on fido, a subarchitecture of the m68k, to indicate that the
specified function is an interrupt handler that is designed to run as a thread.
The compiler omits generate prologue/epilogue sequences and replaces the re-
turn instruction with a sleep instruction. This attribute is available only on
fido.

6.33.16 MCORE Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the MCORE back end:
naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.

6.33.17 MicroBlaze Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported on MicroBlaze targets:
save_volatiles
Use this attribute to indicate that the function is an interrupt handler. All
volatile registers (in addition to non-volatile registers) are saved in the function
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 607

prologue. If the function is a leaf function, only volatiles used by the function
are saved. A normal function return is generated instead of a return from
interrupt.
break_handler
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is a break handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
break handler when this attribute is present. The return from break_handler
is done through the rtbd instead of rtsd.
void f () __attribute__ ((break_handler));

interrupt_handler
fast_interrupt
These attributes indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
Use the fast_interrupt attribute to indicate handlers used in low-latency
interrupt mode, and interrupt_handler for interrupts that do not use low-
latency handlers. In both cases, GCC emits appropriate prologue code and
generates a return from the handler using rtid instead of rtsd.

6.33.18 Microsoft Windows Function Attributes

The following attributes are available on Microsoft Windows and Symbian OS targets.
dllexport
On Microsoft Windows targets and Symbian OS targets the dllexport at-
tribute causes the compiler to provide a global pointer to a pointer in a DLL,
so that it can be referenced with the dllimport attribute. On Microsoft Win-
dows targets, the pointer name is formed by combining _imp__ and the function
or variable name.
You can use __declspec(dllexport) as a synonym for __attribute__
((dllexport)) for compatibility with other compilers.
On systems that support the visibility attribute, this attribute also implies
“default” visibility. It is an error to explicitly specify any other visibility.
GCC’s default behavior is to emit all inline functions with the dllexport
attribute. Since this can cause object file-size bloat, you can use
‘-fno-keep-inline-dllexport’, which tells GCC to ignore the attribute for
inlined functions unless the ‘-fkeep-inline-functions’ flag is used instead.
The attribute is ignored for undefined symbols.
When applied to C++ classes, the attribute marks defined non-inlined member
functions and static data members as exports. Static consts initialized in-class
are not marked unless they are also defined out-of-class.
For Microsoft Windows targets there are alternative methods for including the
symbol in the DLL’s export table such as using a ‘.def’ file with an EXPORTS
section or, with GNU ld, using the ‘--export-all’ linker flag.
dllimport
On Microsoft Windows and Symbian OS targets, the dllimport attribute
causes the compiler to reference a function or variable via a global pointer
to a pointer that is set up by the DLL exporting the symbol. The attribute
608 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

implies extern. On Microsoft Windows targets, the pointer name is formed by

combining _imp__ and the function or variable name.
You can use __declspec(dllimport) as a synonym for __attribute__
((dllimport)) for compatibility with other compilers.
On systems that support the visibility attribute, this attribute also implies
“default” visibility. It is an error to explicitly specify any other visibility.
Currently, the attribute is ignored for inlined functions. If the attribute is ap-
plied to a symbol definition, an error is reported. If a symbol previously declared
dllimport is later defined, the attribute is ignored in subsequent references,
and a warning is emitted. The attribute is also overridden by a subsequent
declaration as dllexport.
When applied to C++ classes, the attribute marks non-inlined member functions
and static data members as imports. However, the attribute is ignored for
virtual methods to allow creation of vtables using thunks.
On the SH Symbian OS target the dllimport attribute also has another affect—
it can cause the vtable and run-time type information for a class to be exported.
This happens when the class has a dllimported constructor or a non-inline, non-
pure virtual function and, for either of those two conditions, the class also has
an inline constructor or destructor and has a key function that is defined in the
current translation unit.
For Microsoft Windows targets the use of the dllimport attribute on functions
is not necessary, but provides a small performance benefit by eliminating a
thunk in the DLL. The use of the dllimport attribute on imported variables
can be avoided by passing the ‘--enable-auto-import’ switch to the GNU
linker. As with functions, using the attribute for a variable eliminates a thunk
in the DLL.
One drawback to using this attribute is that a pointer to a variable marked
as dllimport cannot be used as a constant address. However, a pointer to a
function with the dllimport attribute can be used as a constant initializer;
in this case, the address of a stub function in the import lib is referenced.
On Microsoft Windows targets, the attribute can be disabled for functions by
setting the ‘-mnop-fun-dllimport’ flag.

6.33.19 MIPS Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the MIPS back end:
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt
handler. The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable
for use in an interrupt handler when this attribute is present. An optional
argument is supported for the interrupt attribute which allows the interrupt
mode to be described. By default GCC assumes the external interrupt
controller (EIC) mode is in use, this can be explicitly set using eic. When
interrupts are non-masked then the requested Interrupt Priority Level
(IPL) is copied to the current IPL which has the effect of only enabling
higher priority interrupts. To use vectored interrupt mode use the argument
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 609

vector=[sw0|sw1|hw0|hw1|hw2|hw3|hw4|hw5], this will change the behavior

of the non-masked interrupt support and GCC will arrange to mask all
interrupts from sw0 up to and including the specified interrupt vector.
You can use the following attributes to modify the behavior of an interrupt
handler:
use_shadow_register_set
Assume that the handler uses a shadow register set, instead of the
main general-purpose registers. An optional argument intstack is
supported to indicate that the shadow register set contains a valid
stack pointer.
keep_interrupts_masked
Keep interrupts masked for the whole function. Without this at-
tribute, GCC tries to reenable interrupts for as much of the function
as it can.
use_debug_exception_return
Return using the deret instruction. Interrupt handlers that don’t
have this attribute return using eret instead.
You can use any combination of these attributes, as shown below:
void __attribute__ ((interrupt)) v0 ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt, use_shadow_register_set)) v1 ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt, keep_interrupts_masked)) v2 ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt, use_debug_exception_return)) v3 ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt, use_shadow_register_set,
keep_interrupts_masked)) v4 ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt, use_shadow_register_set,
use_debug_exception_return)) v5 ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt, keep_interrupts_masked,
use_debug_exception_return)) v6 ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt, use_shadow_register_set,
keep_interrupts_masked,
use_debug_exception_return)) v7 ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt("eic"))) v8 ();
void __attribute__ ((interrupt("vector=hw3"))) v9 ();

long_call
short_call
near
far These attributes specify how a particular function is called on MIPS. The
attributes override the ‘-mlong-calls’ (see Section 3.19.28 [MIPS Options],
page 397) command-line switch. The long_call and far attributes are syn-
onyms, and cause the compiler to always call the function by first loading
its address into a register, and then using the contents of that register. The
short_call and near attributes are synonyms, and have the opposite effect;
they specify that non-PIC calls should be made using the more efficient jal
instruction.
mips16
nomips16
610 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

On MIPS targets, you can use the mips16 and nomips16 function attributes to
locally select or turn off MIPS16 code generation. A function with the mips16
attribute is emitted as MIPS16 code, while MIPS16 code generation is dis-
abled for functions with the nomips16 attribute. These attributes override the
‘-mips16’ and ‘-mno-mips16’ options on the command line (see Section 3.19.28
[MIPS Options], page 397).
When compiling files containing mixed MIPS16 and non-MIPS16 code, the pre-
processor symbol __mips16 reflects the setting on the command line, not that
within individual functions. Mixed MIPS16 and non-MIPS16 code may inter-
act badly with some GCC extensions such as __builtin_apply (see Section 6.6
[Constructing Calls], page 545).
micromips, MIPS
nomicromips, MIPS
On MIPS targets, you can use the micromips and nomicromips function at-
tributes to locally select or turn off microMIPS code generation. A function with
the micromips attribute is emitted as microMIPS code, while microMIPS code
generation is disabled for functions with the nomicromips attribute. These
attributes override the ‘-mmicromips’ and ‘-mno-micromips’ options on the
command line (see Section 3.19.28 [MIPS Options], page 397).
When compiling files containing mixed microMIPS and non-microMIPS code,
the preprocessor symbol __mips_micromips reflects the setting on the com-
mand line, not that within individual functions. Mixed microMIPS and non-
microMIPS code may interact badly with some GCC extensions such as __
builtin_apply (see Section 6.6 [Constructing Calls], page 545).
nocompression
On MIPS targets, you can use the nocompression function attribute to locally
turn off MIPS16 and microMIPS code generation. This attribute overrides the
‘-mips16’ and ‘-mmicromips’ options on the command line (see Section 3.19.28
[MIPS Options], page 397).

6.33.20 MSP430 Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the MSP430 back end:
critical Critical functions disable interrupts upon entry and restore the previous inter-
rupt state upon exit. Critical functions cannot also have the naked, reentrant
or interrupt attributes.
The MSP430 hardware ensures that interrupts are disabled on entry to
interrupt functions, and restores the previous interrupt state on exit. The
critical attribute is therefore redundant on interrupt functions.
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
You can provide an argument to the interrupt attribute which specifies a name
or number. If the argument is a number it indicates the slot in the interrupt
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 611

vector table (0 - 31) to which this handler should be assigned. If the argument
is a name it is treated as a symbolic name for the vector slot. These names
should match up with appropriate entries in the linker script. By default the
names watchdog for vector 26, nmi for vector 30 and reset for vector 31 are
recognized.

naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.

reentrant
Reentrant functions disable interrupts upon entry and enable them upon exit.
Reentrant functions cannot also have the naked or critical attributes. They
can have the interrupt attribute.

wakeup This attribute only applies to interrupt functions. It is silently ignored if ap-
plied to a non-interrupt function. A wakeup interrupt function will rouse the
processor from any low-power state that it might be in when the function exits.

lower
upper
either On the MSP430 target these attributes can be used to specify whether the
function or variable should be placed into low memory, high memory, or the
placement should be left to the linker to decide. The attributes are only signif-
icant if compiling for the MSP430X architecture in the large memory model.
The attributes work in conjunction with a linker script that has been augmented
to specify where to place sections with a .lower and a .upper prefix. So,
for example, as well as placing the .data section, the script also specifies the
placement of a .lower.data and a .upper.data section. The intention is that
lower sections are placed into a small but easier to access memory region and
the upper sections are placed into a larger, but slower to access, region.
The either attribute is special. It tells the linker to place the object into the
corresponding lower section if there is room for it. If there is insufficient room
then the object is placed into the corresponding upper section instead. Note
that the placement algorithm is not very sophisticated. It does not attempt to
find an optimal packing of the lower sections. It just makes one pass over the
objects and does the best that it can. Using the ‘-ffunction-sections’ and
‘-fdata-sections’ command-line options can help the packing, however, since
they produce smaller, easier to pack regions.

6.33.21 NDS32 Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the NDS32 back end:
612 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

exception
Use this attribute on the NDS32 target to indicate that the specified function
is an exception handler. The compiler will generate corresponding sections for
use in an exception handler.
interrupt
On NDS32 target, this attribute indicates that the specified function is an
interrupt handler. The compiler generates corresponding sections for use in an
interrupt handler. You can use the following attributes to modify the behavior:
nested This interrupt service routine is interruptible.
not_nested
This interrupt service routine is not interruptible.
nested_ready
This interrupt service routine is interruptible after PSW.GIE (global
interrupt enable) is set. This allows interrupt service routine to
finish some short critical code before enabling interrupts.
save_all The system will help save all registers into stack before entering
interrupt handler.
partial_save
The system will help save caller registers into stack before entering
interrupt handler.
naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.
reset Use this attribute on the NDS32 target to indicate that the specified function
is a reset handler. The compiler will generate corresponding sections for use in
a reset handler. You can use the following attributes to provide extra exception
handling:
nmi Provide a user-defined function to handle NMI exception.
warm Provide a user-defined function to handle warm reset exception.

6.33.22 Nios II Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the Nios II back end:
target (options)
As discussed in Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567, this
attribute allows specification of target-specific compilation options.
When compiling for Nios II, the following options are allowed:
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 613

‘custom-insn=N’
‘no-custom-insn’
Each ‘custom-insn=N’ attribute locally enables use of a custom
instruction with encoding N when generating code that uses
insn. Similarly, ‘no-custom-insn’ locally inhibits use of the
custom instruction insn. These target attributes correspond to
the ‘-mcustom-insn=N’ and ‘-mno-custom-insn’ command-line
options, and support the same set of insn keywords. See
Section 3.19.34 [Nios II Options], page 418, for more information.
‘custom-fpu-cfg=name’
This attribute corresponds to the ‘-mcustom-fpu-cfg=name’
command-line option, to select a predefined set of custom
instructions named name. See Section 3.19.34 [Nios II Options],
page 418, for more information.

6.33.23 Nvidia PTX Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the Nvidia PTX back end:

kernel This attribute indicates that the corresponding function should be compiled
as a kernel function, which can be invoked from the host via the CUDA RT
library. By default functions are only callable only from other PTX functions.
Kernel functions must have void return type.

6.33.24 PowerPC Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the PowerPC back end:

longcall
shortcall
The longcall attribute indicates that the function might be far away from
the call site and require a different (more expensive) calling sequence. The
shortcall attribute indicates that the function is always close enough for
the shorter calling sequence to be used. These attributes override both the
‘-mlongcall’ switch and the #pragma longcall setting.
See Section 3.19.42 [RS/6000 and PowerPC Options], page 433, for more infor-
mation on whether long calls are necessary.
target (options)
As discussed in Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567, this
attribute allows specification of target-specific compilation options.
On the PowerPC, the following options are allowed:
‘altivec’
‘no-altivec’
Generate code that uses (does not use) AltiVec instructions.
In 32-bit code, you cannot enable AltiVec instructions unless
‘-mabi=altivec’ is used on the command line.
614 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘cmpb’
‘no-cmpb’ Generate code that uses (does not use) the compare bytes instruc-
tion implemented on the POWER6 processor and other processors
that support the PowerPC V2.05 architecture.
‘dlmzb’
‘no-dlmzb’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the string-search ‘dlmzb’
instruction on the IBM 405, 440, 464 and 476 processors. This
instruction is generated by default when targeting those processors.
‘fprnd’
‘no-fprnd’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the FP round to integer
instructions implemented on the POWER5+ processor and other
processors that support the PowerPC V2.03 architecture.
‘hard-dfp’
‘no-hard-dfp’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the decimal floating-point
instructions implemented on some POWER processors.
‘isel’
‘no-isel’ Generate code that uses (does not use) ISEL instruction.
‘mfcrf’
‘no-mfcrf’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the move from condition
register field instruction implemented on the POWER4 processor
and other processors that support the PowerPC V2.01 architecture.
‘mulhw’
‘no-mulhw’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the half-word multiply and
multiply-accumulate instructions on the IBM 405, 440, 464 and
476 processors. These instructions are generated by default when
targeting those processors.
‘multiple’
‘no-multiple’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the load multiple word
instructions and the store multiple word instructions.
‘update’
‘no-update’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the load or store instruc-
tions that update the base register to the address of the calculated
memory location.
‘popcntb’
‘no-popcntb’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the popcount and double-
precision FP reciprocal estimate instruction implemented on the
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 615

POWER5 processor and other processors that support the Pow-

erPC V2.02 architecture.
‘popcntd’
‘no-popcntd’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the popcount instruction
implemented on the POWER7 processor and other processors that
support the PowerPC V2.06 architecture.
‘powerpc-gfxopt’
‘no-powerpc-gfxopt’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the optional PowerPC archi-
tecture instructions in the Graphics group, including floating-point
select.
‘powerpc-gpopt’
‘no-powerpc-gpopt’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the optional PowerPC ar-
chitecture instructions in the General Purpose group, including
floating-point square root.
‘recip-precision’
‘no-recip-precision’
Assume (do not assume) that the reciprocal estimate instructions
provide higher-precision estimates than is mandated by the Pow-
erPC ABI.
‘string’
‘no-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.
‘vsx’
‘no-vsx’ Generate code that uses (does not use) vector/scalar (VSX) in-
structions, and also enable the use of built-in functions that allow
more direct access to the VSX instruction set. In 32-bit code, you
cannot enable VSX or AltiVec instructions unless ‘-mabi=altivec’
is used on the command line.
‘friz’
‘no-friz’ Generate (do not generate) the friz instruction when the
‘-funsafe-math-optimizations’ option is used to optimize
rounding a floating-point value to 64-bit integer and back to
floating point. The friz instruction does not return the same
value if the floating-point number is too large to fit in an integer.
‘avoid-indexed-addresses’
‘no-avoid-indexed-addresses’
Generate code that tries to avoid (not avoid) the use of indexed
load or store instructions.
616 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘paired’
‘no-paired’
Generate code that uses (does not use) the generation of PAIRED
simd instructions.
‘longcall’
‘no-longcall’
Generate code that assumes (does not assume) that all calls are far
away so that a longer more expensive calling sequence is required.
‘cpu=CPU’ Specify the architecture to generate code for when compiling the
function. If you select the target("cpu=power7") attribute when
generating 32-bit code, VSX and AltiVec instructions are not gen-
erated unless you use the ‘-mabi=altivec’ option on the command
line.
‘tune=TUNE’
Specify the architecture to tune for when compiling the function.
If you do not specify the target("tune=TUNE") attribute and you
do specify the target("cpu=CPU") attribute, compilation tunes for
the CPU architecture, and not the default tuning specified on the
command line.
On the PowerPC, the inliner does not inline a function that has different target
options than the caller, unless the callee has a subset of the target options of
the caller.

6.33.25 RISC-V Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the RISC-V back end:
naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
You can specify the kind of interrupt to be handled by adding an optional
parameter to the interrupt attribute like this:
void f (void) __attribute__ ((interrupt ("user")));
Permissible values for this parameter are user, supervisor, and machine. If
there is no parameter, then it defaults to machine.

6.33.26 RL78 Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the RL78 back end:
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 617

interrupt
brk_interrupt
These attributes indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
Use brk_interrupt instead of interrupt for handlers intended to be used with
the BRK opcode (i.e. those that must end with RETB instead of RETI).
naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.

6.33.27 RX Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the RX back end:
fast_interrupt
Use this attribute on the RX port to indicate that the specified function is a
fast interrupt handler. This is just like the interrupt attribute, except that
freit is used to return instead of reit.
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
On RX and RL78 targets, you may specify one or more vector numbers as argu-
ments to the attribute, as well as naming an alternate table name. Parameters
are handled sequentially, so one handler can be assigned to multiple entries in
multiple tables. One may also pass the magic string "$default" which causes
the function to be used for any unfilled slots in the current table.
This example shows a simple assignment of a function to one vector in the
default table (note that preprocessor macros may be used for chip-specific sym-
bolic vector names):
void __attribute__ ((interrupt (5))) txd1_handler ();
This example assigns a function to two slots in the default table (using prepro-
cessor macros defined elsewhere) and makes it the default for the dct table:
void __attribute__ ((interrupt (RXD1_VECT,RXD2_VECT,"dct","$default")))
txd1_handler ();

naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.
618 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector This RX attribute is similar to the interrupt attribute, including its parame-
ters, but does not make the function an interrupt-handler type function (i.e. it
retains the normal C function calling ABI). See the interrupt attribute for a
description of its arguments.

6.33.28 S/390 Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported on the S/390:

hotpatch (halfwords-before-function-label,halfwords-after-function-label)
On S/390 System z targets, you can use this function attribute to make GCC
generate a “hot-patching” function prologue. If the ‘-mhotpatch=’ command-
line option is used at the same time, the hotpatch attribute takes precedence.
The first of the two arguments specifies the number of halfwords to be added
before the function label. A second argument can be used to specify the number
of halfwords to be added after the function label. For both arguments the
maximum allowed value is 1000000.

If both arguments are zero, hotpatching is disabled.

target (options)
As discussed in Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567, this
attribute allows specification of target-specific compilation options.

On S/390, the following options are supported:

‘arch=’

‘tune=’

‘stack-guard=’
‘stack-size=’
‘branch-cost=’
‘warn-framesize=’
‘backchain’
‘no-backchain’
‘hard-dfp’
‘no-hard-dfp’
‘hard-float’
‘soft-float’
‘htm’
‘no-htm’

‘vx’
‘no-vx’
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 619

‘packed-stack’
‘no-packed-stack’
‘small-exec’
‘no-small-exec’
‘mvcle’
‘no-mvcle’
‘warn-dynamicstack’
‘no-warn-dynamicstack’
The options work exactly like the S/390 specific command line options (without
the prefix ‘-m’) except that they do not change any feature macros. For example,
target("no-vx")
does not undefine the __VEC__ macro.

6.33.29 SH Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported on the SH family of processors:
function_vector
On SH2A targets, this attribute declares a function to be called using the TBR
relative addressing mode. The argument to this attribute is the entry number of
the same function in a vector table containing all the TBR relative addressable
functions. For correct operation the TBR must be setup accordingly to point to
the start of the vector table before any functions with this attribute are invoked.
Usually a good place to do the initialization is the startup routine. The TBR
relative vector table can have at max 256 function entries. The jumps to these
functions are generated using a SH2A specific, non delayed branch instruction
JSR/N @(disp8,TBR). You must use GAS and GLD from GNU binutils version
2.7 or later for this attribute to work correctly.
In an application, for a function being called once, this attribute saves at least 8
bytes of code; and if other successive calls are being made to the same function,
it saves 2 bytes of code per each of these calls.
interrupt_handler
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.
nosave_low_regs
Use this attribute on SH targets to indicate that an interrupt_handler func-
tion should not save and restore registers R0..R7. This can be used on SH3*
and SH4* targets that have a second R0..R7 register bank for non-reentrant
interrupt handlers.
renesas On SH targets this attribute specifies that the function or struct follows the
Renesas ABI.
resbank On the SH2A target, this attribute enables the high-speed register saving and
restoration using a register bank for interrupt_handler routines. Saving to
the bank is performed automatically after the CPU accepts an interrupt that
uses a register bank.
620 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The nineteen 32-bit registers comprising general register R0 to R14, control

register GBR, and system registers MACH, MACL, and PR and the vector
table address offset are saved into a register bank. Register banks are stacked
in first-in last-out (FILO) sequence. Restoration from the bank is executed by
issuing a RESBANK instruction.
sp_switch
Use this attribute on the SH to indicate an interrupt_handler function should
switch to an alternate stack. It expects a string argument that names a global
variable holding the address of the alternate stack.
void *alt_stack;
void f () __attribute__ ((interrupt_handler,
sp_switch ("alt_stack")));

trap_exit
Use this attribute on the SH for an interrupt_handler to return using trapa
instead of rte. This attribute expects an integer argument specifying the trap
number to be used.
trapa_handler
On SH targets this function attribute is similar to interrupt_handler but it
does not save and restore all registers.

6.33.30 Symbian OS Function Attributes

See Section 6.33.18 [Microsoft Windows Function Attributes], page 607, for discussion of
the dllexport and dllimport attributes.

6.33.31 V850 Function Attributes

The V850 back end supports these function attributes:
interrupt
interrupt_handler
Use these attributes to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt han-
dler. The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use
in an interrupt handler when either attribute is present.

6.33.32 Visium Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the Visium back end:
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.

6.33.33 x86 Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the x86 back end:
cdecl On the x86-32 targets, the cdecl attribute causes the compiler to assume that
the calling function pops off the stack space used to pass arguments. This is
useful to override the effects of the ‘-mrtd’ switch.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 621

fastcall On x86-32 targets, the fastcall attribute causes the compiler to pass the first
argument (if of integral type) in the register ECX and the second argument (if
of integral type) in the register EDX. Subsequent and other typed arguments
are passed on the stack. The called function pops the arguments off the stack.
If the number of arguments is variable all arguments are pushed on the stack.
thiscall On x86-32 targets, the thiscall attribute causes the compiler to pass the first
argument (if of integral type) in the register ECX. Subsequent and other typed
arguments are passed on the stack. The called function pops the arguments
off the stack. If the number of arguments is variable all arguments are pushed
on the stack. The thiscall attribute is intended for C++ non-static member
functions. As a GCC extension, this calling convention can be used for C
functions and for static member methods.
ms_abi
sysv_abi
On 32-bit and 64-bit x86 targets, you can use an ABI attribute to indicate
which calling convention should be used for a function. The ms_abi attribute
tells the compiler to use the Microsoft ABI, while the sysv_abi attribute tells
the compiler to use the System V ELF ABI, which is used on GNU/Linux
and other systems. The default is to use the Microsoft ABI when targeting
Windows. On all other systems, the default is the System V ELF ABI.
Note, the ms_abi attribute for Microsoft Windows 64-bit targets currently re-
quires the ‘-maccumulate-outgoing-args’ option.
callee_pop_aggregate_return (number)
On x86-32 targets, you can use this attribute to control how aggregates are
returned in memory. If the caller is responsible for popping the hidden pointer
together with the rest of the arguments, specify number equal to zero. If callee
is responsible for popping the hidden pointer, specify number equal to one.
The default x86-32 ABI assumes that the callee pops the stack for hidden
pointer. However, on x86-32 Microsoft Windows targets, the compiler assumes
that the caller pops the stack for hidden pointer.
ms_hook_prologue
On 32-bit and 64-bit x86 targets, you can use this function attribute to make
GCC generate the “hot-patching” function prologue used in Win32 API func-
tions in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 and newer.
naked This attribute allows the compiler to construct the requisite function decla-
ration, while allowing the body of the function to be assembly code. The
specified function will not have prologue/epilogue sequences generated by the
compiler. Only basic asm statements can safely be included in naked functions
(see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). While using extended asm or a mix-
ture of basic asm and C code may appear to work, they cannot be depended
upon to work reliably and are not supported.
regparm (number)
On x86-32 targets, the regparm attribute causes the compiler to pass arguments
number one to number if they are of integral type in registers EAX, EDX,
622 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

and ECX instead of on the stack. Functions that take a variable number of
arguments continue to be passed all of their arguments on the stack.
Beware that on some ELF systems this attribute is unsuitable for global func-
tions in shared libraries with lazy binding (which is the default). Lazy binding
sends the first call via resolving code in the loader, which might assume EAX,
EDX and ECX can be clobbered, as per the standard calling conventions. So-
laris 8 is affected by this. Systems with the GNU C Library version 2.1 or
higher and FreeBSD are believed to be safe since the loaders there save EAX,
EDX and ECX. (Lazy binding can be disabled with the linker or the loader if
desired, to avoid the problem.)
sseregparm
On x86-32 targets with SSE support, the sseregparm attribute causes the com-
piler to pass up to 3 floating-point arguments in SSE registers instead of on the
stack. Functions that take a variable number of arguments continue to pass all
of their floating-point arguments on the stack.
force_align_arg_pointer
On x86 targets, the force_align_arg_pointer attribute may be applied to
individual function definitions, generating an alternate prologue and epilogue
that realigns the run-time stack if necessary. This supports mixing legacy codes
that run with a 4-byte aligned stack with modern codes that keep a 16-byte
stack for SSE compatibility.
stdcall On x86-32 targets, the stdcall attribute causes the compiler to assume that
the called function pops off the stack space used to pass arguments, unless it
takes a variable number of arguments.
no_caller_saved_registers
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function has no caller-saved
registers. That is, all registers are callee-saved. For example, this attribute
can be used for a function called from an interrupt handler. The compiler
generates proper function entry and exit sequences to save and restore any
modified registers, except for the EFLAGS register. Since GCC doesn’t preserve
SSE, MMX nor x87 states, the GCC option ‘-mgeneral-regs-only’ should be
used to compile functions with no_caller_saved_registers attribute.
interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt han-
dler or an exception handler (depending on parameters passed to the function,
explained further). The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences
suitable for use in an interrupt handler when this attribute is present. The IRET
instruction, instead of the RET instruction, is used to return from interrupt han-
dlers. All registers, except for the EFLAGS register which is restored by the
IRET instruction, are preserved by the compiler. Since GCC doesn’t preserve
SSE, MMX nor x87 states, the GCC option ‘-mgeneral-regs-only’ should be
used to compile interrupt and exception handlers.
Any interruptible-without-stack-switch code must be compiled with
‘-mno-red-zone’ since interrupt handlers can and will, because of the
hardware design, touch the red zone.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 623

An interrupt handler must be declared with a mandatory pointer argument:

struct interrupt_frame;

__attribute__ ((interrupt))
void
f (struct interrupt_frame *frame)
{
}
and you must define struct interrupt_frame as described in the processor’s
manual.
Exception handlers differ from interrupt handlers because the system pushes an
error code on the stack. An exception handler declaration is similar to that for
an interrupt handler, but with a different mandatory function signature. The
compiler arranges to pop the error code off the stack before the IRET instruction.
#ifdef __x86_64__
typedef unsigned long long int uword_t;
#else
typedef unsigned int uword_t;
#endif

struct interrupt_frame;

__attribute__ ((interrupt))
void
f (struct interrupt_frame *frame, uword_t error_code)
{
...
}
Exception handlers should only be used for exceptions that push an error code;
you should use an interrupt handler in other cases. The system will crash if the
wrong kind of handler is used.
target (options)
As discussed in Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567, this
attribute allows specification of target-specific compilation options.
On the x86, the following options are allowed:
‘3dnow’
‘no-3dnow’
Enable/disable the generation of the 3DNow! instructions.
‘3dnowa’
‘no-3dnowa’
Enable/disable the generation of the enhanced 3DNow! instruc-
tions.
‘abm’
‘no-abm’ Enable/disable the generation of the advanced bit instructions.
‘adx’
‘no-adx’ Enable/disable the generation of the ADX instructions.
‘aes’
‘no-aes’ Enable/disable the generation of the AES instructions.
624 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘avx’
‘no-avx’ Enable/disable the generation of the AVX instructions.
‘avx2’
‘no-avx2’ Enable/disable the generation of the AVX2 instructions.
‘avx5124fmaps’
‘no-avx5124fmaps’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX5124FMAPS
instructions.
‘avx5124vnniw’
‘no-avx5124vnniw’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX5124VNNIW instruc-
tions.
‘avx512bitalg’
‘no-avx512bitalg’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512BITALG instructions.
‘avx512bw’
‘no-avx512bw’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512BW instructions.
‘avx512cd’
‘no-avx512cd’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512CD instructions.
‘avx512dq’
‘no-avx512dq’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512DQ instructions.
‘avx512er’
‘no-avx512er’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512ER instructions.
‘avx512f’
‘no-avx512f’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512F instructions.
‘avx512ifma’
‘no-avx512ifma’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512IFMA instructions.
‘avx512pf’
‘no-avx512pf’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512PF instructions.
‘avx512vbmi’
‘no-avx512vbmi’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512VBMI instructions.
‘avx512vbmi2’
‘no-avx512vbmi2’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512VBMI2 instructions.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 625

‘avx512vl’
‘no-avx512vl’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512VL instructions.
‘avx512vnni’
‘no-avx512vnni’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512VNNI instructions.
‘avx512vpopcntdq’
‘no-avx512vpopcntdq’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVX512VPOPCNTDQ in-
structions.
‘bmi’
‘no-bmi’ Enable/disable the generation of the BMI instructions.
‘bmi2’
‘no-bmi2’ Enable/disable the generation of the BMI2 instructions.
‘cldemote’
‘no-cldemote’
Enable/disable the generation of the CLDEMOTE instructions.
‘clflushopt’
‘no-clflushopt’
Enable/disable the generation of the CLFLUSHOPT instructions.
‘clwb’
‘no-clwb’ Enable/disable the generation of the CLWB instructions.
‘clzero’
‘no-clzero’
Enable/disable the generation of the CLZERO instructions.
‘crc32’
‘no-crc32’
Enable/disable the generation of the CRC32 instructions.
‘cx16’
‘no-cx16’ Enable/disable the generation of the CMPXCHG16B instructions.
‘default’ See Section 7.8 [Function Multiversioning], page 904, where it is
used to specify the default function version.
‘f16c’
‘no-f16c’ Enable/disable the generation of the F16C instructions.
‘fma’
‘no-fma’ Enable/disable the generation of the FMA instructions.
‘fma4’
‘no-fma4’ Enable/disable the generation of the FMA4 instructions.
‘fsgsbase’
‘no-fsgsbase’
Enable/disable the generation of the FSGSBASE instructions.
626 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘fxsr’
‘no-fxsr’ Enable/disable the generation of the FXSR instructions.
‘gfni’
‘no-gfni’ Enable/disable the generation of the GFNI instructions.
‘hle’
‘no-hle’ Enable/disable the generation of the HLE instruction prefixes.
‘lwp’
‘no-lwp’ Enable/disable the generation of the LWP instructions.
‘lzcnt’
‘no-lzcnt’
Enable/disable the generation of the LZCNT instructions.
‘mmx’
‘no-mmx’ Enable/disable the generation of the MMX instructions.
‘movbe’
‘no-movbe’
Enable/disable the generation of the MOVBE instructions.
‘movdir64b’
‘no-movdir64b’
Enable/disable the generation of the MOVDIR64B instructions.
‘movdiri’
‘no-movdiri’
Enable/disable the generation of the MOVDIRI instructions.
‘mwait’
‘no-mwait’
Enable/disable the generation of the MWAIT and MONITOR in-
structions.
‘mwaitx’
‘no-mwaitx’
Enable/disable the generation of the MWAITX instructions.
‘pclmul’
‘no-pclmul’
Enable/disable the generation of the PCLMUL instructions.
‘pconfig’
‘no-pconfig’
Enable/disable the generation of the PCONFIG instructions.
‘pku’
‘no-pku’ Enable/disable the generation of the PKU instructions.
‘popcnt’
‘no-popcnt’
Enable/disable the generation of the POPCNT instruction.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 627

‘prefetchwt1’
‘no-prefetchwt1’
Enable/disable the generation of the PREFETCHWT1 instruc-
tions.
‘prfchw’
‘no-prfchw’
Enable/disable the generation of the PREFETCHW instruction.
‘ptwrite’
‘no-ptwrite’
Enable/disable the generation of the PTWRITE instructions.
‘rdpid’
‘no-rdpid’
Enable/disable the generation of the RDPID instructions.
‘rdrnd’
‘no-rdrnd’
Enable/disable the generation of the RDRND instructions.
‘rdseed’
‘no-rdseed’
Enable/disable the generation of the RDSEED instructions.
‘rtm’
‘no-rtm’ Enable/disable the generation of the RTM instructions.
‘sahf’
‘no-sahf’ Enable/disable the generation of the SAHF instructions.
‘sgx’
‘no-sgx’ Enable/disable the generation of the SGX instructions.
‘sha’
‘no-sha’ Enable/disable the generation of the SHA instructions.
‘shstk’
‘no-shstk’
Enable/disable the shadow stack built-in functions from CET.
‘sse’
‘no-sse’ Enable/disable the generation of the SSE instructions.
‘sse2’
‘no-sse2’ Enable/disable the generation of the SSE2 instructions.
‘sse3’
‘no-sse3’ Enable/disable the generation of the SSE3 instructions.
‘sse4’
‘no-sse4’ Enable/disable the generation of the SSE4 instructions (both
SSE4.1 and SSE4.2).
628 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘sse4.1’
‘no-sse4.1’
Enable/disable the generation of the SSE4.1 instructions.
‘sse4.2’
‘no-sse4.2’
Enable/disable the generation of the SSE4.2 instructions.
‘sse4a’
‘no-sse4a’
Enable/disable the generation of the SSE4A instructions.
‘ssse3’
‘no-ssse3’
Enable/disable the generation of the SSSE3 instructions.
‘tbm’
‘no-tbm’ Enable/disable the generation of the TBM instructions.
‘vaes’
‘no-vaes’ Enable/disable the generation of the VAES instructions.
‘vpclmulqdq’
‘no-vpclmulqdq’
Enable/disable the generation of the VPCLMULQDQ instructions.
‘waitpkg’
‘no-waitpkg’
Enable/disable the generation of the WAITPKG instructions.
‘wbnoinvd’
‘no-wbnoinvd’
Enable/disable the generation of the WBNOINVD instructions.
‘xop’
‘no-xop’ Enable/disable the generation of the XOP instructions.
‘xsave’
‘no-xsave’
Enable/disable the generation of the XSAVE instructions.
‘xsavec’
‘no-xsavec’
Enable/disable the generation of the XSAVEC instructions.
‘xsaveopt’
‘no-xsaveopt’
Enable/disable the generation of the XSAVEOPT instructions.
‘xsaves’
‘no-xsaves’
Enable/disable the generation of the XSAVES instructions.
‘amx-tile’
‘no-amx-tile’
Enable/disable the generation of the AMX-TILE instructions.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 629

‘amx-int8’
‘no-amx-int8’
Enable/disable the generation of the AMX-INT8 instructions.
‘amx-bf16’
‘no-amx-bf16’
Enable/disable the generation of the AMX-BF16 instructions.
‘uintr’
‘no-uintr’
Enable/disable the generation of the UINTR instructions.
‘hreset’
‘no-hreset’
Enable/disable the generation of the HRESET instruction.
‘kl’
‘no-kl’ Enable/disable the generation of the KEYLOCKER instructions.
‘widekl’
‘no-widekl’
Enable/disable the generation of the WIDEKL instructions.
‘avxvnni’
‘no-avxvnni’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVXVNNI instructions.
‘avxifma’
‘no-avxifma’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVXIFMA instructions.
‘avxvnniint8’
‘no-avxvnniint8’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVXVNNIINT8 instructions.
‘avxneconvert’
‘no-avxneconvert’
Enable/disable the generation of the AVXNECONVERT instruc-
tions.
‘cmpccxadd’
‘no-cmpccxadd’
Enable/disable the generation of the CMPccXADD instructions.
‘amx-fp16’
‘no-amx-fp16’
Enable/disable the generation of the AMX-FP16 instructions.
‘prefetchi’
‘no-prefetchi’
Enable/disable the generation of the PREFETCHI instructions.
‘raoint’
‘no-raoint’
Enable/disable the generation of the RAOINT instructions.
630 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘cld’
‘no-cld’ Enable/disable the generation of the CLD before string moves.
‘fancy-math-387’
‘no-fancy-math-387’
Enable/disable the generation of the sin, cos, and sqrt instruc-
tions on the 387 floating-point unit.
‘ieee-fp’
‘no-ieee-fp’
Enable/disable the generation of floating point that depends on
IEEE arithmetic.
‘inline-all-stringops’
‘no-inline-all-stringops’
Enable/disable inlining of string operations.
‘inline-stringops-dynamically’
‘no-inline-stringops-dynamically’
Enable/disable the generation of the inline code to do small string
operations and calling the library routines for large operations.
‘align-stringops’
‘no-align-stringops’
Do/do not align destination of inlined string operations.
‘recip’
‘no-recip’
Enable/disable the generation of RCPSS, RCPPS, RSQRTSS and
RSQRTPS instructions followed an additional Newton-Raphson
step instead of doing a floating-point division.
‘general-regs-only’
Generate code which uses only the general registers.
‘arch=ARCH’
Specify the architecture to generate code for in compiling the func-
tion.
‘tune=TUNE’
Specify the architecture to tune for in compiling the function.
‘fpmath=FPMATH’
Specify which floating-point unit to use. You must
specify the target("fpmath=sse,387") option as
target("fpmath=sse+387") because the comma would
separate different options.
‘prefer-vector-width=OPT’
On x86 targets, the prefer-vector-width attribute informs the
compiler to use OPT-bit vector width in instructions instead of the
default on the selected platform.
Valid OPT values are:
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 631

‘none’ No extra limitations applied to GCC other than defined

by the selected platform.
‘128’ Prefer 128-bit vector width for instructions.
‘256’ Prefer 256-bit vector width for instructions.
‘512’ Prefer 512-bit vector width for instructions.
On the x86, the inliner does not inline a function that has different
target options than the caller, unless the callee has a subset of the
target options of the caller. For example a function declared with
target("sse3") can inline a function with target("sse2"), since
-msse3 implies -msse2.
indirect_branch("choice")
On x86 targets, the indirect_branch attribute causes the compiler to con-
vert indirect call and jump with choice. ‘keep’ keeps indirect call and jump
unmodified. ‘thunk’ converts indirect call and jump to call and return thunk.
‘thunk-inline’ converts indirect call and jump to inlined call and return thunk.
‘thunk-extern’ converts indirect call and jump to external call and return
thunk provided in a separate object file.
function_return("choice")
On x86 targets, the function_return attribute causes the compiler to convert
function return with choice. ‘keep’ keeps function return unmodified. ‘thunk’
converts function return to call and return thunk. ‘thunk-inline’ converts
function return to inlined call and return thunk. ‘thunk-extern’ converts func-
tion return to external call and return thunk provided in a separate object file.
nocf_check
The nocf_check attribute on a function is used to inform the compiler that
the function’s prologue should not be instrumented when compiled with the
‘-fcf-protection=branch’ option. The compiler assumes that the function’s
address is a valid target for a control-flow transfer.
The nocf_check attribute on a type of pointer to function is used to inform
the compiler that a call through the pointer should not be instrumented when
compiled with the ‘-fcf-protection=branch’ option. The compiler assumes
that the function’s address from the pointer is a valid target for a control-flow
transfer. A direct function call through a function name is assumed to be a safe
call thus direct calls are not instrumented by the compiler.
The nocf_check attribute is applied to an object’s type. In case of assignment
of a function address or a function pointer to another pointer, the attribute is
not carried over from the right-hand object’s type; the type of left-hand object
stays unchanged. The compiler checks for nocf_check attribute mismatch and
reports a warning in case of mismatch.
{
int foo (void) __attribute__(nocf_check);
void (*foo1)(void) __attribute__(nocf_check);
void (*foo2)(void);
632 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

/* foo’s address is assumed to be valid. */

int
foo (void)

/* This call site is not checked for control-flow

validity. */
(*foo1)();

/* A warning is issued about attribute mismatch. */

foo1 = foo2;

/* This call site is still not checked. */

(*foo1)();

/* This call site is checked. */

(*foo2)();

/* A warning is issued about attribute mismatch. */

foo2 = foo1;

/* This call site is still checked. */

(*foo2)();

return 0;
}

cf_check
The cf_check attribute on a function is used to inform the compiler
that ENDBR instruction should be placed at the function entry when
‘-fcf-protection=branch’ is enabled.

indirect_return
The indirect_return attribute can be applied to a function, as well as variable
or type of function pointer to inform the compiler that the function may return
via indirect branch.

fentry_name("name")
On x86 targets, the fentry_name attribute sets the function to call on function
entry when function instrumentation is enabled with ‘-pg -mfentry’. When
name is nop then a 5 byte nop sequence is generated.

fentry_section("name")
On x86 targets, the fentry_section attribute sets the name of the section
to record function entry instrumentation calls in when enabled with ‘-pg
-mrecord-mcount’

nodirect_extern_access
This attribute, attached to a global variable or function, is the counterpart to
option ‘-mno-direct-extern-access’.

6.33.34 Xstormy16 Function Attributes

These function attributes are supported by the Xstormy16 back end:
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 633

interrupt
Use this attribute to indicate that the specified function is an interrupt handler.
The compiler generates function entry and exit sequences suitable for use in an
interrupt handler when this attribute is present.

6.34 Specifying Attributes of Variables

The keyword __attribute__ allows you to specify special properties of variables, func-
tion parameters, or structure, union, and, in C++, class members. This __attribute__
keyword is followed by an attribute specification enclosed in double parentheses. Some
attributes are currently defined generically for variables. Other attributes are defined for
variables on particular target systems. Other attributes are available for functions (see
Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566), labels (see Section 6.36 [Label Attributes],
page 656), enumerators (see Section 6.37 [Enumerator Attributes], page 657), statements
(see Section 6.38 [Statement Attributes], page 658), and for types (see Section 6.35 [Type
Attributes], page 647). Other front ends might define more attributes (see Chapter 7 [Ex-
tensions to the C++ Language], page 897).
See Section 6.39 [Attribute Syntax], page 658, for details of the exact syntax for using
attributes.

6.34.1 Common Variable Attributes

The following attributes are supported on most targets.
alias ("target")
The alias variable attribute causes the declaration to be emitted as an alias
for another symbol known as an alias target. Except for top-level qualifiers the
alias target must have the same type as the alias. For instance, the following
int var_target;
extern int __attribute__ ((alias ("var_target"))) var_alias;
defines var_alias to be an alias for the var_target variable.
It is an error if the alias target is not defined in the same translation unit as
the alias.
Note that in the absence of the attribute GCC assumes that distinct declara-
tions with external linkage denote distinct objects. Using both the alias and the
alias target to access the same object is undefined in a translation unit without
a declaration of the alias with the attribute.
This attribute requires assembler and object file support, and may not be avail-
able on all targets.
aligned
aligned (alignment)
The aligned attribute specifies a minimum alignment for the variable or struc-
ture field, measured in bytes. When specified, alignment must be an integer
constant power of 2. Specifying no alignment argument implies the maximum
alignment for the target, which is often, but by no means always, 8 or 16 bytes.
For example, the declaration:
int x __attribute__ ((aligned (16))) = 0;
634 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

causes the compiler to allocate the global variable x on a 16-byte boundary. On

a 68040, this could be used in conjunction with an asm expression to access the
move16 instruction which requires 16-byte aligned operands.
You can also specify the alignment of structure fields. For example, to create a
double-word aligned int pair, you could write:
struct foo { int x[2] __attribute__ ((aligned (8))); };

This is an alternative to creating a union with a double member, which forces

the union to be double-word aligned.
As in the preceding examples, you can explicitly specify the alignment (in bytes)
that you wish the compiler to use for a given variable or structure field. Al-
ternatively, you can leave out the alignment factor and just ask the compiler
to align a variable or field to the default alignment for the target architecture
you are compiling for. The default alignment is sufficient for all scalar types,
but may not be enough for all vector types on a target that supports vector
operations. The default alignment is fixed for a particular target ABI.
GCC also provides a target specific macro __BIGGEST_ALIGNMENT__, which is
the largest alignment ever used for any data type on the target machine you
are compiling for. For example, you could write:
short array[3] __attribute__ ((aligned (__BIGGEST_ALIGNMENT__)));

The compiler automatically sets the alignment for the declared variable or field
to __BIGGEST_ALIGNMENT__. Doing this can often make copy operations more
efficient, because the compiler can use whatever instructions copy the biggest
chunks of memory when performing copies to or from the variables or fields that
you have aligned this way. Note that the value of __BIGGEST_ALIGNMENT__ may
change depending on command-line options.
When used on a struct, or struct member, the aligned attribute can only in-
crease the alignment; in order to decrease it, the packed attribute must be
specified as well. When used as part of a typedef, the aligned attribute can
both increase and decrease alignment, and specifying the packed attribute gen-
erates a warning.
Note that the effectiveness of aligned attributes for static variables may be
limited by inherent limitations in the system linker and/or object file format.
On some systems, the linker is only able to arrange for variables to be aligned up
to a certain maximum alignment. (For some linkers, the maximum supported
alignment may be very very small.) If your linker is only able to align variables
up to a maximum of 8-byte alignment, then specifying aligned(16) in an _
_attribute__ still only provides you with 8-byte alignment. See your linker
documentation for further information.
Stack variables are not affected by linker restrictions; GCC can properly align
them on any target.
The aligned attribute can also be used for functions (see Section 6.33.1 [Com-
mon Function Attributes], page 567.)
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 635

warn_if_not_aligned (alignment)
This attribute specifies a threshold for the structure field, measured in bytes.
If the structure field is aligned below the threshold, a warning will be issued.
For example, the declaration:
struct foo
{
int i1;
int i2;
unsigned long long x __attribute__ ((warn_if_not_aligned (16)));
};
causes the compiler to issue an warning on struct foo, like ‘warning:
alignment 8 of ’struct foo’ is less than 16’. The compiler also issues a
warning, like ‘warning: ’x’ offset 8 in ’struct foo’ isn’t aligned to
16’, when the structure field has the misaligned offset:
struct __attribute__ ((aligned (16))) foo
{
int i1;
int i2;
unsigned long long x __attribute__ ((warn_if_not_aligned (16)));
};
This warning can be disabled by ‘-Wno-if-not-aligned’. The warn_if_not_
aligned attribute can also be used for types (see Section 6.35.1 [Common Type
Attributes], page 647.)
strict_flex_array (level)
The strict_flex_array attribute should be attached to the trailing array field
of a structure. It controls when to treat the trailing array field of a structure
as a flexible array member for the purposes of accessing the elements of such
an array. level must be an integer betwen 0 to 3.
level=0 is the least strict level, all trailing arrays of structures are treated as
flexible array members. level=3 is the strictest level, only when the trailing
array is declared as a flexible array member per C99 standard onwards (‘[]’),
it is treated as a flexible array member.
There are two more levels in between 0 and 3, which are provided to support
older codes that use GCC zero-length array extension (‘[0]’) or one-element
array as flexible array members (‘[1]’): When level is 1, the trailing array is
treated as a flexible array member when it is declared as either ‘[]’, ‘[0]’, or
‘[1]’; When level is 2, the trailing array is treated as a flexible array member
when it is declared as either ‘[]’, or ‘[0]’.
This attribute can be used with or without the ‘-fstrict-flex-arrays’. When
both the attribute and the option present at the same time, the level of the
strictness for the specific trailing array field is determined by the attribute.
alloc_size (position)
alloc_size (position-1, position-2)
The alloc_size variable attribute may be applied to the declaration of a
pointer to a function that returns a pointer and takes at least one argument
of an integer type. It indicates that the returned pointer points to an object
whose size is given by the function argument at position, or by the product
636 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

of the arguments at position-1 and position-2. Meaningful sizes are positive

values less than PTRDIFF_MAX. Other sizes are diagnosed when detected. GCC
uses this information to improve the results of __builtin_object_size.
For instance, the following declarations
typedef __attribute__ ((alloc_size (1, 2))) void*
(*calloc_ptr) (size_t, size_t);
typedef __attribute__ ((alloc_size (1))) void*
(*malloc_ptr) (size_t);
specify that calloc_ptr is a pointer of a function that, like the standard C
function calloc, returns an object whose size is given by the product of argu-
ments 1 and 2, and similarly, that malloc_ptr, like the standard C function
malloc, returns an object whose size is given by argument 1 to the function.
cleanup (cleanup_function)
The cleanup attribute runs a function when the variable goes out of scope.
This attribute can only be applied to auto function scope variables; it may not
be applied to parameters or variables with static storage duration. The function
must take one parameter, a pointer to a type compatible with the variable. The
return value of the function (if any) is ignored.
If ‘-fexceptions’ is enabled, then cleanup function is run during the stack
unwinding that happens during the processing of the exception. Note that the
cleanup attribute does not allow the exception to be caught, only to perform
an action. It is undefined what happens if cleanup function does not return
normally.
common
nocommon The common attribute requests GCC to place a variable in “common” storage.
The nocommon attribute requests the opposite—to allocate space for it directly.
These attributes override the default chosen by the ‘-fno-common’ and
‘-fcommon’ flags respectively.
copy
copy (variable)
The copy attribute applies the set of attributes with which variable has been
declared to the declaration of the variable to which the attribute is applied. The
attribute is designed for libraries that define aliases that are expected to specify
the same set of attributes as the aliased symbols. The copy attribute can be
used with variables, functions or types. However, the kind of symbol to which
the attribute is applied (either varible or function) must match the kind of
symbol to which the argument refers. The copy attribute copies only syntactic
and semantic attributes but not attributes that affect a symbol’s linkage or
visibility such as alias, visibility, or weak. The deprecated attribute is
also not copied. See Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567.
See Section 6.35.1 [Common Type Attributes], page 647.
deprecated
deprecated (msg)
The deprecated attribute results in a warning if the variable is used anywhere
in the source file. This is useful when identifying variables that are expected
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 637

to be removed in a future version of a program. The warning also includes the

location of the declaration of the deprecated variable, to enable users to easily
find further information about why the variable is deprecated, or what they
should do instead. Note that the warning only occurs for uses:
extern int old_var __attribute__ ((deprecated));
extern int old_var;
int new_fn () { return old_var; }
results in a warning on line 3 but not line 2. The optional msg argument, which
must be a string, is printed in the warning if present.
The deprecated attribute can also be used for functions and types (see
Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567, see Section 6.35.1
[Common Type Attributes], page 647).
The message attached to the attribute is affected by the setting of the
‘-fmessage-length’ option.
unavailable
unavailable (msg)
The unavailable attribute indicates that the variable so marked is not avail-
able, if it is used anywhere in the source file. It behaves in the same manner
as the deprecated attribute except that the compiler will emit an error rather
than a warning.
It is expected that items marked as deprecated will eventually be withdrawn
from interfaces, and then become unavailable. This attribute allows for marking
them appropriately.
The unavailable attribute can also be used for functions and types (see
Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes], page 567, see Section 6.35.1
[Common Type Attributes], page 647).
mode (mode)
This attribute specifies the data type for the declaration—whichever type corre-
sponds to the mode mode. This in effect lets you request an integer or floating-
point type according to its width.
See Section “Machine Modes” in GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) Internals, for
a list of the possible keywords for mode. You may also specify a mode of byte
or __byte__ to indicate the mode corresponding to a one-byte integer, word or
__word__ for the mode of a one-word integer, and pointer or __pointer__ for
the mode used to represent pointers.
nonstring
The nonstring variable attribute specifies that an object or member declara-
tion with type array of char, signed char, or unsigned char, or pointer to
such a type is intended to store character arrays that do not necessarily contain
a terminating NUL. This is useful in detecting uses of such arrays or pointers
with functions that expect NUL-terminated strings, and to avoid warnings when
such an array or pointer is used as an argument to a bounded string manipula-
tion function such as strncpy. For example, without the attribute, GCC will
issue a warning for the strncpy call below because it may truncate the copy
without appending the terminating NUL character. Using the attribute makes
638 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

it possible to suppress the warning. However, when the array is declared with
the attribute the call to strlen is diagnosed because when the array doesn’t
contain a NUL-terminated string the call is undefined. To copy, compare, of
search non-string character arrays use the memcpy, memcmp, memchr, and other
functions that operate on arrays of bytes. In addition, calling strnlen and
strndup with such arrays is safe provided a suitable bound is specified, and not
diagnosed.
struct Data
{
char name [32] __attribute__ ((nonstring));
};

int f (struct Data *pd, const char *s)

{
strncpy (pd->name, s, sizeof pd->name);
...
return strlen (pd->name); // unsafe, gets a warning
}

packed The packed attribute specifies that a structure member should have the smallest
possible alignment—one bit for a bit-field and one byte otherwise, unless a larger
value is specified with the aligned attribute. The attribute does not apply to
non-member objects.
For example in the structure below, the member array x is packed so that it
immediately follows a with no intervening padding:
struct foo
{
char a;
int x[2] __attribute__ ((packed));
};
Note: 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. See the documentation of
‘-Wpacked-bitfield-compat’ for more information.
section ("section-name")
Normally, the compiler places the objects it generates in sections like data and
bss. Sometimes, however, you need additional sections, or you need certain
particular variables to appear in special sections, for example to map to special
hardware. The section attribute specifies that a variable (or function) lives
in a particular section. For example, this small program uses several specific
section names:
struct duart a __attribute__ ((section ("DUART_A"))) = { 0 };
struct duart b __attribute__ ((section ("DUART_B"))) = { 0 };
char stack[10000] __attribute__ ((section ("STACK"))) = { 0 };
int init_data __attribute__ ((section ("INITDATA")));

main()
{
/* Initialize stack pointer */
init_sp (stack + sizeof (stack));
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 639

/* Initialize initialized data */

memcpy (&init_data, &data, &edata - &data);

/* Turn on the serial ports */

init_duart (&a);
init_duart (&b);
}
Use the section attribute with global variables and not local variables, as shown
in the example.
You may use the section attribute with initialized or uninitialized global vari-
ables but the linker requires each object be defined once, with the exception
that uninitialized variables tentatively go in the common (or bss) section and
can be multiply “defined”. Using the section attribute changes what section
the variable goes into and may cause the linker to issue an error if an uninitial-
ized variable has multiple definitions. You can force a variable to be initialized
with the ‘-fno-common’ flag or the nocommon attribute.
Some file formats do not support arbitrary sections so the section attribute
is not available on all platforms. If you need to map the entire contents of a
module to a particular section, consider using the facilities of the linker instead.
tls_model ("tls_model")
The tls_model attribute sets thread-local storage model (see Section 6.64
[Thread-Local], page 893) of a particular __thread variable, overriding
‘-ftls-model=’ command-line switch on a per-variable basis. The tls model
argument should be one of global-dynamic, local-dynamic, initial-exec
or local-exec.
Not all targets support this attribute.
unused This attribute, attached to a variable or structure field, means that the variable
or field is meant to be possibly unused. GCC does not produce a warning for
this variable or field.
used This attribute, attached to a variable with static storage, means that the vari-
able must be emitted even if it appears that the variable is not referenced.
When applied to a static data member of a C++ class template, the attribute
also means that the member is instantiated if the class itself is instantiated.
retain For ELF targets that support the GNU or FreeBSD OSABIs, this attribute
will save the variable from linker garbage collection. To support this behavior,
variables that have not been placed in specific sections (e.g. by the section
attribute, or the -fdata-sections option), will be placed in new, unique sec-
tions.
This additional functionality requires Binutils version 2.36 or later.
uninitialized
This attribute, attached to a variable with automatic storage, means that the
variable should not be automatically initialized by the compiler when the option
-ftrivial-auto-var-init presents.
With the option -ftrivial-auto-var-init, all the automatic variables that
do not have explicit initializers will be initialized by the compiler. These ad-
640 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

ditional compiler initializations might incur run-time overhead, sometimes dra-

matically. This attribute can be used to mark some variables to be excluded
from such automatical initialization in order to reduce runtime overhead.
This attribute has no effect when the option -ftrivial-auto-var-init does
not present.
vector_size (bytes)
This attribute specifies the vector size for the type of the declared variable,
measured in bytes. The type to which it applies is known as the base type. The
bytes argument must be a positive power-of-two multiple of the base type size.
For example, the declaration:
int foo __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));
causes the compiler to set the mode for foo, to be 16 bytes, divided into int
sized units. Assuming a 32-bit int, foo’s type is a vector of four units of four
bytes each, and the corresponding mode of foo is V4SI. See Section 6.52 [Vector
Extensions], page 724, for details of manipulating vector variables.
This attribute is only applicable to integral and floating scalars, although ar-
rays, pointers, and function return values are allowed in conjunction with this
construct.
Aggregates with this attribute are invalid, even if they are of the same size as
a corresponding scalar. For example, the declaration:
struct S { int a; };
struct S __attribute__ ((vector_size (16))) foo;
is invalid even if the size of the structure is the same as the size of the int.
visibility ("visibility_type")
This attribute affects the linkage of the declaration to which it is attached.
The visibility attribute is described in Section 6.33.1 [Common Function
Attributes], page 567.
weak The weak attribute is described in Section 6.33.1 [Common Function
Attributes], page 567.
noinit Any data with the noinit attribute will not be initialized by the C runtime
startup code, or the program loader. Not initializing data in this way can reduce
program startup times.
This attribute is specific to ELF targets and relies on the linker script to place
sections with the .noinit prefix in the right location.
persistent
Any data with the persistent attribute will not be initialized by the C runtime
startup code, but will be initialized by the program loader. This enables the
value of the variable to ‘persist’ between processor resets.
This attribute is specific to ELF targets and relies on the linker script to place
the sections with the .persistent prefix in the right location. Specifically,
some type of non-volatile, writeable memory is required.
objc_nullability (nullability kind) (Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
This attribute applies to pointer variables only. It allows marking the pointer
with one of four possible values describing the conditions under which the
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 641

pointer might have a nil value. In most cases, the attribute is intended to
be an internal representation for property and method nullability (specified by
language keywords); it is not recommended to use it directly.
When nullability kind is "unspecified" or 0, nothing is known about the
conditions in which the pointer might be nil. Making this state specific serves
to avoid false positives in diagnostics.
When nullability kind is "nonnull" or 1, the pointer has no meaning if it is
nil and thus the compiler is free to emit diagnostics if it can be determined
that the value will be nil.
When nullability kind is "nullable" or 2, the pointer might be nil and carry
meaning as such.
When nullability kind is "resettable" or 3 (used only in the context of prop-
erty attribute lists) this describes the case in which a property setter may take
the value nil (which perhaps causes the property to be reset in some manner
to a default) but for which the property getter will never validly return nil.

6.34.2 ARC Variable Attributes

aux The aux attribute is used to directly access the ARC’s auxiliary register space
from C. The auxilirary register number is given via attribute argument.

6.34.3 AVR Variable Attributes

progmem The progmem attribute is used on the AVR to place read-only data in the non-
volatile program memory (flash). The progmem attribute accomplishes this by
putting respective variables into a section whose name starts with .progmem.
This attribute works similar to the section attribute but adds additional check-
ing.
• Ordinary AVR cores with 32 general purpose registers:
progmem affects the location of the data but not how this data is
accessed. In order to read data located with the progmem attribute
(inline) assembler must be used.
/* Use custom macros from AVR-LibC */
#include <avr/pgmspace.h>

/* Locate var in flash memory */

const int var[2] PROGMEM = { 1, 2 };

int read_var (int i)

{
/* Access var[] by accessor macro from avr/pgmspace.h */
return (int) pgm_read_word (& var[i]);
}
AVR is a Harvard architecture processor and data and read-only
data normally resides in the data memory (RAM).
See also the [AVR Named Address Spaces], page 555 section for an
alternate way to locate and access data in flash memory.
642 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• AVR cores with flash memory visible in the RAM address range:
On such devices, there is no need for attribute progmem or [__
flash], page 555 qualifier at all. Just use standard C / C++. The
compiler will generate LD* instructions. As flash memory is visible
in the RAM address range, and the default linker script does not
locate .rodata in RAM, no special features are needed in order
not to waste RAM for read-only data or to read from flash. You
might even get slightly better performance by avoiding progmem
and __flash. This applies to devices from families avrtiny and
avrxmega3, see Section 3.19.6 [AVR Options], page 345 for an over-
view.

• Reduced AVR Tiny cores like ATtiny40:

The compiler adds 0x4000 to the addresses of objects and declara-
tions in progmem and locates the objects in flash memory, namely
in section .progmem.data. The offset is needed because the flash
memory is visible in the RAM address space starting at address
0x4000.
Data in progmem can be accessed by means of ordinary C code, no
special functions or macros are needed.
/* var is located in flash memory */
extern const int var[2] __attribute__((progmem));

int read_var (int i)

{
return var[i];
}

Please notice that on these devices, there is no need for progmem

at all.

io
io (addr) Variables with the io attribute are used to address memory-mapped peripherals
in the io address range. If an address is specified, the variable is assigned that
address, and the value is interpreted as an address in the data address space.
Example:
volatile int porta __attribute__((io (0x22)));

The address specified in the address in the data address range.

Otherwise, the variable it is not assigned an address, but the compiler will still
use in/out instructions where applicable, assuming some other module assigns
an address in the io address range. Example:
extern volatile int porta __attribute__((io));

io_low
io_low (addr)
This is like the io attribute, but additionally it informs the compiler that the
object lies in the lower half of the I/O area, allowing the use of cbi, sbi, sbic
and sbis instructions.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 643

address
address (addr)
Variables with the address attribute are used to address memory-mapped pe-
ripherals that may lie outside the io address range.
volatile int porta __attribute__((address (0x600)));

absdata Variables in static storage and with the absdata attribute can be accessed by
the LDS and STS instructions which take absolute addresses.
• This attribute is only supported for the reduced AVR Tiny core like AT-
tiny40.
• You must make sure that respective data is located in the address range
0x40. . . 0xbf accessible by LDS and STS. One way to achieve this as an
appropriate linker description file.
• If the location does not fit the address range of LDS and STS, there is
currently (Binutils 2.26) just an unspecific warning like
module.cc:(.text+0x1c): warning: internal error: out
of range error
See also the ‘-mabsdata’ Section 3.19.6 [AVR Options], page 345.

6.34.4 Blackfin Variable Attributes

Three attributes are currently defined for the Blackfin.
l1_data
l1_data_A
l1_data_B
Use these attributes on the Blackfin to place the variable into L1 Data SRAM.
Variables with l1_data attribute are put into the specific section named
.l1.data. Those with l1_data_A attribute are put into the specific section
named .l1.data.A. Those with l1_data_B attribute are put into the specific
section named .l1.data.B.
l2 Use this attribute on the Blackfin to place the variable into L2 SRAM. Variables
with l2 attribute are put into the specific section named .l2.data.

6.34.5 H8/300 Variable Attributes

These variable attributes are available for H8/300 targets:
eightbit_data
Use this attribute on the H8/300, H8/300H, and H8S to indicate that the
specified variable should be placed into the eight-bit data section. The compiler
generates more efficient code for certain operations on data in the eight-bit data
area. Note the eight-bit data area is limited to 256 bytes of data.
You must use GAS and GLD from GNU binutils version 2.7 or later for this
attribute to work correctly.
tiny_data
Use this attribute on the H8/300H and H8S to indicate that the specified vari-
able should be placed into the tiny data section. The compiler generates more
644 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

efficient code for loads and stores on data in the tiny data section. Note the
tiny data area is limited to slightly under 32KB of data.

6.34.6 IA-64 Variable Attributes

The IA-64 back end supports the following variable attribute:
model (model-name)
On IA-64, use this attribute to set the addressability of an object. At present,
the only supported identifier for model-name is small, indicating addressabil-
ity via “small” (22-bit) addresses (so that their addresses can be loaded with
the addl instruction). Caveat: such addressing is by definition not position
independent and hence this attribute must not be used for objects defined by
shared libraries.

6.34.7 LoongArch Variable Attributes

One attribute is currently defined for the LoongArch.
model("name")
Use this attribute on the LoongArch to use a different code model for addressing
this variable, than the code model specified by the global ‘-mcmodel’ option.
This attribute is mostly useful if a section attribute and/or a linker script will
locate this object specially. Currently the only supported values of name are
normal and extreme.

6.34.8 M32R/D Variable Attributes

One attribute is currently defined for the M32R/D.
model (model-name)
Use this attribute on the M32R/D to set the addressability of an object. The
identifier model-name is one of small, medium, or large, representing each of
the code models.
Small model objects live in the lower 16MB of memory (so that their addresses
can be loaded with the ld24 instruction).
Medium and large model objects may live anywhere in the 32-bit address space
(the compiler generates seth/add3 instructions to load their addresses).

6.34.9 Microsoft Windows Variable Attributes

You can use these attributes on Microsoft Windows targets. Section 6.34.15 [x86 Variable
Attributes], page 646 for additional Windows compatibility attributes available on all x86
targets.
dllimport
dllexport
The dllimport and dllexport attributes are described in Section 6.33.18 [Mi-
crosoft Windows Function Attributes], page 607.
selectany
The selectany attribute causes an initialized global variable to have link-once
semantics. When multiple definitions of the variable are encountered by the
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 645

linker, the first is selected and the remainder are discarded. Following usage
by the Microsoft compiler, the linker is told not to warn about size or content
differences of the multiple definitions.
Although the primary usage of this attribute is for POD types, the attribute can
also be applied to global C++ objects that are initialized by a constructor. In
this case, the static initialization and destruction code for the object is emitted
in each translation defining the object, but the calls to the constructor and
destructor are protected by a link-once guard variable.
The selectany attribute is only available on Microsoft Windows targets.
You can use __declspec (selectany) as a synonym for __attribute__
((selectany)) for compatibility with other compilers.

shared On Microsoft Windows, in addition to putting variable definitions in a named

section, the section can also be shared among all running copies of an executable
or DLL. For example, this small program defines shared data by putting it in
a named section shared and marking the section shareable:
int foo __attribute__((section ("shared"), shared)) = 0;

int
main()
{
/* Read and write foo. All running
copies see the same value. */
return 0;
}
You may only use the shared attribute along with section attribute with a
fully-initialized global definition because of the way linkers work. See section
attribute for more information.
The shared attribute is only available on Microsoft Windows.

6.34.10 MSP430 Variable Attributes

upper
either These attributes are the same as the MSP430 function attributes of the same
name (see Section 6.33.20 [MSP430 Function Attributes], page 610).

lower This option behaves mostly the same as the MSP430 function attribute of the
same name (see Section 6.33.20 [MSP430 Function Attributes], page 610), but
it has some additional functionality.
If ‘-mdata-region=’{upper,either,none} has been passed, or the section
attribute is applied to a variable, the compiler will generate 430X instructions
to handle it. This is because the compiler has to assume that the variable could
get placed in the upper memory region (above address 0xFFFF). Marking the
variable with the lower attribute informs the compiler that the variable will be
placed in lower memory so it is safe to use 430 instructions to handle it.
In the case of the section attribute, the section name given will be used, and
the .lower prefix will not be added.
646 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.34.11 Nvidia PTX Variable Attributes

These variable attributes are supported by the Nvidia PTX back end:
shared Use this attribute to place a variable in the .shared memory space. This
memory space is private to each cooperative thread array; only threads within
one thread block refer to the same instance of the variable. The runtime does
not initialize variables in this memory space.

6.34.12 PowerPC Variable Attributes

Three attributes currently are defined for PowerPC configurations: altivec, ms_struct
and gcc_struct.
For full documentation of the struct attributes please see the documentation in
Section 6.34.15 [x86 Variable Attributes], page 646.
For documentation of altivec attribute please see the documentation in Section 6.35.5
[PowerPC Type Attributes], page 655.

6.34.13 RL78 Variable Attributes

The RL78 back end supports the saddr variable attribute. This specifies placement of the
corresponding variable in the SADDR area, which can be accessed more efficiently than the
default memory region.

6.34.14 V850 Variable Attributes

These variable attributes are supported by the V850 back end:
sda Use this attribute to explicitly place a variable in the small data area, which
can hold up to 64 kilobytes.
tda Use this attribute to explicitly place a variable in the tiny data area, which can
hold up to 256 bytes in total.
zda Use this attribute to explicitly place a variable in the first 32 kilobytes of mem-
ory.

6.34.15 x86 Variable Attributes

Two attributes are currently defined for x86 configurations: ms_struct and gcc_struct.
ms_struct
gcc_struct
If packed is used on a structure, or if bit-fields are used, it may be that the
Microsoft ABI lays out the structure differently than the way GCC normally
does. Particularly when moving packed data between functions compiled with
GCC and the native Microsoft compiler (either via function call or as data in
a file), it may be necessary to access either format.
The ms_struct and gcc_struct attributes correspond to the ‘-mms-bitfields’
and ‘-mno-ms-bitfields’ command-line options, respectively; see
Section 3.19.54 [x86 Options], page 473, for details of how structure layout is
affected. See Section 6.35.6 [x86 Type Attributes], page 656, for information
about the corresponding attributes on types.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 647

6.34.16 Xstormy16 Variable Attributes

One attribute is currently defined for xstormy16 configurations: below100.
below100
If a variable has the below100 attribute (BELOW100 is allowed also), GCC places
the variable in the first 0x100 bytes of memory and use special opcodes to access
it. Such variables are placed in either the .bss_below100 section or the .data_
below100 section.

6.35 Specifying Attributes of Types

The keyword __attribute__ allows you to specify various special properties of types. Some
type attributes apply only to structure and union types, and in C++, also class types, while
others can apply to any type defined via a typedef declaration. Unless otherwise specified,
the same restrictions and effects apply to attributes regardless of whether a type is a trivial
structure or a C++ class with user-defined constructors, destructors, or a copy assignment.
Other attributes are defined for functions (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566), labels (see Section 6.36 [Label Attributes], page 656), enumerators (see
Section 6.37 [Enumerator Attributes], page 657), statements (see Section 6.38 [Statement
Attributes], page 658), and for variables (see Section 6.34 [Variable Attributes], page 633).
The __attribute__ keyword is followed by an attribute specification enclosed in double
parentheses.
You may specify type attributes in an enum, struct or union type declaration or definition
by placing them immediately after the struct, union or enum keyword. You can also place
them just past the closing curly brace of the definition, but this is less preferred because
logically the type should be fully defined at the closing brace.
You can also include type attributes in a typedef declaration. See Section 6.39 [Attribute
Syntax], page 658, for details of the exact syntax for using attributes.

6.35.1 Common Type Attributes

The following type attributes are supported on most targets.
aligned
aligned (alignment)
The aligned attribute specifies a minimum alignment (in bytes) for variables of
the specified type. When specified, alignment must be a power of 2. Specifying
no alignment argument implies the maximum alignment for the target, which
is often, but by no means always, 8 or 16 bytes. For example, the declarations:
struct __attribute__ ((aligned (8))) S { short f[3]; };
typedef int more_aligned_int __attribute__ ((aligned (8)));
force the compiler to ensure (as far as it can) that each variable whose type is
struct S or more_aligned_int is allocated and aligned at least on a 8-byte
boundary. On a SPARC, having all variables of type struct S aligned to 8-byte
boundaries allows the compiler to use the ldd and std (doubleword load and
store) instructions when copying one variable of type struct S to another, thus
improving run-time efficiency.
648 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Note that the alignment of any given struct or union type is required by the
ISO C standard to be at least a perfect multiple of the lowest common multiple
of the alignments of all of the members of the struct or union in question. This
means that you can effectively adjust the alignment of a struct or union type
by attaching an aligned attribute to any one of the members of such a type,
but the notation illustrated in the example above is a more obvious, intuitive,
and readable way to request the compiler to adjust the alignment of an entire
struct or union type.
As in the preceding example, you can explicitly specify the alignment (in bytes)
that you wish the compiler to use for a given struct or union type. Alterna-
tively, you can leave out the alignment factor and just ask the compiler to
align a type to the maximum useful alignment for the target machine you are
compiling for. For example, you could write:
struct __attribute__ ((aligned)) S { short f[3]; };
Whenever you leave out the alignment factor in an aligned attribute specifica-
tion, the compiler automatically sets the alignment for the type to the largest
alignment that is ever used for any data type on the target machine you are
compiling for. Doing this can often make copy operations more efficient, be-
cause the compiler can use whatever instructions copy the biggest chunks of
memory when performing copies to or from the variables that have types that
you have aligned this way.
In the example above, if the size of each short is 2 bytes, then the size of the
entire struct S type is 6 bytes. The smallest power of two that is greater than
or equal to that is 8, so the compiler sets the alignment for the entire struct
S type to 8 bytes.
Note that although you can ask the compiler to select a time-efficient alignment
for a given type and then declare only individual stand-alone objects of that
type, the compiler’s ability to select a time-efficient alignment is primarily useful
only when you plan to create arrays of variables having the relevant (efficiently
aligned) type. If you declare or use arrays of variables of an efficiently-aligned
type, then it is likely that your program also does pointer arithmetic (or sub-
scripting, which amounts to the same thing) on pointers to the relevant type,
and the code that the compiler generates for these pointer arithmetic operations
is often more efficient for efficiently-aligned types than for other types.
Note that the effectiveness of aligned attributes may be limited by inherent
limitations in your linker. On many systems, the linker is only able to arrange
for variables to be aligned up to a certain maximum alignment. (For some
linkers, the maximum supported alignment may be very very small.) If your
linker is only able to align variables up to a maximum of 8-byte alignment, then
specifying aligned (16) in an __attribute__ still only provides you with 8-
byte alignment. See your linker documentation for further information.
When used on a struct, or struct member, the aligned attribute can only in-
crease the alignment; in order to decrease it, the packed attribute must be
specified as well. When used as part of a typedef, the aligned attribute can
both increase and decrease alignment, and specifying the packed attribute gen-
erates a warning.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 649

warn_if_not_aligned (alignment)
This attribute specifies a threshold for the structure field, measured in bytes.
If the structure field is aligned below the threshold, a warning will be issued.
For example, the declaration:
typedef unsigned long long __u64
__attribute__((aligned (4), warn_if_not_aligned (8)));

struct foo
{
int i1;
int i2;
__u64 x;
};
causes the compiler to issue an warning on struct foo, like ‘warning:
alignment 4 of ’struct foo’ is less than 8’. It is used to define struct
foo in such a way that struct foo has the same layout and the structure field
x has the same alignment when __u64 is aligned at either 4 or 8 bytes. Align
struct foo to 8 bytes:
struct __attribute__ ((aligned (8))) foo
{
int i1;
int i2;
__u64 x;
};
silences the warning. The compiler also issues a warning, like ‘warning: ’x’
offset 12 in ’struct foo’ isn’t aligned to 8’, when the structure field has
the misaligned offset:
struct __attribute__ ((aligned (8))) foo
{
int i1;
int i2;
int i3;
__u64 x;
};
This warning can be disabled by ‘-Wno-if-not-aligned’.

alloc_size (position)
alloc_size (position-1, position-2)
The alloc_size type attribute may be applied to the definition of a type
of a function that returns a pointer and takes at least one argument of an
integer type. It indicates that the returned pointer points to an object whose
size is given by the function argument at position-1, or by the product of the
arguments at position-1 and position-2. Meaningful sizes are positive values
less than PTRDIFF_MAX. Other sizes are disagnosed when detected. GCC uses
this information to improve the results of __builtin_object_size.
For instance, the following declarations
typedef __attribute__ ((alloc_size (1, 2))) void*
calloc_type (size_t, size_t);
typedef __attribute__ ((alloc_size (1))) void*
malloc_type (size_t);
650 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

specify that calloc_type is a type of a function that, like the standard C func-
tion calloc, returns an object whose size is given by the product of arguments
1 and 2, and that malloc_type, like the standard C function malloc, returns
an object whose size is given by argument 1 to the function.

copy
copy (expression)
The copy attribute applies the set of attributes with which the type of the ex-
pression has been declared to the declaration of the type to which the attribute
is applied. The attribute is designed for libraries that define aliases that are
expected to specify the same set of attributes as the aliased symbols. The copy
attribute can be used with types, variables, or functions. However, the kind of
symbol to which the attribute is applied (either varible or function) must match
the kind of symbol to which the argument refers. The copy attribute copies
only syntactic and semantic attributes but not attributes that affect a symbol’s
linkage or visibility such as alias, visibility, or weak. The deprecated at-
tribute is also not copied. See Section 6.33.1 [Common Function Attributes],
page 567. See Section 6.34.1 [Common Variable Attributes], page 633.
For example, suppose struct A below is defined in some third party library
header to have the alignment requirement N and to force a warning whenever
a variable of the type is not so aligned due to attribute packed. Specifying
the copy attribute on the definition on the unrelated struct B has the effect of
copying all relevant attributes from the type referenced by the pointer expres-
sion to struct B.
struct __attribute__ ((aligned (N), warn_if_not_aligned (N)))
A { /* . . . */ };
struct __attribute__ ((copy ( (struct A *)0)) B { /* . . . */ };

deprecated
deprecated (msg)
The deprecated attribute results in a warning if the type is used anywhere in
the source file. This is useful when identifying types that are expected to be
removed in a future version of a program. If possible, the warning also includes
the location of the declaration of the deprecated type, to enable users to easily
find further information about why the type is deprecated, or what they should
do instead. Note that the warnings only occur for uses and then only if the type
is being applied to an identifier that itself is not being declared as deprecated.
typedef int T1 __attribute__ ((deprecated));
T1 x;
typedef T1 T2;
T2 y;
typedef T1 T3 __attribute__ ((deprecated));
T3 z __attribute__ ((deprecated));
results in a warning on line 2 and 3 but not lines 4, 5, or 6. No warning
is issued for line 4 because T2 is not explicitly deprecated. Line 5 has no
warning because T3 is explicitly deprecated. Similarly for line 6. The optional
msg argument, which must be a string, is printed in the warning if present.
Control characters in the string will be replaced with escape sequences, and if
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 651

the ‘-fmessage-length’ option is set to 0 (its default value) then any newline
characters will be ignored.
The deprecated attribute can also be used for functions and variables (see
Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566, see Section 6.34 [Variable At-
tributes], page 633.)
The message attached to the attribute is affected by the setting of the
‘-fmessage-length’ option.
unavailable
unavailable (msg)
The unavailable attribute behaves in the same manner as the deprecated
one, but emits an error rather than a warning. It is used to indicate that a
(perhaps previously deprecated) type is no longer usable.
The unavailable attribute can also be used for functions and variables (see
Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566, see Section 6.34 [Variable At-
tributes], page 633.)
designated_init
This attribute may only be applied to structure types. It indicates that any ini-
tialization of an object of this type must use designated initializers rather than
positional initializers. The intent of this attribute is to allow the programmer
to indicate that a structure’s layout may change, and that therefore relying on
positional initialization will result in future breakage.
GCC emits warnings based on this attribute by default; use
‘-Wno-designated-init’ to suppress them.
may_alias
Accesses through pointers to types with this attribute are not subject to type-
based alias analysis, but are instead assumed to be able to alias any other type
of objects. In the context of section 6.5 paragraph 7 of the C99 standard, an
lvalue expression dereferencing such a pointer is treated like having a character
type. See ‘-fstrict-aliasing’ for more information on aliasing issues. This
extension exists to support some vector APIs, in which pointers to one vector
type are permitted to alias pointers to a different vector type.
Note that an object of a type with this attribute does not have any special
semantics.
Example of use:
typedef short __attribute__ ((__may_alias__)) short_a;

int
main (void)
{
int a = 0x12345678;
short_a *b = (short_a *) &a;

b[1] = 0;

if (a == 0x12345678)
abort();
652 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

exit(0);
}
If you replaced short_a with short in the variable declaration, the above pro-
gram would abort when compiled with ‘-fstrict-aliasing’, which is on by
default at ‘-O2’ or above.
mode (mode)
This attribute specifies the data type for the declaration—whichever type corre-
sponds to the mode mode. This in effect lets you request an integer or floating-
point type according to its width.
See Section “Machine Modes” in GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) Internals, for
a list of the possible keywords for mode. You may also specify a mode of byte
or __byte__ to indicate the mode corresponding to a one-byte integer, word or
__word__ for the mode of a one-word integer, and pointer or __pointer__ for
the mode used to represent pointers.
packed This attribute, attached to a struct, union, or C++ class type definition,
specifies that each of its members (other than zero-width bit-fields) is placed
to minimize the memory required. This is equivalent to specifying the packed
attribute on each of the members.
When attached to an enum definition, the packed attribute indicates that the
smallest integral type should be used. Specifying the ‘-fshort-enums’ flag on
the command line is equivalent to specifying the packed attribute on all enum
definitions.
In the following example struct my_packed_struct’s members are packed
closely together, but the internal layout of its s member is not packed—to
do that, struct my_unpacked_struct needs to be packed too.
struct my_unpacked_struct
{
char c;
int i;
};

struct __attribute__ ((__packed__)) my_packed_struct

{
char c;
int i;
struct my_unpacked_struct s;
};
You may only specify the packed attribute on the definition of an enum, struct,
union, or class, not on a typedef that does not also define the enumerated
type, structure, union, or class.
scalar_storage_order ("endianness")
When attached to a union or a struct, this attribute sets the storage order,
aka endianness, of the scalar fields of the type, as well as the array fields whose
component is scalar. The supported endiannesses are big-endian and little-
endian. The attribute has no effects on fields which are themselves a union, a
struct or an array whose component is a union or a struct, and it is possible
for these fields to have a different scalar storage order than the enclosing type.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 653

Note that neither pointer nor vector fields are considered scalar fields in this
context, so the attribute has no effects on these fields.
This attribute is supported only for targets that use a uniform default scalar
storage order (fortunately, most of them), i.e. targets that store the scalars
either all in big-endian or all in little-endian.
Additional restrictions are enforced for types with the reverse scalar storage
order with regard to the scalar storage order of the target:
• Taking the address of a scalar field of a union or a struct with reverse
scalar storage order is not permitted and yields an error.
• Taking the address of an array field, whose component is scalar, of a union
or a struct with reverse scalar storage order is permitted but yields a
warning, unless ‘-Wno-scalar-storage-order’ is specified.
• Taking the address of a union or a struct with reverse scalar storage order
is permitted.
These restrictions exist because the storage order attribute is lost when the
address of a scalar or the address of an array with scalar component is taken,
so storing indirectly through this address generally does not work. The second
case is nevertheless allowed to be able to perform a block copy from or to the
array.
Moreover, the use of type punning or aliasing to toggle the storage order is
not supported; that is to say, if a given scalar object can be accessed through
distinct types that assign a different storage order to it, then the behavior is
undefined.
transparent_union
This attribute, attached to a union type definition, indicates that any function
parameter having that union type causes calls to that function to be treated in
a special way.
First, the argument corresponding to a transparent union type can be of any
type in the union; no cast is required. Also, if the union contains a pointer type,
the corresponding argument can be a null pointer constant or a void pointer
expression; and if the union contains a void pointer type, the corresponding
argument can be any pointer expression. If the union member type is a pointer,
qualifiers like const on the referenced type must be respected, just as with
normal pointer conversions.
Second, the argument is passed to the function using the calling conventions of
the first member of the transparent union, not the calling conventions of the
union itself. All members of the union must have the same machine represen-
tation; this is necessary for this argument passing to work properly.
Transparent unions are designed for library functions that have multiple inter-
faces for compatibility reasons. For example, suppose the wait function must
accept either a value of type int * to comply with POSIX, or a value of type
union wait * to comply with the 4.1BSD interface. If wait’s parameter were
void *, wait would accept both kinds of arguments, but it would also accept
any other pointer type and this would make argument type checking less useful.
Instead, <sys/wait.h> might define the interface as follows:
654 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

typedef union __attribute__ ((__transparent_union__))

{
int *__ip;
union wait *__up;
} wait_status_ptr_t;

pid_t wait (wait_status_ptr_t);

This interface allows either int * or union wait * arguments to be passed,
using the int * calling convention. The program can call wait with arguments
of either type:
int w1 () { int w; return wait (&w); }
int w2 () { union wait w; return wait (&w); }
With this interface, wait’s implementation might look like this:
pid_t wait (wait_status_ptr_t p)
{
return waitpid (-1, p.__ip, 0);
}

unused When attached to a type (including a union or a struct), this attribute means
that variables of that type are meant to appear possibly unused. GCC does not
produce a warning for any variables of that type, even if the variable appears to
do nothing. This is often the case with lock or thread classes, which are usually
defined and then not referenced, but contain constructors and destructors that
have nontrivial bookkeeping functions.
vector_size (bytes)
This attribute specifies the vector size for the type, measured in bytes. The
type to which it applies is known as the base type. The bytes argument must
be a positive power-of-two multiple of the base type size. For example, the
following declarations:
typedef __attribute__ ((vector_size (32))) int int_vec32_t ;
typedef __attribute__ ((vector_size (32))) int* int_vec32_ptr_t;
typedef __attribute__ ((vector_size (32))) int int_vec32_arr3_t[3];
define int_vec32_t to be a 32-byte vector type composed of int sized units.
With int having a size of 4 bytes, the type defines a vector of eight units,
four bytes each. The mode of variables of type int_vec32_t is V8SI. int_
vec32_ptr_t is then defined to be a pointer to such a vector type, and int_
vec32_arr3_t to be an array of three such vectors. See Section 6.52 [Vector
Extensions], page 724, for details of manipulating objects of vector types.
This attribute is only applicable to integral and floating scalar types. In function
declarations the attribute applies to the function return type.
For example, the following:
__attribute__ ((vector_size (16))) float get_flt_vec16 (void);
declares get_flt_vec16 to be a function returning a 16-byte vector with the
base type float.
visibility
In C++, attribute visibility (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566)
can also be applied to class, struct, union and enum types. Unlike other type
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 655

attributes, the attribute must appear between the initial keyword and the name
of the type; it cannot appear after the body of the type.
Note that the type visibility is applied to vague linkage entities associated with
the class (vtable, typeinfo node, etc.). In particular, if a class is thrown as
an exception in one shared object and caught in another, the class must have
default visibility. Otherwise the two shared objects are unable to use the same
typeinfo node and exception handling will break.
objc_root_class (Objective-C and Objective-C++ only)
This attribute marks a class as being a root class, and thus allows the compiler
to elide any warnings about a missing superclass and to make additional checks
for mandatory methods as needed.
To specify multiple attributes, separate them by commas within the double parentheses:
for example, ‘__attribute__ ((aligned (16), packed))’.

6.35.2 ARC Type Attributes

Declaring objects with uncached allows you to exclude data-cache participation in load and
store operations on those objects without involving the additional semantic implications
of volatile. The .di instruction suffix is used for all loads and stores of data declared
uncached.

6.35.3 ARM Type Attributes

On those ARM targets that support dllimport (such as Symbian OS), you can use the
notshared attribute to indicate that the virtual table and other similar data for a class
should not be exported from a DLL. For example:
class __declspec(notshared) C {
public:
__declspec(dllimport) C();
virtual void f();
}

__declspec(dllexport)
C::C() {}
In this code, C::C is exported from the current DLL, but the virtual table for C is not
exported. (You can use __attribute__ instead of __declspec if you prefer, but most
Symbian OS code uses __declspec.)

6.35.4 BPF Type Attributes

BPF Compile Once - Run Everywhere (CO-RE) support. When attached to a struct or
union type definition, indicates that CO-RE relocation information should be generated
for any access to a variable of that type. The behavior is equivalent to the programmer
manually wrapping every such access with __builtin_preserve_access_index.

6.35.5 PowerPC Type Attributes

Three attributes currently are defined for PowerPC configurations: altivec, ms_struct
and gcc_struct.
For full documentation of the ms_struct and gcc_struct attributes please see the doc-
umentation in Section 6.35.6 [x86 Type Attributes], page 656.
656 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The altivec attribute allows one to declare AltiVec vector data types supported by the
AltiVec Programming Interface Manual. The attribute requires an argument to specify one
of three vector types: vector__, pixel__ (always followed by unsigned short), and bool__
(always followed by unsigned).
__attribute__((altivec(vector__)))
__attribute__((altivec(pixel__))) unsigned short
__attribute__((altivec(bool__))) unsigned
These attributes mainly are intended to support the __vector, __pixel, and __bool
AltiVec keywords.

6.35.6 x86 Type Attributes

Two attributes are currently defined for x86 configurations: ms_struct and gcc_struct.
ms_struct
gcc_struct
If packed is used on a structure, or if bit-fields are used it may be that the
Microsoft ABI packs them differently than GCC normally packs them. Par-
ticularly when moving packed data between functions compiled with GCC and
the native Microsoft compiler (either via function call or as data in a file), it
may be necessary to access either format.
The ms_struct and gcc_struct attributes correspond to the ‘-mms-bitfields’
and ‘-mno-ms-bitfields’ command-line options, respectively; see
Section 3.19.54 [x86 Options], page 473, for details of how structure layout
is affected. See Section 6.34.15 [x86 Variable Attributes], page 646, for
information about the corresponding attributes on variables.

6.36 Label Attributes

GCC allows attributes to be set on C labels. See Section 6.39 [Attribute Syntax], page 658,
for details of the exact syntax for using attributes. Other attributes are available for
functions (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566), variables (see Section 6.34
[Variable Attributes], page 633), enumerators (see Section 6.37 [Enumerator Attributes],
page 657), statements (see Section 6.38 [Statement Attributes], page 658), and for types
(see Section 6.35 [Type Attributes], page 647). A label attribute followed by a declaration
appertains to the label and not the declaration.
This example uses the cold label attribute to indicate the ErrorHandling branch is
unlikely to be taken and that the ErrorHandling label is unused:

asm goto ("some asm" : : : : NoError);

/* This branch (the fall-through from the asm) is less commonly used */
ErrorHandling:
__attribute__((cold, unused)); /* Semi-colon is required here */
printf("error\n");
return 0;

NoError:
printf("no error\n");
return 1;
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 657

unused This feature is intended for program-generated code that may contain unused
labels, but which is compiled with ‘-Wall’. It is not normally appropriate to
use in it human-written code, though it could be useful in cases where the code
that jumps to the label is contained within an #ifdef conditional.

hot The hot attribute on a label is used to inform the compiler that the path
following the label is more likely than paths that are not so annotated. This
attribute is used in cases where __builtin_expect cannot be used, for instance
with computed goto or asm goto.

cold The cold attribute on labels is used to inform the compiler that the path
following the label is unlikely to be executed. This attribute is used in cases
where __builtin_expect cannot be used, for instance with computed goto or
asm goto.

6.37 Enumerator Attributes

GCC allows attributes to be set on enumerators. See Section 6.39 [Attribute Syntax],
page 658, for details of the exact syntax for using attributes. Other attributes are available
for functions (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566), variables (see Section 6.34
[Variable Attributes], page 633), labels (see Section 6.36 [Label Attributes], page 656), state-
ments (see Section 6.38 [Statement Attributes], page 658), and for types (see Section 6.35
[Type Attributes], page 647).
This example uses the deprecated enumerator attribute to indicate the oldval enumer-
ator is deprecated:
enum E {
oldval __attribute__((deprecated)),
newval
};

int
fn (void)
{
return oldval;
}

deprecated
The deprecated attribute results in a warning if the enumerator is used any-
where in the source file. This is useful when identifying enumerators that are
expected to be removed in a future version of a program. The warning also
includes the location of the declaration of the deprecated enumerator, to enable
users to easily find further information about why the enumerator is deprecated,
or what they should do instead. Note that the warnings only occurs for uses.

unavailable
The unavailable attribute results in an error if the enumerator is used any-
where in the source file. In other respects it behaves in the same manner as the
deprecated attribute.
658 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.38 Statement Attributes

GCC allows attributes to be set on null statements. See Section 6.39 [Attribute Syn-
tax], page 658, for details of the exact syntax for using attributes. Other attributes are
available for functions (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566), variables (see
Section 6.34 [Variable Attributes], page 633), labels (see Section 6.36 [Label Attributes],
page 656), enumerators (see Section 6.37 [Enumerator Attributes], page 657), and for types
(see Section 6.35 [Type Attributes], page 647).
fallthrough
The fallthrough attribute with a null statement serves as a fallthrough state-
ment. It hints to the compiler that a statement that falls through to another
case label, or user-defined label in a switch statement is intentional and thus
the ‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough’ warning must not trigger. The fallthrough at-
tribute may appear at most once in each attribute list, and may not be mixed
with other attributes. It can only be used in a switch statement (the compiler
will issue an error otherwise), after a preceding statement and before a logically
succeeding case label, or user-defined label.
This example uses the fallthrough statement attribute to indicate that the
‘-Wimplicit-fallthrough’ warning should not be emitted:
switch (cond)
{
case 1:
bar (1);
__attribute__((fallthrough));
case 2:
...
}

assume The assume attribute with a null statement serves as portable assumption. It
should have a single argument, a conditional expression, which is not evaluated.
If the argument would evaluate to true at the point where it appears, it has no
effect, otherwise there is undefined behavior. This is a GNU variant of the ISO
C++23 standard assume attribute, but it can be used in any version of both C
and C++.
int
foo (int x, int y)
{
__attribute__((assume(x == 42)));
__attribute__((assume(++y == 43)));
return x + y;
}
y is not actually incremented and the compiler can but does not have to optimize
it to just return 42 + 42;.

6.39 Attribute Syntax

This section describes the syntax with which __attribute__ may be used, and the con-
structs to which attribute specifiers bind, for the C language. Some details may vary for
C++ and Objective-C. Because of infelicities in the grammar for attributes, some forms
described here may not be successfully parsed in all cases.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 659

There are some problems with the semantics of attributes in C++. For example, there
are no manglings for attributes, although they may affect code generation, so problems
may arise when attributed types are used in conjunction with templates or overloading.
Similarly, typeid does not distinguish between types with different attributes. Support for
attributes in C++ may be restricted in future to attributes on declarations only, but not on
nested declarators.
See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566, for details of the semantics of attributes
applying to functions. See Section 6.34 [Variable Attributes], page 633, for details of the
semantics of attributes applying to variables. See Section 6.35 [Type Attributes], page 647,
for details of the semantics of attributes applying to structure, union and enumerated types.
See Section 6.36 [Label Attributes], page 656, for details of the semantics of attributes
applying to labels. See Section 6.37 [Enumerator Attributes], page 657, for details of the
semantics of attributes applying to enumerators. See Section 6.38 [Statement Attributes],
page 658, for details of the semantics of attributes applying to statements.
An attribute specifier is of the form __attribute__ ((attribute-list)). An attribute
list is a possibly empty comma-separated sequence of attributes, where each attribute is
one of the following:
• Empty. Empty attributes are ignored.
• An attribute name (which may be an identifier such as unused, or a reserved word such
as const).
• An attribute name followed by a parenthesized list of parameters for the attribute.
These parameters take one of the following forms:
• An identifier. For example, mode attributes use this form.
• An identifier followed by a comma and a non-empty comma-separated list of ex-
pressions. For example, format attributes use this form.
• A possibly empty comma-separated list of expressions. For example, format_arg
attributes use this form with the list being a single integer constant expression,
and alias attributes use this form with the list being a single string constant.

An attribute specifier list is a sequence of one or more attribute specifiers, not separated
by any other tokens.
You may optionally specify attribute names with ‘__’ preceding and following the name.
This allows you to use them in header files without being concerned about a possible macro
of the same name. For example, you may use the attribute name __noreturn__ instead of
noreturn.

Label Attributes
In GNU C, an attribute specifier list may appear after the colon following a label, other than
a case or default label. GNU C++ only permits attributes on labels if the attribute specifier
is immediately followed by a semicolon (i.e., the label applies to an empty statement). If
the semicolon is missing, C++ label attributes are ambiguous, as it is permissible for a
declaration, which could begin with an attribute list, to be labelled in C++. Declarations
cannot be labelled in C90 or C99, so the ambiguity does not arise there.
660 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Enumerator Attributes
In GNU C, an attribute specifier list may appear as part of an enumerator. The attribute
goes after the enumeration constant, before =, if present. The optional attribute in the
enumerator appertains to the enumeration constant. It is not possible to place the attribute
after the constant expression, if present.

Statement Attributes
In GNU C, an attribute specifier list may appear as part of a null statement. The attribute
goes before the semicolon.

Type Attributes
An attribute specifier list may appear as part of a struct, union or enum specifier. It may
go either immediately after the struct, union or enum keyword, or after the closing brace.
The former syntax is preferred. Where attribute specifiers follow the closing brace, they
are considered to relate to the structure, union or enumerated type defined, not to any
enclosing declaration the type specifier appears in, and the type defined is not complete
until after the attribute specifiers.

All other attributes

Otherwise, an attribute specifier appears as part of a declaration, counting declarations
of unnamed parameters and type names, and relates to that declaration (which may be
nested in another declaration, for example in the case of a parameter declaration), or to
a particular declarator within a declaration. Where an attribute specifier is applied to a
parameter declared as a function or an array, it should apply to the function or array rather
than the pointer to which the parameter is implicitly converted, but this is not yet correctly
implemented.
Any list of specifiers and qualifiers at the start of a declaration may contain attribute
specifiers, whether or not such a list may in that context contain storage class specifiers.
(Some attributes, however, are essentially in the nature of storage class specifiers, and only
make sense where storage class specifiers may be used; for example, section.) There is one
necessary limitation to this syntax: the first old-style parameter declaration in a function
definition cannot begin with an attribute specifier, because such an attribute applies to the
function instead by syntax described below (which, however, is not yet implemented in this
case). In some other cases, attribute specifiers are permitted by this grammar but not yet
supported by the compiler. All attribute specifiers in this place relate to the declaration as
a whole. In the obsolescent usage where a type of int is implied by the absence of type
specifiers, such a list of specifiers and qualifiers may be an attribute specifier list with no
other specifiers or qualifiers.
At present, the first parameter in a function prototype must have some type specifier that
is not an attribute specifier; this resolves an ambiguity in the interpretation of void f(int
(__attribute__((foo)) x)), but is subject to change. At present, if the parentheses of a
function declarator contain only attributes then those attributes are ignored, rather than
yielding an error or warning or implying a single parameter of type int, but this is subject
to change.
An attribute specifier list may appear immediately before a declarator (other than the
first) in a comma-separated list of declarators in a declaration of more than one identifier
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 661

using a single list of specifiers and qualifiers. Such attribute specifiers apply only to the
identifier before whose declarator they appear. For example, in
__attribute__((noreturn)) void d0 (void),
__attribute__((format(printf, 1, 2))) d1 (const char *, ...),
d2 (void);
the noreturn attribute applies to all the functions declared; the format attribute only
applies to d1.
An attribute specifier list may appear immediately before the comma, = or semicolon
terminating the declaration of an identifier other than a function definition. Such attribute
specifiers apply to the declared object or function. Where an assembler name for an object
or function is specified (see Section 6.47.4 [Asm Labels], page 717), the attribute must follow
the asm specification.
An attribute specifier list may, in future, be permitted to appear after the declarator in
a function definition (before any old-style parameter declarations or the function body).
Attribute specifiers may be mixed with type qualifiers appearing inside the [] of a pa-
rameter array declarator, in the C99 construct by which such qualifiers are applied to the
pointer to which the array is implicitly converted. Such attribute specifiers apply to the
pointer, not to the array, but at present this is not implemented and they are ignored.
An attribute specifier list may appear at the start of a nested declarator. At present,
there are some limitations in this usage: the attributes correctly apply to the declarator,
but for most individual attributes the semantics this implies are not implemented. When
attribute specifiers follow the * of a pointer declarator, they may be mixed with any type
qualifiers present. The following describes the formal semantics of this syntax. It makes
the most sense if you are familiar with the formal specification of declarators in the ISO C
standard.
Consider (as in C99 subclause 6.7.5 paragraph 4) a declaration T D1, where T contains
declaration specifiers that specify a type Type (such as int) and D1 is a declarator that
contains an identifier ident. The type specified for ident for derived declarators whose type
does not include an attribute specifier is as in the ISO C standard.
If D1 has the form ( attribute-specifier-list D ), and the declaration T D specifies
the type “derived-declarator-type-list Type” for ident, then T D1 specifies the type “derived-
declarator-type-list attribute-specifier-list Type” for ident.
If D1 has the form * type-qualifier-and-attribute-specifier-list D, and the dec-
laration T D specifies the type “derived-declarator-type-list Type” for ident, then T D1 spec-
ifies the type “derived-declarator-type-list type-qualifier-and-attribute-specifier-list pointer
to Type” for ident.
For example,
void (__attribute__((noreturn)) ****f) (void);
specifies the type “pointer to pointer to pointer to pointer to non-returning function return-
ing void”. As another example,
char *__attribute__((aligned(8))) *f;
specifies the type “pointer to 8-byte-aligned pointer to char”. Note again that this does not
work with most attributes; for example, the usage of ‘aligned’ and ‘noreturn’ attributes
given above is not yet supported.
662 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

For compatibility with existing code written for compiler versions that did not implement
attributes on nested declarators, some laxity is allowed in the placing of attributes. If an
attribute that only applies to types is applied to a declaration, it is treated as applying to
the type of that declaration. If an attribute that only applies to declarations is applied to
the type of a declaration, it is treated as applying to that declaration; and, for compatibility
with code placing the attributes immediately before the identifier declared, such an attribute
applied to a function return type is treated as applying to the function type, and such an
attribute applied to an array element type is treated as applying to the array type. If an
attribute that only applies to function types is applied to a pointer-to-function type, it is
treated as applying to the pointer target type; if such an attribute is applied to a function
return type that is not a pointer-to-function type, it is treated as applying to the function
type.

6.40 Prototypes and Old-Style Function Definitions

GNU C extends ISO C to allow a function prototype to override a later old-style non-
prototype definition. Consider the following example:
/* Use prototypes unless the compiler is old-fashioned. */
#ifdef __STDC__
#define P(x) x
#else
#define P(x) ()
#endif

/* Prototype function declaration. */

int isroot P((uid_t));

/* Old-style function definition. */

int
isroot (x) /* ??? lossage here ??? */
uid_t x;
{
return x == 0;
}
Suppose the type uid_t happens to be short. ISO C does not allow this example,
because subword arguments in old-style non-prototype definitions are promoted. Therefore
in this example the function definition’s argument is really an int, which does not match
the prototype argument type of short.
This restriction of ISO C makes it hard to write code that is portable to traditional C
compilers, because the programmer does not know whether the uid_t type is short, int,
or long. Therefore, in cases like these GNU C allows a prototype to override a later old-
style definition. More precisely, in GNU C, a function prototype argument type overrides
the argument type specified by a later old-style definition if the former type is the same as
the latter type before promotion. Thus in GNU C the above example is equivalent to the
following:
int isroot (uid_t);

int
isroot (uid_t x)
{
return x == 0;
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 663

}
GNU C++ does not support old-style function definitions, so this extension is irrelevant.

6.41 C++ Style Comments

In GNU C, you may use C++ style comments, which start with ‘//’ and continue until
the end of the line. Many other C implementations allow such comments, and they are
included in the 1999 C standard. However, C++ style comments are not recognized if you
specify an ‘-std’ option specifying a version of ISO C before C99, or ‘-ansi’ (equivalent to
‘-std=c90’).

6.42 Dollar Signs in Identifier Names

In GNU C, you may normally use dollar signs in identifier names. This is because many
traditional C implementations allow such identifiers. However, dollar signs in identifiers are
not supported on a few target machines, typically because the target assembler does not
allow them.

6.43 The Character ESC in Constants

You can use the sequence ‘\e’ in a string or character constant to stand for the ASCII
character ESC.

6.44 Determining the Alignment of Functions, Types or

Variables
The keyword __alignof__ determines the alignment requirement of a function, object, or
a type, or the minimum alignment usually required by a type. Its syntax is just like sizeof
and C11 _Alignof.
For example, if the target machine requires a double value to be aligned on an 8-byte
boundary, then __alignof__ (double) is 8. This is true on many RISC machines. On
more traditional machine designs, __alignof__ (double) is 4 or even 2.
Some machines never actually require alignment; they allow references to any data type
even at an odd address. For these machines, __alignof__ reports the smallest alignment
that GCC gives the data type, usually as mandated by the target ABI.
If the operand of __alignof__ is an lvalue rather than a type, its value is the required
alignment for its type, taking into account any minimum alignment specified by attribute
aligned (see Section 6.34.1 [Common Variable Attributes], page 633). For example, after
this declaration:
struct foo { int x; char y; } foo1;
the value of __alignof__ (foo1.y) is 1, even though its actual alignment is probably 2 or
4, the same as __alignof__ (int). It is an error to ask for the alignment of an incomplete
type other than void.
If the operand of the __alignof__ expression is a function, the expression evaluates to the
alignment of the function which may be specified by attribute aligned (see Section 6.33.1
[Common Function Attributes], page 567).
664 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.45 An Inline Function is As Fast As a Macro

By declaring a function inline, you can direct GCC to make calls to that function faster. One
way GCC can achieve this is to integrate that function’s code into the code for its callers.
This makes execution faster by eliminating the function-call overhead; in addition, if any of
the actual argument values are constant, their known values may permit simplifications at
compile time so that not all of the inline function’s code needs to be included. The effect
on code size is less predictable; object code may be larger or smaller with function inlining,
depending on the particular case. You can also direct GCC to try to integrate all “simple
enough” functions into their callers with the option ‘-finline-functions’.
GCC implements three different semantics of declaring a function inline. One is available
with ‘-std=gnu89’ or ‘-fgnu89-inline’ or when gnu_inline attribute is present on all
inline declarations, another when ‘-std=c99’, ‘-std=gnu99’ or an option for a later C version
is used (without ‘-fgnu89-inline’), and the third is used when compiling C++.
To declare a function inline, use the inline keyword in its declaration, like this:
static inline int
inc (int *a)
{
return (*a)++;
}
If you are writing a header file to be included in ISO C90 programs, write __inline__
instead of inline. See Section 6.48 [Alternate Keywords], page 721.
The three types of inlining behave similarly in two important cases: when the inline
keyword is used on a static function, like the example above, and when a function is first
declared without using the inline keyword and then is defined with inline, like this:
extern int inc (int *a);
inline int
inc (int *a)
{
return (*a)++;
}
In both of these common cases, the program behaves the same as if you had not used the
inline keyword, except for its speed.
When a function is both inline and static, if all calls to the function are integrated into
the caller, and the function’s address is never used, then the function’s own assembler code is
never referenced. In this case, GCC does not actually output assembler code for the function,
unless you specify the option ‘-fkeep-inline-functions’. If there is a nonintegrated call,
then the function is compiled to assembler code as usual. The function must also be compiled
as usual if the program refers to its address, because that cannot be inlined.
Note that certain usages in a function definition can make it unsuitable for inline substitu-
tion. Among these usages are: variadic functions, use of alloca, use of computed goto (see
Section 6.3 [Labels as Values], page 542), use of nonlocal goto, use of nested functions, use
of setjmp, use of __builtin_longjmp and use of __builtin_return or __builtin_apply_
args. Using ‘-Winline’ warns when a function marked inline could not be substituted,
and gives the reason for the failure.
As required by ISO C++, GCC considers member functions defined within the body of a
class to be marked inline even if they are not explicitly declared with the inline keyword.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 665

You can override this with ‘-fno-default-inline’; see Section 3.5 [Options Controlling
C++ Dialect], page 52.
GCC does not inline any functions when not optimizing unless you specify the
‘always_inline’ attribute for the function, like this:
/* Prototype. */
inline void foo (const char) __attribute__((always_inline));
The remainder of this section is specific to GNU C90 inlining.
When an inline function is not static, then the compiler must assume that there may be
calls from other source files; since a global symbol can be defined only once in any program,
the function must not be defined in the other source files, so the calls therein cannot be
integrated. Therefore, a non-static inline function is always compiled on its own in the
usual fashion.
If you specify both inline and extern in the function definition, then the definition is
used only for inlining. In no case is the function compiled on its own, not even if you refer
to its address explicitly. Such an address becomes an external reference, as if you had only
declared the function, and had not defined it.
This combination of inline and extern has almost the effect of a macro. The way to use
it is to put a function definition in a header file with these keywords, and put another copy
of the definition (lacking inline and extern) in a library file. The definition in the header
file causes most calls to the function to be inlined. If any uses of the function remain, they
refer to the single copy in the library.

6.46 When is a Volatile Object Accessed?

C has the concept of volatile objects. These are normally accessed by pointers and used
for accessing hardware or inter-thread communication. The standard encourages compilers
to refrain from optimizations concerning accesses to volatile objects, but leaves it imple-
mentation defined as to what constitutes a volatile access. The minimum requirement is
that at a sequence point all previous accesses to volatile objects have stabilized and no
subsequent accesses have occurred. Thus an implementation is free to reorder and combine
volatile accesses that occur between sequence points, but cannot do so for accesses across a
sequence point. The use of volatile does not allow you to violate the restriction on updating
objects multiple times between two sequence points.
Accesses to non-volatile objects are not ordered with respect to volatile accesses. You
cannot use a volatile object as a memory barrier to order a sequence of writes to non-volatile
memory. For instance:
int *ptr = something;
volatile int vobj;
*ptr = something;
vobj = 1;
Unless *ptr and vobj can be aliased, it is not guaranteed that the write to *ptr occurs by
the time the update of vobj happens. If you need this guarantee, you must use a stronger
memory barrier such as:
int *ptr = something;
volatile int vobj;
*ptr = something;
asm volatile ("" : : : "memory");
666 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vobj = 1;
A scalar volatile object is read when it is accessed in a void context:
volatile int *src = somevalue;
*src;
Such expressions are rvalues, and GCC implements this as a read of the volatile object
being pointed to.
Assignments are also expressions and have an rvalue. However when assigning to a scalar
volatile, the volatile object is not reread, regardless of whether the assignment expression’s
rvalue is used or not. If the assignment’s rvalue is used, the value is that assigned to the
volatile object. For instance, there is no read of vobj in all the following cases:
int obj;
volatile int vobj;
vobj = something;
obj = vobj = something;
obj ? vobj = onething : vobj = anotherthing;
obj = (something, vobj = anotherthing);
If you need to read the volatile object after an assignment has occurred, you must use a
separate expression with an intervening sequence point.
As bit-fields are not individually addressable, volatile bit-fields may be implicitly read
when written to, or when adjacent bit-fields are accessed. Bit-field operations may be
optimized such that adjacent bit-fields are only partially accessed, if they straddle a storage
unit boundary. For these reasons it is unwise to use volatile bit-fields to access hardware.

6.47 How to Use Inline Assembly Language in C Code

The asm keyword allows you to embed assembler instructions within C code. GCC provides
two forms of inline asm statements. A basic asm statement is one with no operands (see
Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666), while an extended asm statement (see Section 6.47.2
[Extended Asm], page 668) includes one or more operands. The extended form is preferred
for mixing C and assembly language within a function, but to include assembly language
at top level you must use basic asm.
You can also use the asm keyword to override the assembler name for a C symbol, or to
place a C variable in a specific register.

6.47.1 Basic Asm — Assembler Instructions Without Operands

A basic asm statement has the following syntax:
asm asm-qualifiers ( AssemblerInstructions )
For the C language, the asm keyword is a GNU extension. When writing C code that
can be compiled with ‘-ansi’ and the ‘-std’ options that select C dialects without GNU
extensions, use __asm__ instead of asm (see Section 6.48 [Alternate Keywords], page 721).
For the C++ language, asm is a standard keyword, but __asm__ can be used for code compiled
with ‘-fno-asm’.

Qualifiers
volatile The optional volatile qualifier has no effect. All basic asm blocks are implicitly
volatile.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 667

inline If you use the inline qualifier, then for inlining purposes the size of the asm
statement is taken as the smallest size possible (see Section 6.47.6 [Size of an
asm], page 720).

Parameters
AssemblerInstructions
This is a literal string that specifies the assembler code. The string can contain
any instructions recognized by the assembler, including directives. GCC does
not parse the assembler instructions themselves and does not know what they
mean or even whether they are valid assembler input.
You may place multiple assembler instructions together in a single asm string,
separated by the characters normally used in assembly code for the system. A
combination that works in most places is a newline to break the line, plus a
tab character (written as ‘\n\t’). Some assemblers allow semicolons as a line
separator. However, note that some assembler dialects use semicolons to start
a comment.

Remarks
Using extended asm (see Section 6.47.2 [Extended Asm], page 668) typically produces
smaller, safer, and more efficient code, and in most cases it is a better solution than basic
asm. However, there are two situations where only basic asm can be used:
• Extended asm statements have to be inside a C function, so to write inline assembly
language at file scope (“top-level”), outside of C functions, you must use basic asm. You
can use this technique to emit assembler directives, define assembly language macros
that can be invoked elsewhere in the file, or write entire functions in assembly language.
Basic asm statements outside of functions may not use any qualifiers.
• Functions declared with the naked attribute also require basic asm (see Section 6.33
[Function Attributes], page 566).
Safely accessing C data and calling functions from basic asm is more complex than it may
appear. To access C data, it is better to use extended asm.
Do not expect a sequence of asm statements to remain perfectly consecutive after compila-
tion. If certain instructions need to remain consecutive in the output, put them in a single
multi-instruction asm statement. Note that GCC’s optimizers can move asm statements
relative to other code, including across jumps.
asm statements may not perform jumps into other asm statements. GCC does not know
about these jumps, and therefore cannot take account of them when deciding how to opti-
mize. Jumps from asm to C labels are only supported in extended asm.
Under certain circumstances, GCC may duplicate (or remove duplicates of) your assem-
bly code when optimizing. This can lead to unexpected duplicate symbol errors during
compilation if your assembly code defines symbols or labels.
Warning: The C standards do not specify semantics for asm, making it a potential source
of incompatibilities between compilers. These incompatibilities may not produce compiler
warnings/errors.
GCC does not parse basic asm’s AssemblerInstructions, which means there is no way to
communicate to the compiler what is happening inside them. GCC has no visibility of
668 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

symbols in the asm and may discard them as unreferenced. It also does not know about
side effects of the assembler code, such as modifications to memory or registers. Unlike
some compilers, GCC assumes that no changes to general purpose registers occur. This
assumption may change in a future release.
To avoid complications from future changes to the semantics and the compatibility issues
between compilers, consider replacing basic asm with extended asm. See How to convert
from basic asm to extended asm for information about how to perform this conversion.
The compiler copies the assembler instructions in a basic asm verbatim to the assembly
language output file, without processing dialects or any of the ‘%’ operators that are available
with extended asm. This results in minor differences between basic asm strings and extended
asm templates. For example, to refer to registers you might use ‘%eax’ in basic asm and
‘%%eax’ in extended asm.
On targets such as x86 that support multiple assembler dialects, all basic asm blocks
use the assembler dialect specified by the ‘-masm’ command-line option (see Section 3.19.54
[x86 Options], page 473). Basic asm provides no mechanism to provide different assembler
strings for different dialects.
For basic asm with non-empty assembler string GCC assumes the assembler block does
not change any general purpose registers, but it may read or write any globally accessible
variable.
Here is an example of basic asm for i386:
/* Note that this code will not compile with -masm=intel */
#define DebugBreak() asm("int $3")

6.47.2 Extended Asm - Assembler Instructions with C Expression

Operands
With extended asm you can read and write C variables from assembler and perform jumps
from assembler code to C labels. Extended asm syntax uses colons (‘:’) to delimit the
operand parameters after the assembler template:
asm asm-qualifiers ( AssemblerTemplate
: OutputOperands
[ : InputOperands
[ : Clobbers ] ])

asm asm-qualifiers ( AssemblerTemplate

: OutputOperands
: InputOperands
: Clobbers
: GotoLabels)
where in the last form, asm-qualifiers contains goto (and in the first form, not).
The asm keyword is a GNU extension. When writing code that can be compiled with
‘-ansi’ and the various ‘-std’ options, use __asm__ instead of asm (see Section 6.48 [Alter-
nate Keywords], page 721).
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 669

Qualifiers
volatile The typical use of extended asm statements is to manipulate input values to
produce output values. However, your asm statements may also produce side
effects. If so, you may need to use the volatile qualifier to disable certain
optimizations. See [Volatile], page 670.
inline If you use the inline qualifier, then for inlining purposes the size of the asm
statement is taken as the smallest size possible (see Section 6.47.6 [Size of an
asm], page 720).
goto This qualifier informs the compiler that the asm statement may perform a jump
to one of the labels listed in the GotoLabels. See [GotoLabels], page 682.

Parameters
AssemblerTemplate
This is a literal string that is the template for the assembler code. It is a
combination of fixed text and tokens that refer to the input, output, and goto
parameters. See [AssemblerTemplate], page 672.
OutputOperands
A comma-separated list of the C variables modified by the instructions in
the AssemblerTemplate. An empty list is permitted. See [OutputOperands],
page 673.
InputOperands
A comma-separated list of C expressions read by the instructions in the
AssemblerTemplate. An empty list is permitted. See [InputOperands],
page 677.
Clobbers A comma-separated list of registers or other values changed by the
AssemblerTemplate, beyond those listed as outputs. An empty list is
permitted. See [Clobbers and Scratch Registers], page 679.
GotoLabels
When you are using the goto form of asm, this section contains the list of
all C labels to which the code in the AssemblerTemplate may jump. See
[GotoLabels], page 682.
asm statements may not perform jumps into other asm statements, only to the
listed GotoLabels. GCC’s optimizers do not know about other jumps; therefore
they cannot take account of them when deciding how to optimize.
The total number of input + output + goto operands is limited to 30.

Remarks
The asm statement allows you to include assembly instructions directly within C code.
This may help you to maximize performance in time-sensitive code or to access assembly
instructions that are not readily available to C programs.
Note that extended asm statements must be inside a function. Only basic asm may be
outside functions (see Section 6.47.1 [Basic Asm], page 666). Functions declared with the
naked attribute also require basic asm (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566).
670 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

While the uses of asm are many and varied, it may help to think of an asm statement as
a series of low-level instructions that convert input parameters to output parameters. So a
simple (if not particularly useful) example for i386 using asm might look like this:
int src = 1;
int dst;

asm ("mov %1, %0\n\t"

"add $1, %0"
: "=r" (dst)
: "r" (src));

printf("%d\n", dst);
This code copies src to dst and add 1 to dst.

6.47.2.1 Volatile
GCC’s optimizers sometimes discard asm statements if they determine there is no need for
the output variables. Also, the optimizers may move code out of loops if they believe that
the code will always return the same result (i.e. none of its input values change between
calls). Using the volatile qualifier disables these optimizations. asm statements that have
no output operands and asm goto statements, are implicitly volatile.
This i386 code demonstrates a case that does not use (or require) the volatile quali-
fier. If it is performing assertion checking, this code uses asm to perform the validation.
Otherwise, dwRes is unreferenced by any code. As a result, the optimizers can discard the
asm statement, which in turn removes the need for the entire DoCheck routine. By omitting
the volatile qualifier when it isn’t needed you allow the optimizers to produce the most
efficient code possible.
void DoCheck(uint32_t dwSomeValue)
{
uint32_t dwRes;

// Assumes dwSomeValue is not zero.

asm ("bsfl %1,%0"
: "=r" (dwRes)
: "r" (dwSomeValue)
: "cc");

assert(dwRes > 3);

}
The next example shows a case where the optimizers can recognize that the input
(dwSomeValue) never changes during the execution of the function and can therefore move
the asm outside the loop to produce more efficient code. Again, using the volatile qualifier
disables this type of optimization.
void do_print(uint32_t dwSomeValue)
{
uint32_t dwRes;
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 671

for (uint32_t x=0; x < 5; x++)

{
// Assumes dwSomeValue is not zero.
asm ("bsfl %1,%0"
: "=r" (dwRes)
: "r" (dwSomeValue)
: "cc");

printf("%u: %u %u\n", x, dwSomeValue, dwRes);

}
}
The following example demonstrates a case where you need to use the volatile qualifier.
It uses the x86 rdtsc instruction, which reads the computer’s time-stamp counter. Without
the volatile qualifier, the optimizers might assume that the asm block will always return
the same value and therefore optimize away the second call.
uint64_t msr;

asm volatile ( "rdtsc\n\t" // Returns the time in EDX:EAX.

"shl $32, %%rdx\n\t" // Shift the upper bits left.
"or %%rdx, %0" // ’Or’ in the lower bits.
: "=a" (msr)
:
: "rdx");

printf("msr: %llx\n", msr);

// Do other work...

// Reprint the timestamp

asm volatile ( "rdtsc\n\t" // Returns the time in EDX:EAX.
"shl $32, %%rdx\n\t" // Shift the upper bits left.
"or %%rdx, %0" // ’Or’ in the lower bits.
: "=a" (msr)
:
: "rdx");

printf("msr: %llx\n", msr);

GCC’s optimizers do not treat this code like the non-volatile code in the earlier examples.
They do not move it out of loops or omit it on the assumption that the result from a previous
call is still valid.
Note that the compiler can move even volatile asm instructions relative to other code,
including across jump instructions. For example, on many targets there is a system register
that controls the rounding mode of floating-point operations. Setting it with a volatile
asm statement, as in the following PowerPC example, does not work reliably.
asm volatile("mtfsf 255, %0" : : "f" (fpenv));
672 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

sum = x + y;
The compiler may move the addition back before the volatile asm statement. To make
it work as expected, add an artificial dependency to the asm by referencing a variable in
the subsequent code, for example:
asm volatile ("mtfsf 255,%1" : "=X" (sum) : "f" (fpenv));
sum = x + y;
Under certain circumstances, GCC may duplicate (or remove duplicates of) your assembly
code when optimizing. This can lead to unexpected duplicate symbol errors during com-
pilation if your asm code defines symbols or labels. Using ‘%=’ (see [AssemblerTemplate],
page 672) may help resolve this problem.

6.47.2.2 Assembler Template

An assembler template is a literal string containing assembler instructions. The compiler
replaces tokens in the template that refer to inputs, outputs, and goto labels, and then
outputs the resulting string to the assembler. The string can contain any instructions
recognized by the assembler, including directives. GCC does not parse the assembler in-
structions themselves and does not know what they mean or even whether they are valid
assembler input. However, it does count the statements (see Section 6.47.6 [Size of an asm],
page 720).
You may place multiple assembler instructions together in a single asm string, separated
by the characters normally used in assembly code for the system. A combination that works
in most places is a newline to break the line, plus a tab character to move to the instruction
field (written as ‘\n\t’). Some assemblers allow semicolons as a line separator. However,
note that some assembler dialects use semicolons to start a comment.
Do not expect a sequence of asm statements to remain perfectly consecutive after com-
pilation, even when you are using the volatile qualifier. If certain instructions need to
remain consecutive in the output, put them in a single multi-instruction asm statement.
Accessing data from C programs without using input/output operands (such as by using
global symbols directly from the assembler template) may not work as expected. Similarly,
calling functions directly from an assembler template requires a detailed understanding of
the target assembler and ABI.
Since GCC does not parse the assembler template, it has no visibility of any symbols it
references. This may result in GCC discarding those symbols as unreferenced unless they
are also listed as input, output, or goto operands.

Special format strings

In addition to the tokens described by the input, output, and goto operands, these tokens
have special meanings in the assembler template:
‘%%’ Outputs a single ‘%’ into the assembler code.
‘%=’ Outputs a number that is unique to each instance of the asm statement in the
entire compilation. This option is useful when creating local labels and referring
to them multiple times in a single template that generates multiple assembler
instructions.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 673

‘%{’
‘%|’
‘%}’ Outputs ‘{’, ‘|’, and ‘}’ characters (respectively) into the assembler code. When
unescaped, these characters have special meaning to indicate multiple assembler
dialects, as described below.

Multiple assembler dialects in asm templates

On targets such as x86, GCC supports multiple assembler dialects. The ‘-masm’ option
controls which dialect GCC uses as its default for inline assembler. The target-specific
documentation for the ‘-masm’ option contains the list of supported dialects, as well as
the default dialect if the option is not specified. This information may be important to
understand, since assembler code that works correctly when compiled using one dialect will
likely fail if compiled using another. See Section 3.19.54 [x86 Options], page 473.
If your code needs to support multiple assembler dialects (for example, if you are writing
public headers that need to support a variety of compilation options), use constructs of this
form:
{ dialect0 | dialect1 | dialect2... }
This construct outputs dialect0 when using dialect #0 to compile the code, dialect1
for dialect #1, etc. If there are fewer alternatives within the braces than the number of
dialects the compiler supports, the construct outputs nothing.
For example, if an x86 compiler supports two dialects (‘att’, ‘intel’), an assembler
template such as this:
"bt{l %[Offset],%[Base] | %[Base],%[Offset]}; jc %l2"
is equivalent to one of
"btl %[Offset],%[Base] ; jc %l2" /* att dialect */
"bt %[Base],%[Offset]; jc %l2" /* intel dialect */
Using that same compiler, this code:
"xchg{l}\t{%%}ebx, %1"
corresponds to either
"xchgl\t%%ebx, %1" /* att dialect */
"xchg\tebx, %1" /* intel dialect */
There is no support for nesting dialect alternatives.

6.47.2.3 Output Operands

An asm statement has zero or more output operands indicating the names of C variables
modified by the assembler code.
In this i386 example, old (referred to in the template string as %0) and *Base (as %1) are
outputs and Offset (%2) is an input:
bool old;

__asm__ ("btsl %2,%1\n\t" // Turn on zero-based bit #Offset in Base.

"sbb %0,%0" // Use the CF to calculate old.
: "=r" (old), "+rm" (*Base)
674 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

: "Ir" (Offset)
: "cc");

return old;
Operands are separated by commas. Each operand has this format:
[ [asmSymbolicName] ] constraint (cvariablename)
asmSymbolicName
Specifies a symbolic name for the operand. Reference the name in the assembler
template by enclosing it in square brackets (i.e. ‘%[Value]’). The scope of the
name is the asm statement that contains the definition. Any valid C variable
name is acceptable, including names already defined in the surrounding code.
No two operands within the same asm statement can use the same symbolic
name.
When not using an asmSymbolicName, use the (zero-based) position of the
operand in the list of operands in the assembler template. For example if there
are three output operands, use ‘%0’ in the template to refer to the first, ‘%1’ for
the second, and ‘%2’ for the third.
constraint A string constant specifying constraints on the placement of the operand; See
Section 6.47.3 [Constraints], page 687, for details.
Output constraints must begin with either ‘=’ (a variable overwriting an exist-
ing value) or ‘+’ (when reading and writing). When using ‘=’, do not assume
the location contains the existing value on entry to the asm, except when the
operand is tied to an input; see [Input Operands], page 677.
After the prefix, there must be one or more additional constraints (see
Section 6.47.3 [Constraints], page 687) that describe where the value resides.
Common constraints include ‘r’ for register and ‘m’ for memory. When you list
more than one possible location (for example, "=rm"), the compiler chooses
the most efficient one based on the current context. If you list as many
alternates as the asm statement allows, you permit the optimizers to produce
the best possible code. If you must use a specific register, but your Machine
Constraints do not provide sufficient control to select the specific register you
want, local register variables may provide a solution (see Section 6.47.5.2
[Local Register Variables], page 719).
cvariablename
Specifies a C lvalue expression to hold the output, typically a variable name.
The enclosing parentheses are a required part of the syntax.
When the compiler selects the registers to use to represent the output operands, it does
not use any of the clobbered registers (see [Clobbers and Scratch Registers], page 679).
Output operand expressions must be lvalues. The compiler cannot check whether the
operands have data types that are reasonable for the instruction being executed. For output
expressions that are not directly addressable (for example a bit-field), the constraint must
allow a register. In that case, GCC uses the register as the output of the asm, and then
stores that register into the output.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 675

Operands using the ‘+’ constraint modifier count as two operands (that is, both as input
and output) towards the total maximum of 30 operands per asm statement.
Use the ‘&’ constraint modifier (see Section 6.47.3.3 [Modifiers], page 690) on all output
operands that must not overlap an input. Otherwise, GCC may allocate the output operand
in the same register as an unrelated input operand, on the assumption that the assembler
code consumes its inputs before producing outputs. This assumption may be false if the
assembler code actually consists of more than one instruction.
The same problem can occur if one output parameter (a) allows a register constraint
and another output parameter (b) allows a memory constraint. The code generated by
GCC to access the memory address in b can contain registers which might be shared by a,
and GCC considers those registers to be inputs to the asm. As above, GCC assumes that
such input registers are consumed before any outputs are written. This assumption may
result in incorrect behavior if the asm statement writes to a before using b. Combining the
‘&’ modifier with the register constraint on a ensures that modifying a does not affect the
address referenced by b. Otherwise, the location of b is undefined if a is modified before
using b.
asm supports operand modifiers on operands (for example ‘%k2’ instead of simply ‘%2’).
Typically these qualifiers are hardware dependent. The list of supported modifiers for x86
is found at [x86Operandmodifiers], page 684.
If the C code that follows the asm makes no use of any of the output operands, use
volatile for the asm statement to prevent the optimizers from discarding the asm statement
as unneeded (see [Volatile], page 670).
This code makes no use of the optional asmSymbolicName. Therefore it references the
first output operand as %0 (were there a second, it would be %1, etc). The number of the
first input operand is one greater than that of the last output operand. In this i386 example,
that makes Mask referenced as %1:
uint32_t Mask = 1234;
uint32_t Index;

asm ("bsfl %1, %0"

: "=r" (Index)
: "r" (Mask)
: "cc");
That code overwrites the variable Index (‘=’), placing the value in a register (‘r’). Using
the generic ‘r’ constraint instead of a constraint for a specific register allows the compiler
to pick the register to use, which can result in more efficient code. This may not be possible
if an assembler instruction requires a specific register.
The following i386 example uses the asmSymbolicName syntax. It produces the same
result as the code above, but some may consider it more readable or more maintainable
since reordering index numbers is not necessary when adding or removing operands. The
names aIndex and aMask are only used in this example to emphasize which names get used
where. It is acceptable to reuse the names Index and Mask.
uint32_t Mask = 1234;
uint32_t Index;
676 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

asm ("bsfl %[aMask], %[aIndex]"

: [aIndex] "=r" (Index)
: [aMask] "r" (Mask)
: "cc");
Here are some more examples of output operands.
uint32_t c = 1;
uint32_t d;
uint32_t *e = &c;

asm ("mov %[e], %[d]"

: [d] "=rm" (d)
: [e] "rm" (*e));
Here, d may either be in a register or in memory. Since the compiler might already have
the current value of the uint32_t location pointed to by e in a register, you can enable it
to choose the best location for d by specifying both constraints.

6.47.2.4 Flag Output Operands

Some targets have a special register that holds the “flags” for the result of an operation or
comparison. Normally, the contents of that register are either unmodifed by the asm, or
the asm statement is considered to clobber the contents.
On some targets, a special form of output operand exists by which conditions in the flags
register may be outputs of the asm. The set of conditions supported are target specific, but
the general rule is that the output variable must be a scalar integer, and the value is boolean.
When supported, the target defines the preprocessor symbol __GCC_ASM_FLAG_OUTPUTS__.
Because of the special nature of the flag output operands, the constraint may not include
alternatives.
Most often, the target has only one flags register, and thus is an implied operand of
many instructions. In this case, the operand should not be referenced within the assembler
template via %0 etc, as there’s no corresponding text in the assembly language.
ARM
AArch64 The flag output constraints for the ARM family are of the form ‘=@cccond’
where cond is one of the standard conditions defined in the ARM ARM for
ConditionHolds.
eq Z flag set, or equal
ne Z flag clear or not equal
cs
hs C flag set or unsigned greater than equal
cc
lo C flag clear or unsigned less than
mi N flag set or “minus”
pl N flag clear or “plus”
vs V flag set or signed overflow
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 677

vc V flag clear
hi unsigned greater than
ls unsigned less than equal
ge signed greater than equal
lt signed less than
gt signed greater than
le signed less than equal
The flag output constraints are not supported in thumb1 mode.
x86 family The flag output constraints for the x86 family are of the form ‘=@cccond’ where
cond is one of the standard conditions defined in the ISA manual for jcc or
setcc.
a “above” or unsigned greater than
ae “above or equal” or unsigned greater than or equal
b “below” or unsigned less than
be “below or equal” or unsigned less than or equal
c carry flag set
e
z “equal” or zero flag set
g signed greater than
ge signed greater than or equal
l signed less than
le signed less than or equal
o overflow flag set
p parity flag set
s sign flag set
na
nae
nb
nbe
nc
ne
ng
nge
nl
nle
no
np
ns
nz “not” flag, or inverted versions of those above
678 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.47.2.5 Input Operands

Input operands make values from C variables and expressions available to the assembly
code.
Operands are separated by commas. Each operand has this format:
[ [asmSymbolicName] ] constraint (cexpression)
asmSymbolicName
Specifies a symbolic name for the operand. Reference the name in the assembler
template by enclosing it in square brackets (i.e. ‘%[Value]’). The scope of the
name is the asm statement that contains the definition. Any valid C variable
name is acceptable, including names already defined in the surrounding code.
No two operands within the same asm statement can use the same symbolic
name.
When not using an asmSymbolicName, use the (zero-based) position of the
operand in the list of operands in the assembler template. For example if there
are two output operands and three inputs, use ‘%2’ in the template to refer to
the first input operand, ‘%3’ for the second, and ‘%4’ for the third.
constraint A string constant specifying constraints on the placement of the operand; See
Section 6.47.3 [Constraints], page 687, for details.
Input constraint strings may not begin with either ‘=’ or ‘+’. When you list
more than one possible location (for example, ‘"irm"’), the compiler chooses
the most efficient one based on the current context. If you must use a specific
register, but your Machine Constraints do not provide sufficient control to select
the specific register you want, local register variables may provide a solution
(see Section 6.47.5.2 [Local Register Variables], page 719).
Input constraints can also be digits (for example, "0"). This indicates that
the specified input must be in the same place as the output constraint at the
(zero-based) index in the output constraint list. When using asmSymbolicName
syntax for the output operands, you may use these names (enclosed in brackets
‘[]’) instead of digits.
cexpression
This is the C variable or expression being passed to the asm statement as input.
The enclosing parentheses are a required part of the syntax.
When the compiler selects the registers to use to represent the input operands, it does
not use any of the clobbered registers (see [Clobbers and Scratch Registers], page 679).
If there are no output operands but there are input operands, place two consecutive colons
where the output operands would go:
__asm__ ("some instructions"
: /* No outputs. */
: "r" (Offset / 8));
Warning: Do not modify the contents of input-only operands (except for inputs tied
to outputs). The compiler assumes that on exit from the asm statement these operands
contain the same values as they had before executing the statement. It is not possible
to use clobbers to inform the compiler that the values in these inputs are changing. One
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 679

common work-around is to tie the changing input variable to an output variable that never
gets used. Note, however, that if the code that follows the asm statement makes no use
of any of the output operands, the GCC optimizers may discard the asm statement as
unneeded (see [Volatile], page 670).
asm supports operand modifiers on operands (for example ‘%k2’ instead of simply ‘%2’).
Typically these qualifiers are hardware dependent. The list of supported modifiers for x86
is found at [x86Operandmodifiers], page 684.
In this example using the fictitious combine instruction, the constraint "0" for input
operand 1 says that it must occupy the same location as output operand 0. Only input
operands may use numbers in constraints, and they must each refer to an output operand.
Only a number (or the symbolic assembler name) in the constraint can guarantee that one
operand is in the same place as another. The mere fact that foo is the value of both operands
is not enough to guarantee that they are in the same place in the generated assembler code.
asm ("combine %2, %0"
: "=r" (foo)
: "0" (foo), "g" (bar));
Here is an example using symbolic names.
asm ("cmoveq %1, %2, %[result]"
: [result] "=r"(result)
: "r" (test), "r" (new), "[result]" (old));

6.47.2.6 Clobbers and Scratch Registers

While the compiler is aware of changes to entries listed in the output operands, the inline
asm code may modify more than just the outputs. For example, calculations may require
additional registers, or the processor may overwrite a register as a side effect of a particular
assembler instruction. In order to inform the compiler of these changes, list them in the
clobber list. Clobber list items are either register names or the special clobbers (listed
below). Each clobber list item is a string constant enclosed in double quotes and separated
by commas.
Clobber descriptions may not in any way overlap with an input or output operand. For
example, you may not have an operand describing a register class with one member when
listing that register in the clobber list. Variables declared to live in specific registers (see
Section 6.47.5 [Explicit Register Variables], page 718) and used as asm input or output
operands must have no part mentioned in the clobber description. In particular, there is
no way to specify that input operands get modified without also specifying them as output
operands.
When the compiler selects which registers to use to represent input and output operands,
it does not use any of the clobbered registers. As a result, clobbered registers are available
for any use in the assembler code.
Another restriction is that the clobber list should not contain the stack pointer register.
This is because the compiler requires the value of the stack pointer to be the same after
an asm statement as it was on entry to the statement. However, previous versions of GCC
did not enforce this rule and allowed the stack pointer to appear in the list, with unclear
semantics. This behavior is deprecated and listing the stack pointer may become an error
in future versions of GCC.
680 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Here is a realistic example for the VAX showing the use of clobbered registers:
asm volatile ("movc3 %0, %1, %2"
: /* No outputs. */
: "g" (from), "g" (to), "g" (count)
: "r0", "r1", "r2", "r3", "r4", "r5", "memory");
Also, there are two special clobber arguments:
"cc" The "cc" clobber indicates that the assembler code modifies the flags register.
On some machines, GCC represents the condition codes as a specific hardware
register; "cc" serves to name this register. On other machines, condition code
handling is different, and specifying "cc" has no effect. But it is valid no matter
what the target.
"memory" The "memory" clobber tells the compiler that the assembly code performs mem-
ory reads or writes to items other than those listed in the input and output
operands (for example, accessing the memory pointed to by one of the input
parameters). To ensure memory contains correct values, GCC may need to
flush specific register values to memory before executing the asm. Further, the
compiler does not assume that any values read from memory before an asm re-
main unchanged after that asm; it reloads them as needed. Using the "memory"
clobber effectively forms a read/write memory barrier for the compiler.
Note that this clobber does not prevent the processor from doing speculative
reads past the asm statement. To prevent that, you need processor-specific
fence instructions.
Flushing registers to memory has performance implications and may be an issue for time-
sensitive code. You can provide better information to GCC to avoid this, as shown in the
following examples. At a minimum, aliasing rules allow GCC to know what memory doesn’t
need to be flushed.
Here is a fictitious sum of squares instruction, that takes two pointers to floating point
values in memory and produces a floating point register output. Notice that x, and y both
appear twice in the asm parameters, once to specify memory accessed, and once to specify
a base register used by the asm. You won’t normally be wasting a register by doing this as
GCC can use the same register for both purposes. However, it would be foolish to use both
%1 and %3 for x in this asm and expect them to be the same. In fact, %3 may well not be a
register. It might be a symbolic memory reference to the object pointed to by x.
asm ("sumsq %0, %1, %2"
: "+f" (result)
: "r" (x), "r" (y), "m" (*x), "m" (*y));
Here is a fictitious *z++ = *x++ * *y++ instruction. Notice that the x, y and z pointer
registers must be specified as input/output because the asm modifies them.
asm ("vecmul %0, %1, %2"
: "+r" (z), "+r" (x), "+r" (y), "=m" (*z)
: "m" (*x), "m" (*y));
An x86 example where the string memory argument is of unknown length.
asm("repne scasb"
: "=c" (count), "+D" (p)
: "m" (*(const char (*)[]) p), "0" (-1), "a" (0));
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 681

If you know the above will only be reading a ten byte array then you could instead use
a memory input like: "m" (*(const char (*)[10]) p).
Here is an example of a PowerPC vector scale implemented in assembly, complete with
vector and condition code clobbers, and some initialized offset registers that are unchanged
by the asm.
void
dscal (size_t n, double *x, double alpha)
{
asm ("/* lots of asm here */"
: "+m" (*(double (*)[n]) x), "+&r" (n), "+b" (x)
: "d" (alpha), "b" (32), "b" (48), "b" (64),
"b" (80), "b" (96), "b" (112)
: "cr0",
"vs32","vs33","vs34","vs35","vs36","vs37","vs38","vs39",
"vs40","vs41","vs42","vs43","vs44","vs45","vs46","vs47");
}
Rather than allocating fixed registers via clobbers to provide scratch registers for an asm
statement, an alternative is to define a variable and make it an early-clobber output as with
a2 and a3 in the example below. This gives the compiler register allocator more freedom.
You can also define a variable and make it an output tied to an input as with a0 and a1,
tied respectively to ap and lda. Of course, with tied outputs your asm can’t use the input
value after modifying the output register since they are one and the same register. What’s
more, if you omit the early-clobber on the output, it is possible that GCC might allocate
the same register to another of the inputs if GCC could prove they had the same value on
entry to the asm. This is why a1 has an early-clobber. Its tied input, lda might conceivably
be known to have the value 16 and without an early-clobber share the same register as %11.
On the other hand, ap can’t be the same as any of the other inputs, so an early-clobber
on a0 is not needed. It is also not desirable in this case. An early-clobber on a0 would
cause GCC to allocate a separate register for the "m" (*(const double (*)[]) ap) input.
Note that tying an input to an output is the way to set up an initialized temporary register
modified by an asm statement. An input not tied to an output is assumed by GCC to be
unchanged, for example "b" (16) below sets up %11 to 16, and GCC might use that register
in following code if the value 16 happened to be needed. You can even use a normal asm
output for a scratch if all inputs that might share the same register are consumed before
the scratch is used. The VSX registers clobbered by the asm statement could have used this
technique except for GCC’s limit on the number of asm parameters.
static void
dgemv_kernel_4x4 (long n, const double *ap, long lda,
const double *x, double *y, double alpha)
{
double *a0;
double *a1;
double *a2;
double *a3;

__asm__
(
/* lots of asm here */
"#n=%1 ap=%8=%12 lda=%13 x=%7=%10 y=%0=%2 alpha=%9 o16=%11\n"
"#a0=%3 a1=%4 a2=%5 a3=%6"
:
682 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

"+m" (*(double (*)[n]) y),

"+&r" (n), // 1
"+b" (y), // 2
"=b" (a0), // 3
"=&b" (a1), // 4
"=&b" (a2), // 5
"=&b" (a3) // 6
:
"m" (*(const double (*)[n]) x),
"m" (*(const double (*)[]) ap),
"d" (alpha), // 9
"r" (x), // 10
"b" (16), // 11
"3" (ap), // 12
"4" (lda) // 13
:
"cr0",
"vs32","vs33","vs34","vs35","vs36","vs37",
"vs40","vs41","vs42","vs43","vs44","vs45","vs46","vs47"
);
}

6.47.2.7 Goto Labels

asm goto allows assembly code to jump to one or more C labels. The GotoLabels section
in an asm goto statement contains a comma-separated list of all C labels to which the
assembler code may jump. GCC assumes that asm execution falls through to the next
statement (if this is not the case, consider using the __builtin_unreachable intrinsic
after the asm statement). Optimization of asm goto may be improved by using the hot and
cold label attributes (see Section 6.36 [Label Attributes], page 656).
If the assembler code does modify anything, use the "memory" clobber to force the op-
timizers to flush all register values to memory and reload them if necessary after the asm
statement.
Also note that an asm goto statement is always implicitly considered volatile.
Be careful when you set output operands inside asm goto only on some possible control
flow paths. If you don’t set up the output on given path and never use it on this path, it is
okay. Otherwise, you should use ‘+’ constraint modifier meaning that the operand is input
and output one. With this modifier you will have the correct values on all possible paths
from the asm goto.
To reference a label in the assembler template, prefix it with ‘%l’ (lowercase ‘L’) followed
by its (zero-based) position in GotoLabels plus the number of input and output operands.
Output operand with constraint modifier ‘+’ is counted as two operands because it is con-
sidered as one output and one input operand. For example, if the asm has three inputs,
one output operand with constraint modifier ‘+’ and one output operand with constraint
modifier ‘=’ and references two labels, refer to the first label as ‘%l6’ and the second as
‘%l7’).
Alternately, you can reference labels using the actual C label name enclosed in brackets.
For example, to reference a label named carry, you can use ‘%l[carry]’. The label must
still be listed in the GotoLabels section when using this approach. It is better to use the
named references for labels as in this case you can avoid counting input and output operands
and special treatment of output operands with constraint modifier ‘+’.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 683

Here is an example of asm goto for i386:

asm goto (
"btl %1, %0\n\t"
"jc %l2"
: /* No outputs. */
: "r" (p1), "r" (p2)
: "cc"
: carry);

return 0;

carry:
return 1;
The following example shows an asm goto that uses a memory clobber.
int frob(int x)
{
int y;
asm goto ("frob %%r5, %1; jc %l[error]; mov (%2), %%r5"
: /* No outputs. */
: "r"(x), "r"(&y)
: "r5", "memory"
: error);
return y;
error:
return -1;
}
The following example shows an asm goto that uses an output.
int foo(int count)
{
asm goto ("dec %0; jb %l[stop]"
: "+r" (count)
:
:
: stop);
return count;
stop:
return 0;
}
The following artificial example shows an asm goto that sets up an output only on one
path inside the asm goto. Usage of constraint modifier = instead of + would be wrong as
factor is used on all paths from the asm goto.
int foo(int inp)
{
int factor = 0;
asm goto ("cmp %1, 10; jb %l[lab]; mov 2, %0"
684 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

: "+r" (factor)
: "r" (inp)
:
: lab);
lab:
return inp * factor; /* return 2 * inp or 0 if inp < 10 */
}

6.47.2.8 x86 Operand Modifiers

References to input, output, and goto operands in the assembler template of extended asm
statements can use modifiers to affect the way the operands are formatted in the code
output to the assembler. For example, the following code uses the ‘h’ and ‘b’ modifiers for
x86:
uint16_t num;
asm volatile ("xchg %h0, %b0" : "+a" (num) );
These modifiers generate this assembler code:
xchg %ah, %al
The rest of this discussion uses the following code for illustrative purposes.
int main()
{
int iInt = 1;

top:

asm volatile goto ("some assembler instructions here"

: /* No outputs. */
: "q" (iInt), "X" (sizeof(unsigned char) + 1), "i" (42)
: /* No clobbers. */
: top);
}
With no modifiers, this is what the output from the operands would be for the ‘att’ and
‘intel’ dialects of assembler:

Operand ‘att’ ‘intel’

%0 %eax eax
%1 $2 2
%3 $.L3 OFFSET FLAT:.L3
%4 $8 8
%5 %xmm0 xmm0
%7 $0 0
The table below shows the list of supported modifiers and their effects.

Modifier Description Operand ‘att’ ‘intel’

A Print an absolute memory reference. %A0 *%rax rax
b Print the QImode name of the register. %b0 %al al
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 685

B print the opcode suffix of b. %B0 b

c Require a constant operand and print the %c1 2 2
constant expression with no punctuation.
d print duplicated register operand for AVX %d5 %xmm0, xmm0,
instruction. %xmm0 xmm0
E Print the address in Double Integer (DI- %E1 %(rax) [rax]
mode) mode (8 bytes) when the target
is 64-bit. Otherwise mode is unspecified
(VOIDmode).
g Print the V16SFmode name of the %g0 %zmm0 zmm0
register.
h Print the QImode name for a “high” %h0 %ah ah
register.
H Add 8 bytes to an offsettable memory ref- %H0 8(%rax)8[rax]
erence. Useful when accessing the high
8 bytes of SSE values. For a memref in
(%rax), it generates
k Print the SImode name of the register. %k0 %eax eax
l Print the label name with no %l3 .L3 .L3
punctuation.
L print the opcode suffix of l. %L0 l
N print maskz. %N7 {z} {z}
p Print raw symbol name (without syntax- %p2 42 42
specific prefixes).
P If used for a function, print the PLT suf-
fix and generate PIC code. For example,
emit foo@PLT instead of ’foo’ for the func-
tion foo(). If used for a constant, drop all
syntax-specific prefixes and issue the bare
constant. See p above.
q Print the DImode name of the register. %q0 %rax rax
Q print the opcode suffix of q. %Q0 q
R print embedded rounding and sae. %R4 {rn- , {rn-
sae}, sae}

r print only sae. %r4 {sae}, , {sae}

s print a shift double count, followed by the %s1 $2, 2,

assemblers argument delimiterprint the
opcode suffix of s.
S print the opcode suffix of s. %S0 s
t print the V8SFmode name of the register. %t5 %ymm0 ymm0
T print the opcode suffix of t. %T0 t
V print naked full integer register name %V0 eax eax
without %.
686 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

w Print the HImode name of the register. %w0 %ax ax

W print the opcode suffix of w. %W0 w
x print the V4SFmode name of the register. %x5 %xmm0 xmm0
y print "st(0)" instead of "st" as a register. %y6 %st(0) st(0)
z Print the opcode suffix for the size of the %z0 l
current integer operand (one of b/w/l/q).
Z Like z, with special suffixes for x87
instructions.

6.47.2.9 x86 Floating-Point asm Operands

On x86 targets, there are several rules on the usage of stack-like registers in the operands
of an asm. These rules apply only to the operands that are stack-like registers:
1. Given a set of input registers that die in an asm, it is necessary to know which are
implicitly popped by the asm, and which must be explicitly popped by GCC.
An input register that is implicitly popped by the asm must be explicitly clobbered,
unless it is constrained to match an output operand.
2. For any input register that is implicitly popped by an asm, it is necessary to know how
to adjust the stack to compensate for the pop. If any non-popped input is closer to
the top of the reg-stack than the implicitly popped register, it would not be possible to
know what the stack looked like—it’s not clear how the rest of the stack “slides up”.
All implicitly popped input registers must be closer to the top of the reg-stack than
any input that is not implicitly popped.
It is possible that if an input dies in an asm, the compiler might use the input register
for an output reload. Consider this example:
asm ("foo" : "=t" (a) : "f" (b));
This code says that input b is not popped by the asm, and that the asm pushes a result
onto the reg-stack, i.e., the stack is one deeper after the asm than it was before. But,
it is possible that reload may think that it can use the same register for both the input
and the output.
To prevent this from happening, if any input operand uses the ‘f’ constraint, all output
register constraints must use the ‘&’ early-clobber modifier.
The example above is correctly written as:
asm ("foo" : "=&t" (a) : "f" (b));
3. Some operands need to be in particular places on the stack. All output operands fall
in this category—GCC has no other way to know which registers the outputs appear
in unless you indicate this in the constraints.
Output operands must specifically indicate which register an output appears in after
an asm. ‘=f’ is not allowed: the operand constraints must select a class with a single
register.
4. Output operands may not be “inserted” between existing stack registers. Since no 387
opcode uses a read/write operand, all output operands are dead before the asm, and are
pushed by the asm. It makes no sense to push anywhere but the top of the reg-stack.
Output operands must start at the top of the reg-stack: output operands may not
“skip” a register.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 687

5. Some asm statements may need extra stack space for internal calculations. This can
be guaranteed by clobbering stack registers unrelated to the inputs and outputs.
This asm takes one input, which is internally popped, and produces two outputs.
asm ("fsincos" : "=t" (cos), "=u" (sin) : "0" (inp));
This asm takes two inputs, which are popped by the fyl2xp1 opcode, and replaces them
with one output. The st(1) clobber is necessary for the compiler to know that fyl2xp1
pops both inputs.
asm ("fyl2xp1" : "=t" (result) : "0" (x), "u" (y) : "st(1)");

6.47.2.10 MSP430 Operand Modifiers

The list below describes the supported modifiers and their effects for MSP430.

Modifier Description
A Select low 16-bits of the constant/register/memory operand.
B Select high 16-bits of the constant/register/memory operand.
C Select bits 32-47 of the constant/register/memory operand.
D Select bits 48-63 of the constant/register/memory operand.
H Equivalent to B (for backwards compatibility).
I Print the inverse (logical NOT) of the constant value.
J Print an integer without a # prefix.
L Equivalent to A (for backwards compatibility).
O Offset of the current frame from the top of the stack.
Q Use the A instruction postfix.
R Inverse of condition code, for unsigned comparisons.
W Subtract 16 from the constant value.
X Use the X instruction postfix.
Y Subtract 4 from the constant value.
Z Subtract 1 from the constant value.
b Append .B, .W or .A to the instruction, depending on the mode.
d Offset 1 byte of a memory reference or constant value.
e Offset 3 bytes of a memory reference or constant value.
f Offset 5 bytes of a memory reference or constant value.
g Offset 7 bytes of a memory reference or constant value.
p Print the value of 2, raised to the power of the given constant. Used to select
the specified bit position.
r Inverse of condition code, for signed comparisons.
x Equivialent to X, but only for pointers.

6.47.3 Constraints for asm Operands

Here are specific details on what constraint letters you can use with asm operands. Con-
straints can say whether an operand may be in a register, and which kinds of register;
whether the operand can be a memory reference, and which kinds of address; whether the
operand may be an immediate constant, and which possible values it may have. Constraints
can also require two operands to match. Side-effects aren’t allowed in operands of inline
asm, unless ‘<’ or ‘>’ constraints are used, because there is no guarantee that the side effects
will happen exactly once in an instruction that can update the addressing register.
688 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.47.3.1 Simple Constraints

The simplest kind of constraint is a string full of letters, each of which describes one kind
of operand that is permitted. Here are the letters that are allowed:
whitespace
Whitespace characters are ignored and can be inserted at any position except
the first. This enables each alternative for different operands to be visually
aligned in the machine description even if they have different number of con-
straints and modifiers.
‘m’ A memory operand is allowed, with any kind of address that the machine sup-
ports in general. Note that the letter used for the general memory constraint
can be re-defined by a back end using the TARGET_MEM_CONSTRAINT macro.
‘o’ A memory operand is allowed, but only if the address is offsettable. This
means that adding a small integer (actually, the width in bytes of the operand,
as determined by its machine mode) may be added to the address and the result
is also a valid memory address.
For example, an address which is constant is offsettable; so is an address that
is the sum of a register and a constant (as long as a slightly larger constant
is also within the range of address-offsets supported by the machine); but an
autoincrement or autodecrement address is not offsettable. More complicated
indirect/indexed addresses may or may not be offsettable depending on the
other addressing modes that the machine supports.
Note that in an output operand which can be matched by another operand,
the constraint letter ‘o’ is valid only when accompanied by both ‘<’ (if the
target machine has predecrement addressing) and ‘>’ (if the target machine has
preincrement addressing).
‘V’ A memory operand that is not offsettable. In other words, anything that would
fit the ‘m’ constraint but not the ‘o’ constraint.
‘<’ A memory operand with autodecrement addressing (either predecrement or
postdecrement) is allowed. In inline asm this constraint is only allowed if the
operand is used exactly once in an instruction that can handle the side effects.
Not using an operand with ‘<’ in constraint string in the inline asm pattern
at all or using it in multiple instructions isn’t valid, because the side effects
wouldn’t be performed or would be performed more than once. Furthermore,
on some targets the operand with ‘<’ in constraint string must be accompanied
by special instruction suffixes like %U0 instruction suffix on PowerPC or %P0 on
IA-64.
‘>’ A memory operand with autoincrement addressing (either preincrement or
postincrement) is allowed. In inline asm the same restrictions as for ‘<’ ap-
ply.
‘r’ A register operand is allowed provided that it is in a general register.
‘i’ An immediate integer operand (one with constant value) is allowed. This in-
cludes symbolic constants whose values will be known only at assembly time or
later.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 689

‘n’ An immediate integer operand with a known numeric value is allowed. Many
systems cannot support assembly-time constants for operands less than a word
wide. Constraints for these operands should use ‘n’ rather than ‘i’.
‘I’, ‘J’, ‘K’, . . . ‘P’
Other letters in the range ‘I’ through ‘P’ may be defined in a machine-dependent
fashion to permit immediate integer operands with explicit integer values in
specified ranges. For example, on the 68000, ‘I’ is defined to stand for the
range of values 1 to 8. This is the range permitted as a shift count in the shift
instructions.
‘E’ An immediate floating operand (expression code const_double) is allowed, but
only if the target floating point format is the same as that of the host machine
(on which the compiler is running).
‘F’ An immediate floating operand (expression code const_double or
const_vector) is allowed.
‘G’, ‘H’ ‘G’ and ‘H’ may be defined in a machine-dependent fashion to permit immediate
floating operands in particular ranges of values.
‘s’ An immediate integer operand whose value is not an explicit integer is allowed.
This might appear strange; if an insn allows a constant operand with a value
not known at compile time, it certainly must allow any known value. So why
use ‘s’ instead of ‘i’? Sometimes it allows better code to be generated.
For example, on the 68000 in a fullword instruction it is possible to use an
immediate operand; but if the immediate value is between −128 and 127, better
code results from loading the value into a register and using the register. This
is because the load into the register can be done with a ‘moveq’ instruction. We
arrange for this to happen by defining the letter ‘K’ to mean “any integer outside
the range −128 to 127”, and then specifying ‘Ks’ in the operand constraints.
‘g’ Any register, memory or immediate integer operand is allowed, except for reg-
isters that are not general registers.
‘X’ Any operand whatsoever is allowed.
‘0’, ‘1’, ‘2’, . . . ‘9’
An operand that matches the specified operand number is allowed. If a digit
is used together with letters within the same alternative, the digit should come
last.
This number is allowed to be more than a single digit. If multiple digits are en-
countered consecutively, they are interpreted as a single decimal integer. There
is scant chance for ambiguity, since to-date it has never been desirable that
‘10’ be interpreted as matching either operand 1 or operand 0. Should this be
desired, one can use multiple alternatives instead.
This is called a matching constraint and what it really means is that the assem-
bler has only a single operand that fills two roles which asm distinguishes. For
example, an add instruction uses two input operands and an output operand,
but on most CISC machines an add instruction really has only two operands,
one of them an input-output operand:
690 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

addl #35,r12
Matching constraints are used in these circumstances. More precisely, the two
operands that match must include one input-only operand and one output-only
operand. Moreover, the digit must be a smaller number than the number of
the operand that uses it in the constraint.
‘p’ An operand that is a valid memory address is allowed. This is for “load address”
and “push address” instructions.
‘p’ in the constraint must be accompanied by address_operand as the predicate
in the match_operand. This predicate interprets the mode specified in the
match_operand as the mode of the memory reference for which the address
would be valid.
other-letters
Other letters can be defined in machine-dependent fashion to stand for par-
ticular classes of registers or other arbitrary operand types. ‘d’, ‘a’ and ‘f’
are defined on the 68000/68020 to stand for data, address and floating point
registers.

6.47.3.2 Multiple Alternative Constraints

Sometimes a single instruction has multiple alternative sets of possible operands. For ex-
ample, on the 68000, a logical-or instruction can combine register or an immediate value
into memory, or it can combine any kind of operand into a register; but it cannot combine
one memory location into another.
These constraints are represented as multiple alternatives. An alternative can be de-
scribed by a series of letters for each operand. The overall constraint for an operand is
made from the letters for this operand from the first alternative, a comma, the letters for
this operand from the second alternative, a comma, and so on until the last alternative. All
operands for a single instruction must have the same number of alternatives.
So the first alternative for the 68000’s logical-or could be written as "+m" (output)
: "ir" (input). The second could be "+r" (output): "irm" (input). However, the
fact that two memory locations cannot be used in a single instruction prevents simply
using "+rm" (output) : "irm" (input). Using multi-alternatives, this might be written
as "+m,r" (output) : "ir,irm" (input). This describes all the available alternatives to
the compiler, allowing it to choose the most efficient one for the current conditions.
There is no way within the template to determine which alternative was chosen. However
you may be able to wrap your asm statements with builtins such as __builtin_constant_p
to achieve the desired results.

6.47.3.3 Constraint Modifier Characters

Here are constraint modifier characters.
‘=’ Means that this operand is written to by this instruction: the previous value is
discarded and replaced by new data.
‘+’ Means that this operand is both read and written by the instruction.
When the compiler fixes up the operands to satisfy the constraints, it needs to
know which operands are read by the instruction and which are written by it.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 691

‘=’ identifies an operand which is only written; ‘+’ identifies an operand that is
both read and written; all other operands are assumed to only be read.
If you specify ‘=’ or ‘+’ in a constraint, you put it in the first character of the
constraint string.
‘&’ Means (in a particular alternative) that this operand is an earlyclobber operand,
which is written before the instruction is finished using the input operands.
Therefore, this operand may not lie in a register that is read by the instruction
or as part of any memory address.
‘&’ applies only to the alternative in which it is written. In constraints with
multiple alternatives, sometimes one alternative requires ‘&’ while others do
not. See, for example, the ‘movdf’ insn of the 68000.
An operand which is read by the instruction can be tied to an earlyclobber
operand if its only use as an input occurs before the early result is written.
Adding alternatives of this form often allows GCC to produce better code when
only some of the read operands can be affected by the earlyclobber. See, for
example, the ‘mulsi3’ insn of the ARM.
Furthermore, if the earlyclobber operand is also a read/write operand, then
that operand is written only after it’s used.
‘&’ does not obviate the need to write ‘=’ or ‘+’. As earlyclobber operands
are always written, a read-only earlyclobber operand is ill-formed and will be
rejected by the compiler.
‘%’ Declares the instruction to be commutative for this operand and the following
operand. This means that the compiler may interchange the two operands if
that is the cheapest way to make all operands fit the constraints. ‘%’ applies to
all alternatives and must appear as the first character in the constraint. Only
read-only operands can use ‘%’.
GCC can only handle one commutative pair in an asm; if you use more, the
compiler may fail. Note that you need not use the modifier if the two alterna-
tives are strictly identical; this would only waste time in the reload pass.

6.47.3.4 Constraints for Particular Machines

Whenever possible, you should use the general-purpose constraint letters in asm arguments,
since they will convey meaning more readily to people reading your code. Failing that, use
the constraint letters that usually have very similar meanings across architectures. The
most commonly used constraints are ‘m’ and ‘r’ (for memory and general-purpose registers
respectively; see Section 6.47.3.1 [Simple Constraints], page 688), and ‘I’, usually the letter
indicating the most common immediate-constant format.
Each architecture defines additional constraints. These constraints are used by the com-
piler itself for instruction generation, as well as for asm statements; therefore, some of the
constraints are not particularly useful for asm. Here is a summary of some of the machine-
dependent constraints available on some particular machines; it includes both constraints
that are useful for asm and constraints that aren’t. The compiler source file mentioned in
the table heading for each architecture is the definitive reference for the meanings of that
architecture’s constraints.
692 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

AArch64 family—‘config/aarch64/constraints.md’
k The stack pointer register (SP)
w Floating point register, Advanced SIMD vector register or SVE
vector register
x Like w, but restricted to registers 0 to 15 inclusive.
y Like w, but restricted to registers 0 to 7 inclusive.
Upl One of the low eight SVE predicate registers (P0 to P7)
Upa Any of the SVE predicate registers (P0 to P15)
I Integer constant that is valid as an immediate operand in an ADD
instruction
J Integer constant that is valid as an immediate operand in a SUB
instruction (once negated)
K Integer constant that can be used with a 32-bit logical instruction
L Integer constant that can be used with a 64-bit logical instruction
M Integer constant that is valid as an immediate operand in a 32-
bit MOV pseudo instruction. The MOV may be assembled to one of
several different machine instructions depending on the value
N Integer constant that is valid as an immediate operand in a 64-bit
MOV pseudo instruction
S An absolute symbolic address or a label reference
Y Floating point constant zero
Z Integer constant zero
Ush The high part (bits 12 and upwards) of the pc-relative address of a
symbol within 4GB of the instruction
Q A memory address which uses a single base register with no offset
Ump A memory address suitable for a load/store pair instruction in SI,
DI, SF and DF modes
AMD GCN —‘config/gcn/constraints.md’
I Immediate integer in the range −16 to 64
J Immediate 16-bit signed integer
Kf Immediate constant −1
L Immediate 15-bit unsigned integer
A Immediate constant that can be inlined in an instruction encod-
ing: integer −16..64, or float 0.0, +/−0.5, +/−1.0, +/−2.0, +/−4.0,
1.0/(2.0*PI)
B Immediate 32-bit signed integer that can be attached to an instruc-
tion encoding
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 693

C Immediate 32-bit integer in range −16..4294967295 (i.e. 32-bit un-

signed integer or ‘A’ constraint)
DA Immediate 64-bit constant that can be split into two ‘A’ constants
DB Immediate 64-bit constant that can be split into two ‘B’ constants
U Any unspec
Y Any symbol_ref or label_ref
v VGPR register
Sg SGPR register
SD SGPR registers valid for instruction destinations, including VCC,
M0 and EXEC
SS SGPR registers valid for instruction sources, including VCC, M0,
EXEC and SCC
Sm SGPR registers valid as a source for scalar memory instructions
(excludes M0 and EXEC)
Sv SGPR registers valid as a source or destination for vector instruc-
tions (excludes EXEC)
ca All condition registers: SCC, VCCZ, EXECZ
cs Scalar condition register: SCC
cV Vector condition register: VCC, VCC LO, VCC HI
e EXEC register (EXEC LO and EXEC HI)
RB Memory operand with address space suitable for buffer_* instruc-
tions
RF Memory operand with address space suitable for flat_* instruc-
tions
RS Memory operand with address space suitable for s_* instructions
RL Memory operand with address space suitable for ds_* LDS instruc-
tions
RG Memory operand with address space suitable for ds_* GDS instruc-
tions
RD Memory operand with address space suitable for any ds_* instruc-
tions
RM Memory operand with address space suitable for global_* instruc-
tions
ARC —‘config/arc/constraints.md’
q Registers usable in ARCompact 16-bit instructions: r0-r3, r12-
r15. This constraint can only match when the ‘-mq’ option is in
effect.
694 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

e Registers usable as base-regs of memory addresses in ARCompact

16-bit memory instructions: r0-r3, r12-r15, sp. This constraint
can only match when the ‘-mq’ option is in effect.
D ARC FPX (dpfp) 64-bit registers. D0, D1.
I A signed 12-bit integer constant.
Cal constant for arithmetic/logical operations. This might be any con-
stant that can be put into a long immediate by the assmbler or
linker without involving a PIC relocation.
K A 3-bit unsigned integer constant.
L A 6-bit unsigned integer constant.
CnL One’s complement of a 6-bit unsigned integer constant.
CmL Two’s complement of a 6-bit unsigned integer constant.
M A 5-bit unsigned integer constant.
O A 7-bit unsigned integer constant.
P A 8-bit unsigned integer constant.
H Any const double value.
ARM family—‘config/arm/constraints.md’
h In Thumb state, the core registers r8-r15.
k The stack pointer register.
l In Thumb State the core registers r0-r7. In ARM state this is an
alias for the r constraint.
t VFP floating-point registers s0-s31. Used for 32 bit values.
w VFP floating-point registers d0-d31 and the appropriate subset d0-
d15 based on command line options. Used for 64 bit values only.
Not valid for Thumb1.
y The iWMMX co-processor registers.
z The iWMMX GR registers.
G The floating-point constant 0.0
I Integer that is valid as an immediate operand in a data processing
instruction. That is, an integer in the range 0 to 255 rotated by a
multiple of 2
J Integer in the range −4095 to 4095
K Integer that satisfies constraint ‘I’ when inverted (ones comple-
ment)
L Integer that satisfies constraint ‘I’ when negated (twos comple-
ment)
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 695

M Integer in the range 0 to 32

Q A memory reference where the exact address is in a single register
(‘‘m’’ is preferable for asm statements)
R An item in the constant pool
S A symbol in the text segment of the current file
Uv A memory reference suitable for VFP load/store insns
(reg+constant offset)
Uy A memory reference suitable for iWMMXt load/store instructions.
Uq A memory reference suitable for the ARMv4 ldrsb instruction.
AVR family—‘config/avr/constraints.md’
l Registers from r0 to r15
a Registers from r16 to r23
d Registers from r16 to r31
w Registers from r24 to r31. These registers can be used in ‘adiw’
command
e Pointer register (r26–r31)
b Base pointer register (r28–r31)
q Stack pointer register (SPH:SPL)
t Temporary register r0
x Register pair X (r27:r26)
y Register pair Y (r29:r28)
z Register pair Z (r31:r30)
I Constant greater than −1, less than 64
J Constant greater than −64, less than 1
K Constant integer 2
L Constant integer 0
M Constant that fits in 8 bits
N Constant integer −1
O Constant integer 8, 16, or 24
P Constant integer 1
G A floating point constant 0.0
Q A memory address based on Y or Z pointer with displacement.
Blackfin family—‘config/bfin/constraints.md’
a P register
696 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

d D register
z A call clobbered P register.
qn A single register. If n is in the range 0 to 7, the corresponding D
register. If it is A, then the register P0.
D Even-numbered D register
W Odd-numbered D register
e Accumulator register.
A Even-numbered accumulator register.
B Odd-numbered accumulator register.
b I register
v B register
f M register
c Registers used for circular buffering, i.e. I, B, or L registers.
C The CC register.
t LT0 or LT1.
k LC0 or LC1.
u LB0 or LB1.
x Any D, P, B, M, I or L register.
y Additional registers typically used only in prologues and epilogues:
RETS, RETN, RETI, RETX, RETE, ASTAT, SEQSTAT and USP.
w Any register except accumulators or CC.
Ksh Signed 16 bit integer (in the range −32768 to 32767)
Kuh Unsigned 16 bit integer (in the range 0 to 65535)
Ks7 Signed 7 bit integer (in the range −64 to 63)
Ku7 Unsigned 7 bit integer (in the range 0 to 127)
Ku5 Unsigned 5 bit integer (in the range 0 to 31)
Ks4 Signed 4 bit integer (in the range −8 to 7)
Ks3 Signed 3 bit integer (in the range −3 to 4)
Ku3 Unsigned 3 bit integer (in the range 0 to 7)
Pn Constant n, where n is a single-digit constant in the range 0 to 4.
PA An integer equal to one of the MACFLAG XXX constants that is
suitable for use with either accumulator.
PB An integer equal to one of the MACFLAG XXX constants that is
suitable for use only with accumulator A1.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 697

M1 Constant 255.
M2 Constant 65535.
J An integer constant with exactly a single bit set.
L An integer constant with all bits set except exactly one.
H
Q Any SYMBOL REF.
C-SKY—‘config/csky/constraints.md’
a The mini registers r0 - r7.
b The low registers r0 - r15.
c C register.
y HI and LO registers.
l LO register.
h HI register.
v Vector registers.
z Stack pointer register (SP).
Q A memory address which uses a base register with a short offset or
with a index register with its scale.
W A memory address which uses a base register with a index register
with its scale.
Epiphany—‘config/epiphany/constraints.md’
U16 An unsigned 16-bit constant.
K An unsigned 5-bit constant.
L A signed 11-bit constant.
Cm1 A signed 11-bit constant added to −1. Can only match when the
‘-m1reg-reg’ option is active.
Cl1 Left-shift of −1, i.e., a bit mask with a block of leading ones, the
rest being a block of trailing zeroes. Can only match when the
‘-m1reg-reg’ option is active.
Cr1 Right-shift of −1, i.e., a bit mask with a trailing block of ones, the
rest being zeroes. Or to put it another way, one less than a power
of two. Can only match when the ‘-m1reg-reg’ option is active.
Cal Constant for arithmetic/logical operations. This is like i, except
that for position independent code, no symbols / expressions need-
ing relocations are allowed.
Csy Symbolic constant for call/jump instruction.
698 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Rcs The register class usable in short insns. This is a register class
constraint, and can thus drive register allocation. This constraint
won’t match unless ‘-mprefer-short-insn-regs’ is in effect.
Rsc The register class of registers that can be used to hold a sibcall call
address. I.e., a caller-saved register.
Rct Core control register class.
Rgs The register group usable in short insns. This constraint does not
use a register class, so that it only passively matches suitable reg-
isters, and doesn’t drive register allocation.
Rra Matches the return address if it can be replaced with the link reg-
ister.
Rcc Matches the integer condition code register.
Sra Matches the return address if it is in a stack slot.
Cfm Matches control register values to switch fp mode, which are en-
capsulated in UNSPEC_FP_MODE.
FRV—‘config/frv/frv.h’
a Register in the class ACC_REGS (acc0 to acc7).
b Register in the class EVEN_ACC_REGS (acc0 to acc7).
c Register in the class CC_REGS (fcc0 to fcc3 and icc0 to icc3).
d Register in the class GPR_REGS (gr0 to gr63).
e Register in the class EVEN_REGS (gr0 to gr63). Odd registers are
excluded not in the class but through the use of a machine mode
larger than 4 bytes.
f Register in the class FPR_REGS (fr0 to fr63).
h Register in the class FEVEN_REGS (fr0 to fr63). Odd registers are
excluded not in the class but through the use of a machine mode
larger than 4 bytes.
l Register in the class LR_REG (the lr register).
q Register in the class QUAD_REGS (gr2 to gr63). Register numbers
not divisible by 4 are excluded not in the class but through the use
of a machine mode larger than 8 bytes.
t Register in the class ICC_REGS (icc0 to icc3).
u Register in the class FCC_REGS (fcc0 to fcc3).
v Register in the class ICR_REGS (cc4 to cc7).
w Register in the class FCR_REGS (cc0 to cc3).
x Register in the class QUAD_FPR_REGS (fr0 to fr63). Register num-
bers not divisible by 4 are excluded not in the class but through
the use of a machine mode larger than 8 bytes.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 699

z Register in the class SPR_REGS (lcr and lr).

A Register in the class QUAD_ACC_REGS (acc0 to acc7).
B Register in the class ACCG_REGS (accg0 to accg7).
C Register in the class CR_REGS (cc0 to cc7).
G Floating point constant zero
I 6-bit signed integer constant
J 10-bit signed integer constant
L 16-bit signed integer constant
M 16-bit unsigned integer constant
N 12-bit signed integer constant that is negative—i.e. in the range of
−2048 to −1
O Constant zero
P 12-bit signed integer constant that is greater than zero—i.e. in the
range of 1 to 2047.
FT32—‘config/ft32/constraints.md’
A An absolute address
B An offset address
W A register indirect memory operand
e An offset address.
f An offset address.
O The constant zero or one
I A 16-bit signed constant (−32768 . . . 32767)
w A bitfield mask suitable for bext or bins
x An inverted bitfield mask suitable for bext or bins
L A 16-bit unsigned constant, multiple of 4 (0 . . . 65532)
S A 20-bit signed constant (−524288 . . . 524287)
b A constant for a bitfield width (1 . . . 16)
KA A 10-bit signed constant (−512 . . . 511)
Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC—‘config/pa/pa.h’
a General register 1
f Floating point register
q Shift amount register
x Floating point register (deprecated)
700 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

y Upper floating point register (32-bit), floating point register (64-

bit)
Z Any register
I Signed 11-bit integer constant
J Signed 14-bit integer constant
K Integer constant that can be deposited with a zdepi instruction
L Signed 5-bit integer constant
M Integer constant 0
N Integer constant that can be loaded with a ldil instruction
O Integer constant whose value plus one is a power of 2
P Integer constant that can be used for and operations in depi and
extru instructions
S Integer constant 31
U Integer constant 63
G Floating-point constant 0.0
A A lo_sum data-linkage-table memory operand
Q A memory operand that can be used as the destination operand of
an integer store instruction
R A scaled or unscaled indexed memory operand
T A memory operand for floating-point loads and stores
W A register indirect memory operand
Intel IA-64—‘config/ia64/ia64.h’
a General register r0 to r3 for addl instruction
b Branch register
c Predicate register (‘c’ as in “conditional”)
d Application register residing in M-unit
e Application register residing in I-unit
f Floating-point register
m Memory operand. If used together with ‘<’ or ‘>’, the operand can
have postincrement and postdecrement which require printing with
‘%Pn’ on IA-64.
G Floating-point constant 0.0 or 1.0
I 14-bit signed integer constant
J 22-bit signed integer constant
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 701

K 8-bit signed integer constant for logical instructions

L 8-bit adjusted signed integer constant for compare pseudo-ops
M 6-bit unsigned integer constant for shift counts
N 9-bit signed integer constant for load and store postincrements
O The constant zero
P 0 or −1 for dep instruction
Q Non-volatile memory for floating-point loads and stores
R Integer constant in the range 1 to 4 for shladd instruction
S Memory operand except postincrement and postdecrement. This
is now roughly the same as ‘m’ when not used together with ‘<’ or
‘>’.
M32C—‘config/m32c/m32c.cc’
Rsp
Rfb
Rsb ‘$sp’, ‘$fb’, ‘$sb’.
Rcr Any control register, when they’re 16 bits wide (nothing if control
registers are 24 bits wide)
Rcl Any control register, when they’re 24 bits wide.
R0w
R1w
R2w
R3w $r0, $r1, $r2, $r3.
R02 $r0 or $r2, or $r2r0 for 32 bit values.
R13 $r1 or $r3, or $r3r1 for 32 bit values.
Rdi A register that can hold a 64 bit value.
Rhl $r0 or $r1 (registers with addressable high/low bytes)
R23 $r2 or $r3
Raa Address registers
Raw Address registers when they’re 16 bits wide.
Ral Address registers when they’re 24 bits wide.
Rqi Registers that can hold QI values.
Rad Registers that can be used with displacements ($a0, $a1, $sb).
Rsi Registers that can hold 32 bit values.
Rhi Registers that can hold 16 bit values.
Rhc Registers chat can hold 16 bit values, including all control registers.
702 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Rra $r0 through R1, plus $a0 and $a1.

Rfl The flags register.
Rmm The memory-based pseudo-registers $mem0 through $mem15.
Rpi Registers that can hold pointers (16 bit registers for r8c, m16c; 24
bit registers for m32cm, m32c).
Rpa Matches multiple registers in a PARALLEL to form a larger regis-
ter. Used to match function return values.
Is3 −8 . . . 7
IS1 −128 . . . 127
IS2 −32768 . . . 32767
IU2 0 . . . 65535
In4 −8 . . . −1 or 1 . . . 8
In5 −16 . . . −1 or 1 . . . 16
In6 −32 . . . −1 or 1 . . . 32
IM2 −65536 . . . −1
Ilb An 8 bit value with exactly one bit set.
Ilw A 16 bit value with exactly one bit set.
Sd The common src/dest memory addressing modes.
Sa Memory addressed using $a0 or $a1.
Si Memory addressed with immediate addresses.
Ss Memory addressed using the stack pointer ($sp).
Sf Memory addressed using the frame base register ($fb).
Ss Memory addressed using the small base register ($sb).
S1 $r1h
LoongArch—‘config/loongarch/constraints.md’
f A floating-point register (if available).
k A memory operand whose address is formed by a base register and
(optionally scaled) index register.
l A signed 16-bit constant.
m A memory operand whose address is formed by a base register
and offset that is suitable for use in instructions with the same
addressing mode as st.w and ld.w.
I A signed 12-bit constant (for arithmetic instructions).
K An unsigned 12-bit constant (for logic instructions).
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 703

ZB An address that is held in a general-purpose register. The offset is

zero.
ZC A memory operand whose address is formed by a base register
and offset that is suitable for use in instructions with the same
addressing mode as ll.w and sc.w.
MicroBlaze—‘config/microblaze/constraints.md’
d A general register (r0 to r31).
z A status register (rmsr, $fcc1 to $fcc7).
MIPS—‘config/mips/constraints.md’
d A general-purpose register. This is equivalent to r unless generating
MIPS16 code, in which case the MIPS16 register set is used.
f A floating-point register (if available).
h Formerly the hi register. This constraint is no longer supported.
l The lo register. Use this register to store values that are no bigger
than a word.
x The concatenated hi and lo registers. Use this register to store
doubleword values.
c A register suitable for use in an indirect jump. This will always be
$25 for ‘-mabicalls’.
v Register $3. Do not use this constraint in new code; it is retained
only for compatibility with glibc.
y Equivalent to r; retained for backwards compatibility.
z A floating-point condition code register.
I A signed 16-bit constant (for arithmetic instructions).
J Integer zero.
K An unsigned 16-bit constant (for logic instructions).
L A signed 32-bit constant in which the lower 16 bits are zero. Such
constants can be loaded using lui.
M A constant that cannot be loaded using lui, addiu or ori.
N A constant in the range −65535 to −1 (inclusive).
O A signed 15-bit constant.
P A constant in the range 1 to 65535 (inclusive).
G Floating-point zero.
R An address that can be used in a non-macro load or store.
ZC A memory operand whose address is formed by a base register
and offset that is suitable for use in instructions with the same
addressing mode as ll and sc.
704 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

ZD An address suitable for a prefetch instruction, or for any other

instruction with the same addressing mode as prefetch.
Motorola 680x0—‘config/m68k/constraints.md’
a Address register
d Data register
f 68881 floating-point register, if available
I Integer in the range 1 to 8
J 16-bit signed number
K Signed number whose magnitude is greater than 0x80
L Integer in the range −8 to −1
M Signed number whose magnitude is greater than 0x100
N Range 24 to 31, rotatert:SI 8 to 1 expressed as rotate
O 16 (for rotate using swap)
P Range 8 to 15, rotatert:HI 8 to 1 expressed as rotate
R Numbers that mov3q can handle
G Floating point constant that is not a 68881 constant
S Operands that satisfy ’m’ when -mpcrel is in effect
T Operands that satisfy ’s’ when -mpcrel is not in effect
Q Address register indirect addressing mode
U Register offset addressing
W const call operand
Cs symbol ref or const
Ci const int
C0 const int 0
Cj Range of signed numbers that don’t fit in 16 bits
Cmvq Integers valid for mvq
Capsw Integers valid for a moveq followed by a swap
Cmvz Integers valid for mvz
Cmvs Integers valid for mvs
Ap push operand
Ac Non-register operands allowed in clr
Moxie—‘config/moxie/constraints.md’
A An absolute address
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 705

B An offset address
W A register indirect memory operand
I A constant in the range of 0 to 255.
N A constant in the range of 0 to −255.
MSP430–‘config/msp430/constraints.md’
R12 Register R12.
R13 Register R13.
K Integer constant 1.
L Integer constant -1^20..1^19.
M Integer constant 1-4.
Ya Memory references which do not require an extended MOVX in-
struction.
Yl Memory reference, labels only.
Ys Memory reference, stack only.
NDS32—‘config/nds32/constraints.md’
w LOW register class $r0 to $r7 constraint for V3/V3M ISA.
l LOW register class $r0 to $r7.
d MIDDLE register class $r0 to $r11, $r16 to $r19.
h HIGH register class $r12 to $r14, $r20 to $r31.
t Temporary assist register $ta (i.e. $r15).
k Stack register $sp.
Iu03 Unsigned immediate 3-bit value.
In03 Negative immediate 3-bit value in the range of −7–0.
Iu04 Unsigned immediate 4-bit value.
Is05 Signed immediate 5-bit value.
Iu05 Unsigned immediate 5-bit value.
In05 Negative immediate 5-bit value in the range of −31–0.
Ip05 Unsigned immediate 5-bit value for movpi45 instruction with range
16–47.
Iu06 Unsigned immediate 6-bit value constraint for addri36.sp instruc-
tion.
Iu08 Unsigned immediate 8-bit value.
Iu09 Unsigned immediate 9-bit value.
Is10 Signed immediate 10-bit value.
706 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Is11 Signed immediate 11-bit value.

Is15 Signed immediate 15-bit value.
Iu15 Unsigned immediate 15-bit value.
Ic15 A constant which is not in the range of imm15u but ok for bclr
instruction.
Ie15 A constant which is not in the range of imm15u but ok for bset
instruction.
It15 A constant which is not in the range of imm15u but ok for btgl
instruction.
Ii15 A constant whose compliment value is in the range of imm15u and
ok for bitci instruction.
Is16 Signed immediate 16-bit value.
Is17 Signed immediate 17-bit value.
Is19 Signed immediate 19-bit value.
Is20 Signed immediate 20-bit value.
Ihig The immediate value that can be simply set high 20-bit.
Izeb The immediate value 0xff.
Izeh The immediate value 0xffff.
Ixls The immediate value 0x01.
Ix11 The immediate value 0x7ff.
Ibms The immediate value with power of 2.
Ifex The immediate value with power of 2 minus 1.
U33 Memory constraint for 333 format.
U45 Memory constraint for 45 format.
U37 Memory constraint for 37 format.
Nios II family—‘config/nios2/constraints.md’
I Integer that is valid as an immediate operand in an instruction
taking a signed 16-bit number. Range −32768 to 32767.
J Integer that is valid as an immediate operand in an instruction
taking an unsigned 16-bit number. Range 0 to 65535.
K Integer that is valid as an immediate operand in an instruction
taking only the upper 16-bits of a 32-bit number. Range 32-bit
numbers with the lower 16-bits being 0.
L Integer that is valid as an immediate operand for a shift instruction.
Range 0 to 31.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 707

M Integer that is valid as an immediate operand for only the value 0.

Can be used in conjunction with the format modifier z to use r0
instead of 0 in the assembly output.
N Integer that is valid as an immediate operand for a custom instruc-
tion opcode. Range 0 to 255.
P An immediate operand for R2 andchi/andci instructions.
S Matches immediates which are addresses in the small data section
and therefore can be added to gp as a 16-bit immediate to re-create
their 32-bit value.
U Matches constants suitable as an operand for the rdprs and cache
instructions.
v A memory operand suitable for Nios II R2 load/store exclusive
instructions.
w A memory operand suitable for load/store IO and cache instruc-
tions.
OpenRISC—‘config/or1k/constraints.md’
I Integer that is valid as an immediate operand in an instruction
taking a signed 16-bit number. Range −32768 to 32767.
K Integer that is valid as an immediate operand in an instruction
taking an unsigned 16-bit number. Range 0 to 65535.
M Signed 16-bit constant shifted left 16 bits. (Used with l.movhi)
O Zero
PDP-11—‘config/pdp11/constraints.md’
a Floating point registers AC0 through AC3. These can be loaded
from/to memory with a single instruction.
d Odd numbered general registers (R1, R3, R5). These are used for
16-bit multiply operations.
D A memory reference that is encoded within the opcode, but not
auto-increment or auto-decrement.
f Any of the floating point registers (AC0 through AC5).
G Floating point constant 0.
h Floating point registers AC4 and AC5. These cannot be loaded
from/to memory with a single instruction.
I An integer constant that fits in 16 bits.
J An integer constant whose low order 16 bits are zero.
K An integer constant that does not meet the constraints for codes
‘I’ or ‘J’.
L The integer constant 1.
708 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

M The integer constant −1.

N The integer constant 0.
O Integer constants 0 through 3; shifts by these amounts are han-
dled as multiple single-bit shifts rather than a single variable-length
shift.
Q A memory reference which requires an additional word (address or
offset) after the opcode.
R A memory reference that is encoded within the opcode.
PowerPC and IBM RS6000—‘config/rs6000/constraints.md’
r A general purpose register (GPR), r0. . . r31.
b A base register. Like r, but r0 is not allowed, so r1. . . r31.
f A floating point register (FPR), f0. . . f31.
d A floating point register. This is the same as f nowadays; his-
torically f was for single-precision and d was for double-precision
floating point.
v An Altivec vector register (VR), v0. . . v31.
wa A VSX register (VSR), vs0. . . vs63. This is either an FPR
(vs0. . . vs31 are f0. . . f31) or a VR (vs32. . . vs63 are v0. . . v31).
When using wa, you should use the %x output modifier, so that the
correct register number is printed. For example:
asm ("xvadddp %x0,%x1,%x2"
: "=wa" (v1)
: "wa" (v2), "wa" (v3));
You should not use %x for v operands:
asm ("xsaddqp %0,%1,%2"
: "=v" (v1)
: "v" (v2), "v" (v3));

c The count register, ctr.

l The link register, lr.
x Condition register field 0, cr0.
y Any condition register field, cr0. . . cr7.
I A signed 16-bit constant.
J An unsigned 16-bit constant shifted left 16 bits (use L instead for
SImode constants).
K An unsigned 16-bit constant.
L A signed 16-bit constant shifted left 16 bits.
eI A signed 34-bit integer constant if prefixed instructions are sup-
ported.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 709

eP A scalar floating point constant or a vector constant that can be

loaded to a VSX register with one prefixed instruction.
eQ An IEEE 128-bit constant that can be loaded into a VSX register
with the lxvkq instruction.
m A memory operand. Normally, m does not allow addresses that up-
date the base register. If the < or > constraint is also used, they are
allowed and therefore on PowerPC targets in that case it is only safe
to use m<> in an asm statement if that asm statement accesses the
operand exactly once. The asm statement must also use %U<opno>
as a placeholder for the “update” flag in the corresponding load or
store instruction. For example:
asm ("st%U0 %1,%0" : "=m<>" (mem) : "r" (val));
is correct but:
asm ("st %1,%0" : "=m<>" (mem) : "r" (val));
is not.
Q A memory operand addressed by just a base register.
Z A memory operand accessed with indexed or indirect addressing.
a An indexed or indirect address.
PRU—‘config/pru/constraints.md’
I An unsigned 8-bit integer constant.
J An unsigned 16-bit integer constant.
L An unsigned 5-bit integer constant (for shift counts).
T A text segment (program memory) constant label.
Z Integer constant zero.
RL78—‘config/rl78/constraints.md’
Int3 An integer constant in the range 1 . . . 7.
Int8 An integer constant in the range 0 . . . 255.
J An integer constant in the range −255 . . . 0
K The integer constant 1.
L The integer constant -1.
M The integer constant 0.
N The integer constant 2.
O The integer constant -2.
P An integer constant in the range 1 . . . 15.
Qbi The built-in compare types–eq, ne, gtu, ltu, geu, and leu.
Qsc The synthetic compare types–gt, lt, ge, and le.
710 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Wab A memory reference with an absolute address.

Wbc A memory reference using BC as a base register, with an optional
offset.
Wca A memory reference using AX, BC, DE, or HL for the address, for
calls.
Wcv A memory reference using any 16-bit register pair for the address,
for calls.
Wd2 A memory reference using DE as a base register, with an optional
offset.
Wde A memory reference using DE as a base register, without any offset.
Wfr Any memory reference to an address in the far address space.
Wh1 A memory reference using HL as a base register, with an optional
one-byte offset.
Whb A memory reference using HL as a base register, with B or C as the
index register.
Whl A memory reference using HL as a base register, without any offset.
Ws1 A memory reference using SP as a base register, with an optional
one-byte offset.
Y Any memory reference to an address in the near address space.
A The AX register.
B The BC register.
D The DE register.
R A through L registers.
S The SP register.
T The HL register.
Z08W The 16-bit R8 register.
Z10W The 16-bit R10 register.
Zint The registers reserved for interrupts (R24 to R31).
a The A register.
b The B register.
c The C register.
d The D register.
e The E register.
h The H register.
l The L register.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 711

v The virtual registers.

w The PSW register.
x The X register.
RISC-V—‘config/riscv/constraints.md’
f A floating-point register (if available).
I An I-type 12-bit signed immediate.
J Integer zero.
K A 5-bit unsigned immediate for CSR access instructions.
A An address that is held in a general-purpose register.
S A constraint that matches an absolute symbolic address.
RX—‘config/rx/constraints.md’
Q An address which does not involve register indirect addressing or
pre/post increment/decrement addressing.
Symbol A symbol reference.
Int08 A constant in the range −256 to 255, inclusive.
Sint08 A constant in the range −128 to 127, inclusive.
Sint16 A constant in the range −32768 to 32767, inclusive.
Sint24 A constant in the range −8388608 to 8388607, inclusive.
Uint04 A constant in the range 0 to 15, inclusive.
S/390 and zSeries—‘config/s390/s390.h’
a Address register (general purpose register except r0)
c Condition code register
d Data register (arbitrary general purpose register)
f Floating-point register
I Unsigned 8-bit constant (0–255)
J Unsigned 12-bit constant (0–4095)
K Signed 16-bit constant (−32768–32767)
L Value appropriate as displacement.
(0..4095)
for short displacement
(−524288..524287)
for long displacement
M Constant integer with a value of 0x7fffffff.
N Multiple letter constraint followed by 4 parameter letters.
712 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

0..9: number of the part counting from most to least signif-

icant
H,Q: mode of the part
D,S,H: mode of the containing operand
0,F: value of the other parts (F—all bits set)
The constraint matches if the specified part of a constant has a
value different from its other parts.
Q Memory reference without index register and with short displace-
ment.
R Memory reference with index register and short displacement.
S Memory reference without index register but with long displace-
ment.
T Memory reference with index register and long displacement.
U Pointer with short displacement.
W Pointer with long displacement.
Y Shift count operand.
SPARC—‘config/sparc/sparc.h’
f Floating-point register on the SPARC-V8 architecture and lower
floating-point register on the SPARC-V9 architecture.
e Floating-point register. It is equivalent to ‘f’ on the SPARC-V8
architecture and contains both lower and upper floating-point reg-
isters on the SPARC-V9 architecture.
c Floating-point condition code register.
d Lower floating-point register. It is only valid on the SPARC-V9
architecture when the Visual Instruction Set is available.
b Floating-point register. It is only valid on the SPARC-V9 architec-
ture when the Visual Instruction Set is available.
h 64-bit global or out register for the SPARC-V8+ architecture.
C The constant all-ones, for floating-point.
A Signed 5-bit constant
D A vector constant
I Signed 13-bit constant
J Zero
K 32-bit constant with the low 12 bits clear (a constant that can be
loaded with the sethi instruction)
L A constant in the range supported by movcc instructions (11-bit
signed immediate)
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 713

M A constant in the range supported by movrcc instructions (10-bit

signed immediate)
N Same as ‘K’, except that it verifies that bits that are not in the
lower 32-bit range are all zero. Must be used instead of ‘K’ for
modes wider than SImode
O The constant 4096
G Floating-point zero
H Signed 13-bit constant, sign-extended to 32 or 64 bits
P The constant -1
Q Floating-point constant whose integral representation can be moved
into an integer register using a single sethi instruction
R Floating-point constant whose integral representation can be moved
into an integer register using a single mov instruction
S Floating-point constant whose integral representation can be moved
into an integer register using a high/lo sum instruction sequence
T Memory address aligned to an 8-byte boundary
U Even register
W Memory address for ‘e’ constraint registers
w Memory address with only a base register
Y Vector zero
TI C6X family—‘config/c6x/constraints.md’
a Register file A (A0–A31).
b Register file B (B0–B31).
A Predicate registers in register file A (A0–A2 on C64X and higher,
A1 and A2 otherwise).
B Predicate registers in register file B (B0–B2).
C A call-used register in register file B (B0–B9, B16–B31).
Da Register file A, excluding predicate registers (A3–A31, plus A0 if
not C64X or higher).
Db Register file B, excluding predicate registers (B3–B31).
Iu4 Integer constant in the range 0 . . . 15.
Iu5 Integer constant in the range 0 . . . 31.
In5 Integer constant in the range −31 . . . 0.
Is5 Integer constant in the range −16 . . . 15.
I5x Integer constant that can be the operand of an ADDA or a SUBA
insn.
714 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

IuB Integer constant in the range 0 . . . 65535.

IsB Integer constant in the range −32768 . . . 32767.
IsC Integer constant in the range −220 . . . 220 − 1.
Jc Integer constant that is a valid mask for the clr instruction.
Js Integer constant that is a valid mask for the set instruction.
Q Memory location with A base register.
R Memory location with B base register.
Z Register B14 (aka DP).
Visium—‘config/visium/constraints.md’
b EAM register mdb
c EAM register mdc
f Floating point register
l General register, but not r29, r30 and r31
t Register r1
u Register r2
v Register r3
G Floating-point constant 0.0
J Integer constant in the range 0 .. 65535 (16-bit immediate)
K Integer constant in the range 1 .. 31 (5-bit immediate)
L Integer constant in the range −65535 .. −1 (16-bit negative imme-
diate)
M Integer constant −1
O Integer constant 0
P Integer constant 32
x86 family—‘config/i386/constraints.md’
R Legacy register—the eight integer registers available on all i386
processors (a, b, c, d, si, di, bp, sp).
q Any register accessible as rl. In 32-bit mode, a, b, c, and d; in
64-bit mode, any integer register.
Q Any register accessible as rh: a, b, c, and d.
a The a register.
b The b register.
c The c register.
d The d register.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 715

S The si register.
D The di register.
A The a and d registers. This class is used for instructions that re-
turn double word results in the ax:dx register pair. Single word
values will be allocated either in ax or dx. For example on i386 the
following implements rdtsc:
unsigned long long rdtsc (void)
{
unsigned long long tick;
__asm__ __volatile__("rdtsc":"=A"(tick));
return tick;
}
This is not correct on x86-64 as it would allocate tick in either ax
or dx. You have to use the following variant instead:
unsigned long long rdtsc (void)
{
unsigned int tickl, tickh;
__asm__ __volatile__("rdtsc":"=a"(tickl),"=d"(tickh));
return ((unsigned long long)tickh << 32)|tickl;
}

U The call-clobbered integer registers.

f Any 80387 floating-point (stack) register.
t Top of 80387 floating-point stack (%st(0)).
u Second from top of 80387 floating-point stack (%st(1)).
y Any MMX register.
x Any SSE register.
v Any EVEX encodable SSE register (%xmm0-%xmm31).
Yz First SSE register (%xmm0).
I Integer constant in the range 0 . . . 31, for 32-bit shifts.
J Integer constant in the range 0 . . . 63, for 64-bit shifts.
K Signed 8-bit integer constant.
L 0xFF or 0xFFFF, for andsi as a zero-extending move.
M 0, 1, 2, or 3 (shifts for the lea instruction).
N Unsigned 8-bit integer constant (for in and out instructions).
G Standard 80387 floating point constant.
C SSE constant zero operand.
e 32-bit signed integer constant, or a symbolic reference known to
fit that range (for immediate operands in sign-extending x86-64
instructions).
716 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

We 32-bit signed integer constant, or a symbolic reference known to fit

that range (for sign-extending conversion operations that require
non-VOIDmode immediate operands).
Wz 32-bit unsigned integer constant, or a symbolic reference known to
fit that range (for zero-extending conversion operations that require
non-VOIDmode immediate operands).
Wd 128-bit integer constant where both the high and low 64-bit word
satisfy the e constraint.
Z 32-bit unsigned integer constant, or a symbolic reference known to
fit that range (for immediate operands in zero-extending x86-64
instructions).
Tv VSIB address operand.
Ts Address operand without segment register.
Xstormy16—‘config/stormy16/stormy16.h’
a Register r0.
b Register r1.
c Register r2.
d Register r8.
e Registers r0 through r7.
t Registers r0 and r1.
y The carry register.
z Registers r8 and r9.
I A constant between 0 and 3 inclusive.
J A constant that has exactly one bit set.
K A constant that has exactly one bit clear.
L A constant between 0 and 255 inclusive.
M A constant between −255 and 0 inclusive.
N A constant between −3 and 0 inclusive.
O A constant between 1 and 4 inclusive.
P A constant between −4 and −1 inclusive.
Q A memory reference that is a stack push.
R A memory reference that is a stack pop.
S A memory reference that refers to a constant address of known
value.
T The register indicated by Rx (not implemented yet).
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 717

U A constant that is not between 2 and 15 inclusive.

Z The constant 0.

Xtensa—‘config/xtensa/constraints.md’
a General-purpose 32-bit register

b One-bit boolean register

A MAC16 40-bit accumulator register

I Signed 12-bit integer constant, for use in MOVI instructions

J Signed 8-bit integer constant, for use in ADDI instructions

K Integer constant valid for BccI instructions

L Unsigned constant valid for BccUI instructions

6.47.4 Controlling Names Used in Assembler Code

You can specify the name to be used in the assembler code for a C function or variable by
writing the asm (or __asm__) keyword after the declarator. It is up to you to make sure
that the assembler names you choose do not conflict with any other assembler symbols, or
reference registers.

Assembler names for data

This sample shows how to specify the assembler name for data:
int foo asm ("myfoo") = 2;

This specifies that the name to be used for the variable foo in the assembler code should
be ‘myfoo’ rather than the usual ‘_foo’.
On systems where an underscore is normally prepended to the name of a C variable, this
feature allows you to define names for the linker that do not start with an underscore.
GCC does not support using this feature with a non-static local variable since such
variables do not have assembler names. If you are trying to put the variable in a particular
register, see Section 6.47.5 [Explicit Register Variables], page 718.

Assembler names for functions

To specify the assembler name for functions, write a declaration for the function before its
definition and put asm there, like this:
int func (int x, int y) asm ("MYFUNC");

int func (int x, int y)

{
/* . . . */

This specifies that the name to be used for the function func in the assembler code should
be MYFUNC.
718 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.47.5 Variables in Specified Registers

GNU C allows you to associate specific hardware registers with C variables. In almost all
cases, allowing the compiler to assign registers produces the best code. However under
certain unusual circumstances, more precise control over the variable storage is required.
Both global and local variables can be associated with a register. The consequences of
performing this association are very different between the two, as explained in the sections
below.

6.47.5.1 Defining Global Register Variables

You can define a global register variable and associate it with a specified register like this:
register int *foo asm ("r12");
Here r12 is the name of the register that should be used. Note that this is the same
syntax used for defining local register variables, but for a global variable the declaration
appears outside a function. The register keyword is required, and cannot be combined
with static. The register name must be a valid register name for the target platform.
Do not use type qualifiers such as const and volatile, as the outcome may be contrary
to expectations. In particular, using the volatile qualifier does not fully prevent the
compiler from optimizing accesses to the register.
Registers are a scarce resource on most systems and allowing the compiler to manage
their usage usually results in the best code. However, under special circumstances it can
make sense to reserve some globally. For example this may be useful in programs such as
programming language interpreters that have a couple of global variables that are accessed
very often.
After defining a global register variable, for the current compilation unit:
• If the register is a call-saved register, call ABI is affected: the register will not be
restored in function epilogue sequences after the variable has been assigned. Therefore,
functions cannot safely return to callers that assume standard ABI.
• Conversely, if the register is a call-clobbered register, making calls to functions that
use standard ABI may lose contents of the variable. Such calls may be created by
the compiler even if none are evident in the original program, for example when libgcc
functions are used to make up for unavailable instructions.
• Accesses to the variable may be optimized as usual and the register remains available
for allocation and use in any computations, provided that observable values of the
variable are not affected.
• If the variable is referenced in inline assembly, the type of access must be provided to
the compiler via constraints (see Section 6.47.3 [Constraints], page 687). Accesses from
basic asms are not supported.
Note that these points only apply to code that is compiled with the definition. The
behavior of code that is merely linked in (for example code from libraries) is not affected.
If you want to recompile source files that do not actually use your global register variable
so they do not use the specified register for any other purpose, you need not actually add
the global register declaration to their source code. It suffices to specify the compiler option
‘-ffixed-reg’ (see Section 3.17 [Code Gen Options], page 281) to reserve the register.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 719

Declaring the variable

Global register variables cannot have initial values, because an executable file has no means
to supply initial contents for a register.
When selecting a register, choose one that is normally saved and restored by function
calls on your machine. This ensures that code which is unaware of this reservation (such as
library routines) will restore it before returning.
On machines with register windows, be sure to choose a global register that is not affected
magically by the function call mechanism.

Using the variable

When calling routines that are not aware of the reservation, be cautious if those routines
call back into code which uses them. As an example, if you call the system library version of
qsort, it may clobber your registers during execution, but (if you have selected appropriate
registers) it will restore them before returning. However it will not restore them before
calling qsort’s comparison function. As a result, global values will not reliably be available
to the comparison function unless the qsort function itself is rebuilt.
Similarly, it is not safe to access the global register variables from signal handlers or from
more than one thread of control. Unless you recompile them specially for the task at hand,
the system library routines may temporarily use the register for other things. Furthermore,
since the register is not reserved exclusively for the variable, accessing it from handlers of
asynchronous signals may observe unrelated temporary values residing in the register.
On most machines, longjmp restores to each global register variable the value it had at
the time of the setjmp. On some machines, however, longjmp does not change the value
of global register variables. To be portable, the function that called setjmp should make
other arrangements to save the values of the global register variables, and to restore them
in a longjmp. This way, the same thing happens regardless of what longjmp does.

6.47.5.2 Specifying Registers for Local Variables

You can define a local register variable and associate it with a specified register like this:
register int *foo asm ("r12");
Here r12 is the name of the register that should be used. Note that this is the same syntax
used for defining global register variables, but for a local variable the declaration appears
within a function. The register keyword is required, and cannot be combined with static.
The register name must be a valid register name for the target platform.
Do not use type qualifiers such as const and volatile, as the outcome may be contrary
to expectations. In particular, when the const qualifier is used, the compiler may substi-
tute the variable with its initializer in asm statements, which may cause the corresponding
operand to appear in a different register.
As with global register variables, it is recommended that you choose a register that is
normally saved and restored by function calls on your machine, so that calls to library
routines will not clobber it.
The only supported use for this feature is to specify registers for input and output
operands when calling Extended asm (see Section 6.47.2 [Extended Asm], page 668). This
may be necessary if the constraints for a particular machine don’t provide sufficient control
720 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

to select the desired register. To force an operand into a register, create a local variable
and specify the register name after the variable’s declaration. Then use the local variable
for the asm operand and specify any constraint letter that matches the register:
register int *p1 asm ("r0") = ...;
register int *p2 asm ("r1") = ...;
register int *result asm ("r0");
asm ("sysint" : "=r" (result) : "0" (p1), "r" (p2));
Warning: In the above example, be aware that a register (for example r0) can be call-
clobbered by subsequent code, including function calls and library calls for arithmetic op-
erators on other variables (for example the initialization of p2). In this case, use temporary
variables for expressions between the register assignments:
int t1 = ...;
register int *p1 asm ("r0") = ...;
register int *p2 asm ("r1") = t1;
register int *result asm ("r0");
asm ("sysint" : "=r" (result) : "0" (p1), "r" (p2));
Defining a register variable does not reserve the register. Other than when invoking the
Extended asm, the contents of the specified register are not guaranteed. For this reason, the
following uses are explicitly not supported. If they appear to work, it is only happenstance,
and may stop working as intended due to (seemingly) unrelated changes in surrounding
code, or even minor changes in the optimization of a future version of gcc:
• Passing parameters to or from Basic asm
• Passing parameters to or from Extended asm without using input or output operands.
• Passing parameters to or from routines written in assembler (or other languages) using
non-standard calling conventions.
Some developers use Local Register Variables in an attempt to improve gcc’s allocation of
registers, especially in large functions. In this case the register name is essentially a hint to
the register allocator. While in some instances this can generate better code, improvements
are subject to the whims of the allocator/optimizers. Since there are no guarantees that
your improvements won’t be lost, this usage of Local Register Variables is discouraged.
On the MIPS platform, there is related use for local register variables with slightly differ-
ent characteristics (see Section “Defining coprocessor specifics for MIPS targets” in GNU
Compiler Collection (GCC) Internals).

6.47.6 Size of an asm

Some targets require that GCC track the size of each instruction used in order to generate
correct code. Because the final length of the code produced by an asm statement is only
known by the assembler, GCC must make an estimate as to how big it will be. It does
this by counting the number of instructions in the pattern of the asm and multiplying that
by the length of the longest instruction supported by that processor. (When working out
the number of instructions, it assumes that any occurrence of a newline or of whatever
statement separator character is supported by the assembler — typically ‘;’ — indicates
the end of an instruction.)
Normally, GCC’s estimate is adequate to ensure that correct code is generated, but it is
possible to confuse the compiler if you use pseudo instructions or assembler macros that
expand into multiple real instructions, or if you use assembler directives that expand to
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 721

more space in the object file than is needed for a single instruction. If this happens then
the assembler may produce a diagnostic saying that a label is unreachable.
This size is also used for inlining decisions. If you use asm inline instead of just asm,
then for inlining purposes the size of the asm is taken as the minimum size, ignoring how
many instructions GCC thinks it is.

6.48 Alternate Keywords

‘-ansi’ and the various ‘-std’ options disable certain keywords. This causes trouble when
you want to use GNU C extensions, or a general-purpose header file that should be usable
by all programs, including ISO C programs. The keywords asm, typeof and inline are not
available in programs compiled with ‘-ansi’ or ‘-std’ (although inline can be used in a
program compiled with ‘-std=c99’ or a later standard). The ISO C99 keyword restrict
is only available when ‘-std=gnu99’ (which will eventually be the default) or ‘-std=c99’
(or the equivalent ‘-std=iso9899:1999’), or an option for a later standard version, is used.
The way to solve these problems is to put ‘__’ at the beginning and end of each prob-
lematical keyword. For example, use __asm__ instead of asm, and __inline__ instead of
inline.
Other C compilers won’t accept these alternative keywords; if you want to compile with
another compiler, you can define the alternate keywords as macros to replace them with
the customary keywords. It looks like this:
#ifndef __GNUC__
#define __asm__ asm
#endif
‘-pedantic’ and other options cause warnings for many GNU C extensions. You can pre-
vent such warnings within one expression by writing __extension__ before the expression.
__extension__ has no effect aside from this.

6.49 Incomplete enum Types

You can define an enum tag without specifying its possible values. This results in an incom-
plete type, much like what you get if you write struct foo without describing the elements.
A later declaration that does specify the possible values completes the type.
You cannot allocate variables or storage using the type while it is incomplete. However,
you can work with pointers to that type.
This extension may not be very useful, but it makes the handling of enum more consistent
with the way struct and union are handled.
This extension is not supported by GNU C++.

6.50 Function Names as Strings

GCC provides three magic constants that hold the name of the current function as a string.
In C++11 and later modes, all three are treated as constant expressions and can be used
in constexpr constexts. The first of these constants is __func__, which is part of the C99
standard:
The identifier __func__ is implicitly declared by the translator as if, immediately follow-
ing the opening brace of each function definition, the declaration
722 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

static const char __func__[] = "function-name";

appeared, where function-name is the name of the lexically-enclosing function. This name
is the unadorned name of the function. As an extension, at file (or, in C++, namespace
scope), __func__ evaluates to the empty string.
__FUNCTION__ is another name for __func__, provided for backward compatibility with
old versions of GCC.
In C, __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ is yet another name for __func__, except that at file scope
(or, in C++, namespace scope), it evaluates to the string "top level". In addition, in C++,
__PRETTY_FUNCTION__ contains the signature of the function as well as its bare name. For
example, this program:
extern "C" int printf (const char *, ...);

class a {
public:
void sub (int i)
{
printf ("__FUNCTION__ = %s\n", __FUNCTION__);
printf ("__PRETTY_FUNCTION__ = %s\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
}
};

int
main (void)
{
a ax;
ax.sub (0);
return 0;
}
gives this output:
__FUNCTION__ = sub
__PRETTY_FUNCTION__ = void a::sub(int)
These identifiers are variables, not preprocessor macros, and may not be used to initialize
char arrays or be concatenated with string literals.

6.51 Getting the Return or Frame Address of a Function

These functions may be used to get information about the callers of a function.
void * __builtin_return_address (unsigned int level) [Built-in Function]
This function returns the return address of the current function, or of one of its callers.
The level argument is number of frames to scan up the call stack. A value of 0 yields
the return address of the current function, a value of 1 yields the return address of
the caller of the current function, and so forth. When inlining the expected behavior
is that the function returns the address of the function that is returned to. To work
around this behavior use the noinline function attribute.
The level argument must be a constant integer.
On some machines it may be impossible to determine the return address of any
function other than the current one; in such cases, or when the top of the stack has
been reached, this function returns an unspecified value. In addition, __builtin_
frame_address may be used to determine if the top of the stack has been reached.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 723

Additional post-processing of the returned value may be needed, see __builtin_

extract_return_addr.
The stored representation of the return address in memory may be different from
the address returned by __builtin_return_address. For example, on AArch64
the stored address may be mangled with return address signing whereas the address
returned by __builtin_return_address is not.
Calling this function with a nonzero argument can have unpredictable effects, includ-
ing crashing the calling program. As a result, calls that are considered unsafe are
diagnosed when the ‘-Wframe-address’ option is in effect. Such calls should only be
made in debugging situations.
On targets where code addresses are representable as void *,
void *addr = __builtin_extract_return_addr (__builtin_return_address (0));
gives the code address where the current function would return. For example, such an
address may be used with dladdr or other interfaces that work with code addresses.

void * __builtin_extract_return_addr (void *addr) [Built-in Function]

The address as returned by __builtin_return_address may have to be fed through
this function to get the actual encoded address. For example, on the 31-bit S/390
platform the highest bit has to be masked out, or on SPARC platforms an offset has
to be added for the true next instruction to be executed.
If no fixup is needed, this function simply passes through addr.

void * __builtin_frob_return_addr (void *addr) [Built-in Function]

This function does the reverse of __builtin_extract_return_addr.

void * __builtin_frame_address (unsigned int level) [Built-in Function]

This function is similar to __builtin_return_address, but it returns the address of
the function frame rather than the return address of the function. Calling __builtin_
frame_address with a value of 0 yields the frame address of the current function, a
value of 1 yields the frame address of the caller of the current function, and so forth.
The frame is the area on the stack that holds local variables and saved registers. The
frame address is normally the address of the first word pushed on to the stack by the
function. However, the exact definition depends upon the processor and the calling
convention. If the processor has a dedicated frame pointer register, and the function
has a frame, then __builtin_frame_address returns the value of the frame pointer
register.
On some machines it may be impossible to determine the frame address of any function
other than the current one; in such cases, or when the top of the stack has been
reached, this function returns 0 if the first frame pointer is properly initialized by the
startup code.
Calling this function with a nonzero argument can have unpredictable effects, includ-
ing crashing the calling program. As a result, calls that are considered unsafe are
diagnosed when the ‘-Wframe-address’ option is in effect. Such calls should only be
made in debugging situations.
724 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.52 Using Vector Instructions through Built-in Functions

On some targets, the instruction set contains SIMD vector instructions which operate on
multiple values contained in one large register at the same time. For example, on the x86
the MMX, 3DNow! and SSE extensions can be used this way.
The first step in using these extensions is to provide the necessary data types. This should
be done using an appropriate typedef:
typedef int v4si __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));
The int type specifies the base type, while the attribute specifies the vector size for the
variable, measured in bytes. For example, the declaration above causes the compiler to set
the mode for the v4si type to be 16 bytes wide and divided into int sized units. For a
32-bit int this means a vector of 4 units of 4 bytes, and the corresponding mode of foo is
V4SI.
The vector_size attribute is only applicable to integral and floating scalars, although
arrays, pointers, and function return values are allowed in conjunction with this construct.
Only sizes that are positive power-of-two multiples of the base type size are currently al-
lowed.
All the basic integer types can be used as base types, both as signed and as unsigned:
char, short, int, long, long long. In addition, float and double can be used to build
floating-point vector types.
Specifying a combination that is not valid for the current architecture causes GCC to
synthesize the instructions using a narrower mode. For example, if you specify a variable of
type V4SI and your architecture does not allow for this specific SIMD type, GCC produces
code that uses 4 SIs.
The types defined in this manner can be used with a subset of normal C operations.
Currently, GCC allows using the following operators on these types: +, -, *, /, unary
minus, ^, |, &, ~, %.
The operations behave like C++ valarrays. Addition is defined as the addition of the
corresponding elements of the operands. For example, in the code below, each of the 4
elements in a is added to the corresponding 4 elements in b and the resulting vector is
stored in c.
typedef int v4si __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));

v4si a, b, c;

c = a + b;
Subtraction, multiplication, division, and the logical operations operate in a similar man-
ner. Likewise, the result of using the unary minus or complement operators on a vector type
is a vector whose elements are the negative or complemented values of the corresponding
elements in the operand.
It is possible to use shifting operators <<, >> on integer-type vectors. The operation is
defined as following: {a0, a1, ..., an} >> {b0, b1, ..., bn} == {a0 >> b0, a1 >> b1,
..., an >> bn}. Vector operands must have the same number of elements.
For convenience, it is allowed to use a binary vector operation where one operand is a
scalar. In that case the compiler transforms the scalar operand into a vector where each
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 725

element is the scalar from the operation. The transformation happens only if the scalar
could be safely converted to the vector-element type. Consider the following code.
typedef int v4si __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));

v4si a, b, c;
long l;

a = b + 1; /* a = b + {1,1,1,1}; */
a = 2 * b; /* a = {2,2,2,2} * b; */

a = l + a; /* Error, cannot convert long to int. */

Vectors can be subscripted as if the vector were an array with the same number of elements
and base type. Out of bound accesses invoke undefined behavior at run time. Warnings for
out of bound accesses for vector subscription can be enabled with ‘-Warray-bounds’.
Vector comparison is supported with standard comparison operators: ==, !=, <, <=, >,
>=. Comparison operands can be vector expressions of integer-type or real-type. Compar-
ison between integer-type vectors and real-type vectors are not supported. The result of
the comparison is a vector of the same width and number of elements as the comparison
operands with a signed integral element type.
Vectors are compared element-wise producing 0 when comparison is false and -1 (constant
of the appropriate type where all bits are set) otherwise. Consider the following example.
typedef int v4si __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));

v4si a = {1,2,3,4};
v4si b = {3,2,1,4};
v4si c;

c = a > b; /* The result would be {0, 0,-1, 0} */

c = a == b; /* The result would be {0,-1, 0,-1} */
In C++, the ternary operator ?: is available. a?b:c, where b and c are vectors of the same
type and a is an integer vector with the same number of elements of the same size as b and
c, computes all three arguments and creates a vector {a[0]?b[0]:c[0], a[1]?b[1]:c[1],
...}. Note that unlike in OpenCL, a is thus interpreted as a != 0 and not a < 0. As in the
case of binary operations, this syntax is also accepted when one of b or c is a scalar that is
then transformed into a vector. If both b and c are scalars and the type of true?b:c has
the same size as the element type of a, then b and c are converted to a vector type whose
elements have this type and with the same number of elements as a.
In C++, the logic operators !, &&, || are available for vectors. !v is equivalent to v
== 0, a && b is equivalent to a!=0 & b!=0 and a || b is equivalent to a!=0 | b!=0. For
mixed operations between a scalar s and a vector v, s && v is equivalent to s?v!=0:0 (the
evaluation is short-circuit) and v && s is equivalent to v!=0 & (s?-1:0).
Vector shuffling is available using functions __builtin_shuffle (vec, mask) and __
builtin_shuffle (vec0, vec1, mask). Both functions construct a permutation of ele-
ments from one or two vectors and return a vector of the same type as the input vector(s).
The mask is an integral vector with the same width (W ) and element count (N ) as the
output vector.
The elements of the input vectors are numbered in memory ordering of vec0 beginning
at 0 and vec1 beginning at N. The elements of mask are considered modulo N in the
single-operand case and modulo 2 ∗ N in the two-operand case.
726 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Consider the following example,

typedef int v4si __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));

v4si a = {1,2,3,4};
v4si b = {5,6,7,8};
v4si mask1 = {0,1,1,3};
v4si mask2 = {0,4,2,5};
v4si res;

res = __builtin_shuffle (a, mask1); /* res is {1,2,2,4} */

res = __builtin_shuffle (a, b, mask2); /* res is {1,5,3,6} */
Note that __builtin_shuffle is intentionally semantically compatible with the OpenCL
shuffle and shuffle2 functions.
You can declare variables and use them in function calls and returns, as well as in as-
signments and some casts. You can specify a vector type as a return type for a function.
Vector types can also be used as function arguments. It is possible to cast from one vector
type to another, provided they are of the same size (in fact, you can also cast vectors to
and from other datatypes of the same size).
You cannot operate between vectors of different lengths or different signedness without a
cast.
Vector shuffling is available using the __builtin_shufflevector (vec1, vec2,
index...) function. vec1 and vec2 must be expressions with vector type with a
compatible element type. The result of __builtin_shufflevector is a vector with the
same element type as vec1 and vec2 but that has an element count equal to the number of
indices specified.
The index arguments are a list of integers that specify the elements indices of the first two
vectors that should be extracted and returned in a new vector. These element indices are
numbered sequentially starting with the first vector, continuing into the second vector. An
index of -1 can be used to indicate that the corresponding element in the returned vector is
a don’t care and can be freely chosen to optimized the generated code sequence performing
the shuffle operation.
Consider the following example,
typedef int v4si __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));
typedef int v8si __attribute__ ((vector_size (32)));

v8si a = {1,-2,3,-4,5,-6,7,-8};
v4si b = __builtin_shufflevector (a, a, 0, 2, 4, 6); /* b is {1,3,5,7} */
v4si c = {-2,-4,-6,-8};
v8si d = __builtin_shufflevector (c, b, 4, 0, 5, 1, 6, 2, 7, 3); /* d is a */
Vector conversion is available using the __builtin_convertvector (vec, vectype)
function. vec must be an expression with integral or floating vector type and vectype an
integral or floating vector type with the same number of elements. The result has vectype
type and value of a C cast of every element of vec to the element type of vectype.
Consider the following example,
typedef int v4si __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));
typedef float v4sf __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));
typedef double v4df __attribute__ ((vector_size (32)));
typedef unsigned long long v4di __attribute__ ((vector_size (32)));
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 727

v4si a = {1,-2,3,-4};
v4sf b = {1.5f,-2.5f,3.f,7.f};
v4di c = {1ULL,5ULL,0ULL,10ULL};
v4sf d = __builtin_convertvector (a, v4sf); /* d is {1.f,-2.f,3.f,-4.f} */
/* Equivalent of:
v4sf d = { (float)a[0], (float)a[1], (float)a[2], (float)a[3] }; */
v4df e = __builtin_convertvector (a, v4df); /* e is {1.,-2.,3.,-4.} */
v4df f = __builtin_convertvector (b, v4df); /* f is {1.5,-2.5,3.,7.} */
v4si g = __builtin_convertvector (f, v4si); /* g is {1,-2,3,7} */
v4si h = __builtin_convertvector (c, v4si); /* h is {1,5,0,10} */

Sometimes it is desirable to write code using a mix of generic vector operations (for clarity)
and machine-specific vector intrinsics (to access vector instructions that are not exposed
via generic built-ins). On x86, intrinsic functions for integer vectors typically use the same
vector type __m128i irrespective of how they interpret the vector, making it necessary to
cast their arguments and return values from/to other vector types. In C, you can make use
of a union type:
#include <immintrin.h>

typedef unsigned char u8x16 __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));

typedef unsigned int u32x4 __attribute__ ((vector_size (16)));

typedef union {
__m128i mm;
u8x16 u8;
u32x4 u32;
} v128;

for variables that can be used with both built-in operators and x86 intrinsics:
v128 x, y = { 0 };
memcpy (&x, ptr, sizeof x);
y.u8 += 0x80;
x.mm = _mm_adds_epu8 (x.mm, y.mm);
x.u32 &= 0xffffff;

/* Instead of a variable, a compound literal may be used to pass the

return value of an intrinsic call to a function expecting the union: */
v128 foo (v128);
x = foo ((v128) {_mm_adds_epu8 (x.mm, y.mm)});

6.53 Support for offsetof

GCC implements for both C and C++ a syntactic extension to implement the offsetof
macro.
primary:
"__builtin_offsetof" "(" typename "," offsetof_member_designator ")"

offsetof_member_designator:
identifier
| offsetof_member_designator "." identifier
| offsetof_member_designator "[" expr "]"

This extension is sufficient such that

#define offsetof(type, member) __builtin_offsetof (type, member)
728 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

is a suitable definition of the offsetof macro. In C++, type may be dependent. In either
case, member may consist of a single identifier, or a sequence of member accesses and array
references.

6.54 Legacy __sync Built-in Functions for Atomic Memory

Access
The following built-in functions are intended to be compatible with those described in the
Intel Itanium Processor-specific Application Binary Interface, section 7.4. As such, they
depart from normal GCC practice by not using the ‘__builtin_’ prefix and also by being
overloaded so that they work on multiple types.
The definition given in the Intel documentation allows only for the use of the types int,
long, long long or their unsigned counterparts. GCC allows any scalar type that is 1, 2, 4
or 8 bytes in size other than the C type _Bool or the C++ type bool. Operations on pointer
arguments are performed as if the operands were of the uintptr_t type. That is, they are
not scaled by the size of the type to which the pointer points.
These functions are implemented in terms of the ‘__atomic’ builtins (see Section 6.55
[ atomic Builtins], page 730). They should not be used for new code which should use the
‘__atomic’ builtins instead.
Not all operations are supported by all target processors. If a particular operation cannot
be implemented on the target processor, a warning is generated and a call to an external
function is generated. The external function carries the same name as the built-in version,
with an additional suffix ‘_n’ where n is the size of the data type.
In most cases, these built-in functions are considered a full barrier. That is, no memory
operand is moved across the operation, either forward or backward. Further, instructions
are issued as necessary to prevent the processor from speculating loads across the operation
and from queuing stores after the operation.
All of the routines are described in the Intel documentation to take “an optional list
of variables protected by the memory barrier”. It’s not clear what is meant by that; it
could mean that only the listed variables are protected, or it could mean a list of additional
variables to be protected. The list is ignored by GCC which treats it as empty. GCC
interprets an empty list as meaning that all globally accessible variables should be protected.
type __sync_fetch_and_add (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_fetch_and_sub (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_fetch_and_or (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_fetch_and_and (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_fetch_and_xor (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_fetch_and_nand (type *ptr, type value, ...)
These built-in functions perform the operation suggested by the name, and re-
turns the value that had previously been in memory. That is, operations on
integer operands have the following semantics. Operations on pointer argu-
ments are performed as if the operands were of the uintptr_t type. That is,
they are not scaled by the size of the type to which the pointer points.
{ tmp = *ptr; *ptr op= value; return tmp; }
{ tmp = *ptr; *ptr = ~(tmp & value); return tmp; } // nand
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 729

The object pointed to by the first argument must be of integer or pointer type.
It must not be a boolean type.
Note: GCC 4.4 and later implement __sync_fetch_and_nand as *ptr = ~(tmp
& value) instead of *ptr = ~tmp & value.
type __sync_add_and_fetch (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_sub_and_fetch (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_or_and_fetch (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_and_and_fetch (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_xor_and_fetch (type *ptr, type value, ...)
type __sync_nand_and_fetch (type *ptr, type value, ...)
These built-in functions perform the operation suggested by the name, and
return the new value. That is, operations on integer operands have the following
semantics. Operations on pointer operands are performed as if the operand’s
type were uintptr_t.
{ *ptr op= value; return *ptr; }
{ *ptr = ~(*ptr & value); return *ptr; } // nand
The same constraints on arguments apply as for the corresponding __sync_op_
and_fetch built-in functions.
Note: GCC 4.4 and later implement __sync_nand_and_fetch as *ptr =
~(*ptr & value) instead of *ptr = ~*ptr & value.
bool __sync_bool_compare_and_swap (type *ptr, type oldval, type newval, ...)
type __sync_val_compare_and_swap (type *ptr, type oldval, type newval, ...)
These built-in functions perform an atomic compare and swap. That is, if the
current value of *ptr is oldval, then write newval into *ptr.
The “bool” version returns true if the comparison is successful and newval is
written. The “val” version returns the contents of *ptr before the operation.
__sync_synchronize (...)
This built-in function issues a full memory barrier.
type __sync_lock_test_and_set (type *ptr, type value, ...)
This built-in function, as described by Intel, is not a traditional test-and-set
operation, but rather an atomic exchange operation. It writes value into *ptr,
and returns the previous contents of *ptr.
Many targets have only minimal support for such locks, and do not support a
full exchange operation. In this case, a target may support reduced functionality
here by which the only valid value to store is the immediate constant 1. The
exact value actually stored in *ptr is implementation defined.
This built-in function is not a full barrier, but rather an acquire barrier. This
means that references after the operation cannot move to (or be speculated to)
before the operation, but previous memory stores may not be globally visible
yet, and previous memory loads may not yet be satisfied.
void __sync_lock_release (type *ptr, ...)
This built-in function releases the lock acquired by __sync_lock_test_and_
set. Normally this means writing the constant 0 to *ptr.
730 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

This built-in function is not a full barrier, but rather a release barrier. This
means that all previous memory stores are globally visible, and all previous
memory loads have been satisfied, but following memory reads are not prevented
from being speculated to before the barrier.

6.55 Built-in Functions for Memory Model Aware Atomic

Operations
The following built-in functions approximately match the requirements for the C++11 mem-
ory model. They are all identified by being prefixed with ‘__atomic’ and most are overloaded
so that they work with multiple types.
These functions are intended to replace the legacy ‘__sync’ builtins. The main difference
is that the memory order that is requested is a parameter to the functions. New code should
always use the ‘__atomic’ builtins rather than the ‘__sync’ builtins.
Note that the ‘__atomic’ builtins assume that programs will conform to the C++11 mem-
ory model. In particular, they assume that programs are free of data races. See the C++11
standard for detailed requirements.
The ‘__atomic’ builtins can be used with any integral scalar or pointer type that is 1, 2,
4, or 8 bytes in length. 16-byte integral types are also allowed if ‘__int128’ (see Section 6.9
[ int128], page 549) is supported by the architecture.
The four non-arithmetic functions (load, store, exchange, and compare exchange) all have
a generic version as well. This generic version works on any data type. It uses the lock-free
built-in function if the specific data type size makes that possible; otherwise, an external call
is left to be resolved at run time. This external call is the same format with the addition of
a ‘size_t’ parameter inserted as the first parameter indicating the size of the object being
pointed to. All objects must be the same size.
There are 6 different memory orders that can be specified. These map to the C++11
memory orders with the same names, see the C++11 standard or the GCC wiki on atomic
synchronization for detailed definitions. Individual targets may also support additional
memory orders for use on specific architectures. Refer to the target documentation for
details of these.
An atomic operation can both constrain code motion and be mapped to hardware instruc-
tions for synchronization between threads (e.g., a fence). To which extent this happens is
controlled by the memory orders, which are listed here in approximately ascending order
of strength. The description of each memory order is only meant to roughly illustrate the
effects and is not a specification; see the C++11 memory model for precise semantics.
__ATOMIC_RELAXED
Implies no inter-thread ordering constraints.
__ATOMIC_CONSUME
This is currently implemented using the stronger __ATOMIC_ACQUIRE memory
order because of a deficiency in C++11’s semantics for memory_order_consume.
__ATOMIC_ACQUIRE
Creates an inter-thread happens-before constraint from the release (or stronger)
semantic store to this acquire load. Can prevent hoisting of code to before the
operation.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 731

__ATOMIC_RELEASE
Creates an inter-thread happens-before constraint to acquire (or stronger) se-
mantic loads that read from this release store. Can prevent sinking of code to
after the operation.
__ATOMIC_ACQ_REL
Combines the effects of both __ATOMIC_ACQUIRE and __ATOMIC_RELEASE.
__ATOMIC_SEQ_CST
Enforces total ordering with all other __ATOMIC_SEQ_CST operations.
Note that in the C++11 memory model, fences (e.g., ‘__atomic_thread_fence’) take ef-
fect in combination with other atomic operations on specific memory locations (e.g., atomic
loads); operations on specific memory locations do not necessarily affect other operations
in the same way.
Target architectures are encouraged to provide their own patterns for each of the atomic
built-in functions. If no target is provided, the original non-memory model set of ‘__sync’
atomic built-in functions are used, along with any required synchronization fences surround-
ing it in order to achieve the proper behavior. Execution in this case is subject to the same
restrictions as those built-in functions.
If there is no pattern or mechanism to provide a lock-free instruction sequence, a call is
made to an external routine with the same parameters to be resolved at run time.
When implementing patterns for these built-in functions, the memory order parameter
can be ignored as long as the pattern implements the most restrictive __ATOMIC_SEQ_CST
memory order. Any of the other memory orders execute correctly with this memory order
but they may not execute as efficiently as they could with a more appropriate implementa-
tion of the relaxed requirements.
Note that the C++11 standard allows for the memory order parameter to be determined
at run time rather than at compile time. These built-in functions map any run-time value
to __ATOMIC_SEQ_CST rather than invoke a runtime library call or inline a switch statement.
This is standard compliant, safe, and the simplest approach for now.
The memory order parameter is a signed int, but only the lower 16 bits are reserved for
the memory order. The remainder of the signed int is reserved for target use and should be
0. Use of the predefined atomic values ensures proper usage.

type __atomic_load_n (type *ptr, int memorder) [Built-in Function]

This built-in function implements an atomic load operation. It returns the contents
of *ptr.
The valid memory order variants are __ATOMIC_RELAXED, __ATOMIC_SEQ_CST, __
ATOMIC_ACQUIRE, and __ATOMIC_CONSUME.

void __atomic_load (type *ptr, type *ret, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
This is the generic version of an atomic load. It returns the contents of *ptr in *ret.

void __atomic_store_n (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
This built-in function implements an atomic store operation. It writes val into *ptr.
The valid memory order variants are __ATOMIC_RELAXED, __ATOMIC_SEQ_CST, and
__ATOMIC_RELEASE.
732 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void __atomic_store (type *ptr, type *val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
This is the generic version of an atomic store. It stores the value of *val into *ptr.
type __atomic_exchange_n (type *ptr, type val, int [Built-in Function]
memorder)
This built-in function implements an atomic exchange operation. It writes val into
*ptr, and returns the previous contents of *ptr.
All memory order variants are valid.
void __atomic_exchange (type *ptr, type *val, type *ret, int [Built-in Function]
memorder)
This is the generic version of an atomic exchange. It stores the contents of *val into
*ptr. The original value of *ptr is copied into *ret.
bool __atomic_compare_exchange_n (type *ptr, type [Built-in Function]
*expected, type desired, bool weak, int success memorder, int
failure memorder)
This built-in function implements an atomic compare and exchange operation. This
compares the contents of *ptr with the contents of *expected. If equal, the operation
is a read-modify-write operation that writes desired into *ptr. If they are not equal,
the operation is a read and the current contents of *ptr are written into *expected.
weak is true for weak compare exchange, which may fail spuriously, and false for
the strong variation, which never fails spuriously. Many targets only offer the strong
variation and ignore the parameter. When in doubt, use the strong variation.
If desired is written into *ptr then true is returned and memory is affected according
to the memory order specified by success memorder. There are no restrictions on what
memory order can be used here.
Otherwise, false is returned and memory is affected according to failure memorder.
This memory order cannot be __ATOMIC_RELEASE nor __ATOMIC_ACQ_REL. It also
cannot be a stronger order than that specified by success memorder.
bool __atomic_compare_exchange (type *ptr, type [Built-in Function]
*expected, type *desired, bool weak, int success memorder, int
failure memorder)
This built-in function implements the generic version of __atomic_compare_
exchange. The function is virtually identical to __atomic_compare_exchange_n,
except the desired value is also a pointer.
type __atomic_add_fetch (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_sub_fetch (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_and_fetch (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_xor_fetch (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_or_fetch (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_nand_fetch (type *ptr, type val, int [Built-in Function]
memorder)
These built-in functions perform the operation suggested by the name, and return
the result of the operation. Operations on pointer arguments are performed as if the
operands were of the uintptr_t type. That is, they are not scaled by the size of the
type to which the pointer points.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 733

{ *ptr op= val; return *ptr; }

{ *ptr = ~(*ptr & val); return *ptr; } // nand

The object pointed to by the first argument must be of integer or pointer type. It
must not be a boolean type. All memory orders are valid.

type __atomic_fetch_add (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_fetch_sub (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_fetch_and (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_fetch_xor (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_fetch_or (type *ptr, type val, int memorder) [Built-in Function]
type __atomic_fetch_nand (type *ptr, type val, int [Built-in Function]
memorder)
These built-in functions perform the operation suggested by the name, and return
the value that had previously been in *ptr. Operations on pointer arguments are
performed as if the operands were of the uintptr_t type. That is, they are not
scaled by the size of the type to which the pointer points.
{ tmp = *ptr; *ptr op= val; return tmp; }
{ tmp = *ptr; *ptr = ~(*ptr & val); return tmp; } // nand

The same constraints on arguments apply as for the corresponding __atomic_op_

fetch built-in functions. All memory orders are valid.

bool __atomic_test_and_set (void *ptr, int memorder) [Built-in Function]

This built-in function performs an atomic test-and-set operation on the byte at *ptr.
The byte is set to some implementation defined nonzero “set” value and the return
value is true if and only if the previous contents were “set”. It should be only used
for operands of type bool or char. For other types only part of the value may be set.
All memory orders are valid.

void __atomic_clear (bool *ptr, int memorder) [Built-in Function]

This built-in function performs an atomic clear operation on *ptr. After the oper-
ation, *ptr contains 0. It should be only used for operands of type bool or char
and in conjunction with __atomic_test_and_set. For other types it may only clear
partially. If the type is not bool prefer using __atomic_store.
The valid memory order variants are __ATOMIC_RELAXED, __ATOMIC_SEQ_CST, and
__ATOMIC_RELEASE.

void __atomic_thread_fence (int memorder) [Built-in Function]

This built-in function acts as a synchronization fence between threads based on the
specified memory order.
All memory orders are valid.

void __atomic_signal_fence (int memorder) [Built-in Function]

This built-in function acts as a synchronization fence between a thread and signal
handlers based in the same thread.
All memory orders are valid.
734 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

bool __atomic_always_lock_free (size t size, void *ptr) [Built-in Function]

This built-in function returns true if objects of size bytes always generate lock-free
atomic instructions for the target architecture. size must resolve to a compile-time
constant and the result also resolves to a compile-time constant.
ptr is an optional pointer to the object that may be used to determine alignment. A
value of 0 indicates typical alignment should be used. The compiler may also ignore
this parameter.
if (__atomic_always_lock_free (sizeof (long long), 0))

bool __atomic_is_lock_free (size t size, void *ptr) [Built-in Function]

This built-in function returns true if objects of size bytes always generate lock-free
atomic instructions for the target architecture. If the built-in function is not known
to be lock-free, a call is made to a runtime routine named __atomic_is_lock_free.
ptr is an optional pointer to the object that may be used to determine alignment. A
value of 0 indicates typical alignment should be used. The compiler may also ignore
this parameter.

6.56 Built-in Functions to Perform Arithmetic with

Overflow Checking
The following built-in functions allow performing simple arithmetic operations together with
checking whether the operations overflowed.
bool __builtin_add_overflow (type1 a, type2 b, type3 [Built-in Function]
*res)
bool __builtin_sadd_overflow (int a, int b, int *res) [Built-in Function]
bool __builtin_saddl_overflow (long int a, long int b, long [Built-in Function]
int *res)
bool __builtin_saddll_overflow (long long int a, long long [Built-in Function]
int b, long long int *res)
bool __builtin_uadd_overflow (unsigned int a, unsigned int [Built-in Function]
b, unsigned int *res)
bool __builtin_uaddl_overflow (unsigned long int a, [Built-in Function]
unsigned long int b, unsigned long int *res)
bool __builtin_uaddll_overflow (unsigned long long int a, [Built-in Function]
unsigned long long int b, unsigned long long int *res)
These built-in functions promote the first two operands into infinite precision signed
type and perform addition on those promoted operands. The result is then cast to
the type the third pointer argument points to and stored there. If the stored result
is equal to the infinite precision result, the built-in functions return false, otherwise
they return true. As the addition is performed in infinite signed precision, these
built-in functions have fully defined behavior for all argument values.
The first built-in function allows arbitrary integral types for operands and the result
type must be pointer to some integral type other than enumerated or boolean type,
the rest of the built-in functions have explicit integer types.
The compiler will attempt to use hardware instructions to implement these built-in
functions where possible, like conditional jump on overflow after addition, conditional
jump on carry etc.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 735

bool __builtin_sub_overflow (type1 a, type2 b, type3 [Built-in Function]

*res)
bool __builtin_ssub_overflow (int a, int b, int *res) [Built-in Function]
bool __builtin_ssubl_overflow (long int a, long int b, long [Built-in Function]
int *res)
bool __builtin_ssubll_overflow (long long int a, long long [Built-in Function]
int b, long long int *res)
bool __builtin_usub_overflow (unsigned int a, unsigned int [Built-in Function]
b, unsigned int *res)
bool __builtin_usubl_overflow (unsigned long int a, [Built-in Function]
unsigned long int b, unsigned long int *res)
bool __builtin_usubll_overflow (unsigned long long int a, [Built-in Function]
unsigned long long int b, unsigned long long int *res)
These built-in functions are similar to the add overflow checking built-in functions
above, except they perform subtraction, subtract the second argument from the first
one, instead of addition.
bool __builtin_mul_overflow (type1 a, type2 b, type3 [Built-in Function]
*res)
bool __builtin_smul_overflow (int a, int b, int *res) [Built-in Function]
bool __builtin_smull_overflow (long int a, long int b, long [Built-in Function]
int *res)
bool __builtin_smulll_overflow (long long int a, long long [Built-in Function]
int b, long long int *res)
bool __builtin_umul_overflow (unsigned int a, unsigned int [Built-in Function]
b, unsigned int *res)
bool __builtin_umull_overflow (unsigned long int a, [Built-in Function]
unsigned long int b, unsigned long int *res)
bool __builtin_umulll_overflow (unsigned long long int a, [Built-in Function]
unsigned long long int b, unsigned long long int *res)
These built-in functions are similar to the add overflow checking built-in functions
above, except they perform multiplication, instead of addition.
The following built-in functions allow checking if simple arithmetic operation would over-
flow.
bool __builtin_add_overflow_p (type1 a, type2 b, type3 [Built-in Function]
c)
bool __builtin_sub_overflow_p (type1 a, type2 b, type3 [Built-in Function]
c)
bool __builtin_mul_overflow_p (type1 a, type2 b, type3 [Built-in Function]
c)
These built-in functions are similar to __builtin_add_overflow, __builtin_sub_
overflow, or __builtin_mul_overflow, except that they don’t store the result of
the arithmetic operation anywhere and the last argument is not a pointer, but some
expression with integral type other than enumerated or boolean type.
The built-in functions promote the first two operands into infinite precision signed
type and perform addition on those promoted operands. The result is then cast to the
736 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

type of the third argument. If the cast result is equal to the infinite precision result,
the built-in functions return false, otherwise they return true. The value of the
third argument is ignored, just the side effects in the third argument are evaluated,
and no integral argument promotions are performed on the last argument. If the
third argument is a bit-field, the type used for the result cast has the precision and
signedness of the given bit-field, rather than precision and signedness of the underlying
type.
For example, the following macro can be used to portably check, at compile-time,
whether or not adding two constant integers will overflow, and perform the addition
only when it is known to be safe and not to trigger a ‘-Woverflow’ warning.
#define INT_ADD_OVERFLOW_P(a, b) \
__builtin_add_overflow_p (a, b, (__typeof__ ((a) + (b))) 0)

enum {
A = INT_MAX, B = 3,
C = INT_ADD_OVERFLOW_P (A, B) ? 0 : A + B,
D = __builtin_add_overflow_p (1, SCHAR_MAX, (signed char) 0)
};

The compiler will attempt to use hardware instructions to implement these built-in
functions where possible, like conditional jump on overflow after addition, conditional
jump on carry etc.

6.57 x86-Specific Memory Model Extensions for

Transactional Memory
The x86 architecture supports additional memory ordering flags to mark critical sections
for hardware lock elision. These must be specified in addition to an existing memory order
to atomic intrinsics.

__ATOMIC_HLE_ACQUIRE
Start lock elision on a lock variable. Memory order must be __ATOMIC_ACQUIRE
or stronger.

__ATOMIC_HLE_RELEASE
End lock elision on a lock variable. Memory order must be __ATOMIC_RELEASE
or stronger.

When a lock acquire fails, it is required for good performance to abort the transaction
quickly. This can be done with a _mm_pause.
#include <immintrin.h> // For _mm_pause

int lockvar;

/* Acquire lock with lock elision */

while (__atomic_exchange_n(&lockvar, 1, __ATOMIC_ACQUIRE|__ATOMIC_HLE_ACQUIRE))
_mm_pause(); /* Abort failed transaction */
...
/* Free lock with lock elision */
__atomic_store_n(&lockvar, 0, __ATOMIC_RELEASE|__ATOMIC_HLE_RELEASE);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 737

6.58 Object Size Checking Built-in Functions

GCC implements a limited buffer overflow protection mechanism that can prevent some
buffer overflow attacks by determining the sizes of objects into which data is about to be
written and preventing the writes when the size isn’t sufficient. The built-in functions de-
scribed below yield the best results when used together and when optimization is enabled.
For example, to detect object sizes across function boundaries or to follow pointer assign-
ments through non-trivial control flow they rely on various optimization passes enabled
with ‘-O2’. However, to a limited extent, they can be used without optimization as well.

size_t __builtin_object_size (const void * ptr, int type) [Built-in Function]

is a built-in construct that returns a constant number of bytes from ptr to the end of
the object ptr pointer points to (if known at compile time). To determine the sizes of
dynamically allocated objects the function relies on the allocation functions called to
obtain the storage to be declared with the alloc_size attribute (see Section 6.33.1
[Common Function Attributes], page 567). __builtin_object_size never evaluates
its arguments for side effects. If there are any side effects in them, it returns (size_t)
-1 for type 0 or 1 and (size_t) 0 for type 2 or 3. If there are multiple objects ptr
can point to and all of them are known at compile time, the returned number is the
maximum of remaining byte counts in those objects if type & 2 is 0 and minimum if
nonzero. If it is not possible to determine which objects ptr points to at compile time,
__builtin_object_size should return (size_t) -1 for type 0 or 1 and (size_t) 0
for type 2 or 3.
type is an integer constant from 0 to 3. If the least significant bit is clear, objects are
whole variables, if it is set, a closest surrounding subobject is considered the object a
pointer points to. The second bit determines if maximum or minimum of remaining
bytes is computed.
struct V { char buf1[10]; int b; char buf2[10]; } var;
char *p = &var.buf1[1], *q = &var.b;

/* Here the object p points to is var. */

assert (__builtin_object_size (p, 0) == sizeof (var) - 1);
/* The subobject p points to is var.buf1. */
assert (__builtin_object_size (p, 1) == sizeof (var.buf1) - 1);
/* The object q points to is var. */
assert (__builtin_object_size (q, 0)
== (char *) (&var + 1) - (char *) &var.b);
/* The subobject q points to is var.b. */
assert (__builtin_object_size (q, 1) == sizeof (var.b));

size_t __builtin_dynamic_object_size (const void * ptr, [Built-in Function]

int type)
is similar to __builtin_object_size in that it returns a number of bytes from ptr
to the end of the object ptr pointer points to, except that the size returned may
not be a constant. This results in successful evaluation of object size estimates in
a wider range of use cases and can be more precise than __builtin_object_size,
but it incurs a performance penalty since it may add a runtime overhead on size
computation. Semantics of type as well as return values in case it is not possible to
determine which objects ptr points to at compile time are the same as in the case of
__builtin_object_size.
738 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

There are built-in functions added for many common string operation functions, e.g., for
memcpy __builtin___memcpy_chk built-in is provided. This built-in has an additional last
argument, which is the number of bytes remaining in the object the dest argument points
to or (size_t) -1 if the size is not known.
The built-in functions are optimized into the normal string functions like memcpy if the
last argument is (size_t) -1 or if it is known at compile time that the destination object
will not be overflowed. If the compiler can determine at compile time that the object will
always be overflowed, it issues a warning.
The intended use can be e.g.
#undef memcpy
#define bos0(dest) __builtin_object_size (dest, 0)
#define memcpy(dest, src, n) \
__builtin___memcpy_chk (dest, src, n, bos0 (dest))

char *volatile p;
char buf[10];
/* It is unknown what object p points to, so this is optimized
into plain memcpy - no checking is possible. */
memcpy (p, "abcde", n);
/* Destination is known and length too. It is known at compile
time there will be no overflow. */
memcpy (&buf[5], "abcde", 5);
/* Destination is known, but the length is not known at compile time.
This will result in __memcpy_chk call that can check for overflow
at run time. */
memcpy (&buf[5], "abcde", n);
/* Destination is known and it is known at compile time there will
be overflow. There will be a warning and __memcpy_chk call that
will abort the program at run time. */
memcpy (&buf[6], "abcde", 5);
Such built-in functions are provided for memcpy, mempcpy, memmove, memset, strcpy,
stpcpy, strncpy, strcat and strncat.
There are also checking built-in functions for formatted output functions.
int __builtin___sprintf_chk (char *s, int flag, size_t os, const char *fmt, ...);
int __builtin___snprintf_chk (char *s, size_t maxlen, int flag, size_t os,
const char *fmt, ...);
int __builtin___vsprintf_chk (char *s, int flag, size_t os, const char *fmt,
va_list ap);
int __builtin___vsnprintf_chk (char *s, size_t maxlen, int flag, size_t os,
const char *fmt, va_list ap);
The added flag argument is passed unchanged to __sprintf_chk etc. functions and can
contain implementation specific flags on what additional security measures the checking
function might take, such as handling %n differently.
The os argument is the object size s points to, like in the other built-in functions. There
is a small difference in the behavior though, if os is (size_t) -1, the built-in functions are
optimized into the non-checking functions only if flag is 0, otherwise the checking function
is called with os argument set to (size_t) -1.
In addition to this, there are checking built-in functions __builtin___printf_chk, _
_builtin___vprintf_chk, __builtin___fprintf_chk and __builtin___vfprintf_chk.
These have just one additional argument, flag, right before format string fmt. If the compiler
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 739

is able to optimize them to fputc etc. functions, it does, otherwise the checking function is
called and the flag argument passed to it.

6.59 Other Built-in Functions Provided by GCC

GCC provides a large number of built-in functions other than the ones mentioned above.
Some of these are for internal use in the processing of exceptions or variable-length argument
lists and are not documented here because they may change from time to time; we do not
recommend general use of these functions.
The remaining functions are provided for optimization purposes.
With the exception of built-ins that have library equivalents such as the standard C
library functions discussed below, or that expand to library calls, GCC built-in functions
are always expanded inline and thus do not have corresponding entry points and their
address cannot be obtained. Attempting to use them in an expression other than a function
call results in a compile-time error.
GCC includes built-in versions of many of the functions in the standard C library. These
functions come in two forms: one whose names start with the __builtin_ prefix, and the
other without. Both forms have the same type (including prototype), the same address
(when their address is taken), and the same meaning as the C library functions even if you
specify the ‘-fno-builtin’ option see Section 3.4 [C Dialect Options], page 44). Many of
these functions are only optimized in certain cases; if they are not optimized in a particular
case, a call to the library function is emitted.
Outside strict ISO C mode (‘-ansi’, ‘-std=c90’, ‘-std=c99’ or ‘-std=c11’), the func-
tions _exit, alloca, bcmp, bzero, dcgettext, dgettext, dremf, dreml, drem, exp10f,
exp10l, exp10, ffsll, ffsl, ffs, fprintf_unlocked, fputs_unlocked, gammaf, gammal,
gamma, gammaf_r, gammal_r, gamma_r, gettext, index, isascii, j0f, j0l, j0, j1f, j1l,
j1, jnf, jnl, jn, lgammaf_r, lgammal_r, lgamma_r, mempcpy, pow10f, pow10l, pow10,
printf_unlocked, rindex, roundeven, roundevenf, roundevenl, scalbf, scalbl, scalb,
signbit, signbitf, signbitl, signbitd32, signbitd64, signbitd128, significandf,
significandl, significand, sincosf, sincosl, sincos, stpcpy, stpncpy, strcasecmp,
strdup, strfmon, strncasecmp, strndup, strnlen, toascii, y0f, y0l, y0, y1f, y1l, y1,
ynf, ynl and yn may be handled as built-in functions. All these functions have correspond-
ing versions prefixed with __builtin_, which may be used even in strict C90 mode.
The ISO C99 functions _Exit, acoshf, acoshl, acosh, asinhf, asinhl, asinh,
atanhf, atanhl, atanh, cabsf, cabsl, cabs, cacosf, cacoshf, cacoshl, cacosh, cacosl,
cacos, cargf, cargl, carg, casinf, casinhf, casinhl, casinh, casinl, casin, catanf,
catanhf, catanhl, catanh, catanl, catan, cbrtf, cbrtl, cbrt, ccosf, ccoshf, ccoshl,
ccosh, ccosl, ccos, cexpf, cexpl, cexp, cimagf, cimagl, cimag, clogf, clogl, clog,
conjf, conjl, conj, copysignf, copysignl, copysign, cpowf, cpowl, cpow, cprojf,
cprojl, cproj, crealf, creall, creal, csinf, csinhf, csinhl, csinh, csinl, csin,
csqrtf, csqrtl, csqrt, ctanf, ctanhf, ctanhl, ctanh, ctanl, ctan, erfcf, erfcl,
erfc, erff, erfl, erf, exp2f, exp2l, exp2, expm1f, expm1l, expm1, fdimf, fdiml, fdim,
fmaf, fmal, fmaxf, fmaxl, fmax, fma, fminf, fminl, fmin, hypotf, hypotl, hypot,
ilogbf, ilogbl, ilogb, imaxabs, isblank, iswblank, lgammaf, lgammal, lgamma, llabs,
llrintf, llrintl, llrint, llroundf, llroundl, llround, log1pf, log1pl, log1p,
log2f, log2l, log2, logbf, logbl, logb, lrintf, lrintl, lrint, lroundf, lroundl,
740 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

lround, nearbyintf, nearbyintl, nearbyint, nextafterf, nextafterl, nextafter,

nexttowardf, nexttowardl, nexttoward, remainderf, remainderl, remainder, remquof,
remquol, remquo, rintf, rintl, rint, roundf, roundl, round, scalblnf, scalblnl,
scalbln, scalbnf, scalbnl, scalbn, snprintf, tgammaf, tgammal, tgamma, truncf,
truncl, trunc, vfscanf, vscanf, vsnprintf and vsscanf are handled as built-in
functions except in strict ISO C90 mode (‘-ansi’ or ‘-std=c90’).
There are also built-in versions of the ISO C99 functions acosf, acosl, asinf, asinl,
atan2f, atan2l, atanf, atanl, ceilf, ceill, cosf, coshf, coshl, cosl, expf, expl,
fabsf, fabsl, floorf, floorl, fmodf, fmodl, frexpf, frexpl, ldexpf, ldexpl, log10f,
log10l, logf, logl, modfl, modff, powf, powl, sinf, sinhf, sinhl, sinl, sqrtf, sqrtl,
tanf, tanhf, tanhl and tanl that are recognized in any mode since ISO C90 reserves these
names for the purpose to which ISO C99 puts them. All these functions have corresponding
versions prefixed with __builtin_.
There are also built-in functions __builtin_fabsfn, __builtin_fabsfnx, __builtin_
copysignfn and __builtin_copysignfnx, corresponding to the TS 18661-3 functions
fabsfn, fabsfnx, copysignfn and copysignfnx, for supported types _Floatn and
_Floatnx.
There are also GNU extension functions clog10, clog10f and clog10l which names
are reserved by ISO C99 for future use. All these functions have versions prefixed with
__builtin_.
The ISO C94 functions iswalnum, iswalpha, iswcntrl, iswdigit, iswgraph, iswlower,
iswprint, iswpunct, iswspace, iswupper, iswxdigit, towlower and towupper are han-
dled as built-in functions except in strict ISO C90 mode (‘-ansi’ or ‘-std=c90’).
The ISO C90 functions abort, abs, acos, asin, atan2, atan, calloc, ceil, cosh,
cos, exit, exp, fabs, floor, fmod, fprintf, fputs, free, frexp, fscanf, isalnum,
isalpha, iscntrl, isdigit, isgraph, islower, isprint, ispunct, isspace, isupper,
isxdigit, tolower, toupper, labs, ldexp, log10, log, malloc, memchr, memcmp, memcpy,
memset, modf, pow, printf, putchar, puts, realloc, scanf, sinh, sin, snprintf,
sprintf, sqrt, sscanf, strcat, strchr, strcmp, strcpy, strcspn, strlen, strncat,
strncmp, strncpy, strpbrk, strrchr, strspn, strstr, tanh, tan, vfprintf, vprintf
and vsprintf are all recognized as built-in functions unless ‘-fno-builtin’ is specified (or
‘-fno-builtin-function’ is specified for an individual function). All of these functions
have corresponding versions prefixed with __builtin_.
GCC provides built-in versions of the ISO C99 floating-point comparison macros that
avoid raising exceptions for unordered operands. They have the same names as the stan-
dard macros ( isgreater, isgreaterequal, isless, islessequal, islessgreater, and
isunordered) , with __builtin_ prefixed. We intend for a library implementor to be able
to simply #define each standard macro to its built-in equivalent. In the same fashion,
GCC provides fpclassify, isfinite, isinf_sign, isnormal and signbit built-ins used
with __builtin_ prefixed. The isinf and isnan built-in functions appear both with and
without the __builtin_ prefix. With -ffinite-math-only option the isinf and isnan
built-in functions will always return 0.
GCC provides built-in versions of the ISO C99 floating-point rounding and exceptions
handling functions fegetround, feclearexcept and feraiseexcept. They may not be
available for all targets, and because they need close interaction with libc internal values,
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 741

they may not be available for all target libcs, but in all cases they will gracefully fallback to
libc calls. These built-in functions appear both with and without the __builtin_ prefix.
void *__builtin_alloca (size t size) [Built-in Function]
The __builtin_alloca function must be called at block scope. The function allocates
an object size bytes large on the stack of the calling function. The object is aligned on
the default stack alignment boundary for the target determined by the __BIGGEST_
ALIGNMENT__ macro. The __builtin_alloca function returns a pointer to the first
byte of the allocated object. The lifetime of the allocated object ends just before
the calling function returns to its caller. This is so even when __builtin_alloca is
called within a nested block.
For example, the following function allocates eight objects of n bytes each on the
stack, storing a pointer to each in consecutive elements of the array a. It then passes
the array to function g which can safely use the storage pointed to by each of the
array elements.
void f (unsigned n)
{
void *a [8];
for (int i = 0; i != 8; ++i)
a [i] = __builtin_alloca (n);

g (a, n); // safe

}
Since the __builtin_alloca function doesn’t validate its argument it is the respon-
sibility of its caller to make sure the argument doesn’t cause it to exceed the stack
size limit. The __builtin_alloca function is provided to make it possible to allo-
cate on the stack arrays of bytes with an upper bound that may be computed at run
time. Since C99 Variable Length Arrays offer similar functionality under a portable,
more convenient, and safer interface they are recommended instead, in both C99 and
C++ programs where GCC provides them as an extension. See Section 6.20 [Variable
Length], page 559, for details.
void *__builtin_alloca_with_align (size t size, size t [Built-in Function]
alignment)
The __builtin_alloca_with_align function must be called at block scope. The
function allocates an object size bytes large on the stack of the calling function.
The allocated object is aligned on the boundary specified by the argument alignment
whose unit is given in bits (not bytes). The size argument must be positive and
not exceed the stack size limit. The alignment argument must be a constant integer
expression that evaluates to a power of 2 greater than or equal to CHAR_BIT and less
than some unspecified maximum. Invocations with other values are rejected with an
error indicating the valid bounds. The function returns a pointer to the first byte of
the allocated object. The lifetime of the allocated object ends at the end of the block
in which the function was called. The allocated storage is released no later than just
before the calling function returns to its caller, but may be released at the end of the
block in which the function was called.
For example, in the following function the call to g is unsafe because when overalign
is non-zero, the space allocated by __builtin_alloca_with_align may have been
released at the end of the if statement in which it was called.
742 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void f (unsigned n, bool overalign)

{
void *p;
if (overalign)
p = __builtin_alloca_with_align (n, 64 /* bits */);
else
p = __builtin_alloc (n);

g (p, n); // unsafe

}
Since the __builtin_alloca_with_align function doesn’t validate its size argument
it is the responsibility of its caller to make sure the argument doesn’t cause it to
exceed the stack size limit. The __builtin_alloca_with_align function is provided
to make it possible to allocate on the stack overaligned arrays of bytes with an upper
bound that may be computed at run time. Since C99 Variable Length Arrays offer
the same functionality under a portable, more convenient, and safer interface they
are recommended instead, in both C99 and C++ programs where GCC provides them
as an extension. See Section 6.20 [Variable Length], page 559, for details.

void *__builtin_alloca_with_align_and_max (size t size, [Built-in Function]

size t alignment, size t max size)
Similar to __builtin_alloca_with_align but takes an extra argument specifying
an upper bound for size in case its value cannot be computed at compile time, for use
by ‘-fstack-usage’, ‘-Wstack-usage’ and ‘-Walloca-larger-than’. max size must
be a constant integer expression, it has no effect on code generation and no attempt
is made to check its compatibility with size.

bool __builtin_has_attribute (type-or-expression, [Built-in Function]

attribute)
The __builtin_has_attribute function evaluates to an integer constant expression
equal to true if the symbol or type referenced by the type-or-expression argument has
been declared with the attribute referenced by the second argument. For an type-or-
expression argument that does not reference a symbol, since attributes do not apply
to expressions the built-in consider the type of the argument. Neither argument is
evaluated. The type-or-expression argument is subject to the same restrictions as the
argument to typeof (see Section 6.7 [Typeof], page 547). The attribute argument
is an attribute name optionally followed by a comma-separated list of arguments
enclosed in parentheses. Both forms of attribute names—with and without double
leading and trailing underscores—are recognized. See Section 6.39 [Attribute Syntax],
page 658, for details. When no attribute arguments are specified for an attribute
that expects one or more arguments the function returns true if type-or-expression
has been declared with the attribute regardless of the attribute argument values.
Arguments provided for an attribute that expects some are validated and matched
up to the provided number. The function returns true if all provided arguments
match. For example, the first call to the function below evaluates to true because x
is declared with the aligned attribute but the second call evaluates to false because
x is declared aligned (8) and not aligned (4).
__attribute__ ((aligned (8))) int x;
_Static_assert (__builtin_has_attribute (x, aligned), "aligned");
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 743

_Static_assert (!__builtin_has_attribute (x, aligned (4)), "aligned (4)");

Due to a limitation the __builtin_has_attribute function returns false for the
mode attribute even if the type or variable referenced by the type-or-expression argu-
ment was declared with one. The function is also not supported with labels, and in
C with enumerators.
Note that unlike the __has_attribute preprocessor operator which is suitable for
use in #if preprocessing directives __builtin_has_attribute is an intrinsic function
that is not recognized in such contexts.

type __builtin_speculation_safe_value (type val, type [Built-in Function]

failval)
This built-in function can be used to help mitigate against unsafe speculative execu-
tion. type may be any integral type or any pointer type.
1. If the CPU is not speculatively executing the code, then val is returned.
2. If the CPU is executing speculatively then either:
• The function may cause execution to pause until it is known that the code
is no-longer being executed speculatively (in which case val can be returned,
as above); or
• The function may use target-dependent speculation tracking state to cause
failval to be returned when it is known that speculative execution has incor-
rectly predicted a conditional branch operation.
The second argument, failval, is optional and defaults to zero if omitted.
GCC defines the preprocessor macro __HAVE_BUILTIN_SPECULATION_SAFE_VALUE for
targets that have been updated to support this builtin.
The built-in function can be used where a variable appears to be used in a safe way,
but the CPU, due to speculative execution may temporarily ignore the bounds checks.
Consider, for example, the following function:
int array[500];
int f (unsigned untrusted_index)
{
if (untrusted_index < 500)
return array[untrusted_index];
return 0;
}
If the function is called repeatedly with untrusted_index less than the limit of 500,
then a branch predictor will learn that the block of code that returns a value stored
in array will be executed. If the function is subsequently called with an out-of-range
value it will still try to execute that block of code first until the CPU determines
that the prediction was incorrect (the CPU will unwind any incorrect operations at
that point). However, depending on how the result of the function is used, it might
be possible to leave traces in the cache that can reveal what was stored at the out-
of-bounds location. The built-in function can be used to provide some protection
against leaking data in this way by changing the code to:
int array[500];
int f (unsigned untrusted_index)
{
744 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

if (untrusted_index < 500)

return array[__builtin_speculation_safe_value (untrusted_index)];
return 0;
}
The built-in function will either cause execution to stall until the conditional branch
has been fully resolved, or it may permit speculative execution to continue, but using
0 instead of untrusted_value if that exceeds the limit.
If accessing any memory location is potentially unsafe when speculative execution is
incorrect, then the code can be rewritten as
int array[500];
int f (unsigned untrusted_index)
{
if (untrusted_index < 500)
return *__builtin_speculation_safe_value (&array[untrusted_index], NULL);
return 0;
}
which will cause a NULL pointer to be used for the unsafe case.
int __builtin_types_compatible_p (type1, type2) [Built-in Function]
You can use the built-in function __builtin_types_compatible_p to determine
whether two types are the same.
This built-in function returns 1 if the unqualified versions of the types type1 and
type2 (which are types, not expressions) are compatible, 0 otherwise. The result of
this built-in function can be used in integer constant expressions.
This built-in function ignores top level qualifiers (e.g., const, volatile). For exam-
ple, int is equivalent to const int.
The type int[] and int[5] are compatible. On the other hand, int and char * are
not compatible, even if the size of their types, on the particular architecture are the
same. Also, the amount of pointer indirection is taken into account when determining
similarity. Consequently, short * is not similar to short **. Furthermore, two types
that are typedefed are considered compatible if their underlying types are compatible.
An enum type is not considered to be compatible with another enum type even if both
are compatible with the same integer type; this is what the C standard specifies. For
example, enum {foo, bar} is not similar to enum {hot, dog}.
You typically use this function in code whose execution varies depending on the
arguments’ types. For example:
#define foo(x) \
({ \
typeof (x) tmp = (x); \
if (__builtin_types_compatible_p (typeof (x), long double)) \
tmp = foo_long_double (tmp); \
else if (__builtin_types_compatible_p (typeof (x), double)) \
tmp = foo_double (tmp); \
else if (__builtin_types_compatible_p (typeof (x), float)) \
tmp = foo_float (tmp); \
else \
abort (); \
tmp; \
})
Note: This construct is only available for C.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 745

type __builtin_call_with_static_chain (call_exp, [Built-in Function]

pointer_exp)
The call exp expression must be a function call, and the pointer exp expression must
be a pointer. The pointer exp is passed to the function call in the target’s static
chain location. The result of builtin is the result of the function call.
Note: This builtin is only available for C. This builtin can be used to call Go closures
from C.

type __builtin_choose_expr (const_exp, exp1, exp2) [Built-in Function]

You can use the built-in function __builtin_choose_expr to evaluate code depend-
ing on the value of a constant expression. This built-in function returns exp1 if
const exp, which is an integer constant expression, is nonzero. Otherwise it returns
exp2.
This built-in function is analogous to the ‘? :’ operator in C, except that the expres-
sion returned has its type unaltered by promotion rules. Also, the built-in function
does not evaluate the expression that is not chosen. For example, if const exp evalu-
ates to true, exp2 is not evaluated even if it has side effects.
This built-in function can return an lvalue if the chosen argument is an lvalue.
If exp1 is returned, the return type is the same as exp1’s type. Similarly, if exp2 is
returned, its return type is the same as exp2.
Example:
#define foo(x) \
__builtin_choose_expr ( \
__builtin_types_compatible_p (typeof (x), double), \
foo_double (x), \
__builtin_choose_expr ( \
__builtin_types_compatible_p (typeof (x), float), \
foo_float (x), \
/* The void expression results in a compile-time error \
when assigning the result to something. */ \
(void)0))
Note: This construct is only available for C. Furthermore, the unused expression
(exp1 or exp2 depending on the value of const exp) may still generate syntax errors.
This may change in future revisions.

type __builtin_tgmath (functions, arguments) [Built-in Function]

The built-in function __builtin_tgmath, available only for C and Objective-C, calls
a function determined according to the rules of <tgmath.h> macros. It is intended
to be used in implementations of that header, so that expansions of macros from
that header only expand each of their arguments once, to avoid problems when calls
to such macros are nested inside the arguments of other calls to such macros; in
addition, it results in better diagnostics for invalid calls to <tgmath.h> macros than
implementations using other GNU C language features. For example, the pow type-
generic macro might be defined as:
#define pow(a, b) __builtin_tgmath (powf, pow, powl, \
cpowf, cpow, cpowl, a, b)
The arguments to __builtin_tgmath are at least two pointers to functions, followed
by the arguments to the type-generic macro (which will be passed as arguments to
746 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

the selected function). All the pointers to functions must be pointers to prototyped
functions, none of which may have variable arguments, and all of which must have the
same number of parameters; the number of parameters of the first function determines
how many arguments to __builtin_tgmath are interpreted as function pointers, and
how many as the arguments to the called function.
The types of the specified functions must all be different, but related to each other
in the same way as a set of functions that may be selected between by a macro
in <tgmath.h>. This means that the functions are parameterized by a floating-point
type t, different for each such function. The function return types may all be the same
type, or they may be t for each function, or they may be the real type corresponding to
t for each function (if some of the types t are complex). Likewise, for each parameter
position, the type of the parameter in that position may always be the same type, or
may be t for each function (this case must apply for at least one parameter position),
or may be the real type corresponding to t for each function.
The standard rules for <tgmath.h> macros are used to find a common type u from
the types of the arguments for parameters whose types vary between the functions;
complex integer types (a GNU extension) are treated like _Complex double for this
purpose (or _Complex _Float64 if all the function return types are the same _Floatn
or _Floatnx type). If the function return types vary, or are all the same integer type,
the function called is the one for which t is u, and it is an error if there is no such
function. If the function return types are all the same floating-point type, the type-
generic macro is taken to be one of those from TS 18661 that rounds the result to a
narrower type; if there is a function for which t is u, it is called, and otherwise the
first function, if any, for which t has at least the range and precision of u is called,
and it is an error if there is no such function.

int __builtin_constant_p (exp) [Built-in Function]

You can use the built-in function __builtin_constant_p to determine if a value is
known to be constant at compile time and hence that GCC can perform constant-
folding on expressions involving that value. The argument of the function is the value
to test. The function returns the integer 1 if the argument is known to be a compile-
time constant and 0 if it is not known to be a compile-time constant. A return of 0
does not indicate that the value is not a constant, but merely that GCC cannot prove
it is a constant with the specified value of the ‘-O’ option.
You typically use this function in an embedded application where memory is a critical
resource. If you have some complex calculation, you may want it to be folded if it
involves constants, but need to call a function if it does not. For example:
#define Scale_Value(X) \
(__builtin_constant_p (X) \
? ((X) * SCALE + OFFSET) : Scale (X))
You may use this built-in function in either a macro or an inline function. However, if
you use it in an inlined function and pass an argument of the function as the argument
to the built-in, GCC never returns 1 when you call the inline function with a string
constant or compound literal (see Section 6.28 [Compound Literals], page 562) and
does not return 1 when you pass a constant numeric value to the inline function unless
you specify the ‘-O’ option.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 747

You may also use __builtin_constant_p in initializers for static data. For instance,
you can write
static const int table[] = {
__builtin_constant_p (EXPRESSION) ? (EXPRESSION) : -1,
/* . . . */
};
This is an acceptable initializer even if EXPRESSION is not a constant expression,
including the case where __builtin_constant_p returns 1 because EXPRESSION
can be folded to a constant but EXPRESSION contains operands that are not other-
wise permitted in a static initializer (for example, 0 && foo ()). GCC must be more
conservative about evaluating the built-in in this case, because it has no opportunity
to perform optimization.

bool __builtin_is_constant_evaluated (void) [Built-in Function]

The __builtin_is_constant_evaluated function is available only in C++. The
built-in is intended to be used by implementations of the std::is_constant_
evaluated C++ function. Programs should make use of the latter function rather
than invoking the built-in directly.
The main use case of the built-in is to determine whether a constexpr function
is being called in a constexpr context. A call to the function evaluates to a core
constant expression with the value true if and only if it occurs within the evaluation
of an expression or conversion that is manifestly constant-evaluated as defined in the
C++ standard. Manifestly constant-evaluated contexts include constant-expressions,
the conditions of constexpr if statements, constraint-expressions, and initializers of
variables usable in constant expressions. For more details refer to the latest revision
of the C++ standard.

void __builtin_clear_padding (ptr) [Built-in Function]

The built-in function __builtin_clear_padding function clears padding bits inside
of the object representation of object pointed by ptr, which has to be a pointer. The
value representation of the object is not affected. The type of the object is assumed
to be the type the pointer points to. Inside of a union, the only cleared bits are bits
that are padding bits for all the union members.
This built-in-function is useful if the padding bits of an object might have inteder-
minate values and the object representation needs to be bitwise compared to some
other object, for example for atomic operations.
For C++, ptr argument type should be pointer to trivially-copyable type, unless the
argument is address of a variable or parameter, because otherwise it isn’t known if
the type isn’t just a base class whose padding bits are reused or laid out differently
in a derived class.

type __builtin_bit_cast (type, arg) [Built-in Function]

The __builtin_bit_cast function is available only in C++. The built-in is intended
to be used by implementations of the std::bit_cast C++ template function. Pro-
grams should make use of the latter function rather than invoking the built-in directly.
This built-in function allows reinterpreting the bits of the arg argument as if it had
type type. type and the type of the arg argument need to be trivially copyable types
748 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

with the same size. When manifestly constant-evaluated, it performs extra diagnostics
required for std::bit_cast and returns a constant expression if arg is a constant
expression. For more details refer to the latest revision of the C++ standard.
long __builtin_expect (long exp, long c) [Built-in Function]
You may use __builtin_expect to provide the compiler with branch prediction
information. In general, you should prefer to use actual profile feedback for this
(‘-fprofile-arcs’), as programmers are notoriously bad at predicting how their
programs actually perform. However, there are applications in which this data is
hard to collect.
The return value is the value of exp, which should be an integral expression. The
semantics of the built-in are that it is expected that exp == c. For example:
if (__builtin_expect (x, 0))
foo ();
indicates that we do not expect to call foo, since we expect x to be zero. Since you
are limited to integral expressions for exp, you should use constructions such as
if (__builtin_expect (ptr != NULL, 1))
foo (*ptr);
when testing pointer or floating-point values.
For the purposes of branch prediction optimizations, the probability that a
__builtin_expect expression is true is controlled by GCC’s builtin-expect-
probability parameter, which defaults to 90%.
You can also use __builtin_expect_with_probability to explicitly assign a prob-
ability value to individual expressions. If the built-in is used in a loop construct, the
provided probability will influence the expected number of iterations made by loop
optimizations.
long __builtin_expect_with_probability [Built-in Function]
(long exp, long c, double probability)
This function has the same semantics as __builtin_expect, but the caller provides
the expected probability that exp == c. The last argument, probability, is a floating-
point value in the range 0.0 to 1.0, inclusive. The probability argument must be
constant floating-point expression.
void __builtin_trap (void) [Built-in Function]
This function causes the program to exit abnormally. GCC implements this function
by using a target-dependent mechanism (such as intentionally executing an illegal
instruction) or by calling abort. The mechanism used may vary from release to
release so you should not rely on any particular implementation.
void __builtin_unreachable (void) [Built-in Function]
If control flow reaches the point of the __builtin_unreachable, the program is un-
defined. It is useful in situations where the compiler cannot deduce the unreachability
of the code.
One such case is immediately following an asm statement that either never terminates,
or one that transfers control elsewhere and never returns. In this example, without
the __builtin_unreachable, GCC issues a warning that control reaches the end of
a non-void function. It also generates code to return after the asm.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 749

int f (int c, int v)

{
if (c)
{
return v;
}
else
{
asm("jmp error_handler");
__builtin_unreachable ();
}
}
Because the asm statement unconditionally transfers control out of the function, con-
trol never reaches the end of the function body. The __builtin_unreachable is in
fact unreachable and communicates this fact to the compiler.
Another use for __builtin_unreachable is following a call a function that never
returns but that is not declared __attribute__((noreturn)), as in this example:
void function_that_never_returns (void);

int g (int c)
{
if (c)
{
return 1;
}
else
{
function_that_never_returns ();
__builtin_unreachable ();
}
}

type __builtin_assoc_barrier (type expr) [Built-in Function]

This built-in inhibits re-association of the floating-point expression expr with ex-
pressions consuming the return value of the built-in. The expression expr itself can
be reordered, and the whole expression expr can be reordered with operands after
the barrier. The barrier is only relevant when -fassociative-math is active, since
otherwise floating-point is not treated as associative.
float x0 = a + b - b;
float x1 = __builtin_assoc_barrier(a + b) - b;
means that, with -fassociative-math, x0 can be optimized to x0 = a but x1 cannot.

void * __builtin_assume_aligned (const void *exp, size t [Built-in Function]

align, ...)
This function returns its first argument, and allows the compiler to assume that the
returned pointer is at least align bytes aligned. This built-in can have either two or
three arguments, if it has three, the third argument should have integer type, and if
it is nonzero means misalignment offset. For example:
void *x = __builtin_assume_aligned (arg, 16);
means that the compiler can assume x, set to arg, is at least 16-byte aligned, while:
void *x = __builtin_assume_aligned (arg, 32, 8);
750 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

means that the compiler can assume for x, set to arg, that (char *) x - 8 is 32-byte
aligned.

int __builtin_LINE () [Built-in Function]

This function is the equivalent of the preprocessor __LINE__ macro and returns a
constant integer expression that evaluates to the line number of the invocation of the
built-in. When used as a C++ default argument for a function F, it returns the line
number of the call to F.

const char * __builtin_FUNCTION () [Built-in Function]

This function is the equivalent of the __FUNCTION__ symbol and returns an address
constant pointing to the name of the function from which the built-in was invoked,
or the empty string if the invocation is not at function scope. When used as a C++
default argument for a function F, it returns the name of F’s caller or the empty
string if the call was not made at function scope.

const char * __builtin_FILE () [Built-in Function]

This function is the equivalent of the preprocessor __FILE__ macro and returns an
address constant pointing to the file name containing the invocation of the built-in,
or the empty string if the invocation is not at function scope. When used as a C++
default argument for a function F, it returns the file name of the call to F or the
empty string if the call was not made at function scope.
For example, in the following, each call to function foo will print a line similar to
"file.c:123: foo: message" with the name of the file and the line number of the
printf call, the name of the function foo, followed by the word message.
const char*
function (const char *func = __builtin_FUNCTION ())
{
return func;
}

void foo (void)

{
printf ("%s:%i: %s: message\n", file (), line (), function ());
}

void __builtin___clear_cache (void *begin, void *end) [Built-in Function]

This function is used to flush the processor’s instruction cache for the region of mem-
ory between begin inclusive and end exclusive. Some targets require that the instruc-
tion cache be flushed, after modifying memory containing code, in order to obtain
deterministic behavior.
If the target does not require instruction cache flushes, __builtin___clear_cache
has no effect. Otherwise either instructions are emitted in-line to clear the instruction
cache or a call to the __clear_cache function in libgcc is made.

void __builtin_prefetch (const void *addr, ...) [Built-in Function]

This function is used to minimize cache-miss latency by moving data into a cache
before it is accessed. You can insert calls to __builtin_prefetch into code for
which you know addresses of data in memory that is likely to be accessed soon. If
the target supports them, data prefetch instructions are generated. If the prefetch is
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 751

done early enough before the access then the data will be in the cache by the time it
is accessed.
The value of addr is the address of the memory to prefetch. There are two optional
arguments, rw and locality. The value of rw is a compile-time constant one or zero;
one means that the prefetch is preparing for a write to the memory address and zero,
the default, means that the prefetch is preparing for a read. The value locality must
be a compile-time constant integer between zero and three. A value of zero means
that the data has no temporal locality, so it need not be left in the cache after the
access. A value of three means that the data has a high degree of temporal locality and
should be left in all levels of cache possible. Values of one and two mean, respectively,
a low or moderate degree of temporal locality. The default is three.
for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
a[i] = a[i] + b[i];
__builtin_prefetch (&a[i+j], 1, 1);
__builtin_prefetch (&b[i+j], 0, 1);
/* . . . */
}
Data prefetch does not generate faults if addr is invalid, but the address expression
itself must be valid. For example, a prefetch of p->next does not fault if p->next is
not a valid address, but evaluation faults if p is not a valid address.
If the target does not support data prefetch, the address expression is evaluated if it
includes side effects but no other code is generated and GCC does not issue a warning.

__builtin_object_size (const void * ptr, int type) [Built-in Functionsize t]

Returns a constant size estimate of an object pointed to by ptr. See Section 6.58
[Object Size Checking], page 737, for a detailed description of the function.

__builtin_dynamic_object_size (const void * ptr, [Built-in Functionsize t]

int type)
Similar to __builtin_object_size except that the return value need not be a con-
stant. See Section 6.58 [Object Size Checking], page 737, for a detailed description of
the function.

double __builtin_huge_val (void) [Built-in Function]

Returns a positive infinity, if supported by the floating-point format, else DBL_MAX.
This function is suitable for implementing the ISO C macro HUGE_VAL.

float __builtin_huge_valf (void) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_huge_val, except the return type is float.

long double __builtin_huge_vall (void) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_huge_val, except the return type is long double.

_Floatn __builtin_huge_valfn (void) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_huge_val, except the return type is _Floatn.

_Floatnx __builtin_huge_valfnx (void) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_huge_val, except the return type is _Floatnx.
752 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

int __builtin_fpclassify (int, int, int, int, int, ...) [Built-in Function]
This built-in implements the C99 fpclassify functionality. The first five int arguments
should be the target library’s notion of the possible FP classes and are used for return
values. They must be constant values and they must appear in this order: FP_NAN,
FP_INFINITE, FP_NORMAL, FP_SUBNORMAL and FP_ZERO. The ellipsis is for exactly one
floating-point value to classify. GCC treats the last argument as type-generic, which
means it does not do default promotion from float to double.
double __builtin_inf (void) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_huge_val, except a warning is generated if the target floating-
point format does not support infinities.
_Decimal32 __builtin_infd32 (void) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_inf, except the return type is _Decimal32.
_Decimal64 __builtin_infd64 (void) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_inf, except the return type is _Decimal64.
_Decimal128 __builtin_infd128 (void) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_inf, except the return type is _Decimal128.
float __builtin_inff (void) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_inf, except the return type is float. This function is suitable
for implementing the ISO C99 macro INFINITY.
long double __builtin_infl (void) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_inf, except the return type is long double.
_Floatn __builtin_inffn (void) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_inf, except the return type is _Floatn.
_Floatn __builtin_inffnx (void) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_inf, except the return type is _Floatnx.
int __builtin_isinf_sign (...) [Built-in Function]
Similar to isinf, except the return value is -1 for an argument of -Inf and 1 for
an argument of +Inf. Note while the parameter list is an ellipsis, this function only
accepts exactly one floating-point argument. GCC treats this parameter as type-
generic, which means it does not do default promotion from float to double.
double __builtin_nan (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
This is an implementation of the ISO C99 function nan.
Since ISO C99 defines this function in terms of strtod, which we do not implement,
a description of the parsing is in order. The string is parsed as by strtol; that is, the
base is recognized by leading ‘0’ or ‘0x’ prefixes. The number parsed is placed in the
significand such that the least significant bit of the number is at the least significant
bit of the significand. The number is truncated to fit the significand field provided.
The significand is forced to be a quiet NaN.
This function, if given a string literal all of which would have been consumed by
strtol, is evaluated early enough that it is considered a compile-time constant.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 753

_Decimal32 __builtin_nand32 (const char *str) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_nan, except the return type is _Decimal32.
_Decimal64 __builtin_nand64 (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nan, except the return type is _Decimal64.
_Decimal128 __builtin_nand128 (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nan, except the return type is _Decimal128.
float __builtin_nanf (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nan, except the return type is float.
long double __builtin_nanl (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nan, except the return type is long double.
_Floatn __builtin_nanfn (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nan, except the return type is _Floatn.
_Floatnx __builtin_nanfnx (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nan, except the return type is _Floatnx.
double __builtin_nans (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nan, except the significand is forced to be a signaling NaN.
The nans function is proposed by WG14 N965.
_Decimal32 __builtin_nansd32 (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nans, except the return type is _Decimal32.
_Decimal64 __builtin_nansd64 (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nans, except the return type is _Decimal64.
_Decimal128 __builtin_nansd128 (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nans, except the return type is _Decimal128.
float __builtin_nansf (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nans, except the return type is float.
long double __builtin_nansl (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nans, except the return type is long double.
_Floatn __builtin_nansfn (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nans, except the return type is _Floatn.
_Floatnx __builtin_nansfnx (const char *str) [Built-in Function]
Similar to __builtin_nans, except the return type is _Floatnx.
int __builtin_issignaling (...) [Built-in Function]
Return non-zero if the argument is a signaling NaN and zero otherwise. Note while
the parameter list is an ellipsis, this function only accepts exactly one floating-point
argument. GCC treats this parameter as type-generic, which means it does not do
default promotion from float to double. This built-in function can work even without
the non-default -fsignaling-nans option, although if a signaling NaN is computed,
stored or passed as argument to some function other than this built-in in the current
translation unit, it is safer to use -fsignaling-nans. With -ffinite-math-only
option this built-in function will always return 0.
754 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

int __builtin_ffs (int x) [Built-in Function]

Returns one plus the index of the least significant 1-bit of x, or if x is zero, returns
zero.

int __builtin_clz (unsigned int x) [Built-in Function]

Returns the number of leading 0-bits in x, starting at the most significant bit position.
If x is 0, the result is undefined.

int __builtin_ctz (unsigned int x) [Built-in Function]

Returns the number of trailing 0-bits in x, starting at the least significant bit position.
If x is 0, the result is undefined.

int __builtin_clrsb (int x) [Built-in Function]

Returns the number of leading redundant sign bits in x, i.e. the number of bits
following the most significant bit that are identical to it. There are no special cases
for 0 or other values.

int __builtin_popcount (unsigned int x) [Built-in Function]

Returns the number of 1-bits in x.

int __builtin_parity (unsigned int x) [Built-in Function]

Returns the parity of x, i.e. the number of 1-bits in x modulo 2.

int __builtin_ffsl (long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_ffs, except the argument type is long.

int __builtin_clzl (unsigned long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_clz, except the argument type is unsigned long.

int __builtin_ctzl (unsigned long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_ctz, except the argument type is unsigned long.

int __builtin_clrsbl (long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_clrsb, except the argument type is long.

int __builtin_popcountl (unsigned long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_popcount, except the argument type is unsigned long.

int __builtin_parityl (unsigned long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_parity, except the argument type is unsigned long.

int __builtin_ffsll (long long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_ffs, except the argument type is long long.

int __builtin_clzll (unsigned long long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_clz, except the argument type is unsigned long long.

int __builtin_ctzll (unsigned long long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_ctz, except the argument type is unsigned long long.

int __builtin_clrsbll (long long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_clrsb, except the argument type is long long.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 755

int __builtin_popcountll (unsigned long long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_popcount, except the argument type is unsigned long long.

int __builtin_parityll (unsigned long long) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_parity, except the argument type is unsigned long long.

double __builtin_powi (double, int) [Built-in Function]

Returns the first argument raised to the power of the second. Unlike the pow function
no guarantees about precision and rounding are made.

float __builtin_powif (float, int) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_powi, except the argument and return types are float.

long double __builtin_powil (long double, int) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_powi, except the argument and return types are long double.

uint16_t __builtin_bswap16 (uint16 t x) [Built-in Function]

Returns x with the order of the bytes reversed; for example, 0xaabb becomes 0xbbaa.
Byte here always means exactly 8 bits.

uint32_t __builtin_bswap32 (uint32 t x) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_bswap16, except the argument and return types are 32-bit.

uint64_t __builtin_bswap64 (uint64 t x) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_bswap32, except the argument and return types are 64-bit.

uint128_t __builtin_bswap128 (uint128 t x) [Built-in Function]

Similar to __builtin_bswap64, except the argument and return types are 128-bit.
Only supported on targets when 128-bit types are supported.

Pmode __builtin_extend_pointer (void * x) [Built-in Function]

On targets where the user visible pointer size is smaller than the size of an actual
hardware address this function returns the extended user pointer. Targets where this
is true included ILP32 mode on x86 64 or Aarch64. This function is mainly useful
when writing inline assembly code.

int __builtin_goacc_parlevel_id (int x) [Built-in Function]

Returns the openacc gang, worker or vector id depending on whether x is 0, 1 or 2.

int __builtin_goacc_parlevel_size (int x) [Built-in Function]

Returns the openacc gang, worker or vector size depending on whether x is 0, 1 or 2.

6.60 Built-in Functions Specific to Particular Target

Machines
On some target machines, GCC supports many built-in functions specific to those machines.
Generally these generate calls to specific machine instructions, but allow the compiler to
schedule those calls.
756 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.60.1 AArch64 Built-in Functions

These built-in functions are available for the AArch64 family of processors.
unsigned int __builtin_aarch64_get_fpcr ();
void __builtin_aarch64_set_fpcr (unsigned int);
unsigned int __builtin_aarch64_get_fpsr ();
void __builtin_aarch64_set_fpsr (unsigned int);

unsigned long long __builtin_aarch64_get_fpcr64 ();

void __builtin_aarch64_set_fpcr64 (unsigned long long);
unsigned long long __builtin_aarch64_get_fpsr64 ();
void __builtin_aarch64_set_fpsr64 (unsigned long long);

6.60.2 Alpha Built-in Functions

These built-in functions are available for the Alpha family of processors, depending on the
command-line switches used.
The following built-in functions are always available. They all generate the machine
instruction that is part of the name.
long __builtin_alpha_implver (void);
long __builtin_alpha_rpcc (void);
long __builtin_alpha_amask (long);
long __builtin_alpha_cmpbge (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_extbl (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_extwl (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_extll (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_extql (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_extwh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_extlh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_extqh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_insbl (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_inswl (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_insll (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_insql (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_inswh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_inslh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_insqh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_mskbl (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_mskwl (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_mskll (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_mskql (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_mskwh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_msklh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_mskqh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_umulh (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_zap (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_zapnot (long, long);
The following built-in functions are always with ‘-mmax’ or ‘-mcpu=cpu’ where cpu is
pca56 or later. They all generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
long __builtin_alpha_pklb (long);
long __builtin_alpha_pkwb (long);
long __builtin_alpha_unpkbl (long);
long __builtin_alpha_unpkbw (long);
long __builtin_alpha_minub8 (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_minsb8 (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_minuw4 (long, long);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 757

long __builtin_alpha_minsw4 (long, long);

long __builtin_alpha_maxub8 (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_maxsb8 (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_maxuw4 (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_maxsw4 (long, long);
long __builtin_alpha_perr (long, long);
The following built-in functions are always with ‘-mcix’ or ‘-mcpu=cpu’ where cpu is ev67
or later. They all generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
long __builtin_alpha_cttz (long);
long __builtin_alpha_ctlz (long);
long __builtin_alpha_ctpop (long);
The following built-in functions are available on systems that use the OSF/1 PAL-
code. Normally they invoke the rduniq and wruniq PAL calls, but when invoked with
‘-mtls-kernel’, they invoke rdval and wrval.
void *__builtin_thread_pointer (void);
void __builtin_set_thread_pointer (void *);

6.60.3 Altera Nios II Built-in Functions

These built-in functions are available for the Altera Nios II family of processors.
The following built-in functions are always available. They all generate the machine
instruction that is part of the name.
int __builtin_ldbio (volatile const void *);
int __builtin_ldbuio (volatile const void *);
int __builtin_ldhio (volatile const void *);
int __builtin_ldhuio (volatile const void *);
int __builtin_ldwio (volatile const void *);
void __builtin_stbio (volatile void *, int);
void __builtin_sthio (volatile void *, int);
void __builtin_stwio (volatile void *, int);
void __builtin_sync (void);
int __builtin_rdctl (int);
int __builtin_rdprs (int, int);
void __builtin_wrctl (int, int);
void __builtin_flushd (volatile void *);
void __builtin_flushda (volatile void *);
int __builtin_wrpie (int);
void __builtin_eni (int);
int __builtin_ldex (volatile const void *);
int __builtin_stex (volatile void *, int);
int __builtin_ldsex (volatile const void *);
int __builtin_stsex (volatile void *, int);
The following built-in functions are always available. They all generate a Nios II Custom
Instruction. The name of the function represents the types that the function takes and
returns. The letter before the n is the return type or void if absent. The n represents the
first parameter to all the custom instructions, the custom instruction number. The two
letters after the n represent the up to two parameters to the function.
The letters represent the following data types:
758 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

<no letter>
void for return type and no parameter for parameter types.
i int for return type and parameter type
f float for return type and parameter type
p void * for return type and parameter type
And the function names are:
void __builtin_custom_n (void);
void __builtin_custom_ni (int);
void __builtin_custom_nf (float);
void __builtin_custom_np (void *);
void __builtin_custom_nii (int, int);
void __builtin_custom_nif (int, float);
void __builtin_custom_nip (int, void *);
void __builtin_custom_nfi (float, int);
void __builtin_custom_nff (float, float);
void __builtin_custom_nfp (float, void *);
void __builtin_custom_npi (void *, int);
void __builtin_custom_npf (void *, float);
void __builtin_custom_npp (void *, void *);
int __builtin_custom_in (void);
int __builtin_custom_ini (int);
int __builtin_custom_inf (float);
int __builtin_custom_inp (void *);
int __builtin_custom_inii (int, int);
int __builtin_custom_inif (int, float);
int __builtin_custom_inip (int, void *);
int __builtin_custom_infi (float, int);
int __builtin_custom_inff (float, float);
int __builtin_custom_infp (float, void *);
int __builtin_custom_inpi (void *, int);
int __builtin_custom_inpf (void *, float);
int __builtin_custom_inpp (void *, void *);
float __builtin_custom_fn (void);
float __builtin_custom_fni (int);
float __builtin_custom_fnf (float);
float __builtin_custom_fnp (void *);
float __builtin_custom_fnii (int, int);
float __builtin_custom_fnif (int, float);
float __builtin_custom_fnip (int, void *);
float __builtin_custom_fnfi (float, int);
float __builtin_custom_fnff (float, float);
float __builtin_custom_fnfp (float, void *);
float __builtin_custom_fnpi (void *, int);
float __builtin_custom_fnpf (void *, float);
float __builtin_custom_fnpp (void *, void *);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 759

void * __builtin_custom_pn (void);

void * __builtin_custom_pni (int);
void * __builtin_custom_pnf (float);
void * __builtin_custom_pnp (void *);
void * __builtin_custom_pnii (int, int);
void * __builtin_custom_pnif (int, float);
void * __builtin_custom_pnip (int, void *);
void * __builtin_custom_pnfi (float, int);
void * __builtin_custom_pnff (float, float);
void * __builtin_custom_pnfp (float, void *);
void * __builtin_custom_pnpi (void *, int);
void * __builtin_custom_pnpf (void *, float);
void * __builtin_custom_pnpp (void *, void *);

6.60.4 ARC Built-in Functions

The following built-in functions are provided for ARC targets. The built-ins generate the
corresponding assembly instructions. In the examples given below, the generated code
often requires an operand or result to be in a register. Where necessary further code will
be generated to ensure this is true, but for brevity this is not described in each case.
Note: Using a built-in to generate an instruction not supported by a target may cause
problems. At present the compiler is not guaranteed to detect such misuse, and as a result
an internal compiler error may be generated.

int __builtin_arc_aligned (void *val, int alignval) [Built-in Function]

Return 1 if val is known to have the byte alignment given by alignval, otherwise return
0. Note that this is different from
__alignof__(*(char *)val) >= alignval
because alignof sees only the type of the dereference, whereas builtin arc align
uses alignment information from the pointer as well as from the pointed-to type. The
information available will depend on optimization level.

void __builtin_arc_brk (void) [Built-in Function]

Generates
brk

unsigned int __builtin_arc_core_read (unsigned int [Built-in Function]

regno)
The operand is the number of a register to be read. Generates:
mov dest, rregno
where the value in dest will be the result returned from the built-in.

void __builtin_arc_core_write (unsigned int regno, [Built-in Function]

unsigned int val)
The first operand is the number of a register to be written, the second operand is a
compile time constant to write into that register. Generates:
mov rregno, val
760 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

int __builtin_arc_divaw (int a, int b) [Built-in Function]

Only available if either ‘-mcpu=ARC700’ or ‘-meA’ is set. Generates:
divaw dest, a, b
where the value in dest will be the result returned from the built-in.

void __builtin_arc_flag (unsigned int a) [Built-in Function]

Generates
flag a

unsigned int __builtin_arc_lr (unsigned int auxr) [Built-in Function]

The operand, auxv, is the address of an auxiliary register and must be a compile time
constant. Generates:
lr dest, [auxr]
Where the value in dest will be the result returned from the built-in.

void __builtin_arc_mul64 (int a, int b) [Built-in Function]

Only available with ‘-mmul64’. Generates:
mul64 a, b

void __builtin_arc_mulu64 (unsigned int a, unsigned int b) [Built-in Function]

Only available with ‘-mmul64’. Generates:
mulu64 a, b

void __builtin_arc_nop (void) [Built-in Function]

Generates:
nop

int __builtin_arc_norm (int src) [Built-in Function]

Only valid if the ‘norm’ instruction is available through the ‘-mnorm’ option or by
default with ‘-mcpu=ARC700’. Generates:
norm dest, src
Where the value in dest will be the result returned from the built-in.

short int __builtin_arc_normw (short int src) [Built-in Function]

Only valid if the ‘normw’ instruction is available through the ‘-mnorm’ option or by
default with ‘-mcpu=ARC700’. Generates:
normw dest, src
Where the value in dest will be the result returned from the built-in.

void __builtin_arc_rtie (void) [Built-in Function]

Generates:
rtie

void __builtin_arc_sleep (int a [Built-in Function]

Generates:
sleep a
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 761

void __builtin_arc_sr (unsigned int val, unsigned int auxr) [Built-in Function]
The first argument, val, is a compile time constant to be written to the register, the
second argument, auxr, is the address of an auxiliary register. Generates:
sr val, [auxr]

int __builtin_arc_swap (int src) [Built-in Function]

Only valid with ‘-mswap’. Generates:
swap dest, src
Where the value in dest will be the result returned from the built-in.

void __builtin_arc_swi (void) [Built-in Function]

Generates:
swi

void __builtin_arc_sync (void) [Built-in Function]

Only available with ‘-mcpu=ARC700’. Generates:
sync

void __builtin_arc_trap_s (unsigned int c) [Built-in Function]

Only available with ‘-mcpu=ARC700’. Generates:
trap_s c

void __builtin_arc_unimp_s (void) [Built-in Function]

Only available with ‘-mcpu=ARC700’. Generates:
unimp_s

The instructions generated by the following builtins are not considered as candidates for
scheduling. They are not moved around by the compiler during scheduling, and thus can
be expected to appear where they are put in the C code:
__builtin_arc_brk()
__builtin_arc_core_read()
__builtin_arc_core_write()
__builtin_arc_flag()
__builtin_arc_lr()
__builtin_arc_sleep()
__builtin_arc_sr()
__builtin_arc_swi()

6.60.5 ARC SIMD Built-in Functions

SIMD builtins provided by the compiler can be used to generate the vector instructions.
This section describes the available builtins and their usage in programs. With the ‘-msimd’
option, the compiler provides 128-bit vector types, which can be specified using the vector_
size attribute. The header file ‘arc-simd.h’ can be included to use the following predefined
types:
typedef int __v4si __attribute__((vector_size(16)));
typedef short __v8hi __attribute__((vector_size(16)));
762 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

These types can be used to define 128-bit variables. The built-in functions listed in the
following section can be used on these variables to generate the vector operations.
For all builtins, __builtin_arc_someinsn, the header file ‘arc-simd.h’ also provides
equivalent macros called _someinsn that can be used for programming ease and improved
readability. The following macros for DMA control are also provided:
#define _setup_dma_in_channel_reg _vdiwr
#define _setup_dma_out_channel_reg _vdowr
The following is a complete list of all the SIMD built-ins provided for ARC, grouped by
calling signature.
The following take two __v8hi arguments and return a __v8hi result:
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vaddaw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vaddw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vand (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vandaw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vavb (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vavrb (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbic (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbicaw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vdifaw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vdifw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_veqw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vh264f (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vh264ft (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vh264fw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vlew (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vltw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmaxaw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmaxw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vminaw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vminw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr1aw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr1w (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr2aw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr2w (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr3aw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr3w (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr4aw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr4w (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr5aw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr5w (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr6aw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr6w (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr7aw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmr7w (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmrb (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmulaw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 763

__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmulfaw (__v8hi, __v8hi);

__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmulfw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmulw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vnew (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vor (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vsubaw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vsubw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vsummw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vvc1f (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vvc1ft (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vxor (__v8hi, __v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vxoraw (__v8hi, __v8hi);
The following take one __v8hi and one int argument and return a __v8hi result:
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbaddw (__v8hi, int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbmaxw (__v8hi, int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbminw (__v8hi, int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbmulaw (__v8hi, int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbmulfw (__v8hi, int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbmulw (__v8hi, int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbrsubw (__v8hi, int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vbsubw (__v8hi, int);
The following take one __v8hi argument and one int argument which must be a 3-bit
compile time constant indicating a register number I0-I7. They return a __v8hi result.
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vasrw (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vsr8 (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vsr8aw (__v8hi, const int);
The following take one __v8hi argument and one int argument which must be a 6-bit
compile time constant. They return a __v8hi result.
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vasrpwbi (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vasrrpwbi (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vasrrwi (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vasrsrwi (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vasrwi (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vsr8awi (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vsr8i (__v8hi, const int);
The following take one __v8hi argument and one int argument which must be a 8-bit
compile time constant. They return a __v8hi result.
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vd6tapf (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmvaw (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmvw (__v8hi, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmvzw (__v8hi, const int);
The following take two int arguments, the second of which which must be a 8-bit compile
time constant. They return a __v8hi result:
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmovaw (int, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmovw (int, const int);
764 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

__v8hi __builtin_arc_vmovzw (int, const int);

The following take a single __v8hi argument and return a __v8hi result:
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vabsaw (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vabsw (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vaddsuw (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vexch1 (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vexch2 (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vexch4 (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vsignw (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vupbaw (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vupbw (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vupsbaw (__v8hi);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vupsbw (__v8hi);
The following take two int arguments and return no result:
void __builtin_arc_vdirun (int, int);
void __builtin_arc_vdorun (int, int);
The following take two int arguments and return no result. The first argument must a
3-bit compile time constant indicating one of the DR0-DR7 DMA setup channels:
void __builtin_arc_vdiwr (const int, int);
void __builtin_arc_vdowr (const int, int);
The following take an int argument and return no result:
void __builtin_arc_vendrec (int);
void __builtin_arc_vrec (int);
void __builtin_arc_vrecrun (int);
void __builtin_arc_vrun (int);
The following take a __v8hi argument and two int arguments and return a __v8hi
result. The second argument must be a 3-bit compile time constants, indicating one the
registers I0-I7, and the third argument must be an 8-bit compile time constant.
Note: Although the equivalent hardware instructions do not take an SIMD register as an
operand, these builtins overwrite the relevant bits of the __v8hi register provided as the
first argument with the value loaded from the [Ib, u8] location in the SDM.
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vld32 (__v8hi, const int, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vld32wh (__v8hi, const int, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vld32wl (__v8hi, const int, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vld64 (__v8hi, const int, const int);
The following take two int arguments and return a __v8hi result. The first argument
must be a 3-bit compile time constants, indicating one the registers I0-I7, and the second
argument must be an 8-bit compile time constant.
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vld128 (const int, const int);
__v8hi __builtin_arc_vld64w (const int, const int);
The following take a __v8hi argument and two int arguments and return no result. The
second argument must be a 3-bit compile time constants, indicating one the registers I0-I7,
and the third argument must be an 8-bit compile time constant.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 765

void __builtin_arc_vst128 (__v8hi, const int, const int);

void __builtin_arc_vst64 (__v8hi, const int, const int);
The following take a __v8hi argument and three int arguments and return no result.
The second argument must be a 3-bit compile-time constant, identifying the 16-bit sub-
register to be stored, the third argument must be a 3-bit compile time constants, indicating
one the registers I0-I7, and the fourth argument must be an 8-bit compile time constant.
void __builtin_arc_vst16_n (__v8hi, const int, const int, const int);
void __builtin_arc_vst32_n (__v8hi, const int, const int, const int);

6.60.6 ARM iWMMXt Built-in Functions

These built-in functions are available for the ARM family of processors when the
‘-mcpu=iwmmxt’ switch is used:
typedef int v2si __attribute__ ((vector_size (8)));
typedef short v4hi __attribute__ ((vector_size (8)));
typedef char v8qi __attribute__ ((vector_size (8)));

int __builtin_arm_getwcgr0 (void);

void __builtin_arm_setwcgr0 (int);
int __builtin_arm_getwcgr1 (void);
void __builtin_arm_setwcgr1 (int);
int __builtin_arm_getwcgr2 (void);
void __builtin_arm_setwcgr2 (int);
int __builtin_arm_getwcgr3 (void);
void __builtin_arm_setwcgr3 (int);
int __builtin_arm_textrmsb (v8qi, int);
int __builtin_arm_textrmsh (v4hi, int);
int __builtin_arm_textrmsw (v2si, int);
int __builtin_arm_textrmub (v8qi, int);
int __builtin_arm_textrmuh (v4hi, int);
int __builtin_arm_textrmuw (v2si, int);
v8qi __builtin_arm_tinsrb (v8qi, int, int);
v4hi __builtin_arm_tinsrh (v4hi, int, int);
v2si __builtin_arm_tinsrw (v2si, int, int);
long long __builtin_arm_tmia (long long, int, int);
long long __builtin_arm_tmiabb (long long, int, int);
long long __builtin_arm_tmiabt (long long, int, int);
long long __builtin_arm_tmiaph (long long, int, int);
long long __builtin_arm_tmiatb (long long, int, int);
long long __builtin_arm_tmiatt (long long, int, int);
int __builtin_arm_tmovmskb (v8qi);
int __builtin_arm_tmovmskh (v4hi);
int __builtin_arm_tmovmskw (v2si);
long long __builtin_arm_waccb (v8qi);
long long __builtin_arm_wacch (v4hi);
long long __builtin_arm_waccw (v2si);
v8qi __builtin_arm_waddb (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_arm_waddbss (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_arm_waddbus (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_waddh (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_waddhss (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_waddhus (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_waddw (v2si, v2si);
v2si __builtin_arm_waddwss (v2si, v2si);
v2si __builtin_arm_waddwus (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_arm_walign (v8qi, v8qi, int);
766 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

long long __builtin_arm_wand(long long, long long);

long long __builtin_arm_wandn (long long, long long);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wavg2b (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wavg2br (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wavg2h (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wavg2hr (v4hi, v4hi);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wcmpeqb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wcmpeqh (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wcmpeqw (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wcmpgtsb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wcmpgtsh (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wcmpgtsw (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wcmpgtub (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wcmpgtuh (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wcmpgtuw (v2si, v2si);
long long __builtin_arm_wmacs (long long, v4hi, v4hi);
long long __builtin_arm_wmacsz (v4hi, v4hi);
long long __builtin_arm_wmacu (long long, v4hi, v4hi);
long long __builtin_arm_wmacuz (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wmadds (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wmaddu (v4hi, v4hi);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wmaxsb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wmaxsh (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wmaxsw (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wmaxub (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wmaxuh (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wmaxuw (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wminsb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wminsh (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wminsw (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wminub (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wminuh (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wminuw (v2si, v2si);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wmulsm (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wmulul (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wmulum (v4hi, v4hi);
long long __builtin_arm_wor (long long, long long);
v2si __builtin_arm_wpackdss (long long, long long);
v2si __builtin_arm_wpackdus (long long, long long);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wpackhss (v4hi, v4hi);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wpackhus (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wpackwss (v2si, v2si);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wpackwus (v2si, v2si);
long long __builtin_arm_wrord (long long, long long);
long long __builtin_arm_wrordi (long long, int);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wrorh (v4hi, long long);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wrorhi (v4hi, int);
v2si __builtin_arm_wrorw (v2si, long long);
v2si __builtin_arm_wrorwi (v2si, int);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsadb (v2si, v8qi, v8qi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsadbz (v8qi, v8qi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsadh (v2si, v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsadhz (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wshufh (v4hi, int);
long long __builtin_arm_wslld (long long, long long);
long long __builtin_arm_wslldi (long long, int);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wsllh (v4hi, long long);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wsllhi (v4hi, int);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 767

v2si __builtin_arm_wsllw (v2si, long long);

v2si __builtin_arm_wsllwi (v2si, int);
long long __builtin_arm_wsrad (long long, long long);
long long __builtin_arm_wsradi (long long, int);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wsrah (v4hi, long long);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wsrahi (v4hi, int);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsraw (v2si, long long);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsrawi (v2si, int);
long long __builtin_arm_wsrld (long long, long long);
long long __builtin_arm_wsrldi (long long, int);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wsrlh (v4hi, long long);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wsrlhi (v4hi, int);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsrlw (v2si, long long);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsrlwi (v2si, int);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wsubb (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wsubbss (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wsubbus (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wsubh (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wsubhss (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wsubhus (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsubw (v2si, v2si);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsubwss (v2si, v2si);
v2si __builtin_arm_wsubwus (v2si, v2si);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wunpckehsb (v8qi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wunpckehsh (v4hi);
long long __builtin_arm_wunpckehsw (v2si);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wunpckehub (v8qi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wunpckehuh (v4hi);
long long __builtin_arm_wunpckehuw (v2si);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wunpckelsb (v8qi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wunpckelsh (v4hi);
long long __builtin_arm_wunpckelsw (v2si);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wunpckelub (v8qi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wunpckeluh (v4hi);
long long __builtin_arm_wunpckeluw (v2si);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wunpckihb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wunpckihh (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wunpckihw (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_arm_wunpckilb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_arm_wunpckilh (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_arm_wunpckilw (v2si, v2si);
long long __builtin_arm_wxor (long long, long long);
long long __builtin_arm_wzero ();

6.60.7 ARM C Language Extensions (ACLE)

GCC implements extensions for C as described in the ARM C Language Extensions (ACLE)
specification, which can be found at https: / / developer . arm . com / documentation /
ihi0053/latest/.
As a part of ACLE, GCC implements extensions for Advanced SIMD as described in the
ARM C Language Extensions Specification. The complete list of Advanced SIMD intrinsics
can be found at https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ihi0073/latest/. The
built-in intrinsics for the Advanced SIMD extension are available when NEON is enabled.
Currently, ARM and AArch64 back ends do not support ACLE 2.0 fully. Both back ends
support CRC32 intrinsics and the ARM back end supports the Coprocessor intrinsics, all
from ‘arm_acle.h’. The ARM back end’s 16-bit floating-point Advanced SIMD intrinsics
768 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

currently comply to ACLE v1.1. AArch64’s back end does not have support for 16-bit
floating point Advanced SIMD intrinsics yet.

See Section 3.19.5 [ARM Options], page 329 and Section 3.19.1 [AArch64 Options],
page 308 for more information on the availability of extensions.

6.60.8 ARM Floating Point Status and Control Intrinsics

These built-in functions are available for the ARM family of processors with floating-point
unit.

unsigned int __builtin_arm_get_fpscr ();

void __builtin_arm_set_fpscr (unsigned int);

6.60.9 ARM ARMv8-M Security Extensions

GCC implements the ARMv8-M Security Extensions as described in the ARMv8-M Security
Extensions: Requirements on Development Tools Engineering Specification, which can be
found at https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ecm0359818/latest/.

As part of the Security Extensions GCC implements two new function attributes: cmse_
nonsecure_entry and cmse_nonsecure_call.

As part of the Security Extensions GCC implements the intrinsics below. FPTR is used
here to mean any function pointer type.

cmse_address_info_t cmse_TT (void *);

cmse_address_info_t cmse_TT_fptr (FPTR);
cmse_address_info_t cmse_TTT (void *);
cmse_address_info_t cmse_TTT_fptr (FPTR);
cmse_address_info_t cmse_TTA (void *);
cmse_address_info_t cmse_TTA_fptr (FPTR);
cmse_address_info_t cmse_TTAT (void *);
cmse_address_info_t cmse_TTAT_fptr (FPTR);
void * cmse_check_address_range (void *, size_t, int);
typeof(p) cmse_nsfptr_create (FPTR p);
intptr_t cmse_is_nsfptr (FPTR);
int cmse_nonsecure_caller (void);

6.60.10 AVR Built-in Functions

For each built-in function for AVR, there is an equally named, uppercase built-in macro
defined. That way users can easily query if or if not a specific built-in is implemented or not.
For example, if __builtin_avr_nop is available the macro __BUILTIN_AVR_NOP is defined
to 1 and undefined otherwise.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 769

void __builtin_avr_nop (void)

void __builtin_avr_sei (void)
void __builtin_avr_cli (void)
void __builtin_avr_sleep (void)
void __builtin_avr_wdr (void)
unsigned char __builtin_avr_swap (unsigned char)
unsigned int __builtin_avr_fmul (unsigned char, unsigned char)
int __builtin_avr_fmuls (char, char)
int __builtin_avr_fmulsu (char, unsigned char)
These built-in functions map to the respective machine instruction, i.e. nop,
sei, cli, sleep, wdr, swap, fmul, fmuls resp. fmulsu. The three fmul*
built-ins are implemented as library call if no hardware multiplier is available.
void __builtin_avr_delay_cycles (unsigned long ticks)
Delay execution for ticks cycles. Note that this built-in does not take into
account the effect of interrupts that might increase delay time. ticks must be a
compile-time integer constant; delays with a variable number of cycles are not
supported.
char __builtin_avr_flash_segment (const __memx void*)
This built-in takes a byte address to the 24-bit [AVR Named Address Spaces],
page 555 __memx and returns the number of the flash segment (the 64 KiB
chunk) where the address points to. Counting starts at 0. If the address does
not point to flash memory, return -1.
uint8_t __builtin_avr_insert_bits (uint32_t map, uint8_t bits, uint8_t val)
Insert bits from bits into val and return the resulting value. The nibbles of map
determine how the insertion is performed: Let X be the n-th nibble of map
1. If X is 0xf, then the n-th bit of val is returned unaltered.
2. If X is in the range 0. . . 7, then the n-th result bit is set to the X-th bit of
bits
3. If X is in the range 8. . . 0xe, then the n-th result bit is undefined.
One typical use case for this built-in is adjusting input and output values to
non-contiguous port layouts. Some examples:
// same as val, bits is unused
__builtin_avr_insert_bits (0xffffffff, bits, val);
// same as bits, val is unused
__builtin_avr_insert_bits (0x76543210, bits, val);
// same as rotating bits by 4
__builtin_avr_insert_bits (0x32107654, bits, 0);
// high nibble of result is the high nibble of val
// low nibble of result is the low nibble of bits
__builtin_avr_insert_bits (0xffff3210, bits, val);
// reverse the bit order of bits
__builtin_avr_insert_bits (0x01234567, bits, 0);

void __builtin_avr_nops (unsigned count)

Insert count NOP instructions. The number of instructions must be a compile-
time integer constant.
770 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

There are many more AVR-specific built-in functions that are used to implement the
ISO/IEC TR 18037 “Embedded C” fixed-point functions of section 7.18a.6. You don’t need
to use these built-ins directly. Instead, use the declarations as supplied by the stdfix.h
header with GNU-C99:
#include <stdfix.h>

// Re-interpret the bit representation of unsigned 16-bit

// integer uval as Q-format 0.16 value.
unsigned fract get_bits (uint_ur_t uval)
{
return urbits (uval);
}

6.60.11 Blackfin Built-in Functions

Currently, there are two Blackfin-specific built-in functions. These are used for generating
CSYNC and SSYNC machine insns without using inline assembly; by using these built-in
functions the compiler can automatically add workarounds for hardware errata involving
these instructions. These functions are named as follows:
void __builtin_bfin_csync (void);
void __builtin_bfin_ssync (void);

6.60.12 BPF Built-in Functions

The following built-in functions are available for eBPF targets.
unsigned long long builtin bpf load byte (unsigned long long [Built-in Function]
offset)
Load a byte from the struct sk_buff packet data pointed by the register %r6 and
return it.
unsigned long long builtin bpf load half (unsigned long long [Built-in Function]
offset)
Load 16-bits from the struct sk_buff packet data pointed by the register %r6 and
return it.
unsigned long long builtin bpf load word (unsigned long long [Built-in Function]
offset)
Load 32-bits from the struct sk_buff packet data pointed by the register %r6 and
return it.
void * builtin preserve access index (expr) [Built-in Function]
BPF Compile Once-Run Everywhere (CO-RE) support. Instruct GCC to generate
CO-RE relocation records for any accesses to aggregate data structures (struct, union,
array types) in expr. This builtin is otherwise transparent, the return value is what-
ever expr evaluates to. It is also overloaded: expr may be of any type (not necessarily
a pointer), the return type is the same. Has no effect if -mco-re is not in effect (either
specified or implied).
unsigned int builtin preserve field info (expr, unsigned int [Built-in Function]
kind)
BPF Compile Once-Run Everywhere (CO-RE) support. This builtin is used to extract
information to aid in struct/union relocations. expr is an access to a field of a struct
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 771

or union. Depending on kind, different information is returned to the program. A

CO-RE relocation for the access in expr with kind kind is recorded if -mco-re is in
effect.
The following values are supported for kind:
FIELD BYTE OFFSET = 0
The returned value is the offset, in bytes, of the field from the beginning
of the containing structure. For bitfields, the byte offset of the containing
word.
FIELD BYTE SIZE = 1
The returned value is the size, in bytes, of the field. For bitfields, the size
in bytes of the containing word.
FIELD EXISTENCE = 2
The returned value is 1 if the field exists, 0 otherwise. Always 1 at compile
time.
FIELD SIGNEDNESS = 3
The returned value is 1 if the field is signed, 0 otherwise.
FIELD LSHIFT U64 = 4
FIELD RSHIFT U64 = 5
The returned value is the number of bits of left- or right-shifting respec-
tively needed in order to recover the original value of the field, after it
has been loaded by a read of FIELD BYTE SIZE bytes into an unsigned
64-bit value. Primarily useful for reading bitfield values from structures
which may change between kernel versions.
Note that the return value is a constant which is known at compile-time. If the
field has a variable offset then FIELD BYTE OFFSET, FIELD LSHIFT U64 and
FIELD RSHIFT U64 are not supported. Similarly, if the field has a variable size
then FIELD BYTE SIZE, FIELD LSHIFT U64 and FIELD RSHIFT U64 are not
supported.
For example, builtin preserve field info can be used to reliably extract bitfield val-
ues from a structure which may change between kernel versions:
struct S
{
short a;
int x:7;
int y:5;
};

int
read_y (struct S *arg)
{
unsigned long long val;
unsigned int offset = __builtin_preserve_field_info (arg->y, FIELD_BYTE_OFFSET);
unsigned int size = __builtin_presrve_field_info (arg->y, FIELD_BYTE_SIZE);
772 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

/* Read size bytes from arg + offset into val. */

bpf_probe_read (&val, size, arg + offset);

val <<= __builtin_preserve_field_info (arg->y, FIELD_LSHIFT_U64);

if (__builtin_preserve_field_info (arg->y, FIELD_SIGNEDNESS))

val = ((long long) val >> __builtin_preserve_field_info (arg->y, FIELD_RSHIFT_
else
val >>= __builtin_preserve_field_info (arg->y, FIELD_RSHIFT_U64);

return val;
}

6.60.13 FR-V Built-in Functions

GCC provides many FR-V-specific built-in functions. In general, these functions are in-
tended to be compatible with those described by FR-V Family, Softune C/C++ Compiler
Manual (V6), Fujitsu Semiconductor. The two exceptions are __MDUNPACKH and __MBTOHE,
the GCC forms of which pass 128-bit values by pointer rather than by value.
Most of the functions are named after specific FR-V instructions. Such functions are said
to be “directly mapped” and are summarized here in tabular form.

6.60.13.1 Argument Types

The arguments to the built-in functions can be divided into three groups: register numbers,
compile-time constants and run-time values. In order to make this classification clear at a
glance, the arguments and return values are given the following pseudo types:

Pseudo type Real C type Constant? Description

uh unsigned short No an unsigned halfword
uw1 unsigned int No an unsigned word
sw1 int No a signed word
uw2 unsigned long long No an unsigned doubleword
sw2 long long No a signed doubleword
const int Yes an integer constant
acc int Yes an ACC register number
iacc int Yes an IACC register number
These pseudo types are not defined by GCC, they are simply a notational convenience
used in this manual.
Arguments of type uh, uw1, sw1, uw2 and sw2 are evaluated at run time. They correspond
to register operands in the underlying FR-V instructions.
const arguments represent immediate operands in the underlying FR-V instructions.
They must be compile-time constants.
acc arguments are evaluated at compile time and specify the number of an accumulator
register. For example, an acc argument of 2 selects the ACC2 register.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 773

iacc arguments are similar to acc arguments but specify the number of an IACC register.
See see Section 6.60.13.5 [Other Built-in Functions], page 775 for more details.

6.60.13.2 Directly-Mapped Integer Functions

The functions listed below map directly to FR-V I-type instructions.

Function prototype Example usage Assembly output

sw1 __ADDSS (sw1, sw1) c = __ADDSS (a, b) ADDSS a,b,c
sw1 __SCAN (sw1, sw1) c = __SCAN (a, b) SCAN a,b,c
sw1 __SCUTSS (sw1) b = __SCUTSS (a) SCUTSS a,b
sw1 __SLASS (sw1, sw1) c = __SLASS (a, b) SLASS a,b,c
void __SMASS (sw1, sw1) __SMASS (a, b) SMASS a,b
void __SMSSS (sw1, sw1) __SMSSS (a, b) SMSSS a,b
void __SMU (sw1, sw1) __SMU (a, b) SMU a,b
sw2 __SMUL (sw1, sw1) c = __SMUL (a, b) SMUL a,b,c
sw1 __SUBSS (sw1, sw1) c = __SUBSS (a, b) SUBSS a,b,c
uw2 __UMUL (uw1, uw1) c = __UMUL (a, b) UMUL a,b,c

6.60.13.3 Directly-Mapped Media Functions

The functions listed below map directly to FR-V M-type instructions.

Function prototype Example usage Assembly output

uw1 __MABSHS (sw1) b = __MABSHS (a) MABSHS a,b
void __MADDACCS (acc, acc) __MADDACCS (b, a) MADDACCS a,b
sw1 __MADDHSS (sw1, sw1) c = __MADDHSS (a, b) MADDHSS a,b,c
uw1 __MADDHUS (uw1, uw1) c = __MADDHUS (a, b) MADDHUS a,b,c
uw1 __MAND (uw1, uw1) c = __MAND (a, b) MAND a,b,c
void __MASACCS (acc, acc) __MASACCS (b, a) MASACCS a,b
uw1 __MAVEH (uw1, uw1) c = __MAVEH (a, b) MAVEH a,b,c
uw2 __MBTOH (uw1) b = __MBTOH (a) MBTOH a,b
void __MBTOHE (uw1 *, uw1) __MBTOHE (&b, a) MBTOHE a,b
void __MCLRACC (acc) __MCLRACC (a) MCLRACC a
void __MCLRACCA (void) __MCLRACCA () MCLRACCA
uw1 __Mcop1 (uw1, uw1) c = __Mcop1 (a, b) Mcop1 a,b,c
uw1 __Mcop2 (uw1, uw1) c = __Mcop2 (a, b) Mcop2 a,b,c
uw1 __MCPLHI (uw2, const) c = __MCPLHI (a, b) MCPLHI a,#b,c
uw1 __MCPLI (uw2, const) c = __MCPLI (a, b) MCPLI a,#b,c
void __MCPXIS (acc, sw1, sw1) __MCPXIS (c, a, b) MCPXIS a,b,c
void __MCPXIU (acc, uw1, uw1) __MCPXIU (c, a, b) MCPXIU a,b,c
void __MCPXRS (acc, sw1, sw1) __MCPXRS (c, a, b) MCPXRS a,b,c
void __MCPXRU (acc, uw1, uw1) __MCPXRU (c, a, b) MCPXRU a,b,c
uw1 __MCUT (acc, uw1) c = __MCUT (a, b) MCUT a,b,c
uw1 __MCUTSS (acc, sw1) c = __MCUTSS (a, b) MCUTSS a,b,c
void __MDADDACCS (acc, acc) __MDADDACCS (b, a) MDADDACCS a,b
void __MDASACCS (acc, acc) __MDASACCS (b, a) MDASACCS a,b
uw2 __MDCUTSSI (acc, const) c = __MDCUTSSI (a, b) MDCUTSSI a,#b,c
774 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

uw2 __MDPACKH (uw2, uw2) c = __MDPACKH (a, b) MDPACKH a,b,c

uw2 __MDROTLI (uw2, const) c = __MDROTLI (a, b) MDROTLI a,#b,c
void __MDSUBACCS (acc, acc) __MDSUBACCS (b, a) MDSUBACCS a,b
void __MDUNPACKH (uw1 *, uw2) __MDUNPACKH (&b, a) MDUNPACKH a,b
uw2 __MEXPDHD (uw1, const) c = __MEXPDHD (a, b) MEXPDHD a,#b,c
uw1 __MEXPDHW (uw1, const) c = __MEXPDHW (a, b) MEXPDHW a,#b,c
uw1 __MHDSETH (uw1, const) c = __MHDSETH (a, b) MHDSETH a,#b,c
sw1 __MHDSETS (const) b = __MHDSETS (a) MHDSETS #a,b
uw1 __MHSETHIH (uw1, const) b = __MHSETHIH (b, a) MHSETHIH #a,b
sw1 __MHSETHIS (sw1, const) b = __MHSETHIS (b, a) MHSETHIS #a,b
uw1 __MHSETLOH (uw1, const) b = __MHSETLOH (b, a) MHSETLOH #a,b
sw1 __MHSETLOS (sw1, const) b = __MHSETLOS (b, a) MHSETLOS #a,b
uw1 __MHTOB (uw2) b = __MHTOB (a) MHTOB a,b
void __MMACHS (acc, sw1, sw1) __MMACHS (c, a, b) MMACHS a,b,c
void __MMACHU (acc, uw1, uw1) __MMACHU (c, a, b) MMACHU a,b,c
void __MMRDHS (acc, sw1, sw1) __MMRDHS (c, a, b) MMRDHS a,b,c
void __MMRDHU (acc, uw1, uw1) __MMRDHU (c, a, b) MMRDHU a,b,c
void __MMULHS (acc, sw1, sw1) __MMULHS (c, a, b) MMULHS a,b,c
void __MMULHU (acc, uw1, uw1) __MMULHU (c, a, b) MMULHU a,b,c
void __MMULXHS (acc, sw1, sw1) __MMULXHS (c, a, b) MMULXHS a,b,c
void __MMULXHU (acc, uw1, uw1) __MMULXHU (c, a, b) MMULXHU a,b,c
uw1 __MNOT (uw1) b = __MNOT (a) MNOT a,b
uw1 __MOR (uw1, uw1) c = __MOR (a, b) MOR a,b,c
uw1 __MPACKH (uh, uh) c = __MPACKH (a, b) MPACKH a,b,c
sw2 __MQADDHSS (sw2, sw2) c = __MQADDHSS (a, b) MQADDHSS a,b,c
uw2 __MQADDHUS (uw2, uw2) c = __MQADDHUS (a, b) MQADDHUS a,b,c
void __MQCPXIS (acc, sw2, sw2) __MQCPXIS (c, a, b) MQCPXIS a,b,c
void __MQCPXIU (acc, uw2, uw2) __MQCPXIU (c, a, b) MQCPXIU a,b,c
void __MQCPXRS (acc, sw2, sw2) __MQCPXRS (c, a, b) MQCPXRS a,b,c
void __MQCPXRU (acc, uw2, uw2) __MQCPXRU (c, a, b) MQCPXRU a,b,c
sw2 __MQLCLRHS (sw2, sw2) c = __MQLCLRHS (a, b) MQLCLRHS a,b,c
sw2 __MQLMTHS (sw2, sw2) c = __MQLMTHS (a, b) MQLMTHS a,b,c
void __MQMACHS (acc, sw2, sw2) __MQMACHS (c, a, b) MQMACHS a,b,c
void __MQMACHU (acc, uw2, uw2) __MQMACHU (c, a, b) MQMACHU a,b,c
void __MQMACXHS (acc, sw2, sw2) __MQMACXHS (c, a, b) MQMACXHS a,b,c
void __MQMULHS (acc, sw2, sw2) __MQMULHS (c, a, b) MQMULHS a,b,c
void __MQMULHU (acc, uw2, uw2) __MQMULHU (c, a, b) MQMULHU a,b,c
void __MQMULXHS (acc, sw2, sw2) __MQMULXHS (c, a, b) MQMULXHS a,b,c
void __MQMULXHU (acc, uw2, uw2) __MQMULXHU (c, a, b) MQMULXHU a,b,c
sw2 __MQSATHS (sw2, sw2) c = __MQSATHS (a, b) MQSATHS a,b,c
uw2 __MQSLLHI (uw2, int) c = __MQSLLHI (a, b) MQSLLHI a,b,c
sw2 __MQSRAHI (sw2, int) c = __MQSRAHI (a, b) MQSRAHI a,b,c
sw2 __MQSUBHSS (sw2, sw2) c = __MQSUBHSS (a, b) MQSUBHSS a,b,c
uw2 __MQSUBHUS (uw2, uw2) c = __MQSUBHUS (a, b) MQSUBHUS a,b,c
void __MQXMACHS (acc, sw2, sw2) __MQXMACHS (c, a, b) MQXMACHS a,b,c
void __MQXMACXHS (acc, sw2, sw2) __MQXMACXHS (c, a, b) MQXMACXHS a,b,c
uw1 __MRDACC (acc) b = __MRDACC (a) MRDACC a,b
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 775

uw1 __MRDACCG (acc) b = __MRDACCG (a) MRDACCG a,b

uw1 __MROTLI (uw1, const) c = __MROTLI (a, b) MROTLI a,#b,c
uw1 __MROTRI (uw1, const) c = __MROTRI (a, b) MROTRI a,#b,c
sw1 __MSATHS (sw1, sw1) c = __MSATHS (a, b) MSATHS a,b,c
uw1 __MSATHU (uw1, uw1) c = __MSATHU (a, b) MSATHU a,b,c
uw1 __MSLLHI (uw1, const) c = __MSLLHI (a, b) MSLLHI a,#b,c
sw1 __MSRAHI (sw1, const) c = __MSRAHI (a, b) MSRAHI a,#b,c
uw1 __MSRLHI (uw1, const) c = __MSRLHI (a, b) MSRLHI a,#b,c
void __MSUBACCS (acc, acc) __MSUBACCS (b, a) MSUBACCS a,b
sw1 __MSUBHSS (sw1, sw1) c = __MSUBHSS (a, b) MSUBHSS a,b,c
uw1 __MSUBHUS (uw1, uw1) c = __MSUBHUS (a, b) MSUBHUS a,b,c
void __MTRAP (void) __MTRAP () MTRAP
uw2 __MUNPACKH (uw1) b = __MUNPACKH (a) MUNPACKH a,b
uw1 __MWCUT (uw2, uw1) c = __MWCUT (a, b) MWCUT a,b,c
void __MWTACC (acc, uw1) __MWTACC (b, a) MWTACC a,b
void __MWTACCG (acc, uw1) __MWTACCG (b, a) MWTACCG a,b
uw1 __MXOR (uw1, uw1) c = __MXOR (a, b) MXOR a,b,c

6.60.13.4 Raw Read/Write Functions

This sections describes built-in functions related to read and write instructions to access
memory. These functions generate membar instructions to flush the I/O load and stores
where appropriate, as described in Fujitsu’s manual described above.

unsigned char __builtin_read8 (void *data)

unsigned short __builtin_read16 (void *data)
unsigned long __builtin_read32 (void *data)
unsigned long long __builtin_read64 (void *data)
void __builtin_write8 (void *data, unsigned char datum)
void __builtin_write16 (void *data, unsigned short datum)
void __builtin_write32 (void *data, unsigned long datum)
void __builtin_write64 (void *data, unsigned long long datum)

6.60.13.5 Other Built-in Functions

This section describes built-in functions that are not named after a specific FR-V instruc-
tion.

sw2 __IACCreadll (iacc reg)

Return the full 64-bit value of IACC0. The reg argument is reserved for future
expansion and must be 0.

sw1 __IACCreadl (iacc reg)

Return the value of IACC0H if reg is 0 and IACC0L if reg is 1. Other values
of reg are rejected as invalid.

void __IACCsetll (iacc reg, sw2 x)

Set the full 64-bit value of IACC0 to x. The reg argument is reserved for future
expansion and must be 0.
776 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void __IACCsetl (iacc reg, sw1 x)

Set IACC0H to x if reg is 0 and IACC0L to x if reg is 1. Other values of reg
are rejected as invalid.
void __data_prefetch0 (const void *x)
Use the dcpl instruction to load the contents of address x into the data cache.
void __data_prefetch (const void *x)
Use the nldub instruction to load the contents of address x into the data cache.
The instruction is issued in slot I1.

6.60.14 MIPS DSP Built-in Functions

The MIPS DSP Application-Specific Extension (ASE) includes new instructions that are de-
signed to improve the performance of DSP and media applications. It provides instructions
that operate on packed 8-bit/16-bit integer data, Q7, Q15 and Q31 fractional data.
GCC supports MIPS DSP operations using both the generic vector extensions (see
Section 6.52 [Vector Extensions], page 724) and a collection of MIPS-specific built-in func-
tions. Both kinds of support are enabled by the ‘-mdsp’ command-line option.
Revision 2 of the ASE was introduced in the second half of 2006. This revision adds extra
instructions to the original ASE, but is otherwise backwards-compatible with it. You can
select revision 2 using the command-line option ‘-mdspr2’; this option implies ‘-mdsp’.
The SCOUNT and POS bits of the DSP control register are global. The WRDSP,
EXTPDP, EXTPDPV and MTHLIP instructions modify the SCOUNT and POS bits. Dur-
ing optimization, the compiler does not delete these instructions and it does not delete calls
to functions containing these instructions.
At present, GCC only provides support for operations on 32-bit vectors. The vector type
associated with 8-bit integer data is usually called v4i8, the vector type associated with
Q7 is usually called v4q7, the vector type associated with 16-bit integer data is usually
called v2i16, and the vector type associated with Q15 is usually called v2q15. They can
be defined in C as follows:
typedef signed char v4i8 __attribute__ ((vector_size(4)));
typedef signed char v4q7 __attribute__ ((vector_size(4)));
typedef short v2i16 __attribute__ ((vector_size(4)));
typedef short v2q15 __attribute__ ((vector_size(4)));
v4i8, v4q7, v2i16 and v2q15 values are initialized in the same way as aggregates. For
example:
v4i8 a = {1, 2, 3, 4};
v4i8 b;
b = (v4i8) {5, 6, 7, 8};

v2q15 c = {0x0fcb, 0x3a75};

v2q15 d;
d = (v2q15) {0.1234 * 0x1.0p15, 0.4567 * 0x1.0p15};
Note: The CPU’s endianness determines the order in which values are packed. On
little-endian targets, the first value is the least significant and the last value is the most
significant. The opposite order applies to big-endian targets. For example, the code above
sets the lowest byte of a to 1 on little-endian targets and 4 on big-endian targets.
Note: Q7, Q15 and Q31 values must be initialized with their integer representation.
As shown in this example, the integer representation of a Q7 value can be obtained by
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 777

multiplying the fractional value by 0x1.0p7. The equivalent for Q15 values is to multiply
by 0x1.0p15. The equivalent for Q31 values is to multiply by 0x1.0p31.
The table below lists the v4i8 and v2q15 operations for which hardware support exists.
a and b are v4i8 values, and c and d are v2q15 values.

C code MIPS instruction

a+b addu.qb
c+d addq.ph
a-b subu.qb
c-d subq.ph
The table below lists the v2i16 operation for which hardware support exists for the DSP
ASE REV 2. e and f are v2i16 values.

C code MIPS instruction

e*f mul.ph
It is easier to describe the DSP built-in functions if we first define the following types:
typedef int q31;
typedef int i32;
typedef unsigned int ui32;
typedef long long a64;
q31 and i32 are actually the same as int, but we use q31 to indicate a Q31 fractional
value and i32 to indicate a 32-bit integer value. Similarly, a64 is the same as long long,
but we use a64 to indicate values that are placed in one of the four DSP accumulators
($ac0, $ac1, $ac2 or $ac3).
Also, some built-in functions prefer or require immediate numbers as parameters, because
the corresponding DSP instructions accept both immediate numbers and register operands,
or accept immediate numbers only. The immediate parameters are listed as follows.
imm0_3: 0 to 3.
imm0_7: 0 to 7.
imm0_15: 0 to 15.
imm0_31: 0 to 31.
imm0_63: 0 to 63.
imm0_255: 0 to 255.
imm_n32_31: -32 to 31.
imm_n512_511: -512 to 511.
The following built-in functions map directly to a particular MIPS DSP instruction.
Please refer to the architecture specification for details on what each instruction does.
v2q15 __builtin_mips_addq_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_addq_s_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
q31 __builtin_mips_addq_s_w (q31, q31);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_addu_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_addu_s_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_subq_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_subq_s_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
q31 __builtin_mips_subq_s_w (q31, q31);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_subu_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_subu_s_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
i32 __builtin_mips_addsc (i32, i32);
i32 __builtin_mips_addwc (i32, i32);
778 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

i32 __builtin_mips_modsub (i32, i32);

i32 __builtin_mips_raddu_w_qb (v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_absq_s_ph (v2q15);
q31 __builtin_mips_absq_s_w (q31);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_precrq_qb_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_precrq_ph_w (q31, q31);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_precrq_rs_ph_w (q31, q31);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_precrqu_s_qb_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
q31 __builtin_mips_preceq_w_phl (v2q15);
q31 __builtin_mips_preceq_w_phr (v2q15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_precequ_ph_qbl (v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_precequ_ph_qbr (v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_precequ_ph_qbla (v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_precequ_ph_qbra (v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_preceu_ph_qbl (v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_preceu_ph_qbr (v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_preceu_ph_qbla (v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_preceu_ph_qbra (v4i8);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_shll_qb (v4i8, imm0_7);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_shll_qb (v4i8, i32);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_shll_ph (v2q15, imm0_15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_shll_ph (v2q15, i32);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_shll_s_ph (v2q15, imm0_15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_shll_s_ph (v2q15, i32);
q31 __builtin_mips_shll_s_w (q31, imm0_31);
q31 __builtin_mips_shll_s_w (q31, i32);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_shrl_qb (v4i8, imm0_7);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_shrl_qb (v4i8, i32);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_shra_ph (v2q15, imm0_15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_shra_ph (v2q15, i32);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_shra_r_ph (v2q15, imm0_15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_shra_r_ph (v2q15, i32);
q31 __builtin_mips_shra_r_w (q31, imm0_31);
q31 __builtin_mips_shra_r_w (q31, i32);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_muleu_s_ph_qbl (v4i8, v2q15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_muleu_s_ph_qbr (v4i8, v2q15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_mulq_rs_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
q31 __builtin_mips_muleq_s_w_phl (v2q15, v2q15);
q31 __builtin_mips_muleq_s_w_phr (v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpau_h_qbl (a64, v4i8, v4i8);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpau_h_qbr (a64, v4i8, v4i8);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpsu_h_qbl (a64, v4i8, v4i8);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpsu_h_qbr (a64, v4i8, v4i8);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpaq_s_w_ph (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpaq_sa_l_w (a64, q31, q31);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpsq_s_w_ph (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpsq_sa_l_w (a64, q31, q31);
a64 __builtin_mips_mulsaq_s_w_ph (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_maq_s_w_phl (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_maq_s_w_phr (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_maq_sa_w_phl (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_maq_sa_w_phr (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
i32 __builtin_mips_bitrev (i32);
i32 __builtin_mips_insv (i32, i32);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_repl_qb (imm0_255);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_repl_qb (i32);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_repl_ph (imm_n512_511);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_repl_ph (i32);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 779

void __builtin_mips_cmpu_eq_qb (v4i8, v4i8);

void __builtin_mips_cmpu_lt_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
void __builtin_mips_cmpu_le_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
i32 __builtin_mips_cmpgu_eq_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
i32 __builtin_mips_cmpgu_lt_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
i32 __builtin_mips_cmpgu_le_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
void __builtin_mips_cmp_eq_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
void __builtin_mips_cmp_lt_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
void __builtin_mips_cmp_le_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_pick_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_pick_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_packrl_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
i32 __builtin_mips_extr_w (a64, imm0_31);
i32 __builtin_mips_extr_w (a64, i32);
i32 __builtin_mips_extr_r_w (a64, imm0_31);
i32 __builtin_mips_extr_s_h (a64, i32);
i32 __builtin_mips_extr_rs_w (a64, imm0_31);
i32 __builtin_mips_extr_rs_w (a64, i32);
i32 __builtin_mips_extr_s_h (a64, imm0_31);
i32 __builtin_mips_extr_r_w (a64, i32);
i32 __builtin_mips_extp (a64, imm0_31);
i32 __builtin_mips_extp (a64, i32);
i32 __builtin_mips_extpdp (a64, imm0_31);
i32 __builtin_mips_extpdp (a64, i32);
a64 __builtin_mips_shilo (a64, imm_n32_31);
a64 __builtin_mips_shilo (a64, i32);
a64 __builtin_mips_mthlip (a64, i32);
void __builtin_mips_wrdsp (i32, imm0_63);
i32 __builtin_mips_rddsp (imm0_63);
i32 __builtin_mips_lbux (void *, i32);
i32 __builtin_mips_lhx (void *, i32);
i32 __builtin_mips_lwx (void *, i32);
a64 __builtin_mips_ldx (void *, i32); /* MIPS64 only */
i32 __builtin_mips_bposge32 (void);
a64 __builtin_mips_madd (a64, i32, i32);
a64 __builtin_mips_maddu (a64, ui32, ui32);
a64 __builtin_mips_msub (a64, i32, i32);
a64 __builtin_mips_msubu (a64, ui32, ui32);
a64 __builtin_mips_mult (i32, i32);
a64 __builtin_mips_multu (ui32, ui32);

The following built-in functions map directly to a particular MIPS DSP REV 2 instruc-
tion. Please refer to the architecture specification for details on what each instruction does.
v4q7 __builtin_mips_absq_s_qb (v4q7);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_addu_ph (v2i16, v2i16);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_addu_s_ph (v2i16, v2i16);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_adduh_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_adduh_r_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
i32 __builtin_mips_append (i32, i32, imm0_31);
i32 __builtin_mips_balign (i32, i32, imm0_3);
i32 __builtin_mips_cmpgdu_eq_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
i32 __builtin_mips_cmpgdu_lt_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
i32 __builtin_mips_cmpgdu_le_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpa_w_ph (a64, v2i16, v2i16);
a64 __builtin_mips_dps_w_ph (a64, v2i16, v2i16);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_mul_ph (v2i16, v2i16);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_mul_s_ph (v2i16, v2i16);
q31 __builtin_mips_mulq_rs_w (q31, q31);
780 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v2q15 __builtin_mips_mulq_s_ph (v2q15, v2q15);

q31 __builtin_mips_mulq_s_w (q31, q31);
a64 __builtin_mips_mulsa_w_ph (a64, v2i16, v2i16);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_precr_qb_ph (v2i16, v2i16);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_precr_sra_ph_w (i32, i32, imm0_31);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_precr_sra_r_ph_w (i32, i32, imm0_31);
i32 __builtin_mips_prepend (i32, i32, imm0_31);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_shra_qb (v4i8, imm0_7);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_shra_r_qb (v4i8, imm0_7);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_shra_qb (v4i8, i32);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_shra_r_qb (v4i8, i32);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_shrl_ph (v2i16, imm0_15);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_shrl_ph (v2i16, i32);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_subu_ph (v2i16, v2i16);
v2i16 __builtin_mips_subu_s_ph (v2i16, v2i16);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_subuh_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
v4i8 __builtin_mips_subuh_r_qb (v4i8, v4i8);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_addqh_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_addqh_r_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
q31 __builtin_mips_addqh_w (q31, q31);
q31 __builtin_mips_addqh_r_w (q31, q31);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_subqh_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
v2q15 __builtin_mips_subqh_r_ph (v2q15, v2q15);
q31 __builtin_mips_subqh_w (q31, q31);
q31 __builtin_mips_subqh_r_w (q31, q31);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpax_w_ph (a64, v2i16, v2i16);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpsx_w_ph (a64, v2i16, v2i16);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpaqx_s_w_ph (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpaqx_sa_w_ph (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpsqx_s_w_ph (a64, v2q15, v2q15);
a64 __builtin_mips_dpsqx_sa_w_ph (a64, v2q15, v2q15);

6.60.15 MIPS Paired-Single Support

The MIPS64 architecture includes a number of instructions that operate on pairs of single-
precision floating-point values. Each pair is packed into a 64-bit floating-point register, with
one element being designated the “upper half” and the other being designated the “lower
half”.
GCC supports paired-single operations using both the generic vector extensions (see
Section 6.52 [Vector Extensions], page 724) and a collection of MIPS-specific built-in func-
tions. Both kinds of support are enabled by the ‘-mpaired-single’ command-line option.
The vector type associated with paired-single values is usually called v2sf. It can be
defined in C as follows:
typedef float v2sf __attribute__ ((vector_size (8)));
v2sf values are initialized in the same way as aggregates. For example:
v2sf a = {1.5, 9.1};
v2sf b;
float e, f;
b = (v2sf) {e, f};
Note: The CPU’s endianness determines which value is stored in the upper half of a
register and which value is stored in the lower half. On little-endian targets, the first value
is the lower one and the second value is the upper one. The opposite order applies to big-
endian targets. For example, the code above sets the lower half of a to 1.5 on little-endian
targets and 9.1 on big-endian targets.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 781

6.60.16 MIPS Loongson Built-in Functions

GCC provides intrinsics to access the SIMD instructions provided by the ST Microelec-
tronics Loongson-2E and -2F processors. These intrinsics, available after inclusion of the
loongson.h header file, operate on the following 64-bit vector types:
• uint8x8_t, a vector of eight unsigned 8-bit integers;
• uint16x4_t, a vector of four unsigned 16-bit integers;
• uint32x2_t, a vector of two unsigned 32-bit integers;
• int8x8_t, a vector of eight signed 8-bit integers;
• int16x4_t, a vector of four signed 16-bit integers;
• int32x2_t, a vector of two signed 32-bit integers.
The intrinsics provided are listed below; each is named after the machine instruction
to which it corresponds, with suffixes added as appropriate to distinguish intrinsics that
expand to the same machine instruction yet have different argument types. Refer to the
architecture documentation for a description of the functionality of each instruction.
int16x4_t packsswh (int32x2_t s, int32x2_t t);
int8x8_t packsshb (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t packushb (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint32x2_t paddw_u (uint32x2_t s, uint32x2_t t);
uint16x4_t paddh_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t paddb_u (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
int32x2_t paddw_s (int32x2_t s, int32x2_t t);
int16x4_t paddh_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int8x8_t paddb_s (int8x8_t s, int8x8_t t);
uint64_t paddd_u (uint64_t s, uint64_t t);
int64_t paddd_s (int64_t s, int64_t t);
int16x4_t paddsh (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int8x8_t paddsb (int8x8_t s, int8x8_t t);
uint16x4_t paddush (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t paddusb (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
uint64_t pandn_ud (uint64_t s, uint64_t t);
uint32x2_t pandn_uw (uint32x2_t s, uint32x2_t t);
uint16x4_t pandn_uh (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t pandn_ub (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
int64_t pandn_sd (int64_t s, int64_t t);
int32x2_t pandn_sw (int32x2_t s, int32x2_t t);
int16x4_t pandn_sh (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int8x8_t pandn_sb (int8x8_t s, int8x8_t t);
uint16x4_t pavgh (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t pavgb (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
uint32x2_t pcmpeqw_u (uint32x2_t s, uint32x2_t t);
uint16x4_t pcmpeqh_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t pcmpeqb_u (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
int32x2_t pcmpeqw_s (int32x2_t s, int32x2_t t);
int16x4_t pcmpeqh_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int8x8_t pcmpeqb_s (int8x8_t s, int8x8_t t);
uint32x2_t pcmpgtw_u (uint32x2_t s, uint32x2_t t);
uint16x4_t pcmpgth_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t pcmpgtb_u (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
int32x2_t pcmpgtw_s (int32x2_t s, int32x2_t t);
int16x4_t pcmpgth_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int8x8_t pcmpgtb_s (int8x8_t s, int8x8_t t);
uint16x4_t pextrh_u (uint16x4_t s, int field);
782 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

int16x4_t pextrh_s (int16x4_t s, int field);

uint16x4_t pinsrh_0_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint16x4_t pinsrh_1_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint16x4_t pinsrh_2_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint16x4_t pinsrh_3_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
int16x4_t pinsrh_0_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int16x4_t pinsrh_1_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int16x4_t pinsrh_2_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int16x4_t pinsrh_3_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int32x2_t pmaddhw (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int16x4_t pmaxsh (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t pmaxub (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
int16x4_t pminsh (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t pminub (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
uint8x8_t pmovmskb_u (uint8x8_t s);
int8x8_t pmovmskb_s (int8x8_t s);
uint16x4_t pmulhuh (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
int16x4_t pmulhh (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int16x4_t pmullh (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int64_t pmuluw (uint32x2_t s, uint32x2_t t);
uint8x8_t pasubub (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
uint16x4_t biadd (uint8x8_t s);
uint16x4_t psadbh (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
uint16x4_t pshufh_u (uint16x4_t dest, uint16x4_t s, uint8_t order);
int16x4_t pshufh_s (int16x4_t dest, int16x4_t s, uint8_t order);
uint16x4_t psllh_u (uint16x4_t s, uint8_t amount);
int16x4_t psllh_s (int16x4_t s, uint8_t amount);
uint32x2_t psllw_u (uint32x2_t s, uint8_t amount);
int32x2_t psllw_s (int32x2_t s, uint8_t amount);
uint16x4_t psrlh_u (uint16x4_t s, uint8_t amount);
int16x4_t psrlh_s (int16x4_t s, uint8_t amount);
uint32x2_t psrlw_u (uint32x2_t s, uint8_t amount);
int32x2_t psrlw_s (int32x2_t s, uint8_t amount);
uint16x4_t psrah_u (uint16x4_t s, uint8_t amount);
int16x4_t psrah_s (int16x4_t s, uint8_t amount);
uint32x2_t psraw_u (uint32x2_t s, uint8_t amount);
int32x2_t psraw_s (int32x2_t s, uint8_t amount);
uint32x2_t psubw_u (uint32x2_t s, uint32x2_t t);
uint16x4_t psubh_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t psubb_u (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
int32x2_t psubw_s (int32x2_t s, int32x2_t t);
int16x4_t psubh_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int8x8_t psubb_s (int8x8_t s, int8x8_t t);
uint64_t psubd_u (uint64_t s, uint64_t t);
int64_t psubd_s (int64_t s, int64_t t);
int16x4_t psubsh (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int8x8_t psubsb (int8x8_t s, int8x8_t t);
uint16x4_t psubush (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t psubusb (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
uint32x2_t punpckhwd_u (uint32x2_t s, uint32x2_t t);
uint16x4_t punpckhhw_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t punpckhbh_u (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
int32x2_t punpckhwd_s (int32x2_t s, int32x2_t t);
int16x4_t punpckhhw_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int8x8_t punpckhbh_s (int8x8_t s, int8x8_t t);
uint32x2_t punpcklwd_u (uint32x2_t s, uint32x2_t t);
uint16x4_t punpcklhw_u (uint16x4_t s, uint16x4_t t);
uint8x8_t punpcklbh_u (uint8x8_t s, uint8x8_t t);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 783

int32x2_t punpcklwd_s (int32x2_t s, int32x2_t t);

int16x4_t punpcklhw_s (int16x4_t s, int16x4_t t);
int8x8_t punpcklbh_s (int8x8_t s, int8x8_t t);

6.60.16.1 Paired-Single Arithmetic

The table below lists the v2sf operations for which hardware support exists. a, b and c are
v2sf values and x is an integral value.

C code MIPS instruction

a+b add.ps
a-b sub.ps
-a neg.ps
a*b mul.ps
a*b+c madd.ps
a*b-c msub.ps
-(a * b + c) nmadd.ps
-(a * b - c) nmsub.ps
x?a:b movn.ps/movz.ps
Note that the multiply-accumulate instructions can be disabled using the command-line
option -mno-fused-madd.

6.60.16.2 Paired-Single Built-in Functions

The following paired-single functions map directly to a particular MIPS instruction. Please
refer to the architecture specification for details on what each instruction does.
v2sf __builtin_mips_pll_ps (v2sf, v2sf)
Pair lower lower (pll.ps).
v2sf __builtin_mips_pul_ps (v2sf, v2sf)
Pair upper lower (pul.ps).
v2sf __builtin_mips_plu_ps (v2sf, v2sf)
Pair lower upper (plu.ps).
v2sf __builtin_mips_puu_ps (v2sf, v2sf)
Pair upper upper (puu.ps).
v2sf __builtin_mips_cvt_ps_s (float, float)
Convert pair to paired single (cvt.ps.s).
float __builtin_mips_cvt_s_pl (v2sf)
Convert pair lower to single (cvt.s.pl).
float __builtin_mips_cvt_s_pu (v2sf)
Convert pair upper to single (cvt.s.pu).
v2sf __builtin_mips_abs_ps (v2sf)
Absolute value (abs.ps).
v2sf __builtin_mips_alnv_ps (v2sf, v2sf, int)
Align variable (alnv.ps).
784 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Note: The value of the third parameter must be 0 or 4 modulo 8, otherwise the
result is unpredictable. Please read the instruction description for details.
The following multi-instruction functions are also available. In each case, cond can be
any of the 16 floating-point conditions: f, un, eq, ueq, olt, ult, ole, ule, sf, ngle, seq,
ngl, lt, nge, le or ngt.
v2sf __builtin_mips_movt_c_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b, v2sf c, v2sf d)
v2sf __builtin_mips_movf_c_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b, v2sf c, v2sf d)
Conditional move based on floating-point comparison (c.cond.ps,
movt.ps/movf.ps).
The movt functions return the value x computed by:
c.cond.ps cc,a,b
mov.ps x,c
movt.ps x,d,cc
The movf functions are similar but use movf.ps instead of movt.ps.
int __builtin_mips_upper_c_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b)
int __builtin_mips_lower_c_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b)
Comparison of two paired-single values (c.cond.ps, bc1t/bc1f).
These functions compare a and b using c.cond.ps and return either the upper
or lower half of the result. For example:
v2sf a, b;
if (__builtin_mips_upper_c_eq_ps (a, b))
upper_halves_are_equal ();
else
upper_halves_are_unequal ();

if (__builtin_mips_lower_c_eq_ps (a, b))

lower_halves_are_equal ();
else
lower_halves_are_unequal ();

6.60.16.3 MIPS-3D Built-in Functions

The MIPS-3D Application-Specific Extension (ASE) includes additional paired-single in-
structions that are designed to improve the performance of 3D graphics operations. Support
for these instructions is controlled by the ‘-mips3d’ command-line option.
The functions listed below map directly to a particular MIPS-3D instruction. Please refer
to the architecture specification for more details on what each instruction does.
v2sf __builtin_mips_addr_ps (v2sf, v2sf)
Reduction add (addr.ps).
v2sf __builtin_mips_mulr_ps (v2sf, v2sf)
Reduction multiply (mulr.ps).
v2sf __builtin_mips_cvt_pw_ps (v2sf)
Convert paired single to paired word (cvt.pw.ps).
v2sf __builtin_mips_cvt_ps_pw (v2sf)
Convert paired word to paired single (cvt.ps.pw).
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 785

float __builtin_mips_recip1_s (float)

double __builtin_mips_recip1_d (double)
v2sf __builtin_mips_recip1_ps (v2sf)
Reduced-precision reciprocal (sequence step 1) (recip1.fmt).

float __builtin_mips_recip2_s (float, float)

double __builtin_mips_recip2_d (double, double)
v2sf __builtin_mips_recip2_ps (v2sf, v2sf)
Reduced-precision reciprocal (sequence step 2) (recip2.fmt).

float __builtin_mips_rsqrt1_s (float)

double __builtin_mips_rsqrt1_d (double)
v2sf __builtin_mips_rsqrt1_ps (v2sf)
Reduced-precision reciprocal square root (sequence step 1) (rsqrt1.fmt).

float __builtin_mips_rsqrt2_s (float, float)

double __builtin_mips_rsqrt2_d (double, double)
v2sf __builtin_mips_rsqrt2_ps (v2sf, v2sf)
Reduced-precision reciprocal square root (sequence step 2) (rsqrt2.fmt).

The following multi-instruction functions are also available. In each case, cond can be
any of the 16 floating-point conditions: f, un, eq, ueq, olt, ult, ole, ule, sf, ngle, seq,
ngl, lt, nge, le or ngt.

int __builtin_mips_cabs_cond_s (float a, float b)

int __builtin_mips_cabs_cond_d (double a, double b)
Absolute comparison of two scalar values (cabs.cond.fmt, bc1t/bc1f).
These functions compare a and b using cabs.cond.s or cabs.cond.d and re-
turn the result as a boolean value. For example:
float a, b;
if (__builtin_mips_cabs_eq_s (a, b))
true ();
else
false ();

int __builtin_mips_upper_cabs_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b)

int __builtin_mips_lower_cabs_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b)
Absolute comparison of two paired-single values (cabs.cond.ps, bc1t/bc1f).
These functions compare a and b using cabs.cond.ps and return either the
upper or lower half of the result. For example:
v2sf a, b;
if (__builtin_mips_upper_cabs_eq_ps (a, b))
upper_halves_are_equal ();
else
upper_halves_are_unequal ();

if (__builtin_mips_lower_cabs_eq_ps (a, b))

lower_halves_are_equal ();
else
lower_halves_are_unequal ();
786 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v2sf __builtin_mips_movt_cabs_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b, v2sf c, v2sf d)

v2sf __builtin_mips_movf_cabs_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b, v2sf c, v2sf d)
Conditional move based on absolute comparison (cabs.cond.ps,
movt.ps/movf.ps).
The movt functions return the value x computed by:
cabs.cond.ps cc,a,b
mov.ps x,c
movt.ps x,d,cc

The movf functions are similar but use movf.ps instead of movt.ps.

int __builtin_mips_any_c_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b)

int __builtin_mips_all_c_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b)
int __builtin_mips_any_cabs_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b)
int __builtin_mips_all_cabs_cond_ps (v2sf a, v2sf b)
Comparison of two paired-single values (c.cond.ps/cabs.cond.ps,
bc1any2t/bc1any2f).
These functions compare a and b using c.cond.ps or cabs.cond.ps. The any
forms return true if either result is true and the all forms return true if both
results are true. For example:
v2sf a, b;
if (__builtin_mips_any_c_eq_ps (a, b))
one_is_true ();
else
both_are_false ();

if (__builtin_mips_all_c_eq_ps (a, b))

both_are_true ();
else
one_is_false ();

int __builtin_mips_any_c_cond_4s (v2sf a, v2sf b, v2sf c, v2sf d)

int __builtin_mips_all_c_cond_4s (v2sf a, v2sf b, v2sf c, v2sf d)
int __builtin_mips_any_cabs_cond_4s (v2sf a, v2sf b, v2sf c, v2sf d)
int __builtin_mips_all_cabs_cond_4s (v2sf a, v2sf b, v2sf c, v2sf d)
Comparison of four paired-single values (c.cond.ps/cabs.cond.ps,
bc1any4t/bc1any4f).
These functions use c.cond.ps or cabs.cond.ps to compare a with b and to
compare c with d. The any forms return true if any of the four results are
true and the all forms return true if all four results are true. For example:
v2sf a, b, c, d;
if (__builtin_mips_any_c_eq_4s (a, b, c, d))
some_are_true ();
else
all_are_false ();

if (__builtin_mips_all_c_eq_4s (a, b, c, d))

all_are_true ();
else
some_are_false ();
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 787

6.60.17 MIPS SIMD Architecture (MSA) Support

GCC provides intrinsics to access the SIMD instructions provided by the MSA MIPS SIMD
Architecture. The interface is made available by including <msa.h> and using ‘-mmsa
-mhard-float -mfp64 -mnan=2008’. For each __builtin_msa_*, there is a shortened name
of the intrinsic, __msa_*.
MSA implements 128-bit wide vector registers, operating on 8-, 16-, 32- and 64-bit integer,
16- and 32-bit fixed-point, or 32- and 64-bit floating point data elements. The following
vectors typedefs are included in msa.h:
• v16i8, a vector of sixteen signed 8-bit integers;
• v16u8, a vector of sixteen unsigned 8-bit integers;
• v8i16, a vector of eight signed 16-bit integers;
• v8u16, a vector of eight unsigned 16-bit integers;
• v4i32, a vector of four signed 32-bit integers;
• v4u32, a vector of four unsigned 32-bit integers;
• v2i64, a vector of two signed 64-bit integers;
• v2u64, a vector of two unsigned 64-bit integers;
• v4f32, a vector of four 32-bit floats;
• v2f64, a vector of two 64-bit doubles.
Instructions and corresponding built-ins may have additional restrictions and/or in-
put/output values manipulated:
• imm0_1, an integer literal in range 0 to 1;
• imm0_3, an integer literal in range 0 to 3;
• imm0_7, an integer literal in range 0 to 7;
• imm0_15, an integer literal in range 0 to 15;
• imm0_31, an integer literal in range 0 to 31;
• imm0_63, an integer literal in range 0 to 63;
• imm0_255, an integer literal in range 0 to 255;
• imm_n16_15, an integer literal in range -16 to 15;
• imm_n512_511, an integer literal in range -512 to 511;
• imm_n1024_1022, an integer literal in range -512 to 511 left shifted by 1 bit, i.e., -1024,
-1022, . . . , 1020, 1022;
• imm_n2048_2044, an integer literal in range -512 to 511 left shifted by 2 bits, i.e., -2048,
-2044, . . . , 2040, 2044;
• imm_n4096_4088, an integer literal in range -512 to 511 left shifted by 3 bits, i.e., -4096,
-4088, . . . , 4080, 4088;
• imm1_4, an integer literal in range 1 to 4;
• i32, i64, u32, u64, f32, f64, defined as follows:
{
typedef int i32;
#if __LONG_MAX__ == __LONG_LONG_MAX__
typedef long i64;
788 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

#else
typedef long long i64;
#endif

typedef unsigned int u32;

#if __LONG_MAX__ == __LONG_LONG_MAX__
typedef unsigned long u64;
#else
typedef unsigned long long u64;
#endif

typedef double f64;

typedef float f32;
}

6.60.17.1 MIPS SIMD Architecture Built-in Functions

The intrinsics provided are listed below; each is named after the machine instruction.
v16i8 __builtin_msa_add_a_b (v16i8, v16i8);
v8i16 __builtin_msa_add_a_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_add_a_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_add_a_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_adds_a_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_adds_a_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_adds_a_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_adds_a_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_adds_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_adds_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_adds_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_adds_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_adds_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_adds_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_adds_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_adds_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_addv_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_addv_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_addv_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_addv_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_addvi_b (v16i8, imm0_31);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_addvi_h (v8i16, imm0_31);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_addvi_w (v4i32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_addvi_d (v2i64, imm0_31);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_and_v (v16u8, v16u8);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_andi_b (v16u8, imm0_255);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_asub_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_asub_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_asub_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_asub_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_asub_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 789

v8u16 __builtin_msa_asub_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);

v4u32 __builtin_msa_asub_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_asub_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_ave_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ave_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_ave_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_ave_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_ave_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_ave_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_ave_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_ave_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_aver_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_aver_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_aver_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_aver_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_aver_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_aver_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_aver_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_aver_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bclr_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_bclr_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_bclr_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_bclr_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bclri_b (v16u8, imm0_7);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_bclri_h (v8u16, imm0_15);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_bclri_w (v4u32, imm0_31);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_bclri_d (v2u64, imm0_63);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_binsl_b (v16u8, v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_binsl_h (v8u16, v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_binsl_w (v4u32, v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_binsl_d (v2u64, v2u64, v2u64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_binsli_b (v16u8, v16u8, imm0_7);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_binsli_h (v8u16, v8u16, imm0_15);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_binsli_w (v4u32, v4u32, imm0_31);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_binsli_d (v2u64, v2u64, imm0_63);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_binsr_b (v16u8, v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_binsr_h (v8u16, v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_binsr_w (v4u32, v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_binsr_d (v2u64, v2u64, v2u64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_binsri_b (v16u8, v16u8, imm0_7);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_binsri_h (v8u16, v8u16, imm0_15);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_binsri_w (v4u32, v4u32, imm0_31);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_binsri_d (v2u64, v2u64, imm0_63);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bmnz_v (v16u8, v16u8, v16u8);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bmnzi_b (v16u8, v16u8, imm0_255);

790 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bmz_v (v16u8, v16u8, v16u8);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bmzi_b (v16u8, v16u8, imm0_255);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bneg_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_bneg_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_bneg_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_bneg_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bnegi_b (v16u8, imm0_7);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_bnegi_h (v8u16, imm0_15);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_bnegi_w (v4u32, imm0_31);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_bnegi_d (v2u64, imm0_63);

i32 __builtin_msa_bnz_b (v16u8);

i32 __builtin_msa_bnz_h (v8u16);
i32 __builtin_msa_bnz_w (v4u32);
i32 __builtin_msa_bnz_d (v2u64);

i32 __builtin_msa_bnz_v (v16u8);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bsel_v (v16u8, v16u8, v16u8);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bseli_b (v16u8, v16u8, imm0_255);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bset_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_bset_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_bset_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_bset_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_bseti_b (v16u8, imm0_7);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_bseti_h (v8u16, imm0_15);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_bseti_w (v4u32, imm0_31);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_bseti_d (v2u64, imm0_63);

i32 __builtin_msa_bz_b (v16u8);

i32 __builtin_msa_bz_h (v8u16);
i32 __builtin_msa_bz_w (v4u32);
i32 __builtin_msa_bz_d (v2u64);

i32 __builtin_msa_bz_v (v16u8);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_ceq_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ceq_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_ceq_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_ceq_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_ceqi_b (v16i8, imm_n16_15);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ceqi_h (v8i16, imm_n16_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_ceqi_w (v4i32, imm_n16_15);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_ceqi_d (v2i64, imm_n16_15);

i32 __builtin_msa_cfcmsa (imm0_31);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_cle_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_cle_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_cle_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_cle_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 791

v16i8 __builtin_msa_cle_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_cle_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_cle_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_cle_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_clei_s_b (v16i8, imm_n16_15);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_clei_s_h (v8i16, imm_n16_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_clei_s_w (v4i32, imm_n16_15);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_clei_s_d (v2i64, imm_n16_15);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_clei_u_b (v16u8, imm0_31);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_clei_u_h (v8u16, imm0_31);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_clei_u_w (v4u32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_clei_u_d (v2u64, imm0_31);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_clt_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_clt_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_clt_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_clt_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_clt_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_clt_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_clt_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_clt_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_clti_s_b (v16i8, imm_n16_15);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_clti_s_h (v8i16, imm_n16_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_clti_s_w (v4i32, imm_n16_15);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_clti_s_d (v2i64, imm_n16_15);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_clti_u_b (v16u8, imm0_31);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_clti_u_h (v8u16, imm0_31);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_clti_u_w (v4u32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_clti_u_d (v2u64, imm0_31);

i32 __builtin_msa_copy_s_b (v16i8, imm0_15);

i32 __builtin_msa_copy_s_h (v8i16, imm0_7);
i32 __builtin_msa_copy_s_w (v4i32, imm0_3);
i64 __builtin_msa_copy_s_d (v2i64, imm0_1);

u32 __builtin_msa_copy_u_b (v16i8, imm0_15);

u32 __builtin_msa_copy_u_h (v8i16, imm0_7);
u32 __builtin_msa_copy_u_w (v4i32, imm0_3);
u64 __builtin_msa_copy_u_d (v2i64, imm0_1);

void __builtin_msa_ctcmsa (imm0_31, i32);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_div_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_div_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_div_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_div_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_div_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_div_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_div_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_div_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);
792 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v8i16 __builtin_msa_dotp_s_h (v16i8, v16i8);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_dotp_s_w (v8i16, v8i16);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_dotp_s_d (v4i32, v4i32);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_dotp_u_h (v16u8, v16u8);

v4u32 __builtin_msa_dotp_u_w (v8u16, v8u16);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_dotp_u_d (v4u32, v4u32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_dpadd_s_h (v8i16, v16i8, v16i8);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_dpadd_s_w (v4i32, v8i16, v8i16);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_dpadd_s_d (v2i64, v4i32, v4i32);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_dpadd_u_h (v8u16, v16u8, v16u8);

v4u32 __builtin_msa_dpadd_u_w (v4u32, v8u16, v8u16);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_dpadd_u_d (v2u64, v4u32, v4u32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_dpsub_s_h (v8i16, v16i8, v16i8);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_dpsub_s_w (v4i32, v8i16, v8i16);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_dpsub_s_d (v2i64, v4i32, v4i32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_dpsub_u_h (v8i16, v16u8, v16u8);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_dpsub_u_w (v4i32, v8u16, v8u16);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_dpsub_u_d (v2i64, v4u32, v4u32);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fadd_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fadd_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fcaf_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fcaf_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fceq_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fceq_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fclass_w (v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fclass_d (v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fcle_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fcle_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fclt_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fclt_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fcne_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fcne_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fcor_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fcor_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fcueq_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fcueq_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fcule_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fcule_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fcult_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fcult_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fcun_w (v4f32, v4f32);

Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 793

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fcun_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fcune_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fcune_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fdiv_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fdiv_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_fexdo_h (v4f32, v4f32);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fexdo_w (v2f64, v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fexp2_w (v4f32, v4i32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fexp2_d (v2f64, v2i64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fexupl_w (v8i16);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fexupl_d (v4f32);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fexupr_w (v8i16);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fexupr_d (v4f32);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_ffint_s_w (v4i32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_ffint_s_d (v2i64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_ffint_u_w (v4u32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_ffint_u_d (v2u64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_ffql_w (v8i16);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_ffql_d (v4i32);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_ffqr_w (v8i16);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_ffqr_d (v4i32);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_fill_b (i32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_fill_h (i32);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_fill_w (i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_fill_d (i64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_flog2_w (v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_flog2_d (v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fmadd_w (v4f32, v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fmadd_d (v2f64, v2f64, v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fmax_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fmax_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fmax_a_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fmax_a_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fmin_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fmin_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fmin_a_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fmin_a_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fmsub_w (v4f32, v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fmsub_d (v2f64, v2f64, v2f64);
794 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fmul_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fmul_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_frint_w (v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_frint_d (v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_frcp_w (v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_frcp_d (v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_frsqrt_w (v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_frsqrt_d (v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fsaf_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fsaf_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fseq_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fseq_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fsle_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fsle_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fslt_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fslt_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fsne_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fsne_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fsor_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fsor_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fsqrt_w (v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fsqrt_d (v2f64);

v4f32 __builtin_msa_fsub_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2f64 __builtin_msa_fsub_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fsueq_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fsueq_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fsule_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fsule_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fsult_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fsult_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fsun_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fsun_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_fsune_w (v4f32, v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_fsune_d (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_ftint_s_w (v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_ftint_s_d (v2f64);

v4u32 __builtin_msa_ftint_u_w (v4f32);

v2u64 __builtin_msa_ftint_u_d (v2f64);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ftq_h (v4f32, v4f32);

Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 795

v4i32 __builtin_msa_ftq_w (v2f64, v2f64);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_ftrunc_s_w (v4f32);

v2i64 __builtin_msa_ftrunc_s_d (v2f64);

v4u32 __builtin_msa_ftrunc_u_w (v4f32);

v2u64 __builtin_msa_ftrunc_u_d (v2f64);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_hadd_s_h (v16i8, v16i8);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_hadd_s_w (v8i16, v8i16);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_hadd_s_d (v4i32, v4i32);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_hadd_u_h (v16u8, v16u8);

v4u32 __builtin_msa_hadd_u_w (v8u16, v8u16);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_hadd_u_d (v4u32, v4u32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_hsub_s_h (v16i8, v16i8);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_hsub_s_w (v8i16, v8i16);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_hsub_s_d (v4i32, v4i32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_hsub_u_h (v16u8, v16u8);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_hsub_u_w (v8u16, v8u16);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_hsub_u_d (v4u32, v4u32);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_ilvev_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ilvev_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_ilvev_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_ilvev_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_ilvl_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ilvl_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_ilvl_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_ilvl_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_ilvod_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ilvod_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_ilvod_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_ilvod_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_ilvr_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ilvr_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_ilvr_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_ilvr_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_insert_b (v16i8, imm0_15, i32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_insert_h (v8i16, imm0_7, i32);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_insert_w (v4i32, imm0_3, i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_insert_d (v2i64, imm0_1, i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_insve_b (v16i8, imm0_15, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_insve_h (v8i16, imm0_7, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_insve_w (v4i32, imm0_3, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_insve_d (v2i64, imm0_1, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_ld_b (const void *, imm_n512_511);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ld_h (const void *, imm_n1024_1022);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_ld_w (const void *, imm_n2048_2044);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_ld_d (const void *, imm_n4096_4088);
796 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v16i8 __builtin_msa_ldi_b (imm_n512_511);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_ldi_h (imm_n512_511);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_ldi_w (imm_n512_511);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_ldi_d (imm_n512_511);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_madd_q_h (v8i16, v8i16, v8i16);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_madd_q_w (v4i32, v4i32, v4i32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_maddr_q_h (v8i16, v8i16, v8i16);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_maddr_q_w (v4i32, v4i32, v4i32);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_maddv_b (v16i8, v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_maddv_h (v8i16, v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_maddv_w (v4i32, v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_maddv_d (v2i64, v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_max_a_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_max_a_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_max_a_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_max_a_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_max_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_max_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_max_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_max_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_max_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_max_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_max_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_max_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_maxi_s_b (v16i8, imm_n16_15);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_maxi_s_h (v8i16, imm_n16_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_maxi_s_w (v4i32, imm_n16_15);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_maxi_s_d (v2i64, imm_n16_15);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_maxi_u_b (v16u8, imm0_31);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_maxi_u_h (v8u16, imm0_31);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_maxi_u_w (v4u32, imm0_31);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_maxi_u_d (v2u64, imm0_31);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_min_a_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_min_a_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_min_a_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_min_a_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_min_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_min_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_min_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_min_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_min_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_min_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_min_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_min_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_mini_s_b (v16i8, imm_n16_15);

Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 797

v8i16 __builtin_msa_mini_s_h (v8i16, imm_n16_15);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_mini_s_w (v4i32, imm_n16_15);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_mini_s_d (v2i64, imm_n16_15);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_mini_u_b (v16u8, imm0_31);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_mini_u_h (v8u16, imm0_31);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_mini_u_w (v4u32, imm0_31);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_mini_u_d (v2u64, imm0_31);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_mod_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_mod_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_mod_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_mod_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_mod_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_mod_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_mod_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_mod_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_move_v (v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_msub_q_h (v8i16, v8i16, v8i16);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_msub_q_w (v4i32, v4i32, v4i32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_msubr_q_h (v8i16, v8i16, v8i16);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_msubr_q_w (v4i32, v4i32, v4i32);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_msubv_b (v16i8, v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_msubv_h (v8i16, v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_msubv_w (v4i32, v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_msubv_d (v2i64, v2i64, v2i64);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_mul_q_h (v8i16, v8i16);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_mul_q_w (v4i32, v4i32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_mulr_q_h (v8i16, v8i16);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_mulr_q_w (v4i32, v4i32);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_mulv_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_mulv_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_mulv_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_mulv_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_nloc_b (v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_nloc_h (v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_nloc_w (v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_nloc_d (v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_nlzc_b (v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_nlzc_h (v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_nlzc_w (v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_nlzc_d (v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_nor_v (v16u8, v16u8);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_nori_b (v16u8, imm0_255);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_or_v (v16u8, v16u8);

798 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v16u8 __builtin_msa_ori_b (v16u8, imm0_255);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_pckev_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_pckev_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_pckev_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_pckev_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_pckod_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_pckod_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_pckod_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_pckod_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_pcnt_b (v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_pcnt_h (v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_pcnt_w (v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_pcnt_d (v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_sat_s_b (v16i8, imm0_7);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_sat_s_h (v8i16, imm0_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_sat_s_w (v4i32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_sat_s_d (v2i64, imm0_63);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_sat_u_b (v16u8, imm0_7);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_sat_u_h (v8u16, imm0_15);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_sat_u_w (v4u32, imm0_31);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_sat_u_d (v2u64, imm0_63);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_shf_b (v16i8, imm0_255);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_shf_h (v8i16, imm0_255);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_shf_w (v4i32, imm0_255);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_sld_b (v16i8, v16i8, i32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_sld_h (v8i16, v8i16, i32);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_sld_w (v4i32, v4i32, i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_sld_d (v2i64, v2i64, i32);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_sldi_b (v16i8, v16i8, imm0_15);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_sldi_h (v8i16, v8i16, imm0_7);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_sldi_w (v4i32, v4i32, imm0_3);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_sldi_d (v2i64, v2i64, imm0_1);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_sll_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_sll_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_sll_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_sll_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_slli_b (v16i8, imm0_7);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_slli_h (v8i16, imm0_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_slli_w (v4i32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_slli_d (v2i64, imm0_63);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_splat_b (v16i8, i32);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_splat_h (v8i16, i32);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_splat_w (v4i32, i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_splat_d (v2i64, i32);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_splati_b (v16i8, imm0_15);

Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 799

v8i16 __builtin_msa_splati_h (v8i16, imm0_7);

v4i32 __builtin_msa_splati_w (v4i32, imm0_3);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_splati_d (v2i64, imm0_1);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_sra_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_sra_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_sra_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_sra_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_srai_b (v16i8, imm0_7);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_srai_h (v8i16, imm0_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_srai_w (v4i32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_srai_d (v2i64, imm0_63);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_srar_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_srar_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_srar_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_srar_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_srari_b (v16i8, imm0_7);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_srari_h (v8i16, imm0_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_srari_w (v4i32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_srari_d (v2i64, imm0_63);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_srl_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_srl_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_srl_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_srl_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_srli_b (v16i8, imm0_7);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_srli_h (v8i16, imm0_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_srli_w (v4i32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_srli_d (v2i64, imm0_63);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_srlr_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_srlr_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_srlr_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_srlr_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_srlri_b (v16i8, imm0_7);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_srlri_h (v8i16, imm0_15);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_srlri_w (v4i32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_srlri_d (v2i64, imm0_63);

void __builtin_msa_st_b (v16i8, void *, imm_n512_511);

void __builtin_msa_st_h (v8i16, void *, imm_n1024_1022);
void __builtin_msa_st_w (v4i32, void *, imm_n2048_2044);
void __builtin_msa_st_d (v2i64, void *, imm_n4096_4088);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_subs_s_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_subs_s_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_subs_s_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_subs_s_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_subs_u_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_subs_u_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_subs_u_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_subs_u_d (v2u64, v2u64);
800 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v16u8 __builtin_msa_subsus_u_b (v16u8, v16i8);

v8u16 __builtin_msa_subsus_u_h (v8u16, v8i16);
v4u32 __builtin_msa_subsus_u_w (v4u32, v4i32);
v2u64 __builtin_msa_subsus_u_d (v2u64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_subsuu_s_b (v16u8, v16u8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_subsuu_s_h (v8u16, v8u16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_subsuu_s_w (v4u32, v4u32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_subsuu_s_d (v2u64, v2u64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_subv_b (v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_subv_h (v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_subv_w (v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_subv_d (v2i64, v2i64);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_subvi_b (v16i8, imm0_31);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_subvi_h (v8i16, imm0_31);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_subvi_w (v4i32, imm0_31);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_subvi_d (v2i64, imm0_31);

v16i8 __builtin_msa_vshf_b (v16i8, v16i8, v16i8);

v8i16 __builtin_msa_vshf_h (v8i16, v8i16, v8i16);
v4i32 __builtin_msa_vshf_w (v4i32, v4i32, v4i32);
v2i64 __builtin_msa_vshf_d (v2i64, v2i64, v2i64);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_xor_v (v16u8, v16u8);

v16u8 __builtin_msa_xori_b (v16u8, imm0_255);

6.60.18 Other MIPS Built-in Functions

GCC provides other MIPS-specific built-in functions:
void __builtin_mips_cache (int op, const volatile void *addr)
Insert a ‘cache’ instruction with operands op and addr. GCC defines the
preprocessor macro ___GCC_HAVE_BUILTIN_MIPS_CACHE when this function is
available.
unsigned int __builtin_mips_get_fcsr (void)
void __builtin_mips_set_fcsr (unsigned int value)
Get and set the contents of the floating-point control and status register (FPU
control register 31). These functions are only available in hard-float code but
can be called in both MIPS16 and non-MIPS16 contexts.
__builtin_mips_set_fcsr can be used to change any bit of the register except
the condition codes, which GCC assumes are preserved.

6.60.19 MSP430 Built-in Functions

GCC provides a couple of special builtin functions to aid in the writing of interrupt handlers
in C.
__bic_SR_register_on_exit (int mask)
This clears the indicated bits in the saved copy of the status register currently
residing on the stack. This only works inside interrupt handlers and the changes
to the status register will only take affect once the handler returns.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 801

__bis_SR_register_on_exit (int mask)

This sets the indicated bits in the saved copy of the status register currently
residing on the stack. This only works inside interrupt handlers and the changes
to the status register will only take affect once the handler returns.
__delay_cycles (long long cycles)
This inserts an instruction sequence that takes exactly cycles cycles (between
0 and about 17E9) to complete. The inserted sequence may use jumps, loops,
or no-ops, and does not interfere with any other instructions. Note that cycles
must be a compile-time constant integer - that is, you must pass a number, not
a variable that may be optimized to a constant later. The number of cycles
delayed by this builtin is exact.

6.60.20 NDS32 Built-in Functions

These built-in functions are available for the NDS32 target:
void __builtin_nds32_isync (int *addr) [Built-in Function]
Insert an ISYNC instruction into the instruction stream where addr is an instruction
address for serialization.
void __builtin_nds32_isb (void) [Built-in Function]
Insert an ISB instruction into the instruction stream.
int __builtin_nds32_mfsr (int sr) [Built-in Function]
Return the content of a system register which is mapped by sr.
int __builtin_nds32_mfusr (int usr) [Built-in Function]
Return the content of a user space register which is mapped by usr.
void __builtin_nds32_mtsr (int value, int sr) [Built-in Function]
Move the value to a system register which is mapped by sr.
void __builtin_nds32_mtusr (int value, int usr) [Built-in Function]
Move the value to a user space register which is mapped by usr.
void __builtin_nds32_setgie_en (void) [Built-in Function]
Enable global interrupt.
void __builtin_nds32_setgie_dis (void) [Built-in Function]
Disable global interrupt.

6.60.21 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions

This section describes PowerPC built-in functions that do not require the inclusion of any
special header files to declare prototypes or provide macro definitions. The sections that
follow describe additional PowerPC built-in functions.
6.60.21.1 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on all
Configurations
void __builtin_cpu_init (void) [Built-in Function]
This function is a nop on the PowerPC platform and is included solely to maintain
API compatibility with the x86 builtins.
802 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

int __builtin_cpu_is (const char *cpuname) [Built-in Function]

This function returns a value of 1 if the run-time CPU is of type cpuname and returns
0 otherwise
The __builtin_cpu_is function requires GLIBC 2.23 or newer which exports the
hardware capability bits. GCC defines the macro __BUILTIN_CPU_SUPPORTS__ if the
__builtin_cpu_supports built-in function is fully supported.
If GCC was configured to use a GLIBC before 2.23, the built-in function __builtin_
cpu_is always returns a 0 and the compiler issues a warning.
The following CPU names can be detected:
‘power10’ IBM POWER10 Server CPU.
‘power9’ IBM POWER9 Server CPU.
‘power8’ IBM POWER8 Server CPU.
‘power7’ IBM POWER7 Server CPU.
‘power6x’ IBM POWER6 Server CPU (RAW mode).
‘power6’ IBM POWER6 Server CPU (Architected mode).
‘power5+’ IBM POWER5+ Server CPU.
‘power5’ IBM POWER5 Server CPU.
‘ppc970’ IBM 970 Server CPU (ie, Apple G5).
‘power4’ IBM POWER4 Server CPU.
‘ppca2’ IBM A2 64-bit Embedded CPU
‘ppc476’ IBM PowerPC 476FP 32-bit Embedded CPU.
‘ppc464’ IBM PowerPC 464 32-bit Embedded CPU.
‘ppc440’ PowerPC 440 32-bit Embedded CPU.
‘ppc405’ PowerPC 405 32-bit Embedded CPU.
‘ppc-cell-be’
IBM PowerPC Cell Broadband Engine Architecture CPU.
Here is an example:
#ifdef __BUILTIN_CPU_SUPPORTS__
if (__builtin_cpu_is ("power8"))
{
do_power8 (); // POWER8 specific implementation.
}
else
#endif
{
do_generic (); // Generic implementation.
}

int __builtin_cpu_supports (const char *feature) [Built-in Function]

This function returns a value of 1 if the run-time CPU supports the HWCAP feature
feature and returns 0 otherwise.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 803

The __builtin_cpu_supports function requires GLIBC 2.23 or newer which exports

the hardware capability bits. GCC defines the macro __BUILTIN_CPU_SUPPORTS__ if
the __builtin_cpu_supports built-in function is fully supported.
If GCC was configured to use a GLIBC before 2.23, the built-in function __builtin_
cpu_supports always returns a 0 and the compiler issues a warning.
The following features can be detected:
‘4xxmac’ 4xx CPU has a Multiply Accumulator.
‘altivec’ CPU has a SIMD/Vector Unit.
‘arch_2_05’
CPU supports ISA 2.05 (eg, POWER6)
‘arch_2_06’
CPU supports ISA 2.06 (eg, POWER7)
‘arch_2_07’
CPU supports ISA 2.07 (eg, POWER8)
‘arch_3_00’
CPU supports ISA 3.0 (eg, POWER9)
‘arch_3_1’
CPU supports ISA 3.1 (eg, POWER10)
‘archpmu’ CPU supports the set of compatible performance monitoring events.
‘booke’ CPU supports the Embedded ISA category.
‘cellbe’ CPU has a CELL broadband engine.
‘darn’ CPU supports the darn (deliver a random number) instruction.
‘dfp’ CPU has a decimal floating point unit.
‘dscr’ CPU supports the data stream control register.
‘ebb’ CPU supports event base branching.
‘efpdouble’
CPU has a SPE double precision floating point unit.
‘efpsingle’
CPU has a SPE single precision floating point unit.
‘fpu’ CPU has a floating point unit.
‘htm’ CPU has hardware transaction memory instructions.
‘htm-nosc’
Kernel aborts hardware transactions when a syscall is made.
‘htm-no-suspend’
CPU supports hardware transaction memory but does not support the
tsuspend. instruction.
‘ic_snoop’
CPU supports icache snooping capabilities.
804 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘ieee128’ CPU supports 128-bit IEEE binary floating point instructions.

‘isel’ CPU supports the integer select instruction.
‘mma’ CPU supports the matrix-multiply assist instructions.
‘mmu’ CPU has a memory management unit.
‘notb’ CPU does not have a timebase (eg, 601 and 403gx).
‘pa6t’ CPU supports the PA Semi 6T CORE ISA.
‘power4’ CPU supports ISA 2.00 (eg, POWER4)
‘power5’ CPU supports ISA 2.02 (eg, POWER5)
‘power5+’ CPU supports ISA 2.03 (eg, POWER5+)
‘power6x’ CPU supports ISA 2.05 (eg, POWER6) extended opcodes mffgpr and
mftgpr.
‘ppc32’ CPU supports 32-bit mode execution.
‘ppc601’ CPU supports the old POWER ISA (eg, 601)
‘ppc64’ CPU supports 64-bit mode execution.
‘ppcle’ CPU supports a little-endian mode that uses address swizzling.
‘scv’ Kernel supports system call vectored.
‘smt’ CPU support simultaneous multi-threading.
‘spe’ CPU has a signal processing extension unit.
‘tar’ CPU supports the target address register.
‘true_le’ CPU supports true little-endian mode.
‘ucache’ CPU has unified I/D cache.
‘vcrypto’ CPU supports the vector cryptography instructions.
‘vsx’ CPU supports the vector-scalar extension.
Here is an example:
#ifdef __BUILTIN_CPU_SUPPORTS__
if (__builtin_cpu_supports ("fpu"))
{
asm("fadd %0,%1,%2" : "=d"(dst) : "d"(src1), "d"(src2));
}
else
#endif
{
dst = __fadd (src1, src2); // Software FP addition function.
}

The following built-in functions are also available on all PowerPC processors:
uint64_t __builtin_ppc_get_timebase ();
unsigned long __builtin_ppc_mftb ();
double __builtin_unpack_ibm128 (__ibm128, int);
__ibm128 __builtin_pack_ibm128 (double, double);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 805

double __builtin_mffs (void);

void __builtin_mtfsf (const int, double);
void __builtin_mtfsb0 (const int);
void __builtin_mtfsb1 (const int);
void __builtin_set_fpscr_rn (int);
The __builtin_ppc_get_timebase and __builtin_ppc_mftb functions generate
instructions to read the Time Base Register. The __builtin_ppc_get_timebase function
may generate multiple instructions and always returns the 64 bits of the Time Base
Register. The __builtin_ppc_mftb function always generates one instruction and returns
the Time Base Register value as an unsigned long, throwing away the most significant
word on 32-bit environments. The __builtin_mffs return the value of the FPSCR
register. Note, ISA 3.0 supports the __builtin_mffsl() which permits software to
read the control and non-sticky status bits in the FSPCR without the higher latency
associated with accessing the sticky status bits. The __builtin_mtfsf takes a constant
8-bit integer field mask and a double precision floating point argument and generates
the mtfsf (extended mnemonic) instruction to write new values to selected fields of the
FPSCR. The __builtin_mtfsb0 and __builtin_mtfsb1 take the bit to change as an
argument. The valid bit range is between 0 and 31. The builtins map to the mtfsb0 and
mtfsb1 instructions which take the argument and add 32. Hence these instructions only
modify the FPSCR[32:63] bits by changing the specified bit to a zero or one respectively.
The __builtin_set_fpscr_rn builtin allows changing both of the floating point rounding
mode bits. The argument is a 2-bit value. The argument can either be a const int
or stored in a variable. The builtin uses the ISA 3.0 instruction mffscrn if available,
otherwise it reads the FPSCR, masks the current rounding mode bits out and OR’s in the
new value.

6.60.21.2 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA 2.05

The basic built-in functions described in this section are available on the PowerPC
family of processors starting with ISA 2.05 or later. Unless specific options are explicitly
disabled on the command line, specifying option ‘-mcpu=power6’ has the effect of enabling
the ‘-mpowerpc64’, ‘-mpowerpc-gpopt’, ‘-mpowerpc-gfxopt’, ‘-mmfcrf’, ‘-mpopcntb’,
‘-mfprnd’, ‘-mcmpb’, ‘-mhard-dfp’, and ‘-mrecip-precision’ options. Specify the
‘-maltivec’ option explicitly in combination with the above options if desired.
The following functions require option ‘-mcmpb’.
unsigned long long __builtin_cmpb (unsigned long long int, unsigned long long int);
unsigned int __builtin_cmpb (unsigned int, unsigned int);
The __builtin_cmpb function performs a byte-wise compare on the contents of its two
arguments, returning the result of the byte-wise comparison as the returned value. For
each byte comparison, the corresponding byte of the return value holds 0xff if the input
bytes are equal and 0 if the input bytes are not equal. If either of the arguments to this
built-in function is wider than 32 bits, the function call expands into the form that expects
unsigned long long int arguments which is only available on 64-bit targets.
The following built-in functions are available when hardware decimal floating point
(‘-mhard-dfp’) is available:
void __builtin_set_fpscr_drn(int);
_Decimal64 __builtin_ddedpd (int, _Decimal64);
_Decimal128 __builtin_ddedpdq (int, _Decimal128);
806 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

_Decimal64 __builtin_denbcd (int, _Decimal64);

_Decimal128 __builtin_denbcdq (int, _Decimal128);
_Decimal64 __builtin_diex (long long, _Decimal64);
_Decimal128 _builtin_diexq (long long, _Decimal128);
_Decimal64 __builtin_dscli (_Decimal64, int);
_Decimal128 __builtin_dscliq (_Decimal128, int);
_Decimal64 __builtin_dscri (_Decimal64, int);
_Decimal128 __builtin_dscriq (_Decimal128, int);
long long __builtin_dxex (_Decimal64);
long long __builtin_dxexq (_Decimal128);
_Decimal128 __builtin_pack_dec128 (unsigned long long, unsigned long long);
unsigned long long __builtin_unpack_dec128 (_Decimal128, int);

The __builtin_set_fpscr_drn builtin allows changing the three decimal

floating point rounding mode bits. The argument is a 3-bit value. The
argument can either be a const int or the value can be stored in
a variable.
The builtin uses the ISA 3.0 instruction mffscdrn if available.
Otherwise the builtin reads the FPSCR, masks the current decimal rounding
mode bits out and OR’s in the new value.

The following functions require ‘-mhard-float’, ‘-mpowerpc-gfxopt’, and ‘-mpopcntb’

options.
double __builtin_recipdiv (double, double);
float __builtin_recipdivf (float, float);
double __builtin_rsqrt (double);
float __builtin_rsqrtf (float);

The vec_rsqrt, __builtin_rsqrt, and __builtin_rsqrtf functions generate multiple

instructions to implement the reciprocal sqrt functionality using reciprocal sqrt estimate
instructions.
The __builtin_recipdiv, and __builtin_recipdivf functions generate multiple in-
structions to implement division using the reciprocal estimate instructions.
The following functions require ‘-mhard-float’ and ‘-mmultiple’ options.
The __builtin_unpack_longdouble function takes a long double argument and a com-
pile time constant of 0 or 1. If the constant is 0, the first double within the long double
is returned, otherwise the second double is returned. The __builtin_unpack_longdouble
function is only available if long double uses the IBM extended double representation.
The __builtin_pack_longdouble function takes two double arguments and returns a
long double value that combines the two arguments. The __builtin_pack_longdouble
function is only available if long double uses the IBM extended double representation.
The __builtin_unpack_ibm128 function takes a __ibm128 argument and a compile time
constant of 0 or 1. If the constant is 0, the first double within the __ibm128 is returned,
otherwise the second double is returned.
The __builtin_pack_ibm128 function takes two double arguments and returns a __
ibm128 value that combines the two arguments.
Additional built-in functions are available for the 64-bit PowerPC family of processors,
for efficient use of 128-bit floating point (__float128) values.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 807

6.60.21.3 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA 2.06

The basic built-in functions described in this section are available on the PowerPC family of
processors starting with ISA 2.05 or later. Unless specific options are explicitly disabled on
the command line, specifying option ‘-mcpu=power7’ has the effect of enabling all the same
options as for ‘-mcpu=power6’ in addition to the ‘-maltivec’, ‘-mpopcntd’, and ‘-mvsx’
options.
The following basic built-in functions require ‘-mpopcntd’:
unsigned int __builtin_addg6s (unsigned int, unsigned int);
long long __builtin_bpermd (long long, long long);
unsigned int __builtin_cbcdtd (unsigned int);
unsigned int __builtin_cdtbcd (unsigned int);
long long __builtin_divde (long long, long long);
unsigned long long __builtin_divdeu (unsigned long long, unsigned long long);
int __builtin_divwe (int, int);
unsigned int __builtin_divweu (unsigned int, unsigned int);
vector __int128 __builtin_pack_vector_int128 (long long, long long);
void __builtin_rs6000_speculation_barrier (void);
long long __builtin_unpack_vector_int128 (vector __int128, signed char);

Of these, the __builtin_divde and __builtin_divdeu functions require a 64-bit envi-

ronment.
The following basic built-in functions, which are also supported on x86 targets, require
‘-mfloat128’.
__float128 __builtin_fabsq (__float128);
__float128 __builtin_copysignq (__float128, __float128);
__float128 __builtin_infq (void);
__float128 __builtin_huge_valq (void);
__float128 __builtin_nanq (void);
__float128 __builtin_nansq (void);

__float128 __builtin_sqrtf128 (__float128);

__float128 __builtin_fmaf128 (__float128, __float128, __float128);

6.60.21.4 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA 2.07

The basic built-in functions described in this section are available on the PowerPC family of
processors starting with ISA 2.07 or later. Unless specific options are explicitly disabled on
the command line, specifying option ‘-mcpu=power8’ has the effect of enabling all the same
options as for ‘-mcpu=power7’ in addition to the ‘-mpower8-fusion’, ‘-mpower8-vector’,
‘-mcrypto’, ‘-mhtm’, ‘-mquad-memory’, and ‘-mquad-memory-atomic’ options.
This section intentionally empty.

6.60.21.5 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA 3.0

The basic built-in functions described in this section are available on the PowerPC family
of processors starting with ISA 3.0 or later. Unless specific options are explicitly disabled
on the command line, specifying option ‘-mcpu=power9’ has the effect of enabling all the
same options as for ‘-mcpu=power8’ in addition to the ‘-misel’ option.
The following built-in functions are available on Linux 64-bit systems that use the ISA
3.0 instruction set (‘-mcpu=power9’):
808 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

__float128 __builtin_addf128_round_to_odd (__float128, __float128)

Perform a 128-bit IEEE floating point add using round to odd as the rounding
mode.
__float128 __builtin_subf128_round_to_odd (__float128, __float128)
Perform a 128-bit IEEE floating point subtract using round to odd as the round-
ing mode.
__float128 __builtin_mulf128_round_to_odd (__float128, __float128)
Perform a 128-bit IEEE floating point multiply using round to odd as the
rounding mode.
__float128 __builtin_divf128_round_to_odd (__float128, __float128)
Perform a 128-bit IEEE floating point divide using round to odd as the rounding
mode.
__float128 __builtin_sqrtf128_round_to_odd (__float128)
Perform a 128-bit IEEE floating point square root using round to odd as the
rounding mode.
__float128 __builtin_fmaf128_round_to_odd (__float128, __float128,
__float128)
Perform a 128-bit IEEE floating point fused multiply and add operation using
round to odd as the rounding mode.
double __builtin_truncf128_round_to_odd (__float128)
Convert a 128-bit IEEE floating point value to double using round to odd as
the rounding mode.
The following additional built-in functions are also available for the PowerPC family of
processors, starting with ISA 3.0 or later:
long long __builtin_darn (void);
long long __builtin_darn_raw (void);
int __builtin_darn_32 (void);
The __builtin_darn and __builtin_darn_raw functions require a 64-bit environment
supporting ISA 3.0 or later. The __builtin_darn function provides a 64-bit conditioned
random number. The __builtin_darn_raw function provides a 64-bit raw random number.
The __builtin_darn_32 function provides a 32-bit conditioned random number.
The following additional built-in functions are also available for the PowerPC family of
processors, starting with ISA 3.0 or later:
int __builtin_byte_in_set (unsigned char u, unsigned long long set);
int __builtin_byte_in_range (unsigned char u, unsigned int range);
int __builtin_byte_in_either_range (unsigned char u, unsigned int ranges);

int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_lt (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal64 value);

int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_lt (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal128 value);
int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_lt_dd (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal64 value);
int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_lt_td (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal128 value);

int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_gt (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal64 value);

int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_gt (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal128 value);
int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_gt_dd (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal64 value);
int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_gt_td (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal128 value);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 809

int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_eq (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal64 value);

int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_eq (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal128 value);
int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_eq_dd (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal64 value);
int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_eq_td (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal128 value);

int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_ov (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal64 value);

int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_ov (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal128 value);
int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_ov_dd (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal64 value);
int __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_ov_td (unsigned int comparison, _Decimal128 value);

double __builtin_mffsl(void);

The __builtin_byte_in_set function requires a 64-bit environment supporting ISA 3.0

or later. This function returns a non-zero value if and only if its u argument exactly equals
one of the eight bytes contained within its 64-bit set argument.
The __builtin_byte_in_range and __builtin_byte_in_either_range require an en-
vironment supporting ISA 3.0 or later. For these two functions, the range argument is
encoded as 4 bytes, organized as hi_1:lo_1:hi_2:lo_2. The __builtin_byte_in_range
function returns a non-zero value if and only if its u argument is within the range bounded
between lo_2 and hi_2 inclusive. The __builtin_byte_in_either_range function returns
non-zero if and only if its u argument is within either the range bounded between lo_1 and
hi_1 inclusive or the range bounded between lo_2 and hi_2 inclusive.
The __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_lt function returns a non-zero value if and only if the num-
ber of signficant digits of its value argument is less than its comparison argument. The __
builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_lt_dd and __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_lt_td functions behave simi-
larly, but require that the type of the value argument be __Decimal64 and __Decimal128
respectively.
The __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_gt function returns a non-zero value if and only if the
number of signficant digits of its value argument is greater than its comparison argu-
ment. The __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_gt_dd and __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_gt_td functions
behave similarly, but require that the type of the value argument be __Decimal64 and __
Decimal128 respectively.
The __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_eq function returns a non-zero value if and only if the
number of signficant digits of its value argument equals its comparison argument. The __
builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_eq_dd and __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_eq_td functions behave simi-
larly, but require that the type of the value argument be __Decimal64 and __Decimal128
respectively.
The __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_ov function returns a non-zero value if and only if its value
argument has an undefined number of significant digits, such as when value is an encoding of
NaN. The __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_ov_dd and __builtin_dfp_dtstsfi_ov_td functions
behave similarly, but require that the type of the value argument be __Decimal64 and
__Decimal128 respectively.
The __builtin_mffsl uses the ISA 3.0 mffsl instruction to read the FPSCR. The in-
struction is a lower latency version of the mffs instruction. If the mffsl instruction is not
available, then the builtin uses the older mffs instruction to read the FPSCR.
810 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.60.21.6 Basic PowerPC Built-in Functions Available on ISA 3.1

The basic built-in functions described in this section are available on the PowerPC family
of processors starting with ISA 3.1. Unless specific options are explicitly disabled on the
command line, specifying option ‘-mcpu=power10’ has the effect of enabling all the same
options as for ‘-mcpu=power9’.
The following built-in functions are available on Linux 64-bit systems that use a future
architecture instruction set (‘-mcpu=power10’):
unsigned long long
builtin cfuged (unsigned long long, unsigned long long)
Perform a 64-bit centrifuge operation, as if implemented by the cfuged instruction.
unsigned long long
builtin cntlzdm (unsigned long long, unsigned long long)
Perform a 64-bit count leading zeros operation under mask, as if implemented by the
cntlzdm instruction.
unsigned long long
builtin cnttzdm (unsigned long long, unsigned long long)
Perform a 64-bit count trailing zeros operation under mask, as if implemented by the
cnttzdm instruction.
unsigned long long
builtin pdepd (unsigned long long, unsigned long long)
Perform a 64-bit parallel bits deposit operation, as if implemented by the pdepd instruc-
tion.
unsigned long long
builtin pextd (unsigned long long, unsigned long long)
Perform a 64-bit parallel bits extract operation, as if implemented by the pextd instruc-
tion.
vector signed int128 vsx xl sext (signed long long, signed char *)

vector signed int128 vsx xl sext (signed long long, signed short *)

vector signed int128 vsx xl sext (signed long long, signed int *)

vector signed int128 vsx xl sext (signed long long, signed long long *)

vector unsigned int128 vsx xl zext (signed long long, unsigned char *)

vector unsigned int128 vsx xl zext (signed long long, unsigned short *)

vector unsigned int128 vsx xl zext (signed long long, unsigned int *)

vector unsigned int128 vsx xl zext (signed long long, unsigned long long *)
Load (and sign extend) to an int128 vector, as if implemented by the ISA 3.1 lxvrbx,
lxvrhx, lxvrwx, and lxvrdx instructions.
void vec xst trunc (vector signed int128, signed long long, signed char *)

void vec xst trunc (vector signed int128, signed long long, signed short *)

void vec xst trunc (vector signed int128, signed long long, signed int *)

void vec xst trunc (vector signed int128, signed long long, signed long long *)
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 811

void vec xst trunc (vector unsigned int128, signed long long, unsigned char *)

void vec xst trunc (vector unsigned int128, signed long long, unsigned short *)

void vec xst trunc (vector unsigned int128, signed long long, unsigned int *)

void vec xst trunc (vector unsigned int128, signed long long, unsigned long long *)
Truncate and store the rightmost element of a vector, as if implemented by the ISA 3.1
stxvrbx, stxvrhx, stxvrwx, and stxvrdx instructions.

6.60.22 PowerPC AltiVec/VSX Built-in Functions

GCC provides an interface for the PowerPC family of processors to access the AltiVec
operations described in Motorola’s AltiVec Programming Interface Manual. The interface
is made available by including <altivec.h> and using ‘-maltivec’ and ‘-mabi=altivec’.
The interface supports the following vector types.
vector unsigned char
vector signed char
vector bool char

vector unsigned short

vector signed short
vector bool short
vector pixel

vector unsigned int

vector signed int
vector bool int
vector float
GCC’s implementation of the high-level language interface available from C and C++ code
differs from Motorola’s documentation in several ways.
• A vector constant is a list of constant expressions within curly braces.
• A vector initializer requires no cast if the vector constant is of the same type as the
variable it is initializing.
• If signed or unsigned is omitted, the signedness of the vector type is the default
signedness of the base type. The default varies depending on the operating system, so
a portable program should always specify the signedness.
• Compiling with ‘-maltivec’ adds keywords __vector, vector, __pixel, pixel, __
bool and bool. When compiling ISO C, the context-sensitive substitution of the key-
words vector, pixel and bool is disabled. To use them, you must include <altivec.h>
instead.
• GCC allows using a typedef name as the type specifier for a vector type, but only
under the following circumstances:
• When using __vector instead of vector; for example,
typedef signed short int16;
__vector int16 data;
• When using vector in keyword-and-predefine mode; for example,
typedef signed short int16;
vector int16 data;
812 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Note that keyword-and-predefine mode is enabled by disabling GNU extensions

(e.g., by using -std=c11) and including <altivec.h>.
• For C, overloaded functions are implemented with macros so the following does not
work:
vec_add ((vector signed int){1, 2, 3, 4}, foo);
Since vec_add is a macro, the vector constant in the example is treated as four separate
arguments. Wrap the entire argument in parentheses for this to work.
Note: Only the <altivec.h> interface is supported. Internally, GCC uses built-in func-
tions to achieve the functionality in the aforementioned header file, but they are not sup-
ported and are subject to change without notice.
GCC complies with the Power Vector Intrinsic Programming Reference
(PVIPR), which may be found at https: / / openpowerfoundation . org / ?
resource_lib=power-vector-intrinsic-programming-reference. Chapter 4 of
this document fully documents the vector API interfaces that must be provided by
compliant compilers. Programmers should preferentially use the interfaces described
therein. However, historically GCC has provided additional interfaces for access to vector
instructions. These are briefly described below. Where the PVIPR provides a portable
interface, other functions in GCC that provide the same capabilities should be considered
deprecated.
The PVIPR documents the following overloaded functions:

vec_abs vec_absd vec_abss

vec_add vec_addc vec_adde
vec_addec vec_adds vec_all_eq
vec_all_ge vec_all_gt vec_all_in
vec_all_le vec_all_lt vec_all_nan
vec_all_ne vec_all_nge vec_all_ngt
vec_all_nle vec_all_nlt vec_all_numeric
vec_and vec_andc vec_any_eq
vec_any_ge vec_any_gt vec_any_le
vec_any_lt vec_any_nan vec_any_ne
vec_any_nge vec_any_ngt vec_any_nle
vec_any_nlt vec_any_numeric vec_any_out
vec_avg vec_bperm vec_ceil
vec_cipher_be vec_cipherlast_be vec_cmpb
vec_cmpeq vec_cmpge vec_cmpgt
vec_cmple vec_cmplt vec_cmpne
vec_cmpnez vec_cntlz vec_cntlz_lsbb
vec_cnttz vec_cnttz_lsbb vec_cpsgn
vec_ctf vec_cts vec_ctu
vec_div vec_double vec_doublee
vec_doubleh vec_doublel vec_doubleo
vec_eqv vec_expte vec_extract
vec_extract_exp vec_extract_fp32_from_ vec_extract_fp32_from_
shorth shortl
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 813

vec_extract_sig vec_extract_4b vec_first_match_index

vec_first_match_or_eos_ vec_first_mismatch_ vec_first_mismatch_or_
index index eos_index
vec_float vec_float2 vec_floate
vec_floato vec_floor vec_gb
vec_insert vec_insert_exp vec_insert4b
vec_ld vec_lde vec_ldl
vec_loge vec_madd vec_madds
vec_max vec_mergee vec_mergeh
vec_mergel vec_mergeo vec_mfvscr
vec_min vec_mradds vec_msub
vec_msum vec_msums vec_mtvscr
vec_mul vec_mule vec_mulo
vec_nabs vec_nand vec_ncipher_be
vec_ncipherlast_be vec_nearbyint vec_neg
vec_nmadd vec_nmsub vec_nor
vec_or vec_orc vec_pack
vec_pack_to_short_fp32 vec_packpx vec_packs
vec_packsu vec_parity_lsbb vec_perm
vec_permxor vec_pmsum_be vec_popcnt
vec_re vec_recipdiv vec_revb
vec_reve vec_rint vec_rl
vec_rlmi vec_rlnm vec_round
vec_rsqrt vec_rsqrte vec_sbox_be
vec_sel vec_shasigma_be vec_signed
vec_signed2 vec_signede vec_signedo
vec_sl vec_sld vec_sldw
vec_sll vec_slo vec_slv
vec_splat vec_splat_s8 vec_splat_s16
vec_splat_s32 vec_splat_u8 vec_splat_u16
vec_splat_u32 vec_splats vec_sqrt
vec_sr vec_sra vec_srl
vec_sro vec_srv vec_st
vec_ste vec_stl vec_sub
vec_subc vec_sube vec_subec
vec_subs vec_sum2s vec_sum4s
vec_sums vec_test_data_class vec_trunc
vec_unpackh vec_unpackl vec_unsigned
vec_unsigned2 vec_unsignede vec_unsignedo
vec_xl vec_xl_be vec_xl_len
vec_xl_len_r vec_xor vec_xst
vec_xst_be vec_xst_len vec_xst_len_r

6.60.22.1 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions on ISA 2.05

The following interfaces are supported for the generic and specific AltiVec operations and
the AltiVec predicates. In cases where there is a direct mapping between generic and specific
814 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

operations, only the generic names are shown here, although the specific operations can also
be used.
Arguments that are documented as const int require literal integral values within the
range required for that operation.
Only functions excluded from the PVIPR are listed here.
void vec_dss (const int);

void vec_dssall (void);

void vec_dst (const vector unsigned char *, int, const int);

void vec_dst (const vector signed char *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const vector bool char *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const vector unsigned short *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const vector signed short *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const vector bool short *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const vector pixel *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const vector unsigned int *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const vector signed int *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const vector bool int *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const vector float *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const unsigned char *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const signed char *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const unsigned short *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const short *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const unsigned int *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const int *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const float *, int, const int);

void vec_dstst (const vector unsigned char *, int, const int);

void vec_dstst (const vector signed char *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const vector bool char *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const vector unsigned short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const vector signed short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const vector bool short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const vector pixel *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const vector unsigned int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const vector signed int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const vector bool int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const vector float *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const unsigned char *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const signed char *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const unsigned short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const unsigned int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const unsigned long *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const long *, int, const int);
void vec_dstst (const float *, int, const int);

void vec_dststt (const vector unsigned char *, int, const int);

void vec_dststt (const vector signed char *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const vector bool char *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const vector unsigned short *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const vector signed short *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const vector bool short *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const vector pixel *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const vector unsigned int *, int, const int);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 815

void vec_dststt (const vector signed int *, int, const int);

void vec_dststt (const vector bool int *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const vector float *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const unsigned char *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const signed char *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const unsigned short *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const short *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const unsigned int *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const int *, int, const int);
void vec_dststt (const float *, int, const int);

void vec_dstt (const vector unsigned char *, int, const int);

void vec_dstt (const vector signed char *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const vector bool char *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const vector unsigned short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const vector signed short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const vector bool short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const vector pixel *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const vector unsigned int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const vector signed int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const vector bool int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const vector float *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const unsigned char *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const signed char *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const unsigned short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const short *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const unsigned int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const int *, int, const int);
void vec_dstt (const float *, int, const int);

vector signed char vec_lvebx (int, char *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvebx (int, unsigned char *);

vector signed short vec_lvehx (int, short *);

vector unsigned short vec_lvehx (int, unsigned short *);

vector float vec_lvewx (int, float *);

vector signed int vec_lvewx (int, int *);
vector unsigned int vec_lvewx (int, unsigned int *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const unsigned char *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const signed char *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const unsigned short *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const short *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const unsigned int *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const int *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const float *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const unsigned char *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const signed char *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const unsigned short *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const short *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const unsigned int *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const int *);
vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const float *);

void vec_stvebx (vector signed char, int, signed char *);

void vec_stvebx (vector unsigned char, int, unsigned char *);
816 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void vec_stvebx (vector bool char, int, signed char *);

void vec_stvebx (vector bool char, int, unsigned char *);

void vec_stvehx (vector signed short, int, short *);

void vec_stvehx (vector unsigned short, int, unsigned short *);
void vec_stvehx (vector bool short, int, short *);
void vec_stvehx (vector bool short, int, unsigned short *);

void vec_stvewx (vector float, int, float *);

void vec_stvewx (vector signed int, int, int *);
void vec_stvewx (vector unsigned int, int, unsigned int *);
void vec_stvewx (vector bool int, int, int *);
void vec_stvewx (vector bool int, int, unsigned int *);

vector float vec_vaddfp (vector float, vector float);

vector signed char vec_vaddsbs (vector bool char, vector signed char);
vector signed char vec_vaddsbs (vector signed char, vector bool char);
vector signed char vec_vaddsbs (vector signed char, vector signed char);

vector signed short vec_vaddshs (vector bool short, vector signed short);
vector signed short vec_vaddshs (vector signed short, vector bool short);
vector signed short vec_vaddshs (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector signed int vec_vaddsws (vector bool int, vector signed int);
vector signed int vec_vaddsws (vector signed int, vector bool int);
vector signed int vec_vaddsws (vector signed int, vector signed int);

vector signed char vec_vaddubm (vector bool char, vector signed char);
vector signed char vec_vaddubm (vector signed char, vector bool char);
vector signed char vec_vaddubm (vector signed char, vector signed char);
vector unsigned char vec_vaddubm (vector bool char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vaddubm (vector unsigned char, vector bool char);
vector unsigned char vec_vaddubm (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector unsigned char vec_vaddubs (vector bool char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vaddubs (vector unsigned char, vector bool char);
vector unsigned char vec_vaddubs (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector signed short vec_vadduhm (vector bool short, vector signed short);
vector signed short vec_vadduhm (vector signed short, vector bool short);
vector signed short vec_vadduhm (vector signed short, vector signed short);
vector unsigned short vec_vadduhm (vector bool short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vadduhm (vector unsigned short, vector bool short);
vector unsigned short vec_vadduhm (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector unsigned short vec_vadduhs (vector bool short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vadduhs (vector unsigned short, vector bool short);
vector unsigned short vec_vadduhs (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector signed int vec_vadduwm (vector bool int, vector signed int);
vector signed int vec_vadduwm (vector signed int, vector bool int);
vector signed int vec_vadduwm (vector signed int, vector signed int);
vector unsigned int vec_vadduwm (vector bool int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec_vadduwm (vector unsigned int, vector bool int);
vector unsigned int vec_vadduwm (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector unsigned int vec_vadduws (vector bool int, vector unsigned int);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 817

vector unsigned int vec_vadduws (vector unsigned int, vector bool int);
vector unsigned int vec_vadduws (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector signed char vec_vavgsb (vector signed char, vector signed char);

vector signed short vec_vavgsh (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector signed int vec_vavgsw (vector signed int, vector signed int);

vector unsigned char vec_vavgub (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector unsigned short vec_vavguh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector unsigned int vec_vavguw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector float vec_vcfsx (vector signed int, const int);

vector float vec_vcfux (vector unsigned int, const int);

vector bool int vec_vcmpeqfp (vector float, vector float);

vector bool char vec_vcmpequb (vector signed char, vector signed char);
vector bool char vec_vcmpequb (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector bool short vec_vcmpequh (vector signed short, vector signed short);
vector bool short vec_vcmpequh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector bool int vec_vcmpequw (vector signed int, vector signed int);
vector bool int vec_vcmpequw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector bool int vec_vcmpgtfp (vector float, vector float);

vector bool char vec_vcmpgtsb (vector signed char, vector signed char);

vector bool short vec_vcmpgtsh (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector bool int vec_vcmpgtsw (vector signed int, vector signed int);

vector bool char vec_vcmpgtub (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector bool short vec_vcmpgtuh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector bool int vec_vcmpgtuw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector float vec_vmaxfp (vector float, vector float);

vector signed char vec_vmaxsb (vector bool char, vector signed char);
vector signed char vec_vmaxsb (vector signed char, vector bool char);
vector signed char vec_vmaxsb (vector signed char, vector signed char);

vector signed short vec_vmaxsh (vector bool short, vector signed short);
vector signed short vec_vmaxsh (vector signed short, vector bool short);
vector signed short vec_vmaxsh (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector signed int vec_vmaxsw (vector bool int, vector signed int);
vector signed int vec_vmaxsw (vector signed int, vector bool int);
vector signed int vec_vmaxsw (vector signed int, vector signed int);
818 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector unsigned char vec_vmaxub (vector bool char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vmaxub (vector unsigned char, vector bool char);
vector unsigned char vec_vmaxub (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector unsigned short vec_vmaxuh (vector bool short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vmaxuh (vector unsigned short, vector bool short);
vector unsigned short vec_vmaxuh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector unsigned int vec_vmaxuw (vector bool int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec_vmaxuw (vector unsigned int, vector bool int);
vector unsigned int vec_vmaxuw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector float vec_vminfp (vector float, vector float);

vector signed char vec_vminsb (vector bool char, vector signed char);
vector signed char vec_vminsb (vector signed char, vector bool char);
vector signed char vec_vminsb (vector signed char, vector signed char);

vector signed short vec_vminsh (vector bool short, vector signed short);
vector signed short vec_vminsh (vector signed short, vector bool short);
vector signed short vec_vminsh (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector signed int vec_vminsw (vector bool int, vector signed int);
vector signed int vec_vminsw (vector signed int, vector bool int);
vector signed int vec_vminsw (vector signed int, vector signed int);

vector unsigned char vec_vminub (vector bool char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vminub (vector unsigned char, vector bool char);
vector unsigned char vec_vminub (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector unsigned short vec_vminuh (vector bool short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vminuh (vector unsigned short, vector bool short);
vector unsigned short vec_vminuh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector unsigned int vec_vminuw (vector bool int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec_vminuw (vector unsigned int, vector bool int);
vector unsigned int vec_vminuw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector bool char vec_vmrghb (vector bool char, vector bool char);
vector signed char vec_vmrghb (vector signed char, vector signed char);
vector unsigned char vec_vmrghb (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector bool short vec_vmrghh (vector bool short, vector bool short);
vector signed short vec_vmrghh (vector signed short, vector signed short);
vector unsigned short vec_vmrghh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);
vector pixel vec_vmrghh (vector pixel, vector pixel);

vector float vec_vmrghw (vector float, vector float);

vector bool int vec_vmrghw (vector bool int, vector bool int);
vector signed int vec_vmrghw (vector signed int, vector signed int);
vector unsigned int vec_vmrghw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector bool char vec_vmrglb (vector bool char, vector bool char);
vector signed char vec_vmrglb (vector signed char, vector signed char);
vector unsigned char vec_vmrglb (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector bool short vec_vmrglh (vector bool short, vector bool short);
vector signed short vec_vmrglh (vector signed short, vector signed short);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 819

vector unsigned short vec_vmrglh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);
vector pixel vec_vmrglh (vector pixel, vector pixel);

vector float vec_vmrglw (vector float, vector float);

vector signed int vec_vmrglw (vector signed int, vector signed int);
vector unsigned int vec_vmrglw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);
vector bool int vec_vmrglw (vector bool int, vector bool int);

vector signed int vec_vmsummbm (vector signed char, vector unsigned char,
vector signed int);

vector signed int vec_vmsumshm (vector signed short, vector signed short,
vector signed int);

vector signed int vec_vmsumshs (vector signed short, vector signed short,
vector signed int);

vector unsigned int vec_vmsumubm (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char,
vector unsigned int);

vector unsigned int vec_vmsumuhm (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short,
vector unsigned int);

vector unsigned int vec_vmsumuhs (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short,
vector unsigned int);

vector signed short vec_vmulesb (vector signed char, vector signed char);

vector signed int vec_vmulesh (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector unsigned short vec_vmuleub (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector unsigned int vec_vmuleuh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector signed short vec_vmulosb (vector signed char, vector signed char);

vector signed int vec_vmulosh (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector unsigned short vec_vmuloub (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector unsigned int vec_vmulouh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector signed char vec_vpkshss (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector unsigned char vec_vpkshus (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector signed short vec_vpkswss (vector signed int, vector signed int);

vector unsigned short vec_vpkswus (vector signed int, vector signed int);

vector bool char vec_vpkuhum (vector bool short, vector bool short);
vector signed char vec_vpkuhum (vector signed short, vector signed short);
vector unsigned char vec_vpkuhum (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector unsigned char vec_vpkuhus (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector bool short vec_vpkuwum (vector bool int, vector bool int);
vector signed short vec_vpkuwum (vector signed int, vector signed int);
820 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector unsigned short vec_vpkuwum (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector unsigned short vec_vpkuwus (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector signed char vec_vrlb (vector signed char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vrlb (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector signed short vec_vrlh (vector signed short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vrlh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector signed int vec_vrlw (vector signed int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec_vrlw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector signed char vec_vslb (vector signed char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vslb (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector signed short vec_vslh (vector signed short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vslh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector signed int vec_vslw (vector signed int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec_vslw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector signed char vec_vspltb (vector signed char, const int);

vector unsigned char vec_vspltb (vector unsigned char, const int);
vector bool char vec_vspltb (vector bool char, const int);

vector bool short vec_vsplth (vector bool short, const int);

vector signed short vec_vsplth (vector signed short, const int);
vector unsigned short vec_vsplth (vector unsigned short, const int);
vector pixel vec_vsplth (vector pixel, const int);

vector float vec_vspltw (vector float, const int);

vector signed int vec_vspltw (vector signed int, const int);
vector unsigned int vec_vspltw (vector unsigned int, const int);
vector bool int vec_vspltw (vector bool int, const int);

vector signed char vec_vsrab (vector signed char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vsrab (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector signed short vec_vsrah (vector signed short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vsrah (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector signed int vec_vsraw (vector signed int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec_vsraw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector signed char vec_vsrb (vector signed char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vsrb (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector signed short vec_vsrh (vector signed short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vsrh (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector signed int vec_vsrw (vector signed int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec_vsrw (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector float vec_vsubfp (vector float, vector float);

vector signed char vec_vsubsbs (vector bool char, vector signed char);
vector signed char vec_vsubsbs (vector signed char, vector bool char);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 821

vector signed char vec_vsubsbs (vector signed char, vector signed char);

vector signed short vec_vsubshs (vector bool short, vector signed short);
vector signed short vec_vsubshs (vector signed short, vector bool short);
vector signed short vec_vsubshs (vector signed short, vector signed short);

vector signed int vec_vsubsws (vector bool int, vector signed int);
vector signed int vec_vsubsws (vector signed int, vector bool int);
vector signed int vec_vsubsws (vector signed int, vector signed int);

vector signed char vec_vsububm (vector bool char, vector signed char);
vector signed char vec_vsububm (vector signed char, vector bool char);
vector signed char vec_vsububm (vector signed char, vector signed char);
vector unsigned char vec_vsububm (vector bool char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vsububm (vector unsigned char, vector bool char);
vector unsigned char vec_vsububm (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector unsigned char vec_vsububs (vector bool char, vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec_vsububs (vector unsigned char, vector bool char);
vector unsigned char vec_vsububs (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);

vector signed short vec_vsubuhm (vector bool short, vector signed short);
vector signed short vec_vsubuhm (vector signed short, vector bool short);
vector signed short vec_vsubuhm (vector signed short, vector signed short);
vector unsigned short vec_vsubuhm (vector bool short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vsubuhm (vector unsigned short, vector bool short);
vector unsigned short vec_vsubuhm (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector unsigned short vec_vsubuhs (vector bool short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec_vsubuhs (vector unsigned short, vector bool short);
vector unsigned short vec_vsubuhs (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

vector signed int vec_vsubuwm (vector bool int, vector signed int);
vector signed int vec_vsubuwm (vector signed int, vector bool int);
vector signed int vec_vsubuwm (vector signed int, vector signed int);
vector unsigned int vec_vsubuwm (vector bool int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec_vsubuwm (vector unsigned int, vector bool int);
vector unsigned int vec_vsubuwm (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector unsigned int vec_vsubuws (vector bool int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec_vsubuws (vector unsigned int, vector bool int);
vector unsigned int vec_vsubuws (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

vector signed int vec_vsum4sbs (vector signed char, vector signed int);

vector signed int vec_vsum4shs (vector signed short, vector signed int);

vector unsigned int vec_vsum4ubs (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned int);

vector unsigned int vec_vupkhpx (vector pixel);

vector bool short vec_vupkhsb (vector bool char);

vector signed short vec_vupkhsb (vector signed char);

vector bool int vec_vupkhsh (vector bool short);

vector signed int vec_vupkhsh (vector signed short);

vector unsigned int vec_vupklpx (vector pixel);

822 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector bool short vec_vupklsb (vector bool char);

vector signed short vec_vupklsb (vector signed char);

vector bool int vec_vupklsh (vector bool short);

vector signed int vec_vupklsh (vector signed short);

6.60.22.2 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions Available on ISA

2.06
The AltiVec built-in functions described in this section are available on the PowerPC family
of processors starting with ISA 2.06 or later. These are normally enabled by adding ‘-mvsx’
to the command line.
When ‘-mvsx’ is used, the following additional vector types are implemented.
vector unsigned __int128
vector signed __int128
vector unsigned long long int
vector signed long long int
vector double
The long long types are only implemented for 64-bit code generation.
Only functions excluded from the PVIPR are listed here.
void vec_dst (const unsigned long *, int, const int);
void vec_dst (const long *, int, const int);

void vec_dststt (const unsigned long *, int, const int);

void vec_dststt (const long *, int, const int);

void vec_dstt (const unsigned long *, int, const int);

void vec_dstt (const long *, int, const int);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const unsigned long *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const long *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const unsigned long *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const long *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsl (int, const double *);

vector unsigned char vec_lvsr (int, const double *);

vector double vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector double *);

vector double vec_vsx_ld (int, const double *);
vector float vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector float *);
vector float vec_vsx_ld (int, const float *);
vector bool int vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector bool int *);
vector signed int vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector signed int *);
vector signed int vec_vsx_ld (int, const int *);
vector signed int vec_vsx_ld (int, const long *);
vector unsigned int vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector unsigned int *);
vector unsigned int vec_vsx_ld (int, const unsigned int *);
vector unsigned int vec_vsx_ld (int, const unsigned long *);
vector bool short vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector bool short *);
vector pixel vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector pixel *);
vector signed short vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector signed short *);
vector signed short vec_vsx_ld (int, const short *);
vector unsigned short vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector unsigned short *);
vector unsigned short vec_vsx_ld (int, const unsigned short *);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 823

vector bool char vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector bool char *);
vector signed char vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector signed char *);
vector signed char vec_vsx_ld (int, const signed char *);
vector unsigned char vec_vsx_ld (int, const vector unsigned char *);
vector unsigned char vec_vsx_ld (int, const unsigned char *);

void vec_vsx_st (vector double, int, vector double *);

void vec_vsx_st (vector double, int, double *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector float, int, vector float *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector float, int, float *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector signed int, int, vector signed int *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector signed int, int, int *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector unsigned int, int, vector unsigned int *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector unsigned int, int, unsigned int *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector bool int, int, vector bool int *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector bool int, int, unsigned int *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector bool int, int, int *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector signed short, int, vector signed short *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector signed short, int, short *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector unsigned short, int, vector unsigned short *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector unsigned short, int, unsigned short *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector bool short, int, vector bool short *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector bool short, int, unsigned short *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector pixel, int, vector pixel *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector pixel, int, unsigned short *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector pixel, int, short *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector bool short, int, short *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector signed char, int, vector signed char *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector signed char, int, signed char *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector unsigned char, int, vector unsigned char *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector unsigned char, int, unsigned char *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector bool char, int, vector bool char *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector bool char, int, unsigned char *);
void vec_vsx_st (vector bool char, int, signed char *);

vector double vec_xxpermdi (vector double, vector double, const int);

vector float vec_xxpermdi (vector float, vector float, const int);
vector long long vec_xxpermdi (vector long long, vector long long, const int);
vector unsigned long long vec_xxpermdi (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long, const int);
vector int vec_xxpermdi (vector int, vector int, const int);
vector unsigned int vec_xxpermdi (vector unsigned int,
vector unsigned int, const int);
vector short vec_xxpermdi (vector short, vector short, const int);
vector unsigned short vec_xxpermdi (vector unsigned short,
vector unsigned short, const int);
vector signed char vec_xxpermdi (vector signed char, vector signed char,
const int);
vector unsigned char vec_xxpermdi (vector unsigned char,
vector unsigned char, const int);

vector double vec_xxsldi (vector double, vector double, int);

vector float vec_xxsldi (vector float, vector float, int);
vector long long vec_xxsldi (vector long long, vector long long, int);
vector unsigned long long vec_xxsldi (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long, int);
vector int vec_xxsldi (vector int, vector int, int);
vector unsigned int vec_xxsldi (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int, int);
824 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector short vec_xxsldi (vector short, vector short, int);

vector unsigned short vec_xxsldi (vector unsigned short,
vector unsigned short, int);
vector signed char vec_xxsldi (vector signed char, vector signed char, int);
vector unsigned char vec_xxsldi (vector unsigned char,
vector unsigned char, int);
Note that the ‘vec_ld’ and ‘vec_st’ built-in functions always generate the AltiVec ‘LVX’
and ‘STVX’ instructions even if the VSX instruction set is available. The ‘vec_vsx_ld’ and
‘vec_vsx_st’ built-in functions always generate the VSX ‘LXVD2X’, ‘LXVW4X’, ‘STXVD2X’,
and ‘STXVW4X’ instructions.
6.60.22.3 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions Available on ISA
2.07
If the ISA 2.07 additions to the vector/scalar (power8-vector) instruction set are available,
the following additional functions are available for both 32-bit and 64-bit targets. For 64-
bit targets, you can use vector long instead of vector long long, vector bool long instead of
vector bool long long, and vector unsigned long instead of vector unsigned long long.
Only functions excluded from the PVIPR are listed here.
vector long long vec_vaddudm (vector long long, vector long long);
vector long long vec_vaddudm (vector bool long long, vector long long);
vector long long vec_vaddudm (vector long long, vector bool long long);
vector unsigned long long vec_vaddudm (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);
vector unsigned long long vec_vaddudm (vector bool unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);
vector unsigned long long vec_vaddudm (vector unsigned long long,
vector bool unsigned long long);

vector long long vec_vclz (vector long long);

vector unsigned long long vec_vclz (vector unsigned long long);
vector int vec_vclz (vector int);
vector unsigned int vec_vclz (vector int);
vector short vec_vclz (vector short);
vector unsigned short vec_vclz (vector unsigned short);
vector signed char vec_vclz (vector signed char);
vector unsigned char vec_vclz (vector unsigned char);

vector signed char vec_vclzb (vector signed char);

vector unsigned char vec_vclzb (vector unsigned char);

vector long long vec_vclzd (vector long long);

vector unsigned long long vec_vclzd (vector unsigned long long);

vector short vec_vclzh (vector short);

vector unsigned short vec_vclzh (vector unsigned short);

vector int vec_vclzw (vector int);

vector unsigned int vec_vclzw (vector int);

vector signed char vec_vgbbd (vector signed char);

vector unsigned char vec_vgbbd (vector unsigned char);

vector long long vec_vmaxsd (vector long long, vector long long);

vector unsigned long long vec_vmaxud (vector unsigned long long,

Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 825

unsigned vector long long);

vector long long vec_vminsd (vector long long, vector long long);

vector unsigned long long vec_vminud (vector long long, vector long long);

vector int vec_vpksdss (vector long long, vector long long);

vector unsigned int vec_vpksdss (vector long long, vector long long);

vector unsigned int vec_vpkudus (vector unsigned long long,

vector unsigned long long);

vector int vec_vpkudum (vector long long, vector long long);

vector unsigned int vec_vpkudum (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);
vector bool int vec_vpkudum (vector bool long long, vector bool long long);

vector long long vec_vpopcnt (vector long long);

vector unsigned long long vec_vpopcnt (vector unsigned long long);
vector int vec_vpopcnt (vector int);
vector unsigned int vec_vpopcnt (vector int);
vector short vec_vpopcnt (vector short);
vector unsigned short vec_vpopcnt (vector unsigned short);
vector signed char vec_vpopcnt (vector signed char);
vector unsigned char vec_vpopcnt (vector unsigned char);

vector signed char vec_vpopcntb (vector signed char);

vector unsigned char vec_vpopcntb (vector unsigned char);

vector long long vec_vpopcntd (vector long long);

vector unsigned long long vec_vpopcntd (vector unsigned long long);

vector short vec_vpopcnth (vector short);

vector unsigned short vec_vpopcnth (vector unsigned short);

vector int vec_vpopcntw (vector int);

vector unsigned int vec_vpopcntw (vector int);

vector long long vec_vrld (vector long long, vector unsigned long long);
vector unsigned long long vec_vrld (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);

vector long long vec_vsld (vector long long, vector unsigned long long);
vector long long vec_vsld (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);

vector long long vec_vsrad (vector long long, vector unsigned long long);
vector unsigned long long vec_vsrad (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);

vector long long vec_vsrd (vector long long, vector unsigned long long);
vector unsigned long long char vec_vsrd (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);

vector long long vec_vsubudm (vector long long, vector long long);
vector long long vec_vsubudm (vector bool long long, vector long long);
vector long long vec_vsubudm (vector long long, vector bool long long);
vector unsigned long long vec_vsubudm (vector unsigned long long,
826 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector unsigned long long);

vector unsigned long long vec_vsubudm (vector bool long long,
vector unsigned long long);
vector unsigned long long vec_vsubudm (vector unsigned long long,
vector bool long long);

vector long long vec_vupkhsw (vector int);

vector unsigned long long vec_vupkhsw (vector unsigned int);

vector long long vec_vupklsw (vector int);

vector unsigned long long vec_vupklsw (vector int);
If the ISA 2.07 additions to the vector/scalar (power8-vector) instruction set are available,
the following additional functions are available for 64-bit targets. New vector types (vector
int128 and vector uint128) are available to hold the int128 and uint128 types to
use these builtins.
The normal vector extract, and set operations work on vector int128 and vector
uint128 types, but the index value must be 0.
Only functions excluded from the PVIPR are listed here.
vector __int128 vec_vaddcuq (vector __int128, vector __int128);
vector __uint128 vec_vaddcuq (vector __uint128, vector __uint128);

vector __int128 vec_vadduqm (vector __int128, vector __int128);

vector __uint128 vec_vadduqm (vector __uint128, vector __uint128);

vector __int128 vec_vaddecuq (vector __int128, vector __int128,

vector __int128);
vector __uint128 vec_vaddecuq (vector __uint128, vector __uint128,
vector __uint128);

vector __int128 vec_vaddeuqm (vector __int128, vector __int128,

vector __int128);
vector __uint128 vec_vaddeuqm (vector __uint128, vector __uint128,
vector __uint128);

vector __int128 vec_vsubecuq (vector __int128, vector __int128,

vector __int128);
vector __uint128 vec_vsubecuq (vector __uint128, vector __uint128,
vector __uint128);

vector __int128 vec_vsubeuqm (vector __int128, vector __int128,

vector __int128);
vector __uint128 vec_vsubeuqm (vector __uint128, vector __uint128,
vector __uint128);

vector __int128 vec_vsubcuq (vector __int128, vector __int128);

vector __uint128 vec_vsubcuq (vector __uint128, vector __uint128);

__int128 vec_vsubuqm (__int128, __int128);

__uint128 vec_vsubuqm (__uint128, __uint128);

vector __int128 __builtin_bcdadd (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);

vector unsigned char __builtin_bcdadd (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char,
const int);
int __builtin_bcdadd_lt (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);
int __builtin_bcdadd_lt (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, const int);
int __builtin_bcdadd_eq (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 827

int __builtin_bcdadd_eq (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, const int);
int __builtin_bcdadd_gt (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);
int __builtin_bcdadd_gt (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, const int);
int __builtin_bcdadd_ov (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);
int __builtin_bcdadd_ov (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, const int);

vector __int128 __builtin_bcdsub (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);

vector unsigned char __builtin_bcdsub (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char,
const int);
int __builtin_bcdsub_lt (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);
int __builtin_bcdsub_lt (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, const int);
int __builtin_bcdsub_eq (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);
int __builtin_bcdsub_eq (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, const int);
int __builtin_bcdsub_gt (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);
int __builtin_bcdsub_gt (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, const int);
int __builtin_bcdsub_ov (vector __int128, vector __int128, const int);
int __builtin_bcdsub_ov (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, const int);

6.60.22.4 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions Available on ISA

3.0
The following additional built-in functions are also available for the PowerPC family of
processors, starting with ISA 3.0 (‘-mcpu=power9’) or later.
Only instructions excluded from the PVIPR are listed here.
unsigned int scalar_extract_exp (double source);
unsigned long long int scalar_extract_exp (__ieee128 source);

unsigned long long int scalar_extract_sig (double source);

unsigned __int128 scalar_extract_sig (__ieee128 source);

double scalar_insert_exp (unsigned long long int significand,

unsigned long long int exponent);
double scalar_insert_exp (double significand, unsigned long long int exponent);

ieee_128 scalar_insert_exp (unsigned __int128 significand,

unsigned long long int exponent);
ieee_128 scalar_insert_exp (ieee_128 significand, unsigned long long int exponent);

int scalar_cmp_exp_gt (double arg1, double arg2);

int scalar_cmp_exp_lt (double arg1, double arg2);
int scalar_cmp_exp_eq (double arg1, double arg2);
int scalar_cmp_exp_unordered (double arg1, double arg2);

bool scalar_test_data_class (float source, const int condition);

bool scalar_test_data_class (double source, const int condition);
bool scalar_test_data_class (__ieee128 source, const int condition);

bool scalar_test_neg (float source);

bool scalar_test_neg (double source);
bool scalar_test_neg (__ieee128 source);
The scalar_extract_exp and scalar_extract_sig functions require a 64-bit environ-
ment supporting ISA 3.0 or later. The scalar_extract_exp and scalar_extract_sig
built-in functions return the significand and the biased exponent value respectively of their
source arguments. When supplied with a 64-bit source argument, the result returned by
scalar_extract_sig has the 0x0010000000000000 bit set if the function’s source argu-
ment is in normalized form. Otherwise, this bit is set to 0. When supplied with a 128-bit
828 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

source argument, the 0x00010000000000000000000000000000 bit of the result is treated

similarly. Note that the sign of the significand is not represented in the result returned from
the scalar_extract_sig function. Use the scalar_test_neg function to test the sign of
its double argument.
The scalar_insert_exp functions require a 64-bit environment supporting ISA 3.0 or
later. When supplied with a 64-bit first argument, the scalar_insert_exp built-in function
returns a double-precision floating point value that is constructed by assembling the values
of its significand and exponent arguments. The sign of the result is copied from the most
significant bit of the significand argument. The significand and exponent components of
the result are composed of the least significant 11 bits of the exponent argument and the
least significant 52 bits of the significand argument respectively.
When supplied with a 128-bit first argument, the scalar_insert_exp built-in function
returns a quad-precision ieee floating point value. The sign bit of the result is copied
from the most significant bit of the significand argument. The significand and exponent
components of the result are composed of the least significant 15 bits of the exponent
argument and the least significant 112 bits of the significand argument respectively.
The scalar_cmp_exp_gt, scalar_cmp_exp_lt, scalar_cmp_exp_eq, and scalar_cmp_
exp_unordered built-in functions return a non-zero value if arg1 is greater than, less than,
equal to, or not comparable to arg2 respectively. The arguments are not comparable if one
or the other equals NaN (not a number).
The scalar_test_data_class built-in function returns 1 if any of the condition tests
enabled by the value of the condition variable are true, and 0 otherwise. The condition
argument must be a compile-time constant integer with value not exceeding 127. The
condition argument is encoded as a bitmask with each bit enabling the testing of a different
condition, as characterized by the following:
0x40 Test for NaN
0x20 Test for +Infinity
0x10 Test for -Infinity
0x08 Test for +Zero
0x04 Test for -Zero
0x02 Test for +Denormal
0x01 Test for -Denormal
The scalar_test_neg built-in function returns 1 if its source argument holds a negative
value, 0 otherwise.
The following built-in functions are also available for the PowerPC family of processors,
starting with ISA 3.0 or later (‘-mcpu=power9’). These string functions are described sep-
arately in order to group the descriptions closer to the function prototypes.
Only functions excluded from the PVIPR are listed here.
int vec_all_nez (vector signed char, vector signed char);
int vec_all_nez (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);
int vec_all_nez (vector signed short, vector signed short);
int vec_all_nez (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);
int vec_all_nez (vector signed int, vector signed int);
int vec_all_nez (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

int vec_any_eqz (vector signed char, vector signed char);

int vec_any_eqz (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);
int vec_any_eqz (vector signed short, vector signed short);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 829

int vec_any_eqz (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);

int vec_any_eqz (vector signed int, vector signed int);
int vec_any_eqz (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);

signed char vec_xlx (unsigned int index, vector signed char data);
unsigned char vec_xlx (unsigned int index, vector unsigned char data);
signed short vec_xlx (unsigned int index, vector signed short data);
unsigned short vec_xlx (unsigned int index, vector unsigned short data);
signed int vec_xlx (unsigned int index, vector signed int data);
unsigned int vec_xlx (unsigned int index, vector unsigned int data);
float vec_xlx (unsigned int index, vector float data);

signed char vec_xrx (unsigned int index, vector signed char data);
unsigned char vec_xrx (unsigned int index, vector unsigned char data);
signed short vec_xrx (unsigned int index, vector signed short data);
unsigned short vec_xrx (unsigned int index, vector unsigned short data);
signed int vec_xrx (unsigned int index, vector signed int data);
unsigned int vec_xrx (unsigned int index, vector unsigned int data);
float vec_xrx (unsigned int index, vector float data);
The vec_all_nez, vec_any_eqz, and vec_cmpnez perform pairwise comparisons between
the elements at the same positions within their two vector arguments. The vec_all_nez
function returns a non-zero value if and only if all pairwise comparisons are not equal and
no element of either vector argument contains a zero. The vec_any_eqz function returns
a non-zero value if and only if at least one pairwise comparison is equal or if at least one
element of either vector argument contains a zero. The vec_cmpnez function returns a
vector of the same type as its two arguments, within which each element consists of all ones
to denote that either the corresponding elements of the incoming arguments are not equal
or that at least one of the corresponding elements contains zero. Otherwise, the element of
the returned vector contains all zeros.
The vec_xlx and vec_xrx functions extract the single element selected by the index
argument from the vector represented by the data argument. The index argument always
specifies a byte offset, regardless of the size of the vector element. With vec_xlx, index is
the offset of the first byte of the element to be extracted. With vec_xrx, index represents
the last byte of the element to be extracted, measured from the right end of the vector. In
other words, the last byte of the element to be extracted is found at position (15 - index).
There is no requirement that index be a multiple of the vector element size. However, if
the size of the vector element added to index is greater than 15, the content of the returned
value is undefined.
The following functions are also available if the ISA 3.0 instruction set additions
(‘-mcpu=power9’) are available.
Only functions excluded from the PVIPR are listed here.
vector long long vec_vctz (vector long long);
vector unsigned long long vec_vctz (vector unsigned long long);
vector int vec_vctz (vector int);
vector unsigned int vec_vctz (vector int);
vector short vec_vctz (vector short);
vector unsigned short vec_vctz (vector unsigned short);
vector signed char vec_vctz (vector signed char);
vector unsigned char vec_vctz (vector unsigned char);

vector signed char vec_vctzb (vector signed char);

vector unsigned char vec_vctzb (vector unsigned char);
830 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector long long vec_vctzd (vector long long);

vector unsigned long long vec_vctzd (vector unsigned long long);

vector short vec_vctzh (vector short);

vector unsigned short vec_vctzh (vector unsigned short);

vector int vec_vctzw (vector int);

vector unsigned int vec_vctzw (vector int);

vector int vec_vprtyb (vector int);

vector unsigned int vec_vprtyb (vector unsigned int);
vector long long vec_vprtyb (vector long long);
vector unsigned long long vec_vprtyb (vector unsigned long long);

vector int vec_vprtybw (vector int);

vector unsigned int vec_vprtybw (vector unsigned int);

vector long long vec_vprtybd (vector long long);

vector unsigned long long vec_vprtybd (vector unsigned long long);
On 64-bit targets, if the ISA 3.0 additions (‘-mcpu=power9’) are available:
vector long vec_vprtyb (vector long);
vector unsigned long vec_vprtyb (vector unsigned long);
vector __int128 vec_vprtyb (vector __int128);
vector __uint128 vec_vprtyb (vector __uint128);

vector long vec_vprtybd (vector long);

vector unsigned long vec_vprtybd (vector unsigned long);

vector __int128 vec_vprtybq (vector __int128);

vector __uint128 vec_vprtybd (vector __uint128);
The following built-in functions are available for the PowerPC family of processors, start-
ing with ISA 3.0 or later (‘-mcpu=power9’).
Only functions excluded from the PVIPR are listed here.
__vector unsigned char
vec_absdb (__vector unsigned char arg1, __vector unsigned char arg2);
__vector unsigned short
vec_absdh (__vector unsigned short arg1, __vector unsigned short arg2);
__vector unsigned int
vec_absdw (__vector unsigned int arg1, __vector unsigned int arg2);
The vec_absd, vec_absdb, vec_absdh, and vec_absdw built-in functions each computes
the absolute differences of the pairs of vector elements supplied in its two vector arguments,
placing the absolute differences into the corresponding elements of the vector result.
The following built-in functions are available for the PowerPC family of processors, start-
ing with ISA 3.0 or later (‘-mcpu=power9’):
vector unsigned int vec_vrlnm (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long vec_vrlnm (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);
The result of vec_vrlnm is obtained by rotating each element of the first argument vector
left and ANDing it with a mask. The second argument vector contains the mask beginning
in bits 11:15, the mask end in bits 19:23, and the shift count in bits 27:31, of each element.
If the cryptographic instructions are enabled (‘-mcrypto’ or ‘-mcpu=power8’), the follow-
ing builtins are enabled.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 831

Only functions excluded from the PVIPR are listed here.

vector unsigned long long __builtin_crypto_vsbox (vector unsigned long long);

vector unsigned long long __builtin_crypto_vcipher (vector unsigned long long,

vector unsigned long long);

vector unsigned long long __builtin_crypto_vcipherlast

(vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);

vector unsigned long long __builtin_crypto_vncipher (vector unsigned long long,

vector unsigned long long);

vector unsigned long long __builtin_crypto_vncipherlast (vector unsigned long long,

vector unsigned long long);

vector unsigned char __builtin_crypto_vpermxor (vector unsigned char,

vector unsigned char,
vector unsigned char);

vector unsigned short __builtin_crypto_vpermxor (vector unsigned short,

vector unsigned short,
vector unsigned short);

vector unsigned int __builtin_crypto_vpermxor (vector unsigned int,

vector unsigned int,
vector unsigned int);

vector unsigned long long __builtin_crypto_vpermxor (vector unsigned long long,

vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);

vector unsigned char __builtin_crypto_vpmsumb (vector unsigned char,

vector unsigned char);

vector unsigned short __builtin_crypto_vpmsumh (vector unsigned short,

vector unsigned short);

vector unsigned int __builtin_crypto_vpmsumw (vector unsigned int,

vector unsigned int);

vector unsigned long long __builtin_crypto_vpmsumd (vector unsigned long long,

vector unsigned long long);

vector unsigned long long __builtin_crypto_vshasigmad (vector unsigned long long,

int, int);

vector unsigned int __builtin_crypto_vshasigmaw (vector unsigned int, int, int);

The second argument to builtin crypto vshasigmad and builtin crypto vshasigmaw
must be a constant integer that is 0 or 1. The third argument to these built-in functions
must be a constant integer in the range of 0 to 15.
The following sign extension builtins are provided:
vector signed int vec_signexti (vector signed char a);
vector signed long long vec_signextll (vector signed char a);
vector signed int vec_signexti (vector signed short a);
vector signed long long vec_signextll (vector signed short a);
832 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector signed long long vec_signextll (vector signed int a);

vector signed long long vec_signextq (vector signed long long a);
Each element of the result is produced by sign-extending the element of the input vector
that would fall in the least significant portion of the result element. For example, a sign-
extension of a vector signed char to a vector signed long long will sign extend the rightmost
byte of each doubleword.
6.60.22.5 PowerPC AltiVec Built-in Functions Available on ISA
3.1
The following additional built-in functions are also available for the PowerPC family of
processors, starting with ISA 3.1 (‘-mcpu=power10’):
vector unsigned long long int
vec cfuge (vector unsigned long long int, vector unsigned long long int);
Perform a vector centrifuge operation, as if implemented by the vcfuged instruction.
vector unsigned long long int
vec cntlzm (vector unsigned long long int, vector unsigned long long int);
Perform a vector count leading zeros under bit mask operation, as if implemented by the
vclzdm instruction.
vector unsigned long long int
vec cnttzm (vector unsigned long long int, vector unsigned long long int);
Perform a vector count trailing zeros under bit mask operation, as if implemented by the
vctzdm instruction.
vector signed char
vec clrl (vector signed char a, unsigned int n);
vector unsigned char
vec clrl (vector unsigned char a, unsigned int n);
Clear the left-most (16 - n) bytes of vector argument a, as if implemented by the vclrlb
instruction on a big-endian target and by the vclrrb instruction on a little-endian target.
A value of n that is greater than 16 is treated as if it equaled 16.
vector signed char
vec clrr (vector signed char a, unsigned int n);
vector unsigned char
vec clrr (vector unsigned char a, unsigned int n);
Clear the right-most (16 - n) bytes of vector argument a, as if implemented by the
vclrrb instruction on a big-endian target and by the vclrlb instruction on a little-endian
target. A value of n that is greater than 16 is treated as if it equaled 16.
vector unsigned long long int
vec gnb (vector unsigned int128, const unsigned char);
Perform a 128-bit vector gather operation, as if implemented by the vgnb instruction.
The second argument must be a literal integer value between 2 and 7 inclusive.
Vector Extract
vector unsigned long long int
vec extractl (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long int
vec extractl (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short, unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long int
vec extractl (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int, unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long int
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 833

vec extractl (vector unsigned long long, vector unsigned long long, unsigned int);
Extract an element from two concatenated vectors starting at the given byte index in
natural-endian order, and place it zero-extended in doubleword 1 of the result according
to natural element order. If the byte index is out of range for the data type, the intrinsic
will be rejected. For little-endian, this output will match the placement by the hardware
instruction, i.e., dword[0] in RTL notation. For big-endian, an additional instruction is
needed to move it from the "left" doubleword to the "right" one. For little-endian, semantics
matching the vextdubvrx, vextduhvrx, vextduwvrx instruction will be generated, while
for big-endian, semantics matching the vextdubvlx, vextduhvlx, vextduwvlx instructions
will be generated. Note that some fairly anomalous results can be generated if the byte
index is not aligned on an element boundary for the element being extracted. This is a
limitation of the bi-endian vector programming model is consistent with the limitation on
vec_perm.
vector unsigned long long int
vec extracth (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long int
vec extracth (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short,
unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long int
vec extracth (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int, unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long int
vec extracth (vector unsigned long long, vector unsigned long long,
unsigned int);
Extract an element from two concatenated vectors starting at the given byte index. The
index is based on big endian order for a little endian system. Similarly, the index is based
on little endian order for a big endian system. The extraced elements are zero-extended and
put in doubleword 1 according to natural element order. If the byte index is out of range
for the data type, the intrinsic will be rejected. For little-endian, this output will match the
placement by the hardware instruction (vextdubvrx, vextduhvrx, vextduwvrx, vextddvrx)
i.e., dword[0] in RTL notation. For big-endian, an additional instruction is needed to move
it from the "left" doubleword to the "right" one. For little-endian, semantics matching
the vextdubvlx, vextduhvlx, vextduwvlx instructions will be generated, while for big-
endian, semantics matching the vextdubvrx, vextduhvrx, vextduwvrx instructions will be
generated. Note that some fairly anomalous results can be generated if the byte index is
not aligned on the element boundary for the element being extracted. This is a limitation
of the bi-endian vector programming model consistent with the limitation on vec_perm.
vector unsigned long long int
vec pdep (vector unsigned long long int, vector unsigned long long int);
Perform a vector parallel bits deposit operation, as if implemented by the vpdepd instruc-
tion.
Vector Insert
vector unsigned char
vec insertl (unsigned char, vector unsigned char, unsigned int);
vector unsigned short
vec insertl (unsigned short, vector unsigned short, unsigned int);
vector unsigned int
vec insertl (unsigned int, vector unsigned int, unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long
vec insertl (unsigned long long, vector unsigned long long,
834 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

unsigned int);
vector unsigned char
vec insertl (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, unsigned int;
vector unsigned short
vec insertl (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short,
unsigned int);
vector unsigned int
vec insertl (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int, unsigned int);
Let src be the first argument, when the first argument is a scalar, or the rightmost element
of the left doubleword of the first argument, when the first argument is a vector. Insert
the source into the destination at the position given by the third argument, using natural
element order in the second argument. The rest of the second argument is unchanged. If
the byte index is greater than 14 for halfwords, greater than 12 for words, or greater than
8 for doublewords the result is undefined. For little-endian, the generated code will be
semantically equivalent to vins[bhwd]rx instructions. Similarly for big-endian it will be
semantically equivalent to vins[bhwd]lx. Note that some fairly anomalous results can be
generated if the byte index is not aligned on an element boundary for the type of element
being inserted.
vector unsigned char
vec inserth (unsigned char, vector unsigned char, unsigned int);
vector unsigned short
vec inserth (unsigned short, vector unsigned short, unsigned int);
vector unsigned int
vec inserth (unsigned int, vector unsigned int, unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long
vec inserth (unsigned long long, vector unsigned long long,
unsigned int);
vector unsigned char
vec inserth (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, unsigned int);
vector unsigned short
vec inserth (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short,
unsigned int);
vector unsigned int
vec inserth (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int, unsigned int);
Let src be the first argument, when the first argument is a scalar, or the rightmost
element of the first argument, when the first argument is a vector. Insert src into the
second argument at the position identified by the third argument, using opposite element
order in the second argument, and leaving the rest of the second argument unchanged. If
the byte index is greater than 14 for halfwords, 12 for words, or 8 for doublewords, the
intrinsic will be rejected. Note that the underlying hardware instruction uses the same
register for the second argument and the result. For little-endian, the code generation will
be semantically equivalent to vins[bhwd]lx, while for big-endian it will be semantically
equivalent to vins[bhwd]rx. Note that some fairly anomalous results can be generated if
the byte index is not aligned on an element boundary for the sort of element being inserted.

Vector Replace Element

vector signed int vec replace elt (vector signed int, signed int,
const int);
vector unsigned int vec replace elt (vector unsigned int,
unsigned int, const int);
vector float vec replace elt (vector float, float, const int);
vector signed long long vec replace elt (vector signed long long,
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 835

signed long long, const int);

vector unsigned long long vec replace elt (vector unsigned long long,
unsigned long long, const int);
vector double rec replace elt (vector double, double, const int);
The third argument (constrained to [0,3]) identifies the natural-endian element number
of the first argument that will be replaced by the second argument to produce the result.
The other elements of the first argument will remain unchanged in the result.
If it’s desirable to insert a word at an unaligned position, use vec replace unaligned
instead.
Vector Replace Unaligned
vector unsigned char vec replace unaligned (vector unsigned char,
signed int, const int);
vector unsigned char vec replace unaligned (vector unsigned char,
unsigned int, const int);
vector unsigned char vec replace unaligned (vector unsigned char,
float, const int);
vector unsigned char vec replace unaligned (vector unsigned char,
signed long long, const int);
vector unsigned char vec replace unaligned (vector unsigned char,
unsigned long long, const int);
vector unsigned char vec replace unaligned (vector unsigned char,
double, const int);
The second argument replaces a portion of the first argument to produce the result, with
the rest of the first argument unchanged in the result. The third argument identifies the
byte index (using left-to-right, or big-endian order) where the high-order byte of the second
argument will be placed, with the remaining bytes of the second argument placed naturally
"to the right" of the high-order byte.
The programmer is responsible for understanding the endianness issues involved with the
first argument and the result.
Vector Shift Left Double Bit Immediate
vector signed char vec sldb (vector signed char, vector signed char,
const unsigned int);
vector unsigned char vec sldb (vector unsigned char,
vector unsigned char, const unsigned int);
vector signed short vec sldb (vector signed short, vector signed short,
const unsigned int);
vector unsigned short vec sldb (vector unsigned short,
vector unsigned short, const unsigned int);
vector signed int vec sldb (vector signed int, vector signed int,
const unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec sldb (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int,
const unsigned int);
vector signed long long vec sldb (vector signed long long,
vector signed long long, const unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long vec sldb (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long, const unsigned int);
Shift the combined input vectors left by the amount specified by the low-order three
bits of the third argument, and return the leftmost remaining 128 bits. Code using this
instruction must be endian-aware.
Vector Shift Right Double Bit Immediate
836 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector signed char vec srdb (vector signed char, vector signed char,
const unsigned int);
vector unsigned char vec srdb (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char,
const unsigned int);
vector signed short vec srdb (vector signed short, vector signed short,
const unsigned int);
vector unsigned short vec srdb (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short,
const unsigned int);
vector signed int vec srdb (vector signed int, vector signed int,
const unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec srdb (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int,
const unsigned int);
vector signed long long vec srdb (vector signed long long,
vector signed long long, const unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long vec srdb (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long, const unsigned int);
Shift the combined input vectors right by the amount specified by the low-order three
bits of the third argument, and return the remaining 128 bits. Code using this built-in must
be endian-aware.
Vector Splat
vector signed int vec splati (const signed int);
vector float vec splati (const float);
Splat a 32-bit immediate into a vector of words.
vector double vec splatid (const float);
Convert a single precision floating-point value to double-precision and splat the result to
a vector of double-precision floats.
vector signed int vec splati ins (vector signed int,
const unsigned int, const signed int);
vector unsigned int vec splati ins (vector unsigned int,
const unsigned int, const unsigned int);
vector float vec splati ins (vector float, const unsigned int,
const float);
Argument 2 must be either 0 or 1. Splat the value of argument 3 into the word identified
by argument 2 of each doubleword of argument 1 and return the result. The other words
of argument 1 are unchanged.
Vector Blend Variable
vector signed char vec blendv (vector signed char, vector signed char,
vector unsigned char);
vector unsigned char vec blendv (vector unsigned char,
vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char);
vector signed short vec blendv (vector signed short,
vector signed short, vector unsigned short);
vector unsigned short vec blendv (vector unsigned short,
vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short);
vector signed int vec blendv (vector signed int, vector signed int,
vector unsigned int);
vector unsigned int vec blendv (vector unsigned int,
vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int);
vector signed long long vec blendv (vector signed long long,
vector signed long long, vector unsigned long long);
vector unsigned long long vec blendv (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long, vector unsigned long long);
vector float vec blendv (vector float, vector float,
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 837

vector unsigned int);

vector double vec blendv (vector double, vector double,
vector unsigned long long);
Blend the first and second argument vectors according to the sign bits of the corresponding
elements of the third argument vector. This is similar to the vsel and xxsel instructions
but for bigger elements.
Vector Permute Extended
vector signed char vec permx (vector signed char, vector signed char,
vector unsigned char, const int);
vector unsigned char vec permx (vector unsigned char,
vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char, const int);
vector signed short vec permx (vector signed short,
vector signed short, vector unsigned char, const int);
vector unsigned short vec permx (vector unsigned short,
vector unsigned short, vector unsigned char, const int);
vector signed int vec permx (vector signed int, vector signed int,
vector unsigned char, const int);
vector unsigned int vec permx (vector unsigned int,
vector unsigned int, vector unsigned char, const int);
vector signed long long vec permx (vector signed long long,
vector signed long long, vector unsigned char, const int);
vector unsigned long long vec permx (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long, vector unsigned char, const int);
vector float (vector float, vector float, vector unsigned char,
const int);
vector double (vector double, vector double, vector unsigned char,
const int);
Perform a partial permute of the first two arguments, which form a 32-byte section of
an emulated vector up to 256 bytes wide, using the partial permute control vector in the
third argument. The fourth argument (constrained to values of 0-7) identifies which 32-byte
section of the emulated vector is contained in the first two arguments.
vector unsigned long long int
vec pext (vector unsigned long long int, vector unsigned long long int);
Perform a vector parallel bit extract operation, as if implemented by the vpextd instruc-
tion.
vector unsigned char vec stril (vector unsigned char);
vector signed char vec stril (vector signed char);
vector unsigned short vec stril (vector unsigned short);
vector signed short vec stril (vector signed short);
Isolate the left-most non-zero elements of the incoming vector argument, replacing all
elements to the right of the left-most zero element found within the argument with zero.
The typical implementation uses the vstribl or vstrihl instruction on big-endian targets
and uses the vstribr or vstrihr instruction on little-endian targets.
int vec stril p (vector unsigned char);
int vec stril p (vector signed char);
int short vec stril p (vector unsigned short);
int vec stril p (vector signed short);
Return a non-zero value if and only if the argument contains a zero element. The typical
implementation uses the vstribl. or vstrihl. instruction on big-endian targets and uses
the vstribr. or vstrihr. instruction on little-endian targets. Choose this built-in to check
for presence of zero element if the same argument is also passed to vec_stril.
838 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector unsigned char vec strir (vector unsigned char);

vector signed char vec strir (vector signed char);
vector unsigned short vec strir (vector unsigned short);
vector signed short vec strir (vector signed short);
Isolate the right-most non-zero elements of the incoming vector argument, replacing all
elements to the left of the right-most zero element found within the argument with zero.
The typical implementation uses the vstribr or vstrihr instruction on big-endian targets
and uses the vstribl or vstrihl instruction on little-endian targets.
int vec strir p (vector unsigned char);
int vec strir p (vector signed char);
int short vec strir p (vector unsigned short);
int vec strir p (vector signed short);
Return a non-zero value if and only if the argument contains a zero element. The typical
implementation uses the vstribr. or vstrihr. instruction on big-endian targets and uses
the vstribl. or vstrihl. instruction on little-endian targets. Choose this built-in to check
for presence of zero element if the same argument is also passed to vec_strir.
vector unsigned char
vec ternarylogic (vector unsigned char, vector unsigned char,
vector unsigned char, const unsigned int);
vector unsigned short
vec ternarylogic (vector unsigned short, vector unsigned short,
vector unsigned short, const unsigned int);
vector unsigned int
vec ternarylogic (vector unsigned int, vector unsigned int,
vector unsigned int, const unsigned int);
vector unsigned long long int
vec ternarylogic (vector unsigned long long int, vector unsigned long long int,
vector unsigned long long int, const unsigned int);
vector unsigned int128
vec ternarylogic (vector unsigned int128, vector unsigned int128,
vector unsigned __int128, const unsigned int);
Perform a 128-bit vector evaluate operation, as if implemented by the xxeval instruction.
The fourth argument must be a literal integer value between 0 and 255 inclusive.
vector unsigned char vec genpcvm (vector unsigned char, const int);
vector unsigned short vec genpcvm (vector unsigned short, const int);
vector unsigned int vec genpcvm (vector unsigned int, const int);
vector unsigned int vec genpcvm (vector unsigned long long int,
const int);
Vector Integer Multiply/Divide/Modulo
vector signed int
vec mulh (vector signed int a, vector signed int b);
vector unsigned int
vec mulh (vector unsigned int a, vector unsigned int b);
For each integer value i from 0 to 3, do the following. The integer value in word element
i of a is multiplied by the integer value in word element i of b. The high-order 32 bits of
the 64-bit product are placed into word element i of the vector returned.
vector signed long long
vec mulh (vector signed long long a, vector signed long long b);
vector unsigned long long
vec mulh (vector unsigned long long a, vector unsigned long long b);
For each integer value i from 0 to 1, do the following. The integer value in doubleword
element i of a is multiplied by the integer value in doubleword element i of b. The high-
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 839

order 64 bits of the 128-bit product are placed into doubleword element i of the vector
returned.
vector unsigned long long
vec mul (vector unsigned long long a, vector unsigned long long b);
vector signed long long
vec mul (vector signed long long a, vector signed long long b);
For each integer value i from 0 to 1, do the following. The integer value in doubleword
element i of a is multiplied by the integer value in doubleword element i of b. The low-order
64 bits of the 128-bit product are placed into doubleword element i of the vector returned.
vector signed int
vec div (vector signed int a, vector signed int b);
vector unsigned int
vec div (vector unsigned int a, vector unsigned int b);
For each integer value i from 0 to 3, do the following. The integer in word element i of
a is divided by the integer in word element i of b. The unique integer quotient is placed
into the word element i of the vector returned. If an attempt is made to perform any of
the divisions <anything> 0 then the quotient is undefined.
vector signed long long
vec div (vector signed long long a, vector signed long long b);
vector unsigned long long
vec div (vector unsigned long long a, vector unsigned long long b);
For each integer value i from 0 to 1, do the following. The integer in doubleword element
i of a is divided by the integer in doubleword element i of b. The unique integer quotient
is placed into the doubleword element i of the vector returned. If an attempt is made to
perform any of the divisions 0x8000 0000 0000 0000 -1 or <anything> 0 then the quotient
is undefined.
vector signed int
vec dive (vector signed int a, vector signed int b);
vector unsigned int
vec dive (vector unsigned int a, vector unsigned int b);
For each integer value i from 0 to 3, do the following. The integer in word element i of
a is shifted left by 32 bits, then divided by the integer in word element i of b. The unique
integer quotient is placed into the word element i of the vector returned. If the quotient
cannot be represented in 32 bits, or if an attempt is made to perform any of the divisions
<anything> 0 then the quotient is undefined.
vector signed long long
vec dive (vector signed long long a, vector signed long long b);
vector unsigned long long
vec dive (vector unsigned long long a, vector unsigned long long b);
For each integer value i from 0 to 1, do the following. The integer in doubleword element
i of a is shifted left by 64 bits, then divided by the integer in doubleword element i of b.
The unique integer quotient is placed into the doubleword element i of the vector returned.
If the quotient cannot be represented in 64 bits, or if an attempt is made to perform
<anything> 0 then the quotient is undefined.
vector signed int
vec mod (vector signed int a, vector signed int b);
vector unsigned int
vec mod (vector unsigned int a, vector unsigned int b);
840 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

For each integer value i from 0 to 3, do the following. The integer in word element i of
a is divided by the integer in word element i of b. The unique integer remainder is placed
into the word element i of the vector returned. If an attempt is made to perform any of
the divisions 0x8000 0000 -1 or <anything> 0 then the remainder is undefined.
vector signed long long
vec mod (vector signed long long a, vector signed long long b);
vector unsigned long long
vec mod (vector unsigned long long a, vector unsigned long long b);
For each integer value i from 0 to 1, do the following. The integer in doubleword element
i of a is divided by the integer in doubleword element i of b. The unique integer remainder
is placed into the doubleword element i of the vector returned. If an attempt is made to
perform <anything> 0 then the remainder is undefined.
Generate PCV from specified Mask size, as if implemented by the xxgenpcvbm,
xxgenpcvhm, xxgenpcvwm instructions, where immediate value is either 0, 1, 2 or 3.
vector unsigned int128 vec rl (vector unsigned int128 A,
vector unsigned __int128 B);
vector signed int128 vec rl (vector signed int128 A,
vector unsigned __int128 B);
Result value: Each element of R is obtained by rotating the corresponding element of A
left by the number of bits specified by the corresponding element of B.
vector unsigned int128 vec rlmi (vector unsigned int128,
vector unsigned __int128,
vector unsigned __int128);
vector signed int128 vec rlmi (vector signed int128,
vector signed __int128,
vector unsigned __int128);
Returns the result of rotating the first input and inserting it under mask into the second
input. The first bit in the mask, the last bit in the mask are obtained from the two 7-bit
fields bits [108:115] and bits [117:123] respectively of the second input. The shift is obtained
from the third input in the 7-bit field [125:131] where all bits counted from zero at the left.
vector unsigned int128 vec rlnm (vector unsigned int128,
vector unsigned __int128,
vector unsigned __int128);
vector signed int128 vec rlnm (vector signed int128,
vector unsigned __int128,
vector unsigned __int128);
Returns the result of rotating the first input and ANDing it with a mask. The first bit in
the mask and the last bit in the mask are obtained from the two 7-bit fields bits [117:123]
and bits [125:131] respectively of the second input. The shift is obtained from the third
input in the 7-bit field bits [125:131] where all bits counted from zero at the left.
vector unsigned int128 vec sl(vector unsigned int128 A, vector unsigned int128 B);
vector signed int128 vec sl(vector signed int128 A, vector unsigned int128 B);
Result value: Each element of R is obtained by shifting the corresponding element of A
left by the number of bits specified by the corresponding element of B.
vector unsigned int128 vec sr(vector unsigned int128 A, vector unsigned int128 B);
vector signed int128 vec sr(vector signed int128 A, vector unsigned int128 B);
Result value: Each element of R is obtained by shifting the corresponding element of A
right by the number of bits specified by the corresponding element of B.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 841

vector unsigned int128 vec sra(vector unsigned int128 A, vector unsigned int128 B);
vector signed int128 vec sra(vector signed int128 A, vector unsigned int128 B);
Result value: Each element of R is obtained by arithmetic shifting the corresponding
element of A right by the number of bits specified by the corresponding element of B.
vector unsigned int128 vec mule (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);
vector signed int128 vec mule (vector signed long long,
vector signed long long);
Returns a vector containing a 128-bit integer result of multiplying the even doubleword
elements of the two inputs.
vector unsigned int128 vec mulo (vector unsigned long long,
vector unsigned long long);
vector signed int128 vec mulo (vector signed long long,
vector signed long long);
Returns a vector containing a 128-bit integer result of multiplying the odd doubleword
elements of the two inputs.
vector unsigned int128 vec div (vector unsigned int128,
vector unsigned __int128);
vector signed int128 vec div (vector signed int128,
vector signed __int128);
Returns the result of dividing the first operand by the second operand. An attempt to
divide any value by zero or to divide the most negative signed 128-bit integer by negative
one results in an undefined value.
vector unsigned int128 vec dive (vector unsigned int128,
vector unsigned __int128);
vector signed int128 vec dive (vector signed int128,
vector signed __int128);
The result is produced by shifting the first input left by 128 bits and dividing by the
second. If an attempt is made to divide by zero or the result is larger than 128 bits, the
result is undefined.
vector unsigned int128 vec mod (vector unsigned int128,
vector unsigned __int128);
vector signed int128 vec mod (vector signed int128,
vector signed __int128);
The result is the modulo result of dividing the first input by the second input.
The following builtins perform 128-bit vector comparisons. The vec_all_xx, vec_any_
xx, and vec_cmpxx, where xx is one of the operations eq, ne, gt, lt, ge, le perform
pairwise comparisons between the elements at the same positions within their two vector
arguments. The vec_all_xxfunction returns a non-zero value if and only if all pairwise
comparisons are true. The vec_any_xx function returns a non-zero value if and only if at
least one pairwise comparison is true. The vec_cmpxxfunction returns a vector of the same
type as its two arguments, within which each element consists of all ones to denote that
specified logical comparison of the corresponding elements was true. Otherwise, the element
of the returned vector contains all zeros.
vector bool __int128 vec_cmpeq (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmpeq (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmpne (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmpne (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmpgt (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
842 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

vector bool __int128 vec_cmpgt (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmplt (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmplt (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmpge (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmpge (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmple (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
vector bool __int128 vec_cmple (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);

int vec_all_eq (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);

int vec_all_eq (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_all_ne (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_all_ne (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_all_gt (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_all_gt (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_all_lt (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_all_lt (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_all_ge (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_all_ge (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_all_le (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_all_le (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);

int vec_any_eq (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);

int vec_any_eq (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_any_ne (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_any_ne (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_any_gt (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_any_gt (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_any_lt (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_any_lt (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_any_ge (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_any_ge (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);
int vec_any_le (vector signed __int128, vector signed __int128);
int vec_any_le (vector unsigned __int128, vector unsigned __int128);

6.60.23 PowerPC Hardware Transactional Memory Built-in

Functions
GCC provides two interfaces for accessing the Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM)
instructions available on some of the PowerPC family of processors (eg, POWER8). The two
interfaces come in a low level interface, consisting of built-in functions specific to PowerPC
and a higher level interface consisting of inline functions that are common between PowerPC
and S/390.

6.60.23.1 PowerPC HTM Low Level Built-in Functions

The following low level built-in functions are available with ‘-mhtm’ or ‘-mcpu=CPU’ where
CPU is ‘power8’ or later. They all generate the machine instruction that is part of the
name.
The HTM builtins (with the exception of __builtin_tbegin) return the full 4-bit condi-
tion register value set by their associated hardware instruction. The header file htmintrin.h
defines some macros that can be used to decipher the return value. The __builtin_tbegin
builtin returns a simple true or false value depending on whether a transaction was suc-
cessfully started or not. The arguments of the builtins match exactly the type and order of
the associated hardware instruction’s operands, except for the __builtin_tcheck builtin,
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 843

which does not take any input arguments. Refer to the ISA manual for a description of
each instruction’s operands.
unsigned int __builtin_tbegin (unsigned int);
unsigned int __builtin_tend (unsigned int);

unsigned int __builtin_tabort (unsigned int);

unsigned int __builtin_tabortdc (unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int);
unsigned int __builtin_tabortdci (unsigned int, unsigned int, int);
unsigned int __builtin_tabortwc (unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int);
unsigned int __builtin_tabortwci (unsigned int, unsigned int, int);

unsigned int __builtin_tcheck (void);

unsigned int __builtin_treclaim (unsigned int);
unsigned int __builtin_trechkpt (void);
unsigned int __builtin_tsr (unsigned int);
In addition to the above HTM built-ins, we have added built-ins for some common ex-
tended mnemonics of the HTM instructions:
unsigned int __builtin_tendall (void);
unsigned int __builtin_tresume (void);
unsigned int __builtin_tsuspend (void);
Note that the semantics of the above HTM builtins are required to mimic
the locking semantics used for critical sections. Builtins that are used to create
a new transaction or restart a suspended transaction must have lock acquisi-
tion like semantics while those builtins that end or suspend a transaction must
have lock release like semantics. Specifically, this must mimic lock semantics
as specified by C++11, for example: Lock acquisition is as-if an execution of
atomic exchange n(&globallock,1, ATOMIC ACQUIRE) that returns 0, and lock
release is as-if an execution of atomic store(&globallock,0, ATOMIC RELEASE),
with globallock being an implicit implementation-defined lock used for all transactions.
The HTM instructions associated with with the builtins inherently provide the correct
acquisition and release hardware barriers required. However, the compiler must also be
prohibited from moving loads and stores across the builtins in a way that would violate
their semantics. This has been accomplished by adding memory barriers to the associated
HTM instructions (which is a conservative approach to provide acquire and release
semantics). Earlier versions of the compiler did not treat the HTM instructions as memory
barriers. A __TM_FENCE__ macro has been added, which can be used to determine whether
the current compiler treats HTM instructions as memory barriers or not. This allows the
user to explicitly add memory barriers to their code when using an older version of the
compiler.
The following set of built-in functions are available to gain access to the HTM specific
special purpose registers.
unsigned long __builtin_get_texasr (void);
unsigned long __builtin_get_texasru (void);
unsigned long __builtin_get_tfhar (void);
unsigned long __builtin_get_tfiar (void);

void __builtin_set_texasr (unsigned long);

void __builtin_set_texasru (unsigned long);
void __builtin_set_tfhar (unsigned long);
void __builtin_set_tfiar (unsigned long);
Example usage of these low level built-in functions may look like:
844 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

#include <htmintrin.h>

int num_retries = 10;

while (1)
{
if (__builtin_tbegin (0))
{
/* Transaction State Initiated. */
if (is_locked (lock))
__builtin_tabort (0);
... transaction code...
__builtin_tend (0);
break;
}
else
{
/* Transaction State Failed. Use locks if the transaction
failure is "persistent" or we’ve tried too many times. */
if (num_retries-- <= 0
|| _TEXASRU_FAILURE_PERSISTENT (__builtin_get_texasru ()))
{
acquire_lock (lock);
... non transactional fallback path...
release_lock (lock);
break;
}
}
}

One final built-in function has been added that returns the value of the 2-bit Transaction
State field of the Machine Status Register (MSR) as stored in CR0.
unsigned long __builtin_ttest (void)

This built-in can be used to determine the current transaction state using the following
code example:
#include <htmintrin.h>

unsigned char tx_state = _HTM_STATE (__builtin_ttest ());

if (tx_state == _HTM_TRANSACTIONAL)
{
/* Code to use in transactional state. */
}
else if (tx_state == _HTM_NONTRANSACTIONAL)
{
/* Code to use in non-transactional state. */
}
else if (tx_state == _HTM_SUSPENDED)
{
/* Code to use in transaction suspended state. */
}

6.60.23.2 PowerPC HTM High Level Inline Functions

The following high level HTM interface is made available by including <htmxlintrin.h>
and using ‘-mhtm’ or ‘-mcpu=CPU’ where CPU is ‘power8’ or later. This interface is common
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 845

between PowerPC and S/390, allowing users to write one HTM source implementation that
can be compiled and executed on either system.

long __TM_simple_begin (void);

long __TM_begin (void* const TM_buff);
long __TM_end (void);
void __TM_abort (void);
void __TM_named_abort (unsigned char const code);
void __TM_resume (void);
void __TM_suspend (void);

long __TM_is_user_abort (void* const TM_buff);

long __TM_is_named_user_abort (void* const TM_buff, unsigned char *code);
long __TM_is_illegal (void* const TM_buff);
long __TM_is_footprint_exceeded (void* const TM_buff);
long __TM_nesting_depth (void* const TM_buff);
long __TM_is_nested_too_deep(void* const TM_buff);
long __TM_is_conflict(void* const TM_buff);
long __TM_is_failure_persistent(void* const TM_buff);
long __TM_failure_address(void* const TM_buff);
long long __TM_failure_code(void* const TM_buff);

Using these common set of HTM inline functions, we can create a more portable version
of the HTM example in the previous section that will work on either PowerPC or S/390:

#include <htmxlintrin.h>

int num_retries = 10;

TM_buff_type TM_buff;

while (1)
{
if (__TM_begin (TM_buff) == _HTM_TBEGIN_STARTED)
{
/* Transaction State Initiated. */
if (is_locked (lock))
__TM_abort ();
... transaction code...
__TM_end ();
break;
}
else
{
/* Transaction State Failed. Use locks if the transaction
failure is "persistent" or we’ve tried too many times. */
if (num_retries-- <= 0
|| __TM_is_failure_persistent (TM_buff))
{
acquire_lock (lock);
... non transactional fallback path...
release_lock (lock);
break;
}
}
}
846 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

6.60.24 PowerPC Atomic Memory Operation Functions

ISA 3.0 of the PowerPC added new atomic memory operation (amo) instructions. GCC
provides support for these instructions in 64-bit environments. All of the functions are
declared in the include file amo.h.

The functions supported are:

#include <amo.h>

uint32_t amo_lwat_add (uint32_t *, uint32_t);

uint32_t amo_lwat_xor (uint32_t *, uint32_t);
uint32_t amo_lwat_ior (uint32_t *, uint32_t);
uint32_t amo_lwat_and (uint32_t *, uint32_t);
uint32_t amo_lwat_umax (uint32_t *, uint32_t);
uint32_t amo_lwat_umin (uint32_t *, uint32_t);
uint32_t amo_lwat_swap (uint32_t *, uint32_t);

int32_t amo_lwat_sadd (int32_t *, int32_t);

int32_t amo_lwat_smax (int32_t *, int32_t);
int32_t amo_lwat_smin (int32_t *, int32_t);
int32_t amo_lwat_sswap (int32_t *, int32_t);

uint64_t amo_ldat_add (uint64_t *, uint64_t);

uint64_t amo_ldat_xor (uint64_t *, uint64_t);
uint64_t amo_ldat_ior (uint64_t *, uint64_t);
uint64_t amo_ldat_and (uint64_t *, uint64_t);
uint64_t amo_ldat_umax (uint64_t *, uint64_t);
uint64_t amo_ldat_umin (uint64_t *, uint64_t);
uint64_t amo_ldat_swap (uint64_t *, uint64_t);

int64_t amo_ldat_sadd (int64_t *, int64_t);

int64_t amo_ldat_smax (int64_t *, int64_t);
int64_t amo_ldat_smin (int64_t *, int64_t);
int64_t amo_ldat_sswap (int64_t *, int64_t);

void amo_stwat_add (uint32_t *, uint32_t);

void amo_stwat_xor (uint32_t *, uint32_t);
void amo_stwat_ior (uint32_t *, uint32_t);
void amo_stwat_and (uint32_t *, uint32_t);
void amo_stwat_umax (uint32_t *, uint32_t);
void amo_stwat_umin (uint32_t *, uint32_t);

void amo_stwat_sadd (int32_t *, int32_t);

void amo_stwat_smax (int32_t *, int32_t);
void amo_stwat_smin (int32_t *, int32_t);

void amo_stdat_add (uint64_t *, uint64_t);

void amo_stdat_xor (uint64_t *, uint64_t);
void amo_stdat_ior (uint64_t *, uint64_t);
void amo_stdat_and (uint64_t *, uint64_t);
void amo_stdat_umax (uint64_t *, uint64_t);
void amo_stdat_umin (uint64_t *, uint64_t);

void amo_stdat_sadd (int64_t *, int64_t);

void amo_stdat_smax (int64_t *, int64_t);
void amo_stdat_smin (int64_t *, int64_t);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 847

6.60.25 PowerPC Matrix-Multiply Assist Built-in Functions

ISA 3.1 of the PowerPC added new Matrix-Multiply Assist (MMA) instructions. GCC
provides support for these instructions through the following built-in functions which are
enabled with the -mmma option. The vec t type below is defined to be a normal vector un-
signed char type. The uint2, uint4 and uint8 parameters are 2-bit, 4-bit and 8-bit unsigned
integer constants respectively. The compiler will verify that they are constants and that
their values are within range.
The built-in functions supported are:
void __builtin_mma_xvi4ger8 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvi8ger4 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvi16ger2 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvi16ger2s (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf16ger2 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvbf16ger2 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf32ger (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);

void __builtin_mma_xvi4ger8pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);

void __builtin_mma_xvi8ger4pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvi8ger4spp(__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvi16ger2pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvi16ger2spp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf16ger2pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf16ger2pn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf16ger2np (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf16ger2nn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvbf16ger2pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvbf16ger2pn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvbf16ger2np (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvbf16ger2nn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf32gerpp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf32gerpn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf32gernp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf32gernn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvi4ger8 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint8);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvi4ger8pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint8);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvi8ger4 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint4);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvi8ger4pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint4);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvi8ger4spp(__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint4);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvi16ger2 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvi16ger2s (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf16ger2 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvbf16ger2 (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvi16ger2pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvi16ger2spp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf16ger2pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf16ger2pn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf16ger2np (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf16ger2nn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvbf16ger2pp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvbf16ger2pn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvbf16ger2np (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvbf16ger2nn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4, uint2);
848 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void __builtin_mma_pmxvf32ger (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvf32gerpp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf32gerpn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf32gernp (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf32gernn (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, uint4, uint4);

void __builtin_mma_xvf64ger (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t);

void __builtin_mma_xvf64gerpp (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf64gerpn (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf64gernp (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t);
void __builtin_mma_xvf64gernn (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvf64ger (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t, uint4, uint2);

void __builtin_mma_pmxvf64gerpp (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf64gerpn (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf64gernp (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t, uint4, uint2);
void __builtin_mma_pmxvf64gernn (__vector_quad *, __vector_pair, vec_t, uint4, uint2);

void __builtin_mma_xxmtacc (__vector_quad *);

void __builtin_mma_xxmfacc (__vector_quad *);
void __builtin_mma_xxsetaccz (__vector_quad *);

void __builtin_mma_build_acc (__vector_quad *, vec_t, vec_t, vec_t, vec_t);

void __builtin_mma_disassemble_acc (void *, __vector_quad *);

void __builtin_vsx_build_pair (__vector_pair *, vec_t, vec_t);

void __builtin_vsx_disassemble_pair (void *, __vector_pair *);

vec_t __builtin_vsx_xvcvspbf16 (vec_t);

vec_t __builtin_vsx_xvcvbf16spn (vec_t);

__vector_pair __builtin_vsx_lxvp (size_t, __vector_pair *);

void __builtin_vsx_stxvp (__vector_pair, size_t, __vector_pair *);

6.60.26 PRU Built-in Functions

GCC provides a couple of special builtin functions to aid in utilizing special PRU instruc-
tions.
The built-in functions supported are:

__delay_cycles (long long cycles)

This inserts an instruction sequence that takes exactly cycles cycles (between
0 and 0xffffffff) to complete. The inserted sequence may use jumps, loops, or
no-ops, and does not interfere with any other instructions. Note that cycles
must be a compile-time constant integer - that is, you must pass a number, not
a variable that may be optimized to a constant later. The number of cycles
delayed by this builtin is exact.
__halt (void)
This inserts a HALT instruction to stop processor execution.
unsigned int __lmbd (unsigned int wordval, unsigned int bitval)
This inserts LMBD instruction to calculate the left-most bit with value bitval
in value wordval. Only the least significant bit of bitval is taken into account.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 849

6.60.27 RISC-V Built-in Functions

These built-in functions are available for the RISC-V family of processors.
void * __builtin_thread_pointer (void) [Built-in Function]
Returns the value that is currently set in the ‘tp’ register.
void __builtin_riscv_pause (void) [Built-in Function]
Generates the pause (hint) machine instruction. This implies the Xgnuzihintpauses-
tate extension, which redefines the pause instruction to change architectural state.

6.60.28 RX Built-in Functions

GCC supports some of the RX instructions which cannot be expressed in the C programming
language via the use of built-in functions. The following functions are supported:
void __builtin_rx_brk (void) [Built-in Function]
Generates the brk machine instruction.
void __builtin_rx_clrpsw (int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the clrpsw machine instruction to clear the specified bit in the processor
status word.
void __builtin_rx_int (int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the int machine instruction to generate an interrupt with the specified
value.
void __builtin_rx_machi (int, int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the machi machine instruction to add the result of multiplying the top 16
bits of the two arguments into the accumulator.
void __builtin_rx_maclo (int, int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the maclo machine instruction to add the result of multiplying the bottom
16 bits of the two arguments into the accumulator.
void __builtin_rx_mulhi (int, int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the mulhi machine instruction to place the result of multiplying the top
16 bits of the two arguments into the accumulator.
void __builtin_rx_mullo (int, int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the mullo machine instruction to place the result of multiplying the bottom
16 bits of the two arguments into the accumulator.
int __builtin_rx_mvfachi (void) [Built-in Function]
Generates the mvfachi machine instruction to read the top 32 bits of the accumulator.
int __builtin_rx_mvfacmi (void) [Built-in Function]
Generates the mvfacmi machine instruction to read the middle 32 bits of the accu-
mulator.
int __builtin_rx_mvfc (int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the mvfc machine instruction which reads the control register specified in
its argument and returns its value.
850 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void __builtin_rx_mvtachi (int) [Built-in Function]

Generates the mvtachi machine instruction to set the top 32 bits of the accumulator.
void __builtin_rx_mvtaclo (int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the mvtaclo machine instruction to set the bottom 32 bits of the accumu-
lator.
void __builtin_rx_mvtc (int reg, int val) [Built-in Function]
Generates the mvtc machine instruction which sets control register number reg to
val.
void __builtin_rx_mvtipl (int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the mvtipl machine instruction set the interrupt priority level.
void __builtin_rx_racw (int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the racw machine instruction to round the accumulator according to the
specified mode.
int __builtin_rx_revw (int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the revw machine instruction which swaps the bytes in the argument so
that bits 0–7 now occupy bits 8–15 and vice versa, and also bits 16–23 occupy bits
24–31 and vice versa.
void __builtin_rx_rmpa (void) [Built-in Function]
Generates the rmpa machine instruction which initiates a repeated multiply and ac-
cumulate sequence.
void __builtin_rx_round (float) [Built-in Function]
Generates the round machine instruction which returns the floating-point argument
rounded according to the current rounding mode set in the floating-point status word
register.
int __builtin_rx_sat (int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the sat machine instruction which returns the saturated value of the ar-
gument.
void __builtin_rx_setpsw (int) [Built-in Function]
Generates the setpsw machine instruction to set the specified bit in the processor
status word.
void __builtin_rx_wait (void) [Built-in Function]
Generates the wait machine instruction.

6.60.29 S/390 System z Built-in Functions

int __builtin_tbegin (void*) [Built-in Function]
Generates the tbegin machine instruction starting a non-constrained hardware trans-
action. If the parameter is non-NULL the memory area is used to store the transaction
diagnostic buffer and will be passed as first operand to tbegin. This buffer can be
defined using the struct __htm_tdb C struct defined in htmintrin.h and must re-
side on a double-word boundary. The second tbegin operand is set to 0xff0c. This
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 851

enables save/restore of all GPRs and disables aborts for FPR and AR manipulations
inside the transaction body. The condition code set by the tbegin instruction is re-
turned as integer value. The tbegin instruction by definition overwrites the content
of all FPRs. The compiler will generate code which saves and restores the FPRs. For
soft-float code it is recommended to used the *_nofloat variant. In order to prevent
a TDB from being written it is required to pass a constant zero value as parameter.
Passing a zero value through a variable is not sufficient. Although modifications of
access registers inside the transaction will not trigger an transaction abort it is not
supported to actually modify them. Access registers do not get saved when entering
a transaction. They will have undefined state when reaching the abort code.

Macros for the possible return codes of tbegin are defined in the htmintrin.h header file:
_HTM_TBEGIN_STARTED
tbegin has been executed as part of normal processing. The transaction body
is supposed to be executed.
_HTM_TBEGIN_INDETERMINATE
The transaction was aborted due to an indeterminate condition which might
be persistent.
_HTM_TBEGIN_TRANSIENT
The transaction aborted due to a transient failure. The transaction should be
re-executed in that case.
_HTM_TBEGIN_PERSISTENT
The transaction aborted due to a persistent failure. Re-execution under same
circumstances will not be productive.

_HTM_FIRST_USER_ABORT_CODE [Macro]
The _HTM_FIRST_USER_ABORT_CODE defined in htmintrin.h specifies the first abort
code which can be used for __builtin_tabort. Values below this threshold are
reserved for machine use.

struct __htm_tdb [Data type]

The struct __htm_tdb defined in htmintrin.h describes the structure of the trans-
action diagnostic block as specified in the Principles of Operation manual chapter
5-91.

int __builtin_tbegin_nofloat (void*) [Built-in Function]

Same as __builtin_tbegin but without FPR saves and restores. Using this variant
in code making use of FPRs will leave the FPRs in undefined state when entering the
transaction abort handler code.

int __builtin_tbegin_retry (void*, int) [Built-in Function]

In addition to __builtin_tbegin a loop for transient failures is generated. If tbegin
returns a condition code of 2 the transaction will be retried as often as specified in the
second argument. The perform processor assist instruction is used to tell the CPU
about the number of fails so far.
852 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

int __builtin_tbegin_retry_nofloat (void*, int) [Built-in Function]

Same as __builtin_tbegin_retry but without FPR saves and restores. Using this
variant in code making use of FPRs will leave the FPRs in undefined state when
entering the transaction abort handler code.

void __builtin_tbeginc (void) [Built-in Function]

Generates the tbeginc machine instruction starting a constrained hardware transac-
tion. The second operand is set to 0xff08.

int __builtin_tend (void) [Built-in Function]

Generates the tend machine instruction finishing a transaction and making the
changes visible to other threads. The condition code generated by tend is returned
as integer value.

void __builtin_tabort (int) [Built-in Function]

Generates the tabort machine instruction with the specified abort code. Abort codes
from 0 through 255 are reserved and will result in an error message.

void __builtin_tx_assist (int) [Built-in Function]

Generates the ppa rX,rY,1 machine instruction. Where the integer parameter is
loaded into rX and a value of zero is loaded into rY. The integer parameter specifies
the number of times the transaction repeatedly aborted.

int __builtin_tx_nesting_depth (void) [Built-in Function]

Generates the etnd machine instruction. The current nesting depth is returned as
integer value. For a nesting depth of 0 the code is not executed as part of an trans-
action.

void __builtin_non_tx_store (uint64 t *, uint64 t) [Built-in Function]

Generates the ntstg machine instruction. The second argument is written to the
first arguments location. The store operation will not be rolled-back in case of an
transaction abort.

6.60.30 SH Built-in Functions

The following built-in functions are supported on the SH1, SH2, SH3 and SH4 families of
processors:

void __builtin_set_thread_pointer (void *ptr) [Built-in Function]

Sets the ‘GBR’ register to the specified value ptr. This is usually used by system
code that manages threads and execution contexts. The compiler normally does not
generate code that modifies the contents of ‘GBR’ and thus the value is preserved across
function calls. Changing the ‘GBR’ value in user code must be done with caution, since
the compiler might use ‘GBR’ in order to access thread local variables.

void * __builtin_thread_pointer (void) [Built-in Function]

Returns the value that is currently set in the ‘GBR’ register. Memory loads and stores
that use the thread pointer as a base address are turned into ‘GBR’ based displacement
loads and stores, if possible. For example:
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 853

struct my_tcb
{
int a, b, c, d, e;
};

int get_tcb_value (void)

{
// Generate ‘mov.l @(8,gbr),r0’ instruction
return ((my_tcb*)__builtin_thread_pointer ())->c;
}

unsigned int __builtin_sh_get_fpscr (void) [Built-in Function]

Returns the value that is currently set in the ‘FPSCR’ register.
void __builtin_sh_set_fpscr (unsigned int val) [Built-in Function]
Sets the ‘FPSCR’ register to the specified value val, while preserving the current values
of the FR, SZ and PR bits.

6.60.31 SPARC VIS Built-in Functions

GCC supports SIMD operations on the SPARC using both the generic vector extensions
(see Section 6.52 [Vector Extensions], page 724) as well as built-in functions for the SPARC
Visual Instruction Set (VIS). When you use the ‘-mvis’ switch, the VIS extension is exposed
as the following built-in functions:
typedef int v1si __attribute__ ((vector_size (4)));
typedef int v2si __attribute__ ((vector_size (8)));
typedef short v4hi __attribute__ ((vector_size (8)));
typedef short v2hi __attribute__ ((vector_size (4)));
typedef unsigned char v8qi __attribute__ ((vector_size (8)));
typedef unsigned char v4qi __attribute__ ((vector_size (4)));

void __builtin_vis_write_gsr (int64_t);

int64_t __builtin_vis_read_gsr (void);

void * __builtin_vis_alignaddr (void *, long);

void * __builtin_vis_alignaddrl (void *, long);
int64_t __builtin_vis_faligndatadi (int64_t, int64_t);
v2si __builtin_vis_faligndatav2si (v2si, v2si);
v4hi __builtin_vis_faligndatav4hi (v4si, v4si);
v8qi __builtin_vis_faligndatav8qi (v8qi, v8qi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fexpand (v4qi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fmul8x16 (v4qi, v4hi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fmul8x16au (v4qi, v2hi);
v4hi __builtin_vis_fmul8x16al (v4qi, v2hi);
v4hi __builtin_vis_fmul8sux16 (v8qi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_vis_fmul8ulx16 (v8qi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_vis_fmuld8sux16 (v4qi, v2hi);
v2si __builtin_vis_fmuld8ulx16 (v4qi, v2hi);

v4qi __builtin_vis_fpack16 (v4hi);

v8qi __builtin_vis_fpack32 (v2si, v8qi);
v2hi __builtin_vis_fpackfix (v2si);
v8qi __builtin_vis_fpmerge (v4qi, v4qi);
854 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

int64_t __builtin_vis_pdist (v8qi, v8qi, int64_t);

long __builtin_vis_edge8 (void *, void *);

long __builtin_vis_edge8l (void *, void *);
long __builtin_vis_edge16 (void *, void *);
long __builtin_vis_edge16l (void *, void *);
long __builtin_vis_edge32 (void *, void *);
long __builtin_vis_edge32l (void *, void *);

long __builtin_vis_fcmple16 (v4hi, v4hi);

long __builtin_vis_fcmple32 (v2si, v2si);
long __builtin_vis_fcmpne16 (v4hi, v4hi);
long __builtin_vis_fcmpne32 (v2si, v2si);
long __builtin_vis_fcmpgt16 (v4hi, v4hi);
long __builtin_vis_fcmpgt32 (v2si, v2si);
long __builtin_vis_fcmpeq16 (v4hi, v4hi);
long __builtin_vis_fcmpeq32 (v2si, v2si);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fpadd16 (v4hi, v4hi);

v2hi __builtin_vis_fpadd16s (v2hi, v2hi);
v2si __builtin_vis_fpadd32 (v2si, v2si);
v1si __builtin_vis_fpadd32s (v1si, v1si);
v4hi __builtin_vis_fpsub16 (v4hi, v4hi);
v2hi __builtin_vis_fpsub16s (v2hi, v2hi);
v2si __builtin_vis_fpsub32 (v2si, v2si);
v1si __builtin_vis_fpsub32s (v1si, v1si);

long __builtin_vis_array8 (long, long);

long __builtin_vis_array16 (long, long);
long __builtin_vis_array32 (long, long);
When you use the ‘-mvis2’ switch, the VIS version 2.0 built-in functions also become
available:
long __builtin_vis_bmask (long, long);
int64_t __builtin_vis_bshuffledi (int64_t, int64_t);
v2si __builtin_vis_bshufflev2si (v2si, v2si);
v4hi __builtin_vis_bshufflev2si (v4hi, v4hi);
v8qi __builtin_vis_bshufflev2si (v8qi, v8qi);

long __builtin_vis_edge8n (void *, void *);

long __builtin_vis_edge8ln (void *, void *);
long __builtin_vis_edge16n (void *, void *);
long __builtin_vis_edge16ln (void *, void *);
long __builtin_vis_edge32n (void *, void *);
long __builtin_vis_edge32ln (void *, void *);
When you use the ‘-mvis3’ switch, the VIS version 3.0 built-in functions also become
available:
void __builtin_vis_cmask8 (long);
void __builtin_vis_cmask16 (long);
void __builtin_vis_cmask32 (long);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fchksm16 (v4hi, v4hi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fsll16 (v4hi, v4hi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fslas16 (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_vis_fsrl16 (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_vis_fsra16 (v4hi, v4hi);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 855

v2si __builtin_vis_fsll16 (v2si, v2si);

v2si __builtin_vis_fslas16 (v2si, v2si);
v2si __builtin_vis_fsrl16 (v2si, v2si);
v2si __builtin_vis_fsra16 (v2si, v2si);

long __builtin_vis_pdistn (v8qi, v8qi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fmean16 (v4hi, v4hi);

int64_t __builtin_vis_fpadd64 (int64_t, int64_t);

int64_t __builtin_vis_fpsub64 (int64_t, int64_t);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fpadds16 (v4hi, v4hi);

v2hi __builtin_vis_fpadds16s (v2hi, v2hi);
v4hi __builtin_vis_fpsubs16 (v4hi, v4hi);
v2hi __builtin_vis_fpsubs16s (v2hi, v2hi);
v2si __builtin_vis_fpadds32 (v2si, v2si);
v1si __builtin_vis_fpadds32s (v1si, v1si);
v2si __builtin_vis_fpsubs32 (v2si, v2si);
v1si __builtin_vis_fpsubs32s (v1si, v1si);

long __builtin_vis_fucmple8 (v8qi, v8qi);

long __builtin_vis_fucmpne8 (v8qi, v8qi);
long __builtin_vis_fucmpgt8 (v8qi, v8qi);
long __builtin_vis_fucmpeq8 (v8qi, v8qi);

float __builtin_vis_fhadds (float, float);

double __builtin_vis_fhaddd (double, double);
float __builtin_vis_fhsubs (float, float);
double __builtin_vis_fhsubd (double, double);
float __builtin_vis_fnhadds (float, float);
double __builtin_vis_fnhaddd (double, double);

int64_t __builtin_vis_umulxhi (int64_t, int64_t);

int64_t __builtin_vis_xmulx (int64_t, int64_t);
int64_t __builtin_vis_xmulxhi (int64_t, int64_t);

When you use the ‘-mvis4’ switch, the VIS version 4.0 built-in functions also become
available:
v8qi __builtin_vis_fpadd8 (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_vis_fpadds8 (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_vis_fpaddus8 (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_vis_fpaddus16 (v4hi, v4hi);

v8qi __builtin_vis_fpsub8 (v8qi, v8qi);

v8qi __builtin_vis_fpsubs8 (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_vis_fpsubus8 (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_vis_fpsubus16 (v4hi, v4hi);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmple8 (v8qi, v8qi);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpgt8 (v8qi, v8qi);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpule16 (v4hi, v4hi);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpugt16 (v4hi, v4hi);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpule32 (v2si, v2si);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpugt32 (v2si, v2si);

v8qi __builtin_vis_fpmax8 (v8qi, v8qi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fpmax16 (v4hi, v4hi);
856 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v2si __builtin_vis_fpmax32 (v2si, v2si);

v8qi __builtin_vis_fpmaxu8 (v8qi, v8qi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fpmaxu16 (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_vis_fpmaxu32 (v2si, v2si);

v8qi __builtin_vis_fpmin8 (v8qi, v8qi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fpmin16 (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_vis_fpmin32 (v2si, v2si);

v8qi __builtin_vis_fpminu8 (v8qi, v8qi);

v4hi __builtin_vis_fpminu16 (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_vis_fpminu32 (v2si, v2si);
When you use the ‘-mvis4b’ switch, the VIS version 4.0B built-in functions also become
available:
v8qi __builtin_vis_dictunpack8 (double, int);
v4hi __builtin_vis_dictunpack16 (double, int);
v2si __builtin_vis_dictunpack32 (double, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmple8shl (v8qi, v8qi, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpgt8shl (v8qi, v8qi, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpeq8shl (v8qi, v8qi, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpne8shl (v8qi, v8qi, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmple16shl (v4hi, v4hi, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpgt16shl (v4hi, v4hi, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpeq16shl (v4hi, v4hi, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpne16shl (v4hi, v4hi, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmple32shl (v2si, v2si, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpgt32shl (v2si, v2si, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpeq32shl (v2si, v2si, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpne32shl (v2si, v2si, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpule8shl (v8qi, v8qi, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpugt8shl (v8qi, v8qi, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpule16shl (v4hi, v4hi, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpugt16shl (v4hi, v4hi, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpule32shl (v2si, v2si, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpugt32shl (v2si, v2si, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpde8shl (v8qi, v8qi, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpde16shl (v4hi, v4hi, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpde32shl (v2si, v2si, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpur8shl (v8qi, v8qi, int);

long __builtin_vis_fpcmpur16shl (v4hi, v4hi, int);
long __builtin_vis_fpcmpur32shl (v2si, v2si, int);

6.60.32 TI C6X Built-in Functions

GCC provides intrinsics to access certain instructions of the TI C6X processors. These
intrinsics, listed below, are available after inclusion of the c6x_intrinsics.h header file.
They map directly to C6X instructions.
int _sadd (int, int);
int _ssub (int, int);
int _sadd2 (int, int);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 857

int _ssub2 (int, int);

long long _mpy2 (int, int);
long long _smpy2 (int, int);
int _add4 (int, int);
int _sub4 (int, int);
int _saddu4 (int, int);

int _smpy (int, int);

int _smpyh (int, int);
int _smpyhl (int, int);
int _smpylh (int, int);

int _sshl (int, int);

int _subc (int, int);

int _avg2 (int, int);

int _avgu4 (int, int);

int _clrr (int, int);

int _extr (int, int);
int _extru (int, int);
int _abs (int);
int _abs2 (int);

6.60.33 x86 Built-in Functions

These built-in functions are available for the x86-32 and x86-64 family of computers, de-
pending on the command-line switches used.
If you specify command-line switches such as ‘-msse’, the compiler could use the extended
instruction sets even if the built-ins are not used explicitly in the program. For this reason,
applications that perform run-time 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.
The following machine modes are available for use with MMX built-in functions (see
Section 6.52 [Vector Extensions], page 724): V2SI for a vector of two 32-bit integers, V4HI
for a vector of four 16-bit integers, and V8QI for a vector of eight 8-bit integers. Some of
the built-in functions operate on MMX registers as a whole 64-bit entity, these use V1DI as
their mode.
If 3DNow! extensions are enabled, V2SF is used as a mode for a vector of two 32-bit
floating-point values.
If SSE extensions are enabled, V4SF is used for a vector of four 32-bit floating-point
values. Some instructions use a vector of four 32-bit integers, these use V4SI. Finally, some
instructions operate on an entire vector register, interpreting it as a 128-bit integer, these
use mode TI.
The x86-32 and x86-64 family of processors use additional built-in functions for efficient
use of TF (__float128) 128-bit floating point and TC 128-bit complex floating-point values.
The following floating-point built-in functions are always available. All of them implement
the function that is part of the name.
__float128 __builtin_fabsq (__float128)
__float128 __builtin_copysignq (__float128, __float128)
The following built-in functions are always available.
858 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

__float128 __builtin_infq (void)

Similar to __builtin_inf, except the return type is __float128.
__float128 __builtin_huge_valq (void)
Similar to __builtin_huge_val, except the return type is __float128.
__float128 __builtin_nanq (void)
Similar to __builtin_nan, except the return type is __float128.
__float128 __builtin_nansq (void)
Similar to __builtin_nans, except the return type is __float128.
The following built-in function is always available.
void __builtin_ia32_pause (void)
Generates the pause machine instruction with a compiler memory barrier.
The following built-in functions are always available and can be used to check the target
platform type.

void __builtin_cpu_init (void) [Built-in Function]

This function runs the CPU detection code to check the type of CPU and the features
supported. This built-in function needs to be invoked along with the built-in functions
to check CPU type and features, __builtin_cpu_is and __builtin_cpu_supports,
only when used in a function that is executed before any constructors are called. The
CPU detection code is automatically executed in a very high priority constructor.
For example, this function has to be used in ifunc resolvers that check for CPU type
using the built-in functions __builtin_cpu_is and __builtin_cpu_supports, or in
constructors on targets that don’t support constructor priority.

static void (*resolve_memcpy (void)) (void)

{
// ifunc resolvers fire before constructors, explicitly call the init
// function.
__builtin_cpu_init ();
if (__builtin_cpu_supports ("ssse3"))
return ssse3_memcpy; // super fast memcpy with ssse3 instructions.
else
return default_memcpy;
}

void *memcpy (void *, const void *, size_t)

__attribute__ ((ifunc ("resolve_memcpy")));

int __builtin_cpu_is (const char *cpuname) [Built-in Function]

This function returns a positive integer if the run-time CPU is of type cpuname and
returns 0 otherwise. The following CPU names can be detected:
‘amd’ AMD CPU.
‘intel’ Intel CPU.
‘atom’ Intel Atom CPU.
‘slm’ Intel Silvermont CPU.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 859

‘core2’ Intel Core 2 CPU.

‘corei7’ Intel Core i7 CPU.
‘nehalem’ Intel Core i7 Nehalem CPU.
‘westmere’
Intel Core i7 Westmere CPU.
‘sandybridge’
Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge CPU.
‘ivybridge’
Intel Core i7 Ivy Bridge CPU.
‘haswell’ Intel Core i7 Haswell CPU.
‘broadwell’
Intel Core i7 Broadwell CPU.
‘skylake’ Intel Core i7 Skylake CPU.
‘skylake-avx512’
Intel Core i7 Skylake AVX512 CPU.
‘cannonlake’
Intel Core i7 Cannon Lake CPU.
‘icelake-client’
Intel Core i7 Ice Lake Client CPU.
‘icelake-server’
Intel Core i7 Ice Lake Server CPU.
‘cascadelake’
Intel Core i7 Cascadelake CPU.
‘tigerlake’
Intel Core i7 Tigerlake CPU.
‘cooperlake’
Intel Core i7 Cooperlake CPU.
‘sapphirerapids’
Intel Core i7 sapphirerapids CPU.
‘alderlake’
Intel Core i7 Alderlake CPU.
‘rocketlake’
Intel Core i7 Rocketlake CPU.
‘graniterapids’
Intel Core i7 graniterapids CPU.
‘bonnell’ Intel Atom Bonnell CPU.
‘silvermont’
Intel Atom Silvermont CPU.
860 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘goldmont’
Intel Atom Goldmont CPU.
‘goldmont-plus’
Intel Atom Goldmont Plus CPU.
‘tremont’ Intel Atom Tremont CPU.
‘sierraforest’
Intel Atom Sierra Forest CPU.
‘grandridge’
Intel Atom Grand Ridge CPU.
‘knl’ Intel Knights Landing CPU.
‘knm’ Intel Knights Mill CPU.
‘lujiazui’
ZHAOXIN lujiazui CPU.
‘amdfam10h’
AMD Family 10h CPU.
‘barcelona’
AMD Family 10h Barcelona CPU.
‘shanghai’
AMD Family 10h Shanghai CPU.
‘istanbul’
AMD Family 10h Istanbul CPU.
‘btver1’ AMD Family 14h CPU.
‘amdfam15h’
AMD Family 15h CPU.
‘bdver1’ AMD Family 15h Bulldozer version 1.
‘bdver2’ AMD Family 15h Bulldozer version 2.
‘bdver3’ AMD Family 15h Bulldozer version 3.
‘bdver4’ AMD Family 15h Bulldozer version 4.
‘btver2’ AMD Family 16h CPU.
‘amdfam17h’
AMD Family 17h CPU.
‘znver1’ AMD Family 17h Zen version 1.
‘znver2’ AMD Family 17h Zen version 2.
‘amdfam19h’
AMD Family 19h CPU.
‘znver3’ AMD Family 19h Zen version 3.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 861

‘znver4’ AMD Family 19h Zen version 4.

Here is an example:
if (__builtin_cpu_is ("corei7"))
{
do_corei7 (); // Core i7 specific implementation.
}
else
{
do_generic (); // Generic implementation.
}

int __builtin_cpu_supports (const char *feature) [Built-in Function]

This function returns a positive integer if the run-time CPU supports feature and
returns 0 otherwise. The following features can be detected:
‘cmov’ CMOV instruction.
‘mmx’ MMX instructions.
‘popcnt’ POPCNT instruction.
‘sse’ SSE instructions.
‘sse2’ SSE2 instructions.
‘sse3’ SSE3 instructions.
‘ssse3’ SSSE3 instructions.
‘sse4.1’ SSE4.1 instructions.
‘sse4.2’ SSE4.2 instructions.
‘avx’ AVX instructions.
‘avx2’ AVX2 instructions.
‘sse4a’ SSE4A instructions.
‘fma4’ FMA4 instructions.
‘xop’ XOP instructions.
‘fma’ FMA instructions.
‘avx512f’ AVX512F instructions.
‘bmi’ BMI instructions.
‘bmi2’ BMI2 instructions.
‘aes’ AES instructions.
‘pclmul’ PCLMUL instructions.
‘avx512vl’
AVX512VL instructions.
‘avx512bw’
AVX512BW instructions.
862 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

‘avx512dq’
AVX512DQ instructions.
‘avx512cd’
AVX512CD instructions.
‘avx512er’
AVX512ER instructions.
‘avx512pf’
AVX512PF instructions.
‘avx512vbmi’
AVX512VBMI instructions.
‘avx512ifma’
AVX512IFMA instructions.
‘avx5124vnniw’
AVX5124VNNIW instructions.
‘avx5124fmaps’
AVX5124FMAPS instructions.
‘avx512vpopcntdq’
AVX512VPOPCNTDQ instructions.
‘avx512vbmi2’
AVX512VBMI2 instructions.
‘gfni’ GFNI instructions.
‘vpclmulqdq’
VPCLMULQDQ instructions.
‘avx512vnni’
AVX512VNNI instructions.
‘avx512bitalg’
AVX512BITALG instructions.
‘x86-64’ Baseline x86-64 microarchitecture level (as defined in x86-64 psABI).
‘x86-64-v2’
x86-64-v2 microarchitecture level.
‘x86-64-v3’
x86-64-v3 microarchitecture level.
‘x86-64-v4’
x86-64-v4 microarchitecture level.
Here is an example:
if (__builtin_cpu_supports ("popcnt"))
{
asm("popcnt %1,%0" : "=r"(count) : "rm"(n) : "cc");
}
else
{
count = generic_countbits (n); //generic implementation.
}
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 863

The following built-in functions are made available by ‘-mmmx’. All of them generate the
machine instruction that is part of the name.
v8qi __builtin_ia32_paddb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_paddw (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_paddd (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_psubb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_psubw (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_psubd (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_paddsb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_paddsw (v4hi, v4hi);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_psubsb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_psubsw (v4hi, v4hi);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_paddusb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_paddusw (v4hi, v4hi);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_psubusb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_psubusw (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pmullw (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhw (v4hi, v4hi);
di __builtin_ia32_pand (di, di);
di __builtin_ia32_pandn (di,di);
di __builtin_ia32_por (di, di);
di __builtin_ia32_pxor (di, di);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqw (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqd (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtb (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtw (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtd (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_punpckhbw (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_punpckhwd (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_punpckhdq (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_punpcklbw (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_punpcklwd (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_punpckldq (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_packsswb (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_packssdw (v2si, v2si);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_packuswb (v4hi, v4hi);

v4hi __builtin_ia32_psllw (v4hi, v4hi);

v2si __builtin_ia32_pslld (v2si, v2si);
v1di __builtin_ia32_psllq (v1di, v1di);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_psrlw (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_psrld (v2si, v2si);
v1di __builtin_ia32_psrlq (v1di, v1di);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_psraw (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_psrad (v2si, v2si);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_psllwi (v4hi, int);
v2si __builtin_ia32_pslldi (v2si, int);
v1di __builtin_ia32_psllqi (v1di, int);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_psrlwi (v4hi, int);
v2si __builtin_ia32_psrldi (v2si, int);
v1di __builtin_ia32_psrlqi (v1di, int);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_psrawi (v4hi, int);
v2si __builtin_ia32_psradi (v2si, int);
The following built-in functions are made available either with ‘-msse’, or with
‘-m3dnowa’. All of them generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhuw (v4hi, v4hi);
864 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v8qi __builtin_ia32_pavgb (v8qi, v8qi);

v4hi __builtin_ia32_pavgw (v4hi, v4hi);
v1di __builtin_ia32_psadbw (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_pmaxub (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pmaxsw (v4hi, v4hi);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_pminub (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pminsw (v4hi, v4hi);
int __builtin_ia32_pmovmskb (v8qi);
void __builtin_ia32_maskmovq (v8qi, v8qi, char *);
void __builtin_ia32_movntq (di *, di);
void __builtin_ia32_sfence (void);

The following built-in functions are available when ‘-msse’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
int __builtin_ia32_comieq (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_comineq (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_comilt (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_comile (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_comigt (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_comige (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomieq (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomineq (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomilt (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomile (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomigt (v4sf, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomige (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_addps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_subps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_mulps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_divps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_addss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_subss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_mulss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_divss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpeqps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpltps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpleps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpgtps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpgeps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpunordps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpneqps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpnltps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpnleps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpngtps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpngeps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpordps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpeqss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpltss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpless (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpunordss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpneqss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpnltss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpnless (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpordss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_maxps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_maxss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_minps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_minss (v4sf, v4sf);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 865

v4sf __builtin_ia32_andps (v4sf, v4sf);

v4sf __builtin_ia32_andnps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_orps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_xorps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_movss (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_movhlps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_movlhps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_unpckhps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_unpcklps (v4sf, v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cvtpi2ps (v4sf, v2si);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cvtsi2ss (v4sf, int);
v2si __builtin_ia32_cvtps2pi (v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_cvtss2si (v4sf);
v2si __builtin_ia32_cvttps2pi (v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_cvttss2si (v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_rcpps (v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_rsqrtps (v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_sqrtps (v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_rcpss (v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_rsqrtss (v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_sqrtss (v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_shufps (v4sf, v4sf, int);
void __builtin_ia32_movntps (float *, v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_movmskps (v4sf);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-msse’ is used.
v4sf __builtin_ia32_loadups (float *)
Generates the movups machine instruction as a load from memory.
void __builtin_ia32_storeups (float *, v4sf)
Generates the movups machine instruction as a store to memory.
v4sf __builtin_ia32_loadss (float *)
Generates the movss machine instruction as a load from memory.
v4sf __builtin_ia32_loadhps (v4sf, const v2sf *)
Generates the movhps machine instruction as a load from memory.
v4sf __builtin_ia32_loadlps (v4sf, const v2sf *)
Generates the movlps machine instruction as a load from memory
void __builtin_ia32_storehps (v2sf *, v4sf)
Generates the movhps machine instruction as a store to memory.
void __builtin_ia32_storelps (v2sf *, v4sf)
Generates the movlps machine instruction as a store to memory.
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-msse2’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
int __builtin_ia32_comisdeq (v2df, v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_comisdlt (v2df, v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_comisdle (v2df, v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_comisdgt (v2df, v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_comisdge (v2df, v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_comisdneq (v2df, v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomisdeq (v2df, v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomisdlt (v2df, v2df);
866 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

int __builtin_ia32_ucomisdle (v2df, v2df);

int __builtin_ia32_ucomisdgt (v2df, v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomisdge (v2df, v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_ucomisdneq (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpeqpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpltpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmplepd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpgtpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpgepd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpunordpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpneqpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpnltpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpnlepd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpngtpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpngepd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpordpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpeqsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpltsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmplesd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpunordsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpneqsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpnltsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpnlesd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpordsd (v2df, v2df);
v2di __builtin_ia32_paddq (v2di, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psubq (v2di, v2di);
v2df __builtin_ia32_addpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_subpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_mulpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_divpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_addsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_subsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_mulsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_divsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_minpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_maxpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_minsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_maxsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_andpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_andnpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_orpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_xorpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_movsd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_unpckhpd (v2df, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_unpcklpd (v2df, v2df);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_paddb128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_paddw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_paddd128 (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_paddq128 (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_psubb128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_psubw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_psubd128 (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psubq128 (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pmullw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pand128 (v2di, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pandn128 (v2di, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_por128 (v2di, v2di);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 867

v2di __builtin_ia32_pxor128 (v2di, v2di);

v16qi __builtin_ia32_pavgb128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pavgw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqb128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqd128 (v4si, v4si);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtb128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtd128 (v4si, v4si);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pmaxub128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pmaxsw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pminub128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pminsw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_punpckhbw128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_punpckhwd128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_punpckhdq128 (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_punpckhqdq128 (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_punpcklbw128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_punpcklwd128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_punpckldq128 (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_punpcklqdq128 (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_packsswb128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_packssdw128 (v4si, v4si);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_packuswb128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhuw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
void __builtin_ia32_maskmovdqu (v16qi, v16qi);
v2df __builtin_ia32_loadupd (double *);
void __builtin_ia32_storeupd (double *, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_loadhpd (v2df, double const *);
v2df __builtin_ia32_loadlpd (v2df, double const *);
int __builtin_ia32_movmskpd (v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_pmovmskb128 (v16qi);
void __builtin_ia32_movnti (int *, int);
void __builtin_ia32_movnti64 (long long int *, long long int);
void __builtin_ia32_movntpd (double *, v2df);
void __builtin_ia32_movntdq (v2df *, v2df);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pshufd (v4si, int);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pshuflw (v8hi, int);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pshufhw (v8hi, int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psadbw128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v2df __builtin_ia32_sqrtpd (v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_sqrtsd (v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_shufpd (v2df, v2df, int);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cvtdq2pd (v4si);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cvtdq2ps (v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_cvtpd2dq (v2df);
v2si __builtin_ia32_cvtpd2pi (v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cvtpd2ps (v2df);
v4si __builtin_ia32_cvttpd2dq (v2df);
v2si __builtin_ia32_cvttpd2pi (v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cvtpi2pd (v2si);
int __builtin_ia32_cvtsd2si (v2df);
int __builtin_ia32_cvttsd2si (v2df);
long long __builtin_ia32_cvtsd2si64 (v2df);
long long __builtin_ia32_cvttsd2si64 (v2df);
v4si __builtin_ia32_cvtps2dq (v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cvtps2pd (v4sf);
v4si __builtin_ia32_cvttps2dq (v4sf);
868 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v2df __builtin_ia32_cvtsi2sd (v2df, int);

v2df __builtin_ia32_cvtsi642sd (v2df, long long);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cvtsd2ss (v4sf, v2df);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cvtss2sd (v2df, v4sf);
void __builtin_ia32_clflush (const void *);
void __builtin_ia32_lfence (void);
void __builtin_ia32_mfence (void);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_loaddqu (const char *);
void __builtin_ia32_storedqu (char *, v16qi);
v1di __builtin_ia32_pmuludq (v2si, v2si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pmuludq128 (v4si, v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_psllw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pslld128 (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psllq128 (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_psrlw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_psrld128 (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psrlq128 (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_psraw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_psrad128 (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pslldqi128 (v2di, int);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_psllwi128 (v8hi, int);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pslldi128 (v4si, int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psllqi128 (v2di, int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psrldqi128 (v2di, int);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_psrlwi128 (v8hi, int);
v4si __builtin_ia32_psrldi128 (v4si, int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psrlqi128 (v2di, int);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_psrawi128 (v8hi, int);
v4si __builtin_ia32_psradi128 (v4si, int);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pmaddwd128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_movq128 (v2di);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-msse3’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v2df __builtin_ia32_addsubpd (v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_addsubps (v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_haddpd (v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_haddps (v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_hsubpd (v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_hsubps (v4sf, v4sf);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_lddqu (char const *);
void __builtin_ia32_monitor (void *, unsigned int, unsigned int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_movshdup (v4sf);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_movsldup (v4sf);
void __builtin_ia32_mwait (unsigned int, unsigned int);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mssse3’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v2si __builtin_ia32_phaddd (v2si, v2si);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_phaddw (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_phaddsw (v4hi, v4hi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_phsubd (v2si, v2si);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_phsubw (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_phsubsw (v4hi, v4hi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pmaddubsw (v8qi, v8qi);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhrsw (v4hi, v4hi);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_pshufb (v8qi, v8qi);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_psignb (v8qi, v8qi);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 869

v2si __builtin_ia32_psignd (v2si, v2si);

v4hi __builtin_ia32_psignw (v4hi, v4hi);
v1di __builtin_ia32_palignr (v1di, v1di, int);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_pabsb (v8qi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_pabsd (v2si);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pabsw (v4hi);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mssse3’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v4si __builtin_ia32_phaddd128 (v4si, v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_phaddw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_phaddsw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_phsubd128 (v4si, v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_phsubw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_phsubsw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pmaddubsw128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhrsw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pshufb128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_psignb128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_psignd128 (v4si, v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_psignw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_palignr128 (v2di, v2di, int);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pabsb128 (v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pabsd128 (v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pabsw128 (v8hi);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-msse4.1’ is used. All of them
generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v2df __builtin_ia32_blendpd (v2df, v2df, const int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_blendps (v4sf, v4sf, const int);
v2df __builtin_ia32_blendvpd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_blendvps (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_dppd (v2df, v2df, const int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_dpps (v4sf, v4sf, const int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_insertps128 (v4sf, v4sf, const int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_movntdqa (v2di *);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_mpsadbw128 (v16qi, v16qi, const int);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_packusdw128 (v4si, v4si);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pblendvb128 (v16qi, v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pblendw128 (v8hi, v8hi, const int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_phminposuw128 (v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pmaxsb128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pmaxsd128 (v4si, v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pmaxud128 (v4si, v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pmaxuw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pminsb128 (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pminsd128 (v4si, v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pminud128 (v4si, v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pminuw128 (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pmovsxbd128 (v16qi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pmovsxbq128 (v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_pmovsxbw128 (v16qi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pmovsxdq128 (v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pmovsxwd128 (v8hi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pmovsxwq128 (v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pmovzxbd128 (v16qi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pmovzxbq128 (v16qi);
870 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v8hi __builtin_ia32_pmovzxbw128 (v16qi);

v2di __builtin_ia32_pmovzxdq128 (v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pmovzxwd128 (v8hi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pmovzxwq128 (v8hi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pmuldq128 (v4si, v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pmulld128 (v4si, v4si);
int __builtin_ia32_ptestc128 (v2di, v2di);
int __builtin_ia32_ptestnzc128 (v2di, v2di);
int __builtin_ia32_ptestz128 (v2di, v2di);
v2df __builtin_ia32_roundpd (v2df, const int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_roundps (v4sf, const int);
v2df __builtin_ia32_roundsd (v2df, v2df, const int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_roundss (v4sf, v4sf, const int);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-msse4.1’ is used.
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vec_set_v4sf (v4sf, float, const int)
Generates the insertps machine instruction.
int __builtin_ia32_vec_ext_v16qi (v16qi, const int)
Generates the pextrb machine instruction.
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vec_set_v16qi (v16qi, int, const int)
Generates the pinsrb machine instruction.
v4si __builtin_ia32_vec_set_v4si (v4si, int, const int)
Generates the pinsrd machine instruction.
v2di __builtin_ia32_vec_set_v2di (v2di, long long, const int)
Generates the pinsrq machine instruction in 64bit mode.
The following built-in functions are changed to generate new SSE4.1 instructions when
‘-msse4.1’ is used.
float __builtin_ia32_vec_ext_v4sf (v4sf, const int)
Generates the extractps machine instruction.
int __builtin_ia32_vec_ext_v4si (v4si, const int)
Generates the pextrd machine instruction.
long long __builtin_ia32_vec_ext_v2di (v2di, const int)
Generates the pextrq machine instruction in 64bit mode.
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-msse4.2’ is used. All of them
generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pcmpestrm128 (v16qi, int, v16qi, int, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpestri128 (v16qi, int, v16qi, int, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpestria128 (v16qi, int, v16qi, int, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpestric128 (v16qi, int, v16qi, int, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpestrio128 (v16qi, int, v16qi, int, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpestris128 (v16qi, int, v16qi, int, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpestriz128 (v16qi, int, v16qi, int, const int);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_pcmpistrm128 (v16qi, v16qi, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpistri128 (v16qi, v16qi, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpistria128 (v16qi, v16qi, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpistric128 (v16qi, v16qi, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpistrio128 (v16qi, v16qi, const int);
int __builtin_ia32_pcmpistris128 (v16qi, v16qi, const int);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 871

int __builtin_ia32_pcmpistriz128 (v16qi, v16qi, const int);

v2di __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtq (v2di, v2di);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-msse4.2’ is used.
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_crc32qi (unsigned int, unsigned char)
Generates the crc32b machine instruction.
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_crc32hi (unsigned int, unsigned short)
Generates the crc32w machine instruction.
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_crc32si (unsigned int, unsigned int)
Generates the crc32l machine instruction.
unsigned long long __builtin_ia32_crc32di (unsigned long long, unsigned long
long)
Generates the crc32q machine instruction.
The following built-in functions are changed to generate new SSE4.2 instructions when
‘-msse4.2’ is used.
int __builtin_popcount (unsigned int)
Generates the popcntl machine instruction.
int __builtin_popcountl (unsigned long)
Generates the popcntl or popcntq machine instruction, depending on the size
of unsigned long.
int __builtin_popcountll (unsigned long long)
Generates the popcntq machine instruction.
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mavx’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v4df __builtin_ia32_addpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_addps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_addsubpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_addsubps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_andnpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_andnps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_andpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_andps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_blendpd256 (v4df,v4df,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_blendps256 (v8sf,v8sf,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_blendvpd256 (v4df,v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_blendvps256 (v8sf,v8sf,v8sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmppd (v2df,v2df,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_cmppd256 (v4df,v4df,int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpps (v4sf,v4sf,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_cmpps256 (v8sf,v8sf,int);
v2df __builtin_ia32_cmpsd (v2df,v2df,int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cmpss (v4sf,v4sf,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_cvtdq2pd256 (v4si);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_cvtdq2ps256 (v8si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_cvtpd2dq256 (v4df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_cvtpd2ps256 (v4df);
v8si __builtin_ia32_cvtps2dq256 (v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_cvtps2pd256 (v4sf);
v4si __builtin_ia32_cvttpd2dq256 (v4df);
872 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v8si __builtin_ia32_cvttps2dq256 (v8sf);

v4df __builtin_ia32_divpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_divps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_dpps256 (v8sf,v8sf,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_haddpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_haddps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_hsubpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_hsubps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_lddqu256 (pcchar);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_loaddqu256 (pcchar);
v4df __builtin_ia32_loadupd256 (pcdouble);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_loadups256 (pcfloat);
v2df __builtin_ia32_maskloadpd (pcv2df,v2df);
v4df __builtin_ia32_maskloadpd256 (pcv4df,v4df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_maskloadps (pcv4sf,v4sf);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_maskloadps256 (pcv8sf,v8sf);
void __builtin_ia32_maskstorepd (pv2df,v2df,v2df);
void __builtin_ia32_maskstorepd256 (pv4df,v4df,v4df);
void __builtin_ia32_maskstoreps (pv4sf,v4sf,v4sf);
void __builtin_ia32_maskstoreps256 (pv8sf,v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_maxpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_maxps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_minpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_minps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_movddup256 (v4df);
int __builtin_ia32_movmskpd256 (v4df);
int __builtin_ia32_movmskps256 (v8sf);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_movshdup256 (v8sf);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_movsldup256 (v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_mulpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_mulps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_orpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_orps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_pd_pd256 (v4df);
v4df __builtin_ia32_pd256_pd (v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_ps_ps256 (v8sf);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_ps256_ps (v4sf);
int __builtin_ia32_ptestc256 (v4di,v4di,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_ptestnzc256 (v4di,v4di,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_ptestz256 (v4di,v4di,ptest);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_rcpps256 (v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_roundpd256 (v4df,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_roundps256 (v8sf,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_rsqrtps_nr256 (v8sf);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_rsqrtps256 (v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_shufpd256 (v4df,v4df,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_shufps256 (v8sf,v8sf,int);
v4si __builtin_ia32_si_si256 (v8si);
v8si __builtin_ia32_si256_si (v4si);
v4df __builtin_ia32_sqrtpd256 (v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_sqrtps_nr256 (v8sf);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_sqrtps256 (v8sf);
void __builtin_ia32_storedqu256 (pchar,v32qi);
void __builtin_ia32_storeupd256 (pdouble,v4df);
void __builtin_ia32_storeups256 (pfloat,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_subpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_subps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_unpckhpd256 (v4df,v4df);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 873

v8sf __builtin_ia32_unpckhps256 (v8sf,v8sf);

v4df __builtin_ia32_unpcklpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_unpcklps256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vbroadcastf128_pd256 (pcv2df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vbroadcastf128_ps256 (pcv4sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vbroadcastsd256 (pcdouble);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vbroadcastss (pcfloat);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vbroadcastss256 (pcfloat);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vextractf128_pd256 (v4df,int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vextractf128_ps256 (v8sf,int);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vextractf128_si256 (v8si,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vinsertf128_pd256 (v4df,v2df,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vinsertf128_ps256 (v8sf,v4sf,int);
v8si __builtin_ia32_vinsertf128_si256 (v8si,v4si,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vperm2f128_pd256 (v4df,v4df,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vperm2f128_ps256 (v8sf,v8sf,int);
v8si __builtin_ia32_vperm2f128_si256 (v8si,v8si,int);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vpermil2pd (v2df,v2df,v2di,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vpermil2pd256 (v4df,v4df,v4di,int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vpermil2ps (v4sf,v4sf,v4si,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vpermil2ps256 (v8sf,v8sf,v8si,int);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vpermilpd (v2df,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vpermilpd256 (v4df,int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vpermilps (v4sf,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vpermilps256 (v8sf,int);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vpermilvarpd (v2df,v2di);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vpermilvarpd256 (v4df,v4di);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vpermilvarps (v4sf,v4si);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vpermilvarps256 (v8sf,v8si);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestcpd (v2df,v2df,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestcpd256 (v4df,v4df,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestcps (v4sf,v4sf,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestcps256 (v8sf,v8sf,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestnzcpd (v2df,v2df,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestnzcpd256 (v4df,v4df,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestnzcps (v4sf,v4sf,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestnzcps256 (v8sf,v8sf,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestzpd (v2df,v2df,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestzpd256 (v4df,v4df,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestzps (v4sf,v4sf,ptest);
int __builtin_ia32_vtestzps256 (v8sf,v8sf,ptest);
void __builtin_ia32_vzeroall (void);
void __builtin_ia32_vzeroupper (void);
v4df __builtin_ia32_xorpd256 (v4df,v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_xorps256 (v8sf,v8sf);

The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mavx2’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v32qi __builtin_ia32_mpsadbw256 (v32qi,v32qi,int);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pabsb256 (v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pabsw256 (v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pabsd256 (v8si);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_packssdw256 (v8si,v8si);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_packsswb256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_packusdw256 (v8si,v8si);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_packuswb256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_paddb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_paddw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
874 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v8si __builtin_ia32_paddd256 (v8si,v8si);

v4di __builtin_ia32_paddq256 (v4di,v4di);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_paddsb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_paddsw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_paddusb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_paddusw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v4di __builtin_ia32_palignr256 (v4di,v4di,int);
v4di __builtin_ia32_andsi256 (v4di,v4di);
v4di __builtin_ia32_andnotsi256 (v4di,v4di);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pavgb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pavgw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pblendvb256 (v32qi,v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pblendw256 (v16hi,v16hi,int);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqd256 (c8si,v8si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pcmpeqq256 (v4di,v4di);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtw256 (16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtd256 (v8si,v8si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pcmpgtq256 (v4di,v4di);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_phaddw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_phaddd256 (v8si,v8si);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_phaddsw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_phsubw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_phsubd256 (v8si,v8si);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_phsubsw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pmaddubsw256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pmaddwd256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pmaxsb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pmaxsw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pmaxsd256 (v8si,v8si);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pmaxub256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pmaxuw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pmaxud256 (v8si,v8si);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pminsb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pminsw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pminsd256 (v8si,v8si);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pminub256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pminuw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pminud256 (v8si,v8si);
int __builtin_ia32_pmovmskb256 (v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pmovsxbw256 (v16qi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pmovsxbd256 (v16qi);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pmovsxbq256 (v16qi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pmovsxwd256 (v8hi);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pmovsxwq256 (v8hi);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pmovsxdq256 (v4si);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pmovzxbw256 (v16qi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pmovzxbd256 (v16qi);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pmovzxbq256 (v16qi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pmovzxwd256 (v8hi);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pmovzxwq256 (v8hi);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pmovzxdq256 (v4si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pmuldq256 (v8si,v8si);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhrsw256 (v16hi, v16hi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhuw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 875

v16hi __builtin_ia32_pmullw256 (v16hi,v16hi);

v8si __builtin_ia32_pmulld256 (v8si,v8si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pmuludq256 (v8si,v8si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_por256 (v4di,v4di);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psadbw256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pshufb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pshufd256 (v8si,int);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pshufhw256 (v16hi,int);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pshuflw256 (v16hi,int);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_psignb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psignw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_psignd256 (v8si,v8si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pslldqi256 (v4di,int);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psllwi256 (16hi,int);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psllw256(v16hi,v8hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pslldi256 (v8si,int);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pslld256(v8si,v4si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_psllqi256 (v4di,int);
v4di __builtin_ia32_psllq256(v4di,v2di);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psrawi256 (v16hi,int);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psraw256 (v16hi,v8hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_psradi256 (v8si,int);
v8si __builtin_ia32_psrad256 (v8si,v4si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_psrldqi256 (v4di, int);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psrlwi256 (v16hi,int);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psrlw256 (v16hi,v8hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_psrldi256 (v8si,int);
v8si __builtin_ia32_psrld256 (v8si,v4si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_psrlqi256 (v4di,int);
v4di __builtin_ia32_psrlq256(v4di,v2di);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_psubb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v32hi __builtin_ia32_psubw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_psubd256 (v8si,v8si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_psubq256 (v4di,v4di);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_psubsb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psubsw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_psubusb256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_psubusw256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_punpckhbw256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_punpckhwd256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_punpckhdq256 (v8si,v8si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_punpckhqdq256 (v4di,v4di);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_punpcklbw256 (v32qi,v32qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_punpcklwd256 (v16hi,v16hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_punpckldq256 (v8si,v8si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_punpcklqdq256 (v4di,v4di);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pxor256 (v4di,v4di);
v4di __builtin_ia32_movntdqa256 (pv4di);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vbroadcastss_ps (v4sf);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vbroadcastss_ps256 (v4sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vbroadcastsd_pd256 (v2df);
v4di __builtin_ia32_vbroadcastsi256 (v2di);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pblendd128 (v4si,v4si);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pblendd256 (v8si,v8si);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_pbroadcastb256 (v16qi);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_pbroadcastw256 (v8hi);
v8si __builtin_ia32_pbroadcastd256 (v4si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_pbroadcastq256 (v2di);
876 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v16qi __builtin_ia32_pbroadcastb128 (v16qi);

v8hi __builtin_ia32_pbroadcastw128 (v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_pbroadcastd128 (v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_pbroadcastq128 (v2di);
v8si __builtin_ia32_permvarsi256 (v8si,v8si);
v4df __builtin_ia32_permdf256 (v4df,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_permvarsf256 (v8sf,v8sf);
v4di __builtin_ia32_permdi256 (v4di,int);
v4di __builtin_ia32_permti256 (v4di,v4di,int);
v4di __builtin_ia32_extract128i256 (v4di,int);
v4di __builtin_ia32_insert128i256 (v4di,v2di,int);
v8si __builtin_ia32_maskloadd256 (pcv8si,v8si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_maskloadq256 (pcv4di,v4di);
v4si __builtin_ia32_maskloadd (pcv4si,v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_maskloadq (pcv2di,v2di);
void __builtin_ia32_maskstored256 (pv8si,v8si,v8si);
void __builtin_ia32_maskstoreq256 (pv4di,v4di,v4di);
void __builtin_ia32_maskstored (pv4si,v4si,v4si);
void __builtin_ia32_maskstoreq (pv2di,v2di,v2di);
v8si __builtin_ia32_psllv8si (v8si,v8si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_psllv4si (v4si,v4si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_psllv4di (v4di,v4di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psllv2di (v2di,v2di);
v8si __builtin_ia32_psrav8si (v8si,v8si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_psrav4si (v4si,v4si);
v8si __builtin_ia32_psrlv8si (v8si,v8si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_psrlv4si (v4si,v4si);
v4di __builtin_ia32_psrlv4di (v4di,v4di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_psrlv2di (v2di,v2di);
v2df __builtin_ia32_gathersiv2df (v2df, pcdouble,v4si,v2df,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_gathersiv4df (v4df, pcdouble,v4si,v4df,int);
v2df __builtin_ia32_gatherdiv2df (v2df, pcdouble,v2di,v2df,int);
v4df __builtin_ia32_gatherdiv4df (v4df, pcdouble,v4di,v4df,int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_gathersiv4sf (v4sf, pcfloat,v4si,v4sf,int);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_gathersiv8sf (v8sf, pcfloat,v8si,v8sf,int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_gatherdiv4sf (v4sf, pcfloat,v2di,v4sf,int);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_gatherdiv4sf256 (v4sf, pcfloat,v4di,v4sf,int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_gathersiv2di (v2di, pcint64,v4si,v2di,int);
v4di __builtin_ia32_gathersiv4di (v4di, pcint64,v4si,v4di,int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_gatherdiv2di (v2di, pcint64,v2di,v2di,int);
v4di __builtin_ia32_gatherdiv4di (v4di, pcint64,v4di,v4di,int);
v4si __builtin_ia32_gathersiv4si (v4si, pcint,v4si,v4si,int);
v8si __builtin_ia32_gathersiv8si (v8si, pcint,v8si,v8si,int);
v4si __builtin_ia32_gatherdiv4si (v4si, pcint,v2di,v4si,int);
v4si __builtin_ia32_gatherdiv4si256 (v4si, pcint,v4di,v4si,int);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-maes’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v2di __builtin_ia32_aesenc128 (v2di, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_aesenclast128 (v2di, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_aesdec128 (v2di, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_aesdeclast128 (v2di, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_aeskeygenassist128 (v2di, const int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_aesimc128 (v2di);
The following built-in function is available when ‘-mpclmul’ is used.
v2di __builtin_ia32_pclmulqdq128 (v2di, v2di, const int)
Generates the pclmulqdq machine instruction.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 877

The following built-in function is available when ‘-mfsgsbase’ is used. All of them
generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_rdfsbase32 (void);
unsigned long long __builtin_ia32_rdfsbase64 (void);
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_rdgsbase32 (void);
unsigned long long __builtin_ia32_rdgsbase64 (void);
void _writefsbase_u32 (unsigned int);
void _writefsbase_u64 (unsigned long long);
void _writegsbase_u32 (unsigned int);
void _writegsbase_u64 (unsigned long long);
The following built-in function is available when ‘-mrdrnd’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_rdrand16_step (unsigned short *);
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_rdrand32_step (unsigned int *);
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_rdrand64_step (unsigned long long *);
The following built-in function is available when ‘-mptwrite’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
void __builtin_ia32_ptwrite32 (unsigned);
void __builtin_ia32_ptwrite64 (unsigned long long);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-msse4a’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
void __builtin_ia32_movntsd (double *, v2df);
void __builtin_ia32_movntss (float *, v4sf);
v2di __builtin_ia32_extrq (v2di, v16qi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_extrqi (v2di, const unsigned int, const unsigned int);
v2di __builtin_ia32_insertq (v2di, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_insertqi (v2di, v2di, const unsigned int, const unsigned int);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mxop’ is used.
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfrczpd (v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfrczps (v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfrczsd (v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfrczss (v4sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vfrczpd256 (v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vfrczps256 (v8sf);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcmov (v2di, v2di, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v2di (v2di, v2di, v2di);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v4si (v4si, v4si, v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v8hi (v8hi, v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v16qi (v16qi, v16qi, v16qi);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v2df (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v4sf (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v4di __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v4di256 (v4di, v4di, v4di);
v8si __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v8si256 (v8si, v8si, v8si);
v16hi __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v16hi256 (v16hi, v16hi, v16hi);
v32qi __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v32qi256 (v32qi, v32qi, v32qi);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v4df256 (v4df, v4df, v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vpcmov_v8sf256 (v8sf, v8sf, v8sf);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomeqb (v16qi, v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomeqw (v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomeqd (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomeqq (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomequb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomequd (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomequq (v2di, v2di);
878 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomequw (v8hi, v8hi);

v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomeqw (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomfalseb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomfalsed (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomfalseq (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomfalseub (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomfalseud (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomfalseuq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomfalseuw (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomfalsew (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomgeb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomged (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomgeq (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomgeub (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomgeud (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomgeuq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomgeuw (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomgew (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomgtb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomgtd (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomgtq (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomgtub (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomgtud (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomgtuq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomgtuw (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomgtw (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomleb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomled (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomleq (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomleub (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomleud (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomleuq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomleuw (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomlew (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomltb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomltd (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomltq (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomltub (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomltud (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomltuq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomltuw (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomltw (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomneb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomned (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomneq (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomneub (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomneud (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomneuq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomneuw (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomnew (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomtrueb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomtrued (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomtrueq (v2di, v2di);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpcomtrueub (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpcomtrueud (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpcomtrueuq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomtrueuw (v8hi, v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpcomtruew (v8hi, v8hi);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 879

v4si __builtin_ia32_vphaddbd (v16qi);

v2di __builtin_ia32_vphaddbq (v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vphaddbw (v16qi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vphadddq (v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vphaddubd (v16qi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vphaddubq (v16qi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vphaddubw (v16qi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vphaddudq (v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vphadduwd (v8hi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vphadduwq (v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vphaddwd (v8hi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vphaddwq (v8hi);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vphsubbw (v16qi);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vphsubdq (v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vphsubwd (v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpmacsdd (v4si, v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpmacsdqh (v4si, v4si, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpmacsdql (v4si, v4si, v2di);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpmacssdd (v4si, v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpmacssdqh (v4si, v4si, v2di);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpmacssdql (v4si, v4si, v2di);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpmacsswd (v8hi, v8hi, v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpmacssww (v8hi, v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpmacswd (v8hi, v8hi, v4si);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpmacsww (v8hi, v8hi, v8hi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpmadcsswd (v8hi, v8hi, v4si);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpmadcswd (v8hi, v8hi, v4si);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpperm (v16qi, v16qi, v16qi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vprotb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vprotd (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vprotq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vprotw (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpshab (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpshad (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpshaq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpshaw (v8hi, v8hi);
v16qi __builtin_ia32_vpshlb (v16qi, v16qi);
v4si __builtin_ia32_vpshld (v4si, v4si);
v2di __builtin_ia32_vpshlq (v2di, v2di);
v8hi __builtin_ia32_vpshlw (v8hi, v8hi);

The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mfma4’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfmaddpd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfmaddps (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfmaddsd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfmaddss (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfmsubpd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfmsubps (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfmsubsd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfmsubss (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfnmaddpd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfnmaddps (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfnmaddsd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfnmaddss (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfnmsubpd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfnmsubps (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfnmsubsd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
880 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfnmsubss (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);

v2df __builtin_ia32_vfmaddsubpd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfmaddsubps (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v2df __builtin_ia32_vfmsubaddpd (v2df, v2df, v2df);
v4sf __builtin_ia32_vfmsubaddps (v4sf, v4sf, v4sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vfmaddpd256 (v4df, v4df, v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vfmaddps256 (v8sf, v8sf, v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vfmsubpd256 (v4df, v4df, v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vfmsubps256 (v8sf, v8sf, v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vfnmaddpd256 (v4df, v4df, v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vfnmaddps256 (v8sf, v8sf, v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vfnmsubpd256 (v4df, v4df, v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vfnmsubps256 (v8sf, v8sf, v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vfmaddsubpd256 (v4df, v4df, v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vfmaddsubps256 (v8sf, v8sf, v8sf);
v4df __builtin_ia32_vfmsubaddpd256 (v4df, v4df, v4df);
v8sf __builtin_ia32_vfmsubaddps256 (v8sf, v8sf, v8sf);

The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mlwp’ is used.

void __builtin_ia32_llwpcb16 (void *);
void __builtin_ia32_llwpcb32 (void *);
void __builtin_ia32_llwpcb64 (void *);
void * __builtin_ia32_llwpcb16 (void);
void * __builtin_ia32_llwpcb32 (void);
void * __builtin_ia32_llwpcb64 (void);
void __builtin_ia32_lwpval16 (unsigned short, unsigned int, unsigned short);
void __builtin_ia32_lwpval32 (unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int);
void __builtin_ia32_lwpval64 (unsigned __int64, unsigned int, unsigned int);
unsigned char __builtin_ia32_lwpins16 (unsigned short, unsigned int, unsigned short);
unsigned char __builtin_ia32_lwpins32 (unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int);
unsigned char __builtin_ia32_lwpins64 (unsigned __int64, unsigned int, unsigned int);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mbmi’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_bextr_u32(unsigned int, unsigned int);
unsigned long long __builtin_ia32_bextr_u64 (unsigned long long, unsigned long long);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mbmi2’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
unsigned int _bzhi_u32 (unsigned int, unsigned int);
unsigned int _pdep_u32 (unsigned int, unsigned int);
unsigned int _pext_u32 (unsigned int, unsigned int);
unsigned long long _bzhi_u64 (unsigned long long, unsigned long long);
unsigned long long _pdep_u64 (unsigned long long, unsigned long long);
unsigned long long _pext_u64 (unsigned long long, unsigned long long);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mlzcnt’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
unsigned short __builtin_ia32_lzcnt_u16(unsigned short);
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_lzcnt_u32(unsigned int);
unsigned long long __builtin_ia32_lzcnt_u64 (unsigned long long);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mfxsr’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
void __builtin_ia32_fxsave (void *);
void __builtin_ia32_fxrstor (void *);
void __builtin_ia32_fxsave64 (void *);
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 881

void __builtin_ia32_fxrstor64 (void *);

The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mxsave’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
void __builtin_ia32_xsave (void *, long long);
void __builtin_ia32_xrstor (void *, long long);
void __builtin_ia32_xsave64 (void *, long long);
void __builtin_ia32_xrstor64 (void *, long long);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mxsaveopt’ is used. All of them
generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
void __builtin_ia32_xsaveopt (void *, long long);
void __builtin_ia32_xsaveopt64 (void *, long long);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mtbm’ is used. Both of them generate
the immediate form of the bextr machine instruction.
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_bextri_u32 (unsigned int,
const unsigned int);
unsigned long long __builtin_ia32_bextri_u64 (unsigned long long,
const unsigned long long);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-m3dnow’ is used. All of them generate
the machine instruction that is part of the name.
void __builtin_ia32_femms (void);
v8qi __builtin_ia32_pavgusb (v8qi, v8qi);
v2si __builtin_ia32_pf2id (v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfacc (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfadd (v2sf, v2sf);
v2si __builtin_ia32_pfcmpeq (v2sf, v2sf);
v2si __builtin_ia32_pfcmpge (v2sf, v2sf);
v2si __builtin_ia32_pfcmpgt (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfmax (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfmin (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfmul (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfrcp (v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfrcpit1 (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfrcpit2 (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfrsqrt (v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfsub (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfsubr (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pi2fd (v2si);
v4hi __builtin_ia32_pmulhrw (v4hi, v4hi);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-m3dnowa’ is used. All of them
generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
v2si __builtin_ia32_pf2iw (v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfnacc (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pfpnacc (v2sf, v2sf);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pi2fw (v2si);
v2sf __builtin_ia32_pswapdsf (v2sf);
v2si __builtin_ia32_pswapdsi (v2si);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mrtm’ is used They are used for
restricted transactional memory. These are the internal low level functions. Normally the
functions in Section 6.60.34 [x86 transactional memory intrinsics], page 882 should be used
instead.
int __builtin_ia32_xbegin ();
void __builtin_ia32_xend ();
882 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void __builtin_ia32_xabort (status);

int __builtin_ia32_xtest ();
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mmwaitx’ is used. All of them
generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
void __builtin_ia32_monitorx (void *, unsigned int, unsigned int);
void __builtin_ia32_mwaitx (unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mclzero’ is used. All of them
generate the machine instruction that is part of the name.
void __builtin_i32_clzero (void *);
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mpku’ is used. They generate reads
and writes to PKRU.
void __builtin_ia32_wrpkru (unsigned int);
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_rdpkru ();
The following built-in functions are available when ‘-mshstk’ option is used. They support
shadow stack machine instructions from Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET).
Each built-in function generates the machine instruction that is part of the function’s name.
These are the internal low-level functions. Normally the functions in Section 6.60.35 [x86
control-flow protection intrinsics], page 884 should be used instead.
unsigned int __builtin_ia32_rdsspd (void);
unsigned long long __builtin_ia32_rdsspq (void);
void __builtin_ia32_incsspd (unsigned int);
void __builtin_ia32_incsspq (unsigned long long);
void __builtin_ia32_saveprevssp(void);
void __builtin_ia32_rstorssp(void *);
void __builtin_ia32_wrssd(unsigned int, void *);
void __builtin_ia32_wrssq(unsigned long long, void *);
void __builtin_ia32_wrussd(unsigned int, void *);
void __builtin_ia32_wrussq(unsigned long long, void *);
void __builtin_ia32_setssbsy(void);
void __builtin_ia32_clrssbsy(void *);

6.60.34 x86 Transactional Memory Intrinsics

These hardware transactional memory intrinsics for x86 allow you to use memory trans-
actions with RTM (Restricted Transactional Memory). This support is enabled with the
‘-mrtm’ option. For using HLE (Hardware Lock Elision) see Section 6.57 [x86 specific mem-
ory model extensions for transactional memory], page 736 instead.
A memory transaction commits all changes to memory in an atomic way, as visible to
other threads. If the transaction fails it is rolled back and all side effects discarded.
Generally there is no guarantee that a memory transaction ever succeeds and suitable
fallback code always needs to be supplied.

unsigned _xbegin () [RTM Function]

Start a RTM (Restricted Transactional Memory) transaction. Returns _XBEGIN_
STARTED when the transaction started successfully (note this is not 0, so the constant
has to be explicitly tested).
If the transaction aborts, all side effects are undone and an abort code encoded as a
bit mask is returned. The following macros are defined:
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 883

_XABORT_EXPLICIT
Transaction was explicitly aborted with _xabort. The parameter passed
to _xabort is available with _XABORT_CODE(status).
_XABORT_RETRY
Transaction retry is possible.
_XABORT_CONFLICT
Transaction abort due to a memory conflict with another thread.
_XABORT_CAPACITY
Transaction abort due to the transaction using too much memory.
_XABORT_DEBUG
Transaction abort due to a debug trap.
_XABORT_NESTED
Transaction abort in an inner nested transaction.
There is no guarantee any transaction ever succeeds, so there always needs to be a
valid fallback path.

void _xend () [RTM Function]

Commit the current transaction. When no transaction is active this faults. All
memory side effects of the transaction become visible to other threads in an atomic
manner.

int _xtest () [RTM Function]

Return a nonzero value if a transaction is currently active, otherwise 0.

void _xabort (status) [RTM Function]

Abort the current transaction. When no transaction is active this is a no-op. The
status is an 8-bit constant; its value is encoded in the return value from _xbegin.

Here is an example showing handling for _XABORT_RETRY and a fallback path for other
failures:
#include <immintrin.h>

int n_tries, max_tries;

unsigned status = _XABORT_EXPLICIT;
...

for (n_tries = 0; n_tries < max_tries; n_tries++)

{
status = _xbegin ();
if (status == _XBEGIN_STARTED || !(status & _XABORT_RETRY))
break;
}
if (status == _XBEGIN_STARTED)
{
... transaction code...
_xend ();
}
else
{
884 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

... non-transactional fallback path...

}

Note that, in most cases, the transactional and non-transactional code must synchronize
together to ensure consistency.

6.60.35 x86 Control-Flow Protection Intrinsics

ret_type _get_ssp (void) [CET Function]

Get the current value of shadow stack pointer if shadow stack support from Intel CET
is enabled in the hardware or 0 otherwise. The ret_type is unsigned long long for
64-bit targets and unsigned int for 32-bit targets.

void _inc_ssp (unsigned int) [CET Function]

Increment the current shadow stack pointer by the size specified by the function ar-
gument. The argument is masked to a byte value for security reasons, so to increment
by more than 255 bytes you must call the function multiple times.

The shadow stack unwind code looks like:

#include <immintrin.h>

/* Unwind the shadow stack for EH. */

#define _Unwind_Frames_Extra(x) \
do \
{ \
_Unwind_Word ssp = _get_ssp (); \
if (ssp != 0) \
{ \
_Unwind_Word tmp = (x); \
while (tmp > 255) \
{ \
_inc_ssp (tmp); \
tmp -= 255; \
} \
_inc_ssp (tmp); \
} \
} \
while (0)

This code runs unconditionally on all 64-bit processors. For 32-bit processors the code runs
on those that support multi-byte NOP instructions.

6.61 Format Checks Specific to Particular Target Machines

For some target machines, GCC supports additional options to the format attribute (see
Section 6.33 [Declaring Attributes of Functions], page 566).

6.61.1 Solaris Format Checks

Solaris targets support the cmn_err (or __cmn_err__) format check. cmn_err accepts a sub-
set of the standard printf conversions, and the two-argument %b conversion for displaying
bit-fields. See the Solaris man page for cmn_err for more information.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 885

6.61.2 Darwin Format Checks

In addition to the full set of format archetypes (attribute format style arguments such as
printf, scanf, strftime, and strfmon), Darwin targets also support the CFString (or
__CFString__) archetype in the format attribute. Declarations with this archetype are
parsed for correct syntax and argument types. However, parsing of the format string itself
and validating arguments against it in calls to such functions is currently not performed.
Additionally, CFStringRefs (defined by the CoreFoundation headers) may also be used
as format arguments. Note that the relevant headers are only likely to be available on
Darwin (OSX) installations. On such installations, the XCode and system documentation
provide descriptions of CFString, CFStringRefs and associated functions.

6.62 Pragmas Accepted by GCC

GCC supports several types of pragmas, primarily in order to compile code originally written
for other compilers. Note that in general we do not recommend the use of pragmas; See
Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566, for further explanation.
The GNU C preprocessor recognizes several pragmas in addition to the compiler pragmas
documented here. Refer to the CPP manual for more information.

6.62.1 AArch64 Pragmas

The pragmas defined by the AArch64 target correspond to the AArch64 target function
attributes. They can be specified as below:
#pragma GCC target("string")
where string can be any string accepted as an AArch64 target attribute. See
Section 6.33.2 [AArch64 Function Attributes], page 593, for more details on the permissible
values of string.

6.62.2 ARM Pragmas

The ARM target defines pragmas for controlling the default addition of long_call and
short_call attributes to functions. See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes], page 566, for
information about the effects of these attributes.
long_calls
Set all subsequent functions to have the long_call attribute.
no_long_calls
Set all subsequent functions to have the short_call attribute.
long_calls_off
Do not affect the long_call or short_call attributes of subsequent functions.

6.62.3 M32C Pragmas

GCC memregs number
Overrides the command-line option -memregs= for the current file. Use with
care! This pragma must be before any function in the file, and mixing different
memregs values in different objects may make them incompatible. This pragma
is useful when a performance-critical function uses a memreg for temporary
values, as it may allow you to reduce the number of memregs used.
886 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

ADDRESS name address

For any declared symbols matching name, this does three things to that symbol:
it forces the symbol to be located at the given address (a number), it forces
the symbol to be volatile, and it changes the symbol’s scope to be static. This
pragma exists for compatibility with other compilers, but note that the common
1234H numeric syntax is not supported (use 0x1234 instead). Example:
#pragma ADDRESS port3 0x103
char port3;

6.62.4 PRU Pragmas

ctable_entry index constant_address
Specifies that the PRU CTABLE entry given by index has the value con-
stant address. This enables GCC to emit LBCO/SBCO instructions when the
load/store address is known and can be addressed with some CTABLE entry.
For example:
/* will compile to "sbco Rx, 2, 0x10, 4" */
#pragma ctable_entry 2 0x4802a000
*(unsigned int *)0x4802a010 = val;

6.62.5 RS/6000 and PowerPC Pragmas

The RS/6000 and PowerPC targets define one pragma for controlling whether or not the
longcall attribute is added to function declarations by default. This pragma overrides the
‘-mlongcall’ option, but not the longcall and shortcall attributes. See Section 3.19.42
[RS/6000 and PowerPC Options], page 433, for more information about when long calls are
and are not necessary.
longcall (1)
Apply the longcall attribute to all subsequent function declarations.
longcall (0)
Do not apply the longcall attribute to subsequent function declarations.

6.62.6 S/390 Pragmas

The pragmas defined by the S/390 target correspond to the S/390 target function attributes
and some the additional options:
‘zvector’
‘no-zvector’
Note that options of the pragma, unlike options of the target attribute, do change the
value of preprocessor macros like __VEC__. They can be specified as below:
#pragma GCC target("string[,string]...")
#pragma GCC target("string"[,"string"]...)

6.62.7 Darwin Pragmas

The following pragmas are available for all architectures running the Darwin operating
system. These are useful for compatibility with other Mac OS compilers.
mark tokens...
This pragma is accepted, but has no effect.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 887

options align=alignment
This pragma sets the alignment of fields in structures. The values of alignment
may be mac68k, to emulate m68k alignment, or power, to emulate PowerPC
alignment. Uses of this pragma nest properly; to restore the previous setting,
use reset for the alignment.
segment tokens...
This pragma is accepted, but has no effect.
unused (var [, var]...)
This pragma declares variables to be possibly unused. GCC does not produce
warnings for the listed variables. The effect is similar to that of the unused
attribute, except that this pragma may appear anywhere within the variables’
scopes.

6.62.8 Solaris Pragmas

The Solaris target supports #pragma redefine_extname (see Section 6.62.9 [Symbol-
Renaming Pragmas], page 887). It also supports additional #pragma directives for
compatibility with the system compiler.
align alignment (variable [, variable]...)
Increase the minimum alignment of each variable to alignment. This is the same
as GCC’s aligned attribute see Section 6.34 [Variable Attributes], page 633).
Macro expansion occurs on the arguments to this pragma when compiling C
and Objective-C. It does not currently occur when compiling C++, but this is
a bug which may be fixed in a future release.
fini (function [, function]...)
This pragma causes each listed function to be called after main, or during shared
module unloading, by adding a call to the .fini section.
init (function [, function]...)
This pragma causes each listed function to be called during initialization (before
main) or during shared module loading, by adding a call to the .init section.

6.62.9 Symbol-Renaming Pragmas

GCC supports a #pragma directive that changes the name used in assembly for a given
declaration. While this pragma is supported on all platforms, it is intended primarily to
provide compatibility with the Solaris system headers. This effect can also be achieved
using the asm labels extension (see Section 6.47.4 [Asm Labels], page 717).
redefine_extname oldname newname
This pragma gives the C function oldname the assembly symbol newname. The
preprocessor macro __PRAGMA_REDEFINE_EXTNAME is defined if this pragma is
available (currently on all platforms).
This pragma and the asm labels extension interact in a complicated manner. Here are
some corner cases you may want to be aware of:
1. This pragma silently applies only to declarations with external linkage. The asm label
feature does not have this restriction.
888 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

2. In C++, this pragma silently applies only to declarations with “C” linkage. Again, asm
labels do not have this restriction.
3. If either of the ways of changing the assembly name of a declaration are applied to a
declaration whose assembly name has already been determined (either by a previous
use of one of these features, or because the compiler needed the assembly name in order
to generate code), and the new name is different, a warning issues and the name does
not change.
4. The oldname used by #pragma redefine_extname is always the C-language name.

6.62.10 Structure-Layout Pragmas

For compatibility with Microsoft Windows compilers, GCC supports a set of #pragma direc-
tives that change the maximum alignment of members of structures (other than zero-width
bit-fields), unions, and classes subsequently defined. The n value below always is required
to be a small power of two and specifies the new alignment in bytes.
1. #pragma pack(n) simply sets the new alignment.
2. #pragma pack() sets the alignment to the one that was in effect when compilation
started (see also command-line option ‘-fpack-struct[=n]’ see Section 3.17 [Code
Gen Options], page 281).
3. #pragma pack(push[,n]) pushes the current alignment setting on an internal stack
and then optionally sets the new alignment.
4. #pragma pack(pop) restores the alignment setting to the one saved at the top of the
internal stack (and removes that stack entry). Note that #pragma pack([n]) does not
influence this internal stack; thus it is possible to have #pragma pack(push) followed
by multiple #pragma pack(n) instances and finalized by a single #pragma pack(pop).
Some targets, e.g. x86 and PowerPC, support the #pragma ms_struct directive which
lays out structures and unions subsequently defined as the documented __attribute__
((ms_struct)).
1. #pragma ms_struct on turns on the Microsoft layout.
2. #pragma ms_struct off turns off the Microsoft layout.
3. #pragma ms_struct reset goes back to the default layout.
Most targets also support the #pragma scalar_storage_order directive which lays out
structures and unions subsequently defined as the documented __attribute__ ((scalar_
storage_order)).
1. #pragma scalar_storage_order big-endian sets the storage order of the scalar fields
to big-endian.
2. #pragma scalar_storage_order little-endian sets the storage order of the scalar
fields to little-endian.
3. #pragma scalar_storage_order default goes back to the endianness that
was in effect when compilation started (see also command-line option
‘-fsso-struct=endianness’ see Section 3.4 [C Dialect Options], page 44).

6.62.11 Weak Pragmas

For compatibility with SVR4, GCC supports a set of #pragma directives for declaring sym-
bols to be weak, and defining weak aliases.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 889

#pragma weak symbol

This pragma declares symbol to be weak, as if the declaration had the attribute
of the same name. The pragma may appear before or after the declaration of
symbol. It is not an error for symbol to never be defined at all.
#pragma weak symbol1 = symbol2
This pragma declares symbol1 to be a weak alias of symbol2. It is an error if
symbol2 is not defined in the current translation unit.

6.62.12 Diagnostic Pragmas

GCC allows the user to selectively enable or disable certain types of diagnostics, and change
the kind of the diagnostic. For example, a project’s policy might require that all sources
compile with ‘-Werror’ but certain files might have exceptions allowing specific types of
warnings. Or, a project might selectively enable diagnostics and treat them as errors de-
pending on which preprocessor macros are defined.
#pragma GCC diagnostic kind option
Modifies the disposition of a diagnostic. Note that not all diagnostics are mod-
ifiable; at the moment only warnings (normally controlled by ‘-W...’) can be
controlled, and not all of them. Use ‘-fdiagnostics-show-option’ to deter-
mine which diagnostics are controllable and which option controls them.
kind is ‘error’ to treat this diagnostic as an error, ‘warning’ to treat it like
a warning (even if ‘-Werror’ is in effect), or ‘ignored’ if the diagnostic is to
be ignored. option is a double quoted string that matches the command-line
option.
#pragma GCC diagnostic warning "-Wformat"
#pragma GCC diagnostic error "-Wformat"
#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wformat"
Note that these pragmas override any command-line options. GCC keeps track
of the location of each pragma, and issues diagnostics according to the state
as of that point in the source file. Thus, pragmas occurring after a line do not
affect diagnostics caused by that line.
#pragma GCC diagnostic push
#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
Causes GCC to remember the state of the diagnostics as of each push, and
restore to that point at each pop. If a pop has no matching push, the command-
line options are restored.
#pragma GCC diagnostic error "-Wuninitialized"
foo(a); /* error is given for this one */
#pragma GCC diagnostic push
#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wuninitialized"
foo(b); /* no diagnostic for this one */
#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
foo(c); /* error is given for this one */
#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
foo(d); /* depends on command-line options */

#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored_attributes

Similarly to ‘-Wno-attributes=’, this pragma allows users to suppress
warnings about unknown scoped attributes (in C++11 and C2X). For example,
890 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored_attributes "vendor::attr" disables

warning about the following declaration:
[[vendor::attr]] void f();

whereas #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored_attributes "vendor::" prevents

warning about both of these declarations:
[[vendor::safe]] void f();
[[vendor::unsafe]] void f2();

GCC also offers a simple mechanism for printing messages during compilation.

#pragma message string

Prints string as a compiler message on compilation. The message is informa-
tional only, and is neither a compilation warning nor an error. Newlines can be
included in the string by using the ‘\n’ escape sequence.
#pragma message "Compiling " __FILE__ "..."

string may be parenthesized, and is printed with location information. For

example,
#define DO_PRAGMA(x) _Pragma (#x)
#define TODO(x) DO_PRAGMA(message ("TODO - " #x))

TODO(Remember to fix this)

prints ‘/tmp/file.c:4: note: #pragma message: TODO - Remember to fix

this’.

#pragma GCC error message

Generates an error message. This pragma is considered to indicate an error in
the compilation, and it will be treated as such.
Newlines can be included in the string by using the ‘\n’ escape sequence. They
will be displayed as newlines even if the ‘-fmessage-length’ option is set to
zero.
The error is only generated if the pragma is present in the code after pre-
processing has been completed. It does not matter however if the code contain-
ing the pragma is unreachable:
#if 0
#pragma GCC error "this error is not seen"
#endif
void foo (void)
{
return;
#pragma GCC error "this error is seen"
}

#pragma GCC warning message

This is just like ‘pragma GCC error’ except that a warning message is issued
instead of an error message. Unless ‘-Werror’ is in effect, in which case this
pragma will generate an error as well.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 891

6.62.13 Visibility Pragmas

#pragma GCC visibility push(visibility)
#pragma GCC visibility pop
This pragma allows the user to set the visibility for multiple declarations with-
out having to give each a visibility attribute (see Section 6.33 [Function At-
tributes], page 566).
In C++, ‘#pragma GCC visibility’ affects only namespace-scope declarations.
Class members and template specializations are not affected; if you want to
override the visibility for a particular member or instantiation, you must use
an attribute.

6.62.14 Push/Pop Macro Pragmas

For compatibility with Microsoft Windows compilers, GCC supports ‘#pragma
push_macro("macro_name")’ and ‘#pragma pop_macro("macro_name")’.
#pragma push_macro("macro_name")
This pragma saves the value of the macro named as macro name to the top of
the stack for this macro.
#pragma pop_macro("macro_name")
This pragma sets the value of the macro named as macro name to the value
on top of the stack for this macro. If the stack for macro name is empty, the
value of the macro remains unchanged.
For example:
#define X 1
#pragma push_macro("X")
#undef X
#define X -1
#pragma pop_macro("X")
int x [X];
In this example, the definition of X as 1 is saved by #pragma push_macro and restored by
#pragma pop_macro.

6.62.15 Function Specific Option Pragmas

#pragma GCC target (string, ...)
This pragma allows you to set target-specific options for functions defined
later in the source file. One or more strings can be specified. Each function
that is defined after this point is treated as if it had been declared with one
target(string) attribute for each string argument. The parentheses around
the strings in the pragma are optional. See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566, for more information about the target attribute and the attribute
syntax.
The #pragma GCC target pragma is presently implemented for x86, ARM,
AArch64, PowerPC, S/390, and Nios II targets only.
#pragma GCC optimize (string, ...)
This pragma allows you to set global optimization options for functions defined
later in the source file. One or more strings can be specified. Each function
892 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

that is defined after this point is treated as if it had been declared with one
optimize(string) attribute for each string argument. The parentheses around
the strings in the pragma are optional. See Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566, for more information about the optimize attribute and the attribute
syntax.
#pragma GCC push_options
#pragma GCC pop_options
These pragmas maintain a stack of the current target and optimization options.
It is intended for include files where you temporarily want to switch to using
a different ‘#pragma GCC target’ or ‘#pragma GCC optimize’ and then to pop
back to the previous options.
#pragma GCC reset_options
This pragma clears the current #pragma GCC target and #pragma GCC
optimize to use the default switches as specified on the command line.

6.62.16 Loop-Specific Pragmas

#pragma GCC ivdep
With this pragma, the programmer asserts that there are no loop-carried depen-
dencies which would prevent consecutive iterations of the following loop from
executing concurrently with SIMD (single instruction multiple data) instruc-
tions.
For example, the compiler can only unconditionally vectorize the following loop
with the pragma:
void foo (int n, int *a, int *b, int *c)
{
int i, j;
#pragma GCC ivdep
for (i = 0; i < n; ++i)
a[i] = b[i] + c[i];
}
In this example, using the restrict qualifier had the same effect. In the
following example, that would not be possible. Assume k < −m or k >= m.
Only with the pragma, the compiler knows that it can unconditionally vectorize
the following loop:
void ignore_vec_dep (int *a, int k, int c, int m)
{
#pragma GCC ivdep
for (int i = 0; i < m; i++)
a[i] = a[i + k] * c;
}

#pragma GCC unroll n

You can use this pragma to control how many times a loop should be unrolled.
It must be placed immediately before a for, while or do loop or a #pragma
GCC ivdep, and applies only to the loop that follows. n is an integer constant
expression specifying the unrolling factor. The values of 0 and 1 block any
unrolling of the loop.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 893

6.63 Unnamed Structure and Union Fields

As permitted by ISO C11 and for compatibility with other compilers, GCC allows you to
define a structure or union that contains, as fields, structures and unions without names.
For example:
struct {
int a;
union {
int b;
float c;
};
int d;
} foo;
In this example, you are able to access members of the unnamed union with code like
‘foo.b’. Note that only unnamed structs and unions are allowed, you may not have, for
example, an unnamed int.
You must never create such structures that cause ambiguous field definitions. For exam-
ple, in this structure:
struct {
int a;
struct {
int a;
};
} foo;
it is ambiguous which a is being referred to with ‘foo.a’. The compiler gives errors for such
constructs.
Unless ‘-fms-extensions’ is used, the unnamed field must be a structure or union defini-
tion without a tag (for example, ‘struct { int a; };’). If ‘-fms-extensions’ is used, the
field may also be a definition with a tag such as ‘struct foo { int a; };’, a reference to
a previously defined structure or union such as ‘struct foo;’, or a reference to a typedef
name for a previously defined structure or union type.
The option ‘-fplan9-extensions’ enables ‘-fms-extensions’ as well as two other ex-
tensions. First, a pointer to a structure is automatically converted to a pointer to an
anonymous field for assignments and function calls. For example:
struct s1 { int a; };
struct s2 { struct s1; };
extern void f1 (struct s1 *);
void f2 (struct s2 *p) { f1 (p); }
In the call to f1 inside f2, the pointer p is converted into a pointer to the anonymous field.
Second, when the type of an anonymous field is a typedef for a struct or union, code
may refer to the field using the name of the typedef.
typedef struct { int a; } s1;
struct s2 { s1; };
s1 f1 (struct s2 *p) { return p->s1; }
These usages are only permitted when they are not ambiguous.

6.64 Thread-Local Storage

Thread-local storage (TLS) is a mechanism by which variables are allocated such that there
is one instance of the variable per extant thread. The runtime model GCC uses to im-
894 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

plement this originates in the IA-64 processor-specific ABI, but has since been migrated
to other processors as well. It requires significant support from the linker (ld), dynamic
linker (ld.so), and system libraries (‘libc.so’ and ‘libpthread.so’), so it is not available
everywhere.
At the user level, the extension is visible with a new storage class keyword: __thread.
For example:
__thread int i;
extern __thread struct state s;
static __thread char *p;
The __thread specifier may be used alone, with the extern or static specifiers, but
with no other storage class specifier. When used with extern or static, __thread must
appear immediately after the other storage class specifier.
The __thread specifier may be applied to any global, file-scoped static, function-scoped
static, or static data member of a class. It may not be applied to block-scoped automatic
or non-static data member.
When the address-of operator is applied to a thread-local variable, it is evaluated at
run time and returns the address of the current thread’s instance of that variable. An
address so obtained may be used by any thread. When a thread terminates, any pointers
to thread-local variables in that thread become invalid.
No static initialization may refer to the address of a thread-local variable.
In C++, if an initializer is present for a thread-local variable, it must be a constant-
expression, as defined in 5.19.2 of the ANSI/ISO C++ standard.
See ELF Handling For Thread-Local Storage for a detailed explanation of the four thread-
local storage addressing models, and how the runtime is expected to function.

6.64.1 ISO/IEC 9899:1999 Edits for Thread-Local Storage

The following are a set of changes to ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (aka C99) that document the
exact semantics of the language extension.
• 5.1.2 Execution environments
Add new text after paragraph 1
Within either execution environment, a thread is a flow of control within
a program. It is implementation defined whether or not there may be
more than one thread associated with a program. It is implementation
defined how threads beyond the first are created, the name and type of
the function called at thread startup, and how threads may be terminated.
However, objects with thread storage duration shall be initialized before
thread startup.
• 6.2.4 Storage durations of objects
Add new text before paragraph 3
An object whose identifier is declared with the storage-class specifier
__thread has thread storage duration. Its lifetime is the entire execution
of the thread, and its stored value is initialized only once, prior to thread
startup.
Chapter 6: Extensions to the C Language Family 895

• 6.4.1 Keywords
Add __thread.
• 6.7.1 Storage-class specifiers
Add __thread to the list of storage class specifiers in paragraph 1.
Change paragraph 2 to
With the exception of __thread, at most one storage-class specifier may
be given [. . . ]. The __thread specifier may be used alone, or immediately
following extern or static.
Add new text after paragraph 6
The declaration of an identifier for a variable that has block scope that
specifies __thread shall also specify either extern or static.
The __thread specifier shall be used only with variables.

6.64.2 ISO/IEC 14882:1998 Edits for Thread-Local Storage

The following are a set of changes to ISO/IEC 14882:1998 (aka C++98) that document the
exact semantics of the language extension.
• [intro.execution]
New text after paragraph 4
A thread is a flow of control within the abstract machine. It is implemen-
tation defined whether or not there may be more than one thread.
New text after paragraph 7
It is unspecified whether additional action must be taken to ensure when
and whether side effects are visible to other threads.
• [lex.key]
Add __thread.
• [basic.start.main]
Add after paragraph 5
The thread that begins execution at the main function is called the main
thread. It is implementation defined how functions beginning threads other
than the main thread are designated or typed. A function so designated,
as well as the main function, is called a thread startup function. It is im-
plementation defined what happens if a thread startup function returns. It
is implementation defined what happens to other threads when any thread
calls exit.
• [basic.start.init]
Add after paragraph 4
The storage for an object of thread storage duration shall be statically
initialized before the first statement of the thread startup function. An
object of thread storage duration shall not require dynamic initialization.
• [basic.start.term]
Add after paragraph 3
896 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The type of an object with thread storage duration shall not have a non-
trivial destructor, nor shall it be an array type whose elements (directly or
indirectly) have non-trivial destructors.
• [basic.stc]
Add “thread storage duration” to the list in paragraph 1.
Change paragraph 2
Thread, static, and automatic storage durations are associated with objects
introduced by declarations [. . . ].
Add __thread to the list of specifiers in paragraph 3.
• [basic.stc.thread]
New section before [basic.stc.static]
The keyword __thread applied to a non-local object gives the object thread
storage duration.
A local variable or class data member declared both static and __thread
gives the variable or member thread storage duration.
• [basic.stc.static]
Change paragraph 1
All objects that have neither thread storage duration, dynamic storage
duration nor are local [. . . ].
• [dcl.stc]
Add __thread to the list in paragraph 1.
Change paragraph 1
With the exception of __thread, at most one storage-class-specifier shall
appear in a given decl-specifier-seq. The __thread specifier may be used
alone, or immediately following the extern or static specifiers. [. . . ]
Add after paragraph 5
The __thread specifier can be applied only to the names of objects and to
anonymous unions.
• [class.mem]
Add after paragraph 6
Non-static members shall not be __thread.

6.65 Binary Constants using the ‘0b’ Prefix

Integer constants can be written as binary constants, consisting of a sequence of ‘0’ and ‘1’
digits, prefixed by ‘0b’ or ‘0B’. This is particularly useful in environments that operate a
lot on the bit level (like microcontrollers).
The following statements are identical:
i = 42;
i = 0x2a;
i = 052;
i = 0b101010;
The type of these constants follows the same rules as for octal or hexadecimal integer
constants, so suffixes like ‘L’ or ‘UL’ can be applied.
Chapter 7: Extensions to the C++ Language 897

7 Extensions to the C++ Language

The GNU compiler provides these extensions to the C++ language (and you can also use
most of the C language extensions in your C++ programs). If you want to write code
that checks whether these features are available, you can test for the GNU compiler the
same way as for C programs: check for a predefined macro __GNUC__. You can also use
__GNUG__ to test specifically for GNU C++ (see Section “Predefined Macros” in The GNU
C Preprocessor).

7.1 When is a Volatile C++ Object Accessed?

The C++ standard differs from the C standard in its treatment of volatile objects. It fails to
specify what constitutes a volatile access, except to say that C++ should behave in a similar
manner to C with respect to volatiles, where possible. However, the different lvalueness of
expressions between C and C++ complicate the behavior. G++ behaves the same as GCC
for volatile access, See Chapter 6 [Volatiles], page 539, for a description of GCC’s behavior.
The C and C++ language specifications differ when an object is accessed in a void context:
volatile int *src = somevalue;
*src;
The C++ standard specifies that such expressions do not undergo lvalue to rvalue conver-
sion, and that the type of the dereferenced object may be incomplete. The C++ standard
does not specify explicitly that it is lvalue to rvalue conversion that is responsible for causing
an access. There is reason to believe that it is, because otherwise certain simple expres-
sions become undefined. However, because it would surprise most programmers, G++ treats
dereferencing a pointer to volatile object of complete type as GCC would do for an equiva-
lent type in C. When the object has incomplete type, G++ issues a warning; if you wish to
force an error, you must force a conversion to rvalue with, for instance, a static cast.
When using a reference to volatile, G++ does not treat equivalent expressions as accesses
to volatiles, but instead issues a warning that no volatile is accessed. The rationale for
this is that otherwise it becomes difficult to determine where volatile access occur, and not
possible to ignore the return value from functions returning volatile references. Again, if
you wish to force a read, cast the reference to an rvalue.
G++ implements the same behavior as GCC does when assigning to a volatile object—
there is no reread of the assigned-to object, the assigned rvalue is reused. Note that in C++
assignment expressions are lvalues, and if used as an lvalue, the volatile object is referred
to. For instance, vref refers to vobj, as expected, in the following example:
volatile int vobj;
volatile int &vref = vobj = something;

7.2 Restricting Pointer Aliasing

As with the C front end, G++ understands the C99 feature of restricted pointers, specified
with the __restrict__, or __restrict type qualifier. Because you cannot compile C++ by
specifying the ‘-std=c99’ language flag, restrict is not a keyword in C++.
In addition to allowing restricted pointers, you can specify restricted references, which
indicate that the reference is not aliased in the local context.
898 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

void fn (int *__restrict__ rptr, int &__restrict__ rref)

{
/* . . . */
}
In the body of fn, rptr points to an unaliased integer and rref refers to a (different) unaliased
integer.
You may also specify whether a member function’s this pointer is unaliased by using
__restrict__ as a member function qualifier.
void T::fn () __restrict__
{
/* . . . */
}
Within the body of T::fn, this has the effective definition T *__restrict__ const this.
Notice that the interpretation of a __restrict__ member function qualifier is different to
that of const or volatile qualifier, in that it is applied to the pointer rather than the
object. This is consistent with other compilers that implement restricted pointers.
As with all outermost parameter qualifiers, __restrict__ is ignored in function definition
matching. This means you only need to specify __restrict__ in a function definition,
rather than in a function prototype as well.

7.3 Vague Linkage

There are several constructs in C++ that require space in the object file but are not clearly
tied to a single translation unit. We say that these constructs have “vague linkage”. Typ-
ically such constructs are emitted wherever they are needed, though sometimes we can be
more clever.
Inline Functions
Inline functions are typically defined in a header file which can be included
in many different compilations. Hopefully they can usually be inlined, but
sometimes an out-of-line copy is necessary, if the address of the function is taken
or if inlining fails. In general, we emit an out-of-line copy in all translation units
where one is needed. As an exception, we only emit inline virtual functions with
the vtable, since it always requires a copy.
Local static variables and string constants used in an inline function are also
considered to have vague linkage, since they must be shared between all inlined
and out-of-line instances of the function.
VTables C++ virtual functions are implemented in most compilers using a lookup table,
known as a vtable. The vtable contains pointers to the virtual functions pro-
vided by a class, and each object of the class contains a pointer to its vtable (or
vtables, in some multiple-inheritance situations). If the class declares any non-
inline, non-pure virtual functions, the first one is chosen as the “key method”
for the class, and the vtable is only emitted in the translation unit where the
key method is defined.
Note: If the chosen key method is later defined as inline, the vtable is still
emitted in every translation unit that defines it. Make sure that any inline
virtuals are declared inline in the class body, even if they are not defined there.
Chapter 7: Extensions to the C++ Language 899

type_info objects
C++ requires information about types to be written out in order to implement
‘dynamic_cast’, ‘typeid’ and exception handling. For polymorphic classes
(classes with virtual functions), the ‘type_info’ object is written out along
with the vtable so that ‘dynamic_cast’ can determine the dynamic type of a
class object at run time. For all other types, we write out the ‘type_info’
object when it is used: when applying ‘typeid’ to an expression, throwing an
object, or referring to a type in a catch clause or exception specification.
Template Instantiations
Most everything in this section also applies to template instantiations, but there
are other options as well. See Section 7.5 [Where’s the Template?], page 900.
When used with GNU ld version 2.8 or later on an ELF system such as GNU/Linux or
Solaris 2, or on Microsoft Windows, duplicate copies of these constructs will be discarded
at link time. This is known as COMDAT support.
On targets that don’t support COMDAT, but do support weak symbols, GCC uses them.
This way one copy overrides all the others, but the unused copies still take up space in the
executable.
For targets that do not support either COMDAT or weak symbols, most entities with
vague linkage are emitted as local symbols to avoid duplicate definition errors from the
linker. This does not happen for local statics in inlines, however, as having multiple copies
almost certainly breaks things.
See Section 7.4 [Declarations and Definitions in One Header], page 899, for another way
to control placement of these constructs.

7.4 C++ Interface and Implementation Pragmas

#pragma interface and #pragma implementation provide the user with a way of explicitly
directing the compiler to emit entities with vague linkage (and debugging information) in a
particular translation unit.
Note: These #pragmas have been superceded as of GCC 2.7.2 by COMDAT support and
the “key method” heuristic mentioned in Section 7.3 [Vague Linkage], page 898. Using
them can actually cause your program to grow due to unnecessary out-of-line copies of
inline functions.
#pragma interface
#pragma interface "subdir/objects.h"
Use this directive in header files that define object classes, to save space in
most of the object files that use those classes. Normally, local copies of certain
information (backup copies of inline member functions, debugging information,
and the internal tables that implement virtual functions) must be kept in each
object file that includes class definitions. You can use this pragma to avoid such
duplication. When a header file containing ‘#pragma interface’ is included in
a compilation, this auxiliary information is not generated (unless the main
input source file itself uses ‘#pragma implementation’). Instead, the object
files contain references to be resolved at link time.
900 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The second form of this directive is useful for the case where you have multiple
headers with the same name in different directories. If you use this form, you
must specify the same string to ‘#pragma implementation’.
#pragma implementation
#pragma implementation "objects.h"
Use this pragma in a main input file, when you want full output from included
header files to be generated (and made globally visible). The included header
file, in turn, should use ‘#pragma interface’. Backup copies of inline member
functions, debugging information, and the internal tables used to implement
virtual functions are all generated in implementation files.
If you use ‘#pragma implementation’ with no argument, it applies to an
include file with the same basename1 as your source file. For example, in
‘allclass.cc’, giving just ‘#pragma implementation’ by itself is equivalent
to ‘#pragma implementation "allclass.h"’.
Use the string argument if you want a single implementation file to include code
from multiple header files. (You must also use ‘#include’ to include the header
file; ‘#pragma implementation’ only specifies how to use the file—it doesn’t
actually include it.)
There is no way to split up the contents of a single header file into multiple
implementation files.
‘#pragma implementation’ and ‘#pragma interface’ also have an effect on function in-
lining.
If you define a class in a header file marked with ‘#pragma interface’, the effect on
an inline function defined in that class is similar to an explicit extern declaration—the
compiler emits no code at all to define an independent version of the function. Its definition
is used only for inlining with its callers.
Conversely, when you include the same header file in a main source file that declares it
as ‘#pragma implementation’, the compiler emits code for the function itself; this defines
a version of the function that can be found via pointers (or by callers compiled without
inlining). If all calls to the function can be inlined, you can avoid emitting the function by
compiling with ‘-fno-implement-inlines’. If any calls are not inlined, you will get linker
errors.

7.5 Where’s the Template?

C++ templates were the first language feature to require more intelligence from the environ-
ment than was traditionally found on a UNIX system. Somehow the compiler and linker
have to make sure that each template instance occurs exactly once in the executable if it
is needed, and not at all otherwise. There are two basic approaches to this problem, which
are referred to as the Borland model and the Cfront model.
Borland model
Borland C++ solved the template instantiation problem by adding the code
equivalent of common blocks to their linker; the compiler emits template in-
1
A file’s basename is the name stripped of all leading path information and of trailing suffixes, such as ‘.h’
or ‘.C’ or ‘.cc’.
Chapter 7: Extensions to the C++ Language 901

stances in each translation unit that uses them, and the linker collapses them
together. The advantage of this model is that the linker only has to consider
the object files themselves; there is no external complexity to worry about. The
disadvantage is that compilation time is increased because the template code
is being compiled repeatedly. Code written for this model tends to include
definitions of all templates in the header file, since they must be seen to be
instantiated.
Cfront model
The AT&T C++ translator, Cfront, solved the template instantiation problem
by creating the notion of a template repository, an automatically maintained
place where template instances are stored. A more modern version of the repos-
itory works as follows: As individual object files are built, the compiler places
any template definitions and instantiations encountered in the repository. At
link time, the link wrapper adds in the objects in the repository and compiles
any needed instances that were not previously emitted. The advantages of this
model are more optimal compilation speed and the ability to use the system
linker; to implement the Borland model a compiler vendor also needs to replace
the linker. The disadvantages are vastly increased complexity, and thus poten-
tial for error; for some code this can be just as transparent, but in practice
it can been very difficult to build multiple programs in one directory and one
program in multiple directories. Code written for this model tends to separate
definitions of non-inline member templates into a separate file, which should be
compiled separately.
G++ implements the Borland model on targets where the linker supports it, including
ELF targets (such as GNU/Linux), Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Otherwise G++
implements neither automatic model.
You have the following options for dealing with template instantiations:
1. Do nothing. Code written for the Borland model works fine, but each translation
unit contains instances of each of the templates it uses. The duplicate instances will
be discarded by the linker, but in a large program, this can lead to an unacceptable
amount of code duplication in object files or shared libraries.
Duplicate instances of a template can be avoided by defining an explicit instantiation
in one object file, and preventing the compiler from doing implicit instantiations in
any other object files by using an explicit instantiation declaration, using the extern
template syntax:
extern template int max (int, int);
This syntax is defined in the C++ 2011 standard, but has been supported by G++ and
other compilers since well before 2011.
Explicit instantiations can be used for the largest or most frequently duplicated in-
stances, without having to know exactly which other instances are used in the rest
of the program. You can scatter the explicit instantiations throughout your program,
perhaps putting them in the translation units where the instances are used or the
translation units that define the templates themselves; you can put all of the explicit
instantiations you need into one big file; or you can create small files like
#include "Foo.h"
902 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

#include "Foo.cc"

template class Foo<int>;

template ostream& operator <<
(ostream&, const Foo<int>&);
for each of the instances you need, and create a template instantiation library from
those.
This is the simplest option, but also offers flexibility and fine-grained control when
necessary. It is also the most portable alternative and programs using this approach
will work with most modern compilers.
2. Compile your code with ‘-fno-implicit-templates’ to disable the implicit generation
of template instances, and explicitly instantiate all the ones you use. This approach
requires more knowledge of exactly which instances you need than do the others, but it’s
less mysterious and allows greater control if you want to ensure that only the intended
instances are used.
If you are using Cfront-model code, you can probably get away with not using
‘-fno-implicit-templates’ when compiling files that don’t ‘#include’ the member
template definitions.
If you use one big file to do the instantiations, you may want to compile it without
‘-fno-implicit-templates’ so you get all of the instances required by your explicit
instantiations (but not by any other files) without having to specify them as well.
In addition to forward declaration of explicit instantiations (with extern), G++ has
extended the template instantiation syntax to support instantiation of the compiler
support data for a template class (i.e. the vtable) without instantiating any of its
members (with inline), and instantiation of only the static data members of a template
class, without the support data or member functions (with static):
inline template class Foo<int>;
static template class Foo<int>;

7.6 Extracting the Function Pointer from a Bound Pointer

to Member Function
In C++, pointer to member functions (PMFs) are implemented using a wide pointer of sorts
to handle all the possible call mechanisms; the PMF needs to store information about how
to adjust the ‘this’ pointer, and if the function pointed to is virtual, where to find the
vtable, and where in the vtable to look for the member function. If you are using PMFs in
an inner loop, you should really reconsider that decision. If that is not an option, you can
extract the pointer to the function that would be called for a given object/PMF pair and
call it directly inside the inner loop, to save a bit of time.
Note that you still pay the penalty for the call through a function pointer; on most
modern architectures, such a call defeats the branch prediction features of the CPU. This
is also true of normal virtual function calls.
The syntax for this extension is
extern A a;
extern int (A::*fp)();
typedef int (*fptr)(A *);
Chapter 7: Extensions to the C++ Language 903

fptr p = (fptr)(a.*fp);
For PMF constants (i.e. expressions of the form ‘&Klasse::Member’), no object is needed
to obtain the address of the function. They can be converted to function pointers directly:
fptr p1 = (fptr)(&A::foo);
You must specify ‘-Wno-pmf-conversions’ to use this extension.

7.7 C++-Specific Variable, Function, and Type Attributes

Some attributes only make sense for C++ programs.
abi_tag ("tag", ...)
The abi_tag attribute can be applied to a function, variable, or class declara-
tion. It modifies the mangled name of the entity to incorporate the tag name, in
order to distinguish the function or class from an earlier version with a different
ABI; perhaps the class has changed size, or the function has a different return
type that is not encoded in the mangled name.
The attribute can also be applied to an inline namespace, but does not affect
the mangled name of the namespace; in this case it is only used for ‘-Wabi-tag’
warnings and automatic tagging of functions and variables. Tagging inline
namespaces is generally preferable to tagging individual declarations, but the
latter is sometimes necessary, such as when only certain members of a class
need to be tagged.
The argument can be a list of strings of arbitrary length. The strings are sorted
on output, so the order of the list is unimportant.
A redeclaration of an entity must not add new ABI tags, since doing so would
change the mangled name.
The ABI tags apply to a name, so all instantiations and specializations of a
template have the same tags. The attribute will be ignored if applied to an
explicit specialization or instantiation.
The ‘-Wabi-tag’ flag enables a warning about a class which does not have all
the ABI tags used by its subobjects and virtual functions; for users with code
that needs to coexist with an earlier ABI, using this option can help to find all
affected types that need to be tagged.
When a type involving an ABI tag is used as the type of a variable or re-
turn type of a function where that tag is not already present in the signature
of the function, the tag is automatically applied to the variable or function.
‘-Wabi-tag’ also warns about this situation; this warning can be avoided by
explicitly tagging the variable or function or moving it into a tagged inline
namespace.
init_priority (priority)
In Standard C++, objects defined at namespace scope are guaranteed to be
initialized in an order in strict accordance with that of their definitions in a given
translation unit. No guarantee is made for initializations across translation
units. However, GNU C++ allows users to control the order of initialization
of objects defined at namespace scope with the init_priority attribute by
904 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

specifying a relative priority, a constant integral expression currently bounded

between 101 and 65535 inclusive. Lower numbers indicate a higher priority.
In the following example, A would normally be created before B, but the init_
priority attribute reverses that order:
Some_Class A __attribute__ ((init_priority (2000)));
Some_Class B __attribute__ ((init_priority (543)));
Note that the particular values of priority do not matter; only their relative
ordering.
warn_unused
For C++ types with non-trivial constructors and/or destructors it is impossible
for the compiler to determine whether a variable of this type is truly unused if
it is not referenced. This type attribute informs the compiler that variables of
this type should be warned about if they appear to be unused, just like variables
of fundamental types.
This attribute is appropriate for types which just represent a value, such as
std::string; it is not appropriate for types which control a resource, such as
std::lock_guard.
This attribute is also accepted in C, but it is unnecessary because C does not
have constructors or destructors.

7.8 Function Multiversioning

With the GNU C++ front end, for x86 targets, you may specify multiple versions of a
function, where each function is specialized for a specific target feature. At runtime, the
appropriate version of the function is automatically executed depending on the character-
istics of the execution platform. Here is an example.
__attribute__ ((target ("default")))
int foo ()
{
// The default version of foo.
return 0;
}

__attribute__ ((target ("sse4.2")))

int foo ()
{
// foo version for SSE4.2
return 1;
}

__attribute__ ((target ("arch=atom")))

int foo ()
{
// foo version for the Intel ATOM processor
return 2;
}

__attribute__ ((target ("arch=amdfam10")))

int foo ()
{
// foo version for the AMD Family 0x10 processors.
Chapter 7: Extensions to the C++ Language 905

return 3;
}

int main ()
{
int (*p)() = &foo;
assert ((*p) () == foo ());
return 0;
}

In the above example, four versions of function foo are created. The first version of foo
with the target attribute "default" is the default version. This version gets executed when
no other target specific version qualifies for execution on a particular platform. A new
version of foo is created by using the same function signature but with a different target
string. Function foo is called or a pointer to it is taken just like a regular function. GCC
takes care of doing the dispatching to call the right version at runtime. Refer to the GCC
wiki on Function Multiversioning for more details.

7.9 Type Traits

The C++ front end implements syntactic extensions that allow compile-time determination
of various characteristics of a type (or of a pair of types).

__has_nothrow_assign (type)
If type is const-qualified or is a reference type then the trait is false. Oth-
erwise if __has_trivial_assign (type) is true then the trait is true, else if
type is a cv-qualified class or union type with copy assignment operators that
are known not to throw an exception then the trait is true, else it is false.
Requires: type shall be a complete type, (possibly cv-qualified) void, or an
array of unknown bound.
__has_nothrow_copy (type)
If __has_trivial_copy (type) is true then the trait is true, else if type is
a cv-qualified class or union type with copy constructors that are known not
to throw an exception then the trait is true, else it is false. Requires: type
shall be a complete type, (possibly cv-qualified) void, or an array of unknown
bound.
__has_nothrow_constructor (type)
If __has_trivial_constructor (type) is true then the trait is true, else if
type is a cv class or union type (or array thereof) with a default constructor
that is known not to throw an exception then the trait is true, else it is false.
Requires: type shall be a complete type, (possibly cv-qualified) void, or an
array of unknown bound.
__has_trivial_assign (type)
If type is const- qualified or is a reference type then the trait is false. Oth-
erwise if __is_trivial (type) is true then the trait is true, else if type is
a cv-qualified class or union type with a trivial copy assignment ([class.copy])
then the trait is true, else it is false. Requires: type shall be a complete type,
(possibly cv-qualified) void, or an array of unknown bound.
906 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

__has_trivial_copy (type)
If __is_trivial (type) is true or type is a reference type then the trait is
true, else if type is a cv class or union type with a trivial copy constructor
([class.copy]) then the trait is true, else it is false. Requires: type shall be a
complete type, (possibly cv-qualified) void, or an array of unknown bound.
__has_trivial_constructor (type)
If __is_trivial (type) is true then the trait is true, else if type is a cv-
qualified class or union type (or array thereof) with a trivial default constructor
([class.ctor]) then the trait is true, else it is false. Requires: type shall be a
complete type, (possibly cv-qualified) void, or an array of unknown bound.
__has_trivial_destructor (type)
If __is_trivial (type) is true or type is a reference type then the trait is
true, else if type is a cv class or union type (or array thereof) with a trivial
destructor ([class.dtor]) then the trait is true, else it is false. Requires: type
shall be a complete type, (possibly cv-qualified) void, or an array of unknown
bound.
__has_virtual_destructor (type)
If type is a class type with a virtual destructor ([class.dtor]) then the trait is
true, else it is false. Requires: If type is a non-union class type, it shall be a
complete type.
__is_abstract (type)
If type is an abstract class ([class.abstract]) then the trait is true, else it is
false. Requires: If type is a non-union class type, it shall be a complete type.
__is_aggregate (type)
If type is an aggregate type ([dcl.init.aggr]) the trait is true, else it is false.
Requires: If type is a class type, it shall be a complete type.
__is_base_of (base_type, derived_type)
If base_type is a base class of derived_type ([class.derived]) then the trait
is true, otherwise it is false. Top-level cv-qualifications of base_type and
derived_type are ignored. For the purposes of this trait, a class type is con-
sidered is own base. Requires: if __is_class (base_type) and __is_class
(derived_type) are true and base_type and derived_type are not the same
type (disregarding cv-qualifiers), derived_type shall be a complete type. A
diagnostic is produced if this requirement is not met.
__is_class (type)
If type is a cv-qualified class type, and not a union type ([basic.compound])
the trait is true, else it is false.
__is_empty (type)
If __is_class (type) is false then the trait is false. Otherwise type is
considered empty if and only if: type has no non-static data members, or all
non-static data members, if any, are bit-fields of length 0, and type has no
virtual members, and type has no virtual base classes, and type has no base
classes base_type for which __is_empty (base_type) is false. Requires: If
type is a non-union class type, it shall be a complete type.
Chapter 7: Extensions to the C++ Language 907

__is_enum (type)
If type is a cv enumeration type ([basic.compound]) the trait is true, else it is
false.
__is_final (type)
If type is a class or union type marked final, then the trait is true, else it is
false. Requires: If type is a class type, it shall be a complete type.
__is_literal_type (type)
If type is a literal type ([basic.types]) the trait is true, else it is false. Requires:
type shall be a complete type, (possibly cv-qualified) void, or an array of
unknown bound.
__is_pod (type)
If type is a cv POD type ([basic.types]) then the trait is true, else it is false.
Requires: type shall be a complete type, (possibly cv-qualified) void, or an
array of unknown bound.
__is_polymorphic (type)
If type is a polymorphic class ([class.virtual]) then the trait is true, else it is
false. Requires: If type is a non-union class type, it shall be a complete type.
__is_standard_layout (type)
If type is a standard-layout type ([basic.types]) the trait is true, else it is
false. Requires: type shall be a complete type, an array of complete types, or
(possibly cv-qualified) void.
__is_trivial (type)
If type is a trivial type ([basic.types]) the trait is true, else it is false. Re-
quires: type shall be a complete type, an array of complete types, or (possibly
cv-qualified) void.
__is_union (type)
If type is a cv union type ([basic.compound]) the trait is true, else it is false.
__underlying_type (type)
The underlying type of type. Requires: type shall be an enumeration type
([dcl.enum]).
__integer_pack (length)
When used as the pattern of a pack expansion within a template definition,
expands to a template argument pack containing integers from 0 to length-1.
This is provided for efficient implementation of std::make_integer_sequence.

7.10 C++ Concepts

C++ concepts provide much-improved support for generic programming. In particular, they
allow the specification of constraints on template arguments. The constraints are used to
extend the usual overloading and partial specialization capabilities of the language, allowing
generic data structures and algorithms to be “refined” based on their properties rather than
their type names.
The following keywords are reserved for concepts.
908 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

assumes States an expression as an assumption, and if possible, verifies that the assump-
tion is valid. For example, assume(n > 0).

axiom Introduces an axiom definition. Axioms introduce requirements on values.

forall Introduces a universally quantified object in an axiom. For example, forall

(int n) n + 0 == n).

concept Introduces a concept definition. Concepts are sets of syntactic and semantic
requirements on types and their values.

requires Introduces constraints on template arguments or requirements for a member

function of a class template.

The front end also exposes a number of internal mechanism that can be used to simplify
the writing of type traits. Note that some of these traits are likely to be removed in the
future.

__is_same (type1, type2)

A binary type trait: true whenever the type arguments are the same.

7.11 Deprecated Features

In the past, the GNU C++ compiler was extended to experiment with new features, at a
time when the C++ language was still evolving. Now that the C++ standard is complete,
some of those features are superseded by superior alternatives. Using the old features might
cause a warning in some cases that the feature will be dropped in the future. In other cases,
the feature might be gone already.
G++ allows a virtual function returning ‘void *’ to be overridden by one returning a
different pointer type. This extension to the covariant return type rules is now deprecated
and will be removed from a future version.
The use of default arguments in function pointers, function typedefs and other places
where they are not permitted by the standard is deprecated and will be removed from a
future version of G++.
G++ allows floating-point literals to appear in integral constant expressions, e.g. ‘ enum E
{ e = int(2.2 * 3.7) } ’ This extension is deprecated and will be removed from a future
version.
G++ allows static data members of const floating-point type to be declared with an
initializer in a class definition. The standard only allows initializers for static members of
const integral types and const enumeration types so this extension has been deprecated and
will be removed from a future version.
G++ allows attributes to follow a parenthesized direct initializer, e.g. ‘ int f (0)
__attribute__ ((something)); ’ This extension has been ignored since G++ 3.3 and is
deprecated.
G++ allows anonymous structs and unions to have members that are not public non-static
data members (i.e. fields). These extensions are deprecated.
Chapter 7: Extensions to the C++ Language 909

7.12 Backwards Compatibility

Now that there is a definitive ISO standard C++, G++ has a specification to adhere to. The
C++ language evolved over time, and features that used to be acceptable in previous drafts of
the standard, such as the ARM [Annotated C++ Reference Manual], are no longer accepted.
In order to allow compilation of C++ written to such drafts, G++ contains some backwards
compatibilities. All such backwards compatibility features are liable to disappear in future
versions of G++. They should be considered deprecated. See Section 7.11 [Deprecated
Features], page 908.
Implicit C language
Old C system header files did not contain an extern "C" {...} scope to set the
language. On such systems, all system header files are implicitly scoped inside
a C language scope. Such headers must correctly prototype function argument
types, there is no leeway for () to indicate an unspecified set of arguments.
Chapter 8: GNU Objective-C Features 911

8 GNU Objective-C Features

This document is meant to describe some of the GNU Objective-C features. It is not
intended to teach you Objective-C. There are several resources on the Internet that present
the language.

8.1 GNU Objective-C Runtime API

This section is specific for the GNU Objective-C runtime. If you are using a different
runtime, you can skip it.
The GNU Objective-C runtime provides an API that allows you to interact with the
Objective-C runtime system, querying the live runtime structures and even manipulating
them. This allows you for example to inspect and navigate classes, methods and protocols;
to define new classes or new methods, and even to modify existing classes or protocols.
If you are using a “Foundation” library such as GNUstep-Base, this library will provide
you with a rich set of functionality to do most of the inspection tasks, and you probably
will only need direct access to the GNU Objective-C runtime API to define new classes or
methods.

8.1.1 Modern GNU Objective-C Runtime API

The GNU Objective-C runtime provides an API which is similar to the one provided by
the “Objective-C 2.0” Apple/NeXT Objective-C runtime. The API is documented in the
public header files of the GNU Objective-C runtime:
• ‘objc/objc.h’: this is the basic Objective-C header file, defining the basic Objective-
C types such as id, Class and BOOL. You have to include this header to do almost
anything with Objective-C.
• ‘objc/runtime.h’: this header declares most of the public runtime API functions al-
lowing you to inspect and manipulate the Objective-C runtime data structures. These
functions are fairly standardized across Objective-C runtimes and are almost iden-
tical to the Apple/NeXT Objective-C runtime ones. It does not declare functions
in some specialized areas (constructing and forwarding message invocations, thread-
ing) which are in the other headers below. You have to include ‘objc/objc.h’ and
‘objc/runtime.h’ to use any of the functions, such as class_getName(), declared in
‘objc/runtime.h’.
• ‘objc/message.h’: this header declares public functions used to construct, deconstruct
and forward message invocations. Because messaging is done in quite a different way
on different runtimes, functions in this header are specific to the GNU Objective-C
runtime implementation.
• ‘objc/objc-exception.h’: this header declares some public functions related to
Objective-C exceptions. For example functions in this header allow you to throw an
Objective-C exception from plain C/C++ code.
• ‘objc/objc-sync.h’: this header declares some public functions related to the
Objective-C @synchronized() syntax, allowing you to emulate an Objective-C
@synchronized() block in plain C/C++ code.
912 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• ‘objc/thr.h’: this header declares a public runtime API threading layer that is only
provided by the GNU Objective-C runtime. It declares functions such as objc_mutex_
lock(), which provide a platform-independent set of threading functions.
The header files contain detailed documentation for each function in the GNU Objective-
C runtime API.

8.1.2 Traditional GNU Objective-C Runtime API

The GNU Objective-C runtime used to provide a different API, which we call the “tradi-
tional” GNU Objective-C runtime API. Functions belonging to this API are easy to rec-
ognize because they use a different naming convention, such as class_get_super_class()
(traditional API) instead of class_getSuperclass() (modern API). Software using this
API includes the file ‘objc/objc-api.h’ where it is declared.
Starting with GCC 4.7.0, the traditional GNU runtime API is no longer available.

8.2 +load: Executing Code before main

This section is specific for the GNU Objective-C runtime. If you are using a different
runtime, you can skip it.
The GNU Objective-C runtime provides a way that allows you to execute code before
the execution of the program enters the main function. The code is executed on a per-class
and a per-category basis, through a special class method +load.
This facility is very useful if you want to initialize global variables which can be accessed
by the program directly, without sending a message to the class first. The usual way
to initialize global variables, in the +initialize method, might not be useful because
+initialize is only called when the first message is sent to a class object, which in some
cases could be too late.
Suppose for example you have a FileStream class that declares Stdin, Stdout and
Stderr as global variables, like below:

FileStream *Stdin = nil;

FileStream *Stdout = nil;
FileStream *Stderr = nil;

@implementation FileStream

+ (void)initialize
{
Stdin = [[FileStream new] initWithFd:0];
Stdout = [[FileStream new] initWithFd:1];
Stderr = [[FileStream new] initWithFd:2];
}

/* Other methods here */

@end

In this example, the initialization of Stdin, Stdout and Stderr in +initialize occurs
too late. The programmer can send a message to one of these objects before the variables
are actually initialized, thus sending messages to the nil object. The +initialize method
which actually initializes the global variables is not invoked until the first message is sent
Chapter 8: GNU Objective-C Features 913

to the class object. The solution would require these variables to be initialized just before
entering main.
The correct solution of the above problem is to use the +load method instead of
+initialize:

@implementation FileStream

+ (void)load
{
Stdin = [[FileStream new] initWithFd:0];
Stdout = [[FileStream new] initWithFd:1];
Stderr = [[FileStream new] initWithFd:2];
}

/* Other methods here */

@end

The +load is a method that is not overridden by categories. If a class and a category of
it both implement +load, both methods are invoked. This allows some additional initial-
izations to be performed in a category.
This mechanism is not intended to be a replacement for +initialize. You should be
aware of its limitations when you decide to use it instead of +initialize.

8.2.1 What You Can and Cannot Do in +load

+load is to be used only as a last resort. Because it is executed very early, most of the
Objective-C runtime machinery will not be ready when +load is executed; hence +load
works best for executing C code that is independent on the Objective-C runtime.
The +load implementation in the GNU runtime guarantees you the following things:
• you can write whatever C code you like;
• you can allocate and send messages to objects whose class is implemented in the same
file;
• the +load implementation of all super classes of a class are executed before the +load
of that class is executed;
• the +load implementation of a class is executed before the +load implementation of
any category.
In particular, the following things, even if they can work in a particular case, are not
guaranteed:
• allocation of or sending messages to arbitrary objects;
• allocation of or sending messages to objects whose classes have a category implemented
in the same file;
• sending messages to Objective-C constant strings (@"this is a constant string");
You should make no assumptions about receiving +load in sibling classes when you write
+load of a class. The order in which sibling classes receive +load is not guaranteed.
The order in which +load and +initialize are called could be problematic if this mat-
ters. If you don’t allocate objects inside +load, it is guaranteed that +load is called before
+initialize. If you create an object inside +load the +initialize method of object’s
914 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

class is invoked even if +load was not invoked. Note if you explicitly call +load on a class,
+initialize will be called first. To avoid possible problems try to implement only one of
these methods.
The +load method is also invoked when a bundle is dynamically loaded into your running
program. This happens automatically without any intervening operation from you. When
you write bundles and you need to write +load you can safely create and send messages to
objects whose classes already exist in the running program. The same restrictions as above
apply to classes defined in bundle.

8.3 Type Encoding

This is an advanced section. Type encodings are used extensively by the compiler and by
the runtime, but you generally do not need to know about them to use Objective-C.
The Objective-C compiler generates type encodings for all the types. These type encod-
ings are used at runtime to find out information about selectors and methods and about
objects and classes.
The types are encoded in the following way:
_Bool B
char c
unsigned char C
short s
unsigned short S
int i
unsigned int I
long l
unsigned long L
long long q
unsigned long long Q
float f
double d
long double D
void v
id @
Class #
SEL :
char* *
enum an enum is encoded exactly as the integer type that the compiler
uses for it, which depends on the enumeration values. Often the
compiler users unsigned int, which is then encoded as I.
unknown type ?
Complex types j followed by the inner type. For example _Complex double is
encoded as "jd".
bit-fields b followed by the starting position of the bit-field, the type of the
bit-field and the size of the bit-field (the bit-fields encoding was
changed from the NeXT’s compiler encoding, see below)
Chapter 8: GNU Objective-C Features 915

The encoding of bit-fields has changed to allow bit-fields to be properly handled by the
runtime functions that compute sizes and alignments of types that contain bit-fields. The
previous encoding contained only the size of the bit-field. Using only this information it is
not possible to reliably compute the size occupied by the bit-field. This is very important
in the presence of the Boehm’s garbage collector because the objects are allocated using
the typed memory facility available in this collector. The typed memory allocation requires
information about where the pointers are located inside the object.
The position in the bit-field is the position, counting in bits, of the bit closest to the
beginning of the structure.
The non-atomic types are encoded as follows:
pointers ‘^’ followed by the pointed type.
arrays ‘[’ followed by the number of elements in the array followed by the
type of the elements followed by ‘]’
structures ‘{’ followed by the name of the structure (or ‘?’ if the structure is
unnamed), the ‘=’ sign, the type of the members and by ‘}’
unions ‘(’ followed by the name of the structure (or ‘?’ if the union is un-
named), the ‘=’ sign, the type of the members followed by ‘)’
vectors ‘![’ followed by the vector size (the number of bytes composing the
vector) followed by a comma, followed by the alignment (in bytes) of
the vector, followed by the type of the elements followed by ‘]’
Here are some types and their encodings, as they are generated by the compiler on an
i386 machine:

Objective-C type Compiler encoding

int a[10]; [10i]

struct { {?=i[3f]b128i3b131i2c}
int i;
float f[3];
int a:3;
int b:2;
char c;
}

int a __attribute__ ((vector_size (16))); ![16,16i] (alignment depends on

the machine)

In addition to the types the compiler also encodes the type specifiers. The table below
describes the encoding of the current Objective-C type specifiers:

Specifier Encoding
const r
in n
inout N
916 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

out o
bycopy O
byref R
oneway V

The type specifiers are encoded just before the type. Unlike types however, the type
specifiers are only encoded when they appear in method argument types.
Note how const interacts with pointers:

Objective-C type Compiler encoding

const int ri

const int* ^ri

int *const r^i

const int* is a pointer to a const int, and so is encoded as ^ri. int* const, instead,
is a const pointer to an int, and so is encoded as r^i.
Finally, there is a complication when encoding const char * versus char * const. Be-
cause char * is encoded as * and not as ^c, there is no way to express the fact that r applies
to the pointer or to the pointee.
Hence, it is assumed as a convention that r* means const char * (since it is what is
most often meant), and there is no way to encode char *const. char *const would simply
be encoded as *, and the const is lost.

8.3.1 Legacy Type Encoding

Unfortunately, historically GCC used to have a number of bugs in its encoding code. The
NeXT runtime expects GCC to emit type encodings in this historical format (compatible
with GCC-3.3), so when using the NeXT runtime, GCC will introduce on purpose a number
of incorrect encodings:
• the read-only qualifier of the pointee gets emitted before the ’^’. The read-only qualifier
of the pointer itself gets ignored, unless it is a typedef. Also, the ’r’ is only emitted for
the outermost type.
• 32-bit longs are encoded as ’l’ or ’L’, but not always. For typedefs, the compiler uses
’i’ or ’I’ instead if encoding a struct field or a pointer.
• enums are always encoded as ’i’ (int) even if they are actually unsigned or long.
In addition to that, the NeXT runtime uses a different encoding for bitfields. It encodes
them as b followed by the size, without a bit offset or the underlying field type.

8.3.2 @encode
GNU Objective-C supports the @encode syntax that allows you to create a type encoding
from a C/Objective-C type. For example, @encode(int) is compiled by the compiler into
"i".
Chapter 8: GNU Objective-C Features 917

@encode does not support type qualifiers other than const. For example, @encode(const
char*) is valid and is compiled into "r*", while @encode(bycopy char *) is invalid and
will cause a compilation error.

8.3.3 Method Signatures

This section documents the encoding of method types, which is rarely needed to use
Objective-C. You should skip it at a first reading; the runtime provides functions that
will work on methods and can walk through the list of parameters and interpret them for
you. These functions are part of the public “API” and are the preferred way to interact
with method signatures from user code.
But if you need to debug a problem with method signatures and need to know how they
are implemented (i.e., the “ABI”), read on.
Methods have their “signature” encoded and made available to the runtime. The “signa-
ture” encodes all the information required to dynamically build invocations of the method
at runtime: return type and arguments.
The “signature” is a null-terminated string, composed of the following:
• The return type, including type qualifiers. For example, a method returning int would
have i here.
• The total size (in bytes) required to pass all the parameters. This includes the two
hidden parameters (the object self and the method selector _cmd).
• Each argument, with the type encoding, followed by the offset (in bytes) of the argu-
ment in the list of parameters.
For example, a method with no arguments and returning int would have the signature
i8@0:4 if the size of a pointer is 4. The signature is interpreted as follows: the i is the
return type (an int), the 8 is the total size of the parameters in bytes (two pointers each
of size 4), the @0 is the first parameter (an object at byte offset 0) and :4 is the second
parameter (a SEL at byte offset 4).
You can easily find more examples by running the “strings” program on an Objective-C
object file compiled by GCC. You’ll see a lot of strings that look very much like i8@0:4.
They are signatures of Objective-C methods.

8.4 Garbage Collection

This section is specific for the GNU Objective-C runtime. If you are using a different
runtime, you can skip it.
Support for garbage collection with the GNU runtime has been added by using a powerful
conservative garbage collector, known as the Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage
collector.
To enable the support for it you have to configure the compiler using an additional argu-
ment, ‘--enable-objc-gc’. This will build the boehm-gc library, and build an additional
runtime library which has several enhancements to support the garbage collector. The
new library has a new name, ‘libobjc_gc.a’ to not conflict with the non-garbage-collected
library.
When the garbage collector is used, the objects are allocated using the so-called typed
memory allocation mechanism available in the Boehm-Demers-Weiser collector. This mode
918 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

requires precise information on where pointers are located inside objects. This information
is computed once per class, immediately after the class has been initialized.
There is a new runtime function class_ivar_set_gcinvisible() which can be used to
declare a so-called weak pointer reference. Such a pointer is basically hidden for the garbage
collector; this can be useful in certain situations, especially when you want to keep track
of the allocated objects, yet allow them to be collected. This kind of pointers can only be
members of objects, you cannot declare a global pointer as a weak reference. Every type
which is a pointer type can be declared a weak pointer, including id, Class and SEL.
Here is an example of how to use this feature. Suppose you want to implement a class
whose instances hold a weak pointer reference; the following class does this:

@interface WeakPointer : Object

{
const void* weakPointer;
}

- initWithPointer:(const void*)p;
- (const void*)weakPointer;
@end

@implementation WeakPointer

+ (void)initialize
{
if (self == objc_lookUpClass ("WeakPointer"))
class_ivar_set_gcinvisible (self, "weakPointer", YES);
}

- initWithPointer:(const void*)p
{
weakPointer = p;
return self;
}

- (const void*)weakPointer
{
return weakPointer;
}

@end

Weak pointers are supported through a new type character specifier represented by the
‘!’ character. The class_ivar_set_gcinvisible() function adds or removes this specifier
to the string type description of the instance variable named as argument.

8.5 Constant String Objects

GNU Objective-C provides constant string objects that are generated directly by the com-
piler. You declare a constant string object by prefixing a C constant string with the character
‘@’:
id myString = @"this is a constant string object";
Chapter 8: GNU Objective-C Features 919

The constant string objects are by default instances of the NXConstantString class which
is provided by the GNU Objective-C runtime. To get the definition of this class you must
include the ‘objc/NXConstStr.h’ header file.
User defined libraries may want to implement their own constant string class. To be able
to support them, the GNU Objective-C compiler provides a new command line options
‘-fconstant-string-class=class-name’. The provided class should adhere to a strict
structure, the same as NXConstantString’s structure:

@interface MyConstantStringClass
{
Class isa;
char *c_string;
unsigned int len;
}
@end

NXConstantString inherits from Object; user class libraries may choose to inherit the
customized constant string class from a different class than Object. There is no requirement
in the methods the constant string class has to implement, but the final ivar layout of the
class must be the compatible with the given structure.
When the compiler creates the statically allocated constant string object, the c_string
field will be filled by the compiler with the string; the length field will be filled by the
compiler with the string length; the isa pointer will be filled with NULL by the compiler,
and it will later be fixed up automatically at runtime by the GNU Objective-C runtime
library to point to the class which was set by the ‘-fconstant-string-class’ option when
the object file is loaded (if you wonder how it works behind the scenes, the name of the
class to use, and the list of static objects to fixup, are stored by the compiler in the object
file in a place where the GNU runtime library will find them at runtime).
As a result, when a file is compiled with the ‘-fconstant-string-class’ option, all the
constant string objects will be instances of the class specified as argument to this option. It
is possible to have multiple compilation units referring to different constant string classes,
neither the compiler nor the linker impose any restrictions in doing this.

8.6 compatibility_alias
The keyword @compatibility_alias allows you to define a class name as equivalent to
another class name. For example:
@compatibility_alias WOApplication GSWApplication;

tells the compiler that each time it encounters WOApplication as a class name, it
should replace it with GSWApplication (that is, WOApplication is just an alias for
GSWApplication).
There are some constraints on how this can be used—
• WOApplication (the alias) must not be an existing class;
• GSWApplication (the real class) must be an existing class.
920 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

8.7 Exceptions
GNU Objective-C provides exception support built into the language, as in the following
example:
@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++ pro-

gram; 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 pre-
ceding @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:
• The ‘-fobjc-exceptions’ command line option must be used when compiling
Objective-C files that use exceptions.
• With the GNU runtime, exceptions are always implemented as “native” exceptions
and it is recommended that the ‘-fexceptions’ and ‘-shared-libgcc’ options are
used when linking.
• With the NeXT runtime, 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.
Chapter 8: GNU Objective-C Features 921

• 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).

8.8 Synchronization
GNU Objective-C provides support for synchronized blocks:
@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.
Because of the interactions between synchronization and exception handling, you can only
use @synchronized when compiling with exceptions enabled, that is with the command line
option ‘-fobjc-exceptions’.

8.9 Fast Enumeration

8.9.1 Using Fast Enumeration
GNU Objective-C provides support for the fast enumeration syntax:
id array = ...;
id object;

for (object in array)

{
/* Do something with ’object’ */
}
array needs to be an Objective-C object (usually a collection object, for example an array,
a dictionary or a set) which implements the “Fast Enumeration Protocol” (see below). If
you are using a Foundation library such as GNUstep Base or Apple Cocoa Foundation, all
collection objects in the library implement this protocol and can be used in this way.
The code above would iterate over all objects in array. For each of them, it assigns it to
object, then executes the Do something with ’object’ statements.
Here is a fully worked-out example using a Foundation library (which provides the im-
plementation of NSArray, NSString and NSLog):
NSArray *array = [NSArray arrayWithObjects: @"1", @"2", @"3", nil];
NSString *object;

for (object in array)

NSLog (@"Iterating over %@", object);
922 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

8.9.2 C99-Like Fast Enumeration Syntax

A c99-like declaration syntax is also allowed:
id array = ...;

for (id object in array)

{
/* Do something with ’object’ */
}
this is completely equivalent to:
id array = ...;

{
id object;
for (object in array)
{
/* Do something with ’object’ */
}
}
but can save some typing.
Note that the option ‘-std=c99’ is not required to allow this syntax in Objective-C.

8.9.3 Fast Enumeration Details

Here is a more technical description with the gory details. Consider the code
for (object expression in collection expression)
{
statements
}
here is what happens when you run it:
• collection expression is evaluated exactly once and the result is used as the collec-
tion object to iterate over. This means it is safe to write code such as for (object in
[NSDictionary keyEnumerator]) ....
• the iteration is implemented by the compiler by repeatedly getting batches of objects
from the collection object using the fast enumeration protocol (see below), then iter-
ating over all objects in the batch. This is faster than a normal enumeration where
objects are retrieved one by one (hence the name “fast enumeration”).
• if there are no objects in the collection, then object expression is set to nil and the
loop immediately terminates.
• if there are objects in the collection, then for each object in the collection (in the
order they are returned) object expression is set to the object, then statements are
executed.
• statements can contain break and continue commands, which will abort the iteration
or skip to the next loop iteration as expected.
• when the iteration ends because there are no more objects to iterate over, object
expression is set to nil. This allows you to determine whether the iteration finished
because a break command was used (in which case object expression will remain
set to the last object that was iterated over) or because it iterated over all the objects
(in which case object expression will be set to nil).
Chapter 8: GNU Objective-C Features 923

• statements must not make any changes to the collection object; if they do, it is a hard
error and the fast enumeration terminates by invoking objc_enumerationMutation, a
runtime function that normally aborts the program but which can be customized by
Foundation libraries via objc_set_mutation_handler to do something different, such
as raising an exception.

8.9.4 Fast Enumeration Protocol

If you want your own collection object to be usable with fast enumeration, you need to have
it implement the method
- (unsigned long) countByEnumeratingWithState: (NSFastEnumerationState *)state
objects: (id *)objects
count: (unsigned long)len;
where NSFastEnumerationState must be defined in your code as follows:
typedef struct
{
unsigned long state;
id *itemsPtr;
unsigned long *mutationsPtr;
unsigned long extra[5];
} NSFastEnumerationState;
If no NSFastEnumerationState is defined in your code, the compiler will automatically
replace NSFastEnumerationState * with struct __objcFastEnumerationState *, where
that type is silently defined by the compiler in an identical way. This can be confusing and
we recommend that you define NSFastEnumerationState (as shown above) instead.
The method is called repeatedly during a fast enumeration to retrieve batches of objects.
Each invocation of the method should retrieve the next batch of objects.
The return value of the method is the number of objects in the current batch; this should
not exceed len, which is the maximum size of a batch as requested by the caller. The batch
itself is returned in the itemsPtr field of the NSFastEnumerationState struct.
To help with returning the objects, the objects array is a C array preallocated by the
caller (on the stack) of size len. In many cases you can put the objects you want to return in
that objects array, then do itemsPtr = objects. But you don’t have to; if your collection
already has the objects to return in some form of C array, it could return them from there
instead.
The state and extra fields of the NSFastEnumerationState structure allows your collec-
tion object to keep track of the state of the enumeration. In a simple array implementation,
state may keep track of the index of the last object that was returned, and extra may be
unused.
The mutationsPtr field of the NSFastEnumerationState is used to keep track of muta-
tions. It should point to a number; before working on each object, the fast enumeration
loop will check that this number has not changed. If it has, a mutation has happened and
the fast enumeration will abort. So, mutationsPtr could be set to point to some sort of
version number of your collection, which is increased by one every time there is a change
(for example when an object is added or removed). Or, if you are content with less strict
mutation checks, it could point to the number of objects in your collection or some other
value that can be checked to perform an approximate check that the collection has not been
mutated.
924 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Finally, note how we declared the len argument and the return value to be of type
unsigned long. They could also be declared to be of type unsigned int and everything
would still work.

8.10 Messaging with the GNU Objective-C Runtime

This section is specific for the GNU Objective-C runtime. If you are using a different
runtime, you can skip it.
The implementation of messaging in the GNU Objective-C runtime is designed to be
portable, and so is based on standard C.
Sending a message in the GNU Objective-C runtime is composed of two separate steps.
First, there is a call to the lookup function, objc_msg_lookup () (or, in the case of mes-
sages to super, objc_msg_lookup_super ()). This runtime function takes as argument the
receiver and the selector of the method to be called; it returns the IMP, that is a pointer
to the function implementing the method. The second step of method invocation consists
of casting this pointer function to the appropriate function pointer type, and calling the
function pointed to it with the right arguments.
For example, when the compiler encounters a method invocation such as [object init],
it compiles it into a call to objc_msg_lookup (object, @selector(init)) followed by a
cast of the returned value to the appropriate function pointer type, and then it calls it.

8.10.1 Dynamically Registering Methods

If objc_msg_lookup() does not find a suitable method implementation, because the receiver
does not implement the required method, it tries to see if the class can dynamically register
the method.
To do so, the runtime checks if the class of the receiver implements the method
+ (BOOL) resolveInstanceMethod: (SEL)selector;

in the case of an instance method, or

+ (BOOL) resolveClassMethod: (SEL)selector;

in the case of a class method. If the class implements it, the runtime invokes it, passing
as argument the selector of the original method, and if it returns YES, the runtime tries the
lookup again, which could now succeed if a matching method was added dynamically by
+resolveInstanceMethod: or +resolveClassMethod:.
This allows classes to dynamically register methods (by adding them to the class us-
ing class_addMethod) when they are first called. To do so, a class should implement
+resolveInstanceMethod: (or, depending on the case, +resolveClassMethod:) and have
it recognize the selectors of methods that can be registered dynamically at runtime, regis-
ter them, and return YES. It should return NO for methods that it does not dynamically
registered at runtime.
If +resolveInstanceMethod: (or +resolveClassMethod:) is not implemented or returns
NO, the runtime then tries the forwarding hook.
Support for +resolveInstanceMethod: and resolveClassMethod: was added to the
GNU Objective-C runtime in GCC version 4.6.
Chapter 8: GNU Objective-C Features 925

8.10.2 Forwarding Hook

The GNU Objective-C runtime provides a hook, called __objc_msg_forward2, which is
called by objc_msg_lookup() when it cannot find a method implementation in the runtime
tables and after calling +resolveInstanceMethod: and +resolveClassMethod: has been
attempted and did not succeed in dynamically registering the method.
To configure the hook, you set the global variable __objc_msg_forward2 to a func-
tion with the same argument and return types of objc_msg_lookup(). When objc_msg_
lookup() cannot find a method implementation, it invokes the hook function you provided
to get a method implementation to return. So, in practice __objc_msg_forward2 allows you
to extend objc_msg_lookup() by adding some custom code that is called to do a further
lookup when no standard method implementation can be found using the normal lookup.
This hook is generally reserved for “Foundation” libraries such as GNUstep Base, which
use it to implement their high-level method forwarding API, typically based around the
forwardInvocation: method. So, unless you are implementing your own “Foundation”
library, you should not set this hook.
In a typical forwarding implementation, the __objc_msg_forward2 hook function deter-
mines the argument and return type of the method that is being looked up, and then creates
a function that takes these arguments and has that return type, and returns it to the caller.
Creating this function is non-trivial and is typically performed using a dedicated library
such as libffi.
The forwarding method implementation thus created is returned by objc_msg_lookup()
and is executed as if it was a normal method implementation. When the forwarding method
implementation is called, it is usually expected to pack all arguments into some sort of
object (typically, an NSInvocation in a “Foundation” library), and hand it over to the
programmer (forwardInvocation:) who is then allowed to manipulate the method in-
vocation using a high-level API provided by the “Foundation” library. For example, the
programmer may want to examine the method invocation arguments and name and poten-
tially change them before forwarding the method invocation to one or more local objects
(performInvocation:) or even to remote objects (by using Distributed Objects or some
other mechanism). When all this completes, the return value is passed back and must be
returned correctly to the original caller.
Note that the GNU Objective-C runtime currently provides no support for method for-
warding or method invocations other than the __objc_msg_forward2 hook.
If the forwarding hook does not exist or returns NULL, the runtime currently attempts
forwarding using an older, deprecated API, and if that fails, it aborts the program. In
future versions of the GNU Objective-C runtime, the runtime will immediately abort.
Chapter 9: Binary Compatibility 927

9 Binary Compatibility
Binary compatibility encompasses several related concepts:
application binary interface (ABI)
The set of runtime conventions followed by all of the tools that deal with bi-
nary representations of a program, including compilers, assemblers, linkers, and
language runtime support. Some ABIs are formal with a written specification,
possibly designed by multiple interested parties. Others are simply the way
things are actually done by a particular set of tools.
ABI conformance
A compiler conforms to an ABI if it generates code that follows all of the
specifications enumerated by that ABI. A library conforms to an ABI if it is
implemented according to that ABI. An application conforms to an ABI if it
is built using tools that conform to that ABI and does not contain source code
that specifically changes behavior specified by the ABI.
calling conventions
Calling conventions are a subset of an ABI that specify of how arguments are
passed and function results are returned.
interoperability
Different sets of tools are interoperable if they generate files that can be used
in the same program. The set of tools includes compilers, assemblers, linkers,
libraries, header files, startup files, and debuggers. Binaries produced by dif-
ferent sets of tools are not interoperable unless they implement the same ABI.
This applies to different versions of the same tools as well as tools from different
vendors.
intercallability
Whether a function in a binary built by one set of tools can call a function in
a binary built by a different set of tools is a subset of interoperability.
implementation-defined features
Language standards include lists of implementation-defined features whose be-
havior can vary from one implementation to another. Some of these features
are normally covered by a platform’s ABI and others are not. The features
that are not covered by an ABI generally affect how a program behaves, but
not intercallability.
compatibility
Conformance to the same ABI and the same behavior of implementation-defined
features are both relevant for compatibility.
The application binary interface implemented by a C or C++ compiler affects code gen-
eration and runtime support for:
• size and alignment of data types
• layout of structured types
• calling conventions
928 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• register usage conventions

• interfaces for runtime arithmetic support
• object file formats
In addition, the application binary interface implemented by a C++ compiler affects code
generation and runtime support for:
• name mangling
• exception handling
• invoking constructors and destructors
• layout, alignment, and padding of classes
• layout and alignment of virtual tables
Some GCC compilation options cause the compiler to generate code that does not con-
form to the platform’s default ABI. Other options cause different program behavior for
implementation-defined features that are not covered by an ABI. These options are pro-
vided for consistency with other compilers that do not follow the platform’s default ABI
or the usual behavior of implementation-defined features for the platform. Be very careful
about using such options.
Most platforms have a well-defined ABI that covers C code, but ABIs that cover C++
functionality are not yet common.
Starting with GCC 3.2, GCC binary conventions for C++ are based on a written, vendor-
neutral C++ ABI that was designed to be specific to 64-bit Itanium but also includes generic
specifications that apply to any platform. This C++ ABI is also implemented by other
compiler vendors on some platforms, notably GNU/Linux and BSD systems. We have tried
hard to provide a stable ABI that will be compatible with future GCC releases, but it is
possible that we will encounter problems that make this difficult. Such problems could
include different interpretations of the C++ ABI by different vendors, bugs in the ABI, or
bugs in the implementation of the ABI in different compilers. GCC’s ‘-Wabi’ switch warns
when G++ generates code that is probably not compatible with the C++ ABI.
The C++ library used with a C++ compiler includes the Standard C++ Library, with
functionality defined in the C++ Standard, plus language runtime support. The runtime
support is included in a C++ ABI, but there is no formal ABI for the Standard C++ Library.
Two implementations of that library are interoperable if one follows the de-facto ABI of the
other and if they are both built with the same compiler, or with compilers that conform to
the same ABI for C++ compiler and runtime support.
When G++ and another C++ compiler conform to the same C++ ABI, but the implemen-
tations of the Standard C++ Library that they normally use do not follow the same ABI for
the Standard C++ Library, object files built with those compilers can be used in the same
program only if they use the same C++ library. This requires specifying the location of the
C++ library header files when invoking the compiler whose usual library is not being used.
The location of GCC’s C++ header files depends on how the GCC build was configured, but
can be seen by using the G++ ‘-v’ option. With default configuration options for G++ 3.3
the compile line for a different C++ compiler needs to include
-Igcc_install_directory/include/c++/3.3
Similarly, compiling code with G++ that must use a C++ library other than the GNU C++
library requires specifying the location of the header files for that other library.
Chapter 9: Binary Compatibility 929

The most straightforward way to link a program to use a particular C++ library is to
use a C++ driver that specifies that C++ library by default. The g++ driver, for example,
tells the linker where to find GCC’s C++ library (‘libstdc++’) plus the other libraries and
startup files it needs, in the proper order.
If a program must use a different C++ library and it’s not possible to do the final link
using a C++ driver that uses that library by default, it is necessary to tell g++ the location
and name of that library. It might also be necessary to specify different startup files and
other runtime support libraries, and to suppress the use of GCC’s support libraries with
one or more of the options ‘-nostdlib’, ‘-nostartfiles’, and ‘-nodefaultlibs’.
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 931

10 gcov—a Test Coverage Program

gcov is a tool you can use in conjunction with GCC to test code coverage in your programs.

10.1 Introduction to gcov

gcov is a test coverage program. Use it in concert with GCC to analyze your programs
to help create more efficient, faster running code and to discover untested parts of your
program. You can use gcov as a profiling tool to help discover where your optimization
efforts will best affect your code. You can also use gcov along with the other profiling tool,
gprof, to assess which parts of your code use the greatest amount of computing time.
Profiling tools help you analyze your code’s performance. Using a profiler such as gcov
or gprof, you can find out some basic performance statistics, such as:
• how often each line of code executes
• what lines of code are actually executed
• how much computing time each section of code uses
Once you know these things about how your code works when compiled, you can look at
each module to see which modules should be optimized. gcov helps you determine where
to work on optimization.
Software developers also use coverage testing in concert with testsuites, to make sure
software is actually good enough for a release. Testsuites can verify that a program works
as expected; a coverage program tests to see how much of the program is exercised by the
testsuite. Developers can then determine what kinds of test cases need to be added to the
testsuites to create both better testing and a better final product.
You should compile your code without optimization if you plan to use gcov because
the optimization, by combining some lines of code into one function, may not give you
as much information as you need to look for ‘hot spots’ where the code is using a great
deal of computer time. Likewise, because gcov accumulates statistics by line (at the lowest
resolution), it works best with a programming style that places only one statement on each
line. If you use complicated macros that expand to loops or to other control structures,
the statistics are less helpful—they only report on the line where the macro call appears.
If your complex macros behave like functions, you can replace them with inline functions
to solve this problem.
gcov creates a logfile called ‘sourcefile.gcov’ which indicates how many times each line
of a source file ‘sourcefile.c’ has executed. You can use these logfiles along with gprof
to aid in fine-tuning the performance of your programs. gprof gives timing information
you can use along with the information you get from gcov.
gcov works only on code compiled with GCC. It is not compatible with any other profiling
or test coverage mechanism.

10.2 Invoking gcov

gcov [options] files
gcov accepts the following options:
932 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-a
--all-blocks
Write individual execution counts for every basic block. Normally gcov outputs
execution counts only for the main blocks of a line. With this option you can
determine if blocks within a single line are not being executed.
-b
--branch-probabilities
Write branch frequencies to the output file, and write branch summary info to
the standard output. This option allows you to see how often each branch in
your program was taken. Unconditional branches will not be shown, unless the
‘-u’ option is given.
-c
--branch-counts
Write branch frequencies as the number of branches taken, rather than the
percentage of branches taken.
-d
--display-progress
Display the progress on the standard output.
-f
--function-summaries
Output summaries for each function in addition to the file level summary.
-h
--help Display help about using gcov (on the standard output), and exit without doing
any further processing.
-j
--json-format
Output gcov file in an easy-to-parse JSON intermediate format which does not
require source code for generation. The JSON file is compressed with gzip
compression algorithm and the files have ‘.gcov.json.gz’ extension.
Structure of the JSON is following:
{
"current_working_directory": "foo/bar",
"data_file": "a.out",
"format_version": "1",
"gcc_version": "11.1.1 20210510"
"files": ["$file"]
}
Fields of the root element have following semantics:
• current working directory: working directory where a compilation unit
was compiled
• data file: name of the data file (GCDA)
• format version: semantic version of the format
• gcc version: version of the GCC compiler
Each file has the following form:
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 933

{
"file": "a.c",
"functions": ["$function"],
"lines": ["$line"]
}
Fields of the file element have following semantics:
• file name: name of the source file
Each function has the following form:
{
"blocks": 2,
"blocks_executed": 2,
"demangled_name": "foo",
"end_column": 1,
"end_line": 4,
"execution_count": 1,
"name": "foo",
"start_column": 5,
"start_line": 1
}
Fields of the function element have following semantics:
• blocks: number of blocks that are in the function
• blocks executed: number of executed blocks of the function
• demangled name: demangled name of the function
• end column: column in the source file where the function ends
• end line: line in the source file where the function ends
• execution count: number of executions of the function
• name: name of the function
• start column: column in the source file where the function begins
• start line: line in the source file where the function begins
Note that line numbers and column numbers number from 1. In the current
implementation, start line and start column do not include any template pa-
rameters and the leading return type but that this is likely to be fixed in the
future.
Each line has the following form:
{
"branches": ["$branch"],
"count": 2,
"line_number": 15,
"unexecuted_block": false,
"function_name": "foo",
}
Branches are present only with -b option. Fields of the line element have
following semantics:
• count: number of executions of the line
• line number: line number
• unexecuted block: flag whether the line contains an unexecuted block (not
all statements on the line are executed)
934 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• function name: a name of a function this line belongs to (for a line with
an inlined statements can be not set)
Each branch has the following form:
{
"count": 11,
"fallthrough": true,
"throw": false
}
Fields of the branch element have following semantics:
• count: number of executions of the branch
• fallthrough: true when the branch is a fall through branch
• throw: true when the branch is an exceptional branch
-H
--human-readable
Write counts in human readable format (like 24.6k).
-k
--use-colors
Use colors for lines of code that have zero coverage. We use red color for non-
exceptional lines and cyan for exceptional. Same colors are used for basic blocks
with ‘-a’ option.
-l
--long-file-names
Create long file names for included source files. For example, if the header
file ‘x.h’ contains code, and was included in the file ‘a.c’, then running gcov
on the file ‘a.c’ will produce an output file called ‘a.c##x.h.gcov’ instead of
‘x.h.gcov’. This can be useful if ‘x.h’ is included in multiple source files and
you want to see the individual contributions. If you use the ‘-p’ option, both
the including and included file names will be complete path names.
-m
--demangled-names
Display demangled function names in output. The default is to show mangled
function names.
-n
--no-output
Do not create the gcov output file.
-o directory|file
--object-directory directory
--object-file file
Specify either the directory containing the gcov data files, or the object path
name. The ‘.gcno’, and ‘.gcda’ data files are searched for using this option. If
a directory is specified, the data files are in that directory and named after the
input file name, without its extension. If a file is specified here, the data files
are named after that file, without its extension.
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 935

-p
--preserve-paths
Preserve complete path information in the names of generated ‘.gcov’ files.
Without this option, just the filename component is used. With this option, all
directories are used, with ‘/’ characters translated to ‘#’ characters, ‘.’ directory
components removed and unremoveable ‘..’ components renamed to ‘^’. This
is useful if sourcefiles are in several different directories.
-q
--use-hotness-colors
Emit perf-like colored output for hot lines. Legend of the color scale is printed
at the very beginning of the output file.
-r
--relative-only
Only output information about source files with a relative pathname (after
source prefix elision). Absolute paths are usually system header files and cov-
erage of any inline functions therein is normally uninteresting.
-s directory
--source-prefix directory
A prefix for source file names to remove when generating the output coverage
files. This option is useful when building in a separate directory, and the path-
name to the source directory is not wanted when determining the output file
names. Note that this prefix detection is applied before determining whether
the source file is absolute.
-t
--stdout Output to standard output instead of output files.
-u
--unconditional-branches
When branch probabilities are given, include those of unconditional branches.
Unconditional branches are normally not interesting.
-v
--version
Display the gcov version number (on the standard output), and exit without
doing any further processing.
-w
--verbose
Print verbose informations related to basic blocks and arcs.
-x
--hash-filenames
When using –preserve-paths, gcov uses the full pathname of the source
files to create an output filename. This can lead to long filenames that
can overflow filesystem limits. This option creates names of the form
‘source-file##md5.gcov’, where the source-file component is the final
filename part and the md5 component is calculated from the full mangled
936 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

name that would have been used otherwise. The option is an alternative to
the –preserve-paths on systems which have a filesystem limit.
gcov should be run with the current directory the same as that when you invoked the
compiler. Otherwise it will not be able to locate the source files. gcov produces files called
‘mangledname.gcov’ in the current directory. These contain the coverage information of
the source file they correspond to. One ‘.gcov’ file is produced for each source (or header)
file containing code, which was compiled to produce the data files. The mangledname part
of the output file name is usually simply the source file name, but can be something more
complicated if the ‘-l’ or ‘-p’ options are given. Refer to those options for details.
If you invoke gcov with multiple input files, the contributions from each input file are
summed. Typically you would invoke it with the same list of files as the final link of your
executable.
The ‘.gcov’ files contain the ‘:’ separated fields along with program source code. The
format is
execution_count:line_number:source line text
Additional block information may succeed each line, when requested by command line
option. The execution count is ‘-’ for lines containing no code. Unexecuted lines are
marked ‘#####’ or ‘=====’, depending on whether they are reachable by non-exceptional
paths or only exceptional paths such as C++ exception handlers, respectively. Given the
‘-a’ option, unexecuted blocks are marked ‘$$$$$’ or ‘%%%%%’, depending on whether a basic
block is reachable via non-exceptional or exceptional paths. Executed basic blocks having a
statement with zero execution count end with ‘*’ character and are colored with magenta
color with the ‘-k’ option. This functionality is not supported in Ada.
Note that GCC can completely remove the bodies of functions that are not needed – for
instance if they are inlined everywhere. Such functions are marked with ‘-’, which can be
confusing. Use the ‘-fkeep-inline-functions’ and ‘-fkeep-static-functions’ options
to retain these functions and allow gcov to properly show their execution count.
Some lines of information at the start have line number of zero. These preamble lines
are of the form
-:0:tag:value
The ordering and number of these preamble lines will be augmented as gcov development
progresses — do not rely on them remaining unchanged. Use tag to locate a particular
preamble line.
The additional block information is of the form
tag information
The information is human readable, but designed to be simple enough for machine parsing
too.
When printing percentages, 0% and 100% are only printed when the values are exactly
0% and 100% respectively. Other values which would conventionally be rounded to 0% or
100% are instead printed as the nearest non-boundary value.
When using gcov, you must first compile your program with a special GCC option
‘--coverage’. This tells the compiler to generate additional information needed by gcov
(basically a flow graph of the program) and also includes additional code in the object files
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 937

for generating the extra profiling information needed by gcov. These additional files are
placed in the directory where the object file is located.
Running the program will cause profile output to be generated. For each source file
compiled with ‘-fprofile-arcs’, an accompanying ‘.gcda’ file will be placed in the object
file directory.
Running gcov with your program’s source file names as arguments will now produce a
listing of the code along with frequency of execution for each line. For example, if your
program is called ‘tmp.cpp’, this is what you see when you use the basic gcov facility:
$ g++ --coverage tmp.cpp -c
$ g++ --coverage tmp.o
$ a.out
$ gcov tmp.cpp -m
File ’tmp.cpp’
Lines executed:92.86% of 14
Creating ’tmp.cpp.gcov’
The file ‘tmp.cpp.gcov’ contains output from gcov. Here is a sample:
-: 0:Source:tmp.cpp
-: 0:Working directory:/home/gcc/testcase
-: 0:Graph:tmp.gcno
-: 0:Data:tmp.gcda
-: 0:Runs:1
-: 0:Programs:1
-: 1:#include <stdio.h>
-: 2:
-: 3:template<class T>
-: 4:class Foo
-: 5:{
-: 6: public:
1*: 7: Foo(): b (1000) {}
------------------
Foo<char>::Foo():
#####: 7: Foo(): b (1000) {}
------------------
Foo<int>::Foo():
1: 7: Foo(): b (1000) {}
------------------
2*: 8: void inc () { b++; }
------------------
Foo<char>::inc():
#####: 8: void inc () { b++; }
------------------
Foo<int>::inc():
2: 8: void inc () { b++; }
------------------
-: 9:
-: 10: private:
-: 11: int b;
-: 12:};
-: 13:
-: 14:template class Foo<int>;
-: 15:template class Foo<char>;
-: 16:
-: 17:int
1: 18:main (void)
-: 19:{
938 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-: 20: int i, total;

1: 21: Foo<int> counter;
-: 22:
1: 23: counter.inc();
1: 24: counter.inc();
1: 25: total = 0;
-: 26:
11: 27: for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
10: 28: total += i;
-: 29:
1*: 30: int v = total > 100 ? 1 : 2;
-: 31:
1: 32: if (total != 45)
#####: 33: printf ("Failure\n");
-: 34: else
1: 35: printf ("Success\n");
1: 36: return 0;
-: 37:}
Note that line 7 is shown in the report multiple times. First occurrence presents total
number of execution of the line and the next two belong to instances of class Foo construc-
tors. As you can also see, line 30 contains some unexecuted basic blocks and thus execution
count has asterisk symbol.
When you use the ‘-a’ option, you will get individual block counts, and the output looks
like this:
-: 0:Source:tmp.cpp
-: 0:Working directory:/home/gcc/testcase
-: 0:Graph:tmp.gcno
-: 0:Data:tmp.gcda
-: 0:Runs:1
-: 0:Programs:1
-: 1:#include <stdio.h>
-: 2:
-: 3:template<class T>
-: 4:class Foo
-: 5:{
-: 6: public:
1*: 7: Foo(): b (1000) {}
------------------
Foo<char>::Foo():
#####: 7: Foo(): b (1000) {}
------------------
Foo<int>::Foo():
1: 7: Foo(): b (1000) {}
------------------
2*: 8: void inc () { b++; }
------------------
Foo<char>::inc():
#####: 8: void inc () { b++; }
------------------
Foo<int>::inc():
2: 8: void inc () { b++; }
------------------
-: 9:
-: 10: private:
-: 11: int b;
-: 12:};
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 939

-: 13:
-: 14:template class Foo<int>;
-: 15:template class Foo<char>;
-: 16:
-: 17:int
1: 18:main (void)
-: 19:{
-: 20: int i, total;
1: 21: Foo<int> counter;
1: 21-block 0
-: 22:
1: 23: counter.inc();
1: 23-block 0
1: 24: counter.inc();
1: 24-block 0
1: 25: total = 0;
-: 26:
11: 27: for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
1: 27-block 0
11: 27-block 1
10: 28: total += i;
10: 28-block 0
-: 29:
1*: 30: int v = total > 100 ? 1 : 2;
1: 30-block 0
%%%%%: 30-block 1
1: 30-block 2
-: 31:
1: 32: if (total != 45)
1: 32-block 0
#####: 33: printf ("Failure\n");
%%%%%: 33-block 0
-: 34: else
1: 35: printf ("Success\n");
1: 35-block 0
1: 36: return 0;
1: 36-block 0
-: 37:}
In this mode, each basic block is only shown on one line – the last line of the block.
A multi-line block will only contribute to the execution count of that last line, and other
lines will not be shown to contain code, unless previous blocks end on those lines. The
total execution count of a line is shown and subsequent lines show the execution counts for
individual blocks that end on that line. After each block, the branch and call counts of the
block will be shown, if the ‘-b’ option is given.
Because of the way GCC instruments calls, a call count can be shown after a line with
no individual blocks. As you can see, line 33 contains a basic block that was not executed.
When you use the ‘-b’ option, your output looks like this:
-: 0:Source:tmp.cpp
-: 0:Working directory:/home/gcc/testcase
-: 0:Graph:tmp.gcno
-: 0:Data:tmp.gcda
-: 0:Runs:1
-: 0:Programs:1
-: 1:#include <stdio.h>
-: 2:
940 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-: 3:template<class T>
-: 4:class Foo
-: 5:{
-: 6: public:
1*: 7: Foo(): b (1000) {}
------------------
Foo<char>::Foo():
function Foo<char>::Foo() called 0 returned 0% blocks executed 0%
#####: 7: Foo(): b (1000) {}
------------------
Foo<int>::Foo():
function Foo<int>::Foo() called 1 returned 100% blocks executed 100%
1: 7: Foo(): b (1000) {}
------------------
2*: 8: void inc () { b++; }
------------------
Foo<char>::inc():
function Foo<char>::inc() called 0 returned 0% blocks executed 0%
#####: 8: void inc () { b++; }
------------------
Foo<int>::inc():
function Foo<int>::inc() called 2 returned 100% blocks executed 100%
2: 8: void inc () { b++; }
------------------
-: 9:
-: 10: private:
-: 11: int b;
-: 12:};
-: 13:
-: 14:template class Foo<int>;
-: 15:template class Foo<char>;
-: 16:
-: 17:int
function main called 1 returned 100% blocks executed 81%
1: 18:main (void)
-: 19:{
-: 20: int i, total;
1: 21: Foo<int> counter;
call 0 returned 100%
branch 1 taken 100% (fallthrough)
branch 2 taken 0% (throw)
-: 22:
1: 23: counter.inc();
call 0 returned 100%
branch 1 taken 100% (fallthrough)
branch 2 taken 0% (throw)
1: 24: counter.inc();
call 0 returned 100%
branch 1 taken 100% (fallthrough)
branch 2 taken 0% (throw)
1: 25: total = 0;
-: 26:
11: 27: for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
branch 0 taken 91% (fallthrough)
branch 1 taken 9%
10: 28: total += i;
-: 29:
1*: 30: int v = total > 100 ? 1 : 2;
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 941

branch 0 taken 0% (fallthrough)

branch 1 taken 100%
-: 31:
1: 32: if (total != 45)
branch 0 taken 0% (fallthrough)
branch 1 taken 100%
#####: 33: printf ("Failure\n");
call 0 never executed
branch 1 never executed
branch 2 never executed
-: 34: else
1: 35: printf ("Success\n");
call 0 returned 100%
branch 1 taken 100% (fallthrough)
branch 2 taken 0% (throw)
1: 36: return 0;
-: 37:}
For each function, a line is printed showing how many times the function is called, how
many times it returns and what percentage of the function’s blocks were executed.
For each basic block, a line is printed after the last line of the basic block describing the
branch or call that ends the basic block. There can be multiple branches and calls listed for
a single source line if there are multiple basic blocks that end on that line. In this case, the
branches and calls are each given a number. There is no simple way to map these branches
and calls back to source constructs. In general, though, the lowest numbered branch or call
will correspond to the leftmost construct on the source line.
For a branch, if it was executed at least once, then a percentage indicating the number
of times the branch was taken divided by the number of times the branch was executed will
be printed. Otherwise, the message “never executed” is printed.
For a call, if it was executed at least once, then a percentage indicating the number of
times the call returned divided by the number of times the call was executed will be printed.
This will usually be 100%, but may be less for functions that call exit or longjmp, and
thus may not return every time they are called.
The execution counts are cumulative. If the example program were executed again with-
out removing the ‘.gcda’ file, the count for the number of times each line in the source was
executed would be added to the results of the previous run(s). This is potentially useful in
several ways. For example, it could be used to accumulate data over a number of program
runs as part of a test verification suite, or to provide more accurate long-term information
over a large number of program runs.
The data in the ‘.gcda’ files is saved immediately before the program exits. For each
source file compiled with ‘-fprofile-arcs’, the profiling code first attempts to read in an
existing ‘.gcda’ file; if the file doesn’t match the executable (differing number of basic block
counts) it will ignore the contents of the file. It then adds in the new execution counts and
finally writes the data to the file.

10.3 Using gcov with GCC Optimization

If you plan to use gcov to help optimize your code, you must first compile your program
with a special GCC option ‘--coverage’. Aside from that, you can use any other GCC
options; but if you want to prove that every single line in your program was executed, you
942 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

should not compile with optimization at the same time. On some machines the optimizer
can eliminate some simple code lines by combining them with other lines. For example,
code like this:
if (a != b)
c = 1;
else
c = 0;
can be compiled into one instruction on some machines. In this case, there is no way for
gcov to calculate separate execution counts for each line because there isn’t separate code
for each line. Hence the gcov output looks like this if you compiled the program with
optimization:
100: 12:if (a != b)
100: 13: c = 1;
100: 14:else
100: 15: c = 0;
The output shows that this block of code, combined by optimization, executed 100 times.
In one sense this result is correct, because there was only one instruction representing all
four of these lines. However, the output does not indicate how many times the result was
0 and how many times the result was 1.
Inlineable functions can create unexpected line counts. Line counts are shown for the
source code of the inlineable function, but what is shown depends on where the function is
inlined, or if it is not inlined at all.
If the function is not inlined, the compiler must emit an out of line copy of the function, in
any object file that needs it. If ‘fileA.o’ and ‘fileB.o’ both contain out of line bodies of a
particular inlineable function, they will also both contain coverage counts for that function.
When ‘fileA.o’ and ‘fileB.o’ are linked together, the linker will, on many systems, select
one of those out of line bodies for all calls to that function, and remove or ignore the other.
Unfortunately, it will not remove the coverage counters for the unused function body. Hence
when instrumented, all but one use of that function will show zero counts.
If the function is inlined in several places, the block structure in each location might not
be the same. For instance, a condition might now be calculable at compile time in some
instances. Because the coverage of all the uses of the inline function will be shown for the
same source lines, the line counts themselves might seem inconsistent.
Long-running applications can use the __gcov_reset and __gcov_dump facilities to re-
strict profile collection to the program region of interest. Calling __gcov_reset(void) will
clear all run-time profile counters to zero, and calling __gcov_dump(void) will cause the
profile information collected at that point to be dumped to ‘.gcda’ output files. Instru-
mented applications use a static destructor with priority 99 to invoke the __gcov_dump
function. Thus __gcov_dump is executed after all user defined static destructors, as well as
handlers registered with atexit.
If an executable loads a dynamic shared object via dlopen functionality,
‘-Wl,--dynamic-list-data’ is needed to dump all profile data.
Profiling run-time library reports various errors related to profile manipulation and pro-
file saving. Errors are printed into standard error output or ‘GCOV_ERROR_FILE’ file, if
environment variable is used. In order to terminate immediately after an errors occurs set
‘GCOV_EXIT_AT_ERROR’ environment variable. That can help users to find profile clashing
which leads to a misleading profile.
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 943

10.4 Brief Description of gcov Data Files

gcov uses two files for profiling. The names of these files are derived from the original object
file by substituting the file suffix with either ‘.gcno’, or ‘.gcda’. The files contain coverage
and profile data stored in a platform-independent format. The ‘.gcno’ files are placed in
the same directory as the object file. By default, the ‘.gcda’ files are also stored in the same
directory as the object file, but the GCC ‘-fprofile-dir’ option may be used to store the
‘.gcda’ files in a separate directory.
The ‘.gcno’ notes file is generated when the source file is compiled with the GCC
‘-ftest-coverage’ option. It contains information to reconstruct the basic block graphs
and assign source line numbers to blocks.
The ‘.gcda’ count data file is generated when a program containing object files built with
the GCC ‘-fprofile-arcs’ option is executed. A separate ‘.gcda’ file is created for each
object file compiled with this option. It contains arc transition counts, value profile counts,
and some summary information.
It is not recommended to access the coverage files directly. Consumers should use the
intermediate format that is provided by gcov tool via ‘--json-format’ option.

10.5 Data File Relocation to Support Cross-Profiling

Running the program will cause profile output to be generated. For each source file com-
piled with ‘-fprofile-arcs’, an accompanying ‘.gcda’ file will be placed in the object file
directory. That implicitly requires running the program on the same system as it was built
or having the same absolute directory structure on the target system. The program will try
to create the needed directory structure, if it is not already present.
To support cross-profiling, a program compiled with ‘-fprofile-arcs’ can relocate the
data files based on two environment variables:
• GCOV PREFIX contains the prefix to add to the absolute paths in the object file.
Prefix can be absolute, or relative. The default is no prefix.
• GCOV PREFIX STRIP indicates the how many initial directory names to strip off
the hardwired absolute paths. Default value is 0.
Note: If GCOV PREFIX STRIP is set without GCOV PREFIX is undefined, then a
relative path is made out of the hardwired absolute paths.
For example, if the object file ‘/user/build/foo.o’ was built with ‘-fprofile-arcs’,
the final executable will try to create the data file ‘/user/build/foo.gcda’ when running
on the target system. This will fail if the corresponding directory does not exist and it
is unable to create it. This can be overcome by, for example, setting the environment as
‘GCOV_PREFIX=/target/run’ and ‘GCOV_PREFIX_STRIP=1’. Such a setting will name the
data file ‘/target/run/build/foo.gcda’.
You must move the data files to the expected directory tree in order to use them for
profile directed optimizations (‘-fprofile-use’), or to use the gcov tool.

10.6 Profiling and Test Coverage in Freestanding

Environments
In case your application runs in a hosted environment such as GNU/Linux, then this section
is likely not relevant to you. This section is intended for application developers targeting
944 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

freestanding environments (for example embedded systems) with limited resources. In par-
ticular, systems or test cases which do not support constructors/destructors or the C library
file I/O. In this section, the target system runs your application instrumented for profiling
or test coverage. You develop and analyze your application on the host system. We now
provide an overview how profiling and test coverage can be obtained in this scenario followed
by a tutorial which can be exercised on the host system. Finally, some system initialization
caveats are listed.

10.6.1 Overview
For an application instrumented for profiling or test coverage, the compiler generates some
global data structures which are updated by instrumentation code while the application
runs. These data structures are called the gcov information. Normally, when the applica-
tion exits, the gcov information is stored to ‘.gcda’ files. There is one file per translation
unit instrumented for profiling or test coverage. The function __gcov_exit(), which stores
the gcov information to a file, is called by a global destructor function for each translation
unit instrumented for profiling or test coverage. It runs at process exit. In a global con-
structor function, the __gcov_init() function is called to register the gcov information of
a translation unit in a global list. In some situations, this procedure does not work. Firstly,
if you want to profile the global constructor or exit processing of an operating system, the
compiler generated functions may conflict with the test objectives. Secondly, you may want
to test early parts of the system initialization or abnormal program behaviour which do not
allow a global constructor or exit processing. Thirdly, you need a filesystem to store the
files.
The ‘-fprofile-info-section’ GCC option enables you to use profiling and test cover-
age in freestanding environments. This option disables the use of global constructors and
destructors for the gcov information. Instead, a pointer to the gcov information is stored in
a special linker input section for each translation unit which is compiled with this option.
By default, the section name is .gcov_info. The gcov information is statically initialized.
The pointers to the gcov information from all translation units of an executable can be
collected by the linker in a contiguous memory block. For the GNU linker, the below linker
script output section definition can be used to achieve this:
.gcov_info :
{
PROVIDE (__gcov_info_start = .);
KEEP (*(.gcov_info))
PROVIDE (__gcov_info_end = .);
}
The linker will provide two global symbols, __gcov_info_start and __gcov_info_end,
which define the start and end of the array of pointers to gcov information blocks, respec-
tively. The KEEP () directive is required to prevent a garbage collection of the pointers.
They are not directly referenced by anything in the executable. The section may be placed
in a read-only memory area.
In order to transfer the profiling and test coverage data from the target to the host
system, the application has to provide a function to produce a reliable in order byte stream
from the target to the host. The byte stream may be compressed and encoded using
error detection and correction codes to meet application-specific requirements. The GCC
provided ‘libgcov’ target library provides two functions, __gcov_info_to_gcda() and __
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 945

gcov_filename_to_gcfn(), to generate a byte stream from a gcov information bock. The

functions are declared in #include <gcov.h>. The byte stream can be deserialized by the
merge-stream subcommand of the gcov-tool to create or update ‘.gcda’ files in the host
filesystem for the instrumented application.

10.6.2 Tutorial
This tutorial should be exercised on the host system. We will build a program instrumented
for test coverage. The program runs an application and dumps the gcov information to
‘stderr’ encoded as a printable character stream. The application simply decodes such
character streams from ‘stdin’ and writes the decoded character stream to ‘stdout’ (warn-
ing: this is binary data). The decoded character stream is consumed by the merge-stream
subcommand of the gcov-tool to create or update the ‘.gcda’ files.
To get started, create an empty directory. Change into the new directory. Then you will
create the following three files in this directory
1. ‘app.h’ - a header file included by ‘app.c’ and ‘main.c’,
2. ‘app.c’ - a source file which contains an example application, and
3. ‘main.c’ - a source file which contains the program main function and code to dump
the gcov information.
Firstly, create the header file ‘app.h’ with the following content:
static const unsigned char a = ’a’;

static inline unsigned char *

encode (unsigned char c, unsigned char buf[2])
{
buf[0] = c % 16 + a;
buf[1] = (c / 16) % 16 + a;
return buf;
}

extern void application (void);

Secondly, create the source file ‘app.c’ with the following content:
#include "app.h"

#include <stdio.h>

/* The application reads a character stream encoded by encode() from stdin,

decodes it, and writes the decoded characters to stdout. Characters other
than the 16 characters ’a’ to ’p’ are ignored. */

static int can_decode (unsigned char c)

{
return (unsigned char)(c - a) < 16;
}

void
application (void)
{
int first = 1;
int i;
unsigned char c;
946 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

while ((i = fgetc (stdin)) != EOF)

{
unsigned char x = (unsigned char)i;

if (can_decode (x))
{
if (first)
c = x - a;
else
fputc (c + 16 * (x - a), stdout);
first = !first;
}
else
first = 1;
}
}
Thirdly, create the source file ‘main.c’ with the following content:
#include "app.h"

#include <gcov.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

/* The start and end symbols are provided by the linker script. We use the
array notation to avoid issues with a potential small-data area. */

extern const struct gcov_info *const __gcov_info_start[];

extern const struct gcov_info *const __gcov_info_end[];

/* This function shall produce a reliable in order byte stream to transfer the
gcov information from the target to the host system. */

static void
dump (const void *d, unsigned n, void *arg)
{
(void)arg;
const unsigned char *c = d;
unsigned char buf[2];

for (unsigned i = 0; i < n; ++i)

fwrite (encode (c[i], buf), sizeof (buf), 1, stderr);
}

/* The filename is serialized to a gcfn data stream by the

__gcov_filename_to_gcfn() function. The gcfn data is used by the
"merge-stream" subcommand of the "gcov-tool" to figure out the filename
associated with the gcov information. */

static void
filename (const char *f, void *arg)
{
__gcov_filename_to_gcfn (f, dump, arg);
}

/* The __gcov_info_to_gcda() function may have to allocate memory under

certain conditions. Simply try it out if it is needed for your application
or not. */
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 947

static void *
allocate (unsigned length, void *arg)
{
(void)arg;
return malloc (length);
}

/* Dump the gcov information of all translation units. */

static void
dump_gcov_info (void)
{
const struct gcov_info *const *info = __gcov_info_start;
const struct gcov_info *const *end = __gcov_info_end;

/* Obfuscate variable to prevent compiler optimizations. */

__asm__ ("" : "+r" (info));

while (info != end)

{
void *arg = NULL;
__gcov_info_to_gcda (*info, filename, dump, allocate, arg);
fputc (’\n’, stderr);
++info;
}
}

/* The main() function just runs the application and then dumps the gcov
information to stderr. */

int
main (void)
{
application ();
dump_gcov_info ();
return 0;
}
If we compile ‘app.c’ with test coverage and no extra profiling options, then a global
constructor (_sub_I_00100_0 here, it may have a different name in your environment) and
destructor (_sub_D_00100_1) is used to register and dump the gcov information, respec-
tively. We also see undefined references to __gcov_init and __gcov_exit:
$ gcc --coverage -c app.c
$ nm app.o
0000000000000000 r a
0000000000000030 T application
0000000000000000 t can_decode
U fgetc
U fputc
0000000000000000 b __gcov0.application
0000000000000038 b __gcov0.can_decode
0000000000000000 d __gcov_.application
00000000000000c0 d __gcov_.can_decode
U __gcov_exit
U __gcov_init
U __gcov_merge_add
U stdin
U stdout
948 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

0000000000000161 t _sub_D_00100_1
0000000000000151 t _sub_I_00100_0
Compile ‘app.c’ and ‘main.c’ with test coverage and ‘-fprofile-info-section’. Now, a
read-only pointer size object is present in the .gcov_info section and there are no undefined
references to __gcov_init and __gcov_exit:
$ gcc --coverage -fprofile-info-section -c main.c
$ gcc --coverage -fprofile-info-section -c app.c
$ objdump -h app.o

app.o: file format elf64-x86-64

Sections:
Idx Name Size VMA LMA File off Algn
0 .text 00000151 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000040 2**0
CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, RELOC, READONLY, CODE
1 .data 00000100 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 000001a0 2**5
CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, RELOC, DATA
2 .bss 00000040 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 000002a0 2**5
ALLOC
3 .rodata 0000003c 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 000002a0 2**3
CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, READONLY, DATA
4 .gcov_info 00000008 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 000002e0 2**3
CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, RELOC, READONLY, DATA
5 .comment 0000004e 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 000002e8 2**0
CONTENTS, READONLY
6 .note.GNU-stack 00000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000336 2**0
CONTENTS, READONLY
7 .eh_frame 00000058 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000338 2**3
CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, RELOC, READONLY, DATA
We have to customize the program link procedure so that all the .gcov_info linker input
sections are placed in a contiguous memory block with a begin and end symbol. Firstly, get
the default linker script using the following commands (we assume a GNU linker):
$ ld --verbose | sed ’1,/^===/d’ | sed ’/^===/d’ > linkcmds
Secondly, open the file ‘linkcmds’ with a text editor and place the linker output sec-
tion definition from the overview after the .rodata section definition. Link the program
executable using the customized linker script:
$ gcc --coverage main.o app.o -T linkcmds -Wl,-Map,app.map
In the linker map file ‘app.map’, we see that the linker placed the read-only pointer
size objects of our objects files ‘main.o’ and ‘app.o’ into a contiguous memory block and
provided the symbols __gcov_info_start and __gcov_info_end:
$ grep -C 1 "\.gcov_info" app.map

.gcov_info 0x0000000000403ac0 0x10

0x0000000000403ac0 PROVIDE (__gcov_info_start = .)
*(.gcov_info)
.gcov_info 0x0000000000403ac0 0x8 main.o
.gcov_info 0x0000000000403ac8 0x8 app.o
0x0000000000403ad0 PROVIDE (__gcov_info_end = .)
Make sure no ‘.gcda’ files are present. Run the program with nothing to decode and dump
‘stderr’ to the file ‘gcda-0.txt’ (first run). Run the program to decode ‘gcda-0.txt’ and
send it to the gcov-tool using the merge-stream subcommand to create the ‘.gcda’ files
Chapter 10: gcov—a Test Coverage Program 949

(second run). Run gcov to produce a report for ‘app.c’. We see that the first run with
nothing to decode results in a partially covered application:
$ rm -f app.gcda main.gcda
$ echo "" | ./a.out 2>gcda-0.txt
$ ./a.out <gcda-0.txt 2>gcda-1.txt | gcov-tool merge-stream
$ gcov -bc app.c
File ’app.c’
Lines executed:69.23% of 13
Branches executed:66.67% of 6
Taken at least once:50.00% of 6
Calls executed:66.67% of 3
Creating ’app.c.gcov’

Lines executed:69.23% of 13
Run the program to decode ‘gcda-1.txt’ and send it to the gcov-tool using the merge-
stream subcommand to update the ‘.gcda’ files. Run gcov to produce a report for ‘app.c’.
Since the second run decoded the gcov information of the first run, we have now a fully
covered application:
$ ./a.out <gcda-1.txt 2>gcda-2.txt | gcov-tool merge-stream
$ gcov -bc app.c
File ’app.c’
Lines executed:100.00% of 13
Branches executed:100.00% of 6
Taken at least once:100.00% of 6
Calls executed:100.00% of 3
Creating ’app.c.gcov’

Lines executed:100.00% of 13

10.6.3 System Initialization Caveats

The gcov information of a translation unit consists of several global data structures. For
example, the instrumented code may update program flow graph edge counters in a zero-
initialized data structure. It is safe to run instrumented code before the zero-initialized
data is cleared to zero. The coverage information obtained before the zero-initialized data
is cleared to zero is unusable. Dumping the gcov information using __gcov_info_to_gcda()
before the zero-initialized data is cleared to zero or the initialized data is loaded, is undefined
behaviour. Clearing the zero-initialized data to zero through a function instrumented for
profiling or test coverage is undefined behaviour, since it may produce inconsistent program
flow graph edge counters for example.
Chapter 11: gcov-tool—an Offline Gcda Profile Processing Tool 951

11 gcov-tool—an Offline Gcda Profile Processing

Tool
gcov-tool is a tool you can use in conjunction with GCC to manipulate or process gcda
profile files offline.

11.1 Introduction to gcov-tool

gcov-tool is an offline tool to process gcc’s gcda profile files.
Current gcov-tool supports the following functionalities:
• merge two sets of profiles with weights.
• read a stream of profiles with associated filenames and merge it with a set of profiles
with weights.
• read one set of profile and rewrite profile contents. One can scale or normalize the
count values.
Examples of the use cases for this tool are:
• Collect the profiles for different set of inputs, and use this tool to merge them. One
can specify the weight to factor in the relative importance of each input.
• Collect profiles from target systems without a filesystem (freestanding environments).
Merge the collected profiles with associated profiles present on the host system. One
can specify the weight to factor in the relative importance of each input.
• Rewrite the profile after removing a subset of the gcda files, while maintaining the
consistency of the summary and the histogram.
• It can also be used to debug or libgcov code as the tools shares the majority code as
the runtime library.
Note that for the merging operation, this profile generated offline may contain slight
different values from the online merged profile. Here are a list of typical differences:
• histogram difference: This offline tool recomputes the histogram after merging the
counters. The resulting histogram, therefore, is precise. The online merging does not
have this capability – the histogram is merged from two histograms and the result is
an approximation.
• summary checksum difference: Summary checksum uses a CRC32 operation. The value
depends on the link list order of gcov-info objects. This order is different in gcov-tool
from that in the online merge. It’s expected to have different summary checksums. It
does not really matter as the compiler does not use this checksum anywhere.
• value profile counter values difference: Some counter values for value profile are runtime
dependent, like heap addresses. It’s normal to see some difference in these kind of
counters.

11.2 Invoking gcov-tool

gcov-tool [global-options] SUB_COMMAND [sub_command-options] profile_dir
gcov-tool accepts the following options:
-h
--help Display help about using gcov-tool (on the standard output), and exit without
doing any further processing.
952 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

-v
--version
Display the gcov-tool version number (on the standard output), and exit
without doing any further processing.
merge Merge two profile directories.
-o directory
--output directory
Set the output profile directory. Default output directory name is
merged profile.
-v
--verbose
Set the verbose mode.
-w w1,w2
--weight w1,w2
Set the merge weights of the directory1 and directory2, respectively.
The default weights are 1 for both.
merge-stream
Collect profiles with associated filenames from a gcfn and gcda data stream.
Read the stream from the file specified by file or from ‘stdin’. Merge the profiles
with associated profiles in the host filesystem. Apply the optional weights while
merging profiles.
For the generation of a gcfn and gcda data stream on the target system, please
have a look at the __gcov_filename_to_gcfn() and __gcov_info_to_gcda()
functions declared in #include <gcov.h>.
-v
--verbose
Set the verbose mode.
-w w1,w2
--weight w1,w2
Set the merge weights of the profiles from the gcfn and gcda data
stream and the associated profiles in the host filesystem, respec-
tively. The default weights are 1 for both.
rewrite Read the specified profile directory and rewrite to a new directory.
-n long_long_value
--normalize <long_long_value>
Normalize the profile. The specified value is the max counter value
in the new profile.
-o directory
--output directory
Set the output profile directory. Default output name is
rewrite profile.
Chapter 11: gcov-tool—an Offline Gcda Profile Processing Tool 953

-s float_or_simple-frac_value
--scale float_or_simple-frac_value
Scale the profile counters. The specified value can be in floating
point value, or simple fraction value form, such 1, 2, 2/3, and 5/3.
-v
--verbose
Set the verbose mode.
overlap Compute the overlap score between the two specified profile directories. The
overlap score is computed based on the arc profiles. It is defined as the sum
of min (p1 counter[i] / p1 sum all, p2 counter[i] / p2 sum all), for all arc
counter i, where p1 counter[i] and p2 counter[i] are two matched counters and
p1 sum all and p2 sum all are the sum of counter values in profile 1 and profile
2, respectively.
-f
--function
Print function level overlap score.
-F
--fullname
Print full gcda filename.
-h
--hotonly
Only print info for hot objects/functions.
-o
--object Print object level overlap score.
-t float
--hot_threshold <float>
Set the threshold for hot counter value.
-v
--verbose
Set the verbose mode.
Chapter 12: gcov-dump—an Offline Gcda and Gcno Profile Dump Tool 955

12 gcov-dump—an Offline Gcda and Gcno Profile

Dump Tool

12.1 Introduction to gcov-dump

gcov-dump is a tool you can use in conjunction with GCC to dump content of gcda and
gcno profile files offline.

12.2 Invoking gcov-dump

Usage: gcov-dump [OPTION] ... gcovfiles
gcov-dump accepts the following options:
-h
--help Display help about using gcov-dump (on the standard output), and exit without
doing any further processing.
-l
--long Dump content of records.
-p
--positions
Dump positions of records.
-r
--raw Print content records in raw format.
-s
--stable Print content in stable format usable for comparison.
-v
--version
Display the gcov-dump version number (on the standard output), and exit
without doing any further processing.
Chapter 13: lto-dump—Tool for dumping LTO object files. 957

13 lto-dump—Tool for dumping LTO object files.

13.1 Introduction to lto-dump

lto-dump is a tool you can use in conjunction with GCC to dump link time optimization
object files.

13.2 Invoking lto-dump

Usage: lto-dump [OPTION] ... objfiles
lto-dump accepts the following options:
-list Dumps list of details of functions and variables.
-demangle
Dump the demangled output.
-defined-only
Dump only the defined symbols.
-print-value
Dump initial values of the variables.
-name-sort
Sort the symbols alphabetically.
-size-sort
Sort the symbols according to size.
-reverse-sort
Dump the symbols in reverse order.
-no-sort Dump the symbols in order of occurrence.
-symbol= Dump the details of specific symbol.
-objects Dump the details of LTO objects.
-type-stats
Dump the statistics of tree types.
-tree-stats
Dump the statistics of trees.
-gimple-stats
Dump the statistics of gimple statements.
-dump-level=
For deciding the optimization level of body.
-dump-body=
Dump the specific gimple body.
-help Display the dump tool help.
Chapter 14: Known Causes of Trouble with GCC 959

14 Known Causes of Trouble with GCC

This section describes known problems that affect users of GCC. Most of these are not
GCC bugs per se—if they were, we would fix them. But the result for a user may be like
the result of a bug.
Some of these problems are due to bugs in other software, some are missing features that
are too much work to add, and some are places where people’s opinions differ as to what is
best.

14.1 Actual Bugs We Haven’t Fixed Yet

• The fixincludes script interacts badly with automounters; if the directory of system
header files is automounted, it tends to be unmounted while fixincludes is running.
This would seem to be a bug in the automounter. We don’t know any good way to
work around it.

14.2 Interoperation
This section lists various difficulties encountered in using GCC together with other compilers
or with the assemblers, linkers, libraries and debuggers on certain systems.
• On many platforms, GCC supports a different ABI for C++ than do other compilers, so
the object files compiled by GCC cannot be used with object files generated by another
C++ compiler.
An area where the difference is most apparent is name mangling. The use of different
name mangling is intentional, to protect you from more subtle problems. Compilers
differ as to many internal details of C++ implementation, including: how class instances
are laid out, how multiple inheritance is implemented, and how virtual function calls
are handled. If the name encoding were made the same, your programs would link
against libraries provided from other compilers—but the programs would then crash
when run. Incompatible libraries are then detected at link time, rather than at run
time.
• On some BSD systems, including some versions of Ultrix, use of profiling causes static
variable destructors (currently used only in C++) not to be run.
• On a SPARC, GCC aligns all values of type double on an 8-byte boundary, and it
expects every double to be so aligned. The Sun compiler usually gives double values
8-byte alignment, with one exception: function arguments of type double may not be
aligned.
As a result, if a function compiled with Sun CC takes the address of an argument
of type double and passes this pointer of type double * to a function compiled with
GCC, dereferencing the pointer may cause a fatal signal.
One way to solve this problem is to compile your entire program with GCC. Another
solution is to modify the function that is compiled with Sun CC to copy the argument
into a local variable; local variables are always properly aligned. A third solution is to
modify the function that uses the pointer to dereference it via the following function
access_double instead of directly with ‘*’:
960 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

inline double
access_double (double *unaligned_ptr)
{
union d2i { double d; int i[2]; };

union d2i *p = (union d2i *) unaligned_ptr;

union d2i u;

u.i[0] = p->i[0];
u.i[1] = p->i[1];

return u.d;
}
Storing into the pointer can be done likewise with the same union.
• On Solaris, the malloc function in the ‘libmalloc.a’ library may allocate memory
that is only 4 byte aligned. Since GCC on the SPARC assumes that doubles are 8 byte
aligned, this may result in a fatal signal if doubles are stored in memory allocated by
the ‘libmalloc.a’ library.
The solution is to not use the ‘libmalloc.a’ library. Use instead malloc and related
functions from ‘libc.a’; they do not have this problem.
• On the HP PA machine, ADB sometimes fails to work on functions compiled with
GCC. Specifically, it fails to work on functions that use alloca or variable-size arrays.
This is because GCC doesn’t generate HP-UX unwind descriptors for such functions.
It may even be impossible to generate them.
• Debugging (‘-g’) is not supported on the HP PA machine, unless you use the prelimi-
nary GNU tools.
• Taking the address of a label may generate errors from the HP-UX PA assembler. GAS
for the PA does not have this problem.
• Using floating point parameters for indirect calls to static functions will not work when
using the HP assembler. There simply is no way for GCC to specify what registers hold
arguments for static functions when using the HP assembler. GAS for the PA does not
have this problem.
• In extremely rare cases involving some very large functions you may receive errors from
the HP linker complaining about an out of bounds unconditional branch offset. This
used to occur more often in previous versions of GCC, but is now exceptionally rare.
If you should run into it, you can work around by making your function smaller.
• GCC compiled code sometimes emits warnings from the HP-UX assembler of the form:
(warning) Use of GR3 when
frame >= 8192 may cause conflict.
These warnings are harmless and can be safely ignored.
• In extremely rare cases involving some very large functions you may receive errors from
the AIX Assembler complaining about a displacement that is too large. If you should
run into it, you can work around by making your function smaller.
• The ‘libstdc++.a’ library in GCC relies on the SVR4 dynamic linker semantics which
merges global symbols between libraries and applications, especially necessary for C++
streams functionality. This is not the default behavior of AIX shared libraries and
dynamic linking. ‘libstdc++.a’ is built on AIX with “runtime-linking” enabled so
Chapter 14: Known Causes of Trouble with GCC 961

that symbol merging can occur. To utilize this feature, the application linked with
‘libstdc++.a’ must include the ‘-Wl,-brtl’ flag on the link line. G++ cannot impose
this because this option may interfere with the semantics of the user program and users
may not always use ‘g++’ to link his or her application. Applications are not required to
use the ‘-Wl,-brtl’ flag on the link line—the rest of the ‘libstdc++.a’ library which
is not dependent on the symbol merging semantics will continue to function correctly.
• An application can interpose its own definition of functions for functions invoked by
‘libstdc++.a’ with “runtime-linking” enabled on AIX. To accomplish this the appli-
cation must be linked with “runtime-linking” option and the functions explicitly must
be exported by the application (‘-Wl,-brtl,-bE:exportfile’).
• AIX on the RS/6000 provides support (NLS) for environments outside of the United
States. Compilers and assemblers use NLS to support locale-specific representations
of various objects including floating-point numbers (‘.’ vs ‘,’ for separating decimal
fractions). There have been problems reported where the library linked with GCC does
not produce the same floating-point formats that the assembler accepts. If you have
this problem, set the LANG environment variable to ‘C’ or ‘En_US’.
• Even if you specify ‘-fdollars-in-identifiers’, you cannot successfully use ‘$’ in
identifiers on the RS/6000 due to a restriction in the IBM assembler. GAS supports
these identifiers.

14.3 Incompatibilities of GCC

There are several noteworthy incompatibilities between GNU C and K&R (non-ISO) ver-
sions of C.
• GCC normally makes string constants read-only. If several identical-looking string
constants are used, GCC stores only one copy of the string.
One consequence is that you cannot call mktemp with a string constant argument. The
function mktemp always alters the string its argument points to.
Another consequence is that sscanf does not work on some very old systems when
passed a string constant as its format control string or input. This is because sscanf
incorrectly tries to write into the string constant. Likewise fscanf and scanf.
The solution to these problems is to change the program to use char-array variables
with initialization strings for these purposes instead of string constants.
• -2147483648 is positive.
This is because 2147483648 cannot fit in the type int, so (following the ISO C rules)
its data type is unsigned long int. Negating this value yields 2147483648 again.
• GCC does not substitute macro arguments when they appear inside of string constants.
For example, the following macro in GCC
#define foo(a) "a"
will produce output "a" regardless of what the argument a is.
• When you use setjmp and longjmp, the only automatic variables guaranteed to re-
main valid are those declared volatile. This is a consequence of automatic register
allocation. Consider this function:
jmp_buf j;
962 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

foo ()
{
int a, b;

a = fun1 ();
if (setjmp (j))
return a;

a = fun2 ();
/* longjmp (j) may occur in fun3. */
return a + fun3 ();
}
Here a may or may not be restored to its first value when the longjmp occurs. If a is
allocated in a register, then its first value is restored; otherwise, it keeps the last value
stored in it.
If you use the ‘-W’ option with the ‘-O’ option, you will get a warning when GCC thinks
such a problem might be possible.
• Programs that use preprocessing directives in the middle of macro arguments do not
work with GCC. For example, a program like this will not work:
foobar (
#define luser
hack)
ISO C does not permit such a construct.
• K&R compilers allow comments to cross over an inclusion boundary (i.e. started in an
include file and ended in the including file).
• Declarations of external variables and functions within a block apply only to the block
containing the declaration. In other words, they have the same scope as any other
declaration in the same place.
In some other C compilers, an extern declaration affects all the rest of the file even if
it happens within a block.
• In traditional C, you can combine long, etc., with a typedef name, as shown here:
typedef int foo;
typedef long foo bar;
In ISO C, this is not allowed: long and other type modifiers require an explicit int.
• PCC allows typedef names to be used as function parameters.
• Traditional C allows the following erroneous pair of declarations to appear together in
a given scope:
typedef int foo;
typedef foo foo;
• GCC treats all characters of identifiers as significant. According to K&R-1 (2.2), “No
more than the first eight characters are significant, although more may be used.”. Also
according to K&R-1 (2.2), “An identifier is a sequence of letters and digits; the first
character must be a letter. The underscore counts as a letter.”, but GCC also allows
dollar signs in identifiers.
• PCC allows whitespace in the middle of compound assignment operators such as ‘+=’.
GCC, following the ISO standard, does not allow this.
Chapter 14: Known Causes of Trouble with GCC 963

• GCC complains about unterminated character constants inside of preprocessing con-

ditionals that fail. Some programs have English comments enclosed in conditionals
that are guaranteed to fail; if these comments contain apostrophes, GCC will probably
report an error. For example, this code would produce an error:
#if 0
You can’t expect this to work.
#endif
The best solution to such a problem is to put the text into an actual C comment
delimited by ‘/*...*/’.
• Many user programs contain the declaration ‘long time ();’. In the past, the system
header files on many systems did not actually declare time, so it did not matter what
type your program declared it to return. But in systems with ISO C headers, time is
declared to return time_t, and if that is not the same as long, then ‘long time ();’
is erroneous.
The solution is to change your program to use appropriate system headers (<time.h>
on systems with ISO C headers) and not to declare time if the system header files
declare it, or failing that to use time_t as the return type of time.
• When compiling functions that return float, PCC converts it to a double. GCC
actually returns a float. If you are concerned with PCC compatibility, you should
declare your functions to return double; you might as well say what you mean.
• When compiling functions that return structures or unions, GCC output code normally
uses a method different from that used on most versions of Unix. As a result, code
compiled with GCC cannot call a structure-returning function compiled with PCC,
and vice versa.
The method used by GCC is as follows: a structure or union which is 1, 2, 4 or 8
bytes long is returned like a scalar. A structure or union with any other size is stored
into an address supplied by the caller (usually in a special, fixed register, but on some
machines it is passed on the stack). The target hook TARGET_STRUCT_VALUE_RTX tells
GCC where to pass this address.
By contrast, PCC on most target machines returns structures and unions of any size
by copying the data into an area of static storage, and then returning the address of
that storage as if it were a pointer value. The caller must copy the data from that
memory area to the place where the value is wanted. GCC does not use this method
because it is slower and nonreentrant.
On some newer machines, PCC uses a reentrant convention for all structure and union
returning. GCC on most of these machines uses a compatible convention when return-
ing structures and unions in memory, but still returns small structures and unions in
registers.
You can tell GCC to use a compatible convention for all structure and union returning
with the option ‘-fpcc-struct-return’.
• GCC complains about program fragments such as ‘0x74ae-0x4000’ which appear to be
two hexadecimal constants separated by the minus operator. Actually, this string is a
single preprocessing token. Each such token must correspond to one token in C. Since
this does not, GCC prints an error message. Although it may appear obvious that
964 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

what is meant is an operator and two values, the ISO C standard specifically requires
that this be treated as erroneous.
A preprocessing token is a preprocessing number if it begins with a digit and is followed
by letters, underscores, digits, periods and ‘e+’, ‘e-’, ‘E+’, ‘E-’, ‘p+’, ‘p-’, ‘P+’, or ‘P-’
character sequences. (In strict C90 mode, the sequences ‘p+’, ‘p-’, ‘P+’ and ‘P-’ cannot
appear in preprocessing numbers.)
To make the above program fragment valid, place whitespace in front of the minus
sign. This whitespace will end the preprocessing number.

14.4 Fixed Header Files

GCC needs to install corrected versions of some system header files. This is because most
target systems have some header files that won’t work with GCC unless they are changed.
Some have bugs, some are incompatible with ISO C, and some depend on special features
of other compilers.
Installing GCC automatically creates and installs the fixed header files, by running a
program called fixincludes. Normally, you don’t need to pay attention to this. But there
are cases where it doesn’t do the right thing automatically.
• If you update the system’s header files, such as by installing a new sys-
tem version, the fixed header files of GCC are not automatically up-
dated. They can be updated using the mkheaders script installed in
‘libexecdir/gcc/target/version/install-tools/’.
• On some systems, header file directories contain machine-specific symbolic links in
certain places. This makes it possible to share most of the header files among hosts
running the same version of the system on different machine models.
The programs that fix the header files do not understand this special way of using
symbolic links; therefore, the directory of fixed header files is good only for the machine
model used to build it.
It is possible to make separate sets of fixed header files for the different machine models,
and arrange a structure of symbolic links so as to use the proper set, but you’ll have
to do this by hand.

14.5 Standard Libraries

GCC by itself attempts to be a conforming freestanding implementation. See Chapter 2
[Language Standards Supported by GCC], page 5, for details of what this means. Beyond
the library facilities required of such an implementation, the rest of the C library is supplied
by the vendor of the operating system. If that C library doesn’t conform to the C standards,
then your programs might get warnings (especially when using ‘-Wall’) that you don’t
expect.
For example, the sprintf function on SunOS 4.1.3 returns char * while the C standard
says that sprintf returns an int. The fixincludes program could make the prototype
for this function match the Standard, but that would be wrong, since the function will still
return char *.
If you need a Standard compliant library, then you need to find one, as GCC does not
provide one. The GNU C library (called glibc) provides ISO C, POSIX, BSD, SystemV and
Chapter 14: Known Causes of Trouble with GCC 965

X/Open compatibility for GNU/Linux and HURD-based GNU systems; no recent version
of it supports other systems, though some very old versions did. Version 2.2 of the GNU
C library includes nearly complete C99 support. You could also ask your operating system
vendor if newer libraries are available.

14.6 Disappointments and Misunderstandings

These problems are perhaps regrettable, but we don’t know any practical way around them.
• Certain local variables aren’t recognized by debuggers when you compile with opti-
mization.
This occurs because sometimes GCC optimizes the variable out of existence. There
is no way to tell the debugger how to compute the value such a variable “would have
had”, and it is not clear that would be desirable anyway. So GCC simply does not
mention the eliminated variable when it writes debugging information.
You have to expect a certain amount of disagreement between the executable and your
source code, when you use optimization.
• Users often think it is a bug when GCC reports an error for code like this:
int foo (struct mumble *);

struct mumble { ... };

int foo (struct mumble *x)

{ ... }
This code really is erroneous, because the scope of struct mumble in the prototype
is limited to the argument list containing it. It does not refer to the struct mumble
defined with file scope immediately below—they are two unrelated types with similar
names in different scopes.
But in the definition of foo, the file-scope type is used because that is available to be
inherited. Thus, the definition and the prototype do not match, and you get an error.
This behavior may seem silly, but it’s what the ISO standard specifies. It is easy enough
for you to make your code work by moving the definition of struct mumble above the
prototype. It’s not worth being incompatible with ISO C just to avoid an error for the
example shown above.
• Accesses to bit-fields even in volatile objects works by accessing larger objects, such as
a byte or a word. You cannot rely on what size of object is accessed in order to read or
write the bit-field; it may even vary for a given bit-field according to the precise usage.
If you care about controlling the amount of memory that is accessed, use volatile but
do not use bit-fields.
• GCC comes with shell scripts to fix certain known problems in system header files.
They install corrected copies of various header files in a special directory where only
GCC will normally look for them. The scripts adapt to various systems by searching
all the system header files for the problem cases that we know about.
If new system header files are installed, nothing automatically arranges to update the
corrected header files. They can be updated using the mkheaders script installed in
‘libexecdir/gcc/target/version/install-tools/’.
966 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• On 68000 and x86 systems, for instance, you can get paradoxical results if you test
the precise values of floating point numbers. For example, you can find that a floating
point value which is not a NaN is not equal to itself. This results from the fact that
the floating point registers hold a few more bits of precision than fit in a double in
memory. Compiled code moves values between memory and floating point registers at
its convenience, and moving them into memory truncates them.
You can partially avoid this problem by using the ‘-ffloat-store’ option (see
Section 3.11 [Optimize Options], page 173).
• On AIX and other platforms without weak symbol support, templates need to be in-
stantiated explicitly and symbols for static members of templates will not be generated.
• On AIX, GCC scans object files and library archives for static constructors and de-
structors when linking an application before the linker prunes unreferenced symbols.
This is necessary to prevent the AIX linker from mistakenly assuming that static con-
structor or destructor are unused and removing them before the scanning can occur.
All static constructors and destructors found will be referenced even though the mod-
ules in which they occur may not be used by the program. This may lead to both
increased executable size and unexpected symbol references.

14.7 Common Misunderstandings with GNU C++

C++ is a complex language and an evolving one, and its standard definition (the ISO C++
standard) was only recently completed. As a result, your C++ compiler may occasionally
surprise you, even when its behavior is correct. This section discusses some areas that
frequently give rise to questions of this sort.

14.7.1 Declare and Define Static Members

When a class has static data members, it is not enough to declare the static member; you
must also define it. For example:
class Foo
{
...
void method();
static int bar;
};

This declaration only establishes that the class Foo has an int named Foo::bar, and a
member function named Foo::method. But you still need to define both method and bar
elsewhere. According to the ISO standard, you must supply an initializer in one (and only
one) source file, such as:
int Foo::bar = 0;

Other C++ compilers may not correctly implement the standard behavior. As a result,
when you switch to g++ from one of these compilers, you may discover that a program
that appeared to work correctly in fact does not conform to the standard: g++ reports as
undefined symbols any static data members that lack definitions.
Chapter 14: Known Causes of Trouble with GCC 967

14.7.2 Name Lookup, Templates, and Accessing Members of Base

Classes
The C++ standard prescribes that all names that are not dependent on template parameters
are bound to their present definitions when parsing a template function or class.1 Only
names that are dependent are looked up at the point of instantiation. For example, consider
void foo(double);

struct A {
template <typename T>
void f () {
foo (1); // 1
int i = N; // 2
T t;
t.bar(); // 3
foo (t); // 4
}

static const int N;

};
Here, the names foo and N appear in a context that does not depend on the type of T.
The compiler will thus require that they are defined in the context of use in the template,
not only before the point of instantiation, and will here use ::foo(double) and A::N,
respectively. In particular, it will convert the integer value to a double when passing it to
::foo(double).
Conversely, bar and the call to foo in the fourth marked line are used in contexts that do
depend on the type of T, so they are only looked up at the point of instantiation, and you
can provide declarations for them after declaring the template, but before instantiating it.
In particular, if you instantiate A::f<int>, the last line will call an overloaded ::foo(int)
if one was provided, even if after the declaration of struct A.
This distinction between lookup of dependent and non-dependent names is called two-
stage (or dependent) name lookup. G++ implements it since version 3.4.
Two-stage name lookup sometimes leads to situations with behavior different from non-
template codes. The most common is probably this:
template <typename T> struct Base {
int i;
};

template <typename T> struct Derived : public Base<T> {

int get_i() { return i; }
};
In get_i(), i is not used in a dependent context, so the compiler will look for a name
declared at the enclosing namespace scope (which is the global scope here). It will not look
into the base class, since that is dependent and you may declare specializations of Base
even after declaring Derived, so the compiler cannot really know what i would refer to. If
there is no global variable i, then you will get an error message.
In order to make it clear that you want the member of the base class, you need to defer
lookup until instantiation time, at which the base class is known. For this, you need to
1
The C++ standard just uses the term “dependent” for names that depend on the type or value of template
parameters. This shorter term will also be used in the rest of this section.
968 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

access i in a dependent context, by either using this->i (remember that this is of type
Derived<T>*, so is obviously dependent), or using Base<T>::i. Alternatively, Base<T>::i
might be brought into scope by a using-declaration.
Another, similar example involves calling member functions of a base class:
template <typename T> struct Base {
int f();
};

template <typename T> struct Derived : Base<T> {

int g() { return f(); };
};
Again, the call to f() is not dependent on template arguments (there are no arguments
that depend on the type T, and it is also not otherwise specified that the call should be
in a dependent context). Thus a global declaration of such a function must be available,
since the one in the base class is not visible until instantiation time. The compiler will
consequently produce the following error message:
x.cc: In member function ‘int Derived<T>::g()’:
x.cc:6: error: there are no arguments to ‘f’ that depend on a template
parameter, so a declaration of ‘f’ must be available
x.cc:6: error: (if you use ‘-fpermissive’, G++ will accept your code, but
allowing the use of an undeclared name is deprecated)
To make the code valid either use this->f(), or Base<T>::f(). Using the
‘-fpermissive’ flag will also let the compiler accept the code, by marking all function
calls for which no declaration is visible at the time of definition of the template for later
lookup at instantiation time, as if it were a dependent call. We do not recommend using
‘-fpermissive’ to work around invalid code, and it will also only catch cases where
functions in base classes are called, not where variables in base classes are used (as in the
example above).
Note that some compilers (including G++ versions prior to 3.4) get these examples wrong
and accept above code without an error. Those compilers do not implement two-stage name
lookup correctly.

14.7.3 Temporaries May Vanish Before You Expect

It is dangerous to use pointers or references to portions of a temporary object. The compiler
may very well delete the object before you expect it to, leaving a pointer to garbage. The
most common place where this problem crops up is in classes like string classes, especially
ones that define a conversion function to type char * or const char *—which is one reason
why the standard string class requires you to call the c_str member function. However,
any class that returns a pointer to some internal structure is potentially subject to this
problem.
For example, a program may use a function strfunc that returns string objects, and
another function charfunc that operates on pointers to char:
string strfunc ();
void charfunc (const char *);

void
f ()
{
const char *p = strfunc().c_str();
Chapter 14: Known Causes of Trouble with GCC 969

...
charfunc (p);
...
charfunc (p);
}
In this situation, it may seem reasonable to save a pointer to the C string returned by
the c_str member function and use that rather than call c_str repeatedly. However, the
temporary string created by the call to strfunc is destroyed after p is initialized, at which
point p is left pointing to freed memory.
Code like this may run successfully under some other compilers, particularly obsolete
cfront-based compilers that delete temporaries along with normal local variables. How-
ever, the GNU C++ behavior is standard-conforming, so if your program depends on late
destruction of temporaries it is not portable.
The safe way to write such code is to give the temporary a name, which forces it to
remain until the end of the scope of the name. For example:
const string& tmp = strfunc ();
charfunc (tmp.c_str ());

14.7.4 Implicit Copy-Assignment for Virtual Bases

When a base class is virtual, only one subobject of the base class belongs to each full
object. Also, the constructors and destructors are invoked only once, and called from the
most-derived class. However, such objects behave unspecified when being assigned. For
example:
struct Base{
char *name;
Base(const char *n) : name(strdup(n)){}
Base& operator= (const Base& other){
free (name);
name = strdup (other.name);
return *this;
}
};

struct A:virtual Base{

int val;
A():Base("A"){}
};

struct B:virtual Base{

int bval;
B():Base("B"){}
};

struct Derived:public A, public B{

Derived():Base("Derived"){}
};

void func(Derived &d1, Derived &d2)

{
d1 = d2;
}
The C++ standard specifies that ‘Base::Base’ is only called once when constructing or
copy-constructing a Derived object. It is unspecified whether ‘Base::operator=’ is called
970 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

more than once when the implicit copy-assignment for Derived objects is invoked (as it is
inside ‘func’ in the example).
G++ implements the “intuitive” algorithm for copy-assignment: assign all direct bases,
then assign all members. In that algorithm, the virtual base subobject can be encountered
more than once. In the example, copying proceeds in the following order: ‘name’ (via
strdup), ‘val’, ‘name’ again, and ‘bval’.
If application code relies on copy-assignment, a user-defined copy-assignment operator
removes any uncertainties. With such an operator, the application can define whether and
how the virtual base subobject is assigned.

14.8 Certain Changes We Don’t Want to Make

This section lists changes that people frequently request, but which we do not make because
we think GCC is better without them.
• Checking the number and type of arguments to a function which has an old-fashioned
definition and no prototype.
Such a feature would work only occasionally—only for calls that appear in the same
file as the called function, following the definition. The only way to check all calls
reliably is to add a prototype for the function. But adding a prototype eliminates the
motivation for this feature. So the feature is not worthwhile.
• Warning about using an expression whose type is signed as a shift count.
Shift count operands are probably signed more often than unsigned. Warning about
this would cause far more annoyance than good.
• Warning about assigning a signed value to an unsigned variable.
Such assignments must be very common; warning about them would cause more an-
noyance than good.
• Warning when a non-void function value is ignored.
C contains many standard functions that return a value that most programs choose to
ignore. One obvious example is printf. Warning about this practice only leads the
defensive programmer to clutter programs with dozens of casts to void. Such casts
are required so frequently that they become visual noise. Writing those casts becomes
so automatic that they no longer convey useful information about the intentions of
the programmer. For functions where the return value should never be ignored, use
the warn_unused_result function attribute (see Section 6.33 [Function Attributes],
page 566).
• Making ‘-fshort-enums’ the default.
This would cause storage layout to be incompatible with most other C compilers. And
it doesn’t seem very important, given that you can get the same result in other ways.
The case where it matters most is when the enumeration-valued object is inside a
structure, and in that case you can specify a field width explicitly.
• Making bit-fields unsigned by default on particular machines where “the ABI standard”
says to do so.
The ISO C standard leaves it up to the implementation whether a bit-field declared
plain int is signed or not. This in effect creates two alternative dialects of C.
Chapter 14: Known Causes of Trouble with GCC 971

The GNU C compiler supports both dialects; you can specify the signed dialect with
‘-fsigned-bitfields’ and the unsigned dialect with ‘-funsigned-bitfields’. How-
ever, this leaves open the question of which dialect to use by default.
Currently, the preferred dialect makes plain bit-fields signed, because this is simplest.
Since int is the same as signed int in every other context, it is cleanest for them to
be the same in bit-fields as well.
Some computer manufacturers have published Application Binary Interface standards
which specify that plain bit-fields should be unsigned. It is a mistake, however, to say
anything about this issue in an ABI. This is because the handling of plain bit-fields
distinguishes two dialects of C. Both dialects are meaningful on every type of machine.
Whether a particular object file was compiled using signed bit-fields or unsigned is of
no concern to other object files, even if they access the same bit-fields in the same data
structures.
A given program is written in one or the other of these two dialects. The program
stands a chance to work on most any machine if it is compiled with the proper dialect.
It is unlikely to work at all if compiled with the wrong dialect.
Many users appreciate the GNU C compiler because it provides an environment that is
uniform across machines. These users would be inconvenienced if the compiler treated
plain bit-fields differently on certain machines.
Occasionally users write programs intended only for a particular machine type. On
these occasions, the users would benefit if the GNU C compiler were to support by
default the same dialect as the other compilers on that machine. But such applications
are rare. And users writing a program to run on more than one type of machine cannot
possibly benefit from this kind of compatibility.
This is why GCC does and will treat plain bit-fields in the same fashion on all types
of machines (by default).
There are some arguments for making bit-fields unsigned by default on all machines.
If, for example, this becomes a universal de facto standard, it would make sense for
GCC to go along with it. This is something to be considered in the future.
(Of course, users strongly concerned about portability should indicate explicitly in each
bit-field whether it is signed or not. In this way, they write programs which have the
same meaning in both C dialects.)
• Undefining __STDC__ when ‘-ansi’ is not used.
Currently, GCC defines __STDC__ unconditionally. This provides good results in prac-
tice.
Programmers normally use conditionals on __STDC__ to ask whether it is safe to use
certain features of ISO C, such as function prototypes or ISO token concatenation.
Since plain gcc supports all the features of ISO C, the correct answer to these questions
is “yes”.
Some users try to use __STDC__ to check for the availability of certain library facilities.
This is actually incorrect usage in an ISO C program, because the ISO C standard says
that a conforming freestanding implementation should define __STDC__ even though it
does not have the library facilities. ‘gcc -ansi -pedantic’ is a conforming freestanding
implementation, and it is therefore required to define __STDC__, even though it does
not come with an ISO C library.
972 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Sometimes people say that defining __STDC__ in a compiler that does not completely
conform to the ISO C standard somehow violates the standard. This is illogical. The
standard is a standard for compilers that claim to support ISO C, such as ‘gcc -ansi’—
not for other compilers such as plain gcc. Whatever the ISO C standard says is
relevant to the design of plain gcc without ‘-ansi’ only for pragmatic reasons, not as
a requirement.
GCC normally defines __STDC__ to be 1, and in addition defines __STRICT_ANSI__ if
you specify the ‘-ansi’ option, or a ‘-std’ option for strict conformance to some version
of ISO C. On some hosts, system include files use a different convention, where __STDC_
_ is normally 0, but is 1 if the user specifies strict conformance to the C Standard. GCC
follows the host convention when processing system include files, but when processing
user files it follows the usual GNU C convention.
• Undefining __STDC__ in C++.
Programs written to compile with C++-to-C translators get the value of __STDC__ that
goes with the C compiler that is subsequently used. These programs must test __STDC_
_ to determine what kind of C preprocessor that compiler uses: whether they should
concatenate tokens in the ISO C fashion or in the traditional fashion.
These programs work properly with GNU C++ if __STDC__ is defined. They would not
work otherwise.
In addition, many header files are written to provide prototypes in ISO C but not in
traditional C. Many of these header files can work without change in C++ provided
__STDC__ is defined. If __STDC__ is not defined, they will all fail, and will all need to
be changed to test explicitly for C++ as well.
• Deleting “empty” loops.
Historically, GCC has not deleted “empty” loops under the assumption that the most
likely reason you would put one in a program is to have a delay, so deleting them will
not make real programs run any faster.
However, the rationale here is that optimization of a nonempty loop cannot produce an
empty one. This held for carefully written C compiled with less powerful optimizers but
is not always the case for carefully written C++ or with more powerful optimizers. Thus
GCC will remove operations from loops whenever it can determine those operations
are not externally visible (apart from the time taken to execute them, of course). In
case the loop can be proved to be finite, GCC will also remove the loop itself.
Be aware of this when performing timing tests, for instance the following loop can be
completely removed, provided some_expression can provably not change any global
state.
{
int sum = 0;
int ix;

for (ix = 0; ix != 10000; ix++)

sum += some_expression;
}
Even though sum is accumulated in the loop, no use is made of that summation, so the
accumulation can be removed.
• Making side effects happen in the same order as in some other compiler.
Chapter 14: Known Causes of Trouble with GCC 973

It is never safe to depend on the order of evaluation of side effects. For example, a
function call like this may very well behave differently from one compiler to another:
void func (int, int);

int i = 2;
func (i++, i++);
There is no guarantee (in either the C or the C++ standard language definitions) that the
increments will be evaluated in any particular order. Either increment might happen
first. func might get the arguments ‘2, 3’, or it might get ‘3, 2’, or even ‘2, 2’.
• Making certain warnings into errors by default.
Some ISO C testsuites report failure when the compiler does not produce an error
message for a certain program.
ISO C requires a “diagnostic” message for certain kinds of invalid programs, but a
warning is defined by GCC to count as a diagnostic. If GCC produces a warning but
not an error, that is correct ISO C support. If testsuites call this “failure”, they should
be run with the GCC option ‘-pedantic-errors’, which will turn these warnings into
errors.

14.9 Warning Messages and Error Messages

The GNU compiler can produce two kinds of diagnostics: errors and warnings. Each kind
has a different purpose:
Errors report problems that make it impossible to compile your program. GCC reports
errors with the source file name and line number where the problem is apparent.
Warnings report other unusual conditions in your code that may indicate a problem,
although compilation can (and does) proceed. Warning messages also report the source
file name and line number, but include the text ‘warning:’ to distinguish them from
error messages.
Warnings may indicate danger points where you should check to make sure that your
program really does what you intend; or the use of obsolete features; or the use of nonstan-
dard features of GNU C or C++. Many warnings are issued only if you ask for them, with
one of the ‘-W’ options (for instance, ‘-Wall’ requests a variety of useful warnings).
GCC always tries to compile your program if possible; it never gratuitously rejects a
program whose meaning is clear merely because (for instance) it fails to conform to a
standard. In some cases, however, the C and C++ standards specify that certain extensions
are forbidden, and a diagnostic must be issued by a conforming compiler. The ‘-pedantic’
option tells GCC to issue warnings in such cases; ‘-pedantic-errors’ says to make them
errors instead. This does not mean that all non-ISO constructs get warnings or errors.
See Section 3.8 [Options to Request or Suppress Warnings], page 93, for more detail on
these and related command-line options.
Chapter 15: Reporting Bugs 975

15 Reporting Bugs
Your bug reports play an essential role in making GCC reliable.
When you encounter a problem, the first thing to do is to see if it is already known. See
Chapter 14 [Trouble], page 959. If it isn’t known, then you should report the problem.

15.1 Have You Found a Bug?

If you are not sure whether you have found a bug, here are some guidelines:
• If the compiler gets a fatal signal, for any input whatever, that is a compiler bug.
Reliable compilers never crash.
• If the compiler produces invalid assembly code, for any input whatever (except an
asm statement), that is a compiler bug, unless the compiler reports errors (not just
warnings) which would ordinarily prevent the assembler from being run.
• If the compiler produces valid assembly code that does not correctly execute the input
source code, that is a compiler bug.
However, you must double-check to make sure, because you may have a program whose
behavior is undefined, which happened by chance to give the desired results with an-
other C or C++ compiler.
For example, in many nonoptimizing compilers, you can write ‘x;’ at the end of a
function instead of ‘return x;’, with the same results. But the value of the function
is undefined if return is omitted; it is not a bug when GCC produces different results.
Problems often result from expressions with two increment operators, as in f (*p++,
*p++). Your previous compiler might have interpreted that expression the way you
intended; GCC might interpret it another way. Neither compiler is wrong. The bug is
in your code.
After you have localized the error to a single source line, it should be easy to check for
these things. If your program is correct and well defined, you have found a compiler
bug.
• If the compiler produces an error message for valid input, that is a compiler bug.
• If the compiler does not produce an error message for invalid input, that is a compiler
bug. However, you should note that your idea of “invalid input” might be someone
else’s idea of “an extension” or “support for traditional practice”.
• If you are an experienced user of one of the languages GCC supports, your suggestions
for improvement of GCC are welcome in any case.

15.2 How and Where to Report Bugs

Bugs should be reported to the bug database at http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs/.
Chapter 16: How To Get Help with GCC 977

16 How To Get Help with GCC

If you need help installing, using or changing GCC, there are two ways to find it:
• Send a message to a suitable network mailing list. First try gcc-help@gcc.gnu.org (for
help installing or using GCC), and if that brings no response, try gcc@gcc.gnu.org.
For help changing GCC, ask gcc@gcc.gnu.org. If you think you have found a bug in
GCC, please report it following the instructions at see Section 15.2 [Bug Reporting],
page 975.
• Look in the service directory for someone who might help you for a fee. The service
directory is found at https://www.fsf.org/resources/service.
For further information, see https://gcc.gnu.org/faq.html#support.
Chapter 17: Contributing to GCC Development 979

17 Contributing to GCC Development

If you would like to help pretest GCC releases to assure they work well, current development
sources are available via Git (see https://gcc.gnu.org/git.html). Source and binary
snapshots are also available for FTP; see https://gcc.gnu.org/snapshots.html.
If you would like to work on improvements to GCC, please read the advice at these URLs:
https://gcc.gnu.org/contribute.html
https://gcc.gnu.org/contributewhy.html
for information on how to make useful contributions and avoid duplication of effort. Sug-
gested projects are listed at https://gcc.gnu.org/projects/.
Funding Free Software 981

Funding Free Software

If you want to have more free software a few years from now, it makes sense for you to
help encourage people to contribute funds for its development. The most effective approach
known is to encourage commercial redistributors to donate.
Users of free software systems can boost the pace of development by encouraging for-a-
fee distributors to donate part of their selling price to free software developers—the Free
Software Foundation, and others.
The way to convince distributors to do this is to demand it and expect it from them. So
when you compare distributors, judge them partly by how much they give to free software
development. Show distributors they must compete to be the one who gives the most.
To make this approach work, you must insist on numbers that you can compare, such as,
“We will donate ten dollars to the Frobnitz project for each disk sold.” Don’t be satisfied
with a vague promise, such as “A portion of the profits are donated,” since it doesn’t give
a basis for comparison.
Even a precise fraction “of the profits from this disk” is not very meaningful, since creative
accounting and unrelated business decisions can greatly alter what fraction of the sales price
counts as profit. If the price you pay is $50, ten percent of the profit is probably less than
a dollar; it might be a few cents, or nothing at all.
Some redistributors do development work themselves. This is useful too; but to keep
everyone honest, you need to inquire how much they do, and what kind. Some kinds of
development make much more long-term difference than others. For example, maintaining
a separate version of a program contributes very little; maintaining the standard version
of a program for the whole community contributes much. Easy new ports contribute little,
since someone else would surely do them; difficult ports such as adding a new CPU to the
GNU Compiler Collection contribute more; major new features or packages contribute the
most.
By establishing the idea that supporting further development is “the proper thing to
do” when distributing free software for a fee, we can assure a steady flow of resources into
making more free software.
Copyright c 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Verbatim copying and redistribution of this section is permitted
without royalty; alteration is not permitted.
The GNU Project and GNU/Linux 983

The GNU Project and GNU/Linux

The GNU Project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system
which is free software: the GNU system. (GNU is a recursive acronym for “GNU’s Not
Unix”; it is pronounced “guh-NEW”.) Variants of the GNU operating system, which use the
kernel Linux, are now widely used; though these systems are often referred to as “Linux”,
they are more accurately called GNU/Linux systems.
For more information, see:
https://www.gnu.org/
https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html
GNU General Public License 985

GNU General Public License

Version 3, 29 June 2007
Copyright
c 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. https://fsf.org/

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this

license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble
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986 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. States should not
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GNU General Public License 987

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988 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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GNU General Public License 989

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990 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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992 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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GNU General Public License 993

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994 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

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If the Program does not specify a version number of the GNU General Public License,
you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
If the Program specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of the GNU
General Public License can be used, that proxy’s public statement of acceptance of a
version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Program.
Later license versions may give you additional or different permissions. However, no
additional obligations are imposed on any author or copyright holder as a result of your
choosing to follow a later version.
15. Disclaimer of Warranty.
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PER-
MITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN
WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE
THE PROGRAM “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EX-
PRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE
OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFEC-
TIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR
CORRECTION.
16. Limitation of Liability.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO
MODIFIES AND/OR CONVEYS THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, IN-
CIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR
INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUS-
TAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM
TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR
OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAM-
AGES.
17. Interpretation of Sections 15 and 16.
If the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provided above cannot be given
local legal effect according to their terms, reviewing courts shall apply local law that
most closely approximates an absolute waiver of all civil liability in connection with
the Program, unless a warranty or assumption of liability accompanies a copy of the
Program in return for a fee.
GNU General Public License 995

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public,
the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and
change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the
start of each source file to most effectively state the exclusion of warranty; and each file
should have at least the “copyright” line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
one line to give the program’s name and a brief idea of what it does.
Copyright (C) year name of author

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify

it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but

WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short notice like this when it
starts in an interactive mode:
program Copyright (C) year name of author
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type ‘show w’.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type ‘show c’ for details.
The hypothetical commands ‘show w’ and ‘show c’ should show the appropriate parts of
the General Public License. Of course, your program’s commands might be different; for a
GUI interface, you would use an “about box”.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school, if any, to
sign a “copyright disclaimer” for the program, if necessary. For more information on this,
and how to apply and follow the GNU GPL, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into pro-
prietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful
to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do,
use the GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License. But first, please read
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html.
GNU Free Documentation License 997

GNU Free Documentation License

Version 1.3, 3 November 2008
Copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
c
https://fsf.org/

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies

of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
0. PREAMBLE
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and
useful document free in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom
to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or non-
commercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way
to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications
made by others.
This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative works of the document
must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public
License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.
We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because
free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals
providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to
software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or
whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for
works whose purpose is instruction or reference.
1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a
notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms
of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in
duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The “Document”,
below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and
is addressed as “you”. You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work
in a way requiring permission under copyright law.
A “Modified Version” of the Document means any work containing the Document or
a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into
another language.
A “Secondary Section” is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document
that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document
to the Document’s overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that
could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in part a
textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The
relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related
matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding
them.
The “Invariant Sections” are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as
being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released
998 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is
not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant
Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.
The “Cover Texts” are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover
Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under
this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may
be at most 25 words.
A “Transparent” copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented
in a format whose specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for
revising the document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images com-
posed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing
editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to
a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise
Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to
thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image
format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is
not “Transparent” is called “Opaque”.
Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ascii without
markup, Texinfo input format, LaTEX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly
available DTD, and standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed
for human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include PNG, XCF
and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be read and edited
only by proprietary word processors, SGML or XML for which the DTD and/or
processing tools are not generally available, and the machine-generated HTML,
PostScript or PDF produced by some word processors for output purposes only.
The “Title Page” means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following
pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the
title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, “Title Page”
means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work’s title, preceding the
beginning of the body of the text.
The “publisher” means any person or entity that distributes copies of the Document
to the public.
A section “Entitled XYZ” means a named subunit of the Document whose title either
is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses following text that translates XYZ in
another language. (Here XYZ stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such
as “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, “Endorsements”, or “History”.) To “Preserve
the Title” of such a section when you modify the Document means that it remains a
section “Entitled XYZ” according to this definition.
The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that
this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to
be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties:
any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no
effect on the meaning of this License.
2. VERBATIM COPYING
GNU Free Documentation License 999

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or
noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license
notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and
that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use
technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies
you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies.
If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions
in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly
display copies.
3. COPYING IN QUANTITY
If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of
the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document’s license notice requires
Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all
these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on
the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher
of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title
equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition.
Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the
Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other
respects.
If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put
the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the
rest onto adjacent pages.
If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100,
you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque
copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which
the general network-using public has access to download using public-standard network
protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If
you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin
distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will
remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time
you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that
edition to the public.
It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well
before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you
with an updated version of the Document.
4. MODIFICATIONS
You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions
of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely
this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing
distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of
it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the
Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if there were any,
1000 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

be listed in the History section of the Document). You may use the same title as
a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for
authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five
of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer
than five), unless they release you from this requirement.
C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the
publisher.
D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other
copyright notices.
F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public
permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form
shown in the Addendum below.
G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover
Texts given in the Document’s license notice.
H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
I. Preserve the section Entitled “History”, Preserve its Title, and add to it an item
stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version
as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled “History” in the Docu-
ment, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document
as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as
stated in the previous sentence.
J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to
a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in
the Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the
“History” section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published
at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the
version it refers to gives permission.
K. For any section Entitled “Acknowledgements” or “Dedications”, Preserve the Title
of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the
contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and
in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the
section titles.
M. Delete any section Entitled “Endorsements”. Such a section may not be included
in the Modified Version.
N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled “Endorsements” or to conflict in
title with any Invariant Section.
O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify
as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at
your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their
GNU Free Documentation License 1001

titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version’s license notice. These
titles must be distinct from any other section titles.
You may add a section Entitled “Endorsements”, provided it contains nothing but
endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties—for example, statements of
peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative
definition of a standard.
You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up
to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified
Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be
added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already
includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement
made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but
you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that
added the old one.
The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission
to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified
Version.
5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License,
under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you
include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents,
unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license
notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.
The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical
Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant
Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section
unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or
publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment
to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined
work.
In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled “History” in the vari-
ous original documents, forming one section Entitled “History”; likewise combine any
sections Entitled “Acknowledgements”, and any sections Entitled “Dedications”. You
must delete all sections Entitled “Endorsements.”
6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released
under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various
documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you
follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all
other respects.
You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individu-
ally under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted
document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of
that document.
1002 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent
documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called
an “aggregate” if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the
legal rights of the compilation’s users beyond what the individual works permit. When
the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other
works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document,
then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document’s Cover
Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the
electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they
must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.
8. TRANSLATION
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations
of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with
translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may
include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions
of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the
license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you
also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of
those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and
the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will
prevail.
If a section in the Document is Entitled “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, or “His-
tory”, the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require
changing the actual title.
9. TERMINATION
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly
provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or
distribute it is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular
copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder
explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright
holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days
after the cessation.
Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if
the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the
first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that
copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the
notice.
Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of parties
who have received copies or rights from you under this License. If your rights have
been terminated and not permanently reinstated, receipt of a copy of some or all of the
same material does not give you any rights to use it.
GNU Free Documentation License 1003

10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free
Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit
to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
See https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.
Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document
specifies that a particular numbered version of this License “or any later version”
applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that
specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by
the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of
this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free
Software Foundation. If the Document specifies that a proxy can decide which future
versions of this License can be used, that proxy’s public statement of acceptance of a
version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.
11. RELICENSING
“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site” (or “MMC Site”) means any World Wide
Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also provides prominent facilities
for anybody to edit those works. A public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of
such a server. A “Massive Multiauthor Collaboration” (or “MMC”) contained in the
site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC site.
“CC-BY-SA” means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license pub-
lished by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation with a principal
place of business in San Francisco, California, as well as future copyleft versions of that
license published by that same organization.
“Incorporate” means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or in part, as part
of another Document.
An MMC is “eligible for relicensing” if it is licensed under this License, and if all works
that were first published under this License somewhere other than this MMC, and
subsequently incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover texts
or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior to November 1, 2008.
The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the site under
CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1, 2009, provided the MMC is
eligible for relicensing.
1004 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the
document and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:
Copyright (C) year your name.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ‘‘GNU
Free Documentation License’’.
If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the
“with...Texts.” line with this:
with the Invariant Sections being list their titles, with
the Front-Cover Texts being list, and with the Back-Cover Texts
being list.
If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the
three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.
If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing
these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU
General Public License, to permit their use in free software.
Contributors to GCC 1005

Contributors to GCC
The GCC project would like to thank its many contributors. Without them the project
would not have been nearly as successful as it has been. Any omissions in this list are
accidental. Feel free to contact jlaw@ventanamicro.com or gerald@pfeifer.com if you
have been left out or some of your contributions are not listed. Please keep this list in
alphabetical order.
• Analog Devices helped implement the support for complex data types and iterators.
• John David Anglin for threading-related fixes and improvements to libstdc++-v3, and
the HP-UX port.
• James van Artsdalen wrote the code that makes efficient use of the Intel 80387 register
stack.
• Abramo and Roberto Bagnara for the SysV68 Motorola 3300 Delta Series port.
• Alasdair Baird for various bug fixes.
• Giovanni Bajo for analyzing lots of complicated C++ problem reports.
• Peter Barada for his work to improve code generation for new ColdFire cores.
• Gerald Baumgartner added the signature extension to the C++ front end.
• Godmar Back for his Java improvements and encouragement.
• Scott Bambrough for help porting the Java compiler.
• Wolfgang Bangerth for processing tons of bug reports.
• Jon Beniston for his Microsoft Windows port of Java and port to Lattice Mico32.
• Daniel Berlin for better DWARF 2 support, faster/better optimizations, improved alias
analysis, plus migrating GCC to Bugzilla.
• Geoff Berry for his Java object serialization work and various patches.
• David Binderman tests weekly snapshots of GCC trunk against Fedora Rawhide for
several architectures.
• Laurynas Biveinis for memory management work and DJGPP port fixes.
• Uros Bizjak for the implementation of x87 math built-in functions and for various
middle end and i386 back end improvements and bug fixes.
• Eric Blake for helping to make GCJ and libgcj conform to the specifications.
• Janne Blomqvist for contributions to GNU Fortran.
• Hans-J. Boehm for his garbage collector, IA-64 libffi port, and other Java work.
• Segher Boessenkool for helping maintain the PowerPC port and the instruction com-
biner plus various contributions to the middle end.
• Neil Booth for work on cpplib, lang hooks, debug hooks and other miscellaneous clean-
ups.
• Steven Bosscher for integrating the GNU Fortran front end into GCC and for con-
tributing to the tree-ssa branch.
• Eric Botcazou for fixing middle- and backend bugs left and right.
• Per Bothner for his direction via the steering committee and various improvements
to the infrastructure for supporting new languages. Chill front end implementation.
1006 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Initial implementations of cpplib, fix-header, config.guess, libio, and past C++ library
(libg++) maintainer. Dreaming up, designing and implementing much of GCJ.
• Devon Bowen helped port GCC to the Tahoe.
• Don Bowman for mips-vxworks contributions.
• James Bowman for the FT32 port.
• Dave Brolley for work on cpplib and Chill.
• Paul Brook for work on the ARM architecture and maintaining GNU Fortran.
• Robert Brown implemented the support for Encore 32000 systems.
• Christian Bruel for improvements to local store elimination.
• Herman A.J. ten Brugge for various fixes.
• Joerg Brunsmann for Java compiler hacking and help with the GCJ FAQ.
• Joe Buck for his direction via the steering committee from its creation to 2013.
• Iain Buclaw for the D frontend.
• Craig Burley for leadership of the G77 Fortran effort.
• Tobias Burnus for contributions to GNU Fortran.
• Stephan Buys for contributing Doxygen notes for libstdc++.
• Paolo Carlini for libstdc++ work: lots of efficiency improvements to the C++ strings,
streambufs and formatted I/O, hard detective work on the frustrating localization
issues, and keeping up with the problem reports.
• John Carr for his alias work, SPARC hacking, infrastructure improvements, previous
contributions to the steering committee, loop optimizations, etc.
• Stephane Carrez for 68HC11 and 68HC12 ports.
• Steve Chamberlain for support for the Renesas SH and H8 processors and the PicoJava
processor, and for GCJ config fixes.
• Glenn Chambers for help with the GCJ FAQ.
• John-Marc Chandonia for various libgcj patches.
• Denis Chertykov for contributing and maintaining the AVR port, the first GCC port
for an 8-bit architecture.
• Kito Cheng for his work on the RISC-V port, including bringing up the test suite and
maintenance.
• Scott Christley for his Objective-C contributions.
• Eric Christopher for his Java porting help and clean-ups.
• Branko Cibej for more warning contributions.
• The GNU Classpath project for all of their merged runtime code.
• Nick Clifton for arm, mcore, fr30, v850, m32r, msp430 rx work, ‘--help’, and other
random hacking.
• Michael Cook for libstdc++ cleanup patches to reduce warnings.
• R. Kelley Cook for making GCC buildable from a read-only directory as well as other
miscellaneous build process and documentation clean-ups.
• Ralf Corsepius for SH testing and minor bug fixing.
Contributors to GCC 1007

• François-Xavier Coudert for contributions to GNU Fortran.

• Stan Cox for care and feeding of the x86 port and lots of behind the scenes hacking.
• Alex Crain provided changes for the 3b1.
• Ian Dall for major improvements to the NS32k port.
• Paul Dale for his work to add uClinux platform support to the m68k backend.
• Palmer Dabbelt for his work maintaining the RISC-V port.
• Dario Dariol contributed the four varieties of sample programs that print a copy of
their source.
• Russell Davidson for fstream and stringstream fixes in libstdc++.
• Bud Davis for work on the G77 and GNU Fortran compilers.
• Mo DeJong for GCJ and libgcj bug fixes.
• Jerry DeLisle for contributions to GNU Fortran.
• DJ Delorie for the DJGPP port, build and libiberty maintenance, various bug fixes,
and the M32C, MeP, MSP430, and RL78 ports.
• Arnaud Desitter for helping to debug GNU Fortran.
• Gabriel Dos Reis for contributions to G++, contributions and maintenance of GCC
diagnostics infrastructure, libstdc++-v3, including valarray<>, complex<>, maintain-
ing the numerics library (including that pesky <limits> :-) and keeping up-to-date
anything to do with numbers.
• Ulrich Drepper for his work on glibc, testing of GCC using glibc, ISO C99 support,
CFG dumping support, etc., plus support of the C++ runtime libraries including for all
kinds of C interface issues, contributing and maintaining complex<>, sanity checking
and disbursement, configuration architecture, libio maintenance, and early math work.
• François Dumont for his work on libstdc++-v3, especially maintaining and improving
debug-mode and associative and unordered containers.
• Zdenek Dvorak for a new loop unroller and various fixes.
• Michael Eager for his work on the Xilinx MicroBlaze port.
• Richard Earnshaw for his ongoing work with the ARM.
• David Edelsohn for his direction via the steering committee, ongoing work with the
RS6000/PowerPC port, help cleaning up Haifa loop changes, doing the entire AIX
port of libstdc++ with his bare hands, and for ensuring GCC properly keeps working
on AIX.
• Kevin Ediger for the floating point formatting of num put::do put in libstdc++.
• Phil Edwards for libstdc++ work including configuration hackery, documentation main-
tainer, chief breaker of the web pages, the occasional iostream bug fix, and work on
shared library symbol versioning.
• Paul Eggert for random hacking all over GCC.
• Mark Elbrecht for various DJGPP improvements, and for libstdc++ configuration sup-
port for locales and fstream-related fixes.
• Vadim Egorov for libstdc++ fixes in strings, streambufs, and iostreams.
• Christian Ehrhardt for dealing with bug reports.
1008 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• Ben Elliston for his work to move the Objective-C runtime into its own subdirectory
and for his work on autoconf.
• Revital Eres for work on the PowerPC 750CL port.
• Marc Espie for OpenBSD support.
• Doug Evans for much of the global optimization framework, arc, m32r, and SPARC
work.
• Christopher Faylor for his work on the Cygwin port and for caring and feeding the
gcc.gnu.org box and saving its users tons of spam.
• Fred Fish for BeOS support and Ada fixes.
• Ivan Fontes Garcia for the Portuguese translation of the GCJ FAQ.
• Peter Gerwinski for various bug fixes and the Pascal front end.
• Kaveh R. Ghazi for his direction via the steering committee, amazing work to make
‘-W -Wall -W* -Werror’ useful, and testing GCC on a plethora of platforms. Kaveh
extends his gratitude to the CAIP Center at Rutgers University for providing him with
computing resources to work on Free Software from the late 1980s to 2010.
• John Gilmore for a donation to the FSF earmarked improving GNU Java.
• Judy Goldberg for c++ contributions.
• Torbjorn Granlund for various fixes and the c-torture testsuite, multiply- and divide-
by-constant optimization, improved long long support, improved leaf function register
allocation, and his direction via the steering committee.
• Jonny Grant for improvements to collect2’s ‘--help’ documentation.
• Anthony Green for his ‘-Os’ contributions, the moxie port, and Java front end work.
• Stu Grossman for gdb hacking, allowing GCJ developers to debug Java code.
• Michael K. Gschwind contributed the port to the PDP-11.
• Richard Biener for his ongoing middle-end contributions and bug fixes and for release
management.
• Ron Guilmette implemented the protoize and unprotoize tools, the support for
DWARF 1 symbolic debugging information, and much of the support for System V
Release 4. He has also worked heavily on the Intel 386 and 860 support.
• Sumanth Gundapaneni for contributing the CR16 port.
• Mostafa Hagog for Swing Modulo Scheduling (SMS) and post reload GCSE.
• Bruno Haible for improvements in the runtime overhead for EH, new warnings and
assorted bug fixes.
• Andrew Haley for his amazing Java compiler and library efforts.
• Chris Hanson assisted in making GCC work on HP-UX for the 9000 series 300.
• Michael Hayes for various thankless work he’s done trying to get the c30/c40 ports
functional. Lots of loop and unroll improvements and fixes.
• Dara Hazeghi for wading through myriads of target-specific bug reports.
• Kate Hedstrom for staking the G77 folks with an initial testsuite.
• Richard Henderson for his ongoing SPARC, alpha, ia32, and ia64 work, loop opts, and
generally fixing lots of old problems we’ve ignored for years, flow rewrite and lots of
further stuff, including reviewing tons of patches.
Contributors to GCC 1009

• Aldy Hernandez for working on the PowerPC port, SIMD support, and various fixes.
• Nobuyuki Hikichi of Software Research Associates, Tokyo, contributed the support for
the Sony NEWS machine.
• Kazu Hirata for caring and feeding the Renesas H8/300 port and various fixes.
• Katherine Holcomb for work on GNU Fortran.
• Manfred Hollstein for his ongoing work to keep the m88k alive, lots of testing and bug
fixing, particularly of GCC configury code.
• Steve Holmgren for MachTen patches.
• Mat Hostetter for work on the TILE-Gx and TILEPro ports.
• Jan Hubicka for his x86 port improvements.
• Falk Hueffner for working on C and optimization bug reports.
• Bernardo Innocenti for his m68k work, including merging of ColdFire improvements
and uClinux support.
• Christian Iseli for various bug fixes.
• Kamil Iskra for general m68k hacking.
• Lee Iverson for random fixes and MIPS testing.
• Balaji V. Iyer for Cilk+ development and merging.
• Andreas Jaeger for testing and benchmarking of GCC and various bug fixes.
• Martin Jambor for his work on inter-procedural optimizations, the switch conversion
pass, and scalar replacement of aggregates.
• Jakub Jelinek for his SPARC work and sibling call optimizations as well as lots of bug
fixes and test cases, and for improving the Java build system.
• Janis Johnson for ia64 testing and fixes, her quality improvement sidetracks, and web
page maintenance.
• Kean Johnston for SCO OpenServer support and various fixes.
• Tim Josling for the sample language treelang based originally on Richard Kenner’s
“toy” language.
• Nicolai Josuttis for additional libstdc++ documentation.
• Klaus Kaempf for his ongoing work to make alpha-vms a viable target.
• Steven G. Kargl for work on GNU Fortran.
• David Kashtan of SRI adapted GCC to VMS.
• Ryszard Kabatek for many, many libstdc++ bug fixes and optimizations of strings,
especially member functions, and for auto ptr fixes.
• Geoffrey Keating for his ongoing work to make the PPC work for GNU/Linux and his
automatic regression tester.
• Brendan Kehoe for his ongoing work with G++ and for a lot of early work in just about
every part of libstdc++.
• Oliver M. Kellogg of Deutsche Aerospace contributed the port to the MIL-STD-1750A.
• Richard Kenner of the New York University Ultracomputer Research Laboratory wrote
the machine descriptions for the AMD 29000, the DEC Alpha, the IBM RT PC, and
the IBM RS/6000 as well as the support for instruction attributes. He also made
1010 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

changes to better support RISC processors including changes to common subexpression

elimination, strength reduction, function calling sequence handling, and condition code
support, in addition to generalizing the code for frame pointer elimination and delay
slot scheduling. Richard Kenner was also the head maintainer of GCC for several years.
• Mumit Khan for various contributions to the Cygwin and Mingw32 ports and main-
taining binary releases for Microsoft Windows hosts, and for massive libstdc++ porting
work to Cygwin/Mingw32.
• Robin Kirkham for cpu32 support.
• Mark Klein for PA improvements.
• Thomas Koenig for various bug fixes.
• Bruce Korb for the new and improved fixincludes code.
• Benjamin Kosnik for his G++ work and for leading the libstdc++-v3 effort.
• Maxim Kuvyrkov for contributions to the instruction scheduler, the Android and
m68k/Coldfire ports, and optimizations.
• Charles LaBrec contributed the support for the Integrated Solutions 68020 system.
• Asher Langton and Mike Kumbera for contributing Cray pointer support to GNU
Fortran, and for other GNU Fortran improvements.
• Jeff Law for his direction via the steering committee, coordinating the entire egcs
project and GCC 2.95, rolling out snapshots and releases, handling merges from GCC2,
reviewing tons of patches that might have fallen through the cracks else, and random
but extensive hacking.
• Walter Lee for work on the TILE-Gx and TILEPro ports.
• Marc Lehmann for his direction via the steering committee and helping with analysis
and improvements of x86 performance.
• Victor Leikehman for work on GNU Fortran.
• Ted Lemon wrote parts of the RTL reader and printer.
• Kriang Lerdsuwanakij for C++ improvements including template as template parameter
support, and many C++ fixes.
• Warren Levy for tremendous work on libgcj (Java Runtime Library) and random work
on the Java front end.
• Alain Lichnewsky ported GCC to the MIPS CPU.
• Oskar Liljeblad for hacking on AWT and his many Java bug reports and patches.
• Robert Lipe for OpenServer support, new testsuites, testing, etc.
• Chen Liqin for various S+core related fixes/improvement, and for maintaining the
S+core port.
• Martin Liska for his work on identical code folding, the sanitizers, HSA, general bug
fixing and for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting numerous
bugs.
• Weiwen Liu for testing and various bug fixes.
• Manuel López-Ibá~nez for improving ‘-Wconversion’ and many other diagnostics fixes
and improvements.
• Dave Love for his ongoing work with the Fortran front end and runtime libraries.
Contributors to GCC 1011

• Martin von Löwis for internal consistency checking infrastructure, various C++ improve-
ments including namespace support, and tons of assistance with libstdc++/compiler
merges.
• H.J. Lu for his previous contributions to the steering committee, many x86 bug reports,
prototype patches, and keeping the GNU/Linux ports working.
• Greg McGary for random fixes and (someday) bounded pointers.
• Andrew MacLeod for his ongoing work in building a real EH system, various code
generation improvements, work on the global optimizer, etc.
• Vladimir Makarov for hacking some ugly i960 problems, PowerPC hacking improve-
ments to compile-time performance, overall knowledge and direction in the area of
instruction scheduling, design and implementation of the automaton based instruction
scheduler and design and implementation of the integrated and local register allocators.
• David Malcolm for his work on improving GCC diagnostics, JIT, self-tests and unit
testing.
• Bob Manson for his behind the scenes work on dejagnu.
• John Marino for contributing the DragonFly BSD port.
• Philip Martin for lots of libstdc++ string and vector iterator fixes and improvements,
and string clean up and testsuites.
• Michael Matz for his work on dominance tree discovery, the x86-64 port, link-time
optimization framework and general optimization improvements.
• All of the Mauve project contributors for Java test code.
• Bryce McKinlay for numerous GCJ and libgcj fixes and improvements.
• Adam Megacz for his work on the Microsoft Windows port of GCJ.
• Michael Meissner for LRS framework, ia32, m32r, v850, m88k, MIPS, powerpc, haifa,
ECOFF debug support, and other assorted hacking.
• Jason Merrill for his direction via the steering committee and leading the G++ effort.
• Martin Michlmayr for testing GCC on several architectures using the entire Debian
archive.
• David Miller for his direction via the steering committee, lots of SPARC work, im-
provements in jump.cc and interfacing with the Linux kernel developers.
• Gary Miller ported GCC to Charles River Data Systems machines.
• Alfred Minarik for libstdc++ string and ios bug fixes, and turning the entire libstdc++
testsuite namespace-compatible.
• Mark Mitchell for his direction via the steering committee, mountains of C++ work,
load/store hoisting out of loops, alias analysis improvements, ISO C restrict support,
and serving as release manager from 2000 to 2011.
• Alan Modra for various GNU/Linux bits and testing.
• Toon Moene for his direction via the steering committee, Fortran maintenance, and his
ongoing work to make us make Fortran run fast.
• Jason Molenda for major help in the care and feeding of all the services on the
gcc.gnu.org (formerly egcs.cygnus.com) machine—mail, web services, ftp services, etc
etc. Doing all this work on scrap paper and the backs of envelopes would have been. . .
difficult.
1012 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• Catherine Moore for fixing various ugly problems we have sent her way, including the
haifa bug which was killing the Alpha & PowerPC Linux kernels.
• Mike Moreton for his various Java patches.
• David Mosberger-Tang for various Alpha improvements, and for the initial IA-64 port.
• Stephen Moshier contributed the floating point emulator that assists in cross-
compilation and permits support for floating point numbers wider than 64 bits and
for ISO C99 support.
• Bill Moyer for his behind the scenes work on various issues.
• Philippe De Muyter for his work on the m68k port.
• Joseph S. Myers for his work on the PDP-11 port, format checking and ISO C99
support, and continuous emphasis on (and contributions to) documentation.
• Nathan Myers for his work on libstdc++-v3: architecture and authorship through the
first three snapshots, including implementation of locale infrastructure, string, shadow
C headers, and the initial project documentation (DESIGN, CHECKLIST, and so
forth). Later, more work on MT-safe string and shadow headers.
• Felix Natter for documentation on porting libstdc++.
• Nathanael Nerode for cleaning up the configuration/build process.
• NeXT, Inc. donated the front end that supports the Objective-C language.
• Hans-Peter Nilsson for the CRIS and MMIX ports, improvements to the search engine
setup, various documentation fixes and other small fixes.
• Geoff Noer for his work on getting cygwin native builds working.
• Vegard Nossum for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting nu-
merous bugs.
• Diego Novillo for his work on Tree SSA, OpenMP, SPEC performance tracking web
pages, GIMPLE tuples, and assorted fixes.
• David O’Brien for the FreeBSD/alpha, FreeBSD/AMD x86-64, FreeBSD/ARM,
FreeBSD/PowerPC, and FreeBSD/SPARC64 ports and related infrastructure
improvements.
• Alexandre Oliva for various build infrastructure improvements, scripts and amazing
testing work, including keeping libtool issues sane and happy.
• Stefan Olsson for work on mt alloc.
• Melissa O’Neill for various NeXT fixes.
• Rainer Orth for random MIPS work, including improvements to GCC’s o32 ABI sup-
port, improvements to dejagnu’s MIPS support, Java configuration clean-ups and port-
ing work, and maintaining the IRIX, Solaris 2, and Tru64 UNIX ports.
• Steven Pemberton for his contribution of ‘enquire’ which allowed GCC to determine
various properties of the floating point unit and generate ‘float.h’ in older versions
of GCC.
• Hartmut Penner for work on the s390 port.
• Paul Petersen wrote the machine description for the Alliant FX/8.
• Alexandre Petit-Bianco for implementing much of the Java compiler and continued
Java maintainership.
Contributors to GCC 1013

• Matthias Pfaller for major improvements to the NS32k port.

• Gerald Pfeifer for his direction via the steering committee, pointing out lots of problems
we need to solve, maintenance of the web pages, and taking care of documentation
maintenance in general.
• Marek Polacek for his work on the C front end, the sanitizers and general bug fixing.
• Andrew Pinski for processing bug reports by the dozen.
• Ovidiu Predescu for his work on the Objective-C front end and runtime libraries.
• Jerry Quinn for major performance improvements in C++ formatted I/O.
• Ken Raeburn for various improvements to checker, MIPS ports and various cleanups
in the compiler.
• Rolf W. Rasmussen for hacking on AWT.
• David Reese of Sun Microsystems contributed to the Solaris on PowerPC port.
• John Regehr for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting numerous
bugs.
• Volker Reichelt for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting numer-
ous bugs and for keeping up with the problem reports.
• Joern Rennecke for maintaining the sh port, loop, regmove & reload hacking and de-
veloping and maintaining the Epiphany port.
• Loren J. Rittle for improvements to libstdc++-v3 including the FreeBSD port, threading
fixes, thread-related configury changes, critical threading documentation, and solutions
to really tricky I/O problems, as well as keeping GCC properly working on FreeBSD
and continuous testing.
• Craig Rodrigues for processing tons of bug reports.
• Ola Rönnerup for work on mt alloc.
• Gavin Romig-Koch for lots of behind the scenes MIPS work.
• David Ronis inspired and encouraged Craig to rewrite the G77 documentation in texinfo
format by contributing a first pass at a translation of the old ‘g77-0.5.16/f/DOC’ file.
• Ken Rose for fixes to GCC’s delay slot filling code.
• Ira Rosen for her contributions to the auto-vectorizer.
• Paul Rubin wrote most of the preprocessor.
• Pétur Runólfsson for major performance improvements in C++ formatted I/O and large
file support in C++ filebuf.
• Chip Salzenberg for libstdc++ patches and improvements to locales, traits, Makefiles,
libio, libtool hackery, and “long long” support.
• Juha Sarlin for improvements to the H8 code generator.
• Greg Satz assisted in making GCC work on HP-UX for the 9000 series 300.
• Roger Sayle for improvements to constant folding and GCC’s RTL optimizers as well
as for fixing numerous bugs.
• Bradley Schatz for his work on the GCJ FAQ.
• Peter Schauer wrote the code to allow debugging to work on the Alpha.
• William Schelter did most of the work on the Intel 80386 support.
1014 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• Tobias Schlüter for work on GNU Fortran.

• Bernd Schmidt for various code generation improvements and major work in the reload
pass, serving as release manager for GCC 2.95.3, and work on the Blackfin and C6X
ports.
• Peter Schmid for constant testing of libstdc++—especially application testing, going
above and beyond what was requested for the release criteria—and libstdc++ header
file tweaks.
• Jason Schroeder for jcf-dump patches.
• Andreas Schwab for his work on the m68k port.
• Lars Segerlund for work on GNU Fortran.
• Dodji Seketeli for numerous C++ bug fixes and debug info improvements.
• Tim Shen for major work on <regex>.
• Joel Sherrill for his direction via the steering committee, RTEMS contributions and
RTEMS testing.
• Nathan Sidwell for many C++ fixes/improvements.
• Jeffrey Siegal for helping RMS with the original design of GCC, some code which
handles the parse tree and RTL data structures, constant folding and help with the
original VAX & m68k ports.
• Kenny Simpson for prompting libstdc++ fixes due to defect reports from the LWG
(thereby keeping GCC in line with updates from the ISO).
• Franz Sirl for his ongoing work with making the PPC port stable for GNU/Linux.
• Andrey Slepuhin for assorted AIX hacking.
• Trevor Smigiel for contributing the SPU port.
• Christopher Smith did the port for Convex machines.
• Danny Smith for his major efforts on the Mingw (and Cygwin) ports. Retired from
GCC maintainership August 2010, having mentored two new maintainers into the role.
• Randy Smith finished the Sun FPA support.
• Ed Smith-Rowland for his continuous work on libstdc++-v3, special functions,
<random>, and various improvements to C++11 features.
• Scott Snyder for queue, iterator, istream, and string fixes and libstdc++ testsuite en-
tries. Also for providing the patch to G77 to add rudimentary support for INTEGER*1,
INTEGER*2, and LOGICAL*1.
• Zdenek Sojka for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting numerous
bugs.
• Arseny Solokha for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting nu-
merous bugs.
• Jayant Sonar for contributing the CR16 port.
• Brad Spencer for contributions to the GLIBCPP FORCE NEW technique.
• Richard Stallman, for writing the original GCC and launching the GNU project.
• Jan Stein of the Chalmers Computer Society provided support for Genix, as well as
part of the 32000 machine description.
Contributors to GCC 1015

• Gerhard Steinmetz for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting
numerous bugs.
• Nigel Stephens for various mips16 related fixes/improvements.
• Jonathan Stone wrote the machine description for the Pyramid computer.
• Graham Stott for various infrastructure improvements.
• John Stracke for his Java HTTP protocol fixes.
• Mike Stump for his Elxsi port, G++ contributions over the years and more recently his
vxworks contributions
• Jeff Sturm for Java porting help, bug fixes, and encouragement.
• Zhendong Su for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting numerous
bugs.
• Chengnian Sun for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting numer-
ous bugs.
• Shigeya Suzuki for this fixes for the bsdi platforms.
• Ian Lance Taylor for the Go frontend, the initial mips16 and mips64 support, general
configury hacking, fixincludes, etc.
• Holger Teutsch provided the support for the Clipper CPU.
• Gary Thomas for his ongoing work to make the PPC work for GNU/Linux.
• Paul Thomas for contributions to GNU Fortran.
• Philipp Thomas for random bug fixes throughout the compiler
• Jason Thorpe for thread support in libstdc++ on NetBSD.
• Kresten Krab Thorup wrote the run time support for the Objective-C language and
the fantastic Java bytecode interpreter.
• Michael Tiemann for random bug fixes, the first instruction scheduler, initial C++
support, function integration, NS32k, SPARC and M88k machine description work,
delay slot scheduling.
• Andreas Tobler for his work porting libgcj to Darwin.
• Teemu Torma for thread safe exception handling support.
• Leonard Tower wrote parts of the parser, RTL generator, and RTL definitions, and of
the VAX machine description.
• Daniel Towner and Hariharan Sandanagobalane contributed and maintain the picoChip
port.
• Tom Tromey for internationalization support and for his many Java contributions and
libgcj maintainership.
• Lassi Tuura for improvements to config.guess to determine HP processor types.
• Petter Urkedal for libstdc++ CXXFLAGS, math, and algorithms fixes.
• Andy Vaught for the design and initial implementation of the GNU Fortran front end.
• Brent Verner for work with the libstdc++ cshadow files and their associated configure
steps.
• Todd Vierling for contributions for NetBSD ports.
• Andrew Waterman for contributing the RISC-V port, as well as maintaining it.
1016 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• Jonathan Wakely for contributing libstdc++ Doxygen notes and XHTML guidance and
maintaining libstdc++.
• Dean Wakerley for converting the install documentation from HTML to texinfo in time
for GCC 3.0.
• Krister Walfridsson for random bug fixes.
• Feng Wang for contributions to GNU Fortran.
• Stephen M. Webb for time and effort on making libstdc++ shadow files work with the
tricky Solaris 8+ headers, and for pushing the build-time header tree. Also, for starting
and driving the <regex> effort.
• John Wehle for various improvements for the x86 code generator, related infrastructure
improvements to help x86 code generation, value range propagation and other work,
WE32k port.
• Ulrich Weigand for work on the s390 port.
• Janus Weil for contributions to GNU Fortran.
• Zack Weinberg for major work on cpplib and various other bug fixes.
• Matt Welsh for help with Linux Threads support in GCJ.
• Urban Widmark for help fixing java.io.
• Mark Wielaard for new Java library code and his work integrating with Classpath.
• Dale Wiles helped port GCC to the Tahoe.
• Bob Wilson from Tensilica, Inc. for the Xtensa port.
• Jim Wilson for his direction via the steering committee, tackling hard problems in
various places that nobody else wanted to work on, strength reduction and other loop
optimizations.
• Paul Woegerer and Tal Agmon for the CRX port.
• Carlo Wood for various fixes.
• Tom Wood for work on the m88k port.
• Chung-Ju Wu for his work on the Andes NDS32 port.
• Canqun Yang for work on GNU Fortran.
• Masanobu Yuhara of Fujitsu Laboratories implemented the machine description for the
Tron architecture (specifically, the Gmicro).
• Kevin Zachmann helped port GCC to the Tahoe.
• Ayal Zaks for Swing Modulo Scheduling (SMS).
• Qirun Zhang for running automated regression testing of GCC and reporting numerous
bugs.
• Xiaoqiang Zhang for work on GNU Fortran.
• Gilles Zunino for help porting Java to Irix.
The following people are recognized for their contributions to GNAT, the Ada front end
of GCC:
• Bernard Banner
• Romain Berrendonner
Contributors to GCC 1017

• Geert Bosch
• Emmanuel Briot
• Joel Brobecker
• Ben Brosgol
• Vincent Celier
• Arnaud Charlet
• Chien Chieng
• Cyrille Comar
• Cyrille Crozes
• Robert Dewar
• Gary Dismukes
• Robert Duff
• Ed Falis
• Ramon Fernandez
• Sam Figueroa
• Vasiliy Fofanov
• Michael Friess
• Franco Gasperoni
• Ted Giering
• Matthew Gingell
• Laurent Guerby
• Jerome Guitton
• Olivier Hainque
• Jerome Hugues
• Hristian Kirtchev
• Jerome Lambourg
• Bruno Leclerc
• Albert Lee
• Sean McNeil
• Javier Miranda
• Laurent Nana
• Pascal Obry
• Dong-Ik Oh
• Laurent Pautet
• Brett Porter
• Thomas Quinot
• Nicolas Roche
• Pat Rogers
• Jose Ruiz
1018 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• Douglas Rupp
• Sergey Rybin
• Gail Schenker
• Ed Schonberg
• Nicolas Setton
• Samuel Tardieu
The following people are recognized for their contributions of new features, bug reports,
testing and integration of classpath/libgcj for GCC version 4.1:
• Lillian Angel for JTree implementation and lots Free Swing additions and bug fixes.
• Wolfgang Baer for GapContent bug fixes.
• Anthony Balkissoon for JList, Free Swing 1.5 updates and mouse event fixes, lots of
Free Swing work including JTable editing.
• Stuart Ballard for RMI constant fixes.
• Goffredo Baroncelli for HTTPURLConnection fixes.
• Gary Benson for MessageFormat fixes.
• Daniel Bonniot for Serialization fixes.
• Chris Burdess for lots of gnu.xml and http protocol fixes, StAX and DOM xml:id support.
• Ka-Hing Cheung for TreePath and TreeSelection fixes.
• Archie Cobbs for build fixes, VM interface updates, URLClassLoader updates.
• Kelley Cook for build fixes.
• Martin Cordova for Suggestions for better SocketTimeoutException.
• David Daney for BitSet bug fixes, HttpURLConnection rewrite and improvements.
• Thomas Fitzsimmons for lots of upgrades to the gtk+ AWT and Cairo 2D support.
Lots of imageio framework additions, lots of AWT and Free Swing bug fixes.
• Jeroen Frijters for ClassLoader and nio cleanups, serialization fixes, better Proxy
support, bug fixes and IKVM integration.
• Santiago Gala for AccessControlContext fixes.
• Nicolas Geoffray for VMClassLoader and AccessController improvements.
• David Gilbert for basic and metal icon and plaf support and lots of documenting,
Lots of Free Swing and metal theme additions. MetalIconFactory implementation.
• Anthony Green for MIDI framework, ALSA and DSSI providers.
• Andrew Haley for Serialization and URLClassLoader fixes, gcj build speedups.
• Kim Ho for JFileChooser implementation.
• Andrew John Hughes for Locale and net fixes, URI RFC2986 updates, Serialization
fixes, Properties XML support and generic branch work, VMIntegration guide update.
• Bastiaan Huisman for TimeZone bug fixing.
• Andreas Jaeger for mprec updates.
• Paul Jenner for better ‘-Werror’ support.
• Ito Kazumitsu for NetworkInterface implementation and updates.
Contributors to GCC 1019

• Roman Kennke for BoxLayout, GrayFilter and SplitPane, plus bug fixes all over.
Lots of Free Swing work including styled text.
• Simon Kitching for String cleanups and optimization suggestions.
• Michael Koch for configuration fixes, Locale updates, bug and build fixes.
• Guilhem Lavaux for configuration, thread and channel fixes and Kaffe integration. JCL
native Pointer updates. Logger bug fixes.
• David Lichteblau for JCL support library global/local reference cleanups.
• Aaron Luchko for JDWP updates and documentation fixes.
• Ziga Mahkovec for Graphics2D upgraded to Cairo 0.5 and new regex features.
• Sven de Marothy for BMP imageio support, CSS and TextLayout fixes. GtkImage
rewrite, 2D, awt, free swing and date/time fixes and implementing the Qt4 peers.
• Casey Marshall for crypto algorithm fixes, FileChannel lock, SystemLogger and
FileHandler rotate implementations, NIO FileChannel.map support, security and
policy updates.
• Bryce McKinlay for RMI work.
• Audrius Meskauskas for lots of Free Corba, RMI and HTML work plus testing and
documenting.
• Kalle Olavi Niemitalo for build fixes.
• Rainer Orth for build fixes.
• Andrew Overholt for File locking fixes.
• Ingo Proetel for Image, Logger and URLClassLoader updates.
• Olga Rodimina for MenuSelectionManager implementation.
• Jan Roehrich for BasicTreeUI and JTree fixes.
• Julian Scheid for documentation updates and gjdoc support.
• Christian Schlichtherle for zip fixes and cleanups.
• Robert Schuster for documentation updates and beans fixes, TreeNode enumerations
and ActionCommand and various fixes, XML and URL, AWT and Free Swing bug fixes.
• Keith Seitz for lots of JDWP work.
• Christian Thalinger for 64-bit cleanups, Configuration and VM interface fixes and
CACAO integration, fdlibm updates.
• Gael Thomas for VMClassLoader boot packages support suggestions.
• Andreas Tobler for Darwin and Solaris testing and fixing, Qt4 support for Darwin/OS
X, Graphics2D support, gtk+ updates.
• Dalibor Topic for better DEBUG support, build cleanups and Kaffe integration. Qt4
build infrastructure, SHA1PRNG and GdkPixbugDecoder updates.
• Tom Tromey for Eclipse integration, generics work, lots of bug fixes and gcj integration
including coordinating The Big Merge.
• Mark Wielaard for bug fixes, packaging and release management, Clipboard imple-
mentation, system call interrupts and network timeouts and GdkPixpufDecoder fixes.
In addition to the above, all of which also contributed time and energy in testing GCC,
we would like to thank the following for their contributions to testing:
1020 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

• Michael Abd-El-Malek
• Thomas Arend
• Bonzo Armstrong
• Steven Ashe
• Chris Baldwin
• David Billinghurst
• Jim Blandy
• Stephane Bortzmeyer
• Horst von Brand
• Frank Braun
• Rodney Brown
• Sidney Cadot
• Bradford Castalia
• Robert Clark
• Jonathan Corbet
• Ralph Doncaster
• Richard Emberson
• Levente Farkas
• Graham Fawcett
• Mark Fernyhough
• Robert A. French
• Jörgen Freyh
• Mark K. Gardner
• Charles-Antoine Gauthier
• Yung Shing Gene
• David Gilbert
• Simon Gornall
• Fred Gray
• John Griffin
• Patrik Hagglund
• Phil Hargett
• Amancio Hasty
• Takafumi Hayashi
• Bryan W. Headley
• Kevin B. Hendricks
• Joep Jansen
• Christian Joensson
• Michel Kern
• David Kidd
Contributors to GCC 1021

• Tobias Kuipers
• Anand Krishnaswamy
• A. O. V. Le Blanc
• llewelly
• Damon Love
• Brad Lucier
• Matthias Klose
• Martin Knoblauch
• Rick Lutowski
• Jesse Macnish
• Stefan Morrell
• Anon A. Mous
• Matthias Mueller
• Pekka Nikander
• Rick Niles
• Jon Olson
• Magnus Persson
• Chris Pollard
• Richard Polton
• Derk Reefman
• David Rees
• Paul Reilly
• Tom Reilly
• Torsten Rueger
• Danny Sadinoff
• Marc Schifer
• Erik Schnetter
• Wayne K. Schroll
• David Schuler
• Vin Shelton
• Tim Souder
• Adam Sulmicki
• Bill Thorson
• George Talbot
• Pedro A. M. Vazquez
• Gregory Warnes
• Ian Watson
• David E. Young
• And many others
1022 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

And finally we’d like to thank everyone who uses the compiler, provides feedback and
generally reminds us why we’re doing this work in the first place.
Option Index 1023

Option Index
GCC’s command line options are indexed here without any initial ‘-’ or ‘--’. Where an
option has both positive and negative forms (such as ‘-foption’ and ‘-fno-option’), rele-
vant entries in the manual are indexed under the most appropriate form; it may sometimes
be useful to look up both forms.

# dump-analyzer-exploded-nodes-3 . . . . . . . . . . . 165
### . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 dump-analyzer-feasibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
dumpbase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
dumpbase-ext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
A dumpdir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
all_load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 dumpfullversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
allowable_client. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 dumpmachine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
analyzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 dumpspecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
ansi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 44, 739, 971 dumpversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
arch_errors_fatal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 dU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
aux-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 dx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 dylib_file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
dylinker_install_name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
B dynamiclib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
B............................................. 279 D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Bdynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
bind_at_load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
block-ops-unaligned-vsx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
E
Bstatic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 e............................................. 275
bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 272
bundle_loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 EB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328, 360, 397
EL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328, 360, 397
entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
C exported_symbols_list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 272
C............................................. 269
CC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 F
client_name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 fabi-compat-version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
compatibility_version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 fabi-version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 faccess-control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
current_version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 fada-spec-parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
faggressive-loop-optimizations . . . . . . . . . . . 181
falign-functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
D falign-jumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270, 292 falign-labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
da . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 falign-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
dA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 faligned-new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
dD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270, 295 fallow-store-data-races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
dead_strip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 fanalyzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
dependency-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 fanalyzer-call-summaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
dH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fanalyzer-checker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
dI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 fanalyzer-feasibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
dM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 fanalyzer-fine-grained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
dN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 fanalyzer-show-duplicate-count . . . . . . . . . . . 163
dp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fanalyzer-state-merge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
dP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fanalyzer-state-purge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
dump-analyzer-exploded-nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 fanalyzer-transitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
dump-analyzer-exploded-nodes-2 . . . . . . . . . . . 165 fanalyzer-undo-inlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
1024 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

fasan-shadow-offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 fdelete-dead-exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

fasm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 fdelete-null-pointer-checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
fassociative-math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 fdevirtualize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
fasynchronous-unwind-tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 fdevirtualize-at-ltrans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
fauto-inc-dec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 fdevirtualize-speculatively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
fauto-profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 fdiagnostics-color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
fbit-tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 fdiagnostics-column-origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
fbranch-count-reg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 fdiagnostics-column-unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
fbranch-probabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 fdiagnostics-escape-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
fbuiltin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 fdiagnostics-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
fcall-saved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 fdiagnostics-generate-patch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
fcall-used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 fdiagnostics-minimum-margin-width . . . . . . . . . 85
fcaller-saves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
fcallgraph-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 fdiagnostics-path-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
fcf-protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 fdiagnostics-show-caret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
fchar8_t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 fdiagnostics-show-cwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
fcheck-new. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 fdiagnostics-show-labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
fchecking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 fdiagnostics-show-line-numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
fcode-hoisting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 fdiagnostics-show-location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
fcombine-stack-adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 fdiagnostics-show-option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
fcommon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284, 636 fdiagnostics-show-path-depths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
fcompare-debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 fdiagnostics-show-rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
fcompare-debug-second . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 fdiagnostics-show-template-tree . . . . . . . . . . . 86
fcompare-elim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 fdiagnostics-urls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
fconcepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 fdirectives-only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
fconcepts-ts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 fdisable- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
fcond-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 fdollars-in-identifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267, 961
fconserve-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 fdpic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
fconstant-string-class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 fdse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
fconstexpr-cache-depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 fdump-ada-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
fconstexpr-depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 fdump-analyzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
fconstexpr-fp-except . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 fdump-analyzer-callgraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
fconstexpr-loop-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 fdump-analyzer-exploded-graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
fconstexpr-ops-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 fdump-analyzer-exploded-paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
fcontract-assumption-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 fdump-analyzer-json . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
fcontract-build-level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 fdump-analyzer-state-purge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
fcontract-continuation-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 fdump-analyzer-stderr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
fcontract-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 fdump-analyzer-supergraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
fcontract-role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 fdump-analyzer-untracked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
fcontract-strict-declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 fdump-debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
fcontracts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 fdump-earlydebug. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
fcoroutines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 fdump-final-insns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
fcprop-registers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 fdump-go-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
fcrossjumping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 fdump-ipa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
fcse-follow-jumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 fdump-lang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
fcse-skip-blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 fdump-lang-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
fcx-fortran-rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 fdump-noaddr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
fcx-limited-range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 fdump-passes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
fdata-sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 fdump-rtl-alignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
fdbg-cnt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 fdump-rtl-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
fdbg-cnt-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 fdump-rtl-asmcons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
fdce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 fdump-rtl-auto_inc_dec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
fdebug-cpp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 fdump-rtl-barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
fdebug-prefix-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 fdump-rtl-bbpart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
fdebug-types-section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 fdump-rtl-bbro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
fdeclone-ctor-dtor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 fdump-rtl-btl2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
fdefer-pop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 fdump-rtl-bypass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
fdelayed-branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fdump-rtl-ce1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Option Index 1025

fdump-rtl-ce2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 fdump-tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

fdump-rtl-ce3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 fdump-tree-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
fdump-rtl-combine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 fdump-unnumbered. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
fdump-rtl-compgotos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 fdump-unnumbered-links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
fdump-rtl-cprop_hardreg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 fdwarf2-cfi-asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
fdump-rtl-csa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fearly-inlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
fdump-rtl-cse1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 felide-constructors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
fdump-rtl-cse2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 felide-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
fdump-rtl-dbr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 feliminate-unused-debug-symbols . . . . . . . . . . 168
fdump-rtl-dce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 feliminate-unused-debug-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
fdump-rtl-dce1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 femit-class-debug-always . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
fdump-rtl-dce2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 femit-struct-debug-baseonly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
fdump-rtl-dfinish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 femit-struct-debug-detailed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
fdump-rtl-dfinit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 femit-struct-debug-reduced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
fdump-rtl-eh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fenable- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
fdump-rtl-eh_ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fenforce-eh-specs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
fdump-rtl-expand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fexceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
fdump-rtl-fwprop1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fexcess-precision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
fdump-rtl-fwprop2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fexec-charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
fdump-rtl-gcse1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fexpensive-optimizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
fdump-rtl-gcse2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fext-numeric-literals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
fdump-rtl-init-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fextended-identifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
fdump-rtl-initvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 fextern-tls-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
fdump-rtl-into_cfglayout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 ffast-math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
fdump-rtl-ira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 ffat-lto-objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
fdump-rtl-jump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 ffile-prefix-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
fdump-rtl-loop2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 ffinite-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
fdump-rtl-mach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 ffinite-math-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
fdump-rtl-mode_sw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 ffix-and-continue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
fdump-rtl-outof_cfglayout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 ffixed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
fdump-rtl-pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 ffloat-store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210, 966
fdump-rtl-peephole2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 ffold-simple-inlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
fdump-rtl-postreload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fforward-propagate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
fdump-rtl-pro_and_epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 ffp-contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
fdump-rtl-ree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 ffp-int-builtin-inexact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
fdump-rtl-regclass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 ffreestanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 48, 100, 575
fdump-rtl-rnreg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 ffunction-cse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
fdump-rtl-sched1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 ffunction-sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
fdump-rtl-sched2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgcse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
fdump-rtl-seqabstr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgcse-after-reload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
fdump-rtl-shorten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgcse-las . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
fdump-rtl-sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgcse-lm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
fdump-rtl-sms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgcse-sm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
fdump-rtl-split1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgimple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
fdump-rtl-split2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgnu-keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
fdump-rtl-split3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgnu-runtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
fdump-rtl-split4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgnu-tm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
fdump-rtl-split5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgnu-unique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
fdump-rtl-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 fgnu89-inline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
fdump-rtl-subreg1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fgraphite-identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
fdump-rtl-subreg2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fguess-branch-probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
fdump-rtl-subregs_of_mode_finish . . . . . . . . . 295 fharden-compares. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
fdump-rtl-subregs_of_mode_init . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fharden-conditional-branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
fdump-rtl-unshare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fhoist-adjacent-loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
fdump-rtl-vartrack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fhosted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
fdump-rtl-vregs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
fdump-rtl-web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 fif-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
fdump-statistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 fif-conversion2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
1026 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

filelist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 flifetime-dse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

fimplement-inlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 flinker-output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
fimplicit-constexpr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 flive-patching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
fimplicit-inline-templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 flive-range-shrinkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
fimplicit-templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 flocal-ivars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
findirect-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 floop-block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
findirect-inlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 floop-interchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
finhibit-size-directive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 floop-nest-optimize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
finline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 floop-parallelize-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
finline-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 floop-strip-mine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
finline-functions-called-once . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 floop-unroll-and-jam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
finline-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 flra-remat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
finline-small-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 flto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
finput-charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 flto-compression-level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
finstrument-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262, 581 flto-partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
finstrument-functions-exclude-file-list flto-report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 flto-report-wpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
finstrument-functions-exclude-function-list fmacro-prefix-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 fmath-errno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
finstrument-functions-once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 fmax-errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
fipa-bit-cp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 fmax-include-depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
fipa-cp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 fmem-report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
fipa-cp-clone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 fmem-report-wpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
fipa-icf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 fmerge-all-constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
fipa-modref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 fmerge-constants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
fipa-profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 fmerge-debug-strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
fipa-pta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 fmessage-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
fipa-pure-const . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 fmodule-header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
fipa-ra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 fmodule-implicit-inline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
fipa-reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 fmodule-lazy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
fipa-reference-addressable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 fmodule-mapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
fipa-sra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 fmodule-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
fipa-stack-alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 fmodules-ts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
fipa-strict-aliasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 fmodulo-sched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
fipa-vrp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 fmodulo-sched-allow-regmoves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
fira-algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fmove-loop-invariants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
fira-hoist-pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fmove-loop-stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
fira-loop-pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fms-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49, 59, 893
fira-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fmultiflags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
fira-share-save-slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fnew-inheriting-ctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
fira-share-spill-slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fnew-ttp-matching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
fira-verbose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 fnext-runtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
fisolate-erroneous-paths-attribute . . . . . . . 191 fnil-receivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
fisolate-erroneous-paths-dereference. . . . . 191 fno-access-control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
fivar-visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 fno-allocation-dce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
fivopts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 fno-analyzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
fjump-tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 fno-analyzer-call-summaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
fkeep-inline-dllexport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 fno-analyzer-feasibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
fkeep-inline-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178, 664 fno-analyzer-fine-grained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
fkeep-static-consts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 fno-analyzer-show-duplicate-count . . . . . . . . 163
fkeep-static-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 fno-analyzer-state-merge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
flang-info-include-translate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 fno-analyzer-state-purge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
flang-info-include-translate-not . . . . . . . . . . 63 fno-analyzer-transitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
flang-info-module-cmi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 fno-analyzer-undo-inlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
flarge-source-files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 fno-asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
flat_namespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 fno-bit-tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
flax-vector-conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 fno-branch-count-reg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
fleading-underscore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 fno-builtin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47, 100, 575, 739
Option Index 1027

fno-canonical-system-headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 fno-sched-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

fno-char8_t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 fno-set-stack-executable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
fno-checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 fno-show-column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
fno-common . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284, 636 fno-signed-bitfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
fno-compare-debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 fno-signed-zeros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
fno-debug-types-section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 fno-stack-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
fno-default-inline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664 fno-strict-flex-arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
fno-defer-pop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 fno-threadsafe-statics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
fno-diagnostics-show-caret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 fno-toplevel-reorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
fno-diagnostics-show-cwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 fno-trapping-math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
fno-diagnostics-show-labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 fno-unsigned-bitfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
fno-diagnostics-show-line-numbers . . . . . . . . . 85 fno-use-cxa-get-exception-ptr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
fno-diagnostics-show-option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 fno-var-tracking-assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
fno-diagnostics-show-rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 fno-var-tracking-assignments-toggle . . . . . . 304
fno-dwarf2-cfi-asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 fno-weak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
fno-elide-constructors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 fno-working-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
fno-elide-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 fno-writable-relocated-rdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
fno-eliminate-unused-debug-symbols . . . . . . . 168 fno-zero-initialized-in-bss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
fno-eliminate-unused-debug-types . . . . . . . . . 172 fnon-call-exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
fno-enforce-eh-specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 fnonansi-builtins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
fno-ext-numeric-literals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 fnothrow-opt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
fno-extern-tls-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 fobjc-abi-version. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
fno-finite-loops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 fobjc-call-cxx-cdtors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
fno-fold-simple-inlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 fobjc-direct-dispatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
fno-fp-int-builtin-inexact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 fobjc-exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
fno-function-cse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 fobjc-gc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
fno-gnu-keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 fobjc-nilcheck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
fno-gnu-unique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 fobjc-std . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
fno-guess-branch-probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 foffload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
fno-ident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 foffload-options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
fno-implement-inlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58, 900 fomit-frame-pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
fno-implicit-inline-templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 fopenacc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
fno-implicit-templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58, 902 fopenacc-dim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
fno-inline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 fopenmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
fno-ira-share-save-slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fopenmp-simd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
fno-ira-share-spill-slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fopenmp-target-simd-clone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
fno-jump-tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 foperator-names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
fno-keep-inline-dllexport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 fopt-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
fno-lifetime-dse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 foptimize-sibling-calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
fno-local-ivars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 foptimize-strlen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
fno-math-errno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 foptional-diags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
fno-merge-debug-strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 force_cpusubtype_ALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
fno-module-lazy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 force_flat_namespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
fno-modules-ts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 fpack-struct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
fno-nil-receivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 fpartial-inlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
fno-nonansi-builtins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 fpatchable-function-entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
fno-operator-names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 fpcc-struct-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283, 963
fno-optional-diags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 fpch-deps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
fno-peephole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 fpch-preprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
fno-peephole2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 fpeel-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
fno-plt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 fpeephole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
fno-pretty-templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 fpeephole2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
fno-printf-return-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 fpermissive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
fno-rtti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 fpermitted-flt-eval-methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
fno-sanitize-recover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 fpermitted-flt-eval-methods=c11 . . . . . . . . . . . 50
fno-sanitize-trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 fpermitted-flt-eval-methods=ts-18661-3 . . . 50
fno-sanitize=all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 fpic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
fno-sched-interblock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 fPIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
1028 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

fpie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 fsanitize=bounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

fPIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 fsanitize=bounds-strict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
fplan9-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51, 893 fsanitize=builtin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
fplt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 fsanitize=enum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
fplugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 fsanitize=float-cast-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
fplugin-arg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 fsanitize=float-divide-by-zero . . . . . . . . . . . 256
fpost-ipa-mem-report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 fsanitize=hwaddress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
fpre-ipa-mem-report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 fsanitize=integer-divide-by-zero . . . . . . . . . 254
fpredictive-commoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 fsanitize=kernel-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
fprefetch-loop-arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 fsanitize=kernel-hwaddress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
fpreprocessed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 fsanitize=leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
fpretty-templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 fsanitize=nonnull-attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
fprintf-return-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 fsanitize=null . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
fprofile-abs-path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 fsanitize=object-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
fprofile-arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247, 748 fsanitize=pointer-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
fprofile-correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 fsanitize=pointer-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
fprofile-dir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 fsanitize=pointer-subtract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
fprofile-exclude-files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 fsanitize=return. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
fprofile-filter-files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 fsanitize=returns-nonnull-attribute . . . . . . 256
fprofile-generate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 fsanitize=shadow-call-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
fprofile-info-section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 fsanitize=shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
fprofile-note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 fsanitize=shift-base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
fprofile-partial-training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 fsanitize=shift-exponent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
fprofile-prefix-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 fsanitize=signed-integer-overflow . . . . . . . . 255
fprofile-prefix-path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 fsanitize=thread. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
fprofile-reorder-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 fsanitize=undefined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
fprofile-report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 fsanitize=unreachable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
fprofile-reproducible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 fsanitize=vla-bound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
fprofile-update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 fsanitize=vptr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
fprofile-use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 fsave-optimization-record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
fprofile-values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 fsched-critical-path-heuristic . . . . . . . . . . . 186
fpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 fsched-dep-count-heuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
frandom-seed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 fsched-group-heuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
freciprocal-math. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 fsched-interblock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
frecord-gcc-switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 fsched-last-insn-heuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 fsched-pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
freg-struct-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 fsched-rank-heuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
frename-registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 fsched-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
freorder-blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 fsched-spec-insn-heuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
freorder-blocks-algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 fsched-spec-load. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
freorder-blocks-and-partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 fsched-spec-load-dangerous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
freorder-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 fsched-stalled-insns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
freplace-objc-classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 fsched-stalled-insns-dep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
freport-bug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 fsched-verbose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
frerun-cse-after-loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 fsched2-use-superblocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
freschedule-modulo-scheduled-loops . . . . . . . 187 fschedule-fusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
frounding-math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 fschedule-insns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
frtti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 fschedule-insns2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
fsanitize-address-use-after-scope . . . . . . . . 258 fsection-anchors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
fsanitize-coverage=trace-cmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 fsel-sched-pipelining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
fsanitize-coverage=trace-pc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 fsel-sched-pipelining-outer-loops . . . . . . . . 187
fsanitize-recover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 fselective-scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
fsanitize-sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 fselective-scheduling2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
fsanitize-trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 fsemantic-interposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
fsanitize-undefined-trap-on-error . . . . . . . . 258 fset-stack-executable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
fsanitize=address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 fshort-enums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284, 532, 652, 970
fsanitize=alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 fshort-wchar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
fsanitize=bool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 fshow-column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Option Index 1029

fshrink-wrap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 ftree-ch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

fshrink-wrap-separate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 ftree-coalesce-vars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
fsignaling-nans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 ftree-copy-prop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
fsigned-bitfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51, 970 ftree-dce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
fsigned-char. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51, 528 ftree-dominator-opts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
fsigned-zeros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 ftree-dse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
fsimd-cost-model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 ftree-forwprop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
fsingle-precision-constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 ftree-fre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
fsized-deallocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 ftree-loop-distribute-patterns . . . . . . . . . . . 194
fsplit-ivs-in-unroller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 ftree-loop-distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
fsplit-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 ftree-loop-if-convert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
fsplit-paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 ftree-loop-im . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
fsplit-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261, 582 ftree-loop-ivcanon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
fsplit-wide-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 ftree-loop-linear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
fsplit-wide-types-early . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 ftree-loop-optimize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
fssa-backprop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 ftree-loop-vectorize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
fssa-phiopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 ftree-parallelize-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
fsso-struct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 ftree-partial-pre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
fstack-check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 ftree-phiprop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
fstack-clash-protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 ftree-pre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
fstack-limit-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 ftree-pta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
fstack-limit-symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 ftree-reassoc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
fstack-protector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 ftree-scev-cprop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
fstack-protector-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 ftree-sink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
fstack-protector-explicit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 ftree-slp-vectorize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
fstack-protector-strong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 ftree-slsr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
fstack-usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 ftree-sra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
fstack_reuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 ftree-switch-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
fstats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 ftree-tail-merge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
fstdarg-opt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 ftree-ter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
fstore-merging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 ftree-vectorize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
fstrict-aliasing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 ftree-vrp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
fstrict-enums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 ftrivial-auto-var-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
fstrict-flex-arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 funconstrained-commons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
fstrict-flex-arrays=level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 funit-at-a-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
fstrict-overflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 funreachable-traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
fstrict-volatile-bitfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 funroll-all-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
fstrong-eval-order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 funroll-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
fsync-libcalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 funsafe-math-optimizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
fsyntax-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 funsigned-bitfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51, 531, 970
ftabstop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 funsigned-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51, 528
ftemplate-backtrace-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 funswitch-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
ftemplate-depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 funwind-tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
ftest-coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 fuse-cxa-atexit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
fthread-jumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 fuse-cxa-get-exception-ptr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
fthreadsafe-statics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 fuse-ld=bfd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
ftime-report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 fuse-ld=gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
ftime-report-details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 fuse-ld=lld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
ftls-model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 fuse-ld=mold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
ftoplevel-reorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 fuse-linker-plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
ftracer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 fvar-tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
ftrack-macro-expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 fvar-tracking-assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
ftrampolines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 fvar-tracking-assignments-toggle . . . . . . . . . 304
ftrapping-math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 fvariable-expansion-in-unroller . . . . . . . . . . 198
ftrapv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 fvect-cost-model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
ftree-bit-ccp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 fverbose-asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
ftree-builtin-call-dce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 fversion-loops-for-strides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
ftree-ccp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 fvisibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
1030 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

fvisibility-inlines-hidden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 H
fvisibility-ms-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 headerpad_max_install_names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
fvpt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
fvtable-verify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
fvtv-counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
fvtv-debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
fweak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 I
fweb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 I- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
fwhole-program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 idirafter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
fwide-exec-charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 iframework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
fworking-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 imacros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
fwrapv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 image_base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
fwrapv-pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 imultilib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
fwritable-relocated-rdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 include . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
fzero-call-used-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
fzero-initialized-in-bss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 install_name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
fzero-link. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 iplugindir= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 iprefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
iquote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
isysroot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
G isystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 iwithprefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
gas-loc-support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 iwithprefixbefore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
gas-locview-support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 I............................................. 278
gbtf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
gcolumn-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
gctf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 K
gdescribe-dies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 keep_private_externs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
gdwarf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
gdwarf32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
gdwarf64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 L
gen-decls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
gfull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 lobjc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
ggdb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
ggnu-pubnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
ginline-points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
ginternal-reset-location-views . . . . . . . . . . . 171 M
gno-as-loc-support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 m1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
gno-column-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 m10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
gno-inline-points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 m128bit-long-double . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
gno-internal-reset-location-views . . . . . . . . 171 m16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
gno-record-gcc-switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 m16-bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360, 417
gno-statement-frontiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 m1reg- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
gno-strict-dwarf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 m2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
gno-variable-location-views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 m210 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
gpubnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 m2a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
grecord-gcc-switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 m2a-nofpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
gsplit-dwarf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 m2a-single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
gstatement-frontiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 m2a-single-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
gstrict-dwarf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 m3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
gtoggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 m31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
gused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 m32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437, 467, 501
gvariable-location-views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 m32-bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
gvariable-location-views=incompat5 . . . . . . . 170 m32bit-doubles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432, 449
gvms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 m32r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
gz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 m32r2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325, 388, 404, 418, 444, 468 m32rx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
m340 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Option Index 1031

m3dnow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mabi=elfv2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

m3dnowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mabi=gnu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
m3e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 mabi=ibmlongdouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
m4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 mabi=ieeelongdouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
m4-100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 mabi=mmixware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
m4-100-nofpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 mabi=n32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
m4-100-single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 mabi=o64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
m4-100-single-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 mabi=windowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
m4-200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 mabicalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
m4-200-nofpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 mabm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
m4-200-single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 mabort-on-noreturn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
m4-200-single-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 mabs=2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
m4-300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 mabs=legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
m4-300-nofpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 mabsdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
m4-300-single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 mac0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
m4-300-single-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 macc-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
m4-340 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 macc-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
m4-500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 maccumulate-args. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
m4-nofpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 maccumulate-outgoing-args . . . . . . . . . . . . 460, 495
m4-single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 maddress-mode=long . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
m4-single-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 maddress-mode=short . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
m40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 mads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
m45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 madx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
m4a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 maes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
m4a-nofpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 maix-struct-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
m4a-single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 maix32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
m4a-single-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 maix64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
m4al . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 malign-300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
m4byte-functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 malign-call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
m5200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 malign-data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431, 487
m5206e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 malign-double . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
m528x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 malign-int . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
m5307 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 malign-labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
m5407 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 malign-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
m64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424, 437, 453, 467, 501 malign-natural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
m64bit-doubles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432, 449 malign-power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
m68000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 malign-stringops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
m68010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 malloc-cc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
m68020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 mallow-string-insns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
m68020-40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 mallregs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
m68020-60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 maltivec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
m68030 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 malu32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
m68040 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 mam33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
m68060 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 mam33-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
m68881 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 mam34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
m8-bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 mamx-bf16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
m80387 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 mamx-fp16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
m8bit-idiv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 mamx-int8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
m8byte-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 mamx-tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
m96bit-long-double . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 manchor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
mA6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 mandroid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
mA7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 mannotate-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
mabi . . . . . . . . 308, 329, 385, 427, 428, 442, 494, 506 mapcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
mabi=32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 mapcs-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
mabi=64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 mapp-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462, 471
mabi=call0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 mARC600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
mabi=eabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 mARC601 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
mabi=elfv1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 mARC700 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
1032 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

march . . 311, 318, 330, 358, 359, 377, 380, 384, 389, mbionic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
397, 418, 419, 424, 429, 454, 473 mbit-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
march= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 mbitfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
marclinux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 mbitops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
marclinux_prof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 mblock-compare-inline-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
margonaut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 mblock-compare-inline-loop-limit . . . . . . . . . 444
marm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 mblock-move-inline-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
mas100-syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 mbmi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
masm-hex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 mbmi2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
masm-syntax-unified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 mboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
masm=dialect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 mbranch-cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316, 348, 385, 409, 428
matomic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 mbranch-cost= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
matomic-model=model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 mbranch-cost=num. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
mauto-litpools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505 mbranch-cost=number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
mauto-modify-reg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 mbranch-index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
mauto-pic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 mbranch-likely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
mavoid-indexed-addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 mbranch-predict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
mavx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mbranch-protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
mavx2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mbss-plt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
mavx256-split-unaligned-load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 mbuild-constants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
mavx256-split-unaligned-store . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 mbwx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
mavx5124fmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 mbypass-cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
mavx5124vnniw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 mc68000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
mavx512bf16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mc68020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
mavx512bitalg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mcache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
mavx512bw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mcache-block-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
mavx512cd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mcache-volatile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
mavx512dq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mcall-aixdesc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mavx512er . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mcall-eabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mavx512f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mcall-freebsd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mavx512fp16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mcall-linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mavx512ifma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mcall-ms2sysv-xlogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
mavx512pf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mcall-netbsd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mavx512vbmi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mcall-openbsd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mavx512vbmi2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mcall-prologues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
mavx512vl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mcall-sysv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mavx512vnni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 mcall-sysv-eabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mavx512vp2intersect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mcall-sysv-noeabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mavx512vpopcntdq. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mcallee-super-interworking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
mavxifma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 mcaller-copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
mavxneconvert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 mcaller-super-interworking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
mavxvnni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 mcallgraph-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
mavxvnniint8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 mcase-vector-pcrel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
max-vect-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 mcbcond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
mb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 mcbranch-force-delay-slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
mbackchain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 mcc-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
mbarrel-shift-enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 mccrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
mbarrel-shifter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 mcet-switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
mbarrel_shifter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 mcfv4e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
mbase-addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 mcheck-zero-division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386, 406
mbbit-peephole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 mcix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
mbe8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 mcld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
mbig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 mcldemote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
mbig-endian . . . . 308, 328, 330, 358, 360, 371, 380, mclear-hwcap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
395, 396, 417, 431, 440 mclflushopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mbig-endian-data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 mclwb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mbig-switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 mclzero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mbigtable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 mcmodel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418, 467
Option Index 1033

mcmodel=kernel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502 mdisable-indexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

mcmodel=large . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309, 426, 435, 502 mdiv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362, 392, 394, 428
mcmodel=medany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 mdiv-rem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
mcmodel=medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435, 502 mdiv=strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
mcmodel=medlow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 mdivide-breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
mcmodel=small . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309, 426, 435, 502 mdivide-enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
mcmodel=tiny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 mdivide-traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
mcmov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417, 426 mdivsi3_libfunc=name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
mcmove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 mdll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
mcmpb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 mdlmzb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
mcmpccxadd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 mdmx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
mcmse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 mdouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348, 373
mco-re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 mdouble-float . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361, 385, 401, 425
mcode-density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 mdpfp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
mcode-density-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 mdpfp-compact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
mcode-readable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 mdpfp-fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
mcode-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 mdpfp_compact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
mcompact-branches=always . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 mdpfp_fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
mcompact-branches=never . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 mdsp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362, 402
mcompact-branches=optimal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 mdsp-packa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
mcompact-casesi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 mdsp_packa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
mcompat-align-parm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 mdspr2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
mcompress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 mdump-tune-features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
mcond-exec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 mdvbf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
mcond-move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 mdwarf2-asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
mcond-move-float. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 mdword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
mcond-move-int . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 mdynamic-no-pic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
mconsole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 MD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
mconst-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 mea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
mconst16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504 meabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
mconstant-gp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 mearly-cbranchsi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
mconstpool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 mearly-stop-bits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
mcorea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 mEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
mcoreb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 meb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414, 419
mcp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 medsp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
mcpu . . . 312, 319, 338, 359, 370, 371, 376, 389, 429, mel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414, 419
432, 434, 449, 464, 472, 484 melf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360, 412
mcpu= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355, 360, 387, 395, 415 melrw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
mcpu32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 memb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
mcrc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 membedded-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
mcrc32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 memregs= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
mcrypto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 menqcmd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mcsr-check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 mep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
mcsync-anomaly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 mepsilon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
mctor-dtor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418 mesa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
mcustom-fpu-cfg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 metrax100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
mcustom-insn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 metrax4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
mcx16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 meva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mdalign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 mexpand-adddi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
mdata-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 mexplicit-relocs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369, 387, 406
mdata-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 mexr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
mdaz-ftz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 mext-perf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
mdebug. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388, 454, 472 mext-perf2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
mdebug-main=prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 mext-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
mdec-asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 mextern-sdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
mdirect-extern-access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387, 502 mextra-l32r-costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
mdisable-callt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 mf16c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mdisable-fpregs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 mfancy-math-387 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
1034 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

mfast-fp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 mfpr-32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

mfast-indirect-calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 mfpr-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
mfast-sw-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 mfprnd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
mfaster-structs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 mfpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322, 340, 385, 426, 463, 472
mfdiv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 mfpu= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
mfdivdu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 mfpxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
mfdpic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345, 373 mfract-convert-truncate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
mfentry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 mframe-header-opt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
mfentry-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 mfriz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
mfentry-section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 mfsca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
mfix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 mfsgsbase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mfix-24k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 mfsmuld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
mfix-and-continue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 mfsrra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
mfix-at697f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 mft32b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
mfix-cmse-cve-2021-35465 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 mfull-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
mfix-cortex-a53-835769 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 mfull-toc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
mfix-cortex-a53-843419 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 mfunction-return. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
mfix-cortex-m3-ldrd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 mfused-madd. . . . . . . . . . 382, 407, 439, 455, 461, 504
mfix-gr712rc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 mfxsr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mfix-r10000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 MF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
mfix-r4000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 mg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
mfix-r4400 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 mg10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
mfix-r5900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 mg13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
mfix-rm7000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 mg14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
mfix-sb1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 mgas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
mfix-ut699 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 mgas-isr-prologues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
mfix-ut700 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 mgcc-abi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
mfix-vr4120 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 mgeneral-regs-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309, 330, 500
mfix-vr4130 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 mgfni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mfixed-cc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 mghs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
mfixed-range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378, 382, 461 mginv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mflat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 mglibc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
mflip-mips16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mgnu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
mflip-thumb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 mgnu-as . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
mfloat-abi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329, 360 mgnu-asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
mfloat-ieee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 mgnu-attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
mfloat-vax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 mgnu-ld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379, 381
mfloat128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 mgomp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
mfloat128-hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 mgp32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
mflush-func . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 mgp64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
mflush-func=name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 mgpopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404, 418
mflush-trap=number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 mgpr-32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
mfma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mgpr-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
mfma4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mgprel-ro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
mfmaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 mgprel-sec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
mfmovd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 MG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
mforce-indirect-call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 mh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
mforce-no-pic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504 mhal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
mfp-exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 mhalf-reg-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
mfp-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 mhard-dfp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433, 452
mfp-reg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 mhard-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
mfp-ret-in-387 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 mhard-float . . . . 361, 373, 392, 395, 401, 425, 438,
mfp-rounding-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 452, 463, 470, 472, 485
mfp-trap-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 mhard-mul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
mfp16-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 mhard-quad-float. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
mfp32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 mharden-sls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313, 501
mfp64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 mhardlit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
mfpmath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210, 484 mhigh-registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Option Index 1035

mhle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mips64r6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

mhotpatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 mirq-ctrl-saved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
mhp-ld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 misa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
mhreset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 misa-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
mhtm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436, 453 misel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
mhw-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 misize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325, 458
mhw-mul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 misr-vector-size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
mhw-mulx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 missue-rate=number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
mhwmult= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 mistack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
miamcu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 mjli-always . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
micplb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 mjmp32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
mid-shared-library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 mjmpext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
mieee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367, 458 mjsr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
mieee-conformant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 mjump-in-delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
mieee-fp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 mkernel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364, 371
mieee-with-inexact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 mkl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
milp32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 mknuthdiv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
mimadd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 ml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
mimpure-text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 mlam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
mincoming-stack-boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mlarge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
mindexed-loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 mlarge-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
mindirect-branch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 mlarge-data-threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
mindirect-branch-cs-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 mlarge-text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
mindirect-branch-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 mleaf-id-shared-library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
minline-all-stringops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 mlibfuncs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
minline-float-divide-max-throughput . . . . . . 381 mlibrary-pic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
minline-float-divide-min-latency . . . . . . . . . 381 mlinked-fp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
minline-ic_invalidate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 mlinker-opt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
minline-int-divide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 mlittle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
minline-int-divide-max-throughput . . . . . . . . 381 mlittle-endian . . . . . 309, 328, 330, 358, 360, 371,
minline-int-divide-min-latency . . . . . . . . . . . 381 380, 395, 396, 417, 431, 440
minline-plt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357, 374 mlittle-endian-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
minline-sqrt-max-throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 mliw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
minline-sqrt-min-latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 mll64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
minline-stringops-dynamically . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 mllsc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
minrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416, 427 mload-store-pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
minsert-sched-nops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441 mlocal-sdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
minstrument-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 mlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
mint-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 mlong-calls . . . . 317, 325, 341, 357, 374, 379, 406,
mint16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 469
mint32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377, 427 mlong-double . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
mint8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 mlong-double-128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452, 486
minterlink-compressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 mlong-double-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452, 486
minterlink-mips16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 mlong-double-80 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
mips1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlong-jump-table-offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
mips16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlong-jumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
mips2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlong-load-store. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
mips3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlong32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mips32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlong64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mips32r3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlongcall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
mips32r5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlongcalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
mips32r6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mloongson-ext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mips3d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 mloongson-ext2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mips4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mloongson-mmi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mips64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mloop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427, 470
mips64r2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlow-precision-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
mips64r3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlow-precision-recip-sqrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
mips64r5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mlow-precision-sqrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
1036 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

mlow64k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 mmul32x16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

mlp64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 mmul64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
mlpc-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 mmuladd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
mlra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326, 372, 427, 464, 471 mmulhw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
mlra-priority-compact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 mmult-bug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
mlra-priority-noncompact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 mmultcost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
mlra-priority-none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 mmulti-cond-exec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
mlwp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mmulticore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
mlxc1-sxc1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 mmultiple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
mlzcnt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mmultiple-stld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
mmac-24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 mmusl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
mmac-d16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 mmvcle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
mmac_24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 mmvme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
mmac_d16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 mmwait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
mmad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 mmwaitx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mmadd4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 MM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
mmain-is-OS_task. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 mn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
mmainkernel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424 mn-flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
mmalloc64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 mnan=2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
mmanual-endbr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 mnan=legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
mmax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 mneeded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
mmax-constant-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 mneon-for-64bits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
mmax-inline-memcpy-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 mnested-cond-exec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
mmax-inline-shift= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 mnewlib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
mmax-stack-frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 mno-16-bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
mmcount-ra-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 mno-4byte-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
mmcu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345, 403, 427 mno-8byte-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
mmcu= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 mno-abicalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
MMD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 mno-ac0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
mmedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 mno-align-double. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
mmedium-calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 mno-align-int . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
mmemcpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386, 395, 406 mno-align-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
mmemcpy-strategy=strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 mno-align-stringops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
mmemory-latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 mno-allow-string-insns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
mmemory-model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 mno-altivec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
mmemset-strategy=strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 mno-am33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
mmfcrf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 mno-app-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462, 471
mmicromips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 mno-as100-syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
mmillicode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 mno-auto-litpools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
mminimal-toc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 mno-avoid-indexed-addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
mmixed-code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 mno-backchain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
mmma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 mno-base-addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
mmmx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mno-bit-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
mmodel=large . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 mno-bitfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
mmodel=medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 mno-branch-likely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
mmodel=small . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 mno-branch-predict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
mmovbe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 mno-brcc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
mmovdir64b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mno-bwx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
mmovdiri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mno-bypass-cache. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
mmove-max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492 mno-cache-volatile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
mmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 mno-call-ms2sysv-xlogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
mmpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 mno-callgraph-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
mmpy-option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 mno-cbcond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
mms-bitfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 mno-check-zero-division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
mmt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 mno-cix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
mmul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 mno-clearbss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
mmul-bug-workaround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 mno-cmov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
mmul.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 mno-cmpb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Option Index 1037

mno-co-re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 mno-fpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463, 472

mno-cond-exec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326, 375 mno-fsca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
mno-cond-move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 mno-fsmuld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
mno-const-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 mno-fsrra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
mno-const16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504 mno-fused-madd . . . . . . 382, 407, 439, 455, 461, 504
mno-crc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 mno-ginv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mno-crt0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413, 414 mno-gnu-as . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
mno-crypto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 mno-gnu-attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
mno-csync-anomaly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 mno-gnu-ld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
mno-custom-insn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 mno-gpopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404, 418
mno-data-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 mno-hard-dfp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433, 452
mno-debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 mno-hardlit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
mno-default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492 mno-htm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436, 453
mno-direct-extern-access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502, 632 mno-hw-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
mno-disable-callt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 mno-hw-mul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
mno-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392, 394 mno-hw-mulx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
mno-dlmzb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 mno-id-shared-library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
mno-double . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 mno-ieee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
mno-dpfp-lrsr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 mno-ieee-fp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
mno-dsp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 mno-imadd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
mno-dspr2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 mno-inline-float-divide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
mno-dwarf2-asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 mno-inline-int-divide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
mno-dword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 mno-inline-sqrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
mno-eabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 mno-int16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
mno-early-stop-bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 mno-int32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
mno-eflags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 mno-interlink-compressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
mno-embedded-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 mno-interlink-mips16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
mno-ep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 mno-interrupts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
mno-epsilon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 mno-isel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
mno-eva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 mno-jsr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
mno-explicit-relocs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369, 387, 406 mno-knuthdiv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
mno-exr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 mno-leaf-id-shared-library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
mno-ext-perf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 mno-libfuncs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
mno-ext-perf2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 mno-liw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
mno-ext-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 mno-llsc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
mno-extern-sdata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 mno-load-store-pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
mno-fancy-math-387 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 mno-local-sdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
mno-fast-sw-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 mno-long-calls . . . . . . . . . . . 341, 357, 379, 406, 469
mno-faster-structs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 mno-long-jumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
mno-fdpic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 mno-longcall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
mno-fix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 mno-longcalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
mno-fix-24k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 mno-loongson-ext. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mno-fix-cortex-a53-835769 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 mno-loongson-ext2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mno-fix-cortex-a53-843419 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 mno-loongson-mmi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mno-fix-r10000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 mno-low-precision-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
mno-fix-r4000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 mno-low-precision-recip-sqrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
mno-fix-r4400 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 mno-low-precision-sqrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
mno-flat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 mno-low64k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
mno-float . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 mno-lra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464, 471
mno-float128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 mno-lsim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372, 395
mno-float128-hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 mno-mad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
mno-flush-func . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 mno-max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
mno-flush-trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 mno-mcount-ra-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
mno-fmaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 mno-mcu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mno-fp-in-toc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 mno-mdmx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
mno-fp-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 mno-media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
mno-fp-ret-in-387 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 mno-memcpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
mno-fprnd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 mno-mfcrf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
1038 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

mno-mips16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 mno-scc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

mno-mips3d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 mno-sched-ar-data-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
mno-mma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 mno-sched-ar-in-data-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
mno-mmicromips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 mno-sched-br-data-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Mno-modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 mno-sched-br-in-data-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
mno-mpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 mno-sched-control-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
mno-ms-bitfields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 mno-sched-count-spec-in-critical-path . . . 383
mno-mt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 mno-sched-in-control-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
mno-mul-bug-workaround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 mno-sched-prefer-non-control-spec-insns
mno-muladd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 ......................................... 383
mno-mulhw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 mno-sched-prefer-non-data-spec-insns. . . . . 383
mno-mult-bug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 mno-sched-prolog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
mno-multi-cond-exec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 mno-sdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325, 381, 444
mno-multiple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 mno-sep-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
mno-mvcle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 mno-serialize-volatile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
mno-nested-cond-exec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 mno-setlb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
mno-odd-spreg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 mno-short . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
mno-omit-leaf-frame-pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 mno-side-effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
mno-optimize-membar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 mno-sim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
mno-pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 mno-single-exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
mno-packed-stack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 mno-slow-bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
mno-paired-single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 mno-small-exec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
mno-pc-relative-literal-loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 mno-smartmips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
mno-pcrel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 mno-soft-cmpsf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
mno-pic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 mno-soft-float . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mno-pid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 mno-space-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
mno-plt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 mno-specld-anomaly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
mno-pltseq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 mno-split-addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
mno-popc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 mno-split-lohi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
mno-popcntb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 mno-stack-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
mno-popcntd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 mno-stack-bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
mno-postinc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 mno-std-struct-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
mno-postmodify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 mno-strict-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309, 393, 439
mno-power8-fusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 mno-subxc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
mno-power8-vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 mno-sum-in-toc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
mno-powerpc-gfxopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 mno-sym32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
mno-powerpc-gpopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 mno-target-align. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
mno-powerpc64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 mno-text-section-literals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
mno-prefixed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 mno-tls-markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
mno-privileged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 mno-toc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
mno-prolog-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 mno-toplevel-symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
mno-prologue-epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 mno-tpf-trace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
mno-prototype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 mno-tpf-trace-skip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
mno-push-args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 mno-unaligned-access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343, 406
mno-quad-memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 mno-unaligned-doubles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
mno-quad-memory-atomic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 mno-uninit-const-in-rodata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
mno-readonly-in-sdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 mno-unroll-only-small-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
mno-red-zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 mno-update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
mno-register-names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 mno-user-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
mno-regnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 mno-usermode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
mno-relax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427, 470 mno-v3push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
mno-relax-immediate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 mno-v8plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
mno-relocatable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 mno-vect-double . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
mno-relocatable-lib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 mno-virt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mno-renesas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 mno-vis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
mno-rop-protect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 mno-vis2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
mno-round-nearest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 mno-vis3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
mno-save-mduc-in-interrupts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 mno-vis4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Option Index 1039

mno-vis4b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 mpopcnt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

mno-vliw-branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 mpopcntb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
mno-volatile-asm-stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 mpopcntd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
mno-volatile-cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 mportable-runtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
mno-vrsave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 mpostinc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
mno-vsx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 mpostmodify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
mno-vx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 mpower8-fusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
mno-warn-devices-csv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 mpower8-vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
mno-warn-mcu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 mpowerpc-gfxopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
mno-warn-multiple-fast-interrupts . . . . . . . . 451 mpowerpc-gpopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
mno-wide-bitfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 mpowerpc64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
mno-xgot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394, 400 mprefer-avx128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
mno-xl-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 mprefer-short-insn-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
mno-xpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 mprefer-vector-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
mno-zdcbranch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461 mprefergot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
mno-zero-extend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 mpreferred-stack-boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . 429, 488
mno-zvector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 mprefetchi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
mnobitfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 mprefetchwt1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mnodiv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 mprefixed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
mnomacsave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 mpretend-cmove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
mnop-fun-dllimport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 mprfchw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mnop-mcount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 mprint-tune-info. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
mnopm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 mprioritize-restricted-insns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
mnops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 mprivileged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
mnorm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 mprolog-function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
modd-spreg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 mprologue-epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
momit-leaf-frame-pointer . . . . . . . . . 309, 356, 498 mprototype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
mone-byte-bool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 mptwrite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
moptimize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424 mptx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
moptimize-membar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 mpure-code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
moverride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 mpush-args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
mpa-risc-1-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 mpushpop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
mpa-risc-1-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 MP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
mpa-risc-2-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 mq-class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
mpack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 mquad-memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
mpacked-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 mquad-memory-atomic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
mpadstruct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 MQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
mpaired-single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 mr0rel-sec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
mpc-relative-literal-loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 mr10k-cache-barrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
mpc32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 mraoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
mpc64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 mRcq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
mpc80 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 mRcw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
mpclmul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mrdpid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mpconfig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mrdrnd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mpcrel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393, 448 mrdseed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mpdebug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 mreadonly-in-sdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
mpe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 mrecip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446, 493
mpe-aligned-commons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 mrecip-precision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
mpic-data-is-text-relative . . . . . . . . . . . 341, 396 mrecip=opt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446, 494
mpic-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 mrecord-mcount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
mpid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 mrecord-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
mpku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mred-zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
mplt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 mreduced-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
mpltseq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 mregister-names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
mpointer-size=size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 mregnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
mpointers-to-nested-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 mregparm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
mpoke-function-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 mrelax . . 349, 377, 413, 415, 418, 430, 450, 457, 470
mpopc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 mrelax-cmpxchg-loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
1040 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

mrelax-immediate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 msecurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

mrelax-pic-calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 msel-sched-dont-check-control-spec . . . . . . . 384
mrelocatable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 msep-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
mrelocatable-lib. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 mserialize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
mrenesas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 mserialize-volatile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
mrestrict-it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 msetlb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
mreturn-pointer-on-d0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 msext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
mrf16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 msfimm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
mrgf-banked-regs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 msgx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mrh850-abi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 msha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
mriscv-attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 mshared-library-id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
mrl78 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 mshftimm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
mrmw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 mshort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
mrop-protect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 mshort-calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
mror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 mshorten-memrefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
mrori . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 mshstk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
mround-nearest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 mside-effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
mrtd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392, 487, 620 msign-extend-enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
mrtm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 msign-return-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
mrtp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 msilicon-errata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
mrtsc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 msilicon-errata-warn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
ms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 msim . . . 356, 358, 363, 372, 387, 415, 431, 443, 450,
ms2600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 472, 504
msahf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 msimd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
msave-acc-in-interrupts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 msingle-exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
msave-mduc-in-interrupts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 msingle-float . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385, 401
msave-restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 msingle-pic-base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341, 440
msave-toc-indirect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 msio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
mscc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 msize-level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
msched-ar-data-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 mskip-rax-setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
msched-ar-in-data-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 mslow-bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
msched-br-data-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 mslow-flash-data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
msched-br-in-data-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 msmall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
msched-control-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 msmall-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
msched-costly-dep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 msmall-data-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386, 429, 449
msched-count-spec-in-critical-path . . . . . . . 383 msmall-divides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
msched-fp-mem-deps-zero-cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 msmall-exec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
msched-in-control-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 msmall-model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
msched-max-memory-insns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 msmall-text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
msched-max-memory-insns-hard-limit . . . . . . . 384 msmall16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
msched-prefer-non-control-spec-insns. . . . . 383 msmallc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
msched-prefer-non-data-spec-insns . . . . . . . . 383 msmart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
msched-prolog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329, 363 msmartmips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
msched-spec-ldc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 msoft-cmpsf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
msched-stop-bits-after-every-cycle . . . . . . . 383 msoft-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
mschedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 msoft-float . . . . 321, 361, 366, 373, 379, 385, 392,
msda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 395, 401, 425, 426, 438, 452, 463, 470, 472, 485
msdata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325, 381, 444 msoft-mul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
msdata=all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 msoft-quad-float. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
msdata=data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 msoft-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
msdata=default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358, 444 msp8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
msdata=eabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 mspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
msdata=none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358, 388, 444 mspace-regs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
msdata=sdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 mspecld-anomaly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
msdata=sysv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 mspfp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
msdata=use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 mspfp-compact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
msdram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 mspfp-fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
msecure-plt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 mspfp_compact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Option Index 1041

mspfp_fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 mtls-dialect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343, 495

msplit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 mtls-dialect=desc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
msplit-addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 mtls-dialect=traditional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
msplit-lohi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 mtls-direct-seg-refs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
msplit-vecmove-early . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 mtls-markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
msram-ecc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 mtls-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310, 382
msse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mTLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
msse2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mtoc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
msse2avx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 mtomcat-stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
msse3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mtoplevel-symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
msse4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mtp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
msse4.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mtp-regno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
msse4.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mtpcs-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
msse4a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mtpcs-leaf-frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
msseregparm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487 mtpf-trace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
mssse3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 mtpf-trace-skip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
mstack-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 mtraceback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
mstack-bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 mtrap-precision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
mstack-check-l1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 mtrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
mstack-guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 mtsxldtrk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mstack-increment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 mtune . . 311, 318, 327, 329, 338, 359, 370, 382, 385,
mstack-offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 390, 398, 413, 429, 434, 454, 465, 472, 483
mstack-protector-guard . . 309, 345, 431, 448, 500 mtune-ctrl=feature-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
mstack-protector-guard-offset . . 309, 345, 431, MT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
448, 500 muclibc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
mstack-protector-guard-reg . . 309, 431, 448, 500 muintr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
mstack-protector-guard-symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 multcost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
mstack-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319, 362, 455 multcost=number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
mstackrealign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 multi_module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mstd-struct-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 multilib-library-pic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
mstore-max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492 multiply-enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
mstrict-align . . . . . . . . . . . . 309, 386, 393, 430, 439 multiply_defined. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mstrict-X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 multiply_defined_unused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mstring-compare-inline-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 munalign-prob-threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
mstringop-strategy=alg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 munaligned-access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343, 406
mstructure-size-boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 munaligned-doubles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
msubxc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 municode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
msv-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472 muniform-simt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
msve-vector-bits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 muninit-const-in-rodata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
msvr4-struct-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 munix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
mswap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 munix-asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
mswape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 munordered-float. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
msym32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 munroll-only-small-loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
msynci . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 mupdate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
msys-crt0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 muser-enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
msys-lib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424 muser-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464, 472
mtarget-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505 musermode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
mtas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 mv3push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
mtbm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 mv850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
mtda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 mv850e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
mtelephony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 mv850e1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
mtext-section-literals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505 mv850e2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
mthreads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495, 503 mv850e2v3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
mthumb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 mv850e2v4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
mthumb-interwork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 mv850e3v5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
mtiny-printf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 mv850es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
mtiny-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 mv8plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
mtls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 mvaes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
1042 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

mvdsp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 mzdcbranch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

mveclibabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447, 494 mzero-extend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
mvect-double . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 mzvector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
mvect8-ret-in-mem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 M............................................. 265
mverbose-cost-dump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313, 344
mvirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
mvis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 N
mvis2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 no-80387 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
mvis3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 no-block-ops-unaligned-vsx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
mvis4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 no-canonical-prefixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
mvis4b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 no-integrated-cpp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
mvliw-branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 no-pie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
mvms-return-codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 no-sysroot-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
mvolatile-asm-stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 no_dead_strip_inits_and_terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mvolatile-cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 noall_load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mvpclmulqdq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 nocpp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
mvr4130-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 nodefaultlibs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
mvrsave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 nodevicelib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
mvsx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 nodevicespecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
mvx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 nofixprebinding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mvxworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 nofpu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
mvzeroupper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492 nolibc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
mwaitpkg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 nolibdld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
mwarn-devices-csv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 nomultidefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mwarn-dynamicstack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 non-static . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
mwarn-framesize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 noprebind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mwarn-mcu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 noseglinkedit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mwarn-multiple-fast-interrupts . . . . . . . . . . . 451 nostartfiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
mwbnoinvd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 nostdinc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
mwide-bitfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 nostdinc++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63, 279
mwidekl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 nostdlib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
mwin32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 nostdlib++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
mwindows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
mword-relocations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
mx32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 O
mxgot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394, 400 o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
mxl-barrel-shift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
mxl-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 O0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
mxl-float-convert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 O1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
mxl-float-sqrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 O2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
mxl-gp-opt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 O3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
mxl-multiply-high . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Ofast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
mxl-pattern-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 Og . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
mxl-reorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Os . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
mxl-soft-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 Oz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
mxl-soft-mul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
mxl-stack-check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
mxnack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 P
mxop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246, 581
mxpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 pagezero_size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
mxsave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 param . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
mxsavec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 pass-exit-codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
mxsaveopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 pedantic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 95, 539, 721, 973
mxsaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 pedantic-errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 95, 973
mxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 pg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246, 581
myellowknife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 pie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
mzarch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
mzda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 plt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Option Index 1043

prebind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 static-libgcc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

prebind_all_twolevel_modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 static-liblsan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
print-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 static-libstdc++. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
print-libgcc-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 static-libtsan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
print-multi-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 static-libubsan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
print-multi-lib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 static-pie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
print-multi-os-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 std . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 44, 739, 971
print-multiarch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 stdlib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
print-objc-runtime-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 sub_library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
print-prog-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 sub_umbrella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
print-search-dirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 symbolic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
print-sysroot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 sysroot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
print-sysroot-headers-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36, 272
private_bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
pthread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265, 275
pthreads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 T
P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 target-help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Q time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
tno-android-cc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 tno-android-ld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Qn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 traditional. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270, 961
Qy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 traditional-cpp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
trigraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
twolevel_namespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
R T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
r............................................. 275
rdynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
read_only_relocs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 U
remap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 u............................................. 277
umbrella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
undef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
S undefined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 unexported_symbols_list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
save-temps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 U............................................. 265
save-temps=cwd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
save-temps=obj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
sectalign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
V
sectcreate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 v . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
sectobjectsymbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
sectorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
seg_addr_table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
seg_addr_table_filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 W
seg1addr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 w . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
segaddr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97, 143, 145, 962
seglinkedit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Wa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
segprot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Wabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
segs_read_only_addr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Wabi-tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
segs_read_write_addr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Wabsolute-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
shared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Waddr-space-convert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
shared-libgcc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Waddress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
short-calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 Waddress-of-packed-member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
sim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Waggregate-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
sim2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Waggressive-loop-optimizations . . . . . . . . . . . 141
single_module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Waligned-new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95, 964
static. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275, 366, 380 Walloc-size-larger-than= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
static-libasan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Walloc-zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
1044 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Walloca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Wbidi-chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Walloca-larger-than= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Wbidi-chars= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Wanalyzer-allocation-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Wbool-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Wanalyzer-deref-before-check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Wbool-operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Wanalyzer-double-fclose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Wbuiltin-declaration-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Wanalyzer-double-free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Wbuiltin-macro-redefined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Wanalyzer-exposure-through-output-file . . 153 Wc++-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Wanalyzer-exposure-through-uninit-copy . . 153 Wc++11-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-fd-access-mode-mismatch . . . . . . . . 153 Wc++11-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-fd-double-close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Wc++14-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-fd-leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Wc++14-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-fd-phase-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Wc++17-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-fd-type-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Wc++17-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-fd-use-after-close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Wc++20-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-fd-use-without-check . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Wc++20-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-file-leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Wc++23-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-free-of-non-heap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Wc11-c2x-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Wanalyzer-imprecise-fp-arithmetic . . . . . . . . 155 Wc90-c99-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Wanalyzer-infinite-recursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Wc99-c11-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Wanalyzer-jump-through-null . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Wcast-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wanalyzer-malloc-leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Wcast-align=strict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wanalyzer-mismatching-deallocation . . . . . . . 155 Wcast-function-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wanalyzer-null-argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Wcast-qual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wanalyzer-null-dereference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Wcatch-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Wanalyzer-out-of-bounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Wchar-subscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Wanalyzer-possible-null-argument . . . . . . . . . 156 Wclass-conversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Wanalyzer-possible-null-dereference . . . . . . 156 Wclass-memaccess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Wanalyzer-putenv-of-auto-var . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Wclobbered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wanalyzer-shift-count-negative . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Wcomma-subscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Wanalyzer-shift-count-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Wcomment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wanalyzer-stale-setjmp-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Wcomments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wanalyzer-tainted-allocation-size . . . . . . . . 157 Wconditionally-supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Wanalyzer-tainted-array-index . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Wconversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wanalyzer-tainted-assertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Wconversion-null . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Wanalyzer-tainted-divisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Wcoverage-invalid-line-number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Wanalyzer-tainted-offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wcoverage-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Wanalyzer-tainted-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wcpp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Wanalyzer-too-complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Wctad-maybe-unsupported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Wanalyzer-unsafe-call-within-signal-handler Wctor-dtor-privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wdangling-else . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Wanalyzer-use-after-free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wdangling-pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Wanalyzer-use-of-pointer-in-stale-stack- Wdangling-reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wdate-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Wanalyzer-use-of-uninitialized-value. . . . . 160 Wdeclaration-after-statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Wanalyzer-va-arg-type-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wdelete-incomplete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Wanalyzer-va-list-exhausted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Wdelete-non-virtual-dtor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Wanalyzer-va-list-leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Wdeprecated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wanalyzer-va-list-use-after-va-end . . . . . . . 160 Wdeprecated-copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Wanalyzer-write-to-const . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Wdeprecated-declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wanalyzer-write-to-string-literal . . . . . . . . 160 Wdeprecated-enum-enum-conversion . . . . . . . . . . 65
Warith-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Wdeprecated-enum-float-conversion . . . . . . . . . 65
Warray-bounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Wdesignated-init. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Warray-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Wdisabled-optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Wassign-intercept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Wdiscarded-array-qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Wattribute-alias. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Wdiscarded-qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Wattribute-warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Wdiv-by-zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Wattributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Wdouble-promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Wbad-function-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Wduplicate-decl-specifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Option Index 1045

Wduplicated-branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Winvalid-offsetof. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Wduplicated-cond. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Winvalid-pch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
weak_reference_mismatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Winvalid-utf8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Weffc++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Wjump-misses-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Wempty-body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Wl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Wendif-labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134, 138 Wlarger-than-byte-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Wenum-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Wlarger-than= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Wenum-conversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Wliteral-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Wenum-int-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Wlogical-not-parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Werror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Wlogical-op . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Werror= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Wlong-long . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Wexceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Wlto-type-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Wexpansion-to-defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Wmain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Wextra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97, 143, 145 Wmaybe-uninitialized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Wextra-semi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Wmemset-elt-size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Wfatal-errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Wmemset-transposed-args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Wfloat-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wmisleading-indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Wfloat-equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Wmismatched-dealloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Wformat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100, 121, 574 Wmismatched-new-delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Wformat-contains-nul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Wmismatched-tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Wformat-extra-args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Wmissing-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Wformat-nonliteral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102, 575 Wmissing-braces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Wformat-overflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Wmissing-declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wformat-security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Wmissing-field-initializers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wformat-signedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Wmissing-format-attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wformat-truncation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Wmissing-include-dirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Wformat-y2k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Wmissing-noreturn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wformat-zero-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Wmissing-parameter-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wformat= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Wmissing-profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Wformat=1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Wmissing-prototypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wformat=2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Wmissing-requires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wframe-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Wmissing-template-keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Wframe-larger-than= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Wmisspelled-isr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Wfree-nonheap-object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Wmultichar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
whatsloaded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Wmultiple-inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
whyload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Wmultistatement-macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Wif-not-aligned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Wnamespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Wignored-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Wnarrowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Wignored-qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Wnested-externs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Wimplicit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-abi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Wimplicit-fallthrough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-absolute-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wimplicit-fallthrough= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-addr-space-convert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Wimplicit-function-declaration . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Wimplicit-int . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-address-of-packed-member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Winaccessible-base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Wno-aggregate-return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Wincompatible-pointer-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Wno-aggressive-loop-optimizations . . . . . . . . 141
Winfinite-recursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-aligned-new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Winherited-variadic-ctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Wno-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Winit-list-lifetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Wno-alloc-size-larger-than . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Winit-self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-alloc-zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Winline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147, 664 Wno-alloca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Wint-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Wno-alloca-larger-than . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122, 123
Wint-in-bool-context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Wno-analyzer-allocation-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Wint-to-pointer-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Wno-analyzer-deref-before-check . . . . . . . . . . 152
Winterference-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Wno-analyzer-double-fclose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Winvalid-constexpr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Wno-analyzer-double-free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Winvalid-imported-macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Wno-analyzer-exposure-through-output-file
Winvalid-memory-model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
1046 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Wno-analyzer-exposure-through-uninit-copy Wno-builtin-macro-redefined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Wno-c++-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Wno-analyzer-fd-access-mode-mismatch. . . . . 153 Wno-c++11-compat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-fd-double-close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Wno-c++11-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-fd-leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Wno-c++14-compat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-fd-phase-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Wno-c++14-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-fd-type-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Wno-c++17-compat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-fd-use-after-close . . . . . . . . . . 154 Wno-c++17-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-fd-use-without-check . . . . . . . . 154 Wno-c++20-compat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-file-leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Wno-c++20-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-free-of-non-heap . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Wno-c++23-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-imprecise-fp-arithmetic. . . . . 155 Wno-c11-c2x-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Wno-analyzer-infinite-recursion . . . . . . . . . . 155 Wno-c90-c99-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Wno-analyzer-jump-through-null . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Wno-c99-c11-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Wno-analyzer-malloc-leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Wno-cast-align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wno-analyzer-mismatching-deallocation . . . 155 Wno-cast-function-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wno-analyzer-null-argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Wno-cast-qual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Wno-analyzer-null-dereference . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Wno-catch-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Wno-analyzer-out-of-bounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Wno-char-subscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Wno-analyzer-possible-null-argument . . . . . . 156 Wno-class-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Wno-analyzer-possible-null-dereference . . 156 Wno-class-memaccess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Wno-analyzer-putenv-of-auto-var . . . . . . . . . . 156 Wno-clobbered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wno-analyzer-shift-count-negative . . . . . . . . 157 Wno-comma-subscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Wno-analyzer-shift-count-overflow . . . . . . . . 157 Wno-conditionally-supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Wno-analyzer-stale-setjmp-buffer . . . . . . . . . 157 Wno-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wno-analyzer-tainted-allocation-size. . . . . 157 Wno-conversion-null . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Wno-analyzer-tainted-array-index . . . . . . . . . 158 Wno-coverage-invalid-line-number . . . . . . . . . . 99
Wno-analyzer-tainted-assertion . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Wno-coverage-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Wno-analyzer-tainted-divisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Wno-cpp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Wno-analyzer-tainted-offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wno-ctad-maybe-unsupported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Wno-analyzer-tainted-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wno-ctor-dtor-privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Wno-analyzer-too-complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Wno-dangling-else . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Wno-analyzer-unsafe-call-within-signal- Wno-dangling-pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
handler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wno-dangling-reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Wno-analyzer-use-after-free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wno-date-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Wno-analyzer-use-of-pointer-in-stale-stack- Wno-declaration-after-statement . . . . . . . . . . 130
frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wno-delete-incomplete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Wno-analyzer-use-of-uninitialized-value Wno-delete-non-virtual-dtor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Wno-deprecated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wno-analyzer-va-arg-type-mismatch . . . . . . . . 159 Wno-deprecated-copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Wno-analyzer-va-list-exhausted . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Wno-deprecated-declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wno-analyzer-va-list-leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Wno-deprecated-enum-enum-conversion . . . . . . . 65
Wno-analyzer-va-list-use-after-va-end . . . 160 Wno-deprecated-enum-float-conversion . . . . . . 65
Wno-analyzer-write-to-const . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Wno-designated-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Wno-analyzer-write-to-string-literal. . . . . 160 Wno-disabled-optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Wno-arith-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Wno-discarded-array-qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Wno-array-bounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Wno-discarded-qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Wno-array-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Wno-div-by-zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Wno-array-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Wno-double-promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Wno-assign-intercept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Wno-duplicate-decl-specifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Wno-attribute-alias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Wno-duplicated-branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Wno-attribute-warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Wno-duplicated-cond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Wno-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Wno-effc++. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Wno-bad-function-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Wno-empty-body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Wno-bidi-chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Wno-endif-labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134, 138
Wno-bool-compare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Wno-enum-compare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Wno-bool-operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Wno-enum-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Wno-builtin-declaration-mismatch . . . . . . . . . 142 Wno-enum-int-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Option Index 1047

Wno-error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Wno-mismatched-tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Wno-error=. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Wno-missing-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Wno-exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Wno-missing-braces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Wno-extra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97, 143, 145 Wno-missing-declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wno-extra-semi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Wno-missing-field-initializers . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wno-fatal-errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Wno-missing-format-attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wno-float-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wno-missing-include-dirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Wno-float-equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Wno-missing-noreturn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wno-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100, 121 Wno-missing-parameter-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wno-format-contains-nul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Wno-missing-profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Wno-format-extra-args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Wno-missing-prototypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wno-format-nonliteral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Wno-missing-requires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Wno-format-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Wno-missing-template-keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Wno-format-security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Wno-misspelled-isr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Wno-format-signedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Wno-multichar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Wno-format-truncation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Wno-multiple-inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Wno-format-y2k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Wno-multistatement-macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Wno-format-zero-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Wno-namespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Wno-frame-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Wno-narrowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Wno-frame-larger-than . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Wno-nested-externs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Wno-free-nonheap-object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Wno-noexcept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Wno-if-not-aligned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Wno-noexcept-type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Wno-ignored-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Wno-non-template-friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Wno-ignored-qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Wno-non-virtual-dtor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Wno-implicit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-nonnull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Wno-implicit-fallthrough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-nonnull-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Wno-implicit-function-declaration . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-normalized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Wno-implicit-int. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-null-dereference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Wno-inaccessible-base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Wno-odr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wno-incompatible-pointer-types . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Wno-old-style-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Wno-infinite-recursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-old-style-declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Wno-inherited-variadic-ctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Wno-old-style-definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Wno-init-list-lifetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Wno-openacc-parallelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wno-init-self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Wno-openmp-simd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wno-inline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Wno-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wno-int-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Wno-overlength-strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Wno-int-in-bool-context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Wno-overloaded-virtual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Wno-int-to-pointer-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Wno-override-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wno-invalid-constexpr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Wno-override-init-side-effects . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Wno-invalid-imported-macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Wno-packed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Wno-invalid-memory-model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Wno-packed-bitfield-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Wno-invalid-offsetof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Wno-packed-not-aligned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Wno-invalid-pch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Wno-padded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Wno-invalid-utf8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Wno-parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Wno-jump-misses-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wno-pedantic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Wno-larger-than . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Wno-pedantic-ms-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Wno-literal-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Wno-pessimizing-move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Wno-logical-not-parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Wno-placement-new. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Wno-logical-op . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Wno-pmf-conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72, 903
Wno-long-long . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Wno-pointer-arith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Wno-lto-type-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Wno-pointer-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Wno-main . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Wno-pointer-sign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Wno-maybe-uninitialized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Wno-pointer-to-int-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Wno-memset-elt-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Wno-pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Wno-memset-transposed-args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Wno-prio-ctor-dtor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Wno-misleading-indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Wno-property-assign-default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Wno-mismatched-dealloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Wno-protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Wno-mismatched-new-delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Wno-range-loop-construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
1048 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Wno-redundant-decls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Wno-templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Wno-redundant-move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Wno-terminate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Wno-redundant-tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Wno-traditional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Wno-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Wno-traditional-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Wno-reorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Wno-trampolines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Wno-restrict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Wno-trivial-auto-var-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wno-return-local-addr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wno-tsan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wno-return-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wno-type-limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wno-scalar-storage-order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wno-undeclared-selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Wno-selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Wno-undef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wno-self-move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Wno-unicode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Wno-sequence-point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Wno-uninitialized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wno-shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Wno-unknown-pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Wno-shadow-ivar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Wno-unsafe-loop-optimizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Wno-shift-count-negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wno-unsuffixed-float-constants . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Wno-shift-count-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wno-unused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wno-shift-negative-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wno-unused-but-set-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wno-shift-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wno-unused-but-set-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wno-sign-compare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wno-unused-const-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wno-sign-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wno-unused-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wno-sign-promo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Wno-unused-label. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wno-sized-deallocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Wno-unused-local-typedefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wno-sizeof-array-argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Wno-unused-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wno-sizeof-array-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wno-unused-result . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wno-sizeof-pointer-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wno-unused-value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wno-sizeof-pointer-memaccess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wno-unused-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wno-stack-protector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Wno-use-after-free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Wno-stack-usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Wno-useless-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Wno-strict-aliasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Wno-varargs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Wno-strict-flex-arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Wno-variadic-macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Wno-strict-null-sentinel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Wno-vector-operation-performance . . . . . . . . . 148
Wno-strict-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Wno-vexing-parse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Wno-strict-prototypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Wno-virtual-inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Wno-strict-selector-match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Wno-virtual-move-assign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Wno-string-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Wno-vla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Wno-stringop-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118, 119 Wno-vla-larger-than . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Wno-stringop-overread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Wno-vla-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Wno-stringop-truncation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Wno-volatile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Wno-subobject-linkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Wno-volatile-register-var . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Wno-suggest-attribute= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Wno-write-strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Wno-suggest-attribute=cold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Wno-xor-used-as-pow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Wno-suggest-attribute=const . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Wno-zero-as-null-pointer-constant . . . . . . . . . 74
Wno-suggest-attribute=format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Wnoexcept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Wno-suggest-attribute=malloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Wnoexcept-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Wno-suggest-attribute=noreturn . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Wnon-template-friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Wno-suggest-attribute=pure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Wnon-virtual-dtor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Wno-suggest-final-methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Wnonnull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Wno-suggest-final-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Wnonnull-compare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Wno-suggest-override . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Wnormalized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Wno-switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Wnormalized= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Wno-switch-bool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Wnull-dereference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Wno-switch-default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Wobjc-root-class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Wno-switch-enum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Wodr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wno-switch-outside-range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Wold-style-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Wno-switch-unreachable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Wold-style-declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Wno-sync-nand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Wold-style-definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Wno-system-headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Wopenacc-parallelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Wno-tautological-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Wopenmp-simd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Option Index 1049

Woverflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Wstrict-aliasing=n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Woverlength-strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Wstrict-flex-arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Woverloaded-virtual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Wstrict-null-sentinel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Woverride-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Wstrict-overflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Woverride-init-side-effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Wstrict-prototypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Wp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Wstrict-selector-match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Wpacked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Wstring-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Wpacked-bitfield-compat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Wstringop-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118, 119
Wpacked-not-aligned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Wstringop-overread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Wpadded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Wstringop-truncation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Wparentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Wsubobject-linkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Wpedantic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Wsuggest-attribute= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wpedantic-ms-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Wsuggest-attribute=cold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Wpessimizing-move. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Wsuggest-attribute=const . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wplacement-new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Wsuggest-attribute=format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wpmf-conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Wsuggest-attribute=malloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wpointer-arith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132, 562 Wsuggest-attribute=noreturn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wpointer-compare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Wsuggest-attribute=pure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Wpointer-sign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Wsuggest-final-methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Wpointer-to-int-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Wsuggest-final-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Wpragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Wsuggest-override. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Wprio-ctor-dtor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Wswitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Wproperty-assign-default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Wswitch-bool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Wprotocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Wswitch-default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Wrange-loop-construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Wswitch-enum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
wrapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Wswitch-outside-range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Wredundant-decls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Wswitch-unreachable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Wredundant-move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Wsync-nand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wredundant-tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Wsystem-headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Wregister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Wtautological-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Wreorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Wtemplates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Wrestrict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Wterminate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Wreturn-local-addr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wtraditional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Wreturn-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wtraditional-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Wscalar-storage-order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wtrampolines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Wselector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Wtrigraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wself-move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Wtrivial-auto-var-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wsequence-point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Wtsan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wshadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Wtype-limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wshadow-ivar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Wundeclared-selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Wshadow=compatible-local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Wundef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wshadow=global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Wunicode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Wshadow=local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Wuninitialized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wshift-count-negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wunknown-pragmas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Wshift-count-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wunsafe-loop-optimizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Wshift-negative-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wunsuffixed-float-constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Wshift-overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Wunused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wsign-compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wunused-but-set-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wsign-conversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wunused-but-set-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wsign-promo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Wunused-const-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wsized-deallocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Wunused-function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wsizeof-array-argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Wunused-label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wsizeof-array-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wunused-local-typedefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wsizeof-pointer-div . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wunused-macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Wsizeof-pointer-memaccess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Wunused-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Wstack-protector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Wunused-result . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wstack-usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Wunused-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wstrict-aliasing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Wunused-variable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
1050 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Wuse-after-free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 X
Wuseless-cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Wvarargs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Xassembler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Wvariadic-macros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Xbind-lazy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Wvector-operation-performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Xbind-now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Wvexing-parse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Xlinker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Wvirtual-inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Xpreprocessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Wvirtual-move-assign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Wvla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Wvla-larger-than= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Y
Wvolatile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Wvolatile-register-var . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Ym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
Wwrite-strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 YP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
Wxor-used-as-pow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Wzero-as-null-pointer-constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Wzero-length-bounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Z
z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Keyword Index 1051

Keyword Index

# /
#pragma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885 // . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
#pragma implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
#pragma implementation, implied . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
#pragma interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899 <
‘<’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688

$ =
$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
‘=’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

% >
‘%’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
‘>’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
%include . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
%include_noerr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
%rename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 ?
?: extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
& ?: side effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
‘&’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

’ ‘_’ in variables in macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

__atomic_add_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 __atomic_always_lock_free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
__atomic_and_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
__atomic_clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
( __atomic_compare_exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
(const . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 __atomic_compare_exchange_n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
__atomic_exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
__atomic_exchange_n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
* __atomic_fetch_add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
*............................................. 770 __atomic_fetch_and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
*__builtin_alloca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741 __atomic_fetch_nand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
*__builtin_alloca_with_align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741 __atomic_fetch_or . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
*__builtin_alloca_with_align_and_max. . . . . 742 __atomic_fetch_sub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
__atomic_fetch_xor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
__atomic_is_lock_free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
+ __atomic_load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
‘+’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 __atomic_load_n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
__atomic_nand_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
__atomic_or_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
- __atomic_signal_fence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
‘-lgcc’, use with ‘-nodefaultlibs’ . . . . . . . . . . . 274 __atomic_store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
‘-lgcc’, use with ‘-nostdlib’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 __atomic_store_n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
‘-march’ feature modifiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 __atomic_sub_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
‘-mcpu’ feature modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 __atomic_test_and_set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
‘-nodefaultlibs’ and unresolved references . . . 274 __atomic_thread_fence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
‘-nostdlib’ and unresolved references . . . . . . . . 274 __atomic_xor_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
__builtin___clear_cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
__builtin___fprintf_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
. __builtin___memcpy_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
.sdata/.sdata2 references (PowerPC) . . . . . . . . . . 444 __builtin___memmove_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
__builtin___mempcpy_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
1052 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

__builtin___memset_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_cntlzdm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810

__builtin___printf_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_cnttzdm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
__builtin___snprintf_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
__builtin___sprintf_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_constant_p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
__builtin___stpcpy_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_convertvector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
__builtin___strcat_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_cpu_init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801, 858
__builtin___strcpy_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_cpu_is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802, 858
__builtin___strncat_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_cpu_supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802, 861
__builtin___strncpy_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_ctz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
__builtin___vfprintf_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_ctzl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
__builtin___vprintf_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_ctzll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
__builtin___vsnprintf_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_divf128_round_to_odd . . . . . . . . . . . 808
__builtin___vsprintf_chk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 __builtin_dynamic_object_size . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
__builtin_add_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 __builtin_expect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
__builtin_add_overflow_p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735 __builtin_expect_with_probability . . . . . . . . 748
__builtin_addf128_round_to_odd . . . . . . . . . . . 808 __builtin_extend_pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739, 755
__builtin_alloca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 __builtin_extract_return_addr . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
__builtin_alloca_with_align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 __builtin_ffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
__builtin_alloca_with_align_and_max . . . . . . 739 __builtin_ffsl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
__builtin_apply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 __builtin_ffsll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
__builtin_apply_args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 __builtin_FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
__builtin_arc_aligned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 __builtin_fmaf128_round_to_odd . . . . . . . . . . . 808
__builtin_arc_brk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 __builtin_fpclassify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739, 752
__builtin_arc_core_read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 __builtin_frame_address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
__builtin_arc_core_write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 __builtin_frob_return_addr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
__builtin_arc_divaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_FUNCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
__builtin_arc_flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_goacc_parlevel_id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755
__builtin_arc_lr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_goacc_parlevel_size . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755
__builtin_arc_mul64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_has_attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739, 742
__builtin_arc_mulu64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_huge_val . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
__builtin_arc_nop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_huge_valf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
__builtin_arc_norm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_huge_valfn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
__builtin_arc_normw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_huge_valfnx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
__builtin_arc_rtie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_huge_vall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
__builtin_arc_sleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 __builtin_huge_valq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858
__builtin_arc_sr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 __builtin_inf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
__builtin_arc_swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 __builtin_infd128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
__builtin_arc_swi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 __builtin_infd32. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
__builtin_arc_sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 __builtin_infd64. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
__builtin_arc_trap_s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 __builtin_inff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
__builtin_arc_unimp_s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 __builtin_inffn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
__builtin_assoc_barrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749 __builtin_inffnx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
__builtin_assume_aligned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749 __builtin_infl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
__builtin_bit_cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747 __builtin_infq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858
__builtin_bswap128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755 __builtin_is_constant_evaluated . . . . . . . . . . 747
__builtin_bswap16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755 __builtin_isfinite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__builtin_bswap32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755 __builtin_isgreater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__builtin_bswap64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755 __builtin_isgreaterequal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__builtin_call_with_static_chain . . . . 739, 745 __builtin_isinf_sign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739, 752
__builtin_cfuged. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 __builtin_isless. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__builtin_choose_expr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 __builtin_islessequal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__builtin_clear_padding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747 __builtin_islessgreater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__builtin_clrsb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_isnormal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__builtin_clrsbl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_issignaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739, 753
__builtin_clrsbll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_isunordered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__builtin_clz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
__builtin_clzl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_longjmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
__builtin_clzll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_mul_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
Keyword Index 1053

__builtin_mul_overflow_p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735 __builtin_rx_mvtc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850

__builtin_mulf128_round_to_odd . . . . . . . . . . . 808 __builtin_rx_mvtipl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
__builtin_nan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752 __builtin_rx_racw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
__builtin_nand128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_rx_revw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
__builtin_nand32. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_rx_rmpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
__builtin_nand64. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_rx_round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
__builtin_nanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_rx_sat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
__builtin_nanfn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_rx_setpsw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
__builtin_nanfnx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_rx_wait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
__builtin_nanl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_sadd_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
__builtin_nanq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858 __builtin_saddl_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
__builtin_nans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_saddll_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
__builtin_nansd128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_set_thread_pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
__builtin_nansd32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_setjmp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
__builtin_nansd64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_sh_get_fpscr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
__builtin_nansf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_sh_set_fpscr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
__builtin_nansfn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_shuffle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
__builtin_nansfnx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_shufflevector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
__builtin_nansl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 __builtin_smul_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_nansq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858 __builtin_smull_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_nds32_isb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 __builtin_smulll_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_nds32_isync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 __builtin_speculation_safe_value . . . . 739, 743
__builtin_nds32_mfsr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 __builtin_sqrtf128_round_to_odd . . . . . . . . . . 808
__builtin_nds32_mfusr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 __builtin_ssub_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_nds32_mtsr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 __builtin_ssubl_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_nds32_mtusr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 __builtin_ssubll_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_nds32_setgie_dis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 __builtin_sub_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_nds32_setgie_en . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 __builtin_sub_overflow_p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_non_tx_store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 __builtin_subf128_round_to_odd . . . . . . . . . . . 808
__builtin_object_size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737, 739 __builtin_tabort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
__builtin_offsetof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727 __builtin_tbegin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
__builtin_parity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_tbegin_nofloat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
__builtin_parityl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_tbegin_retry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
__builtin_parityll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755 __builtin_tbegin_retry_nofloat . . . . . . . . . . . 852
__builtin_pdepd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 __builtin_tbeginc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
__builtin_pextd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 __builtin_tend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
__builtin_popcount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_tgmath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745
__builtin_popcountl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 __builtin_thread_pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849, 852
__builtin_popcountll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755 __builtin_trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
__builtin_powi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739, 755 __builtin_truncf128_round_to_odd . . . . . . . . . 808
__builtin_powif . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739, 755 __builtin_tx_assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
__builtin_powil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739, 755 __builtin_tx_nesting_depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
__builtin_prefetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750 __builtin_types_compatible_p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
__builtin_return. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 __builtin_uadd_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
__builtin_return_address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722 __builtin_uaddl_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
__builtin_riscv_pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_uaddll_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
__builtin_rx_brk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_umul_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_rx_clrpsw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_umull_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_rx_int. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_umulll_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_rx_machi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_unreachable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
__builtin_rx_maclo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_usub_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_rx_mulhi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_usubl_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_rx_mullo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_usubll_overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
__builtin_rx_mvfachi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_va_arg_pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
__builtin_rx_mvfacmi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __builtin_va_arg_pack_len . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
__builtin_rx_mvfc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 __complex__ keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
__builtin_rx_mvtachi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850 __declspec(dllexport) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
__builtin_rx_mvtaclo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850 __declspec(dllimport) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
1054 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

__extension__ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 _xabort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883

__far M32C Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . 557 _xbegin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
__far RL78 Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . 557 _xend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
__flash AVR Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . 555 _xtest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
__flash1 AVR Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . 555
__flash2 AVR Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . 555
__flash3 AVR Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . 555 0
__flash4 AVR Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . 555 ‘0’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
__flash5 AVR Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . 555
__float128 data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
__Float16 data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 A
__float80 data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 AArch64 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
__fp16 data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 abi_tag function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
__func__ identifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 abi_tag type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
__FUNCTION__ identifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 abi_tag variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
__ibm128 data type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 ABI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927
__imag__ keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 abort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__int128 data types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 abs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__memx AVR Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . 555 absdata variable attribute, AVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
__PRETTY_FUNCTION__ identifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 accessing volatiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665, 897
__real__ keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 acos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__regio_symbol PRU Named Address Spaces acosf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 acosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__seg_fs x86 named address space . . . . . . . . . . . 557 acoshf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__seg_gs x86 named address space . . . . . . . . . . . 557 acoshl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__STDC_HOSTED__ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 acosl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__sync_add_and_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 Ada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
__sync_and_and_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 additional floating types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
__sync_bool_compare_and_swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 address constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
__sync_fetch_and_add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 address of a label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
__sync_fetch_and_and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 address variable attribute, AVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
__sync_fetch_and_nand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 address_operand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
__sync_fetch_and_or . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 alias function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
__sync_fetch_and_sub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 alias variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
__sync_fetch_and_xor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 aligned function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
__sync_lock_release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 aligned type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
__sync_lock_test_and_set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 aligned variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
__sync_nand_and_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
__sync_or_and_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 alloc_align function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
__sync_sub_and_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 alloc_size function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
__sync_synchronize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 alloc_size type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
__sync_val_compare_and_swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 alloc_size variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
__sync_xor_and_fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 alloca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
__thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893 alloca vs variable-length arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
_Accum data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 Allow nesting in an interrupt handler on the
_Complex keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 Blackfin processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
_Decimal128 data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 Altera Nios II options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
_Decimal32 data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 alternate keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
_Decimal64 data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 altivec type attribute, PowerPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
_exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 altivec variable attribute, PowerPC . . . . . . . . . 646
_Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 always_inline function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
_Floatn data types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 AMD GCN Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
_Floatnx data types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 AMD1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
_Fract data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 amdgpu_hsa_kernel function attribute, AMD GCN
_get_ssp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
_HTM_FIRST_USER_ABORT_CODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851 ANSI C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
_inc_ssp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 ANSI C standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
_Sat data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 ANSI C89 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Keyword Index 1055

ANSI support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 bank_switch function attribute, M32C . . . . . . . . 605

ANSI X3.159-1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 base class members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967
apostrophes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 basic asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
application binary interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927 bcmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
ARC options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 below100 variable attribute, Xstormy16 . . . . . . . 647
arch= function attribute, AArch64 . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 binary compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927
arch= function attribute, ARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599 Binary constants using the ‘0b’ prefix . . . . . . . . . 896
ARM [Annotated C++ Reference Manual] . . . . . 909 Blackfin Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
ARM options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 bound pointer to member function . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
arrays of length zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 branch-protection function attribute, AArch64
arrays of variable length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
arrays, non-lvalue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 break handler functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
artificial function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 break_handler function attribute, MicroBlaze
asin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
asinf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 brk_interrupt function attribute, RL78 . . . . . . 617
asinh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 bug criteria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
asinhf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
asinhl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 bugs, known . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
asinl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 built-in functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47, 739
asm assembler template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672 bzero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
asm clobbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
asm constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
asm expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 C
asm flag output operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676 c++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
asm goto labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682 C compilation options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
asm inline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 C intermediate output, nonexistent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
asm input operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 C language extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
asm keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 C language, traditional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
asm output operands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673 C standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
asm scratch registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679 C standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
asm volatile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670 C++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
assembler names for identifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717 C++ comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
assembly code, invalid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 C++ Compiled Module Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
assembly language in C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 C++ interface and implementation headers . . . . 899
assembly language in C, basic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 C++ language extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
assembly language in C, extended . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668 C++ member fns, automatically inline . . . . . . . 664
assume statement attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658 C++ misunderstandings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966
assume_aligned function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . 570 C++ Module Mapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
atan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 C++ Module Preprocessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
atan2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 C++ options, command-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
atan2f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 C++ pragmas, effect on inlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
atan2l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 C++ source file suffixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
atanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 C++ static data, declaring and defining . . . . . . . . 966
atanh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 C-SKY Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
atanhf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 C_INCLUDE_PATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
atanhl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 C11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
atanl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 C17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
attribute of types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647 C1X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
attribute of variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633 C2X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
attribute syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658 C6X Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
autoincrement/decrement addressing . . . . . . . . . . 688 C89 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
automatic inline for C++ member fns . . . . . . . . 664 C90 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
aux variable attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641 C94 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
AVR Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 C95 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
C99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
C9X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
B cabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
Backwards Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909 cabsf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
1056 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

cabsl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 clog10l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

cacos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 clogf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
cacosf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 clogl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
cacosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 cmodel= function attribute, AArch64 . . . . . . . . . 594
cacoshf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 COBOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
cacoshl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 code generation conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
cacosl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 code, mixed with declarations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
callee_pop_aggregate_return function attribute, cold function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 cold label attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
calling functions through the function vector on command options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
SH2A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619 comments, C++ style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
calloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 common variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636
carg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 comparison of signed and unsigned values, warning
cargf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
cargl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 compilation statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
case labels in initializers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 compiler bugs, reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
case ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 compiler compared to C++ preprocessor . . . . . . . . . 3
casin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 compiler options, C++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
casinf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 compiler options, Objective-C and Objective-C++
casinh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
casinhf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 compiler version, specifying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
casinhl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 COMPILER_PATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
casinl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 complex conjugation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
cast to a union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 complex numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
catan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 compound literals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
catanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 computed gotos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
catanh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 conditional expressions, extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
catanhf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 conflicting types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965
catanhl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 conj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
catanl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 conjf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
cbrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 conjl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
cbrtf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 const applied to function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
cbrtl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 const function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
ccos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 const qualifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
ccosf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 constants in constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
ccosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 constraint modifier characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
ccoshf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 constraint, matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
ccoshl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 constraints, asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
ccosl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 constraints, machine specific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
cdecl function attribute, x86-32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620 constructing calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
ceil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 constructor expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
ceilf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 constructor function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
ceill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
cexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 copy function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
cexpf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 copy type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
cexpl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 copy variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636
cf_check function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632 copysign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
character set, execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 copysignf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
character set, input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 copysignl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
character set, input normalization . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 core dump. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
character set, wide execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 cos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
cimag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 cosf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
cimagf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 cosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
cimagl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 coshf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
cleanup variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636 coshl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
clog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 cosl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
clog10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 CPATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
clog10f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Keyword Index 1057

cpow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 destructor function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571

cpowf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 developer options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
cpowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 df integer suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
cproj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dgettext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
cprojf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 diagnostic messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
cprojl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dialect options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
cpu= function attribute, AArch64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 diff-delete GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
creal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 diff-filename GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . 83
crealf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 diff-hunk GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
creall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 diff-insert GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
CRIS Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 digits in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
critical function attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . . 610 directory options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
cross compiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 disinterrupt function attribute, Epiphany . . . 603
csin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dl integer suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
csinf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dllexport function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
csinh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dllexport variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
csinhf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dllimport function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
csinhl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dllimport variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
csinl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dollar signs in identifier names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
csqrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 double-word arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
csqrtf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 downward funargs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
csqrtl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 drem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
ctan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dremf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
ctanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dreml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
ctanh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 dump options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
ctanhf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 D .............................................. 3
ctanhl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
ctanl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 DF integer suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
CXX_MODULE_MAPPER environment variable . . . . . . 59 DL integer suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

D E
Darwin options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 ‘E’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
dcgettext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 earlyclobber operand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
dd integer suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 eBPF Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
DD integer suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 eight-bit data on the H8/300, H8/300H, and H8S
deallocating variable length arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
debug dump options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 eightbit_data variable attribute, H8/300 . . . . 643
debugging GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 EIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
debugging information options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 either function attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . . . . 611
decimal floating types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 either variable attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . . . . 645
declaration scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 empty structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
declarations inside expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 Enumerator Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
declarations, mixed with code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 environment variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
declaring attributes of functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 erf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
declaring static data in C++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966 erfc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
defining static data in C++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966 erfcf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
dependencies for make as output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518 erfcl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
dependencies, make . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 erff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
dependent name lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967 erfl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
deprecated enumerator attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657 error function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
deprecated function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 error GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
deprecated type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650 error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
deprecated variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636 escaped newlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
designated initializers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 exception function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
designated_init type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651 exception handler functions, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . 601
designator lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 exception handler functions, NDS32 . . . . . . . . . . 612
designators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564 exception_handler function attribute . . . . . . . . 601
1058 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 flexible array members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

exp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 float as function value type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963
exp10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 floating point precision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966
exp10f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 floating-point precision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
exp10l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 floor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
exp2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 floorf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
exp2f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 floorl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
exp2l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 fma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
expf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 fmaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
expl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 fmal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
explicit register variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 fmax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
expm1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 fmaxf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
expm1f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 fmaxl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
expm1l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 fmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
expressions containing statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 fminf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
expressions, constructor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562 fminl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
extended asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668 fmod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
extensible constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 fmodf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
extensions, ?: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548 fmodl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
extensions, C language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 fnname GCC_COLORS capability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
extensions, C++ language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897 force_align_arg_pointer function attribute, x86
external declaration scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
externally_visible function attribute . . . . . . . 573 format function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
extra NOP instructions at the function entry point format_arg function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 Fortran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
forwarder_section function attribute, Epiphany
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
F forwarding calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
‘F’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 fprintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
fabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 fprintf_unlocked. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
fabsf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 fputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
fabsl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 fputs_unlocked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
fallthrough statement attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658 FR30 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
far function attribute, MIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
fast_interrupt function attribute, M32C . . . . 605 freestanding environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
fast_interrupt function attribute, MicroBlaze freestanding implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 frexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
fast_interrupt function attribute, RX . . . . . . . 617 frexpf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
fastcall function attribute, x86-32 . . . . . . . . . . . 621 frexpl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
fatal signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 FRV Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
fd_arg function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 fscanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
fd_arg_read function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 fscanf, and constant strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
fd_arg_write function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 FT32 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
fdim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 function addressability on the M32R/D . . . . . . . 606
fdimf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 function attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
fdiml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 function pointers, arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
FDL, GNU Free Documentation License . . . . . . 997 function prototype declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
fentry_name function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . 632 function versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
fentry_section function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 632 function, size of pointer to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
ffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 function_return function attribute, x86. . . . . . 631
file name suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 function_vector function attribute, H8/300 . . 604
file names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 function_vector function attribute, M16C/M32C
fix-cortex-a53-835769 function attribute, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
AArch64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 function_vector function attribute, SH . . . . . . 619
fixed-point types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 functions in arbitrary sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
fixit-delete GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . 83 functions that are dynamically resolved . . . . . . . 577
fixit-insert GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . 83 functions that are passed arguments in registers on
flatten function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 x86-32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621
Keyword Index 1059

functions that behave like malloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579 highlight, color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

functions that have no side effects . . . . . . . . 571, 585 hk fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
functions that never return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583 HK fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
functions that pop the argument stack on x86-32 hosted environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 48, 49
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620, 621, 622 hosted implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
functions that return more than once . . . . . . . . . 586 hot function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
functions with non-null pointer arguments . . . . 582 hot label attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
functions with printf, scanf, strftime or hotpatch function attribute, S/390 . . . . . . . . . . . 618
strfmon style arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 HPPA Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
hr fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
HR fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
G hypot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
‘g’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 hypotf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
g++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 hypotl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
‘G’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
G++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
gamma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 I
gamma_r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 ‘i’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
gammaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 ‘I’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
gammaf_r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 IA-64 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
gammal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 IBM RS/6000 and PowerPC Options . . . . . . . . . 433
gammal_r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 identifier names, dollar signs in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
gcc_struct type attribute, PowerPC . . . . . . . . . 655 identifiers, names in assembler code . . . . . . . . . . . 717
gcc_struct type attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656 ifunc function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
gcc_struct variable attribute, PowerPC . . . . . . 646 ilogb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
gcc_struct variable attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . 646 ilogbf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 ilogbl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
GCC command options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 imaxabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
GCC_COLORS environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 implementation-defined behavior, C language
GCC_COMPARE_DEBUG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
GCC_EXEC_PREFIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 implementation-defined behavior, C++ language
GCC_EXTRA_DIAGNOSTIC_OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
GCC_URLS environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 implied #pragma implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
gcov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 incompatibilities of GCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
general-regs-only function attribute, AArch64 increment operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593 index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
general-regs-only function attribute, ARM indirect calls, ARC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 indirect calls, ARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
gettext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 indirect calls, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
global offset table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 indirect calls, Epiphany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
global register after longjmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 indirect calls, MIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
global register variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 indirect calls, PowerPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
GNAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 indirect functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
gnu_inline function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 indirect_branch function attribute, x86. . . . . . 631
GNU C Compiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 indirect_return function attribute, x86. . . . . . 632
GNU Compiler Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 init_priority variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 initializations in expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
goto with computed label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542 initializers with labeled elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
gprof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 initializers, non-constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
grouping options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 inline assembly language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
inline automatic for C++ member fns . . . . . . . . 664
inline functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
H inline functions, omission of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
‘H’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 inlining and C++ pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
half-precision floating point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 installation trouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
hardware models and configurations, specifying instrumentation options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 int . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
hex floats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 integrating function code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
1060 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

interface and implementation headers, C++ . . . . 899 ISO/IEC 9899 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

intermediate C version, nonexistent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 isprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . . . 597 ispunct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, ARM . . . . . . . . . . 598 isr function attribute, ARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
interrupt function attribute, AVR . . . . . . . . . . . 600 isr function attribute, C-SKY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
interrupt function attribute, C-SKY . . . . . . . . . 602 isspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, Epiphany . . . . . . 603 isupper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, m68k . . . . . . . . . . . 606 iswalnum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, M32C . . . . . . . . . . 605 iswalpha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, M32R/D . . . . . . . 605 iswblank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, MIPS . . . . . . . . . . 608 iswcntrl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . 610 iswdigit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, NDS32 . . . . . . . . . 612 iswgraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, RISC-V . . . . . . . . 616 iswlower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, RL78 . . . . . . . . . . . 617 iswprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, RX. . . . . . . . . . . . . 617 iswpunct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, V850 . . . . . . . . . . . 620 iswspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, Visium . . . . . . . . . 620 iswupper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . 622 iswxdigit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt function attribute, Xstormy16 . . . . . 633 isxdigit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt_handler function attribute, Blackfin
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
interrupt_handler function attribute, H8/300 J
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604 j0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt_handler function attribute, m68k j0f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 j0l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt_handler function attribute, MicroBlaze j1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 j1f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt_handler function attribute, SH . . . . 619 j1l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
interrupt_handler function attribute, V850 . . 620 jli_always function attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . . 598
interrupt_thread function attribute, fido . . . . 606 jli_fixed function attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . . . 598
introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 jn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
invalid assembly code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 jnf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
invalid input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 jnl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
invoking g++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
io variable attribute, AVR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
io_low variable attribute, AVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642 K
isalnum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 k fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
isalpha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 K fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
isascii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 keep_interrupts_masked function attribute, MIPS
isblank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
iscntrl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 kernel attribute, Nvidia PTX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
isdigit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 kernel helper, function attribute, BPF . . . . . . 602
isgraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 keywords, alternate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
islower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 known causes of trouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
ISO 9899 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 kspisusp function attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . 602
ISO C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ISO C standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ISO C11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 L
ISO C17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 l1_data variable attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . . . 643
ISO C1X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 l1_data_A variable attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . 643
ISO C2X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 l1_data_B variable attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . 643
ISO C90 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 l1_text function attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . . 602
ISO C94 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 l2 function attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
ISO C95 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 l2 variable attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
ISO C99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Label Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
ISO C9X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 labeled elements in initializers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
ISO support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 labels as values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
Keyword Index 1061

labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 long . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770

language dialect options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 long long data types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
LANG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515, 517 long_call function attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . . . 597
LC_ALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515 long_call function attribute, ARM . . . . . . . . . . 599
LC_CTYPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515 long_call function attribute, Epiphany . . . . . . 604
LC_MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515 long_call function attribute, MIPS . . . . . . . . . . 609
ldexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 longcall function attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . 602
ldexpf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 longcall function attribute, PowerPC . . . . . . . . 613
ldexpl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 longjmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
leaf function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 longjmp incompatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
length-zero arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 longjmp warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
lgamma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 LoongArch Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
lgamma_r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 lower function attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
lgammaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 lower variable attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
lgammaf_r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 lr fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
lgammal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 LR fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
lgammal_r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 lrint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 lrintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
LIBRARY_PATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 lrintl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
link options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 lround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
linker script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 lroundf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
lk fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 lroundl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
LK fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
LL integer suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
llabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 M
llk fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 ‘m’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
LLK fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 M32C options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
llr fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 M32R/D options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
LLR fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 M680x0 options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
llrint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 machine specific constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
llrintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 machine-dependent options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
llrintl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 macro with variable arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
llround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 macros, inline alternative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
llroundf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 macros, local labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
llroundl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 macros, local variables in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
LM32 options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 macros, statements in expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
load address instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 macros, types of arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
local labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 make . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
local variables in macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547 malloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
local variables, specifying registers . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 malloc function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
locale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515 matching constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
locale definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 may_alias type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
locus GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 MCore options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 medium_call function attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . 597
log10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 member fns, automatically inline . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
log10f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 memchr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
log10l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 memcmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
log1p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 memcpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
log1pf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 memory references in constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
log1pl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 mempcpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
log2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 memset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
log2f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 Mercury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
log2l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 message formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
logb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 messages, warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
logbf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 messages, warning and error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
logbl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 MicroBlaze Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
logf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 micromips function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
logl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 middle-operands, omitted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
1062 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

mips16 function attribute, MIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 nextafterl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

MIPS options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 nexttoward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
misunderstandings in C++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966 nexttowardf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
mixed declarations and code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 nexttowardl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
mixing assembly language and C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 NFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
mktemp, and constant strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961 NFKC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
MMIX Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 Nios II options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
MN10300 options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 nmi function attribute, NDS32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
mode type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652 nmi_handler function attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . 602
mode variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637 NMI handler functions on the Blackfin processor
model function attribute, M32R/D . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
model variable attribute, IA-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644 no_caller_saved_registers function attribute,
model variable attribute, LoongArch . . . . . . . . . . 644 x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
model-name variable attribute, M32R/D . . . . . . 644 no_gccisr function attribute, AVR . . . . . . . . . . . 600
modf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 no_icf function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
modff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 no_instrument_function function attribute . . 581
modfl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 no_profile_instrument_function function
modifiers in constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
Moxie Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 no_reorder function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
ms_abi function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 no_sanitize function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
ms_hook_prologue function attribute, x86 . . . . 621 no_sanitize_address function attribute . . . . . . 581
ms_struct type attribute, PowerPC. . . . . . . . . . . 655 no_sanitize_coverage function attribute . . . . . 582
ms_struct type attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656 no_sanitize_thread function attribute . . . . . . . 581
ms_struct variable attribute, PowerPC . . . . . . . 646 no_sanitize_undefined function attribute . . . 582
ms_struct variable attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646 no_split_stack function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . 582
MSP430 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 no_stack_limit function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . 582
multiple alternative constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 no_stack_protector function attribute . . . . . . . 587
multiprecision arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 nocf_check function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
noclone function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582
nocommon variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636
N nocompression function attribute, MIPS . . . . . . 610
‘n’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688 nodirect_extern_access function attribute . . 632
naked function attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 noinit variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640
naked function attribute, ARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599 noinline function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582
naked function attribute, AVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 noipa function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582
naked function attribute, C-SKY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603 nomicromips function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
naked function attribute, MCORE . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 nomips16 function attribute, MIPS . . . . . . . . . . . 609
naked function attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 non-constant initializers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
naked function attribute, NDS32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612 non-static inline function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
naked function attribute, RISC-V . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616 nonlocal gotos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
naked function attribute, RL78 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617 nonnull function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582
naked function attribute, RX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617 nonstring variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
naked function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 noplt function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Named Address Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 noreturn function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
names used in assembler code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717 nosave_low_regs function attribute, SH . . . . . . 619
naming convention, implementation headers . . . 900 not_nested function attribute, NDS32 . . . . . . . . 612
NDS32 Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 note GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
near function attribute, MIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 nothrow function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
nearbyint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 notshared type attribute, ARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
nearbyintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 Nvidia PTX options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
nearbyintl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 nvptx options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
nested function attribute, NDS32 . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
nested functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
nested_ready function attribute, NDS32. . . . . . 612 O
nesting function attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . . 602 ‘o’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
newlines (escaped) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 objc_nullability variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . 640
nextafter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 objc_root_class type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
nextafterf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 OBJC_INCLUDE_PATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Keyword Index 1063

Objective-C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 7 patchable_function_entry function attribute

Objective-C and Objective-C++ options, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
command-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 path GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Objective-C++. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 7 pcs function attribute, ARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
Offloading options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 PDP-11 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Offloading targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 persistent variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640
offsettable address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688 PIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
old-style function definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662 pmf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
omit-leaf-frame-pointer function attribute, pointer arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
AArch64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 pointer arguments in variadic functions . . . . . . . 562
omitted middle-operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548 pointer to member function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
open coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664 pointers to arrays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
OpenACC accelerator programming . . . . . . . 50, 145 portions of temporary objects, pointers to. . . . . 968
OpenACC offloading options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 pow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
OpenACC offloading targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 pow10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
OpenMP offloading options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 pow10f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
OpenMP offloading targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 pow10l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
OpenMP parallel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 PowerPC options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
OpenMP SIMD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 powf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
OpenMP target SIMD clone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 powl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
OpenRISC Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
pragma GCC ivdep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
operand constraints, asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
pragma GCC optimize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
optimize function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
pragma GCC pop options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
optimize options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
pragma GCC push options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
options to control diagnostics formatting . . . . . . . 81
pragma GCC reset options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
options to control warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
pragma GCC target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
options, C++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
pragma GCC unroll n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
options, code generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
options, debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 pragma, address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
options, dialect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 pragma, align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
options, directory search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 pragma, ctable entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
options, GCC command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 pragma, diagnostic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889, 890
options, grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 pragma, fini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
options, linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 pragma, init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
options, Objective-C and Objective-C++ . . . . . . . 78 pragma, long calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
options, optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 pragma, long calls off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
options, order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 pragma, longcall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
options, preprocessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 pragma, mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
options, profiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 pragma, memregs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
options, program instrumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 pragma, no long calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
options, run-time error checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 pragma, options align. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
order of evaluation, side effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 pragma, pop macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
order of options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 pragma, push macro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
OS_main function attribute, AVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 pragma, redefine extname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
OS_task function attribute, AVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 pragma, segment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
other register constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 pragma, unused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
outline-atomics function attribute, AArch64 pragma, visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 pragma, weak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889
output file option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
overloaded virtual function, warning . . . . . . . . . . . 71 pragmas in C++, effect on inlining. . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
pragmas, interface and implementation . . . . . . . 899
pragmas, warning of unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
P precompiled headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
‘p’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 prefer-vector-width function attribute, x86
packed type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
packed variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 preprocessing numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963
parameter forward declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 preprocessing tokens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963
partial_save function attribute, NDS32. . . . . . 612 preprocessor options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
1064 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

preserve_access_index type attribute, BPF restricted pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897

......................................... 655 restricted references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
printf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 restricted this pointer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
printf_unlocked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 retain function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
prof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 retain variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
profiling options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 returns_nonnull function attribute . . . . . . . . . . 586
progmem variable attribute, AVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641 returns_twice function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
program instrumentation options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 rindex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
promotion of formal parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662 rint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
PRU Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 rintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
pure function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 rintl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
push address instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 RISC-V Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
putchar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 RL78 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
puts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
roundf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
roundl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
Q RS/6000 and PowerPC Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
q floating point suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 RTTI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899
Q floating point suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 run-time error checking options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
qsort, and global register variables . . . . . . . . . . . 719 run-time options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
quote GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 RX Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

R S
r fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 ‘s’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
‘r’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688 S/390 and zSeries Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
R fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 saddr variable attribute, RL78. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
RAMPD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 save all registers on the Blackfin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
RAMPX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 save all registers on the H8/300, H8/300H, and
RAMPY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 H8S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
RAMPZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 save_all function attribute, NDS32 . . . . . . . . . . 612
range1 GCC_COLORS capability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 save_volatiles function attribute, MicroBlaze
range2 GCC_COLORS capability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
ranges in case statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 saveall function attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . . . 602
read-only strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961 saveall function attribute, H8/300 . . . . . . . . . . . 604
realloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 scalar_storage_order type attribute . . . . . . . . 652
reentrant function attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . 611 scalb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
register variable after longjmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 scalbf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
registers for local variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 scalbl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
registers in constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688 scalbln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
registers, global allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 scalblnf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
registers, global variables in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 scalbn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
regparm function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 scalbnf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
relocation truncated to fit (ColdFire) . . . . . . . . . 394 scanf, and constant strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
relocation truncated to fit (MIPS) . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 scanfnl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
remainder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 scope of a variable length array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
remainderf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 scope of declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965
remainderl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 scope of external declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962
remquo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 sda variable attribute, V850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
remquof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 search path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
remquol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 section function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
renesas function attribute, SH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619 section variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
reordering, warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 secure_call function attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . 598
reporting bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 selectany variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
resbank function attribute, SH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619 sentinel function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
reset function attribute, NDS32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612 setjmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
reset handler functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612 setjmp incompatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
rest argument (in macro) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 shared attribute, Nvidia PTX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Keyword Index 1065

shared strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961 sscanf, and constant strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961

shared variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645 sseregparm function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . 622
short_call function attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . . 597 stack_protect function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
short_call function attribute, ARM . . . . . . . . . 599 Statement Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
short_call function attribute, Epiphany . . . . . 604 statements inside expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
short_call function attribute, MIPS . . . . . . . . . 609 static data in C++, declaring and defining . . . . . 966
shortcall function attribute, Blackfin . . . . . . . . 602 stdcall function attribute, x86-32 . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
shortcall function attribute, PowerPC . . . . . . . 613 stpcpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
side effect in ?:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548 stpncpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
side effects, macro argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 strcasecmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
side effects, order of evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 strcat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sign-return-address function attribute, AArch64 strchr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 strcmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
signal function attribute, AVR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 strcpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
signbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strcspn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
signbitd128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strdup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
signbitd32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strfmon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
signbitd64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strftime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
signbitf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strict-align function attribute, AArch64 . . . . 594
signbitl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strict_flex_array variable attribute . . . . . . . . 635
signed and unsigned values, comparison warning string constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 strlen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
significand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strncasecmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
significandf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strncat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
significandl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strncmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
simd function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 strncpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
SIMD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 strndup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
simple constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688 strnlen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strpbrk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sincos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strrchr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sincosf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strspn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sincosl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 strstr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sinf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 struct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
sinh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 struct __htm_tdb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
sinhf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963
sinhl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 structures, constructor expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
sinl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 submodel options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
sizeof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547 subscripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
smaller data references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388, 418 subscripting and function values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
smaller data references (PowerPC) . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 suffixes for C++ source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
snprintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 SUNPRO_DEPENDENCIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
Solaris 2 options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 suppressing warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518 surprises in C++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966
sp_switch function attribute, SH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620 symver function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
SPARC options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 syntax checking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Spec Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 syscall_linkage function attribute, IA-64 . . . 604
specified registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 system headers, warnings from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
specifying compiler version and target machine sysv_abi function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
specifying hardware config . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
specifying machine version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 T
specifying registers for local variables . . . . . . . . . 719 tainted_args function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
speed of compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518, 520 tan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sprintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 tanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sqrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 tanh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sqrtf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 tanhf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sqrtl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 tanhl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
sscanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 tanl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
1066 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

target function attribute . . . . . . 587, 599, 612, 613, target("clwb") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 625
618, 623 target("clzero") function attribute, x86 . . . . 625
target machine, specifying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 target("cmpb") function attribute, PowerPC
target("3dnow") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 623 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
target("3dnowa") function attribute, x86 . . . . 623 target("cmpccxadd") function attribute, x86
target("abm") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 623 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
target("adx") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 623 target("cpu=CPU") function attribute, PowerPC
target("aes") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 623 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
target("align-stringops") function attribute, target("crc32") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 625
x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630 target("custom-fpu-cfg=name") function
target("altivec") function attribute, PowerPC attribute, Nios II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613 target("custom-insn=N") function attribute, Nios
target("amx-bf16") function attribute, x86 . . 629 II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
target("amx-fp16") function attribute, x86 . . 629 target("cx16") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 625
target("amx-int8") function attribute, x86 . . 629 target("default") function attribute, x86 . . . 625
target("amx-tile") function attribute, x86 . . 628 target("dlmzb") function attribute, PowerPC
target("arch=ARCH") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630 target("f16c") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 625
target("arm") function attribute, ARM . . . . . . 599 target("fancy-math-387") function attribute,
target("avoid-indexed-addresses") function x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
attribute, PowerPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 target("fma") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 625
target("avx") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 624 target("fma4") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 625
target("avx2") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 624 target("fpmath=FPMATH") function attribute, x86
target("avx5124fmaps") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 target("fprnd") function attribute, PowerPC
target("avx5124vnniw") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
target("fpu=") function attribute, ARM . . . . . 599
target("avx512bitalg") function attribute, x86
target("friz") function attribute, PowerPC
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
target("avx512bw") function attribute, x86 . . 624
target("fsgsbase") function attribute, x86 . . 625
target("avx512cd") function attribute, x86 . . 624
target("fxsr") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 626
target("avx512dq") function attribute, x86 . . 624
target("general-regs-only") function attribute,
target("avx512er") function attribute, x86 . . 624
x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
target("avx512f") function attribute, x86 . . . 624
target("gfni") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 626
target("avx512ifma") function attribute, x86
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 target("hard-dfp") function attribute, PowerPC
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
target("avx512pf") function attribute, x86 . . 624
target("avx512vbmi") function attribute, x86 target("hle") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 626
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 target("hreset") function attribute, x86 . . . . 629
target("avx512vbmi2") function attribute, x86 target("ieee-fp") function attribute, x86 . . . 630
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 target("inline-all-stringops") function
target("avx512vl") function attribute, x86 . . 625 attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
target("avx512vnni") function attribute, x86 target("inline-stringops-dynamically")
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
target("avx512vpopcntdq") function attribute, target("isel") function attribute, PowerPC
x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
target("avxifma") function attribute, x86 . . . 629 target("kl") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . 629
target("avxneconvert") function attribute, x86 target("longcall") function attribute, PowerPC
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
target("avxvnni") function attribute, x86 . . . 629 target("lwp") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 626
target("avxvnniint8") function attribute, x86 target("lzcnt") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 626
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 target("mfcrf") function attribute, PowerPC
target("bmi") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 625 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
target("bmi2") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 625 target("mmx") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 626
target("cld") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 630 target("movbe") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 626
target("cldemote") function attribute, x86 . . 625 target("movdir64b") function attribute, x86
target("clflushopt") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 target("movdiri") function attribute, x86 . . . 626
Keyword Index 1067

target("mulhw") function attribute, PowerPC target("update") function attribute, PowerPC

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
target("multiple") function attribute, PowerPC target("vaes") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 628
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614 target("vpclmulqdq") function attribute, x86
target("mwait") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 626 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628
target("mwaitx") function attribute, x86 . . . . 626 target("vsx") function attribute, PowerPC . . 615
target("no-custom-insn") function attribute, target("waitpkg") function attribute, x86 . . . 628
Nios II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613 target("wbnoinvd") function attribute, x86 . . 628
target("paired") function attribute, PowerPC target("widekl") function attribute, x86 . . . . 629
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616 target("xop") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 628
target("pclmul") function attribute, x86 . . . . 626 target("xsave") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 628
target("pconfig") function attribute, x86 . . . 626 target("xsavec") function attribute, x86 . . . . 628
target("pku") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 626 target("xsaveopt") function attribute, x86 . . 628
target("popcnt") function attribute, x86 . . . . 626 target("xsaves") function attribute, x86 . . . . 628
target("popcntb") function attribute, PowerPC target-dependent options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614 target_clones function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
target("popcntd") function attribute, PowerPC targs GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 TC1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
target("powerpc-gfxopt") function attribute, TC2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
PowerPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 TC3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
target("powerpc-gpopt") function attribute, tda variable attribute, V850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
PowerPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 Technical Corrigenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
target("prefetchi") function attribute, x86 Technical Corrigendum 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 Technical Corrigendum 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
target("prefetchwt1") function attribute, x86 Technical Corrigendum 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627 template instantiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
target("prfchw") function attribute, x86 . . . . 627 temporaries, lifetime of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
target("ptwrite") function attribute, x86 . . . 627 tentative definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
target("raoint") function attribute, x86 . . . . 629 TERM_URLS environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
target("rdpid") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 627 tgamma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
tgammaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("rdrnd") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 627
tgammal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("rdseed") function attribute, x86 . . . . 627
thiscall function attribute, x86-32 . . . . . . . . . . . 621
target("recip") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 630
Thread-Local Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
target("recip-precision") function attribute,
thunks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
PowerPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
tiny data section on the H8/300H and H8S . . . 643
target("rtm") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 627
tiny_data variable attribute, H8/300 . . . . . . . . . 643
target("sahf") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 627
tls-dialect= function attribute, AArch64 . . . . 594
target("sgx") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 627 tls_model variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
target("sha") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 627 TLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
target("shstk") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 627 TMPDIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
target("sse") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 627 toascii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("sse2") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 627 tolower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("sse3") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 627 toupper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("sse4") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . 627 towlower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("sse4.1") function attribute, x86 . . . . 628 towupper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("sse4.2") function attribute, x86 . . . . 628 traditional C language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
target("sse4a") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 628 transparent_union type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
target("ssse3") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 628 trap_exit function attribute, SH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
target("string") function attribute, PowerPC trapa_handler function attribute, SH . . . . . . . . 620
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 trunc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("tbm") function attribute, x86 . . . . . . . . 628 truncf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("thumb") function attribute, ARM . . . . 599 truncl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
target("tune=TUNE") function attribute, PowerPC tune= function attribute, AArch64 . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616 two-stage name lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967
target("tune=TUNE") function attribute, x86 type alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630 type attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
target("uintr") function attribute, x86. . . . . . 629 type-diff GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
1068 Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

type_info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899 vague linkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898

typedef names as function parameters. . . . . . . . . 962 value after longjmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
typeof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547 variable addressability on the M32R/D . . . . . . . 644
variable alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
variable attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
U variable number of arguments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
uhk fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 variable-length array in a structure . . . . . . . . . . . 559
UHK fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 variable-length array scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
uhr fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 variable-length arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
UHR fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 variables in specified registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
uk fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 variables, local, in macros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
UK fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 variadic functions, pointer arguments . . . . . . . . . 562
ulk fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 variadic macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
ULK fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 VAX options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
ULL integer suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 vec_blendv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
ullk fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 vec_cfuge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
ULLK fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 vec_clrl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
ullr fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 vec_clrr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
ULLR fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 vec_cntlzm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
ulr fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 vec_cnttzm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
ULR fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 vec_extracth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
unavailable enumerator attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . 657 vec_extractl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
unavailable function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 vec_genpcvm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840
unavailable type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651 vec_gnb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
unavailable variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637 vec_inserth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834
uncached type attribute, ARC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655 vec_insertl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834
undefined behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 vec_pdep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
undefined function value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 vec_permx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
underscores in variables in macros . . . . . . . . . . . . 547 vec_pext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
uninitialized variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639 vec_replace_element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893 vec_replace_unaligned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
union, casting to a. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 vec_sldb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
unions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963 vec_splati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
unknown pragmas, warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 vec_splati_ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
unresolved references and ‘-nodefaultlibs’ . . . 274 vec_splatid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
unresolved references and ‘-nostdlib’ . . . . . . . . 274 vec_srdb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
unused function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589 vec_stril . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
unused label attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657 vec_stril_p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
unused type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654 vec_strir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
unused variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639 vec_strir_p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
upper function attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 vec_ternarylogic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
upper variable attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645 vec_xst_trunc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
ur fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 vector function attribute, RX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
UR fixed-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 vector types, using with x86 intrinsics. . . . . . . . . 727
urls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 vector_size type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
use_debug_exception_return function attribute, vector_size variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640
MIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 version_id function attribute, IA-64 . . . . . . . . . 604
use_shadow_register_set function attribute, vfprintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
MIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 vfscanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
used function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589 visibility function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
used variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639 visibility type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
User stack pointer in interrupts on the Blackfin visibility variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602 Visium options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
VLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
void pointers, arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
V void, size of pointer to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
‘V’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688 volatile access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665, 897
V850 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 volatile applied to function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
Keyword Index 1069

volatile asm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670 weak variable attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640

volatile read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665, 897 weakref function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592
volatile write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665, 897 whitespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962
vprintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 Windows Options for x86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
vscanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
vsnprintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
vsprintf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 X
vsscanf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 x86 named address spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
vsx_xl_sext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 x86 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
vsx_xl_zext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 x86 Windows Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
vtable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898 ‘X’ in constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
VxWorks Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 X3.159-1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Xstormy16 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Xtensa Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
W
w floating point suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
W floating point suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 Y
wakeup function attribute, MSP430 . . . . . . . . . . . 611 y0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
warm function attribute, NDS32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612 y0f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
warn_if_not_aligned type attribute. . . . . . . . . . 648 y0l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
warn_if_not_aligned variable attribute . . . . . . 634 y1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
warn_unused type attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904 y1f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
warn_unused_result function attribute . . . . . . . 591 y1l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
warning for comparison of signed and unsigned yn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 ynf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
warning for overloaded virtual function . . . . . . . . 71 ynl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
warning for reordering of member initializers . . . 68
warning for unknown pragmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
warning function attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 Z
warning GCC_COLORS capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 zda variable attribute, V850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
warning messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 zero-length arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
warnings from system headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 zero-size structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
warnings vs errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973 zero_call_used_regs function attribute . . . . . . 592
weak function attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591 zSeries options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506