These machine-independent options control the interface conventions used in code generation.
Most of them have both positive and negative forms; the negative form of -ffoo 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-levelFor 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)
{
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-fwrapv-fwrapv-pointer-fstrict-overflow-fexceptions-fnon-call-exceptionsSIGALRM.
-fdelete-dead-exceptions-funwind-tables-fasynchronous-unwind-tables-fno-gnu-uniqueSTB_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-returnstruct and union values in memory like
longer ones, rather than in registers. This convention is less
efficient, but it has the advantage of allowing intercallability between
GCC-compiled files and files compiled with other compilers, particularly
the Portable C Compiler (pcc).
The precise convention for returning structures in memory depends on the target configuration macros.
Short structures and unions are those whose size and alignment match that of some integer type.
Warning: code compiled with the -fpcc-struct-return
switch is not binary compatible with code compiled with the
-freg-struct-return switch.
Use it to conform to a non-default application binary interface.
-freg-struct-returnstruct and union values in registers when possible.
This is more efficient for small structures than
-fpcc-struct-return.
If you specify neither -fpcc-struct-return nor -freg-struct-return, GCC defaults to whichever convention is standard for the target. If there is no standard convention, GCC defaults to -fpcc-struct-return, except on targets where GCC is the principal compiler. In those cases, we can choose the standard, and we chose the more efficient register return alternative.
Warning: code compiled with the -freg-struct-return
switch is not binary compatible with code compiled with the
-fpcc-struct-return switch.
Use it to conform to a non-default application binary interface.
-fshort-enumsenum 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-wcharwchar_t to be short
unsigned int instead of the default for the target. This option is
useful for building programs to run under WINE.
Warning: the -fshort-wchar switch causes GCC to generate
code that is not binary compatible with code generated without that switch.
Use it to conform to a non-default application binary interface.
-fno-commonextern keyword, which do not allocate storage.
Unix C compilers have traditionally allocated storage for uninitialized global variables in a common block. This allows the linker to resolve all tentative definitions of the same variable in different compilation units to the same object, or to a non-tentative definition. This is the behavior specified by -fcommon, and is the default for GCC on most targets. On the other hand, this behavior is not required by ISO C, and on some targets may carry a speed or code size penalty on variable references.
The -fno-common option specifies that the compiler should instead
place uninitialized global variables in the data 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 defined in more than one compilation unit.
Compiling with -fno-common is useful on targets for which
it provides better performance, or if you wish to verify that the
program will work on other systems that always treat uninitialized
variable definitions this way.
-fno-ident#ident directive.
-finhibit-size-directive.size assembler directive, or anything else that
would cause trouble if the function is split in the middle, and the
two halves are placed at locations far apart in memory. This option is
used when compiling crtstuff.c; you should not need to use it
for anything else.
-fverbose-asm-fno-verbose-asm, the default, causes the extra information to be omitted and is useful when comparing two assembler files.
The added comments include:
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
.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-fpicPosition-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.
When this flag is set, the macros __pic__ and __PIC__
are defined to 1.
-fPICPosition-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-fpie and -fPIE both define the macros
__pie__ and __PIE__. The macros have the value 1
for -fpie and 2 for -fPIE.
-fno-pltAlternatively, 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-ffixed-regreg must be the name of a register. The register names accepted
are machine-specific and are defined in the REGISTER_NAMES
macro in the machine description macro file.
This flag does not have a negative form, because it specifies a
three-way choice.
-fcall-used-regIt 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-regIt 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]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-underscoreWarning: 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=modelThe default without -fpic is ‘initial-exec’; with
-fpic the default is ‘global-dynamic’.
-ftrampolinesA 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.
-fvisibility=[default|internal|hidden|protected]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.
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
headers and headers from any other library you use, may not be
expecting to be compiled with visibility other than the default. You
may need to explicitly say #pragma GCC visibility push(default)
before including any such headers.
extern declarations are not affected by -fvisibility, so
a lot of code can be recompiled with -fvisibility=hidden with
no modifications. However, this means that calls to extern
functions with no explicit visibility 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 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Visibility.
-fstrict-volatile-bitfieldsunsigned 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.
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__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.