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of bugs in both MI and many NetBSD MD parts. visit http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-3.3/changes.html#3.3.2 for more details.
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638 lines
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>GCC Frequently Asked Questions</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>GCC Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
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<p>The latest version of this document is always available at
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<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/faq.html">http://gcc.gnu.org/faq.html</a>.</p>
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<p>This FAQ tries to answer specific questions concerning GCC. For
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general information regarding C, C++, resp. Fortran please check the
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<a href="http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html">comp.lang.c FAQ</a>,
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<a href="http://www.jamesd.demon.co.uk/csc/faq.html">comp.std.c++
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FAQ</a>,
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and the <a href="http://www.fortran.com/fortran/info.html">Fortran
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Information page</a>.</p>
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<p>Other GCC-related FAQs:
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<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/faq/index.html">
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libstdc++-v3</a>, and
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<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/java/faq.html">GCJ</a>.</p>
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<hr />
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<h1>Questions</h1>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#general">General information</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#gcc">What is the relationship between GCC and EGCS?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#open-development">What is an open development model?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#support">How do I get a bug fixed or a feature added?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#platforms">Does GCC work on my platform?</a></li>
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</ol></li>
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<li><a href="#installation">Installation</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#multiple">How to install multiple versions of GCC</a></li>
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<li><a href="#rpath">Dynamic linker is unable to find GCC libraries</a></li>
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<li><a href="#rpath">libstdc++/libio tests fail badly with --enable-shared</a></li>
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<li><a href="#gas">GCC can not find GNU as/GNU ld</a></li>
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<li><a href="#environ">cpp: Usage:... Error</a></li>
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<li><a href="#optimizing">Optimizing the compiler itself</a></li>
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<li><a href="#iconv">Why does <code>libiconv</code> get linked into <code>jc1</code> on Solaris?</a></li>
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</ol></li>
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<li><a href="#testsuite">Testsuite problems</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#testoptions">How do I pass flags like
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<code>-fnew-abi</code> to the testsuite?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#multipletests">How can I run the test suite with multiple options?</a></li>
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</ol></li>
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<li><a href="#old">Older versions of GCC</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#2.95sstream">Is there a stringstream / sstream for GCC 2.95.2?</a></li>
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</ol></li>
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<li><a href="#misc">Miscellaneous</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#friend">Friend Templates</a></li>
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<li><a href="#dso"><code>dynamic_cast</code>, <code>throw</code>, <code>typeid</code> don't work with shared libraries</a></li>
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<li><a href="#generated_files">Why do I need autoconf, bison, xgettext, automake, etc?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#picflag-needed">Why can't I build a shared library?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#vtables">When building C++, the linker says my constructors, destructors or virtual tables are undefined, but I defined them</a></li>
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<li><a href="#incremental">Will GCC someday include an incremental linker?</a></li>
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</ol></li>
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</ol>
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<hr />
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<a name="general"></a>
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<h1>General information</h1>
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<h2><a name="gcc">What is the relationship between GCC and EGCS?</a></h2>
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<p>In 1990/1991 gcc version 1 had reached a point of stability. For the
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targets it could support, it worked well. It had limitations inherent in
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its design that would be difficult to resolve, so a major effort was made
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to resolve those limitations and gcc version 2 was the result.</p>
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<p>When we had gcc2 in a useful state, development efforts on gcc1 stopped
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and we all concentrated on making gcc2 better than gcc1 could ever be. This
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is the kind of step forward we wanted to make with the EGCS project when it
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was formed in 1997.</p>
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<p>In April 1999 the Free Software Foundation officially halted
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development on the gcc2 compiler and appointed the EGCS project as the
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official GCC maintainers. The net result was a single project which
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carries forward GCC development under the ultimate control of the
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<a href="steering.html">GCC Steering Committee</a>.</p>
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<hr />
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<h2><a name="open-development">What is an open development model?</a></h2>
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<p>We are using a bazaar style
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<a href="#cathedral-vs-bazaar"><b>[1]</b></a>
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approach to GCC development: we make snapshots publicly available to
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anyone who wants to try them; we welcome anyone to join
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the development mailing list. All of the discussions on the
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development mailing list are available via the web. We're going to be
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making releases with a much higher frequency than they have been made
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in the past.</p>
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<p>In addition to weekly snapshots of the GCC development sources, we
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have the sources readable from a CVS server by anyone. Furthermore we
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are using remote CVS to allow remote maintainers write access to the
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sources.</p>
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<p>There have been many potential GCC developers who were not able to
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participate in GCC development in the past. We want these people to
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help in any way they can; we ultimately want GCC to be the best compiler
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in the world.</p>
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<p>A compiler is a complicated piece of software, there will still be
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strong central maintainers who will reject patches, who will demand
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documentation of implementations, and who will keep the level of
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quality as high as it is today. Code that could use wider testing may
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be integrated--code that is simply ill-conceived won't be.</p>
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<p>GCC is not the first piece of software to use this open development
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process; FreeBSD, the Emacs lisp repository, and the Linux kernel are
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a few examples of the bazaar style of development.</p>
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<p>With GCC, we are adding new features and optimizations at a
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rate that has not been done since the creation of gcc2; these
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additions inevitably have a temporarily destabilizing effect.
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With the help of developers working together with this bazaar style
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development, the resulting stability and quality levels will be better
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than we've had before.</p>
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<blockquote>
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<a name="cathedral-vs-bazaar"><b>[1]</b></a>
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We've been discussing different development models a lot over the
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past few months. The paper which started all of this introduced two
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terms: A <b>cathedral</b> development model versus a <b>bazaar</b>
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development model. The paper is written by Eric S. Raymond, it is
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called ``The Cathedral and the Bazaar''.
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The paper is a useful starting point for discussions.
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</blockquote>
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<hr />
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<!-- The "bugreport" anchor was used in ICE messages of GCC < 2.95.3. -->
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<h2 id="bugreport"><a name="support">How do I get a bug fixed or
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a feature added?</a></h2>
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<p>There are lots of ways to get something fixed. The list below may be
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incomplete, but it covers many of the common cases. These are listed
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roughly in order of decreasing difficulty for the average GCC user,
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meaning someone who is not skilled in the internals of GCC, and where
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difficulty is measured in terms of the time required to fix the bug.
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No alternative is better than any other; each has its benefits and
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disadvantages.</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Fix it yourself. This alternative will probably bring results,
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if you work hard enough, but will probably take a lot of time,
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and, depending on the quality of your work and the perceived
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benefits of your changes, your code may or may not ever make it
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into an official release of GCC.</li>
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<li><a href="bugs.html">Report the problem to the GCC bug tracking system</a>
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and hope that someone will be kind
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enough to fix it for you. While this is certainly possible, and
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often happens, there is no guarantee that it will. You should
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not expect the same response from this method that you would see
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from a commercial support organization since the people who read
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GCC bug reports, if they choose to help you, will be volunteering their
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time.</li>
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<li>Hire someone to fix it for you. There are various companies and
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individuals providing support for GCC. This alternative costs
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money, but is relatively likely to get results.</li>
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</ul>
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<hr />
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<h2><a name="platforms">Does GCC work on my platform?</a></h2>
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<p>The host/target specific installation notes for GCC include information
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about known problems with installing or using GCC on particular platforms.
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These are included in the sources for a release in INSTALL/specific.html,
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and the <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/install/specific.html">latest version</a>
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is always available at the GCC web site.
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Reports of <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/buildstat.html">successful builds</a>
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for several versions of GCC are also available at the web site.</p>
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<hr />
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<a name="installation"></a>
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<h1>Installation</h1>
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<h2><a name="multiple">How to install multiple versions of GCC</a></h2>
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<p>It may be desirable to install multiple versions of the compiler on
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the same system. This can be done by using different prefix paths at
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configure time and a few symlinks.</p>
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<p>Basically, configure the two compilers with different --prefix options,
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then build and install each compiler. Assume you want "gcc" to be the latest
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compiler and available in /usr/local/bin; also assume that you want "gcc2"
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to be the older gcc2 compiler and also available in /usr/local/bin.</p>
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<p>The easiest way to do this is to configure the new GCC with
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<code>--prefix=/usr/local/gcc</code> and the older gcc2 with
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<code>--prefix=/usr/local/gcc2</code>. Build and install both
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compilers. Then make a symlink from <code>/usr/local/bin/gcc</code>
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to <code>/usr/local/gcc/bin/gcc</code> and from
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<code>/usr/local/bin/gcc2</code> to
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<code>/usr/local/gcc2/bin/gcc</code>. Create similar links for the
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"g++", "c++" and "g77" compiler drivers.</p>
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<p>An alternative to using symlinks is to configure with a
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<code>--program-transform-name</code> option. This option specifies a
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sed command to process installed program names with. Using it you can,
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for instance, have all the new GCC programs installed as "new-gcc" and
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the like. You will still have to specify different
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<code>--prefix</code> options for new GCC and old GCC, because it is
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only the executable program names that are transformed. The difference
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is that you (as administrator) do not have to set up symlinks, but
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must specify additional directories in your (as a user) PATH. A
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complication with <code>--program-transform-name</code> is that the
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sed command invariably contains characters significant to the shell,
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and these have to be escaped correctly, also it is not possible to use
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"^" or "$" in the command. Here is the option to prefix "new-" to the
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new GCC installed programs:</p>
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<blockquote><code>
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--program-transform-name='s,\\\\(.*\\\\),new-\\\\1,'
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</code></blockquote>
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<p>With the above <code>--prefix</code> option, that will install the new
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GCC programs into <code>/usr/local/gcc/bin</code> with names prefixed
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by "new-". You can use <code>--program-transform-name</code> if you
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have multiple versions of GCC, and wish to be sure about which version
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you are invoking.</p>
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<p>If you use <code>--prefix</code>, GCC may have difficulty locating a GNU
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assembler or linker on your system, <a href="#gas">GCC can not find GNU
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as/GNU ld</a> explains how to deal with this.</p>
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<p>Another option that may be easier is to use the
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<code>--program-prefix=</code> or <code>--program-suffix=</code>
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options to configure. So if you're installing GCC 2.95.2 and don't
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want to disturb the current version of GCC in
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<code>/usr/local/bin/</code>, you could do</p>
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<blockquote><code>
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configure --program-suffix=-2.95.2 <other configure options>
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</code></blockquote>
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<p>This should result in GCC being installed as
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<code>/usr/local/bin/gcc-2.95.2</code> instead of
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<code>/usr/local/bin/gcc</code>.</p>
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<hr />
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<h2><a name="rpath">Dynamic linker is unable to find GCC libraries</a></h2>
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<p>This problem manifests itself by programs not finding shared
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libraries they depend on when the programs are started. Note this
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problem often manifests itself with failures in the libio/libstdc++
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tests after configuring with <code>--enable-shared</code> and building GCC.</p>
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<p>GCC does not specify a runpath so that the dynamic linker can find
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dynamic libraries at runtime.</p>
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<p>The short explanation is that if you always pass a -R option to the
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linker, then your programs become dependent on directories which
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may be NFS mounted, and programs may hang unnecessarily when an
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NFS server goes down.</p>
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<p>The problem is not programs that do require the directories; those
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programs are going to hang no matter what you do. The problem is
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programs that do not require the directories.</p>
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<p>SunOS effectively always passed a <code>-R</code> option for every
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<code>-L</code> option; this was a bad idea, and so it was removed for
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Solaris. We should not recreate it.</p>
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<p>However, if you feel you really need such an option to be passed
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automatically to the linker, you may add it to the GCC specs file.
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This file can be found in the same directory that contains cc1 (run
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<code>gcc -print-prog-name=cc1</code> to find it). You may add linker
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flags such as <code>-R</code> or <code>-rpath</code>, depending on
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platform and linker, to the <code>*link</code> or <code>*lib</code>
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specs.</p>
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<p>Another alternative is to install a wrapper script around gcc, g++
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or ld that adds the appropriate directory to the environment variable
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<code>LD_RUN_PATH</code> or equivalent (again, it's
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platform-dependent).</p>
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<p>Yet another option, that works on a few platforms, is to hard-code
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the full pathname of the library into its soname. This can only be
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accomplished by modifying the appropriate <tt>.ml</tt> file within
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<tt>libstdc++/config</tt> (and also <tt>libg++/config</tt>, if you are
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building libg++), so that <code>$(libdir)/</code> appears just before
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the library name in <code>-soname</code> or <code>-h</code> options.</p>
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<hr />
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<h2><a name="gas">GCC can not find GNU as/GNU ld</a></h2>
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<p>GCC searches the PATH for an assembler and a loader, but it only
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does so after searching a directory list hard-coded in the GCC
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executables. Since, on most platforms, the hard-coded list includes
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directories in which the system assembler and loader can be found, you
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may have to take one of the following actions to arrange that GCC uses
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the GNU versions of those programs.</p>
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<p>To ensure that GCC finds the GNU assembler (the GNU loader), which
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are required by <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/install/specific.html">some
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configurations</a>,
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you should configure these with the same --prefix option as you used
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for GCC. Then build & install GNU as (GNU ld) and proceed with
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building GCC.</p>
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<p>Another alternative is to create links to GNU as and ld in any of
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the directories printed by the command `<tt>gcc -print-search-dirs |
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grep '^programs:'</tt>'. The link to `<tt>ld</tt>' should be named
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`<tt>real-ld</tt>' if `<tt>ld</tt>' already exists. If such links do
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not exist while you're compiling GCC, you may have to create them in
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the build directories too, within the <tt>gcc</tt> directory
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<em>and</em> in all the <tt>gcc/stage*</tt> subdirectories.</p>
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<p>GCC 2.95 allows you to specify the full pathname of the assembler
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and the linker to use. The configure flags are
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`<tt>--with-as=/path/to/as</tt>' and `<tt>--with-ld=/path/to/ld</tt>'.
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GCC will try to use these pathnames before looking for `<tt>as</tt>'
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or `<tt>(real-)ld</tt>' in the standard search dirs. If, at
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configure-time, the specified programs are found to be GNU utilities,
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`<tt>--with-gnu-as</tt>' and `<tt>--with-gnu-ld</tt>' need not be
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used; these flags will be auto-detected. One drawback of this option
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is that it won't allow you to override the search path for assembler
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and linker with command-line options <tt>-B/path/</tt> if the
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specified filenames exist.</p>
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<hr />
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<h2><a name="environ">cpp: Usage:... Error</a></h2>
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<p>If you get an error like this when building GCC (particularly when building
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__mulsi3), then you likely have a problem with your environment variables.</p>
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<pre>
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cpp: Usage: /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i586-unknown-linux-gnulibc1/2.7.2.3/cpp
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[switches] input output
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</pre>
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<p>First look for an explicit '.' in either LIBRARY_PATH or GCC_EXEC_PREFIX
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from your environment. If you do not find an explicit '.', look for
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an empty pathname in those variables. Note that ':' at either the start
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or end of these variables is an implicit '.' and will cause problems.</p>
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<p>Also note '::' in these paths will also cause similar problems.</p>
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<hr />
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<h2><a name="optimizing">Optimizing the compiler itself</a></h2>
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<p>If you want to test a particular optimization option, it's useful to try
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bootstrapping the compiler with that option turned on. For example, to
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test the <code>-fssa</code> option, you could bootstrap like this:</p>
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<pre>make BOOT_CFLAGS="-O2 -fssa" bootstrap</pre>
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<hr />
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<h2><a name="iconv">Why does <code>libiconv</code> get linked into <code>jc1</code> on Solaris?</a></h2>
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<p>The Java front end requires <code>iconv</code>. If the compiler
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used to bootstrap GCC finds <code>libiconv</code> (because the GNU
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version of <code>libiconv</code> has been installed in the same prefix
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as the bootstrap compiler), but the newly built GCC does not find the
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library (because it will be installed with a different prefix), then a
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link-time error will occur when building <code>jc1</code>. This
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problem does not show up so often on platforms that have
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<code>libiconv</code> in a default location (like
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<code>/usr/lib</code>) because then both compilers can find a library
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named <code>libiconv</code>, even though it is a different
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library.</p>
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<p>Using <code>--disable-nls</code> at configure-time does not
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prevent this problem because <code>jc1</code> uses
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<code>iconv</code> even in that case. Solutions include temporarily
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removing the GNU <code>libiconv</code>, copying it to a default
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location such as <code>/usr/lib/</code>, and using
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<code>--enable-languages</code> at configure-time to disable Java.</p>
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<hr />
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|
<a name="testsuite"></a>
|
|
<h1>Testsuite problems</h1>
|
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|
|
<h2><a name="testoptions">How do I pass flags like
|
|
<code>-fnew-abi</code> to the testsuite?</a></h2>
|
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|
|
<p>If you invoke <code>runtest</code> directly, you can use the
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<code>--tool_opts</code> option, e.g:</p>
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<pre>
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runtest --tool_opts "-fnew-abi -fno-honor-std" <other options>
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</pre>
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<p>Or, if you use <code>make check</code> you can use the
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<code>make</code> variable <code>RUNTESTFLAGS</code>, e.g:</p>
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<pre>
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make RUNTESTFLAGS="--tool_opts '-fnew-abi -fno-honor-std'" check-g++
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</pre>
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<hr />
|
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<h2><a name="multipletests"> How can I run the test suite with multiple options? </a></h2>
|
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|
|
<p>If you invoke <code>runtest</code> directly, you can use the
|
|
<code>--target_board</code> option, e.g:</p>
|
|
<pre>
|
|
runtest --target_board "unix{-fPIC,-fpic,}" <other options>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p>Or, if you use <code>make check</code> you can use the
|
|
<code>make</code> variable <code>RUNTESTFLAGS</code>, e.g:</p>
|
|
<pre>
|
|
make RUNTESTFLAGS="--target_board 'unix{-fPIC,-fpic,}'" check-gcc
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p>Either of these examples will run the tests three times. Once
|
|
with <code>-fPIC</code>, once with <code>-fpic</code>, and once with
|
|
no additional flags.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This technique is particularly useful on multilibbed targets.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<a name="old"></a>
|
|
<h1>Older versions of GCC and EGCS</h1>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="2.95sstream">Is there a stringstream / sstream for GCC 2.95.2?</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Yes, it's at:
|
|
<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/2000-q2/msg00700/sstream">
|
|
http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/2000-q2/msg00700/sstream</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<a name="misc"></a>
|
|
<h1>Miscellaneous</h1>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="friend">Friend Templates</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>In order to make a specialization of a template function a friend
|
|
of a (possibly template) class, you must explicitly state that the
|
|
friend function is a template, by appending angle brackets to its
|
|
name, and this template function must have been declared already.
|
|
Here's an example:</p>
|
|
<pre>
|
|
template <typename T> class foo {
|
|
friend void bar(foo<T>);
|
|
}
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p>The above declaration declares a non-template function named
|
|
<code>bar</code>, so it must be explicitly defined for <b>each</b>
|
|
specialization of <code>foo</code>. A template definition of <code>bar</code>
|
|
won't do, because it is unrelated with the non-template declaration
|
|
above. So you'd have to end up writing:</p>
|
|
<pre>
|
|
void bar(foo<int>) { /* ... */ }
|
|
void bar(foo<void>) { /* ... */ }
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p>If you meant <code>bar</code> to be a template function, you should
|
|
have forward-declared it as follows. Note that, since the template
|
|
function declaration refers to the template class, the template class
|
|
must be forward-declared too:</p>
|
|
<pre>
|
|
template <typename T>
|
|
class foo;
|
|
|
|
template <typename T>
|
|
void bar(foo<T>);
|
|
|
|
template <typename T>
|
|
class foo {
|
|
friend void bar<>(foo<T>);
|
|
};
|
|
|
|
template <typename T>
|
|
void bar(foo<T>) { /* ... */ }
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p>In this case, the template argument list could be left empty,
|
|
because it can be implicitly deduced from the function arguments, but
|
|
the angle brackets must be present, otherwise the declaration will be
|
|
taken as a non-template function. Furthermore, in some cases, you may
|
|
have to explicitly specify the template arguments, to remove
|
|
ambiguity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>An error in the last public comment draft of the ANSI/ISO C++
|
|
Standard and the fact that previous releases of GCC would accept such
|
|
friend declarations as template declarations has led people to believe
|
|
that the forward declaration was not necessary, but, according to the
|
|
final version of the Standard, it is.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<h2><a name="dso"><code>dynamic_cast</code>, <code>throw</code>, <code>typeid</code> don't work with shared libraries</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The new C++ ABI in the GCC 3.0 series uses address comparisons,
|
|
rather than string compares, to determine type equality. This leads
|
|
to better performance. Like other objects that have to be present in the
|
|
final executable, these <code>std::typeinfo_t</code> objects have what
|
|
is called vague linkage because they are not tightly bound to any one
|
|
particular translation unit (object file). The compiler has to emit
|
|
them in any translation unit that requires their presence, and then
|
|
rely on the linking and loading process to make sure that only one of
|
|
them is active in the final executable. With static linking all of
|
|
these symbols are resolved at link time, but with dynamic linking,
|
|
further resolution occurs at load time. You have to ensure that
|
|
objects within a shared library are resolved against objects in the
|
|
executable and other shared libraries.</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>For a program which is linked against a shared library, no additional
|
|
precautions need taking.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>You cannot create a shared library with the "<code>-Bsymbolic</code>"
|
|
option, as that prevents the resolution described above.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>If you use <code>dlopen</code> to explicitly load code from a shared
|
|
library, you must do several things. First, export global symbols from
|
|
the executable by linking it with the "<code>-E</code>" flag (you will
|
|
have to specify this as "<code>-Wl,-E</code>" if you are invoking
|
|
the linker in the usual manner from the compiler driver, <code>g++</code>).
|
|
You must also make the external symbols in the loaded library
|
|
available for subsequent libraries by providing the <code>RTLD_GLOBAL</code>
|
|
flag to <code>dlopen</code>. The symbol resolution can be immediate or
|
|
lazy.</li>
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Template instantiations are another, user visible, case of objects
|
|
with vague linkage, which needs similar resolution. If you do not take
|
|
the above precautions, you may discover that a template instantiation
|
|
with the same argument list, but instantiated in multiple translation
|
|
units, has several addresses, depending in which translation unit the
|
|
address is taken. (This is <em>not</em> an exhaustive list of the kind
|
|
of objects which have vague linkage and are expected to be resolved
|
|
during linking & loading.)</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If you are worried about different objects with the same name
|
|
colliding during the linking or loading process, then you should use
|
|
namespaces to disambiguate them. Giving distinct objects with global
|
|
linkage the same name is a violation of the One Definition Rule (ODR)
|
|
[basic.def.odr].</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>For more details about the way that GCC implements these and other
|
|
C++ features, please read the <a
|
|
href="http://www.codesourcery.com/cxx-abi/">ABI specification</a>.
|
|
Note the <code>std::typeinfo_t</code> objects which <i>must</i> be
|
|
resolved all begin with "_ZTS". Refer to <code>ld</code>'s
|
|
documentation for a description of the "<code>-E</code>" &
|
|
"<code>-Bsymbolic</code>" flags.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<h2><a name="generated_files">Why do I need autoconf, bison, xgettext, automake, etc?</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>If you're using diffs up dated from one snapshot to the next, or
|
|
if you're using the CVS repository, you may need several additional programs
|
|
to build GCC.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>These include, but are not necessarily limited to autoconf, automake,
|
|
bison, and xgettext.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This is necessary because neither diff nor cvs keep timestamps
|
|
correct. This causes problems for generated files as "make" may think
|
|
those generated files are out of date and try to regenerate them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>An easy way to work around this problem is to use the <code>gcc_update
|
|
</code> script in the contrib subdirectory of GCC, which handles this
|
|
transparently without requiring installation of any additional tools.
|
|
(Note: Up to and including GCC 2.95 this script was called <code>egcs_update
|
|
</code>.)</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>When building from diffs or CVS or if you modified some sources,
|
|
you may also need to obtain development versions of some GNU tools, as
|
|
the production versions do not necessarily handle all features needed
|
|
to rebuild GCC.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>In general, the current versions of these tools from <a
|
|
href="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a> will work.
|
|
At present, Autoconf 2.50 is not supported, and you will need to use
|
|
Autoconf 2.13; work is in progress to fix this problem. Also look at
|
|
<a href="ftp://gcc.gnu.org/pub/gcc/infrastructure/">
|
|
ftp://gcc.gnu.org/pub/gcc/infrastructure/</a> for any special versions
|
|
of packages.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<h2><a name="picflag-needed">Why can't I build a shared library?</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>When building a shared library you may get an error message from the
|
|
linker like `assert pure-text failed:' or `DP relative code in file'.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This kind of error occurs when you've failed to provide proper flags
|
|
to gcc when linking the shared library. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>You can get this error even if all the .o files for the shared library were
|
|
compiled with the proper PIC option. When building a shared library, gcc will
|
|
compile additional code to be included in the library. That additional code
|
|
must also be compiled with the proper PIC option.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Adding the proper PIC option (<tt>-fpic</tt> or <tt>-fPIC</tt>) to the link
|
|
line which creates the shared library will fix this problem on targets that
|
|
support PIC in this manner. For example:</p>
|
|
<pre>
|
|
gcc -c -fPIC myfile.c
|
|
gcc -shared -o libmyfile.so -fPIC myfile.o
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<h2><a name="vtables">When building C++, the linker says my constructors, destructors or virtual tables are undefined, but I defined them</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The ISO C++ Standard specifies that all virtual methods of a class
|
|
that are not pure-virtual must be defined, but does not require any
|
|
diagnostic for violations of this rule [class.virtual]/8. Based on
|
|
this assumption, GCC will only emit the implicitly defined
|
|
constructors, the assignment operator, the destructor and the virtual
|
|
table of a class in the translation unit that defines its first such
|
|
non-inline method.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Therefore, if you fail to define this particular method, the linker
|
|
may complain about the lack of definitions for apparently unrelated
|
|
symbols. Unfortunately, in order to improve this error message, it
|
|
might be necessary to change the linker, and this can't always be
|
|
done.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The solution is to ensure that all virtual methods that are not
|
|
pure are defined. Note that a destructor must be defined even if it
|
|
is declared pure-virtual [class.dtor]/7.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<h2><a name="incremental">Will GCC someday include an incremental linker?</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Incremental linking is part of the linker, not the compiler. As
|
|
such, GCC doesn't have anything to do with incremental linking.
|
|
Depending on what platform you use, it may be possible to tell GCC to
|
|
use the platform's native linker (e.g., Solaris' ild(1)).</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|