Contents

1. Introduction
2. About Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Fortran 77
3. New Features
4. Software Corrections
5. Problems and Workarounds
6. Limitations and Incompatibilities
7. Documentation Errata
8. Shippable Libraries

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A. Introduction

This document contains last-minute information about the release of the Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Fortran 77 compiler. This document describes the software corrections addressed by this release and lists known problems, limitations, and incompatibilities.

For installation-related and late-breaking information about this release, see the Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Release Notes. Information in the release notes overrides information in all readme files.

To access the release notes and the full Forte[tm]/Sun WorkShop[tm] set, point your Netscape[tm] 4.0 or compatible browser to the documentation index (file:/opt/SUNWspro/docs/index.html).

To view the text version of this readme, type the following at a command prompt:

   example% f77 -xhelp=readme

To access the HTML version of this readme, point your Netscape Communicator 4.0 or compatible browser to:

   file:/opt/SUNWspro/docs/index.html

Note - If your Sun WorkShop software is not installed in the /opt directory, ask your system administrator for the equivalent path on your system.
 

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B. About Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Fortran 77

This release of Fortran 77 (f77) runs on SPARC[tm] running Solaris[tm] Platform Edition versions 2.6, 7 and 8, and is a second update to the Sun WorkShop 6 release.

Note - Fortran on Solaris Intel IA-32 Platforms Discontinued:
Development of the Fortran compilers (f77) and the Sun Performance Library for the Solaris Intel IA-32 platform has been discontinued.  We suggest you contact  the Portland Group (http://www.pgroup.com) about their development tools for the Solaris IA-32 platform.
 

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C. New Features

New Features in this Release

Other than the item noted below, there are no new or changed features in this release of Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Fortran 77.
 

• New and Changed Values for -xchip and -xtarget

  The -xchip option now accepts the value ultra2e for specifying the UltraSPARC IIe processor.

  Also, the implied -xarch setting for the following -xtarget values has changed from v8 to v8plusa:
  
  

  • entr2/1170
  • entr2/1200
  • entr2/2170
  • entr2/2200
  • entr3000
  • entr4000
  • entr5000
  • entr6000
  • ultra
  • ultra/140
  • ultra/170
  • ultra/200
  • ultra2
  • ultra2/1170
  • ultra2/1200
  • ultra2/1300
  • ultra2/2170
  • ultra2/2200
  • ultra2/2300
  • ultra2e
  • ultra2i
  • ultra3

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Features in the Sun WorkShop 6 update 1 Release

The Sun WorkShop 6 update 1 release of Fortran 77 introduced the following features:

• UltraSPARC[tm] Support:

  The -xtarget and -xchip options now accept ultra3, and the compiler will generate optimized code for the UltraSPARC III processor.  Compile with the following flags when compiling and running on an UltraSPARC III platform: -fast -xcrossfile

  The -fast option automatically selects the proper options when running on an UltraSPARC III platform.

  For cross-compilation (compiling on a platform other than UltraSPARC III but generating binaries intended to run on an UltraSPARC III processor) , add:

        -xtarget=ultra3  -xarch={v8plusb|v9b}

  (Use -xarch=v9b to compile for 64-bit code generation.)

  Note that programs compiled specifically for the UltraSPARC III platform with -xarch={v8plusb|v9b} will not operate on platforms other than UltraSPARC III. Use -xarch={v8plusa/v9a} to compile programs to run compatibly on UltraSPARC I, II, and III.

  Performance profiling, -xprofile={collect:|use:}, is particularly useful on the UltraSPARC III platform by enabling the compiler to identify the most frequently executed sections of code and perform localized optimizations to best advantage.

• Prefetch added to -fast:

  The -xprefetch flag has been added to the -fast  option set. -fast automatically sets a number of optimization flags for best execution speed on the compiling platform. Adding -xprefetch takes advantage of the UltraSPARC II and III prefetch mechanism, and can add a substantial performance gain in code with loops that process data.

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Features in the Sun WorkShop 6 Release

The Sun WorkShop 6 release of Fortran 77 introduced the following features:
 

• Debugging Optimized Code:

  The restrictions on compiling with -g have been relaxed so that it is now possible to compile at -O4 and -O5 and/or any of the parallelization flags (-parallel, -explicitpar, -autopar) with debugging (-g).
   

• New Flags:

  The following new flags are implemented in f77:

  • -xprefetch     allows automatic and explicit generation of prefetch instructions on UltraSPARC platforms (-xprefetch=explicit enables new $PRAGMA SPARC_PREFETCH directives).
  • -aligncommon      align common block elements to specified byte boundaries
  • -r8const     promote single-precision constants to REAL*8
  • -xmemalign   specify general alignment of data elements
     
• FORM="BINARY" I/O Extension:

  Specifying this new option in an OPEN(..) statement causes the file to be treated as a sequential binary (unformatted) file with no record marks. This enables data to be written and read as a continuous stream of bytes, and provides compatibility with other vendor systems. It is implemented in both the Fortran 77 (f77) and Fortran 95 (f95) compilers.

   Effect of FORM="BINARY" on I/O operations:

  • WRITE statement: Data is written to the file in binary, with as many bytes transferred as there is specified in the output list.
  • READ statement: Data is read into the variables on the input list, with as many bytes transferred as demanded by the list. Because there are no record marks on the file, there will be no "end-of-record" error detection. The only error detected is end-of-file, or abnormal system errors.
  • INQUIRE statement: INQUIRE on a file opened with FORM="BINARY" returns:

    FORM="BINARY"
    ACCESS="SEQUENTIAL"
    SEQUENTIAL="YES"
    DIRECT="NO"
    FORMATTED="NO"
    UNFORMATTED="YES"
    RECL= and NEXTREC= are undefined.

  • BACKSPACE statement: Not allowed - returns an error.
  • ENDFILE statement: Truncates file at current position, as usual.
  • REWIND statement: Repositions file to beginning of data, as usual.
  
  
  
• Cray-Style Parallelization Directives:

  The AUTOSCOPE qualifier has been implemented with Cray-style directives.

• Sun WorkShop online help now interprets f77 error diagnostics in the Building window. Like C compiler error diagnostics, these f77 error messages have hyperlinks to help pages that explain the diagnostic message.

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D. Software Corrections

Many of the problems reported with previous releases of the Fortran 77 compiler have been corrected in this release.

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E. Problems and Workarounds

 

There is no new information at this time. For updates, check Forte Developer Products Hot News , http://www.sun.com/forte/developer

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F. Limitations and Incompatibilities

 

This section discusses the following incompatibilities between the Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Fortran 77 Compiler and previous releases.

• Alignment in COMMON:

  Fixes to correct some reported data alignment problems have resulted in changes to the way the compiler aligns structures and records within common blocks. In some rare cases where small size data items appear before structures or records in common blocks, the alignment generated by this compiler may differ from previous releases. For this reason, recompile all source routines declaring the same common block to make sure that the alignments still match.

  Note that this only concerns common blocks containing structures or records.

• Linking on SPARC V9 Platforms Under Solaris 7 and 8:

  Many static system libraries, such as libm.a and libc.a, are not available in Solaris 7 or 8 environments on SPARC V9 platforms. Only dynamic, shared libraries, libm.so and libc.so, are provided. This means that -Bstatic and -dn compiler options could cause linking errors on SPARC V9 platforms with Solaris 7 or 8. Applications must use dynamic libraries in these cases.

  To explicitly link with a static version of a user library while linking dynamically system libraries, use a command line that looks something like:

    f77 -o prog prog.f -Bstatic -lxyz -labc -Bdynamic

  This will link with libxyz.a and libabc.a, but all other libraries, including system libraries, will be linked dynamically.

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G. Documentation Errata

  The following errors will be corrected in the next release of the documentation.

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H. Shippable Libraries

If your executable uses a Sun dynamic library listed in the file named below, your license includes the right to redistribute the library to your customer.

/opt/SUNWspro/READMEs/runtime.libraries     in a standard install of Sun WorkShop

You may not redistribute or otherwise disclose the header files, source code, object modules, or static libraries of object modules in any form.

The License to Use appears in the End User Object Code License, viewable from the back of the plastic case containing the CDROM.

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