GNU Info
(gcc-300.info)Spec Files
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 behaviour 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 behaviour. The spec strings built into GCC can
be overridden by using the `-specs=' command-line switch to specify a
spec file.
"Spec files" are plaintext 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 and it 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.
`%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 will be
deleted. (Or, if the spec did not exist, then nothing will
happened.) Otherwise, if the spec does not currently exist a new
spec will be created. If the spec does exist then its contents
will be overridden by the text of this directive, unless the first
character of that text is the `+' character, in which case the
text will be 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 will 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 that
follows 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 will add 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
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 program. 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.
`%i'
Substitute the name of the input file being processed.
`%b'
Substitute the basename of the input file being processed. This
is the substring up to (and not including) the last period and not
including the directory.
`%B'
This is the same as `%b', but include the file suffix (text after
the last period).
`%d'
Marks the argument containing or following the `%d' as a temporary
file name, so that that file will be 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 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 even if
`%uSUFFIX' was already seen.
`%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' would involve 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 off; 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'
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' will substitute later.
`%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 will be 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 would
following, for example, `.o'.
`%p'
Substitutes the standard macro predefinitions for the current
target machine. Use this when running `cpp'.
`%P'
Like `%p', but puts `__' before and after the name of each
predefined macro, except for macros that start with `__' or with
`_L', where L is an uppercase letter. This is for ISO C.
`%I'
Substitute a `-iprefix' option made from `GCC_EXEC_PREFIX'.
`%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.
`%eSTR'
Print STR as an error message. STR is terminated by a newline.
Use this when inconsistent options are detected.
`%|'
Output `-' if the input for the current command is coming from a
pipe.
`%(NAME)'
Substitute the contents of spec string NAME at this point.
`%[NAME]'
Like `%(...)' but put `__' around `-D' arguments.
`%x{OPTION}'
Accumulate an option for `%X'.
`%X'
Output the accumulated linker options specified by `-Wl' or a `%x'
spec string.
`%Y'
Output the accumulated assembler options specified by `-Wa'.
`%Z'
Output the accumulated preprocessor options specified by `-Wp'.
`%v1'
Substitute the major version number of GCC. (For version 2.9.5,
this is 2.)
`%v2'
Substitute the minor version number of GCC. (For version 2.9.5,
this is 9.)
`%v3'
Substitute the patch level number of GCC. (For version 2.9.5,
this is 5.)
`%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 will make 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 will be prepended to each of these
paths.
`%M'
Output the multilib directory with directory separators replaced
with `_'. If multilib directories are not set, or the multilib
directory is `.' then this option emits nothing.
`%L'
Process the `lib' spec. This is a spec string for deciding which
libraries should be included on the command line to the linker.
`%G'
Process the `libgcc' spec. This is a spec string for deciding
which GCC support library should be included on the command line
to the linker.
`%S'
Process the `startfile' spec. This is a spec for deciding which
object files should be 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 will be passed to the linker.
`%C'
Process the `cpp' spec. This is used to construct the arguments
to be passed to the C preprocessor.
`%c'
Process the `signed_char' spec. This is intended to be used to
tell cpp whether a char is signed. It typically has the
definition:
%{funsigned-char:-D__CHAR_UNSIGNED__}
`%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'}'
Substitutes the `-S' switch, if that switch was given to GCC. If
that switch was 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}' would match the command-line option `-foo'
and would output the command line option `-foo'.
`%W{`S'}'
Like %{`S'} but mark last argument supplied within as a file to be
deleted on failure.
`%{`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 names starts with `o'. %{o*} would
substitute this text, including the space. Thus two arguments
would be generated.
`%{^`S'*}'
Like %{`S'*}, but don't put a blank between a switch and its
argument. Thus %{^o*} would only generate one argument, not two.
`%{`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'}'
Remove all occurrences of `-S' from the command line. Note--this
command is position dependent. `%' commands in the spec string
before this option will see `-S', `%' commands in the spec string
after this option will not.
`%{`S'*:`X'}'
Substitutes `X' if one or more switches whose names start with
`-S' are specified to GCC. Note that the tail part of the `-S'
option (i.e. the part matched by the `*') will be substituted for
each occurrence of `%*' within `X'.
`%{`S':`X'}'
Substitutes `X', but only if the `-S' switch was given to GCC.
`%{!`S':`X'}'
Substitutes `X', but only if the `-S' switch was _not_ given to
GCC.
`%{|`S':`X'}'
Like %{`S':`X'}, but if no `S' switch, substitute `-'.
`%{|!`S':`X'}'
Like %{!`S':`X'}, but if there is an `S' switch, substitute `-'.
`%{.`S':`X'}'
Substitutes `X', but only if processing a file with suffix `S'.
`%{!.`S':`X'}'
Substitutes `X', but only if _not_ processing a file with suffix
`S'.
`%{`S'|`P':`X'}'
Substitutes `X' if either `-S' or `-P' was given to GCC. This may
be combined with `!' and `.' sequences as well, although they have
a stronger binding than the `|'. For example a spec string like
this:
%{.c:-foo} %{!.c:-bar} %{.c|d:-baz} %{!.c|d:-boggle}
will output 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
The conditional text `X' in a %{`S':`X'} or %{!`S':`X'} construct
may contain other nested `%' constructs or spaces, or even newlines.
They are processed as usual, as described above.
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.
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