1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
2 <chapter id="using-ghc">
3 <title>Using GHC</title>
5 <indexterm><primary>GHC, using</primary></indexterm>
6 <indexterm><primary>using GHC</primary></indexterm>
9 <title>Getting started: compiling programs</title>
12 In this chapter you'll find a complete reference to the GHC
13 command-line syntax, including all 400+ flags. It's a large and
14 complex system, and there are lots of details, so it can be
15 quite hard to figure out how to get started. With that in mind,
16 this introductory section provides a quick introduction to the
17 basic usage of GHC for compiling a Haskell program, before the
18 following sections dive into the full syntax.
22 Let's create a Hello World program, and compile and run it.
23 First, create a file <filename>hello.hs</filename> containing
28 main = putStrLn "Hello, World!"
31 <para>To compile the program, use GHC like this:</para>
34 $ ghc hello.hs</screen>
36 <para>(where <literal>$</literal> represents the prompt: don't
37 type it). GHC will compile the source
38 file <filename>hello.hs</filename>, producing
40 file</firstterm> <filename>hello.o</filename> and
41 an <firstterm>interface
42 file</firstterm> <filename>hello.hi</filename>, and then it
43 will link the object file to the libraries that come with GHC
44 to produce an executable called <filename>hello</filename> on
45 Unix/Linux/Mac, or <filename>hello.exe</filename> on
49 By default GHC will be very quiet about what it is doing, only
50 printing error messages. If you want to see in more detail
51 what's going on behind the scenes, add <option>-v</option> to
56 Then we can run the program like this:
64 If your program contains multiple modules, then you only need to
65 tell GHC the name of the source file containing
66 the <filename>Main</filename> module, and GHC will examine
67 the <literal>import</literal> declarations to find the other
68 modules that make up the program and find their source files.
69 This means that, with the exception of
70 the <literal>Main</literal> module, every source file should be
71 named after the module name that it contains (with dots replaced
72 by directory separators). For example, the
73 module <literal>Data.Person</literal> would be in the
74 file <filename>Data/Person.hs</filename> on Unix/Linux/Mac,
75 or <filename>Data\Person.hs</filename> on Windows.
80 <title>Options overview</title>
82 <para>GHC's behaviour is controlled by
83 <firstterm>options</firstterm>, which for historical reasons are
84 also sometimes referred to as command-line flags or arguments.
85 Options can be specified in three ways:</para>
88 <title>Command-line arguments</title>
90 <indexterm><primary>structure, command-line</primary></indexterm>
91 <indexterm><primary>command-line</primary><secondary>arguments</secondary></indexterm>
92 <indexterm><primary>arguments</primary><secondary>command-line</secondary></indexterm>
94 <para>An invocation of GHC takes the following form:</para>
100 <para>Command-line arguments are either options or file names.</para>
102 <para>Command-line options begin with <literal>-</literal>.
103 They may <emphasis>not</emphasis> be grouped:
104 <option>-vO</option> is different from <option>-v -O</option>.
105 Options need not precede filenames: e.g., <literal>ghc *.o -o
106 foo</literal>. All options are processed and then applied to
107 all files; you cannot, for example, invoke <literal>ghc -c -O1
108 Foo.hs -O2 Bar.hs</literal> to apply different optimisation
109 levels to the files <filename>Foo.hs</filename> and
110 <filename>Bar.hs</filename>.</para>
113 <sect2 id="source-file-options">
114 <title>Command line options in source files</title>
116 <indexterm><primary>source-file options</primary></indexterm>
118 <para>Sometimes it is useful to make the connection between a
119 source file and the command-line options it requires quite
120 tight. For instance, if a Haskell source file deliberately
121 uses name shadowing, it should be compiled with the
122 <option>-fno-warn-name-shadowing</option> option. Rather than maintaining
123 the list of per-file options in a <filename>Makefile</filename>,
124 it is possible to do this directly in the source file using the
125 <literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal> pragma <indexterm><primary>OPTIONS_GHC
126 pragma</primary></indexterm>:</para>
129 {-# OPTIONS_GHC -fno-warn-name-shadowing #-}
134 <para><literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal> is a <emphasis>file-header pragma</emphasis>
135 (see <xref linkend="pragmas"/>).</para>
137 <para>Only <emphasis>dynamic</emphasis> flags can be used in an <literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal> pragma
138 (see <xref linkend="static-dynamic-flags"/>).</para>
140 <para>Note that your command shell does not
141 get to the source file options, they are just included literally
142 in the array of command-line arguments the compiler
143 maintains internally, so you'll be desperately disappointed if
144 you try to glob etc. inside <literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal>.</para>
146 <para>NOTE: the contents of OPTIONS_GHC are appended to the
147 command-line options, so options given in the source file
148 override those given on the command-line.</para>
150 <para>It is not recommended to move all the contents of your
151 Makefiles into your source files, but in some circumstances, the
152 <literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal> pragma is the Right Thing. (If you
153 use <option>-keep-hc-file</option> and have OPTION flags in
154 your module, the OPTIONS_GHC will get put into the generated .hc
159 <title>Setting options in GHCi</title>
161 <para>Options may also be modified from within GHCi, using the
162 <literal>:set</literal> command. See <xref linkend="ghci-set"/>
163 for more details.</para>
167 <sect1 id="static-dynamic-flags">
168 <title>Static, Dynamic, and Mode options</title>
169 <indexterm><primary>static</primary><secondary>options</secondary>
171 <indexterm><primary>dynamic</primary><secondary>options</secondary>
173 <indexterm><primary>mode</primary><secondary>options</secondary>
176 <para>Each of GHC's command line options is classified as
177 <firstterm>static</firstterm>, <firstterm>dynamic</firstterm> or
178 <firstterm>mode</firstterm>:</para>
182 <term>Mode flags</term>
184 <para>For example, <option>––make</option> or <option>-E</option>.
185 There may only be a single mode flag on the command line. The
186 available modes are listed in <xref linkend="modes"/>.</para>
190 <term>Dynamic Flags</term>
192 <para>Most non-mode flags fall into this category. A dynamic flag
193 may be used on the command line, in a
194 <literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal> pragma in a source file, or set
195 using <literal>:set</literal> in GHCi.</para>
199 <term>Static Flags</term>
201 <para>A few flags are "static", which means they can only be used on
202 the command-line, and remain in force over the entire GHC/GHCi
208 <para>The flag reference tables (<xref
209 linkend="flag-reference"/>) lists the status of each flag.</para>
211 <para>There are a few flags that are static except that they can
212 also be used with GHCi's <literal>:set</literal> command; these
213 are listed as “static/<literal>:set</literal>” in the
217 <sect1 id="file-suffixes">
218 <title>Meaningful file suffixes</title>
220 <indexterm><primary>suffixes, file</primary></indexterm>
221 <indexterm><primary>file suffixes for GHC</primary></indexterm>
223 <para>File names with “meaningful” suffixes (e.g.,
224 <filename>.lhs</filename> or <filename>.o</filename>) cause the
225 “right thing” to happen to those files.</para>
230 <term><filename>.hs</filename></term>
232 <para>A Haskell module.</para>
238 <filename>.lhs</filename>
239 <indexterm><primary><literal>lhs</literal> suffix</primary></indexterm>
242 <para>A “literate Haskell” module.</para>
247 <term><filename>.hi</filename></term>
249 <para>A Haskell interface file, probably
250 compiler-generated.</para>
255 <term><filename>.hc</filename></term>
257 <para>Intermediate C file produced by the Haskell
263 <term><filename>.c</filename></term>
265 <para>A C file not produced by the Haskell
271 <term><filename>.s</filename></term>
273 <para>An assembly-language source file, usually produced by
279 <term><filename>.o</filename></term>
281 <para>An object file, produced by an assembler.</para>
286 <para>Files with other suffixes (or without suffixes) are passed
287 straight to the linker.</para>
292 <title>Modes of operation</title>
295 GHC's behaviour is firstly controlled by a mode flag. Only one
296 of these flags may be given, but it does not necessarily need to
297 be the first option on the command-line.
301 If no mode flag is present, then GHC will enter make mode
302 (<xref linkend="make-mode" />) if there are any Haskell source
303 files given on the command line, or else it will link the
304 objects named on the command line to produce an executable.
307 <para>The available mode flags are:</para>
312 <cmdsynopsis><command>ghc --interactive</command>
314 <indexterm><primary>interactive mode</primary></indexterm>
315 <indexterm><primary>ghci</primary></indexterm>
318 <para>Interactive mode, which is also available as
319 <command>ghci</command>. Interactive mode is described in
320 more detail in <xref linkend="ghci"/>.</para>
326 <cmdsynopsis><command>ghc ––make</command>
328 <indexterm><primary>make mode</primary></indexterm>
329 <indexterm><primary><option>––make</option></primary></indexterm>
332 <para>In this mode, GHC will build a multi-module Haskell
333 program automatically, figuring out dependencies for itself.
334 If you have a straightforward Haskell program, this is
335 likely to be much easier, and faster, than using
336 <command>make</command>. Make mode is described in <xref
337 linkend="make-mode"/>.</para>
340 This mode is the default if there are any Haskell
341 source files mentioned on the command line, and in this case
342 the <option>––make</option> option can be omitted.
349 <cmdsynopsis><command>ghc -e</command>
350 <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>expr</replaceable></arg>
352 <indexterm><primary>eval mode</primary></indexterm>
355 <para>Expression-evaluation mode. This is very similar to
356 interactive mode, except that there is a single expression
357 to evaluate (<replaceable>expr</replaceable>) which is given
358 on the command line. See <xref linkend="eval-mode"/> for
366 <command>ghc -E</command>
367 <command>ghc -c</command>
368 <command>ghc -S</command>
369 <command>ghc -c</command>
371 <indexterm><primary><option>-E</option></primary></indexterm>
372 <indexterm><primary><option>-C</option></primary></indexterm>
373 <indexterm><primary><option>-S</option></primary></indexterm>
374 <indexterm><primary><option>-c</option></primary></indexterm>
377 <para>This is the traditional batch-compiler mode, in which
378 GHC can compile source files one at a time, or link objects
379 together into an executable. This mode also applies if
380 there is no other mode flag specified on the command line,
381 in which case it means that the specified files should be
382 compiled and then linked to form a program. See <xref
383 linkend="options-order"/>.</para>
390 <command>ghc -M</command>
392 <indexterm><primary>dependency-generation mode</primary></indexterm>
395 <para>Dependency-generation mode. In this mode, GHC can be
396 used to generate dependency information suitable for use in
397 a <literal>Makefile</literal>. See <xref
398 linkend="makefile-dependencies"/>.</para>
405 <command>ghc --mk-dll</command>
407 <indexterm><primary>DLL-creation mode</primary></indexterm>
410 <para>DLL-creation mode (Windows only). See <xref
411 linkend="win32-dlls-create"/>.</para>
418 <command>ghc --help</command> <command>ghc -?</command>
420 <indexterm><primary><option>––help</option></primary></indexterm>
423 <para>Cause GHC to spew a long usage message to standard
424 output and then exit.</para>
431 <command>ghc --show-iface <replaceable>file</replaceable></command>
433 <indexterm><primary><option>––--show-iface</option></primary></indexterm>
436 <para>Read the interface in
437 <replaceable>file</replaceable> and dump it as text to
438 <literal>stdout</literal>. For example <literal>ghc --show-iface M.hi</literal>.</para>
445 <command>ghc --supported-languages</command>
447 <indexterm><primary><option>––supported-languages</option></primary></indexterm>
450 <para>Print the supported language extensions.</para>
457 <command>ghc --info</command>
459 <indexterm><primary><option>––info</option></primary></indexterm>
462 <para>Print information about the compiler.</para>
469 <command>ghc --version</command>
470 <command>ghc -V</command>
472 <indexterm><primary><option>-V</option></primary></indexterm>
473 <indexterm><primary><option>––version</option></primary></indexterm>
476 <para>Print a one-line string including GHC's version number.</para>
483 <command>ghc --numeric-version</command>
485 <indexterm><primary><option>––numeric-version</option></primary></indexterm>
488 <para>Print GHC's numeric version number only.</para>
495 <command>ghc --print-libdir</command>
497 <indexterm><primary><option>––print-libdir</option></primary></indexterm>
500 <para>Print the path to GHC's library directory. This is
501 the top of the directory tree containing GHC's libraries,
502 interfaces, and include files (usually something like
503 <literal>/usr/local/lib/ghc-5.04</literal> on Unix). This
505 <literal>$libdir</literal><indexterm><primary><literal>libdir</literal></primary></indexterm>
506 in the package configuration file
507 (see <xref linkend="packages"/>).</para>
513 <sect2 id="make-mode">
514 <title>Using <command>ghc</command> <option>––make</option></title>
515 <indexterm><primary><option>––make</option></primary></indexterm>
516 <indexterm><primary>separate compilation</primary></indexterm>
518 <para>In this mode, GHC will build a multi-module Haskell program by following
519 dependencies from one or more root modules (usually just
520 <literal>Main</literal>). For example, if your
521 <literal>Main</literal> module is in a file called
522 <filename>Main.hs</filename>, you could compile and link the
523 program like this:</para>
526 ghc ––make Main.hs
530 In fact, GHC enters make mode automatically if there are any
531 Haskell source files on the command line and no other mode is
532 specified, so in this case we could just type
539 <para>Any number of source file names or module names may be
540 specified; GHC will figure out all the modules in the program by
541 following the imports from these initial modules. It will then
542 attempt to compile each module which is out of date, and
543 finally, if there is a <literal>Main</literal> module, the
544 program will also be linked into an executable.</para>
546 <para>The main advantages to using <literal>ghc
547 ––make</literal> over traditional
548 <literal>Makefile</literal>s are:</para>
552 <para>GHC doesn't have to be restarted for each compilation,
553 which means it can cache information between compilations.
554 Compiling a multi-module program with <literal>ghc
555 ––make</literal> can be up to twice as fast as
556 running <literal>ghc</literal> individually on each source
560 <para>You don't have to write a <literal>Makefile</literal>.</para>
561 <indexterm><primary><literal>Makefile</literal>s</primary><secondary>avoiding</secondary></indexterm>
564 <para>GHC re-calculates the dependencies each time it is
565 invoked, so the dependencies never get out of sync with the
570 <para>Any of the command-line options described in the rest of
571 this chapter can be used with
572 <option>––make</option>, but note that any options
573 you give on the command line will apply to all the source files
574 compiled, so if you want any options to apply to a single source
575 file only, you'll need to use an <literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal>
576 pragma (see <xref linkend="source-file-options"/>).</para>
578 <para>If the program needs to be linked with additional objects
579 (say, some auxiliary C code), then the object files can be
580 given on the command line and GHC will include them when linking
581 the executable.</para>
583 <para>Note that GHC can only follow dependencies if it has the
584 source file available, so if your program includes a module for
585 which there is no source file, even if you have an object and an
586 interface file for the module, then GHC will complain. The
587 exception to this rule is for package modules, which may or may
588 not have source files.</para>
590 <para>The source files for the program don't all need to be in
591 the same directory; the <option>-i</option> option can be used
592 to add directories to the search path (see <xref
593 linkend="search-path"/>).</para>
596 <sect2 id="eval-mode">
597 <title>Expression evaluation mode</title>
599 <para>This mode is very similar to interactive mode, except that
600 there is a single expression to evaluate which is specified on
601 the command line as an argument to the <option>-e</option>
605 ghc -e <replaceable>expr</replaceable>
608 <para>Haskell source files may be named on the command line, and
609 they will be loaded exactly as in interactive mode. The
610 expression is evaluated in the context of the loaded
613 <para>For example, to load and run a Haskell program containing
614 a module <literal>Main</literal>, we might say</para>
617 ghc -e Main.main Main.hs
620 <para>or we can just use this mode to evaluate expressions in
621 the context of the <literal>Prelude</literal>:</para>
624 $ ghc -e "interact (unlines.map reverse.lines)"
630 <sect2 id="options-order">
631 <title>Batch compiler mode</title>
633 <para>In <emphasis>batch mode</emphasis>, GHC will compile one or more source files
634 given on the command line.</para>
636 <para>The first phase to run is determined by each input-file
637 suffix, and the last phase is determined by a flag. If no
638 relevant flag is present, then go all the way through to linking.
639 This table summarises:</para>
643 <colspec align="left"/>
644 <colspec align="left"/>
645 <colspec align="left"/>
646 <colspec align="left"/>
650 <entry>Phase of the compilation system</entry>
651 <entry>Suffix saying “start here”</entry>
652 <entry>Flag saying “stop after”</entry>
653 <entry>(suffix of) output file</entry>
658 <entry>literate pre-processor</entry>
659 <entry><literal>.lhs</literal></entry>
661 <entry><literal>.hs</literal></entry>
665 <entry>C pre-processor (opt.) </entry>
666 <entry><literal>.hs</literal> (with
667 <option>-cpp</option>)</entry>
668 <entry><option>-E</option></entry>
669 <entry><literal>.hspp</literal></entry>
673 <entry>Haskell compiler</entry>
674 <entry><literal>.hs</literal></entry>
675 <entry><option>-C</option>, <option>-S</option></entry>
676 <entry><literal>.hc</literal>, <literal>.s</literal></entry>
680 <entry>C compiler (opt.)</entry>
681 <entry><literal>.hc</literal> or <literal>.c</literal></entry>
682 <entry><option>-S</option></entry>
683 <entry><literal>.s</literal></entry>
687 <entry>assembler</entry>
688 <entry><literal>.s</literal></entry>
689 <entry><option>-c</option></entry>
690 <entry><literal>.o</literal></entry>
694 <entry>linker</entry>
695 <entry><replaceable>other</replaceable></entry>
697 <entry><filename>a.out</filename></entry>
703 <indexterm><primary><option>-C</option></primary></indexterm>
704 <indexterm><primary><option>-E</option></primary></indexterm>
705 <indexterm><primary><option>-S</option></primary></indexterm>
706 <indexterm><primary><option>-c</option></primary></indexterm>
708 <para>Thus, a common invocation would be: </para>
711 ghc -c Foo.hs</screen>
713 <para>to compile the Haskell source file
714 <filename>Foo.hs</filename> to an object file
715 <filename>Foo.o</filename>.</para>
717 <para>Note: What the Haskell compiler proper produces depends on
718 whether a native-code generator<indexterm><primary>native-code
719 generator</primary></indexterm> is used (producing assembly
720 language) or not (producing C). See <xref
721 linkend="options-codegen"/> for more details.</para>
723 <para>Note: C pre-processing is optional, the
724 <option>-cpp</option><indexterm><primary><option>-cpp</option></primary></indexterm>
725 flag turns it on. See <xref linkend="c-pre-processor"/> for more
728 <para>Note: The option <option>-E</option><indexterm><primary>-E
729 option</primary></indexterm> runs just the pre-processing passes
730 of the compiler, dumping the result in a file.</para>
732 <sect3 id="overriding-suffixes">
733 <title>Overriding the default behaviour for a file</title>
735 <para>As described above, the way in which a file is processed by GHC
736 depends on its suffix. This behaviour can be overridden using the
737 <option>-x</option> option:</para>
741 <term><option>-x</option> <replaceable>suffix</replaceable>
742 <indexterm><primary><option>-x</option></primary>
745 <para>Causes all files following this option on the command
746 line to be processed as if they had the suffix
747 <replaceable>suffix</replaceable>. For example, to compile a
748 Haskell module in the file <literal>M.my-hs</literal>,
749 use <literal>ghc -c -x hs M.my-hs</literal>.</para>
758 <sect1 id="options-help">
759 <title>Help and verbosity options</title>
761 <indexterm><primary>help options</primary></indexterm>
762 <indexterm><primary>verbosity options</primary></indexterm>
764 <para>See also the <option>--help</option>, <option>--version</option>, <option>--numeric-version</option>,
765 and <option>--print-libdir</option> modes in <xref linkend="modes"/>.</para>
770 <indexterm><primary><option>-n</option></primary></indexterm>
773 <para>Does a dry-run, i.e. GHC goes through all the motions
774 of compiling as normal, but does not actually run any
775 external commands.</para>
782 <indexterm><primary><option>-v</option></primary></indexterm>
785 <para>The <option>-v</option> option makes GHC
786 <emphasis>verbose</emphasis>: it reports its version number
787 and shows (on stderr) exactly how it invokes each phase of
788 the compilation system. Moreover, it passes the
789 <option>-v</option> flag to most phases; each reports its
790 version number (and possibly some other information).</para>
792 <para>Please, oh please, use the <option>-v</option> option
793 when reporting bugs! Knowing that you ran the right bits in
794 the right order is always the first thing we want to
801 <option>-v</option><replaceable>n</replaceable>
802 <indexterm><primary><option>-v</option></primary></indexterm>
805 <para>To provide more control over the compiler's verbosity,
806 the <option>-v</option> flag takes an optional numeric
807 argument. Specifying <option>-v</option> on its own is
808 equivalent to <option>-v3</option>, and the other levels
809 have the following meanings:</para>
813 <term><option>-v0</option></term>
815 <para>Disable all non-essential messages (this is the
821 <term><option>-v1</option></term>
823 <para>Minimal verbosity: print one line per
824 compilation (this is the default when
825 <option>––make</option> or
826 <option>––interactive</option> is on).</para>
831 <term><option>-v2</option></term>
833 <para>Print the name of each compilation phase as it
834 is executed. (equivalent to
835 <option>-dshow-passes</option>).</para>
840 <term><option>-v3</option></term>
842 <para>The same as <option>-v2</option>, except that in
843 addition the full command line (if appropriate) for
844 each compilation phase is also printed.</para>
849 <term><option>-v4</option></term>
851 <para>The same as <option>-v3</option> except that the
852 intermediate program representation after each
853 compilation phase is also printed (excluding
854 preprocessed and C/assembly files).</para>
862 <term><option>-ferror-spans</option>
863 <indexterm><primary><option>-ferror-spans</option></primary>
867 <para>Causes GHC to emit the full source span of the
868 syntactic entity relating to an error message. Normally, GHC
869 emits the source location of the start of the syntactic
872 <para>For example:</para>
874 <screen>test.hs:3:6: parse error on input `where'</screen>
876 <para>becomes:</para>
878 <screen>test296.hs:3:6-10: parse error on input `where'</screen>
880 <para>And multi-line spans are possible too:</para>
882 <screen>test.hs:(5,4)-(6,7):
883 Conflicting definitions for `a'
884 Bound at: test.hs:5:4
886 In the binding group for: a, b, a</screen>
888 <para>Note that line numbers start counting at one, but
889 column numbers start at zero. This choice was made to
890 follow existing convention (i.e. this is how Emacs does
896 <term><option>-H</option><replaceable>size</replaceable>
897 <indexterm><primary><option>-H</option></primary></indexterm>
900 <para>Set the minimum size of the heap to
901 <replaceable>size</replaceable>.
902 This option is equivalent to
903 <literal>+RTS -H<replaceable>size</replaceable></literal>,
904 see <xref linkend="rts-options-gc" />.
910 <term><option>-Rghc-timing</option>
911 <indexterm><primary><option>-Rghc-timing</option></primary></indexterm>
914 <para>Prints a one-line summary of timing statistics for the
915 GHC run. This option is equivalent to
916 <literal>+RTS -tstderr</literal>, see <xref
917 linkend="rts-options-gc" />.
926 <sect1 id="options-sanity">
927 <title>Warnings and sanity-checking</title>
929 <indexterm><primary>sanity-checking options</primary></indexterm>
930 <indexterm><primary>warnings</primary></indexterm>
933 <para>GHC has a number of options that select which types of
934 non-fatal error messages, otherwise known as warnings, can be
935 generated during compilation. By default, you get a standard set
936 of warnings which are generally likely to indicate bugs in your
938 <option>-fwarn-overlapping-patterns</option>,
939 <option>-fwarn-warnings-deprecations</option>,
940 <option>-fwarn-deprecated-flags</option>,
941 <option>-fwarn-duplicate-exports</option>,
942 <option>-fwarn-missing-fields</option>,
943 <option>-fwarn-missing-methods</option>,
944 <option>-fwarn-lazy-unlifted-bindings</option>,
945 <option>-fwarn-wrong-do-bind</option>, and
946 <option>-fwarn-dodgy-foreign-imports</option>. The following
948 simple ways to select standard “packages” of warnings:
954 <term><option>-W</option>:</term>
956 <indexterm><primary>-W option</primary></indexterm>
957 <para>Provides the standard warnings plus
958 <option>-fwarn-incomplete-patterns</option>,
959 <option>-fwarn-dodgy-exports</option>,
960 <option>-fwarn-dodgy-imports</option>,
961 <option>-fwarn-unused-matches</option>,
962 <option>-fwarn-unused-imports</option>, and
963 <option>-fwarn-unused-binds</option>.</para>
968 <term><option>-Wall</option>:</term>
970 <indexterm><primary><option>-Wall</option></primary></indexterm>
971 <para>Turns on all warning options that indicate potentially
972 suspicious code. The warnings that are
973 <emphasis>not</emphasis> enabled by <option>-Wall</option>
975 <option>-fwarn-simple-patterns</option>,
976 <option>-fwarn-tabs</option>,
977 <option>-fwarn-incomplete-record-updates</option>,
978 <option>-fwarn-monomorphism-restriction</option>,
979 <option>-fwarn-unused-do-bind</option>, and
980 <option>-fwarn-implicit-prelude</option>.</para>
985 <term><option>-w</option>:</term>
987 <indexterm><primary><option>-w</option></primary></indexterm>
988 <para>Turns off all warnings, including the standard ones and
989 those that <literal>-Wall</literal> doesn't enable.</para>
994 <term><option>-Werror</option>:</term>
996 <indexterm><primary><option>-Werror</option></primary></indexterm>
997 <para>Makes any warning into a fatal error. Useful so that you don't
998 miss warnings when doing batch compilation. </para>
1003 <term><option>-Wwarn</option>:</term>
1005 <indexterm><primary><option>-Wwarn</option></primary></indexterm>
1006 <para>Warnings are treated only as warnings, not as errors. This is
1007 the default, but can be useful to negate a
1008 <option>-Werror</option> flag.</para>
1014 <para>The full set of warning options is described below. To turn
1015 off any warning, simply give the corresponding
1016 <option>-fno-warn-...</option> option on the command line.</para>
1021 <term><option>-fwarn-unrecognised-pragmas</option>:</term>
1023 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-unrecognised-pragmas</option></primary>
1025 <indexterm><primary>warnings</primary></indexterm>
1026 <indexterm><primary>pragmas</primary></indexterm>
1027 <para>Causes a warning to be emitted when a
1028 pragma that GHC doesn't recognise is used. As well as pragmas
1029 that GHC itself uses, GHC also recognises pragmas known to be used
1030 by other tools, e.g. <literal>OPTIONS_HUGS</literal> and
1031 <literal>DERIVE</literal>.</para>
1033 <para>This option is on by default.</para>
1038 <term><option>-fwarn-warnings-deprecations</option>:</term>
1040 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-warnings-deprecations</option></primary>
1042 <indexterm><primary>warnings</primary></indexterm>
1043 <indexterm><primary>deprecations</primary></indexterm>
1044 <para>Causes a warning to be emitted when a
1045 module, function or type with a WARNING or DEPRECATED pragma
1046 is used. See <xref linkend="warning-deprecated-pragma"/> for more
1047 details on the pragmas.</para>
1049 <para>This option is on by default.</para>
1054 <term><option>-fwarn-deprecated-flags</option>:</term>
1056 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-deprecated-flags</option></primary>
1058 <indexterm><primary>deprecated-flags</primary></indexterm>
1059 <para>Causes a warning to be emitted when a deprecated
1060 commandline flag is used.</para>
1062 <para>This option is on by default.</para>
1067 <term><option>-fwarn-dodgy-foreign-imports</option>:</term>
1069 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-dodgy-foreign-imports</option></primary>
1071 <para>Causes a warning to be emitted for foreign imports of
1072 the following form:</para>
1074 foreign import "f" f :: FunPtr t
1076 <para>on the grounds that it probably should be</para>
1078 foreign import "&f" f :: FunPtr t
1080 <para>The first form declares that `f` is a (pure) C
1081 function that takes no arguments and returns a pointer to a
1082 C function with type `t`, whereas the second form declares
1083 that `f` itself is a C function with type `t`. The first
1084 declaration is usually a mistake, and one that is hard to
1085 debug because it results in a crash, hence this
1091 <term><option>-fwarn-dodgy-exports</option>:</term>
1093 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-dodgy-exports</option></primary>
1095 <para>Causes a warning to be emitted when a datatype
1096 <literal>T</literal> is exported
1097 with all constructors, i.e. <literal>T(..)</literal>, but is it
1098 just a type synonym.</para>
1099 <para>Also causes a warning to be emitted when a module is
1100 re-exported, but that module exports nothing.</para>
1105 <term><option>-fwarn-dodgy-imports</option>:</term>
1107 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-dodgy-imports</option></primary>
1109 <para>Causes a warning to be emitted when a datatype
1110 <literal>T</literal> is imported
1111 with all constructors, i.e. <literal>T(..)</literal>, but has been
1112 exported abstractly, i.e. <literal>T</literal>.</para>
1117 <term><option>-fwarn-lazy-unlifted-bindings</option>:</term>
1119 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-lazy-unlifted-bindings</option></primary>
1121 <para>Causes a warning to be emitted when an unlifted type
1122 is bound in a way that looks lazy, e.g.
1123 <literal>where (I# x) = ...</literal>. Use
1124 <literal>where !(I# x) = ...</literal> instead. This will be an
1125 error, rather than a warning, in GHC 6.14.
1131 <term><option>-fwarn-duplicate-exports</option>:</term>
1133 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-duplicate-exports</option></primary></indexterm>
1134 <indexterm><primary>duplicate exports, warning</primary></indexterm>
1135 <indexterm><primary>export lists, duplicates</primary></indexterm>
1137 <para>Have the compiler warn about duplicate entries in
1138 export lists. This is useful information if you maintain
1139 large export lists, and want to avoid the continued export
1140 of a definition after you've deleted (one) mention of it in
1141 the export list.</para>
1143 <para>This option is on by default.</para>
1148 <term><option>-fwarn-hi-shadowing</option>:</term>
1150 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-hi-shadowing</option></primary></indexterm>
1151 <indexterm><primary>shadowing</primary>
1152 <secondary>interface files</secondary></indexterm>
1154 <para>Causes the compiler to emit a warning when a module or
1155 interface file in the current directory is shadowing one
1156 with the same module name in a library or other
1162 <term><option>-fwarn-implicit-prelude</option>:</term>
1164 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-implicit-prelude</option></primary></indexterm>
1165 <indexterm><primary>implicit prelude, warning</primary></indexterm>
1166 <para>Have the compiler warn if the Prelude is implicitly
1167 imported. This happens unless either the Prelude module is
1168 explicitly imported with an <literal>import ... Prelude ...</literal>
1169 line, or this implicit import is disabled (either by
1170 <option>-XNoImplicitPrelude</option> or a
1171 <literal>LANGUAGE NoImplicitPrelude</literal> pragma).</para>
1173 <para>Note that no warning is given for syntax that implicitly
1174 refers to the Prelude, even if <option>-XNoImplicitPrelude</option>
1175 would change whether it refers to the Prelude.
1176 For example, no warning is given when
1177 <literal>368</literal> means
1178 <literal>Prelude.fromInteger (368::Prelude.Integer)</literal>
1179 (where <literal>Prelude</literal> refers to the actual Prelude module,
1180 regardless of the imports of the module being compiled).</para>
1182 <para>This warning is off by default.</para>
1187 <term><option>-fwarn-incomplete-patterns</option>:</term>
1189 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-incomplete-patterns</option></primary></indexterm>
1190 <indexterm><primary>incomplete patterns, warning</primary></indexterm>
1191 <indexterm><primary>patterns, incomplete</primary></indexterm>
1193 <para>Similarly for incomplete patterns, the function
1194 <function>g</function> below will fail when applied to
1195 non-empty lists, so the compiler will emit a warning about
1196 this when <option>-fwarn-incomplete-patterns</option> is
1203 <para>This option isn't enabled by default because it can be
1204 a bit noisy, and it doesn't always indicate a bug in the
1205 program. However, it's generally considered good practice
1206 to cover all the cases in your functions.</para>
1211 <term><option>-fwarn-incomplete-record-updates</option>:</term>
1213 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-incomplete-record-updates</option></primary></indexterm>
1214 <indexterm><primary>incomplete record updates, warning</primary></indexterm>
1215 <indexterm><primary>record updates, incomplete</primary></indexterm>
1218 <function>f</function> below will fail when applied to
1219 <literal>Bar</literal>, so the compiler will emit a warning about
1220 this when <option>-fwarn-incomplete-record-updates</option> is
1224 data Foo = Foo { x :: Int }
1228 f foo = foo { x = 6 }
1231 <para>This option isn't enabled by default because it can be
1232 very noisy, and it often doesn't indicate a bug in the
1239 <option>-fwarn-missing-fields</option>:
1240 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-missing-fields</option></primary></indexterm>
1241 <indexterm><primary>missing fields, warning</primary></indexterm>
1242 <indexterm><primary>fields, missing</primary></indexterm>
1246 <para>This option is on by default, and warns you whenever
1247 the construction of a labelled field constructor isn't
1248 complete, missing initializers for one or more fields. While
1249 not an error (the missing fields are initialised with
1250 bottoms), it is often an indication of a programmer error.</para>
1255 <term><option>-fwarn-missing-methods</option>:</term>
1257 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-missing-methods</option></primary></indexterm>
1258 <indexterm><primary>missing methods, warning</primary></indexterm>
1259 <indexterm><primary>methods, missing</primary></indexterm>
1261 <para>This option is on by default, and warns you whenever
1262 an instance declaration is missing one or more methods, and
1263 the corresponding class declaration has no default
1264 declaration for them.</para>
1265 <para>The warning is suppressed if the method name
1266 begins with an underscore. Here's an example where this is useful:
1269 _simpleFn :: a -> String
1270 complexFn :: a -> a -> String
1271 complexFn x y = ... _simpleFn ...
1273 The idea is that: (a) users of the class will only call <literal>complexFn</literal>;
1274 never <literal>_simpleFn</literal>; and (b)
1275 instance declarations can define either <literal>complexFn</literal> or <literal>_simpleFn</literal>.
1281 <term><option>-fwarn-missing-signatures</option>:</term>
1283 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-missing-signatures</option></primary></indexterm>
1284 <indexterm><primary>type signatures, missing</primary></indexterm>
1286 <para>If you would like GHC to check that every top-level
1287 function/value has a type signature, use the
1288 <option>-fwarn-missing-signatures</option> option. As part of
1289 the warning GHC also reports the inferred type. The
1290 option is off by default.</para>
1295 <term><option>-fwarn-name-shadowing</option>:</term>
1297 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-name-shadowing</option></primary></indexterm>
1298 <indexterm><primary>shadowing, warning</primary></indexterm>
1300 <para>This option causes a warning to be emitted whenever an
1301 inner-scope value has the same name as an outer-scope value,
1302 i.e. the inner value shadows the outer one. This can catch
1303 typographical errors that turn into hard-to-find bugs, e.g.,
1304 in the inadvertent capture of what would be a recursive call in
1305 <literal>f = ... let f = id in ... f ...</literal>.</para>
1306 <para>The warning is suppressed for names beginning with an underscore. For example
1308 f x = do { _ignore <- this; _ignore <- that; return (the other) }
1315 <term><option>-fwarn-orphans</option>:</term>
1317 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-orphans</option></primary></indexterm>
1318 <indexterm><primary>orphan instances, warning</primary></indexterm>
1319 <indexterm><primary>orphan rules, warning</primary></indexterm>
1321 <para>This option causes a warning to be emitted whenever the
1322 module contains an "orphan" instance declaration or rewrite rule.
1323 An instance declaration is an orphan if it appears in a module in
1324 which neither the class nor the type being instanced are declared
1325 in the same module. A rule is an orphan if it is a rule for a
1326 function declared in another module. A module containing any
1327 orphans is called an orphan module.</para>
1328 <para>The trouble with orphans is that GHC must pro-actively read the interface
1329 files for all orphan modules, just in case their instances or rules
1330 play a role, whether or not the module's interface would otherwise
1331 be of any use. See <xref linkend="orphan-modules"/> for details.
1338 <option>-fwarn-overlapping-patterns</option>:
1339 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-overlapping-patterns</option></primary></indexterm>
1340 <indexterm><primary>overlapping patterns, warning</primary></indexterm>
1341 <indexterm><primary>patterns, overlapping</primary></indexterm>
1344 <para>By default, the compiler will warn you if a set of
1345 patterns are overlapping, e.g.,</para>
1348 f :: String -> Int
1354 <para>where the last pattern match in <function>f</function>
1355 won't ever be reached, as the second pattern overlaps
1356 it. More often than not, redundant patterns is a programmer
1357 mistake/error, so this option is enabled by default.</para>
1362 <term><option>-fwarn-simple-patterns</option>:</term>
1364 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-simple-patterns</option></primary>
1366 <para>Causes the compiler to warn about lambda-bound
1367 patterns that can fail, eg. <literal>\(x:xs)->...</literal>.
1368 Normally, these aren't treated as incomplete patterns by
1369 <option>-fwarn-incomplete-patterns</option>.</para>
1370 <para>“Lambda-bound patterns” includes all places where there is a single pattern,
1371 including list comprehensions and do-notation. In these cases, a pattern-match
1372 failure is quite legitimate, and triggers filtering (list comprehensions) or
1373 the monad <literal>fail</literal> operation (monads). For example:
1375 f :: [Maybe a] -> [a]
1376 f xs = [y | Just y <- xs]
1378 Switching on <option>-fwarn-simple-patterns</option> will elicit warnings about
1379 these probably-innocent cases, which is why the flag is off by default. </para>
1384 <term><option>-fwarn-tabs</option>:</term>
1386 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-tabs</option></primary></indexterm>
1387 <indexterm><primary>tabs, warning</primary></indexterm>
1388 <para>Have the compiler warn if there are tabs in your source
1391 <para>This warning is off by default.</para>
1396 <term><option>-fwarn-type-defaults</option>:</term>
1398 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-type-defaults</option></primary></indexterm>
1399 <indexterm><primary>defaulting mechanism, warning</primary></indexterm>
1400 <para>Have the compiler warn/inform you where in your source
1401 the Haskell defaulting mechanism for numeric types kicks
1402 in. This is useful information when converting code from a
1403 context that assumed one default into one with another,
1404 e.g., the ‘default default’ for Haskell 1.4 caused the
1405 otherwise unconstrained value <constant>1</constant> to be
1406 given the type <literal>Int</literal>, whereas Haskell 98
1407 defaults it to <literal>Integer</literal>. This may lead to
1408 differences in performance and behaviour, hence the
1409 usefulness of being non-silent about this.</para>
1411 <para>This warning is off by default.</para>
1416 <term><option>-fwarn-monomorphism-restriction</option>:</term>
1418 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-monomorphism-restriction</option></primary></indexterm>
1419 <indexterm><primary>monomorphism restriction, warning</primary></indexterm>
1420 <para>Have the compiler warn/inform you where in your source
1421 the Haskell Monomorphism Restriction is applied. If applied silently
1422 the MR can give rise to unexpected behaviour, so it can be helpful
1423 to have an explicit warning that it is being applied.</para>
1425 <para>This warning is off by default.</para>
1430 <term><option>-fwarn-unused-binds</option>:</term>
1432 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-unused-binds</option></primary></indexterm>
1433 <indexterm><primary>unused binds, warning</primary></indexterm>
1434 <indexterm><primary>binds, unused</primary></indexterm>
1435 <para>Report any function definitions (and local bindings)
1436 which are unused. For top-level functions, the warning is
1437 only given if the binding is not exported.</para>
1438 <para>A definition is regarded as "used" if (a) it is exported, or (b) it is
1439 mentioned in the right hand side of another definition that is used, or (c) the
1440 function it defines begins with an underscore. The last case provides a
1441 way to suppress unused-binding warnings selectively. </para>
1442 <para> Notice that a variable
1443 is reported as unused even if it appears in the right-hand side of another
1444 unused binding. </para>
1449 <term><option>-fwarn-unused-imports</option>:</term>
1451 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-unused-imports</option></primary></indexterm>
1452 <indexterm><primary>unused imports, warning</primary></indexterm>
1453 <indexterm><primary>imports, unused</primary></indexterm>
1455 <para>Report any modules that are explicitly imported but
1456 never used. However, the form <literal>import M()</literal> is
1457 never reported as an unused import, because it is a useful idiom
1458 for importing instance declarations, which are anonymous in Haskell.</para>
1463 <term><option>-fwarn-unused-matches</option>:</term>
1465 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-unused-matches</option></primary></indexterm>
1466 <indexterm><primary>unused matches, warning</primary></indexterm>
1467 <indexterm><primary>matches, unused</primary></indexterm>
1469 <para>Report all unused variables which arise from pattern
1470 matches, including patterns consisting of a single variable.
1471 For instance <literal>f x y = []</literal> would report
1472 <varname>x</varname> and <varname>y</varname> as unused. The
1473 warning is suppressed if the variable name begins with an underscore, thus:
1482 <term><option>-fwarn-unused-do-bind</option>:</term>
1484 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-unused-do-bind</option></primary></indexterm>
1485 <indexterm><primary>unused do binding, warning</primary></indexterm>
1486 <indexterm><primary>do binding, unused</primary></indexterm>
1488 <para>Report expressions occuring in <literal>do</literal> and <literal>mdo</literal> blocks
1489 that appear to silently throw information away.
1490 For instance <literal>do { mapM popInt xs ; return 10 }</literal> would report
1491 the first statement in the <literal>do</literal> block as suspicious,
1492 as it has the type <literal>StackM [Int]</literal> and not <literal>StackM ()</literal>, but that
1493 <literal>[Int]</literal> value is not bound to anything. The warning is suppressed by
1494 explicitly mentioning in the source code that your program is throwing something away:
1496 do { _ <- mapM popInt xs ; return 10 }
1498 Of course, in this particular situation you can do even better:
1500 do { mapM_ popInt xs ; return 10 }
1507 <term><option>-fwarn-wrong-do-bind</option>:</term>
1509 <indexterm><primary><option>-fwarn-wrong-do-bind</option></primary></indexterm>
1510 <indexterm><primary>apparently erroneous do binding, warning</primary></indexterm>
1511 <indexterm><primary>do binding, apparently erroneous</primary></indexterm>
1513 <para>Report expressions occuring in <literal>do</literal> and <literal>mdo</literal> blocks
1514 that appear to lack a binding.
1515 For instance <literal>do { return (popInt 10) ; return 10 }</literal> would report
1516 the first statement in the <literal>do</literal> block as suspicious,
1517 as it has the type <literal>StackM (StackM Int)</literal> (which consists of two nested applications
1518 of the same monad constructor), but which is not then "unpacked" by binding the result.
1519 The warning is suppressed by explicitly mentioning in the source code that your program is throwing something away:
1521 do { _ <- return (popInt 10) ; return 10 }
1523 For almost all sensible programs this will indicate a bug, and you probably intended to write:
1525 do { popInt 10 ; return 10 }
1533 <para>If you're feeling really paranoid, the
1534 <option>-dcore-lint</option>
1535 option<indexterm><primary><option>-dcore-lint</option></primary></indexterm>
1536 is a good choice. It turns on heavyweight intra-pass
1537 sanity-checking within GHC. (It checks GHC's sanity, not
1544 <sect1 id="options-optimise">
1545 <title>Optimisation (code improvement)</title>
1547 <indexterm><primary>optimisation</primary></indexterm>
1548 <indexterm><primary>improvement, code</primary></indexterm>
1550 <para>The <option>-O*</option> options specify convenient
1551 “packages” of optimisation flags; the
1552 <option>-f*</option> options described later on specify
1553 <emphasis>individual</emphasis> optimisations to be turned on/off;
1554 the <option>-m*</option> options specify
1555 <emphasis>machine-specific</emphasis> optimisations to be turned
1558 <sect2 id="optimise-pkgs">
1559 <title><option>-O*</option>: convenient “packages” of optimisation flags.</title>
1561 <para>There are <emphasis>many</emphasis> options that affect
1562 the quality of code produced by GHC. Most people only have a
1563 general goal, something like “Compile quickly” or
1564 “Make my program run like greased lightning.” The
1565 following “packages” of optimisations (or lack
1566 thereof) should suffice.</para>
1568 <para>Note that higher optimisation levels cause more
1569 cross-module optimisation to be performed, which can have an
1570 impact on how much of your program needs to be recompiled when
1571 you change something. This is one reason to stick to
1572 no-optimisation when developing code.</para>
1578 No <option>-O*</option>-type option specified:
1579 <indexterm><primary>-O* not specified</primary></indexterm>
1582 <para>This is taken to mean: “Please compile
1583 quickly; I'm not over-bothered about compiled-code
1584 quality.” So, for example: <command>ghc -c
1585 Foo.hs</command></para>
1591 <option>-O0</option>:
1592 <indexterm><primary><option>-O0</option></primary></indexterm>
1595 <para>Means “turn off all optimisation”,
1596 reverting to the same settings as if no
1597 <option>-O</option> options had been specified. Saying
1598 <option>-O0</option> can be useful if
1599 eg. <command>make</command> has inserted a
1600 <option>-O</option> on the command line already.</para>
1606 <option>-O</option> or <option>-O1</option>:
1607 <indexterm><primary>-O option</primary></indexterm>
1608 <indexterm><primary>-O1 option</primary></indexterm>
1609 <indexterm><primary>optimise</primary><secondary>normally</secondary></indexterm>
1612 <para>Means: “Generate good-quality code without
1613 taking too long about it.” Thus, for example:
1614 <command>ghc -c -O Main.lhs</command></para>
1620 <option>-O2</option>:
1621 <indexterm><primary>-O2 option</primary></indexterm>
1622 <indexterm><primary>optimise</primary><secondary>aggressively</secondary></indexterm>
1625 <para>Means: “Apply every non-dangerous
1626 optimisation, even if it means significantly longer
1627 compile times.”</para>
1629 <para>The avoided “dangerous” optimisations
1630 are those that can make runtime or space
1631 <emphasis>worse</emphasis> if you're unlucky. They are
1632 normally turned on or off individually.</para>
1634 <para>At the moment, <option>-O2</option> is
1635 <emphasis>unlikely</emphasis> to produce better code than
1636 <option>-O</option>.</para>
1642 <option>-Ofile <file></option>:
1643 <indexterm><primary>-Ofile <file> option</primary></indexterm>
1644 <indexterm><primary>optimising, customised</primary></indexterm>
1647 <para>(NOTE: not supported since GHC 4.x. Please ask if
1648 you're interested in this.)</para>
1650 <para>For those who need <emphasis>absolute</emphasis>
1651 control over <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> what options are
1652 used (e.g., compiler writers, sometimes :-), a list of
1653 options can be put in a file and then slurped in with
1654 <option>-Ofile</option>.</para>
1656 <para>In that file, comments are of the
1657 <literal>#</literal>-to-end-of-line variety; blank
1658 lines and most whitespace is ignored.</para>
1660 <para>Please ask if you are baffled and would like an
1661 example of <option>-Ofile</option>!</para>
1666 <para>We don't use a <option>-O*</option> flag for day-to-day
1667 work. We use <option>-O</option> to get respectable speed;
1668 e.g., when we want to measure something. When we want to go for
1669 broke, we tend to use <option>-O2 -fvia-C</option> (and we go for
1670 lots of coffee breaks).</para>
1672 <para>The easiest way to see what <option>-O</option> (etc.)
1673 “really mean” is to run with <option>-v</option>,
1674 then stand back in amazement.</para>
1677 <sect2 id="options-f">
1678 <title><option>-f*</option>: platform-independent flags</title>
1680 <indexterm><primary>-f* options (GHC)</primary></indexterm>
1681 <indexterm><primary>-fno-* options (GHC)</primary></indexterm>
1683 <para>These flags turn on and off individual optimisations.
1684 They are normally set via the <option>-O</option> options
1685 described above, and as such, you shouldn't need to set any of
1686 them explicitly (indeed, doing so could lead to unexpected
1687 results). However, there are one or two that may be of
1692 <term><option>-fexcess-precision</option>:</term>
1694 <indexterm><primary><option>-fexcess-precision</option></primary></indexterm>
1695 <para>When this option is given, intermediate floating
1696 point values can have a <emphasis>greater</emphasis>
1697 precision/range than the final type. Generally this is a
1698 good thing, but some programs may rely on the exact
1700 <literal>Float</literal>/<literal>Double</literal> values
1701 and should not use this option for their compilation.</para>
1706 <term><option>-fignore-asserts</option>:</term>
1708 <indexterm><primary><option>-fignore-asserts</option></primary></indexterm>
1709 <para>Causes GHC to ignore uses of the function
1710 <literal>Exception.assert</literal> in source code (in
1711 other words, rewriting <literal>Exception.assert p
1712 e</literal> to <literal>e</literal> (see <xref
1713 linkend="assertions"/>). This flag is turned on by
1714 <option>-O</option>.
1721 <option>-fno-cse</option>
1722 <indexterm><primary><option>-fno-cse</option></primary></indexterm>
1725 <para>Turns off the common-sub-expression elimination optimisation.
1726 Can be useful if you have some <literal>unsafePerformIO</literal>
1727 expressions that you don't want commoned-up.</para>
1733 <option>-fno-strictness</option>
1734 <indexterm><primary><option>-fno-strictness</option></primary></indexterm>
1737 <para>Turns off the strictness analyser; sometimes it eats
1738 too many cycles.</para>
1744 <option>-fno-full-laziness</option>
1745 <indexterm><primary><option>-fno-full-laziness</option></primary></indexterm>
1748 <para>Turns off the full laziness optimisation (also known as
1749 let-floating). Full laziness increases sharing, which can lead
1750 to increased memory residency.</para>
1752 <para>NOTE: GHC doesn't implement complete full-laziness.
1753 When optimisation in on, and
1754 <option>-fno-full-laziness</option> is not given, some
1755 transformations that increase sharing are performed, such
1756 as extracting repeated computations from a loop. These
1757 are the same transformations that a fully lazy
1758 implementation would do, the difference is that GHC
1759 doesn't consistently apply full-laziness, so don't rely on
1766 <option>-fno-float-in</option>
1767 <indexterm><primary><option>-fno-float-in</option></primary></indexterm>
1770 <para>Turns off the float-in transformation.</para>
1776 <option>-fno-specialise</option>
1777 <indexterm><primary><option>-fno-specialise</option></primary></indexterm>
1780 <para>Turns off the automatic specialisation of overloaded functions.</para>
1786 <option>-fspec-constr</option>
1787 <indexterm><primary><option>-fspec-constr</option></primary></indexterm>
1790 <para>Turn on call-pattern specialisation.</para>
1796 <option>-fliberate-case</option>
1797 <indexterm><primary><option>-fliberate-case</option></primary></indexterm>
1800 <para>Turn on the liberate-case transformation.</para>
1806 <option>-fstatic-argument-transformation</option>
1807 <indexterm><primary><option>-fstatic-argument-transformation</option></primary></indexterm>
1810 <para>Turn on the static argument transformation.</para>
1816 <option>-fno-state-hack</option>
1817 <indexterm><primary><option>-fno-state-hack</option></primary></indexterm>
1820 <para>Turn off the "state hack" whereby any lambda with a
1821 <literal>State#</literal> token as argument is considered to be
1822 single-entry, hence it is considered OK to inline things inside
1823 it. This can improve performance of IO and ST monad code, but it
1824 runs the risk of reducing sharing.</para>
1830 <option>-fomit-interface-pragmas</option>
1831 <indexterm><primary><option>-fomit-interface-pragmas</option></primary></indexterm>
1834 <para>Tells GHC to omit all inessential information from the interface file
1835 generated for the module being compiled (say M). This means that a module
1836 importing M will see only the <emphasis>types</emphasis> of the functions that M exports, but not
1837 their unfoldings, strictness info, etc. Hence, for example,
1838 no function exported by M will be inlined
1839 into an importing module. The benefit is that modules that import M will
1840 need to be recompiled less often (only when M's exports change their type,
1841 not when they change their implementation).
1848 <option>-fignore-interface-pragmas</option>
1849 <indexterm><primary><option>-fignore-interface-pragmas</option></primary></indexterm>
1852 <para>Tells GHC to ignore all inessential information when reading interface files.
1853 That is, even if <filename>M.hi</filename> contains unfolding or strictness information
1854 for a function, GHC will ignore that information.</para>
1860 <option>-funbox-strict-fields</option>:
1861 <indexterm><primary><option>-funbox-strict-fields</option></primary></indexterm>
1862 <indexterm><primary>strict constructor fields</primary></indexterm>
1863 <indexterm><primary>constructor fields, strict</primary></indexterm>
1866 <para>This option causes all constructor fields which are
1867 marked strict (i.e. “!”) to be unboxed or
1868 unpacked if possible. It is equivalent to adding an
1869 <literal>UNPACK</literal> pragma to every strict
1870 constructor field (see <xref
1871 linkend="unpack-pragma"/>).</para>
1873 <para>This option is a bit of a sledgehammer: it might
1874 sometimes make things worse. Selectively unboxing fields
1875 by using <literal>UNPACK</literal> pragmas might be
1882 <option>-funfolding-creation-threshold=<replaceable>n</replaceable></option>:
1883 <indexterm><primary><option>-funfolding-creation-threshold</option></primary></indexterm>
1884 <indexterm><primary>inlining, controlling</primary></indexterm>
1885 <indexterm><primary>unfolding, controlling</primary></indexterm>
1888 <para>(Default: 45) Governs the maximum size that GHC will
1889 allow a function unfolding to be. (An unfolding has a
1890 “size” that reflects the cost in terms of
1891 “code bloat” of expanding that unfolding at
1892 at a call site. A bigger function would be assigned a
1893 bigger cost.) </para>
1895 <para> Consequences: (a) nothing larger than this will be
1896 inlined (unless it has an INLINE pragma); (b) nothing
1897 larger than this will be spewed into an interface
1901 <para> Increasing this figure is more likely to result in longer
1902 compile times than faster code. The next option is more
1908 <term><option>-funfolding-use-threshold=<replaceable>n</replaceable></option></term>
1910 <indexterm><primary><option>-funfolding-use-threshold</option></primary></indexterm>
1911 <indexterm><primary>inlining, controlling</primary></indexterm>
1912 <indexterm><primary>unfolding, controlling</primary></indexterm>
1914 <para>(Default: 8) This is the magic cut-off figure for
1915 unfolding: below this size, a function definition will be
1916 unfolded at the call-site, any bigger and it won't. The
1917 size computed for a function depends on two things: the
1918 actual size of the expression minus any discounts that
1919 apply (see <option>-funfolding-con-discount</option>).</para>
1932 <sect1 id="using-concurrent">
1933 <title>Using Concurrent Haskell</title>
1934 <indexterm><primary>Concurrent Haskell</primary><secondary>using</secondary></indexterm>
1936 <para>GHC supports Concurrent Haskell by default, without requiring a
1937 special option or libraries compiled in a certain way. To get access to
1938 the support libraries for Concurrent Haskell, just import
1940 url="&libraryBaseLocation;/Control-Concurrent.html"><literal>Control.Concurrent</literal></ulink>. More information on Concurrent Haskell is provided in the documentation for that module.</para>
1942 <para>The following RTS option(s) affect the behaviour of Concurrent
1943 Haskell programs:<indexterm><primary>RTS options, concurrent</primary></indexterm></para>
1947 <term><option>-C<replaceable>s</replaceable></option></term>
1949 <para><indexterm><primary><option>-C<replaceable>s</replaceable></option></primary><secondary>RTS option</secondary></indexterm>
1950 Sets the context switch interval to <replaceable>s</replaceable>
1951 seconds. A context switch will occur at the next heap block
1952 allocation after the timer expires (a heap block allocation occurs
1953 every 4k of allocation). With <option>-C0</option> or
1954 <option>-C</option>, context switches will occur as often as
1955 possible (at every heap block allocation). By default, context
1956 switches occur every 20ms.</para>
1962 <sect1 id="using-smp">
1963 <title>Using SMP parallelism</title>
1964 <indexterm><primary>parallelism</primary>
1966 <indexterm><primary>SMP</primary>
1969 <para>GHC supports running Haskell programs in parallel on an SMP
1970 (symmetric multiprocessor).</para>
1972 <para>There's a fine distinction between
1973 <emphasis>concurrency</emphasis> and <emphasis>parallelism</emphasis>:
1974 parallelism is all about making your program run
1975 <emphasis>faster</emphasis> by making use of multiple processors
1976 simultaneously. Concurrency, on the other hand, is a means of
1977 abstraction: it is a convenient way to structure a program that must
1978 respond to multiple asynchronous events.</para>
1980 <para>However, the two terms are certainly related. By making use of
1981 multiple CPUs it is possible to run concurrent threads in parallel,
1982 and this is exactly what GHC's SMP parallelism support does. But it
1983 is also possible to obtain performance improvements with parallelism
1984 on programs that do not use concurrency. This section describes how to
1985 use GHC to compile and run parallel programs, in <xref
1986 linkend="lang-parallel" /> we describe the language features that affect
1989 <sect2 id="parallel-compile-options">
1990 <title>Compile-time options for SMP parallelism</title>
1992 <para>In order to make use of multiple CPUs, your program must be
1993 linked with the <option>-threaded</option> option (see <xref
1994 linkend="options-linker" />). Additionally, the following
1995 compiler options affect parallelism:</para>
1999 <term><option>-feager-blackholing</option></term>
2000 <indexterm><primary><option>-feager-blackholing</option></primary></indexterm>
2003 Blackholing is the act of marking a thunk (lazy
2004 computuation) as being under evaluation. It is useful for
2005 three reasons: firstly it lets us detect certain kinds of
2006 infinite loop (the <literal>NonTermination</literal>
2007 exception), secondly it avoids certain kinds of space
2008 leak, and thirdly it avoids repeating a computation in a
2009 parallel program, because we can tell when a computation
2010 is already in progress.</para>
2013 The option <option>-feager-blackholing</option> causes
2014 each thunk to be blackholed as soon as evaluation begins.
2015 The default is "lazy blackholing", whereby thunks are only
2016 marked as being under evaluation when a thread is paused
2017 for some reason. Lazy blackholing is typically more
2018 efficient (by 1-2% or so), because most thunks don't
2019 need to be blackholed. However, eager blackholing can
2020 avoid more repeated computation in a parallel program, and
2021 this often turns out to be important for parallelism.
2025 We recommend compiling any code that is intended to be run
2026 in parallel with the <option>-feager-blackholing</option>
2034 <sect2 id="parallel-options">
2035 <title>RTS options for SMP parallelism</title>
2037 <para>To run a program on multiple CPUs, use the
2038 RTS <option>-N</option> option:</para>
2042 <term><option>-N<optional><replaceable>x</replaceable></optional></option></term>
2044 <para><indexterm><primary><option>-N<replaceable>x</replaceable></option></primary><secondary>RTS option</secondary></indexterm>
2045 Use <replaceable>x</replaceable> simultaneous threads when
2046 running the program. Normally <replaceable>x</replaceable>
2047 should be chosen to match the number of CPU cores on the
2048 machine<footnote><para>Whether hyperthreading cores should be counted or not is an
2049 open question; please feel free to experiment and let us know what
2050 results you find.</para></footnote>. For example,
2051 on a dual-core machine we would probably use
2052 <literal>+RTS -N2 -RTS</literal>.</para>
2054 <para>Omitting <replaceable>x</replaceable>,
2055 i.e. <literal>+RTS -N -RTS</literal>, lets the runtime
2056 choose the value of <replaceable>x</replaceable> itself
2057 based on how many processors are in your machine.</para>
2059 <para>Be careful when using all the processors in your
2060 machine: if some of your processors are in use by other
2061 programs, this can actually harm performance rather than
2064 <para>Setting <option>-N</option> also has the effect of
2065 enabling the parallel garbage collector (see
2066 <xref linkend="rts-options-gc" />).</para>
2068 <para>There is no means (currently) by which this value
2069 may vary after the program has started.</para>
2071 <para>The current value of the <option>-N</option> option
2072 is available to the Haskell program
2073 via <literal>GHC.Conc.numCapabilities</literal>.</para>
2078 <para>The following options affect the way the runtime schedules
2079 threads on CPUs:</para>
2083 <term><option>-qa</option></term>
2084 <indexterm><primary><option>-qa</option></primary><secondary>RTS
2085 option</secondary></indexterm>
2087 <para>Use the OS's affinity facilities to try to pin OS
2088 threads to CPU cores. This is an experimental feature,
2089 and may or may not be useful. Please let us know
2090 whether it helps for you!</para>
2094 <term><option>-qm</option></term>
2095 <indexterm><primary><option>-qm</option></primary><secondary>RTS
2096 option</secondary></indexterm>
2098 <para>Disable automatic migration for load balancing.
2099 Normally the runtime will automatically try to schedule
2100 threads across the available CPUs to make use of idle
2101 CPUs; this option disables that behaviour. Note that
2102 migration only applies to threads; sparks created
2103 by <literal>par</literal> are load-balanced separately
2104 by work-stealing.</para>
2107 This option is probably only of use for concurrent
2108 programs that explicitly schedule threads onto CPUs
2109 with <literal>GHC.Conc.forkOnIO</literal>.
2114 <term><option>-qw</option></term>
2115 <indexterm><primary><option>-qw</option></primary><secondary>RTS
2116 option</secondary></indexterm>
2118 <para>Migrate a thread to the current CPU when it is woken
2119 up. Normally when a thread is woken up after being
2120 blocked it will be scheduled on the CPU it was running on
2121 last; this option allows the thread to immediately migrate
2122 to the CPU that unblocked it.</para>
2124 <para>The rationale for allowing this eager migration is
2125 that it tends to move threads that are communicating with
2126 each other onto the same CPU; however there are
2127 pathalogical situations where it turns out to be a poor
2128 strategy. Depending on the communication pattern in your
2129 program, it may or may not be a good idea.</para>
2136 <title>Hints for using SMP parallelism</title>
2138 <para>Add the <literal>-s</literal> RTS option when
2139 running the program to see timing stats, which will help to tell you
2140 whether your program got faster by using more CPUs or not. If the user
2141 time is greater than
2142 the elapsed time, then the program used more than one CPU. You should
2143 also run the program without <literal>-N</literal> for
2146 <para>The output of <literal>+RTS -s</literal> tells you how
2147 many “sparks” were created and executed during the
2148 run of the program (see <xref linkend="rts-options-gc" />), which
2149 will give you an idea how well your <literal>par</literal>
2150 annotations are working.</para>
2152 <para>GHC's parallelism support has improved in 6.12.1 as a
2153 result of much experimentation and tuning in the runtime
2154 system. We'd still be interested to hear how well it works
2155 for you, and we're also interested in collecting parallel
2156 programs to add to our benchmarking suite.</para>
2160 <sect1 id="options-platform">
2161 <title>Platform-specific Flags</title>
2163 <indexterm><primary>-m* options</primary></indexterm>
2164 <indexterm><primary>platform-specific options</primary></indexterm>
2165 <indexterm><primary>machine-specific options</primary></indexterm>
2167 <para>Some flags only make sense for particular target
2173 <term><option>-msse2</option>:</term>
2176 (x86 only, added in GHC 6.14.1) Use the SSE2 registers and
2177 instruction set to implement floating point operations
2178 when using the native code generator. This gives a
2179 substantial performance improvement for floating point,
2180 but the resulting compiled code will only run on
2181 processors that support SSE2 (Intel Pentium 4 and later,
2182 or AMD Athlon 64 and later).
2185 SSE2 is unconditionally used on x86-64 platforms.
2191 <term><option>-monly-[32]-regs</option>:</term>
2193 <para>(x86 only)<indexterm><primary>-monly-N-regs
2194 option (iX86 only)</primary></indexterm> GHC tries to
2195 “steal” four registers from GCC, for performance
2196 reasons; it almost always works. However, when GCC is
2197 compiling some modules with four stolen registers, it will
2198 crash, probably saying:
2201 Foo.hc:533: fixed or forbidden register was spilled.
2202 This may be due to a compiler bug or to impossible asm
2203 statements or clauses.
2206 Just give some registers back with
2207 <option>-monly-N-regs</option>. Try `3' first, then `2'.
2208 If `2' doesn't work, please report the bug to us.</para>
2217 <sect1 id="ext-core">
2218 <title>Generating and compiling External Core Files</title>
2220 <indexterm><primary>intermediate code generation</primary></indexterm>
2222 <para>GHC can dump its optimized intermediate code (said to be in “Core” format)
2223 to a file as a side-effect of compilation. Non-GHC back-end tools can read and process Core files; these files have the suffix
2224 <filename>.hcr</filename>. The Core format is described in <ulink url="../../core.pdf">
2225 <citetitle>An External Representation for the GHC Core Language</citetitle></ulink>,
2227 for manipulating Core files (in Haskell) are in the GHC source distribution
2228 directory under <literal>utils/ext-core</literal>.
2229 Note that the format of <literal>.hcr</literal>
2230 files is <emphasis>different</emphasis> from the Core output format that GHC generates
2231 for debugging purposes (<xref linkend="options-debugging"/>), though the two formats appear somewhat similar.</para>
2233 <para>The Core format natively supports notes which you can add to
2234 your source code using the <literal>CORE</literal> pragma (see <xref
2235 linkend="pragmas"/>).</para>
2241 <option>-fext-core</option>
2242 <indexterm><primary><option>-fext-core</option></primary></indexterm>
2245 <para>Generate <literal>.hcr</literal> files.</para>
2251 <para>Currently (as of version 6.8.2), GHC does not have the ability to read in External Core files as source. If you would like GHC to have this ability, please <ulink url="http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/wiki/MailingListsAndIRC">make your wishes known to the GHC Team</ulink>.</para>
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