Intel Visual Fortran Compiler 17.0 for Windows* Release Notes for Intel Parallel Studio XE 2017

ID 672236
Updated 1/16/2018
Version Latest
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This document provides a summary of new and changed product features and includes notes about features and problems not described in the product documentation.

Please see the licenses included in the distribution as well as the Disclaimer and Legal Information section of these release notes for details. Please see the following links for information on this release of the Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 17.0.

Change History

This section highlights important changes from the previous product version and changes in product updates.

Changes in Update 8 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 17.0.8

Changes in Update 7 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 17.0.7)

  •  New options to mitigate branch target injection
  • Corrections to reported problems

Changes in Update 6 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 17.0.6)

  • Various fixes for improved performance and stability
  • Corrections to reported problems

Changes in Update 5 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 17.0.5)

Changes in Update 4 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 17.0.4)

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No Update 3 Release

  • There was no Update 3 Release

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Changes in Update 2 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 17.0.2)

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Changes in Update 1 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 17.0.1)

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Changes since Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 16.0 (New in Intel® Fortran Compiler 17.0.0)

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Product Contents

Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 17.0 for Windows* initial release includes the following components:

  • Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 17.0 for building applications that run on IA-32 and Intel® 64 architecture systems
  • Fortran Expression Evaluator (FEE) for debugging Fortran applications with Microsoft Visual Studio*
  • Integration into Microsoft* development environments
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2013* Shell and Libraries (not included with Evaluation licenses)
  • Sample programs
  • On-disk documentation

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System Requirements

For an explanation of architecture names, see Intel® Architecture Platform Terminology

  • A PC based on an Intel® 64 architecture processor supporting the Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (Intel® SSE2) instructions (2nd Generation or newer Generation of Intel® Core™ i3, i5, or i7 processors and Intel® Xeon® E3 or E5 processor family, or compatible non-Intel processor)
    • For the best experience, a multi-core or multi-processor system is recommended
  • 2GB RAM (4GB recommended)
  • 4GB free disk space required for all product features and all architectures
  • For Intel® Many Integrated Core Architecture (Intel® MIC Architecture) development/testing:
  • Microsoft Windows 7*, Microsoft Windows 8*, Microsoft Windows 8.1*, Microsoft Windows 10*, Microsoft Windows Server 2012* (R2) (Intel® 64 only), Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (R2 SP1) (Intel® 64 only) or Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008 (R2)* (Intel® 64 only) (embedded editions not supported)
    • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 or Windows HPC Server 2008 requires Microsoft Visual Studio 2015*, Microsoft Visual Studio 2013* or Visual Studio 2012* or Visual Studio 2013* Shell.
    • On Microsoft Windows 8, Microsoft Windows 8.1, and Microsoft Windows Server 2012, the product installs into the “Desktop” environment. Development of “Windows 8* UI” applications is not supported.
  • To use the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment or command-line tools to build IA-32[4] or Intel® 64 architecture applications, one of:
    • Microsoft Visual Studio 2017* Professional Edition (or higher edition) or Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2017* with 'Desktop development with C++' component installed [7]
    • Microsoft Visual Studio 2015* Professional Edition (or higher edition) or Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2015* with 'Common Tools for Visual C++ 2015' component installed [6]
    • Microsoft Visual Studio 2013* Professional Edition (or higher edition) or Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2013*
    • Microsoft Visual Studio 2012* Professional Edition or higher
    • Intel® Visual Fortran development environment based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Shell (included with some license types of Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler) [1][2][3]
  • To use command-line tools only to build IA-32[5] architecture applications, one of:
    • Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2015 for Windows Desktop*
    • Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop*
    • Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop*
  • To use command-line tools only to build Intel® 64 architecture applications, one of:
    • Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2015 for Windows Desktop*
    • Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop*
    • Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop*
    • Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit for Windows 8*
  • To read the on-disk documentation, Adobe Reader* 7.0 or later

Notes:

  1. Intel® Visual Fortran development environment based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2013* Shell is included with Academic and Commercial licenses for Intel® Parallel Studio XE Composer Edition for Fortran Windows*.  It is not included with Evaluation licenses or the "free tools" license obtained through the free software program for students and educators. This development environment provides everything necessary to edit, build and debug Fortran applications. Some features of the full Visual Studio product are not included, such as:
    • Resource Editor (see ResEdit* (http://www.resedit.net/), a third-party tool, for a substitute)
    • Automated conversion of Compaq* Visual Fortran projects
    • Microsoft language tools such as Visual C++* or Visual Basic*
  2. To use the Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler with Microsoft Visual Studio 2013* Shell, it is necessary to install the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 8.1*. This article explains how.
  3. If you install Intel® Visual Fortran development environment based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2013* Shell, Microsoft Visual Studio Shell will detect whether your machine contains Microsoft components that are needed for Microsoft Visual Studio Shell to run, such as the .NET Framework, and automatically download and install them over the Internet if they are not present on your system.
  4. The default for Intel® Visual Fortran is to build IA-32 architecture applications that require a processor supporting the Intel® SSE2 instructions.  A compiler option is available to generate code that will run on any IA-32 architecture processor. Note, however, that applications calling Intel® MKL require a processor supporting the Intel® SSE2 instructions.
  5. Applications can be run on the same Windows versions as specified above for development. Applications may also run on non-embedded 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows earlier than Windows 7, though Intel does not test these for compatibility.  Your application may depend on a Windows API routine not present in older versions of Windows.  You are responsible for testing application compatibility. You may need to copy certain run-time DLLs onto the target system to run your application.
  6. To use the Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler with Microsoft Visual Studio 2015*, it is necessary to install the 'Common Tools for Visual C++ 2015' component from Visual Studio.  This article explains how.
  7. To use the Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler with Microsoft Visual Studio 2017*, it is necessary to install the 'Desktop development with C++' component from Visual Studio.  This article explains how.

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Intel® Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel® MPSS)

The Intel® Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel® MPSS) may be installed before or after installing the Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler, if you will be developing applications that use Intel® Xeon™ Phi coprocessors.

It is recommend that the latest version of Intel® MPSS be used. It is available from the Intel® Software Development Products Registration Center at https://registrationcenter.intel.com as part of your Intel® Parallel Studio XE for Windows* registration.

Refer to the Intel® MPSS documentation for the necessary steps to install the user space and kernel drivers.

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How to use the Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler

The Getting Started Guide at <install-dir>\IntelSWTools\documentation_2017\en\ps2017\getstart_comp_wf.htm contains information on how to use the Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler from the command line and from Microsoft Visual Studio*.

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Documentation

Product documentation is linked from <install-dir>\IntelSWTools\documentation_2017\en\ps2017\getstart_comp_wf.htm.

User and Reference Guides, What's New and Release Notes, Installation Guides

Refer to the Intel® Parallel Studio XE Support – Documentation for additional User and Reference Guides, What’s New and Release Notes, and Installation Guides.

Documentation on Creating Windows-based Applications on the Web

Documentation on using QuickWin, dialogs and the Windows API is available from the Intel Software Documentation Library: See Using Intel® Visual Fortran to Create and Build Windows*-based Applications (PDF)

Documentation Viewing Issue with Microsoft Internet Explorer* 10 and Windows Server* 2012

If on Windows Server 2012 you find that you cannot display help or documentation from within Internet Explorer 10, modifying a security setting for Microsoft Internet Explorer usually corrects the problem. From Tools > Internet Options > Security, add “about:internet” to the list of trusted sites. Optionally, you can remove “about:internet” from the list of trusted sites after you finish viewing the documentation.

Documentation Viewing Issue with Microsoft Edge* and Japanese Version of Microsoft Windows 10*

When viewing Intel compiler documentation with the Microsoft Edge* browser on a Japanese version of Microsoft Windows 10*, the upper left corner [Content][Index][Search] buttons do not function properly. Clicking on any of the buttons results in a blank screen.

The issue will be fixed in a future release. To workaround the issue, use Internet Explorer to view the Intel compiler documentation. To set your default browser to Internet Explorer, Google search "how to make Internet Explorer default browser on Windows 10".

Multi-pane documents do not display correctly in the Visual Studio* internal browser

The Visual Studio* internal browser default mode may cause multi-pane documents do not display correctly. The table of contents appears in the left pane, but the right pane does not display any content. The alternative is to access the same documentation from the Visual Studio* Help menu.

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Intel-provided Debug Solutions

Intel®-provided debug solutions are based GNU* GDB.  Please see Intel® Parallel Studio 2017 Composer Edition Fortran - Debug Solutions Release Notes for further information.

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Japanese Language Support

Intel® compilers optionally provide support for Japanese language users when the combined English-Japanese product is installed. Error messages, visual development environment dialogs and some documentation are provided in Japanese in addition to English. By default, the language of error messages and dialogs matches that of your operating system language selection. Japanese-language documentation can be found in the ja subdirectory for documentation.

Japanese language support is not provided with every update of the product.

If you wish to use Japanese-language support on an English-language operating system, or English-language support on a Japanese-language operating system, you will find instructions at Changing Language Setting to see English on a Japanese OS environment or Vice Versa on Windows*.

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Samples

Product samples are now available online at Intel® Software Product Samples and Tutorials.

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Redistributable Libraries

Refer to the Redistributable Libraries for Intel® Parallel Studio XE for more information.

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Technical Support

If you did not register your compiler during installation, please do so at the Intel® Software Development Products Registration Center. Registration entitles you to free technical support, product updates and upgrades for the duration of the support term.

For information about how to find Technical Support, Product Updates, User Forums, FAQs, tips and tricks, and other support information, please visit http://www.intel.com/software/products/support/

Note: If your distributor provides technical support for this product, please contact them for support rather than Intel.

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Compatibility

In general, object code and modules compiled with earlier versions of Intel Fortran Compiler (8.0 and later) may be used in a build with version 17.0. Exceptions include:

  • Sources that use the CLASS keyword to declare polymorphic variables and which were built with a compiler version earlier than 12.0 must be recompiled.
  • Objects built with the multi-file interprocedural optimization (/Qipo) option must be recompiled.
  • Objects that use the REAL(16) , REAL*16, COMPLEX(16) or COMPLEX*32 datatypes and which were compiled with versions earlier than 12.0 must be recompiled.
  • Objects built for the Intel® 64 architecture with a compiler version earlier than 10.0 and that have module variables must be recompiled.  If non-Fortran sources reference these variables, the external names may need to be changed to remove an incorrect leading underscore.
  • Modules that specified an ATTRIBUTES ALIGN directive outside of a derived type declaration and were compiled with versions earlier than 11.0 must be recompiled.  The compiler will notify you if this issue is encountered.
  • Modules that specified an ATTRIBUTES ALIGN directive inside a derived type declaration cannot be used by compilers older than 13.0.1.
  • The implementation of the Fortran 2008 submodules feature required extensive changes to the internal format of binary .mod files. Therefore module files created by the version 16.0 Fortran compiler cannot be used with version 15.0 or older Fortran compilers.

Stack Alignment Change for REAL(16) and COMPLEX(16) Datatypes (12.0)

In previous releases, when a REAL(16) or COMPLEX(16) (REAL*16 or COMPLEX*32) item was passed by value, the stack address was aligned at 4 bytes.  For improved performance, compiler versions 12.0 and later align such items at 16 bytes and expect received arguments to be aligned on 16-byte boundaries.

This change primarily affects compiler-generated calls to library routines that do computations on REAL(16) values, including intrinsics. If you have code compiled with earlier versions and link it with the version 13 libraries, or have an application linked to the shared version of the Intel run-time libraries, it may give incorrect results.

In order to avoid errors, you must recompile all Fortran sources that use the REAL(16) and COMPLEX(16) datatypes.

Static Form of the Intel® OpenMP* Library is No Longer Provided

The static form of the Intel® OpenMP* library, libiomp5mt.lib, is no longer provided, and the /Qopenmp-link:static command line option is no longer supported. Please replace all references to libiomp5mt.lib with libiomp5md.lib, the DLL import library.  This change also implies that applications using OpenMP will need to have the Intel® compiler redistributables installed if deployed on a system where an Intel® compiler is not also present. See Redistributable Libraries for Intel® Parallel Studio XE for more information.

Fortran Expression Evaluator

Fortran Expression Evaluator (FEE) is a plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio* that is installed with Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler. It extends the standard debugger in Microsoft Visual Studio* IDE by handling Fortran expressions. There is no other change in usability.

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New and Changed Compiler Features

Some language features may not yet be described in the compiler documentation. Please refer to the Fortran 2008 Standard (PDF) and the proposed draft Fortran 2015 Standard (PDF) if necessary.

Features from Fortran 2008

  • Type statement for intrinsic types
  • Pointer initialization
  • Implied-shape array
  • Extend EXIT statement to more construct names
  • Support BIND(C) in internal procedures

Change of Default in Intrinsic Assignment to Allocatable Arrays (17.0)

In previous releases, the compiler's default for intrinsic assignment to allocatable arrays was to assume that the array being assigned to was already allocated to the same shape as the value. In order to get the Fortran 2003 behavior of automatically (re)allocating the array if the shapes did not match you were required to specify the /assume:realloc_lhs compiler option (included in /standard-semantics.)

In version 17.0 of the compiler, the default has changed to match the Fortran 2003 standard so that allocatable arrays are automatically (re)allocated on intrinsic assignment as needed. This may have a small impact on performance. If you want to revert to the older behavior, specify /assume:norealloc_lhs or the new /nostandard-realloc-lhs compiler option.

Changes in Behavior of Mixed Logical/Numeric Operations (17.0)

The Fortran standard prohibits assignments and operations that mix logical and numeric (integer/real/complex) data types. As an extension to the standard, Intel Fortran permits this mixing, but the rules for how it works were not well documented and were inconsistently implemented depending on the context.

As of version 17.0, the compiler’s implementation of mixed logical-numeric operations has changed to be consistent and well-specified. However, in some cases the new behavior is different from what previous versions implemented and may change results in programs that assumed that the previous behavior was correct.

The version 17.0 behavior is as follows:

  • If a logical value is used in a numeric context, true values convert to integer -1 or +1, depending on the setting of the “fpscomp logicals” compiler option; false values convert to integer zero. 
  • If a numeric value is used in a logical context, it is first converted to integer if necessary. The setting of the compiler “fpscomp logicals” option determines how the integer value is interpreted. When “nologicals” is in effect, odd values are true and even values are false. When “logicals” is in effect, non-zero values are true and zero values are false.
  • If a numeric value is assigned to a logical variable, the value is converted to .TRUE. or .FALSE. according to the setting of “fpscomp logicals” and the new logical value assigned. In some cases in previous versions, the binary value might have been copied directly without conversion.
  • If a logical value is assigned to a numeric variable, it is first converted to integer as described above and then the normal rules of intrinsic assignment are carried out.

Note that the Intel Fortran compiler default is “fpscomp nologicals”, but that the “standard-semantics” option sets “fpscomp logicals”.

If you want to know if your program is affected by this extension, build with standards warnings enabled (/stand). If you wish to revert to the old behavior, specify /assume:old_logical_assign.

Fix in 17.0 Update 4 - Internal Compiler Error(s) involving PARAMETER constants and /debug-parameters /debug Compiler options

The 17.0 Update 4 release corrects (internal tracking id DPD200418283) the internal compiler error(s) involving PARAMETER constants and /debug-parameters /debug Compiler options.

Refer to Internal Compiler Error(s) involving PARAMETER constants and /debug-parameters /debug Compiler options for additional details.

Changes in Default Offload Treatment of Local Scalars with OpenMP* 4.5

The addition of support for the OpenMP* 4.5 clause DEFAULTMAP (TOFROM:SCALAR) changed the default treatment of local scalar variables. In the previous release local scalars were offloaded by default. In 17.0, local scalars are not mapped and instead have an implicit attribute of FIRSTPRIVATE. Offload of local scalars in 17.0 requires using DEFAULTMAP (TOFROM:SCALAR). See the Intel® Fortran Compiler User’s Guide for more details.

OpenMP* monitor thread

As of version 17.0.1, the OpenMP* monitor thread (i.e. helper thread) is not created.

Features from OpenMP*

The following directives, clauses and procedures, from OpenMP 4.0 and OpenMP 4.5, are now supported by the compiler.

For more information, see the compiler documentation or the link to the OpenMP Specification above.

Directives from OpenMP 4.5:

  • TARGET ENTER DATA
  • TARGET EXIT DATA
  • TASKLOOP

Clauses:

  • DEPEND on OMP TARGET and OMP TARGET UPDATE directives
  • NOWAIT on OMP TARGET and OMP TARGET UPDATE directives
  • SIMDLEN on OMP SIMD directive
  • SIMD on OMP ORDERED directive
  • PROCESSOR(cpuid) on OMP DECLARE SIMD (proc-name) directive
  • DEFAULTMAP (TOFROM:SCALAR) on OMP TARGET

Added processor clause to OMP DECLARE SIMD

The Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 17.0 includes an extension to OMP DECLARE SIMD which will allow programmers to use YMM/ZMM registers with OpenMP SIMD. The clause PROCESSOR(cpuid) will tell the compiler to create a vector version of a routine for the specified processor. See the Intel® Fortran Compiler User’s Guide for more details.

SIMD and NONMONOTONIC modifiers for !$OMP DO SCHEDULE clause

The Intel® Fortran Compiler 17.0 includes new SIMD and NONMONOTONIC modifiers extensions to OMP DO SCHEDULE clause to enhance user control of how iterations of the DO loop are divided among threads of the team. See the Intel® Fortran Compiler User’s Guide for more details.

Support for taskloop and do across loop as described in the OpenMP* 4.5

The Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 17.0 adds support for new loop construct for parallelizing for/do loops. “taskloop” is similar to cilkfor loop, enables the dynamic divide-and-conquer loop partitioning under Intel tasking execution model. “doacross” enables the parallelization of loops with loop-carried dependency.

New Intel® Xeon Phi™ offload features

  • OpenMP* 4.5 clause changes
    • for combined or composite constructs, the if clause now supports a directive name modifier:
      • if([directive-name-modifier :] scalar-logical-expression) the if clause only applies to the semantics of the construct named by directive-name-modifier if specified; otherwise it applies to all constructs to which an if clause can apply.  Example:  !$omp target parallel for if(target : do_offload_compute)
    • use_device_ptr(list) clause now implemented for !$omp target data
    • is_device_ptr(list) clause now implemented for !$omp target
  • Support for combined target constructs:
    • !$omp target parallel
    • !$omp target parallel for
    • !$omp target simd
    • !$omp target parallel for simd

New modifiers for omp declare simd linear clause

The linear clause on omp declare simd declarative directive is extended with new modifiers:

           linear (linear-list [ : linear-step] )
           where linear-list is one of the following:
                     list
                     where modifier (list)
                     modifier is one of the following:
                               ref
                               val
                               uval

  • All list items must be dummy arguments of the function that will be invoked concurrently on each SIMD lane.
  • If no modifier is specified or if the val or uval modifier is specified, the value of each list item on each lane corresponds to the value of the list item upon entry to the function plus the logical number of the lane times linear-step.
  • If the uval modifier is specified, each invocation uses the same storage location for each SIMD lane; this storage location is updated with the final value of the logically last lane.
  • If the ref modifier is specified, the storage location of each list item on each lane corresponds to an array at the storage location upon entry to the function indexed
    by the logical number of the lane times linear-step.

New and Changed Directives

ATTRIBUTES code_align(n)

As of compiler version 17.0, the ATTRIBUTES code_align(n) directive may be specified to request code alignment for a function. 'n' specifies the number of bytes for the minimum alignment boundary. It must be a power of 2 between 1 and 4096, such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, and so on. n = 1 does no alignment. n must appear.

Extension to the PROCESSOR(cpuid) clause

The new cpuid keyword "mic_avx512" is for the 2nd generation Intel® Xeon Phi™ processor family with support for Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (Intel® AVX-512) Foundation instructions, Intel® AVX-512 Conflict Detection instructions, Intel® AVX-512 Exponential and Reciprocal instructions, Intel® AVX-512 Prefetch instructions for Intel® processors, and Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (Intel® AVX2) including the RDSEED and Multi-Precision Add-Carry Instruction Extensions (ADX) instructions. For details about the new cpuid keyword usage, see the Intel® Fortran Compiler User's Guide.

DIR$ VECTOR [NO] MASK_READWRITE

Support for DIR$ VECTOR [NO] MASK_READWRITE clause enables/disables memory speculation by the vectorizer.

MASK_READWRITE | NOMASK READWRITE

        Enables or disables the generation of masked load and store operations within conditional statements.

        The MASK_READWRITE clause directs the compiler to disable memory speculation, causing the generation of masked load and store operations within conditional statements

        The NOMASK_READWRITE clause directs the compiler to enable memory speculation, causing the generation of unmasked loads and stores within conditional statements.

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New and Changed Compiler Options

Please refer to the compiler documentation for details.

For a list of deprecated compiler options, see the Compiler Options section of the documentation.

New /Qalign-loops[:n], /Qalign-loops- Compiler Option

This new option aligns all loops to a power-of-two boundary

New /Qopt-report-annotate [: text | html ] Compiler Option

This option turns on the annotated source listing feature and specifies its format: text or html. Text format is default.

New /Qopt-report-annotate-position: [caller | callee | both ] Compiler Option

This option specifies the site where optimization messages appear in the annotated source. Values are: “caller”, “callee” or “both”. Caller is default value.

New /fp:consistent Compiler Option

When used, the driver will set a combination of options that should provide more consistent FP results.

New /Zo[-] Compiler Option

This option improves debugging support for optimized code on Windows.

New /assume: [no]old_logical_assign Compiler Option

This option determines the behavior in assignment statements of logical values assigned to numeric variables and numeric values assigned to logical variables. See also Changes in Behavior of Mixed Logical/Numeric Operations.

New /[no]standard-realloc-lhs Compiler Option

This option is an alternate spelling of /assume:[no]realloc-lhs See also Change of Default in Intrinsic Assignment to Allocatable Arrays

New /Qopt-zmm-usage option

You can tune the zmm code generation done by the compiler with the new additional option /Qopt-zmm-usage:low|high. The argument value of low provides a smooth transition experience from Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (Intel® AVX2) ISA to Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (Intel® AVX-512) ISA on a Skylake server microarchitecture target, such as for enterprise applications. Tuning for ZMM instruction use via explicit vector syntax such as #pragma omp simd simdlen() is recommended. The argument value of high is recommended for applications, such as HPC codes, that are bounded by vector computation to achieve more compute per instruction through use of the wider vector operations. The default value is low for Skylake server microarchitecture-family compilation targets and high for combined compilation targets.

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Visual Studio Integration Changes

Microsoft Visual Studio 2017* Support

Integration support for Intel® Fortran compiler added for Microsoft Visual Studio 2017*. Refer to System Requirements for additional information.

Improved source code navigation in Microsoft Visual Studio IDE

The Visual Studio IDE now provides a “tree-view” for easy module/procedure navigation (similar to the Solution explorer view).  For more information, see the compiler documentation.

Changes in Online Help format in Microsoft Visual Studio*

The online help format is now browser-based. When you view Intel documentation from the Microsoft Visual Studio Help menu, or when you view context-sensitive help using F1 or a help button in a dialog box or other GUI element, your default browser shows the corresponding help topic. You may encounter some minor functionality issues depending on your default browser. Known issues include:

  • When Set Help Preference is set to Launch in Browser and you hit F1 in Tools>Options>F# Tools or Tools>Options>Intellitrace, the browser appears twice.
  • Chrome*: When arriving at a topic from Search or Index, the Table of Contents (TOC) does not sync, nor does the Sync TOC link work.
  • Firefox*: The TOC loses context easily. Search is case sensitive
  • Safari*: Response on Windows is slow.

New Fortran Project from Existing Code

In Visual Studio you can now select File > New > Fortran Project From Existing Code. This will create a new Fortran project with sources added from a folder you select. The project wizard will allow you to customize the project type and platform.

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Support Deprecated

Microsoft Visual Studio 2012* deprecated

Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2012* is deprecated in this release and will be removed in a future version.

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Support Removed

IA-32 host installation is not supported

Support for installation on IA-32 hosts is removed in this release.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010* not supported

Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010* is removed in this release.

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Known Issues

Command-Line Diagnostic Issue for Filenames with Japanese Characters

The filename in compiler diagnostics for filenames containing Japanese characters may be displayed incorrectly when compiled within a Windows command shell using the native Intel® 64 architecture compiler. It is not a problem when using Visual Studio or when using the Intel® 64 architecture cross-compiler or IA-32 architecture compiler.

Debugging mixed language programs with Fortran does not work

To enable debugging Fortran code called from a .NET managed code application in Visual Studio 2012 or later, unset the following configuration:

Menu Tools ->Options, under section Debugging->General, clear the Managed C++ Compatibility Mode check box

For any managed code application, one must also check the project property Debug > Enable unmanaged code debugging.

Certain uses of length type parameters in parameterized derived types are not yet fully implemented

The following uses of length type parameters in parameterized derived types (PDTs) are not yet fully implemented:

  • PDT parameter constants with length type parameters
  • %RE and %IM are not yet implemented

Intel Compiler Help Documentation fails to launch from IDE when installed on Japanese version of Windows

In some cases, custom installations of Intel(R) Parallel Studio XE 2016 on Japanese versions of Windows will cause Intel compiler Help documentation to fail to launch from the Microsoft Visual Studio* IDE. Details describing this issue can be found here.

Link to BuildLog.htm incorrect for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Update 1* IDE integration

For Intel Fortran Compiler IDE integration with Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 there is an issue with the link to the build log in the output window. Only the portion before the first space character in the path is included to the link as shown in the following image:

The workaround is to copy the link from the output window and open it using a web browser.

Internal Compiler Error(s) involving PARAMETER constants and /debug-parameters /debug Compiler options

(This defect is fixed in Update 4) The use of PARAMETER constants along with the /debug-parameter and /debug options may cause an internal compiler error.

The following example demonstrates usage that triggers an internal error:

module sample_mod
    implicit none
    integer, parameter :: isize=32  
    
    contains

    subroutine example1 
        call example2(isize)
    end subroutine example1 

    subroutine example2(jsize)
        integer, intent(in) :: jsize
        write(*,*) jsize
    end subroutine example2

end module sample_mod

It is possible to experience several internal errors during a build attempt for the Debug configuration under Visual Studio where it is common to have /debug-parameter and /debug options enabled simultaneously.

You can work around the defect by either:

  1. Under Visual Studio, disabling the /debug-parameters option under: Properties > Fortran > Debugging > Information for PARAMETER Constants set to None
  2. Under Visual Studio, using only minimal /debug information (i.e. Properties > Fortran > Debugging > Information set to Line Numbers Only) with any setting for /debug-parameters (see the property setting in #1 above).
  3. On the compiler command-line, removing all occurrences of the /debug-parameters from compiler command-line or within application build scripts when using /debug:full
  4. On the compiler command-line, using /debug:minimal with any setting for /debug-parameters on the compiler command-line or within application build scripts.

warning #31001: The dll for reading and writing the pdb (for example, mspdb110.dll) could not be found on your path.

When using Microsoft Visual Studio Express*, compilation for IA-32 with -debug (General > Debug Information Format) enabled may result the warning: 

warning #31001: The dll for reading and writing the pdb (for example, mspdb110.dll) could not be found on your path. This is usually a configuration error. Compilation will continue using /Z7 instead of /Zi, but expect a similar error when you link your program.

The warning is expected and occurs because a 64 bit Windows* applications (i.e. the Intel® Fortran compiler) must use 64 bit dlls (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384231(v=vs.85).aspx); however, Microsoft Visual Studio Express* only provides a 32 bit version of mspdb*.dll. The missing 64 bit version leads to the warning. This is a warning-level diagnostic that does not impede successfully building an executable; however, debug information requested is embedded into the object (.obj) file for use with the debugger. No .pdb file is produced by the compiler when /Z7 is enabled.

Certain uses of OMP THREADPRIVATE with COMMON block name not diagnosed per OpenMP* 4.5 rules

The OpenMP* 4.5 rules states that if a threadprivate directive specifying a common block name appears in one program unit, then such a directive must also appear in every other program unit that contains a COMMON statement specifying the same name. It must appear after the last such COMMON statement in the program unit.  The Intel Fortran compiler does not properly diagnose this.

For example, the following program does not conform to the OpenMP* 4.5 specification and ifort does not diagnose and issue an error for the COMMON statements following the OMP THREADPRIVATE statement according to the rule above.

PROGRAM ex1 
    COMMON /common_blk1/x 
    !$OMP THREADPRIVATE(/common_blk1/) 

    COMMON /common_blk1/y 
    COMMON /common_blk1/z

END PROGRAM

Intel® Visual Fortran Module Wizard module files not added to project

When using Microsoft Visual Studio 2017*, module files generated by the Intel® Visual Fortran Module Wizard are not added to the project automatically. You must manually add the module files to the project after they are generated, click Project-> Add Existing Item and specify location where the file was generated.

Project Categories not Localized on Japanese system

On Japanese system, under Microsoft Visual Studio 2017*, the Fortran project categories are not localized in New Project wizard.

"rc.exe not found" when building Fortran Projects

With only the Microsoft Windows SDK* (10.0.15063.0) installed Fortran projects may fail to build with an "rc.exe not found" error. 

To avoid this issue, please install the previous version of Microsoft Windows 10 SDK*  (for example 10.0.14393) or copy the content of the following folders as indicated:

  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.15063.0\x86 to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86 into C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.15063.0\x64 to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x64 into C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x64

Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable* download no longer available

The Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable* download referenced during the Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2017 installation is no longer available. Refer to Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable* download no longer available for additional information.

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2012*, 2013, 2015, and 2017 Notes

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 brought several changes that primarily affect building of mixed-language applications where the main program is in C or C++. These changes were carried forward into Visual Studio 2012/2013/2015.

Configuring Microsoft Visual C++ to Reference Intel® Fortran Run-Time Libraries

In previous releases, one used the Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > VC++ Directories dialog to make the Intel Fortran LIB folder available to C/C++ projects.  In Visual Studio 2010 and later, the method of doing this is very different.

  1. In Visual Studio, with a solution open that contains a C++ project, select View > Property Manager.  If you do not see Property Manager under the View menu, you will find it under View > Additional Windows.  The Property Manager window will appear. Note that this is not Properties Window or Properties Pages.
  2. Click on the triangles or + signs to expand the property tree under the Debug|Win32 configuration
  3. Double click on Microsoft.Cpp.Win32.user
  4. Select VC++ Directories
  5. Click in the field to the right of "Library Directories"
  6. Click the triangle that appears to the right and select <Edit...>
  7. Click the New Line button or press Ctrl-Insert
  8. In the new field that appears, type:

    $(IFORT_COMPILER17)\compiler\lib\ia32
  9. Click OK, OK
  10. In the Visual Studio toolbar, select File > Save All

If you will be building Intel® 64 (x64) configurations:

  1. Back in the Property Manager, expand the Debug|x64 configuration
  2. Double click on Microsoft.Cpp.x64.user
  3. Select VC++ Directories
  4. Click in the field to the right of "Library Directories"
  5. Click the triangle that appears to the right and select <Edit...>
  6. Click the New Line button or press Ctrl-Insert
  7. In the new field that appears, type:

    $(IFORT_COMPILER17)\compiler\lib\intel64
  8. Click OK, OK
  9. In the Visual Studio toolbar, select File > Save All

Click on the Solution Explorer tab, or press Ctrl-Alt-L, to make it visible again.

If you do not see the Microsoft.Cpp.x64.user property page listed for the x64 configuration, right click on Debug|x64 and select Add Existing property Sheet.  Browse to the location which contains the MsBuild 4.0 property pages.  On Windows XP, this is typically:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\MSBuild\v4.0

On Windows 7 and Windows 8, it is typically:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\MSBuild\v4.0

You may need to enable viewing of hidden files and folders to see these paths.

Select Microsoft.Cpp.x64.user.props and click Open.  Now follow the steps above.

Adjusting Project Dependencies

If you are converting a project from an earlier version of Visual Studio and had established Project Dependencies, these are converted to References by Visual Studio 2012/2013/2015.  A Fortran project that is referenced by a C/C++ project will prevent the C/C++ project from building, with an MSB4075 error.  To solve this:

  1. Right click on the C/C++ project and select References.
  2. If any Fortran project is shown as a reference, click Remove Reference.  Repeat this for all Fortran projects shown as a reference. Click OK.
  3. Repeat the above steps for any other C/C++ project

Now you have to reestablish project dependencies.

  1. Right click on the C/C++ project and select Project Dependencies. (For Visual Studio 2013 select Build Dependencies > Project Dependencies).
  2. Check the box for each project that is a dependent of this project.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Repeat the above steps for any other C/C++ project that has dependencies.

Unlike earlier versions of Visual Studio, Visual Studio 2012 does not automatically link in the output library of dependent projects, so you will need to add those libraries explicitly to the parent project under Linker > Additional Dependencies.  You can use the Visual Studio macros $(ConfigurationName) and $(PlatformName) as required to qualify the path.  For example:

..\FLIB\$(ConfigurationName)\FLIB.lib

Where $(ConfigurationName) will expand to Release or Debug, as appropriate.  Similarly, $(PlatformName) will expand to Win32 or x64 as appropriate.

Showing Documentation Issue with Visual Studio 2012 and Windows Server* 2012 and Windows Server* 2008

If on Windows Server 2012* and Windows Server* 2008 you find that you cannot display help or documentation from within Visual Studio 2012, correcting a security setting for Microsoft Internet Explorer* usually corrects the problem.  From Tools > Internet Options > Security, change the settings for Internet Zone to allow “MIME Sniffing” and “Active Scripting”.

"No apps are installed to open this type of link (file)" when viewing Parallel Studio XE documentation under Microsoft Visual Studio* IDE

When no browser is registered as the handler for .htm* files, viewing documentation under the IDE via Help > Intel Compilers and Libraries can result in an error popup indicating "No apps are installed to open this type of link (file)".

To resolve this issue, select the preferred browser for the file type .htm under either Control Panel > View by: large (or small) icons > Default programs >  Associate a file type or protocol with a program / Set your default programs      -or-    Settings > System > Default Apps > Choose Default Apps by File type.

Intel® Visual Fortran Module Wizard module files not added to project under Microsoft Visual Studio 2017*

Refer to Intel® Visual Fortran Module Wizard module files not added to project for details.

Project Categories not Localized on Japanese system under Microsoft Visual Studio 2017*

Refer to Project Categories not Localized on Japanese system for additional details

"rc.exe not found" when building Fortran Projects

Refer to "rc.exe not found" when building Fortran projects.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable* download no longer available

The Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2017 installation may recommend installation of specific 2012 redistirbutable package as follows:

Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable* (x86) is not installed.
    Installation can continue; however, some components of this installation may not be fully functional without it.
    Install the redistributable from here (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30679).

The download noted in the installation message is only required when using a Microsoft Visual Studio* version earlier than Microsoft Visual Studio* 2017 with the Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2017 release.

Additionally, the download at the cited web-address is no longer available; therefore, to obtain this download user must now join the Visual Studio Dev Essentials (free) program and search for "Visual C++ Redistributable for Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Update 4" in the Downloads section.

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Fortran 2008 and Fortran 2015 Feature Summary

The Intel® Fortran Compiler also supports many features from the Fortran 2008 standard as well as Features from the proposed draft Fortran 2015 standard.  Additional features will be supported in future releases. Fortran 2008 features supported by the current version include:

  • Maximum array rank has been raised to 31 dimensions (Fortran 2008 specifies 15)
  • Coarrays
    • CODIMENSION attribute
    • SYNC ALL statement
    • SYNC IMAGES statement
    • SYNC MEMORY statement
    • CRITICAL and END CRITICAL statements
    • LOCK and UNLOCK statements
    • ERROR STOP statement
    • ALLOCATE and DEALLOCATE may specify coarrays
    • Intrinsic procedures ATOMIC_DEFINE, ATOMIC_REF, IMAGE_INDEX, LCOBOUND, NUM_IMAGES, THIS_IMAGE, UCOBOUND
  • CONTIGUOUS attribute
  • MOLD keyword in ALLOCATE
  • DO CONCURRENT
  • NEWUNIT keyword in OPEN
  • G0 and G0.d format edit descriptor
  • Unlimited format item repeat count specifier
  • A CONTAINS section may be empty
  • Intrinsic procedures BESSEL_J0, BESSEL_J1, BESSEL_JN, BESSEL_YN, BGE, BGT, BLE, BLT, DSHIFTL, DSHIFTR, ERF, ERFC, ERFC_SCALED, GAMMA, HYPOT, IALL, IANY, IPARITY, IS_CONTIGUOUS, LEADZ, LOG_GAMMA, MASKL, MASKR, MERGE_BITS, NORM2, PARITY, POPCNT, POPPAR, SHIFTA, SHIFTL, SHIFTR, STORAGE_SIZE, TRAILZ,
  • Additions to intrinsic module ISO_FORTRAN_ENV: ATOMIC_INT_KIND, ATOMIC_LOGICAL_KIND, CHARACTER_KINDS, INTEGER_KINDS, INT8, INT16, INT32, INT64, LOCK_TYPE, LOGICAL_KINDS, REAL_KINDS, REAL32, REAL64, REAL128, STAT_LOCKED, STAT_LOCKED_OTHER_IMAGE, STAT_UNLOCKED
  • An OPTIONAL dummy argument that does not have the ALLOCATABLE or POINTER attribute, and which corresponds to an actual argument that: has the ALLOCATABLE attribute and is not allocated, or has the POINTER attribute and is disassociated, or is a reference to the NULL() intrinsic function, is considered not present
  • A dummy argument that is a procedure pointer may be associated with an actual argument that is a valid target for the dummy pointer, or is a reference to the intrinsic function NULL.  If the actual argument is not a pointer, the dummy argument shall have the INTENT(IN) attribute.
  • BLOCK construct
  • intrinsic subroutine EXECUTE_COMMAND_LINE
  • Submodules
  • IMPURE
  • Type statement for intrinsic types
  • Pointer initialization
  • Implied-shape array
  • Extend EXIT statement to more construct names
  • Support BIND(C) in internal procedures

Proposed draft Fortran 2015 features supported by the current version include:

  • Support for all features from “Technical Specification 29113 Further Interoperability with C”, planned for inclusion in Fortran 2015. These include:
    • Assumed type (TYPE(*))
    • Assumed rank (DIMENSION(..))
    • relaxed restrictions on interoperable dummy arguments
    • ISO_Fortran_binding.H C include file for use by C code manipulating “C descriptors” used by Fortran

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Disclaimer and Legal Information

Optimization Notice
Intel's compilers may or may not optimize to the same degree for non-Intel microprocessors for optimizations that are not unique to Intel microprocessors. These optimizations include SSE2, SSE3, and SSSE3 instruction sets and other optimizations. Intel does not guarantee the availability, functionality, or effectiveness of any optimization on microprocessors not manufactured by Intel. Microprocessor-dependent optimizations in this product are intended for use with Intel microprocessors. Certain optimizations not specific to Intel microarchitecture are reserved for Intel microprocessors. Please refer to the applicable product User and Reference Guides for more information regarding the specific instruction sets covered by this notice. Notice revision #20110804

INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH INTEL(R) PRODUCTS. NO LICENSE, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BY ESTOPPEL OR OTHERWISE, TO ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IS GRANTED BY THIS DOCUMENT. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN INTEL'S TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE FOR SUCH PRODUCTS, INTEL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, AND INTEL DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, RELATING TO SALE AND/OR USE OF INTEL PRODUCTS INCLUDING LIABILITY OR WARRANTIES RELATING TO FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENT, COPYRIGHT OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT. UNLESS OTHERWISE AGREED IN WRITING BY INTEL, THE INTEL PRODUCTS ARE NOT DESIGNED NOR INTENDED FOR ANY APPLICATION IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE INTEL PRODUCT COULD CREATE A SITUATION WHERE PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH MAY OCCUR.

Intel may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice. Designers must not rely on the absence or characteristics of any features or instructions marked "reserved" or "undefined." Intel reserves these for future definition and shall have no responsibility whatsoever for conflicts or incompatibilities arising from future changes to them. The information here is subject to change without notice. Do not finalize a design with this information.

The products described in this document may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request.

Contact your local Intel sales office or your distributor to obtain the latest specifications and before placing your product order.

Copies of documents which have an order number and are referenced in this document, or other Intel literature, may be obtained by calling 1-800-548-4725, or go to:  http://www.intel.com/design/literature.htm 

Intel processor numbers are not a measure of performance. Processor numbers differentiate features within each processor family, not across different processor families. Go to: 

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/processor-numbers.html

The Intel® Fortran Compiler is provided under Intel’s End User License Agreement (EULA). 

Please consult the licenses included in the distribution for details.

Intel, Intel logo, and Cilk are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Copyright © 2017 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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Product and Performance Information

1

Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at www.Intel.com/PerformanceIndex.