Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 18.0 for Windows* Release Notes for Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018

ID 733324
Updated 6/11/2019
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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 18.0.

Change History

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

Changes in Update 5 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 18.0.6)

  • Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018 Update 5 Composer Edition has been updated to include more recent versions of 3rd party components, which include functional and security updates. Users should update to the latest version.

    NOTE:  Although the Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018 installer package for this update release is Update 5, the actual compiler package within this Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018 Update 5 installation package is the Intel® Compilers 2018 Update 6 component and NOT an Update 5 component.  So you will see the Intel® Compilers 2018 Update 6 and not Update 5 in this installer package.  The compiler(s) will also identify as 2018 Update 6.  Be assured that the 2018.6.xxx directories and product versions 18.0.6 in packages you see during installation from the Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018 Update 5 release are correct and are for the Intel® Compilers 2018 Update 6 component.  We apologize for the confusion in the update numbering between the enclosing Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018 Update 5 package and the actual Intel® Compilers 2018 Update 6 which is installed and is to be used for this update. 

Changes in Update 4 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 18.0.4)

  • Corrections to reported problems

Changes in Update 3 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 18.0.3)

Changes in Update 2 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 18.0.2)

Changes in Update 1 (Intel® Fortran Compiler 18.0.1)

  • First update with Japanese Localization
  • Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017 Update 3 (15.3) support 
  • More stable integration with Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017
  • Corrections to reported problems

Changes since Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 17.0 (New in Intel® Fortran Compiler 18.0.0)

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Product Contents

Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 18.0 for Windows* initial release includes the following components:

  • Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler 18.0 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 2015 Shell* and Libraries (not included with Evaluation licenses)
  • Sample programs
  • Online and 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
  • Microsoft Windows 7*, Microsoft Windows 8*, Microsoft Windows 8.1*, Microsoft Windows 10*, Microsoft Windows Server 2012* (R2) and Windows Server 2016* (Intel® 64 only)
    • 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]. Latest supported by Intel® Fortran Compiler 18.0 Update 3 version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2017* is 15.6.
    • 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*
    • Intel® Visual Fortran development environment based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 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*
  • 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 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 2015* Shell is included with Academic and Commercial licenses for Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018 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 2015* Shell, it is necessary to install the Microsoft Windows 10* Software Development Kit (SDK). This article explains how.
  3. If you install Intel® Visual Fortran development environment based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2015* 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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How to use the Intel® Visual Fortran Compiler

Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018: Getting Started with the Intel® Fortran Compiler 18.0 for Windows* at <install-dir>\IntelSWTools\documentation_2018\en\compiler_f\ps2018\getstart_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_2018\en\compiler_f\ps2018\getstart_wf.htm.

Offline Core Documentation Removed from the Installed Image

Offline core documentation is removed from the Intel® Parallel Studio XE installed image. The core documentation for the components of Intel® Parallel Studio XE are available at the Intel® Software Documentation Library for viewing online. You may also access the documentation online by following the links from the Getting Started Guide, which can be viewed from the help menu. 

Please use the instructions from this article to add Intel® Compiler documentation to your local machine.

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 to 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 2018 Composer Edition Fortran - Debug Solutions Release Notes for further information.

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Japanese Language Support

Japanese language support is not provided with this release of the product.

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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 18.0. 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.
  • Objects/libraries compiled/built for the Intel® Xeon Phi™ x100 product family are not compatible with objects/libraries compiled/built for the Intel® Xeon Phi™ x200 product family.

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

The Intel® Fortran Compiler now supports all features from the Fortran 2008 standard. Additional Fortran 2008 features added in the Intel® Fortran 18.0 release are noted below. Please refer to the Fortran 2008 Standard (PDF) and the proposed draft Fortran 2015 Standard (PDF) if necessary.

Features from Fortran 2008

  • COMPILER_OPTIONS and COMPILER_VERSION in ISO_FORTRAN_ENV
  • COMPLEX arguments to trigonometric and hyperbolic intrinsic functions
  • FINDLOC intrinsic function
  • Optional argument BACK in MAXLOC and MINLOC intrinsic functions
  • Multiple type-bound procedures in a PROCEDURE list
  • Passing a non-pointer data item to a pointer dummy argument
  • Polymorphic assignment with allocatable Left Hand Side (LHS)
  • Allocatable components of recursive type and forward reference
  • Data statement restrictions removed

New and Changed Intel® Xeon Phi™ Offload Features

Intel continually evaluates the markets for our products in order to provide the best possible solutions to our customer’s challenges. As part of this on-going evaluation process Intel has decided to not offer Intel® Xeon Phi™ 7200 Coprocessor (codenamed Knights Landing Coprocessor) products to the market

  • Given the rapid adoption of Intel® Xeon Phi™ 7200 processors, Intel has decided to not deploy the Knights Landing Coprocessor to the general market.
  • Intel® Xeon Phi™ Processors remain a key element of our solution portfolio for providing customers the most compelling and competitive solutions possible.

The Intel® Fortran Compiler doesn't support offload to Intel® Xeon Phi™ x200 processor-based systems on Windows.  It is supported on Linux* in a cluster configuration using the cluster fabric for communication. 

Support for the Intel® Xeon Phi™ x100 product family coprocessor (formerly code name Knights Corner) is removed in this release.

Profile Guided Optimization Hardware-based Event Sampling

Profile Guided Optimization (PGO) Hardware-based event sampling is a new low overhead model to get (many) benefits of PGO using the Intel® Compiler and the Intel® VTune™ Amplifier. Data collection works on systems where Intel® VTune™ Amplifier is supported. Refer to each product’s User guide for additional information.

Features from OpenMP*

Language features for task reductions from the OpenMP* Technical Report 4 : Version 5.0 Preview 1 specifications are now supported.

TASKGROUP now has the TASK_REDUCTION clause.
TASK includes now has the IN_REDUCTION clause.
TASKLOOP now has the REDUCTION and IN_REDUCTION clauses.

New monotonic, overlap and lastprivate keywords for OpenMP* SIMD directive:

!$omp ordered simd overlap(overlap_index)
!$omp ordered simd monotonic([var:step]s)
!$omp simd lastprivate(conditional:[vars])

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

New and Changed Directives

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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.

Enhanced /Qinit:[keyword] Compiler option

The option already allows scalars and arrays to be initialized with ZERO or SNAN.  Feature support extends this to HUGE and MINUS_HUGE {+/- largest representable integer or real}, TINY and MINUS_Tiny {+/- smallest representable integer or real}, and INFINITY and MINUS_INFINITY for +/- IEEE Infinity.

All –o* options replaced by –qo* options

All the –o* options deprecated in the previous release have been replaced with –qo* options in this release with one noted exception, there is no change to the –o option for Linux* and macOS* used to name the output file.

On Windows*, this change impacts compiler options passed to the target compilation with the /Qoffload-option Compiler option.

A new diagnostic is issued when any now replaced –o option is used. For example:

$ ifort -openmp example.f90
ifort: command line error: option '-openmp' is not supported. Please use the replacement option '-qopenmp'

Options affected:

-[no-]openmp
-openmp-lib=<arg>
-openmp-link=<arg>
-[no-]openmp-offload
-[no-]openmp-simd
-openmp-stubs
-openmp-threadprivate=<arg>
-openmp-report[=<level>]
-openmp-task=<arg>
-opt-args-in-regs=<arg>
-[no-]opt-assume-safe-padding
-opt-block-factor=<arg>
-[no-]opt-calloc
-[no-]opt-class-analysis
-[no-]opt-dynamic-align
-[no-]opt-gather-scatter-unroll
-[no-]opt-jump-tables=<arg>
-opt-malloc-options=<arg>
-[no-]opt-matmul
-[no-]opt-mem-layout-trans=<arg>
-[no-]opt-multi-version-aggressive
-[no-]opt-prefetch[=<val>]
-opt-prefetch-distance=<arg>
-opt-ra-region-strategy[=<arg>]
-[no-]opt-report-embed
-opt-report-file=<arg>
-opt-report-filter=<arg>
-opt-report-format=<arg>
-opt-report-phase=<arg>
-opt-report-routine=<arg>
/opt-report-help
/opt-report[=<arg>]
/opt-report-per-object
/opt-streaming-cache-evict=<arg>
/opt-streaming-stores=<arg>
/[no-]opt-subscript-in-range
/opt-threads-per-core=<arg>

Changed /Qoffload-arch:[arch] Compiler Option Default

The /Qoffload-arch:[arch] compiler option default is changed to mic-avx512 to target the Intel® Xeon Phi™ processor x200 product family.

New /Qprof-gen-sampling, /Qprof-use-sampling Compiler Options

These are new Profile Guided Optimization options for hardware-based event sampling using the Intel® Compiler and the Intel® VTune™ Amplifier.

New /assume:contiguous_pointer and /assume:contiguous_assumed_shape Compiler Options

These are new options to assert that all assumed shape arrays and/or pointers have unit stride.

New /check:contiguous Compiler Option

The /check:contiguous compiler option help to diagnose non-contiguous pointer assignment to CONTIGUOUS pointer. The /check:all option includes this check.

New option /Qimf-use-svml to force the usage of SVML

New option forces use of SVML where currently LIBM is used, for scalar math. This guarantees bitwise-same result of computations made with vectorized code vs computations made with scalar code. With this feature the compiler vectorizes math functions in /fp:precise FP model and vectorized code produces results consistent with scalar code results. 

Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) support

Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) defends a program from certain attacks that exploit vulnerabilities, e.g. Return-oriented Programming (ROP) and similarly Call/Jmp-oriented Programming (COP/JOP). Please refer to the Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual Volume 1: Basic Architecture for more details.

New compiler option /Qcf-potection[:keyword] introduced in the compiler to support CET.

Compile time dispatching for SVML calls

The compiler default behavior is changed for SVML functions and a call to cpu-specific SVML entry is performed. Specifying new option /Qimf-force-dynamic-target reverts to the previous behavior and dynamic SVML dispatching is used.

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

Restored context-sensitive Help (F1) 

Context-sensitive help accessed through the F1 key is restored in Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018 Update 3. Please download the compiler documentation and install it as described here. To access the documentation online follow the links from the Getting Started Guide, which can be viewed from the help menu.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2017* Support

Integration support for Intel® Fortran compiler added for Microsoft Visual Studio 2017*. We do support the integration for Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017 version released before the Intel® Compiler update or initial version release date e.g. 18.0 Update 3 supports integration for Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017 15.6 and older.

Refer to System Requirements for additional information.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Shell* Support

Integration support for Intel® Fortran compiler added for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Shell*. Refer to System Requirements for additional information.

Context-sensitive Help (F1) and Help Menu items Link to Online Documentation

All context-sensitive help accessed through the F1 key and links from the product Help menu now link to the online (Web) help topics. Refer to Offline Core Documentation Removed from the Installed Image for information on downloading offline core 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.

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Support Deprecated

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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 2012* not supported

Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2012* is removed in this release.

Support for the Intel® Xeon Phi™ x100 product family coprocessor (formerly code name Knights Corner) is removed in this release

The Intel® Xeon Phi™ x100 product family coprocessor (formerly code name Knights Corner) was officially announced end of life in January 2017.  As part of the end of life process, the support for this family will only be available in the Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2017 version.  Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2017 will be supported for a period of 3 years ending in January 2020 for the Intel® Xeon Phi™ x100 product family.  Support will be provided for those customers with active support.

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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.

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

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

Coarray Fortran 32-bit doesn't work on 64-bit Microsoft* Windows

Coarray Fortran 32-bit doesn't work on Microsoft* Windows 10 or Microsoft* Windows Server 2012 R2 (only on 64-bit OS)  due to required utilities “mpiexec.exe” and “smpd.exe” not working properly. It is a compatibility issue. Please refer to
Coarray Fortran 32-bit doesn't work on 64-bit Microsoft* Windows for more details.

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Microsoft Visual Studio 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 2013/2015/2017.

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_COMPILER18)\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_COMPILER18)\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 2013/2015/2017.  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.

"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 compiler integration to Visual Studio 2017* issues

There are different integration issues observed with Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017. Problems are intermittent and not reproducible on every system. We haven't seen integration issues with latest Visual Studio 2017 version 15.3.3. Please refer to Intel® Software Development Tools Integration to Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017 Issues for details.

Wrong Intel® Fortran compiler version displayed in Microsoft* Visual Studio 2012

Wrong Intel® Fortran compiler version displayed in Microsoft* Visual Studio 2012  in case both Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2017 and Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018 are installed on the same system with Microsoft* Visual Studio 2012. Please refer to Wrong Intel® Fortran Compiler Version Displayed in Microsoft* Visual Studio 2012 for more details.

Guided Auto Parallelism analysis on routine is unavailable in Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017

Context menu item Intel Compiler > Guided Auto Parallelism > Run Analysis on Routine… is unavailable for the routine selected in the editor starting from Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017 (version 15.4). You can still run analysis on range of lines, file or project. The issue is planned to be fixed in a future release.

Fortran Debugger in Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017 issues

When debugging a Fortran program Microsoft* Visual Studio 2017 version 15.7.x or version 15.8.x crashes. In addition there is another issue that Fortran array values are not visible at a breakpoint. Please find this article for more details.

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Fortran 2008 and Fortran 2015 Feature Summary

The Intel® Fortran Compiler now supports all features from the Fortran 2008 standard. The Intel® Fortran Compiler also supports features from the proposed draft Fortran 2015 standard.  Additional features will be supported in future releases. Features from the proposed Fortran 2015 standard 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 Fortra

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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/products/processor%5Fnumber/

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 © 2019 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.