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### 3.6 Options Controlling Objective-C and Objective-C++ Dialects

(NOTE: This manual does not describe the Objective-C and Objective-C++ languages themselves. See See Language Standards Supported by GCC, for references.)

This section describes the command-line options that are only meaningful for Objective-C and Objective-C++ programs, but you can also use most of the language-independent GNU compiler options. For example, you might compile a file `some_class.m` like this:

         gcc -g -fgnu-runtime -O -c some_class.m

In this example, `-fgnu-runtime` is an option meant only for Objective-C and Objective-C++ programs; you can use the other options with any language supported by GCC.

Note that since Objective-C is an extension of the C language, Objective-C compilations may also use options specific to the C front-end (e.g., `-Wtraditional`). Similarly, Objective-C++ compilations may use C++-specific options (e.g., `-Wabi`).

Here is a list of options that are only for compiling Objective-C and Objective-C++ programs:

`-fconstant-string-class=`class-name
  Use class-name as the name of the class to instantiate for each literal string specified with the syntax `@"..."`. The default class name is `NXConstantString` if the GNU runtime is being used, and `NSConstantString` if the NeXT runtime is being used (see below). The `-fconstant-cfstrings` option, if also present, will override the `-fconstant-string-class` setting and cause `@"..."` literals to be laid out as constant CoreFoundation strings.
`-fgnu-runtime`
  Generate object code compatible with the standard GNU Objective-C runtime. This is the default for most types of systems.
`-fnext-runtime`
  Generate output compatible with the NeXT runtime. This is the default for NeXT-based systems, including Darwin and Mac OS X. The macro `__NEXT_RUNTIME__` is predefined if (and only if) this option is used.
`-fno-nil-receivers`
  Assume that all Objective-C message dispatches (e.g., `[receiver message:arg]`) in this translation unit ensure that the receiver is not `nil`. This allows for more efficient entry points in the runtime to be used. Currently, this option is only available in conjunction with the NeXT runtime on Mac OS X 10.3 and later.
`-fobjc-call-cxx-cdtors`
  For each Objective-C class, check if any of its instance variables is a C++ object with a non-trivial default constructor. If so, synthesize a special `- (id) .cxx_construct` instance method that will run non-trivial default constructors on any such instance variables, in order, and then return `self`. Similarly, check if any instance variable is a C++ object with a non-trivial destructor, and if so, synthesize a special `- (void) .cxx_destruct` method that will run all such default destructors, in reverse order.

  The `- (id) .cxx_construct` and/or `- (void) .cxx_destruct` methods thusly generated will only operate on instance variables declared in the current Objective-C class, and not those inherited from superclasses. It is the responsibility of the Objective-C runtime to invoke all such methods in an object's inheritance hierarchy. The `- (id) .cxx_construct` methods will be invoked by the runtime immediately after a new object instance is allocated; the `- (void) .cxx_destruct` methods will be invoked immediately before the runtime deallocates an object instance.

  As of this writing, only the NeXT runtime on Mac OS X 10.4 and later has support for invoking the `- (id) .cxx_construct` and `- (void) .cxx_destruct` methods.

`-fobjc-direct-dispatch`
  Allow fast jumps to the message dispatcher. On Darwin this is accomplished via the comm page.
`-fobjc-exceptions`
  Enable syntactic support for structured exception handling in Objective-C, similar to what is offered by C++ and Java. This option is unavailable in conjunction with the NeXT runtime on Mac OS X 10.2 and earlier.

                  @try {
                    ...
                       @throw expr;
                    ...
                  }
                  @catch (AnObjCClass *exc) {
                    ...
                      @throw expr;
                    ...
                      @throw;
                    ...
                  }
                  @catch (AnotherClass *exc) {
                    ...
                  }
                  @catch (id allOthers) {
                    ...
                  }
                  @finally {
                    ...
                      @throw expr;
                    ...
                  }

  The `@throw` statement may appear anywhere in an Objective-C or Objective-C++ program; when used inside of a `@catch` block, the `@throw` may appear without an argument (as shown above), in which case the object caught by the `@catch` will be rethrown.

  Note that only (pointers to) Objective-C objects may be thrown and caught using this scheme. When an object is thrown, it will be caught by the nearest `@catch` clause capable of handling objects of that type, analogously to how `catch` blocks work in C++ and Java. A `@catch(id ...)` clause (as shown above) may also be provided to catch any and all Objective-C exceptions not caught by previous `@catch` clauses (if any).

  The `@finally` clause, if present, will be executed upon exit from the immediately preceding `@try ... @catch` section. This will happen regardless of whether any exceptions are thrown, caught or rethrown inside the `@try ... @catch` section, analogously to the behavior of the `finally` clause in Java.

  There are several caveats to using the new exception mechanism:

  - Although currently designed to be binary compatible with `NS_HANDLER`-style idioms provided by the `NSException` class, the new exceptions can only be used on Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) and later systems, due to additional functionality needed in the (NeXT) Objective-C runtime.
  - As mentioned above, the new exceptions do not support handling types other than Objective-C objects. Furthermore, when used from Objective-C++, the Objective-C exception model does not interoperate with C++ exceptions at this time. This means you cannot `@throw` an exception from Objective-C and `catch` it in C++, or vice versa (i.e., `throw ... @catch`).

  The `-fobjc-exceptions` switch also enables the use of synchronization blocks for thread-safe execution:

                  @synchronized (ObjCClass *guard) {
                    ...
                  }

  Upon entering the `@synchronized` block, a thread of execution shall first check whether a lock has been placed on the corresponding `guard` object by another thread. If it has, the current thread shall wait until the other thread relinquishes its lock. Once `guard` becomes available, the current thread will place its own lock on it, execute the code contained in the `@synchronized` block, and finally relinquish the lock (thereby making `guard` available to other threads).

  Unlike Java, Objective-C does not allow for entire methods to be marked `@synchronized`. Note that throwing exceptions out of `@synchronized` blocks is allowed, and will cause the guarding object to be unlocked properly.

`-fobjc-gc`
  Enable garbage collection (GC) in Objective-C and Objective-C++ programs.
`-freplace-objc-classes`
  Emit a special marker instructing `ld(1)` not to statically link in the resulting object file, and allow `dyld(1)` to load it in at run time instead. This is used in conjunction with the Fix-and-Continue debugging mode, where the object file in question may be recompiled and dynamically reloaded in the course of program execution, without the need to restart the program itself. Currently, Fix-and-Continue functionality is only available in conjunction with the NeXT runtime on Mac OS X 10.3 and later.
`-fzero-link`
  When compiling for the NeXT runtime, the compiler ordinarily replaces calls to `objc_getClass("...")` (when the name of the class is known at compile time) with static class references that get initialized at load time, which improves run-time performance. Specifying the `-fzero-link` flag suppresses this behavior and causes calls to `objc_getClass("...")` to be retained. This is useful in Zero-Link debugging mode, since it allows for individual class implementations to be modified during program execution.
`-gen-decls`
  Dump interface declarations for all classes seen in the source file to a file named `sourcename.decl`.
`-Wassign-intercept`
  Warn whenever an Objective-C assignment is being intercepted by the garbage collector.
`-Wno-protocol`
  If a class is declared to implement a protocol, a warning is issued for every method in the protocol that is not implemented by the class. The default behavior is to issue a warning for every method not explicitly implemented in the class, even if a method implementation is inherited from the superclass. If you use the `-Wno-protocol` option, then methods inherited from the superclass are considered to be implemented, and no warning is issued for them.
`-Wselector`
  Warn if multiple methods of different types for the same selector are found during compilation. The check is performed on the list of methods in the final stage of compilation. Additionally, a check is performed for each selector appearing in a `@selector(...)` expression, and a corresponding method for that selector has been found during compilation. Because these checks scan the method table only at the end of compilation, these warnings are not produced if the final stage of compilation is not reached, for example because an error is found during compilation, or because the `-fsyntax-only` option is being used.
`-Wstrict-selector-match`
  Warn if multiple methods with differing argument and/or return types are found for a given selector when attempting to send a message using this selector to a receiver of type `id` or `Class`. When this flag is off (which is the default behavior), the compiler will omit such warnings if any differences found are confined to types which share the same size and alignment.
`-Wundeclared-selector`
  Warn if a `@selector(...)` expression referring to an undeclared selector is found. A selector is considered undeclared if no method with that name has been declared before the `@selector(...)` expression, either explicitly in an `@interface` or `@protocol` declaration, or implicitly in an `@implementation` section. This option always performs its checks as soon as a `@selector(...)` expression is found, while `-Wselector` only performs its checks in the final stage of compilation. This also enforces the coding style convention that methods and selectors must be declared before being used.
`-print-objc-runtime-info`
  Generate C header describing the largest structure that is passed by value, if any.