1mcs(1) General Commands Manual mcs(1)
2
6 mcs, gmcs - Mono C# Compiler (1.0 and 2.0)
7
9 mcs [option] [source-files]
10
12 mcs is the Mono C# compiler, an implementation of the ECMA-334 language
13 specification. You can pass one or more options to drive the compiler,
14 and a set of source files. Extra options or arguments can be provided
15 in a response file. Response files are referenced by prepending the @
16 symbol to the response file name.
17 The mcs compiler is used to compile against the 1.x profile and imple‐
19 ments C# 1.0 and 2.0 with the exception of generics and nullable types.
20 The gmcs compiler is used to compile against the 2.x profile and imple‐
21 ments the complete C# 2.0 specification including generics.
22 The Mono C# compiler accepts the same command line options that the Mi‐
24 crosoft C# compiler does. Those options can start with a slash or a
25 dash (/checked is the same as -checked). Additionally some GNU-like
26 options are supported, those begin with "--". All MCS-specific flags
27 which are not available in the Microsoft C# compiler are available only
28 with the GNU-style options.
29 C# source files must end with a ".cs" extension. Compilation of C#
31 source code requires all the files that make up a library, module or
32 executable to be provided on the command line. There is no support for
33 partial compilation. To achieve the benefits of partial compilation,
34 you should compile programs into their own assemblies, and later refer‐
35 ence them with the "-r" flag.
36 The Mono C# compiler generates images (.exe files) that contain CIL
38 byte code that can be executed by any system that implements a Common
39 Language Infrastructure virtual machine such as the Microsoft .NET run‐
40 time engine on Windows or the Mono runtime engine on Unix systems.
41 Executables are not bound to a specific CPU or operating system.
42 The Mono C# compiler by default only references three assemblies:
44 mscorlib.dll, System.dll and System.Xml.dll. If you want to reference
45 extra libraries you must manually specify them using the -pkg: command
46 line option or the -r: command line option. Alternatively if you want
47 to get all of the System libraries, you can use the -pkg:dotnet command
48 line option.
49
51 --about
52 Displays information about the Mono C# compiler
53 --addmodule:MODULE1[,MODULE2]
55 Includes the specified modules in the resulting assembly.
56 -checked, -checked+
58 Sets the default compilation mode to `checked'. This makes all
59 the math operations checked (the default is unchecked).
60 -checked-
62 Sets the default compilation mode to `unchecked'. This makes
63 all the math operations unchecked (this is the default).
64 -codepage:ID
66 Specifies the code page used to process the input files from the
67 point it is specified on. By default files will be processed in
68 the Latin-1 code page. The compiler will also automatically
69 detect Unicode files that have an embedded byte mark at the
70 beginning.
71 Other popular encodings are 28591 (Latin1), 1252 (iso-8859-1) and 65001
73 (UTF-8).
74 MCS supports a couple of shorthands: "utf8" can be used to specify
76 utf-8 instead
77 of using the cryptic 65001 and "reset" restores the automatic
78 handling of code pages. These shorthands are not available on
79 the Microsoft compiler.
80 -define:SYMLIST, -d:SYMLIST
82 Defines the symbol listed by the semi-colon separated list SYM‐
83 LIST SYMBOL. This can be tested in the source code by the pre-
84 processor, or can be used by methods that have been tagged with
85 the Conditional attribute.
86 -debug, -debug+, -g
88 Generate debugging information. To obtain stack traces with
89 debugging information, you need to invoke the mono runtime with
90 the `--debug' flag. This debugging information is stored inside
91 the assembly as a resource.
92 -debug-
94 Do not generate debugging information.
95 -delaysign+
97 Only embed the strongname public key into the assembly. The
98 actual signing must be done in a later stage using the SN tool.
99 This is useful to protect the private key during development.
100 Note that delay signing can only be done using a strongname key
101 file (not a key container). The option is equivalent to includ‐
102 ing [assembly: AssemblyDelaySign (true)] in your source code.
103 Compiler option takes precedence over the attributes.
104 -delaysign-
106 Default. Strongname (sign) the assembly using the strong name
107 key file (or container). The option is equivalent to including
108 [assembly: AssemblyDelaySign (false)] in your source code. Com‐
109 piler option takes precedence over the attributes.
110 -doc:FILE
112 Extracts the C#/XML documentation from the source code and
113 stores in in the given FILE.
114 --expect-error X L
116 The compiler will expect the code to generate an error named `X'
117 in line `L'. This is only used by the test suite.
118 --fatal
120 This is used for debugging the compiler. This makes the error
121 emission generate an exception that can be caught by a debugger.
122 -keyfile:KEYFILE
124 Strongname (sign) the output assembly using the key pair present
125 in the specified strong name key file (snk). A full key pair is
126 required by default (or when using delaysign-). A file contain‐
127 ing only the public key can be used with delaysign+. The option
128 is equivalent to including [assembly: AssemblyKeyFile ("KEY‐
129 FILE")] in your source code. Compiler option takes precedence
130 over the attributes.
131 -keycontainer:CONTAINER
133 Strongname (sign) the output assembly using the key pair present
134 in the specified container. Note that delaysign+ is ignored when
135 using key containers. The option is equivalent to including
136 [assembly: AssemblyKeyName ("CONTAINER")] in your source code.
137 Compiler option takes precedence over the attributes.
138 -langversion:TEXT
140 The option specifies the version of the language to use. The
141 feature set is different in each C# version. This switch can be
142 used to force the compiler to allow only a subset of the fea‐
143 tures. The possible values are:
144 Default - Instruct compiler to use the latest version. Equivalent
146 is to omit the switch.
147 ISO-1 - Restrict compiler to use only ISO standardized features.
149 The usage of features such as generics, static classes, anonymous
150 methods will lead to error.
151 Notice that this flag only controls the language features available to
152 the programmer, it does not control the kind of assemblies produced.
153 Programs compiled with mcs will reference the 1.1 APIs, Programs
154 compiled with gmcs reference the 2.0 APIs.
155 -lib:PATHLIST
157 Each path specified in the comma-separated list will direct the
158 compiler to look for libraries in that specified path.
159 -L PATH
161 Directs the compiler to look for libraries in the specified path.
162 Multiple paths can be provided by using the option multiple times.
163 -main:CLASS
165 Tells the compiler which CLASS contains the entry point. Useful when
166 you are compiling several classes with a Main method.
167 -nostdlib, -nostdlib+
169 Use this flag if you want to compile the core library. This makes the
170 compiler load its internal types from the assembly being compiled.
171 -noconfig, -noconfig+
173 Disables the default compiler configuration to be loaded. The
174 compiler by default has references to the system assemblies.
175 -nowarn:WARNLIST
177 Makes the compiler ignore warnings specified in the comma-separated
178 list WARNLIST>
179 -optimize, -optimize+, -optimize-
181 Controls whether to perform optimizations on the code. -optimize and
182 -optimize+ will turn on optimizations, -optimize- will turn it off.
183 The default in mcs is to optimize+.
184 -out:FNAME, -o FNAME
186 Names the output file to be generated.
187 --parse
189 Used for benchmarking. The compiler will only parse its input files.
190 -pkg:package1[,packageN]
192 The compiler will invoke pkg-config --libs on the set of packages
193 specified on the command line to obtain libraries and directories to
194 compile the code.
195 This is typically used with third party components, like this:
197 $ mcs -pkg:gtk-sharp demo.cs
198 -pkg:dotnet
201 This will instruct the compiler to reference the System.*
202 libraries available on a typical dotnet framework instal‐
203 lation, notice that this does not include all of the Mono
204 libraries, only the System.* ones. This is a convenient
205 shortcut for those porting code.
206 -resource:RESOURCE[,ID]
208 Embeds to the given resource file. The optional ID can
209 be used to give a different name to the resource. If not
210 specified, the resource name will be the file name.
211 -linkresource:RESOURCE[,ID]
213 Links to the specified RESOURCE. The optional ID can be
214 used to give a name to the linked resource.
215 -r:ASSEMBLY1[,ASSEMBLY2], -r ASSEMBLY1[,ASSEMBLY2]
217 Reference the named assemblies. Use this to use classes
218 from the named assembly in your program. The assembly
219 will be loaded from either the system directory where all
220 the assemblies live, or from the path explicitly given
221 with the -L option.
222 You can also use a semicolon to separate the assemblies instead
224 of a comma.
225 -recurse:PATTERN, --recurse PATTERN
227 Does recursive compilation using the specified pattern.
228 In Unix the shell will perform globbing, so you might
229 want to use it like this:
230 $ mcs -recurse:'*.cs'
232 --stacktrace
234 Generates a stack trace at the time the error is
235 reported, useful for debugging the compiler.
236 -target:KIND, -t:KIND
238 Used to specify the desired target. The possible values
239 are: exe (plain executable), winexe (Windows.Forms exe‐
240 cutable), library (component libraries) and module (par‐
241 tial library).
242 --timestamp
244 Another debugging flag. Used to display the times at
245 various points in the compilation process.
246 -unsafe, -unsafe+
248 Enables compilation of unsafe code.
249 -v Debugging. Turns on verbose yacc parsing.
251 -v2 Turns on C# 2.0 language features.
253 --version
255 Shows the compiler version.
256 -warnaserror, -warnaserror+
258 Treat warnings as errors.
259 -warn:LEVEL
261 Sets the warning level. 0 is the lowest warning level,
262 and 4 is the highest. The default is 2.
263 -win32res:FILE
265 Specifies a Win32 resource file (.res) to be bundled into
266 the resulting assembly.
267 -win32icon:FILE
269 Attaches the icon specified in FILE on the output into
270 the resulting assembly.
271 -- Use this to stop option parsing, and allow option-looking
273 parameters to be passed on the command line.
274
276 The TRACE and DEBUG defines have a special meaning to the com‐
277 piler.
278 By default calls to methods and properties in the System.Diag‐
280 nostics.Trace class are not generated unless the TRACE symbol is
281 defined (either through a "#define TRACE") in your source code,
282 or by using the --define TRACE in the command line.
283 By default calls to methods and properties in the System.Diag‐
285 nostics.Debug class are not generated unless the DEBUG symbol is
286 defined (either through a "#define DEBUG") in your source code,
287 or by using the --define DEBUG in the command line.
288 Note that the effect of defining TRACE and DEBUG is a global
290 setting, even if they are only defined in a single file.
291
293 When use the "--debug" or "-g" flag, MCS will create an assem‐
294 bler file FILE-debug.s containing debugging information where
295 FILE is the name of the generated assembly. You need to run this
296 file through the assembler to get a object file FILE-debug.o.
297 See mono's "--dwarf-plus" argument for details on how to use
298 this file.
299
301 During compilation the MCS compiler defines the __MonoCS__ sym‐
302 bol, this can be used by pre-processor instructions to compile
303 Mono C# compiler specific code. Please note that this symbol
304 is only to test for the compiler, and is not useful to distin‐
305 guish compilation or deployment platforms.
306
308 The Mono C# Compiler was written by Miguel de Icaza, Ravi
309 Pratap, Martin Baulig, Marek Safar and Raja Harinath. The
310 development was funded by Ximian, Novell and Marek Safar.
311
313 The Mono Compiler Suite is released under the terms of the GNU
314 GPL. Please read the accompanying `COPYING' file for details.
315 Alternative licensing for the compiler is available from Novell.
316
318 mono(1), mint(1), sn(1)
319
321 To report bugs in the compiler, you must file them on our bug
322 tracking system, at: http://www.mono-project.com/Bugs
323
325 The Mono Mailing lists are listed at http://www.mono-
326 project.com/Mailing_Lists
327
329 The Mono C# compiler was developed by Novell, Inc
330 (http://www.novell.com, http) and is based on the ECMA C# lan‐
331 guage standard available here:
332 http://www.ecma.ch/ecma1/STAND/ecma-334.htm
333 The home page for the Mono C# compiler is at http://www.mono-
335 project.com/CSharp_Compiler
336 6 January 2001 mcs(1)