Compilation for specific hardware platforms

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There are several things you should consider before compiling for specific hardware platforms.

Systems can use several type of processors. By using the -qarch and -qtune options, you can optimize programs for the special instructions and particular strengths of these processors.

Recommendations

Follow these guidelines for compiling for specific hardware platforms:

  • If your program will be run only on a single system, or on a group of systems with the same processor type, use the -qarch option to specify the processor type.
  • If your program will be run on systems with different processor types, and you can identify one processor type as the most important, use the appropriate -qarch and -qtune settings. XL FORTRAN and XL HPF users can use the xxlf and xxlhpf commands to select these settings interactively.
  • If your program is intended to run on the full range of processor implementations, and is not intended primarily for one processor type, do not use either -qarch or -qtune.