# An introduction to gp2c

### By Bill Allombert and Ariel Pacetti

## Contents

## 1 What is gp2c?

The gp2c compiler is a package for translating GP routines into the C programming language, so that they can be compiled and used with the PARI system or the GP calculator.

The main advantage of doing this is to speed up computations and to include your own routines within the preexisting GP ones. It may also find bugs in GP scripts.

This package (including the latest versions) can be obtained at the URL:
http://pari.math.u-bordeaux.fr/download.html#gp2c

### 1.1 Installing gp2c

After downloading the file gp2c-x.y.z pl t.tar.gz (where x,y,z and t depend on the version), you first have to unzip the file with the command:

gunzip gp2c-x.y.z pl t.tar.gz

This will create the new file gp2c-x.y.z pl t.tar. Next you have to extract the files with the tar program:

tar -xvf gp2c-x.y.z pl t.tar

Note: You can do both steps at once with GNU tar by using the command:

tar -zxvf gp2c-x.y.z pl t.tar.gz

This creates a directory gp2c-x.y.z pl t, which contains the main gp2c files. Now you have to install the program.

You need the file pari.cfg. This file can be found in the PARI object directory and is installed in $prefix/lib/pari/.

Copy or link this file in the gp2c directory, be sure to call it pari.cfg.

ln -s .../lib/pari/pari.cfg pari.cfg

Run ./configure, which will search for the PARI version and some other configuration tools of the system. To install the program, type make, and the program will be compiled. You can then run make check to verify that everything has gone fine (a bunch of OK’s should show up). All of this is completely standard, and you are now ready to use gp2c.

You can use gp2c directly from this directory or you can install it by running make install as root. If you do not install it, you can run it from the gp2c directory by typing ./gp2c

## 2 A gp2c tutorial

### 2.1 How can I compile and run my scripts?

The simplest way to use gp2c is to call gp2c-run. If you want to know what happens in detail, see next section.

To make the examples easier to follow, please move to the gp2c directory and link the root of your PARI source there:

ln -s .../pari .

As an example, we will take the file pari/examples/squfof.gp, which is a simple implementation of the well-known SQUFOF factoring method of D. Shanks.

We just run the command:

./gp2c-run pari/examples/squfof.gp

After a little processing we get a GP session. But this session is special, because it contains the compiled squfof function. Hence we can do the following:

    parisize = 4000000, primelimit = 500000
    ? squfof(3097180303181)
    [419]
    i = 596
    Qfb(133225, 1719841, -261451, 0.E-28)
    %1 = 1691693

Let’s try a bigger example:

    ? squfof(122294051504814979)
    [20137]
      ***   the PARI stack overflows !
      current stack size: 4.0 Mbytes
      [hint] you can increase GP stack with allocatemem()
    ? allocatemem()
      ***   Warning: doubling stack size; new stack = 8.0 MBytes.
    ? squfof(122294051504814979)
    [20137]
    [20137, 3445]
    i = 46474
    Qfb(321233929, 131349818, -367273962, 0.E-28)
    %2 = 73823023

We need a large stack because by default gp2c does not generate code to handle the stack (the so-called gerepile code). To instruct gp2c to add gerepile code automatically, we must use the -g option. So quit this GP session and launch a new one with -g. Oh well, before that type

ls pari/examples/squfof.gp*

    pari/examples/squfof.gp    pari/examples/squfof.gp.run
    pari/examples/squfof.gp.c  pari/examples/squfof.gp.so
    pari/examples/squfof.gp.o

These are the files generated by gp2c-run:

- pari/examples/squfof.gp.c is the C file generated by gp2c.
- pari/examples/squfof.gp.o is the object file generated by the C compiler.
- pari/examples/squfof.gp.so is the shared library generated by the linker.
- pari/examples/squfof.gp.run is a file that contains the commands needed to load the compiled functions inside GP.

It is the shared library which is used by GP.

Now let’s continue:

./gp2c-run -g pari/examples/squfof.gp

    parisize = 4000000, primelimit = 500000
    ? squfof(122294051504814979)
    [20137]
    [20137, 3445]
    i = 46474
    Qfb(321233929, 131349818, -367273962, 0.E-28)
    %1 = 73823023

This time it works with no difficulty using the default stack. We would like to know how much faster the compiled code runs, so we need to load the non compiled squfof file in GP:

    ? \r pari/examples/squfof.gp
      ***   unexpected character: squfof(n)=if(isprime(n),retur
                                           ^--------------------

Why?? Because squfof already exists as an installed function and GP refuses to overwrite it. To solve this problem, we will add a suffix to the name of the compiled function under GP. Quit the session and type:

./gp2c-run -g -s_c pari/examples/squfof.gp

Now the function squfof is named squfof_c instead, so we can do

    parisize = 4000000, primelimit = 500000
    ? \r pari/examples/squfof.gp
    ? #
       timer = 1 (on)
    ? squfof(122294051504814979)
    [20137]
    [20137, 3445]
    i = 46474
    Qfb(321233929, 131349818, -367273962, 0.E-28)
    time = 5,810 ms.
    %1 = 73823023
    ? squfof_c(122294051504814979)
    [20137]
    [20137, 3445]
    i = 46474
    Qfb(321233929, 131349818, -367273962, 0.E-28)
    time = 560 ms.
    %2 = 73823023

So the compiled version is more than ten times faster than the noncompiled one. However for more complex examples, compiled code usually runs only three times faster on average.

An extra trick: once you have run gp2c-run on your script, it is compiled and you can use the compiled version outside gp2c-run in any GP session by loading the file with extension .gp.run. For example quit the gp2c-run session and start gp and do

    parisize = 4000000, primelimit = 500000
    ? \r pari/examples/squfof.gp.run

Now you have access to the compiled function squfof_c as well.

### 2.2 How can I compile directly with gp2c?

Now we want to compile directly with gp2c to understand what happens. We should run the command

./gp2c pari/examples/squfof.gp `>` squfof.gp.c

This creates a file squfof.gp.c in the gp2c directory. Now read this file with your favorite editor.

The first line is highly system-dependent, but should be similar to:

    /*-*- compile-command: "/usr/bin/gcc -c -o pari/examples/squfof.gp.o
      -O3 -Wall -I/usr/local/include pari/examples/squfof.gp.c
      && /usr/bin/gcc -o pari/examples/squfof.gp.so
      -shared   pari/examples/squfof.gp.o"; -*-*/

This is the command needed to compile this C file to an object file with the C compiler and then to make a shared library with the linker. If you use emacs, typing ’M-x compile’ will know about this command, so you will just need to type Return to compile.

The second line is

    #include <pari/pari.h>

This includes the PARI header files. It is important that the header files come from the same PARI version as GP, else it will create problems.

The next lines are

    /*
    GP;install("squfof","D0,G,p","squfof","./pari/examples/squfof.gp.so");
    GP;install("init_squfof","v","init_squfof","./pari/.../squfof.gp.so");
    */

The characters "GP;" denote a command that should be read by GP at start-up. Here, the install() commands above must be given to GP to let it know about functions defined by the library. gp2c-run copy such commands to the file ./pari/examples/squfof.gp.run.

Please read the entry about the install() command in the PARI manual.

The init_squfof function is an initialization function that is created automatically by gp2c to hold codes that is outside any function. Since in our case there are none, this is a dummy function. In other cases, it is essential. The next lines are

    GEN squfof(GEN n, long prec);
    void init_squfof(void);
    /*End of prototype*/

This is the C prototypes of your functions. The rest of the file is the C code proper.

For teaching purpose, let’s run the command

./gp2c -s_c pari/examples/squfof.gp `>` squfof2.gp.c

and look at the difference between squfof.gp.c and squfof2.gp.c:

diff -u squfof.gp.c squfof2.gp.c

    --- squfof.gp.c Tue Feb 26 13:44:42 2002
    +++ squfof2.gp.c        Tue Feb 26 13:44:49 2002
    @@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
     /*-*- compile-command: "/usr/bin/gcc -c -o pari/examples/squfof.gp.o
      -DMEMSTEP=1048576 -g -Wall -Wno-implicit  -I/usr/local/include
      pari/examples/squfof.gp.c && /usr/bin/ld -o pari/examples/squfof.gp.so
      -shared   pari/examples/squfof.gp.o"; -*-*/
     #include <pari/pari.h>
     /*
    -GP;install("squfof","D0,G,p","squfof","./pari/examples/squfof.gp.so");
    -GP;install("init_squfof","v","init_squfof","./pari/.../squfof.gp.so");
    +GP;install("squfof","D0,G,p","squfof_c","./pari/...les/squfof.gp.so");
    +GP;install("init_squfof","v","init_squfof_c","./par.../squfof.gp.so");
     */
     GEN squfof(GEN n, long prec);
     void init_squfof(void);

If you are not familiar with the diff utility, the above means that only the two lines starting with GP;install have changed. In fact squfof is still named squfof in the C file, but the install command tells GP to rename it squfof_c in the GP session.

### 2.3 Using gp2c to find errors in GP scripts

The gp2c compiler can also be used to find errors in GP programs. For that we should use the -W option like in

./gp2c -W pari/examples/squfof.gp `>` squfof.gp.c

    Warning:pari/examples/squfof.gp:7:variable undeclared
    p
    Warning:pari/examples/squfof.gp:11:variable undeclared
    dd
    Warning:pari/examples/squfof.gp:11:variable undeclared
    d
    Warning:pari/examples/squfof.gp:11:variable undeclared
    b
    ...
    Warning:pari/examples/squfof.gp:45:variable undeclared
    b1

This option lists variables that are used but not declared. It is important to declare all your variables with my(), or with global(). For gp2c, undeclared variables are taken to be “formal variables” for polynomials. For example if you write a function to build a second degree polynomial like

`pol(a,b,c)=a*x^2+b*x+c`

you must not declare ’x’ here, since it stands for the formal variable x.

### 2.4 Using compiled functions in a new program

One you have successfully compiled and tested your functions you may want to reuse them in another GP program.

The best way is to copy the install commands of the functions you use at the start of the new program so that reading it will automatically load the compiled functions.

As an example, we write a simple program fact.gp that reads

    install("squfof","D0,G,p","squfof","./pari/examples/squfof.gp.so");
    fact_mersenne(p)=squfof(2^p-1)

and run GP:

    parisize = 4000000, primelimit = 500000
    ? \rfact
    ? fact_mersenne(67)
    i = 2418
    Qfb(10825778209, 4021505768, -13258245519, 0.E-28)
    %1 = 193707721

So all goes well. But what is even better is that gp2c understands the install command and will be able to compile this new program.

Also this particular example will fail because as stated above, PARI/GP already has a squfof function, and the linker will pick the wrong one, which is unfortunate.

So use the -p option to gp2c-run to change squfof to my_squfof.

./gp2c-run -pmy_ -g pari/examples/squfof.gp

This option prefixes my_ to every GP name in the program so as to avoid name clashes. Change fact.gp to

    install("my_squfof","D0,G,p","squfof","./pari/examples/squfof.gp.so");
    fact_mersenne(p)=squfof(2^p-1)

and run

./gp2c-run -g fact.gp

    parisize = 4000000, primelimit = 500000
    ? fact_mersenne(67)
    i = 2418
    Qfb(10825778209, 4021505768, -13258245519, 0.E-28)
    %1 = 193707721

Nice isn’t it?

But it gets even better: instead of writing the install command directly in your script you can just load the squfof.gp.run using `\r`: just change fact.gp to

    \r ./pari/examples/squfof.gp.run
    fact_mersenne(p)=squfof(2^p-1)

### 2.5 Hand-editing the C file generated by gp2c

If you have some experience in PARI programming, you may want to manually edit the C file generated by gp2c, for example to improve memory handling. Here some tips:

- If you preserve the install() at the start of the file, you can use the command gp2c-run file.c to recompile your file and start a new GP session with your functions added, just as you use gp2c-run with GP scripts.
- More generally, gp2c-run automatically passes any line in the C file starting with ’GP;’ to GP at start-up.
- As explained in Section 2.2, under emacs you can type ’M-x compile’ to recompile the shared library.

## 3 Advanced use of gp2c

### 3.1 gp2c types

Internally gp2c assign types to objects. The most common types are given below:

name | description
void | like in C
bool | boolean, true (1) or false (0)
negbool | antiboolean, true (0) or false (1)
small | C integer long
int | multiprecision integer
real | multiprecision floating point
mp | multiprecision number
var | variable
pol | polynomial
vecsmall | vector of C long (t_VECSMALL)
vec | vector and matrices (excluding vecsmall)
list | GP lists
str | characters string as a char *
genstr | characters string as a GEN (t_STR)
gen | generic PARI object (GEN)
lg | length of object (returned by length)
typ | type of object (returned by type)

> Table 1: Types preorder

Types are preordered as in Table 1. The complete preorder known by gp2c can be accessed by running gp2c -t.

Variables are typed. A variable can only take values having a type equal or lower than its type. By default, variables are of type gen.

### 3.2 Type declaration

To declare a variable as belonging to type type, use:

> function(x:type,y:type=2)
> my(x:type, y:type=2)
> global(x:type, y:type=2)
> for(i:type=...

To declare several variables of the same type type at once, use:

> my(x, y=2):type
> global(x, y=2):type

You can even mix the two ways:

> my(x, y:type2=2):type1

will declare x to be of type type1 and y of type type2.

### 3.3 Effect of types declaration on default values

Under GP, all GP variables start with a default value, which is 0 for a local variable and ’v for a global variable v.

The gp2c compiler follows this rule for variables declared without a type. However, when a variable is declared with a type, gp2c will not assign it a default value. This means that the declaration my(g) is equivalent to my(g:gen=0), but not to my(g:gen), my(g) is equivalent to my(g:gen=’g), but not to my(g:gen), and f(g)=... is equivalent to f(g:gen=0)=..., but not to f(g:gen)=....

This rule was chosen for several reasons:

- The default value (0 or ’v) might not be an object suitable for the type in question. For example, my(v:vec) declares v as being of type vec. It would make no sense to initialize v to 0 since 0 does not belong to type vec. Similarly global(N:int) declares N as being of type int. It would make no sense to initialize N to ’N since ’N does not belong to type int.
- This allows defining GP functions with mandatory arguments. This way, GP will issue an error if a mandatory argument is missing. Without this rule, there is no way to tell apart 0 from a missing argument.
- This allows telling gp2c not to generate useless default values.

### 3.4 Type casting

Sometimes, we know a more precise type than the one the transtyping algorithm can derive. For example if x is a real number, its logarithm might be complex. However, if we are sure x is positive, the logarithm will be real.

To force an expression to belong to type type, use the syntax:
expr:type
gp2c will check types consistency and output warnings if necessary. For example
f(x:int)=my(r:real); r=log(x^2+1)
gp2c will complain that the logarithm might not be real. Since x^2+1 is always positive, we can write:
f(x:int)=my(r:real); r=log(x^2+1):real

### 3.5 Example of optimisation

Declaring the types of variables allow gp2c to perform some optimisations. For example, the following piece of GP code

    rho(n)=
    {
      my(x,y);

      x=2; y=5;
      while(gcd(y-x,n)==1,
        x=(x^2+1)%n;
        y=(y^2+1)%n; y=(y^2+1)%n
       );
      gcd(n,y-x)
    }

generates the following output:

    GEN
    rho(GEN n)
    {
      GEN x = gen_0, y = gen_0;
      x = gen_2;
      y = stoi(5);
      while (gequal1(ggcd(gsub(y, x), n)))
      {
        x = gmod(gaddgs(gsqr(x), 1), n);
        y = gmod(gaddgs(gsqr(y), 1), n);
        y = gmod(gaddgs(gsqr(y), 1), n);
      }
      return ggcd(n, gsub(y, x));
    }

The functions gsqr, gaddgs, gmod, ggcd are generic PARI functions that handle gen objects. Since we only want to factor integers with this method, we can declare n, x y of type int:

rho(n:int)=
`{`
`my`(x:int,y:int);

      x=2; y=5;
      while(gcd(y-x,n)==1,
        x=(x^2+1)%n;
        y=(y^2+1)%n; y=(y^2+1)%n
       );
      gcd(n,y-x)
    }

The new C code output by gp2c is:

    GEN
    rho(GEN n)        /* int */
    {
      GEN x, y;       /* int */
      if (typ(n) != t_INT)
        pari_err(typeer, "rho");
      x = gen_2;
      y = stoi(5);
      while (gequal1(gcdii(subii(y, x), n)))
      {
        x = modii(addis(sqri(x), 1), n);
        y = modii(addis(sqri(y), 1), n);
        y = modii(addis(sqri(y), 1), n);
      }
      return gcdii(n, subii(y, x));
    }

Now, the code now uses the more specific functions sqri, addis, modii and gcdii.

The most efficient way to use typing is to declare some variables of type small. This way, these variables will be implemented by C long variables, which are faster than PARI integers and do not require garbage collecting. However, you will not be protected from integer overflow. For that reason, gp2c will automatically declare some loop indices of type small when the range cannot cause overflow. Sometimes gp2c can be too conservative but you can force a loop index to be small with the syntax for(i:small=a,b,...).

### 3.6 Types and member functions

For use with members functions, gp2c provides the following types:

nf
  for ordinary number fields, i.e., a result given by the GP function nfinit.
bnf
  for big number fields, i.e., a result given by the GP function bnfinit which includes class and unit group data.
bnr
  for ray class groups, i.e., a result given by the GP function bnrinit.
ell
  for elliptic curves, i.e., a result given by the GP function ellinit.
gal
  for galois extensions, i.e., a result given by the GP function galoisinit.
prid
  for prime ideals, i.e., a component of the result given by the GP function idealprimedec.

Members functions on typed objects are much more efficient.

## 4 Common problems

### 4.1 Meta-commands.

Meta-commands (commands starting with a `\`) other than `\r` are currently ignored by gp2c, though a warning will be issued, because it is not clear what they should do in a compiled program. Instead you probably want to run the meta-command in the GP session itself.

The meta-command `\r` include is replaced with the content of the file include (or include.gp) when gp2c reads the file. If you would prefer gp2c to link include.so to the program instead, see Section 2.4.

### 4.2 Unsupported functions.

Some GP functions are not yet available to C programs, so the compiler cannot handle them. If you use them you will get the error "unhandled letter in prototype". These are currently forfactored and forsquarefree.

The functions forell, forsubgroup and forqfvec are currently not implemented as an iterator but as a procedure with callbacks, which limits what you can do inside the loop.

The forstep function is supported when the step is a number. If it is a vector, you must add a tag :vec to make GP know about it like in

    f(x)=
    {
      my(v);
      v=[2,4,6,6,6,6,6,2,4,6,6]
      forstep(y=7,x,v:vec,print(y))
    }

This is not needed if the step is a vector or a variable of type vec, but is needed if the step is only an expression which evaluates to a vector.

Some functions are passed to GP by gp2c-run at start-up (using the GP; syntax) instead of being translated in C: install and addhelp. In practice, they can be considered as supported.

Also the functions read, eval, kill may compile fine but have a surprising behaviour in some case, because they may modify the state of the GP interpreter, not of the compiled program. Please see Section 4.4 for details. For example `f(n)=eval("n^2")` is very different from `f(n)=n^2`. To read files at compile-time use `\r` instead of read.

### 4.3 Dynamically-scoped local variables.

Currenlty gp2c does not support dynamically-scoped local variables declared with local(). Instead local() is treated as an alias for my() which declares statically-scoped local variables.

Supporting dynamically-scoped local variables is cumbersome to do in C.

### 4.4 Memory handling and global variables.

While a lot of work has been done to ensure that gp2c handles global variables properly, the use of global variables is still a lot of trouble, so try to avoid them if you do not understand the implications on memory handling.

First, there is a common practice to use undeclared variables as formal variables, for example we assume x=’x and write a*x+b instead of a*’x+b. So gp2c will not raise an undeclared variable to the rank of global variable unless you declare it with the global() command, or you use it at toplevel (i.e. outside any function). See also Section 2.3

Second, global variables seen by a compiled function are C variables, not GP variables. There is no connection between the two. You may well have two variables with the same name and a different content. Currently GP knows only how to install functions, not variables, so you need to write compiled functions in order to access global variables under GP.

Basically, global variables are allocated in the main stack which is destroyed each time GP prints a new prompt. This means you must put all your commands on the same line. Also global variables must be initialized using the init_`<filename>` function before being used, and are only supported with the -g flag.

So you end up doing gp2c-run -g global.gp

    parisize = 4000000, primelimit = 500000
    ? init_global();myfunction(args);

Note that nothing prevents you from calling init_global in the GP program. In that case, you can omit the parentheses (i.e, write init_global, not init_global()) so that you can still run your noncompiled program.

Another way to handle global variables is to use the clone function which copies a PARI object to the heap, hence avoids its destruction when GP prints a new prompt. You can use unclone to free a clone. Please read the PARI/GP manual for more information about clone.

A good use of clone is for initializing constant variables: for example in test/gp/initfunc.gp, the vector T is initialized by

    T=clone([4,3,2,2,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0])

You must still run the init_`<filename>` after starting GP, but after that you can use T safely.

GP itself currently does not know about clone and unclone, but you can use dummy functions

    clone(x)=x
    unclone(x)=while(0,)

when running uncompiled.

### 4.5 Support for t_VECSMALL

When accessing the component of a t_VECSMALL, it is necessary that that the object has been declared of type vecsmall.

For example my(v); v = vecsort(V,,1); print(v[1]) does not work, but my(v:vecsmall); v = vecsort(V,,1); print(v[1]) or my(v:vecsmall); v = vecsort(V,,1); print(v:vecsmall[1]) works.

### 4.6 GP lists

GP lists and maps are not fully supported by gp2c. A partial support is available with the list type. You must tell gp2c that a variable will contain a list or a map by using L:list inside a declaration, where L is the name of the variable as explained in Section 3.

Currently, assigning to a list element (L[2]=x) will not work and lists and maps will not be freed unless you explicitly use listkill.

Note: The PARI user’s manual states that lists are useless in library mode.

### 4.7 The install command

The install command is interpreted as a gp2c directive. This allows using installed function in compiled programs, see Section 2.4.

However this has some side-effects:

- If present, the lib argument must be a string, not an expression that evaluate to a string.
- The install command is not compiled, instead it is added to the list of functions to install.

### 4.8 What about main() ?

There are two different issues with main(): first this is reserved function name in C, so using it with gp2c will cause a name clash. To avoid this, either rename it or use the flag -p.

Secondy gp2c has no support for generating stand-alone GP programs. However adding manually a main() C function is not difficult in general.

## 5 Command-line options of gp2c

Here is a brief description of the main options of gp2c, which can be seen with ./gp2c -h.

In Section 2.1 we saw how to use the -g option.

- -g tells gp2c to generate gerepile calls to clean up the PARI stack and reduce memory usage. You will probably need this option, although the C code will be easier to read or hand-edit without it.
- -ofile tells gp2c to write the generated C file to the file file instead of the standard output.
- -iN allows you to change the indentation of the generated C file. So if you want 4 spaces, just use the -i4 option with gp2c. The default is 2.
- -C adds code to perform range checking for GP constructs like x[a] and x[a,b]. This also checks whether x has the correct type. By default gp2c does not perform such check, which can lead to a runtime crash with invalid code. This option causes a small runtime penalty and a large C code readability penalty.
- -L adds compiler directives to the code so that warning and error found by the compiler are prefixed with the line number in the original GP file instead of the C file.
- -W is useful for debugging the .gp file, in the sense that it detects if some local variables are undeclared. For example, if the file algorithm.gp has a routine like

      radical(x)=F=factor(x)[,1];prod(i=1,length(F),F[i])

  The variable ’F’ is undeclared in this routine, so when running gp2c with the -W option it prints

  Warning:algorithm.gp:1:variable undeclared F

  At present, an undeclared variable is taken to be a "formal variable" for polynomials by gp2c, so do not declare it if that is what you intend. For example in `pol(a,b,c)=a*x^2+b*x+c` you must not declare x since it stands for the formal variable ’x.

- -pprefix A problem with C is that it is subject to name clashes, i.e., if a GP variable in your routine has the same name as a C symbol in the pari library, the compiler will report strange errors. So this option changes ALL user variables and user routine names by adding a prefix prefix to them. For example the GP routine add(x,y) with -pmy_ will become the C function my_add(x,y).

  Try this option each time the compiler fails to compile gp2c output to see if there is a name conflict. If this is the case, change the name in your GP script. It may be difficult to find conflicting names if your compiler is not verbose enough and if you are not familiar with the PARI code and C in general.

  Example of conflicting names are top,bot,prec,un, but there are thousands of others and they may be system-dependent.

- -ssuffix: Add suffix to the names of the installed functions under GP. This is to avoid clashes with the original GP script. For example, if you want to compare timings you may want to use the option -s_c This does not affect the C code, only the install commands.
- -S: Assume strict prototypes for functions. This is related to the ’strictargs’ GP default. This makes all arguments of functions defined in the file mandatory unless the function supplies an explicit default value. This does not affect the C code, only the prototype code in the install commands. In this example, the prototype code changes from "D0,G,DG" to "GDG".

      test(data,flag=0)={CODE}

- -h gives the help.
- -v gives the gp2c version.
- -l prints a list of all the GP functions known by the compiler. So if a routine contains a GP routine not on this list, gp2c will show an error when trying to translate it.

  Reasons why a GP function may not be known by the compiler are:

  - The function is not part of the PARI library. See Section 4.2
  - You use the old PARI 1.39 function names instead of the new ones. gp2c currently does not know about the ’compat’ default. Use whatnow under GP to get the current name. For example, mod() is now Mod().
  - You use a GP function that does not exists in the GP version gp2c was compiled against. Please recompile gp2c against this GP version.

    Normally no functions are added between two stable releases of GP with the same minor version number (say 2.1.1 and 2.1.2) so there is no need to recompile gp2c when you upgrade. But if you use the developement versions, you need to recompile. Also some new developement versions may break old versions of gp2c, so upgrade gp2c at the same time.

    However, if you want to compile scripts which do not use the new functions, you do not need to recompile. Note that you may use the GP environment variables to tell gp2c-run which GP to use.

- -t Output the table of types known to the compiler, see Section 3.

> This document was translated from LATEX by H E V E A.