Trouble reading binary data files with Fortran 77 program on Linux box with gcc
 

Hi--

I have Linux Red Hat 3.4.6-10 with gcc 3.4.6.
I am trying to convert an old program written in Fortran 77 compiled under Solaris using SUNWspro/SC4.2 compiler. The program compiles with my gcc compiler, but chokes when I try to read a binary data file.

Here is one of the read statements in the program:
read(iounit, iostat=ios,rec=irc) idata

Is it possible to read a binary file with gcc 3.4.6? Or is there another version Gnu Fortran that would do the job?

thanks.

Yes, you can read binary data with f77.

There are lots of potential problems with binary data in ANY language, on ANY platform.

Two pitfalls come immediately to mind:

1) DOS CR/LF vs Linux NEWLINE
2) Little-endian vs Big-endian byte order

SUGGESTION:
Get out your favorite hex editor and try to figure out exactly what your program is "choking" on.

My guess is probably byte-ordering (you originally created the files on a SPARC workstation (big-endian), but you're trying to read them on an Intel PC (little-endian).

Good luck .. PSM