Compiling external C++ library (Octave) for iPhone (Fortran compiler missing?)

Question

A friend of mine asked me if it would be possible to port the Octave project to the iPhone. I haven't compiled an external package for an iPhone project before, so I downloaded the source code, and then used some scripts found on a couple of different Web sites (one, two) to try and build the libraries. However, when I try either of these scripts (which are nearly identical), they eventually die during the configure phase with the following error output:

[...snip checks...]
checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... no
checking whether  accepts -g... no
checking how to get verbose linking output from ... configure: WARNING: compilation failed

checking for Fortran 77 libraries of ... rm: conftest.dSYM: is a directory

checking for dummy main to link with Fortran 77 libraries... rm: conftest.dSYM: is a directory
none
checking for Fortran 77 name-mangling scheme... configure: error: cannot compile a simple Fortran program
See `config.log' for more details.

Is the problem that the iPhone SDK/Xcode doesn't include a Fortran cross-compiler, or am I doing something wrong?

Answer 1

The iPhone SDK does not include a FORTRAN compiler. Apple's last FORTRAN product was for the Apple ][, although 3rd party and/or open source compilers have existed for most systems Apple has built.

You could configure and build gfortran, but it's going to be a PITA. You'll likely need to merge in changes from Apple's customized GCC 4.2 fork found under iPhone here with a recipe for building it for Darwin, such as this.

You might try f2c as the Octave project suggests.