Using the Intel C++ compiler

Intel’s C++ compiler is said to generate faster code than gcc and is free for noncommerical use on Linux platforms. Available here:

http://software.intel.com/en-us/c-compilers/

Configuration

Specify the path to icc and icpc on the command line at cmake-time:

% CC=/opt/intel/cc/10.1.018/bin/icc CXX=/opt/intel/cc/10.1.018/bin/icpc cmake ../src
-- The C compiler identification is Intel
-- The CXX compiler identification is Intel
-- Check for working C compiler: /opt/intel/cc/10.1.018/bin/icc
-- Check for working C compiler: /opt/intel/cc/10.1.018/bin/icc -- works
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /opt/intel/cc/10.1.018/bin/icpc
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /opt/intel/cc/10.1.018/bin/icpc -- works
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done

Gotchas

__sync_fetch_and_add

See this thread:

http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/topic/304565

for details on a link error involving undefined symbol __sync_fetch_and_add, which is found in gcc 4.2 stl headers. The patch is in cmake/tool-patches/common/I3/intel_compatibility.h.

libimf.so

If you see:

error while loading shared libraries: libimf.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

You need to add the intel compiler’s lib directory to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH. If you do so be careful that you don’t do it in such a way that you clobber the LD_LIBRARY_PATH set by the env-shell.sh