-xmodel=medium causes linker error

Question

I'm having problems with the -xmodel=medium compiler option under SuSE Linux 10.0. The trouble maker seems to be common blocks that do not appear in block data modules. Consider the following test case, which obviously does not require the option:
program small
real a, b, c
common /dummy/ a, b, c
a=5.
b=sqrt(a)
c=a*b
write (6,*) 'Go Away!', a,b,c
end
c
C block data
C real a, b, c
C common /dummy/ a, b, c
C data a/5/
C end
With the block data uncommented, life is good, compilation and execution look like this:
othello<208> sunf95 -xmodel=medium -o small small.f
othello<209> small
Go Away! 5.0 2.236068 11.18034
With the block data commented out, as above, compilation/linking (it's /usr/bin/ld) fail:
othello<215> sunf95 -xmodel=medium -o small small.f
small.o: could not read symbols: Bad value

Answer 1

When I inspect the object file using nm, I find that the common
block, whose linker name is dummy_, is being generated as an
absolute symbol instead of a common symbol when -xarch=medium
is specified. It is OK when -xarch=small is specified.
Bob Corbett