https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=114922
--- Comment #3 from Axel Ehrich <axel.ehr...@tu-clausthal.de> --- The question is related to the actual purpose of the option -fsyntax only: In my understanding, the intention of the option -fsyntax-only is to construct the module files needed to compile the code. A build process would involve two steps: Step 1: construct all module files with gfortran -fsyntax only. Step 2: construct the object files without this option, while relying on the presence of all module files. (I have found this recipe on the internet and consider it valuable.) Alternatively, the purpose of -fsyntax-only could be to save compile time by a doing quick first check before entering the time consuming parts of the compilation. If this syntax check goes so far that it requires the module files already, the goal mentioned above cannot be reached.