# Cannot open included file

**URL:** <https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/cannot-open-included-file/8237>\
**Category:** Visual Studio Code\
**Created:** [June 20, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/cannot-open-included-file/8237 "2024-06-20T15:51:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ParkerLewis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/57b2e6/32.png) [@ParkerLewis](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/ParkerLewis)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/cannot-open-included-file/8237/1 "2024-06-20T15:51:04Z")

</div>

Hello,

I have VS Code and Modern Fortran with fortls set up, on Windows.

I have a main source dir with some Fortran .f files, and a few subfolders (say `lib`) with some Fortran files as well, both .f and .inc.

Say `a.f` is in the main source dir.  
Say `b.f` and `c.inc` are in the `lib` subdir.

**My issue is with the linting process in the editor only** , I have no issue with compilation. (Note that in all the following cases, everything compiles fine on my side with a good makefile. This is really only a problem in the linting process)

An `include 'c.inc'` statement in `b.f` : everything is fine, fortls is fine, the linter raises no error.  
(An `include 'lib/c.inc'` statement in `b.f` : everything is also fine).

An `include 'c.inc'` statement in `a.f`, then the linter raises an error, stating `Cannot open included file 'c.inc'`. **\<= this is the one I would like to find out how to make the linter work with**  
An `include 'lib/c.inc'` statement in `a.f`: everything is fine, fortls is fine, the linter raises no error.

I am unsure on how to make fortls correctly find `c.inc` when it is in a project subdirectory as the .f with include statement (and have all / any other such statement simply work). What is especially strange to me is that both `include 'c.inc'` and `include 'lib/c.inc'` are fine when stated from `b.f`inside `lib`.

Here are what I believe might be the relevant Modern Fortran / fortls options I have :

```auto
    "fortran.linter.extraArgs": [
      "-Wunused-variable",
      "-Wunused-dummy-argument",
      "-Wall",
      "-Wno-align-commons",
      "-Wmaybe-uninitialized",
      "-flto",
      "-I${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/linter",
      "-I${workspaceFolder}/**",
      "-I${workspaceFolder}\\**",
      "-I./**",
      "-I.\\**",
    ],

    "fortran.linter.includePaths": [
        "./**",
        ".\\**",
        "${workspaceFolder}/**",
        "${workspaceFolder}\\**"
    ],
    "fortran.linter.modOutput": "${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/linter",
    "fortran.fortls.suffixes": [
      "f",
      "inc",
      ".inc",
      ".INC"
    ],
    "fortran.fortls.directories": [
      "./**",
      ".\\**",
      "${workspaceFolder}/**",
      "${workspaceFolder}\\**"
    ],

```

It seems to me I have instructed fortls to always look everywhere. Have I missed something ? How can I have fortls / the linting process reliably find any `.inc` in the whole source tree no matter where it is and where the `.f` with the include statement is ?

Thanks for your help

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bendelBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@bendelBoy](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/bendelBoy)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 9:40am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/cannot-open-included-file/8237/2 "2024-06-21T09:40:56Z")

</div>

You’ve instructed make where to look, but not the Fortran compiler. There may be a compile option for that. In my code, in a DOS environment, I just worked directly:

a.f: include ‘c.inc’  
b.f: include ‘…\c.inc’

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ParkerLewis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/57b2e6/32.png) [@ParkerLewis](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/ParkerLewis)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 9:56am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/cannot-open-included-file/8237/3 "2024-06-21T09:56:38Z")

</div>

Thanks for your input. You’re suggesting I should add something to the first set of options, `fortran.linter.extraArgs` ? What could I be missing ? I already have

```auto
      "-I${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/linter",
      "-I${workspaceFolder}/**",
      "-I${workspaceFolder}\\**",
      "-I./**",
      "-I.\\**",

```

Ideed, adding `"-I./lib"` makes the whole thing work, but I’m unsure why

```auto
      "-I${workspaceFolder}/**",
      "-I${workspaceFolder}\\**",
      "-I./**",
      "-I.\\**",

```

is not enough already ? Does anyone have any idea ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gnikit](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/gnikit/32/1213_2.png) [@gnikit](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/gnikit)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:12am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/cannot-open-included-file/8237/4 "2024-06-21T10:12:05Z")

</div>

The last 4 sets of includes are equivalent. You should only keep one (`${workspaceFolder}/**`). You should also omit the `-I` when specifying includes since you are using `fortran.linter.includePaths`

Update to pre-release of the extension and set `fortran.logging.level` to DEBUG. Then post the output from the OUTPUT pane \> Modern Fortran.

I will have a more detailed look in your settings later, but here is a link to the fortls docs for source file parsing which you might find useful

[https://fortls.fortran-lang.org/options.html#sources-file-parsing](https://fortls.fortran-lang.org/options.html#sources-file-parsing)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gnikit](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/gnikit/32/1213_2.png) [@gnikit](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/gnikit)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:21am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/cannot-open-included-file/8237/5 "2024-06-21T10:21:42Z")

</div>

> [@ParkerLewis](#):
>
> An `include 'c.inc'` statement in `a.f`, then the linter raises an error, stating `Cannot open included file 'c.inc'`. **\<= this is the one I would like to find out how to make the linter work with**

Compilers will only consider files in their current working directory for inclusion.  
Since you don’t use a relative path to `c.inc` in `a.f`, the compiler has no way of locating that file unless you also include `./lib`. Obviously that should be caught under the `${workspaceFolder}/**` glob but I suspect that the multiple ways that you added it in the includePaths made either gfortran or Modern Fortran choke. We can investigate further once you upload the logs.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bendelBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@bendelBoy](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/bendelBoy)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:25am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/cannot-open-included-file/8237/7 "2024-06-21T10:25:57Z")

</div>

I read this as you have instructed the linter where to find additional includes.

I _think_ that you may want to use

fortran.includePaths

so that the same information is used for the compiler.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ParkerLewis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/57b2e6/32.png) [@ParkerLewis](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/ParkerLewis)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:37am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/cannot-open-included-file/8237/8 "2024-06-21T10:37:39Z")

</div>

Ok.

Switching to Pre-Release fixes the issue.

I have tried going back and forth between Release and Pre-Release, and the issue pops back again in Release and disappears in Pre-Release.

Here is the debug output from the Release version 🙂

```auto
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Extension Name: Modern Fortran
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Extension Version: 3.2.0
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Linter set to: gfortran
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Formatter set to: Disabled
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Autocomplete set to: fortls
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Hover set to: fortls
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Symbols set to: fortls
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] using linter: gfortran located in: D:\Logiciels\GCC\bin\gfortran.EXE
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Linter.arguments:
-fno-automatic
-fdefault-real-8
-fdefault-double-8
-Wunused-variable
-Wunused-dummy-argument
-Wall
-Wno-align-commons
-Wmaybe-uninitialized
-flto
-I${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/linter
-I${workspaceFolder}/**/*
-I${workspaceFolder}\**\*
-I./**/*
-I.\**\*
-ffree-line-length-none
-ffixed-line-length-none
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Linter.moduleOutput: -J d:\Work\PROJECTNAME\sources/.vscode/linter
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Linter.include:
./**/*
.\**\*
${workspaceFolder}/**/*
${workspaceFolder}\**\*
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] using linter: gfortran located in: D:\Logiciels\GCC\bin\gfortran.EXE
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Linter.arguments:
-fno-automatic
-fdefault-real-8
-fdefault-double-8
-Wunused-variable
-Wunused-dummy-argument
-Wall
-Wno-align-commons
-Wmaybe-uninitialized
-flto
-I${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/linter
-I${workspaceFolder}/**/*
-I${workspaceFolder}\**\*
-I./**/*
-I.\**\*
-ffree-line-length-none
-ffixed-line-length-none
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Linter.moduleOutput: -J d:\Work\PROJECTNAME\sources/.vscode/linter
["INFO" - 12:28:38 PM] Fortran Language Server
["INFO" - 12:28:39 PM] Initialising Language Server for workspace: d:\Work\PROJECTNAME\sources\algos\somefile.f with command-line options: --enable_code_actions, --hover_signature, --use_signature_help, --lowercase_intrinsics, --nthreads=4, --incremental_sync, --disable_autoupdate, --incl_suffixes, f, inc, .inc, .INC, --source_dirs, ./ **/*, .\** \*, ${workspaceFolder}/ **/*, ${workspaceFolder}\** \*
[INFO - 12:28:40] fortls - Fortran Language Server 3.1.1 Initialized

```

And with the Pre-Release :

```auto
[INFO - 12:31:55 PM] Extension Name: Modern Fortran
[INFO - 12:31:55 PM] Extension Version: 3.4.0
[INFO - 12:31:55 PM] Linter set to: "gfortran"
[INFO - 12:31:55 PM] Formatter set to: "Disabled"
[INFO - 12:31:55 PM] Autocomplete set to: "fortls"
[INFO - 12:31:55 PM] Hover set to: "fortls"
[INFO - 12:31:55 PM] Symbols set to: "fortls"
[INFO - 12:31:56 PM] [lint] Found GNU Fortran version 13.2.0
[DEBUG - 12:31:56 PM] [lint] Using Modern GNU Fortran diagnostics: true
[DEBUG - 12:31:56 PM] [lint] arguments:
[
  "-ffree-line-length-none",
  "-ffixed-line-length-none",
  "-fno-automatic",
  "-fdefault-real-8",
  "-fdefault-double-8",
  "-Wunused-variable",
  "-Wunused-dummy-argument",
  "-Wall",
  "-Wno-align-commons",
  "-Wmaybe-uninitialized",
  "-flto",
  "-I${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/linter",
  "-I${workspaceFolder}/**/*",
  "-I${workspaceFolder}\\**\\*",
  "-I./**/*",
  "-I.\\**\\*"
]
[DEBUG - 12:31:56 PM] [lint] moduleOutput: -J d:\Work\PROJECTNAME\sources\.vscode\linter
[DEBUG - 12:31:56 PM] [lint] Initialising cache for linter.includePaths
[DEBUG - 12:31:56 PM] [lint] glob paths:
[
  "./**/*",
  ".\\**\\*",
  "${workspaceFolder}/**/*",
  "${workspaceFolder}\\**\\*"
]
]
[DEBUG - 12:31:56 PM] [lint] resolved paths:
[
  "tools",
  "resources",
  "resources\\app",
  "resources\\app\\resources",
  "resources\\app\\resources\\win32",
  "resources\\app\\out",
  "resources\\app\\out\\vscode-dts",
  "resources\\app\\out\\vs",
  "resources\\app\\out\\vs\\workbench",
  "resources\\app\\out\\vs\\workbench\\services",
(...)

```

(…) I have cut the rest as it is monstrous.

So 🙂

- good news, the pre-release version fixes the issue 🙂
- could you explicitly suggest to me what to set `fortran.linter.extraArgs`, `fortran.linter.includePaths`, and `fortran.fortls.directories` to regarding this specific subject ?
- in particular, I will at least _definitely_ remove the `./ **/.` and `.\** \*` that are not prefixed with `{workspaceFolder}`, as they apparently are pointing to the VS Code install folder !

These are the settings I am now using. They seem to work fine with the Pre-Release version, but any comment is welcome 🙂

```auto
    "fortran.linter.extraArgs": [
(some other options before these two :)
      "-I${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/linter",
      "-I${workspaceFolder}/**/*",
    ],

    "fortran.linter.includePaths": [
        "${workspaceFolder}/**/*",
    ],
    "fortran.linter.modOutput": "${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/linter",
    "fortran.fortls.suffixes": [
      "f",
      "inc",
      ".inc",
      ".INC"
    ],
    "fortran.fortls.directories": [
      "${workspaceFolder}/**/*",
    ],

```