Cactus link line in make.configuration looks like this right now:

$(LD) $(CREATEEXE)$(OPTIONSEP)"$(call TRANSFORM_DIRS,$@)" $(CPPFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) $(EXTRAFLAGS) "$(call TRANSFORM_DIRS,$(TOP)/datestamp.o)" $(BEGIN_WHOLE_ARCHIVE_FLAGS) $(CACTUSLIBLINKLINE) $(END_WHOLE_ARCHIVE_FLAGS) $(GENERAL_LIBRARIES)

ie it passed $(CPPFLAGS) and $(CXXFLAGS) to $(LD). While we do normally set LD to the same as CXX this is not always correct, eg if one would like to use g++ for C++ files but link with nvcc.

Neither one of these options is required or should be there since $(LD) does not compile anything at all. Any subset of options from $(CPPFLAGS) or $(CXXFLAGS) that may be needed (eg -fopenmp should be set in $(LDFLAGS)).

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Ticket URL: https://bitbucket.org/einsteintoolkit/tickets/issues/2553/cactus-link-command-used-cppflags-and