Originally, MPI-1.1 provided bindings for Fortran 77. These bindings are retained, but they are now interpreted in the context of the Fortran 90 standard. MPI can still be used with most Fortran 77 compilers, as noted below. When the term ``Fortran'' is used it means Fortran 90 or later; it means Fortran 2008 + TR 29113 and later if the mpi_f08 module is used.
All MPI names have an MPI_ prefix, and all characters are capitals. Programs must not declare names, e.g., for variables, subroutines, functions, parameters, derived types, abstract interfaces, or modules, beginning with the prefix MPI_. To avoid conflicting with the profiling interface, programs must also avoid subroutines and functions with the prefix PMPI_. This is mandated to avoid possible name collisions.
All MPI Fortran subroutines have a return code in the last argument. With USE mpi_f08, this last argument is declared as OPTIONAL, except for user-defined callback functions (e.g., COMM_COPY_ATTR_FUNCTION) and their predefined callbacks (e.g., MPI_NULL_COPY_FN). A few MPI operations which are functions do not have the return code argument. The return code value for successful completion is MPI_SUCCESS. Other error codes are implementation dependent; see the error codes in Chapter MPI Environmental Management and Annex Language Bindings Summary .
Constants representing the maximum length of a string are one smaller in Fortran than in C as discussed in Section Constants .
Handles are represented in Fortran as INTEGERs, or as a BIND(C) derived type with the mpi_f08 module; see Section Opaque Objects . Binary-valued variables are of type LOGICAL.
Array arguments are indexed from one.
The older MPI Fortran bindings (mpif.h and use mpi) are inconsistent with the Fortran standard in several respects. These inconsistencies, such as register optimization problems, have implications for user codes that are discussed in detail in Section Optimization Problems, an Overview .