I get this error with the Macintosh gfortran from the 20050213 package with some of my programs.
[dranta:~/tests/gfortran] dir% gfortran -c block.f /var/tmp//ccu5xNom.s:28:Bad Absolute Expression, absolute 0 assumed. /var/tmp//ccu5xNom.s:28:Repeat < 0, .space ignored /var/tmp//ccu5xNom.s:88:Bad Absolute Expression, absolute 0 assumed. /var/tmp//ccu5xNom.s:88:Repeat < 0, .space ignored [dranta:~/tests/gfortran] dir% cat block.f block data blkdat character*8 names vax common/vfile/names(60) vax data names / 'rstxyz', 'disk05', 'disk06', 'thrxyz', ' ', noto 1 ' ', 'disk01', 'disk02', 'n3plot', 'n3dump', noto 2 'disk11', 'disk12', 'strxyz', 'n3runr', 'itrcnt', noto 3 ' ', ' ', 'xyz123', 28*' ', noto 4 'n3dhsp','n3data', 10*' ', 'tty', ' '/ noto end -- Summary: gfortran assembler error - : Bad Absolute Expression, absolute 0 assumed. Product: gcc Version: 4.0.0 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P2 Component: fortran AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org ReportedBy: dir at lanl dot gov CC: gcc-bugs at gcc dot gnu dot org GCC host triplet: powerpc-apple-darwin7.8.0 http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=20063