https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=68568
--- Comment #1 from Gerhard Steinmetz <gerhard.steinmetz.fort...@t-online.de> --- As already known, this works without an error : (A SAVE statement without a saved entity list is treated as though it contained the names of all allowed items in the same scoping unit.) $ gfortran -g -O0 -Wall -fcheck=all -c z1a.f90 And this is detected : (The SAVE attribute shall not be specified for an automatic data object.) $ cat z1b.f90 subroutine s(n) integer, intent(in) :: n character(n), save :: x x = 'a' end $ gfortran -g -O0 -Wall -fcheck=all -c z1b.f90 z1b.f90:3:26: character(n), save :: x 1 Error: Automatic object 'x' at (1) cannot have the SAVE attribute