why does my program fails when using -O2

[Jairo Medina <jairo19 at interhosting dot us>]

  Hola:

   I hope you can help me with this program:
       - it works OK if I compile it with: g++  main2.cpp -o main2
       - it fails if I compile it with: g++  -O2 main2.cpp -o main2
             (but if I enable the comment inside the "try", then the 
program works.)

  This happens in my FC4 box with g++ --version g++ (GCC) 4.0.2 
20051125 (Red Hat 4.0.2-8)

  On my FC3 boxes and my RH7.3 boxes the -O2 is OK.

  Any help is appreciated

Thanks.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------


#include<string>
#include<iostream>
#include<fstream>

using namespace std;

int refDates[20000];

int getRefDates()
{

 // JAM 2003-01-23 added search for SPX_DAILY_DATES.asc on /usr/local/etc
 // get the reference date series
 string filespec =  "/usr/local/etc/SPX_DAILY_DATES.asc";

 ifstream *ifile;
 ifstream ifile1(filespec.c_str());

 ifile = &ifile1;
 if (!ifile->is_open())
 {

     cout << "ERROR:  could not find varset date reference file at: " 
<< filespec <<" or at: "<< endl;
     return(-1);
 }

 cout<<"MainClass.cpp::getRefDates: Using "<<filespec<<endl;
 string sDate;

 int count = 0;
 int i = 0;
 for (i = 0; ;++i)
 {

   refDates[i] = 0;

   std::getline(*ifile, sDate);

       cout << "ref date Line: " << sDate <<" count: "<<count<< endl;

   if (ifile->bad() || ifile->eof())
   {
     break;
   }
       //cout << "ref date Line: " << sDate <<" i:"<<i<<" count: 
"<<count<<" refDates:"<<refDates[i]<<" prior refDate ="<<refDates[i-1]<< 
endl;

   try
   {
     //char  str[8];
     //memcpy(str,sDate.c_str(),8);
     //refDates[i] = (int)atoi(str);
     refDates[i] = (int)atoi(sDate.c_str());
//cout<<count<<" "<<i<<" "<<refDates[i]<<" "<< atoi(sDate.c_str())<<" 
"<< sDate.c_str()<<endl;
     ++count;
   }
   catch(...)
   {
     // error in date fetch
     cout << "ERROR reading reference date from: "<<filespec<<" line 
number: "<<count<< endl;
     return(-1);
   }

 }

//cout<<"finished loading "<<count-1<<" "<<refDates[0]<<" 
"<<refDates[count-1]<<" "<<refDates[count-2]<<endl;

 int lastdate = refDates[count-1];
 int firstdate = refDates[0];
 refDates[count] = 0;

cout<<count<<" "<<i<<" "<<refDates[0]<<" "<<refDates[count-1]<<" "<< 
refDates[count-2]<<" "<< refDates[count-3]<<" "<<refDates[count-4]<<endl;
//cout<<"first "<<testdef->Vars.GetNumber("StartDate")<<" 
"<<(int)testdef->Vars.GetNumber("StartDate")<<" "<<firstdate<<endl;
 if (firstdate > 20061031)
 {
   cout << "ERROR: First Date reference ("<<firstdate<<") is after 
test's start date"<<20061031<<"), dates file="<< filespec << endl;
   return(0);
 }
//cout<<"last "<<testdef->Vars.GetNumber("EndDate")<<" 
"<<(int)testdef->Vars.GetNumber("EndDate")<<" "<<lastdate<<endl;
 if (lastdate < 19901231)
 {
   cout << "ERROR: Last Date reference ("<<lastdate<<") is before 
test's end date("<<19901231<<"), dates file="<< filespec << endl;
cout<<" i="<<i<<" count="<<count<<endl;
   return(0);
 }
 // MSE !!! add date error checks

 ifile1.close();

 // ok
 return count;

}

int main()
{
 cout<<" Returned: "<<getRefDates()<<endl;
}