C++ Cookbook

1.21. Producing a Debug Build

Problem

You want to build a version of your project that will be easy to debug.

Solution

In general, to produce a debug build, you must;

• Disable optimizations

• Disable expansion of inline function

• Enable generation of debugging information

Table 1-20 presents the compiler and linker options to disable optimization and inlining; Table 1-21 presents the compiler and linker options to enable debugging information.

Table 1-20. Disabling optimization and inlining from the command line

Toolset	Optimization	Inlining
GCC	-O0	-fno-inline [12]
Visual C++Intel (Windows)	-Od	-Ob0
Intel (Linux)	-O0	-Ob0
	-opt off	-inline off
Comeau (Unix)	-O0	--no_inlining
Comeau (Windows)	Same as backend, but using a slash (/) instead of a dash (-)
Borland	-Od	-vi-
Digital Mars	-o+none -S	-C
[12] It’s not necessary to specify this option unless -O3 has also been specified.

Table 1-21. Command-line options for enabling debug information

Toolset	Compiler options	Linker options
Comeau (Unix) GCCIntel (Linux)Metrowerks	-g	-g
Visual C++Intel (Windows)	See Table 1-22.	See Table 1-22.
Comeau (Windows)	Same as backend, but using a slash (/) instead of a dash (-).	Same as backend compiler option, but using a slash (/) instead of a dash (-).
Borland	-v	-v
Digital Mars	-g	-co

Table 1-22. Enabling debugging information with Visual C++ or Intel for Windows

Compiler options	Linker options	IDE options[13]	Description ...