Re: GNAT Codesize

[dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

John McCabe
said

"On the other hand, when you've finished debugging and want to provide
an official release, you only have to copy a single file rather than
having to strip it of debugging information first.

It works both ways really, I think the only real advantage either
method has is the one Robert Dewar mentioned about being compatible
with system standards (although I'd be grateful if he'd enlighten us
on exactly what he means by that phrase)."

First, John, you are making some big deal about stripping, it is a trivial
process, and it is no harder to strip a file than to copy it, either at
the user level of at the implementation level. And you are ignoring the
real advantages of efficiency that we have discussed of having a single file.

As to system standards, typically the ABI specifies the format of debugging
information stored in object files and executables. By following this format,
you will be compatible with all tools that use this format.

For example, gprof, the profiling program, is driven by debugging 
information in standard system format. If your compiler generates debugging
information in this format, then gprof will work without modification.
This is indeed true for GNAT, and many of our users are using gprof.
\x1adp