stabs vs. dwarf-2 for C programs

[Geoff Keating]

> From: jtc@redback.com (J.T. Conklin)
> Date: 12 Apr 2001 19:13:26 -0700

> In general, are there any advantages for using dwarf-2 over 
> stabs debugging symbols for C (not C++) programs?

In general, dwarf-2 is much more expressive and can deal better
with some of the more complex optimisations that gcc can do.
(I don't know if this actually works yet.)

> I did a quick test of rebuilding our system with dwarf-2 debug
> symbols, and found that the image file grew from 35MB to 167MB 
> and link times nearly quadrupled, so dwarf-2 isn't looking so 
> good so far.  If I had to guess, it looks like duplicate debug
> info (from headers, etc.) isn't being eliminated as is done 
> for stabs.

Yes, no-one has yet taught the linker how to eliminate all the
duplicates.

-- 
- Geoffrey Keating <geoffk@geoffk.org>