Link time affected by debug info?

[Alan Modra]

On Wed, Nov 16, 2005 at 06:03:11PM -0500, Pierre Sarrazin wrote:
> Hi.  I work on a large C++ application that takes a lot more time
> to link when I compile the sources with debugging information (-g
> switch of g++ 3.4.2).  (The linking is static and produces an 20
> meg executable file.)
> 
> Why does the presence of debugging information slow the linking
> process so much?  It would seem like all the linker has to do
> is to copy the debug info to the executable without caring about
> its contents.  The complexity of the linking task does not seem
> to depend on that info.  I'm trying to determine if the problem is
> with the linker or with gcc.  Thanks.

The linker optimises the debug info.  You may find that the current cvs
linker is much faster than whatever you are currently using.

-- 
Alan Modra
IBM OzLabs - Linux Technology Centre