GCC

GCC

The GCC is an open-source C-Compiler. It is the de-facto compiler standard and integral part of Linux.

The basic usage of the gcc from the command line is: 

gcc <source file 1> <source_file 2> ...

This will compile all given C source files and link with the standard library to produce an executable.

Among the diversity of gcc options the most notable options are:

  • -o <file>
    specify name of output file (usually object file or executable)
  • -c
    just compile object code, don’t link
  • -Wall
    print all warnings to identify all potential problems
    • -Wno-parentheses
      do not print a warning about omitted braces for single statements
  • -g
    generate object code that is suitable for debugging with the gdb
  • -O
    optimize object code
    • -O1 -O2 -O3
      levels of code optimization. higher level means faster code but longer compile time
  • -I<path>
    additional path to search include files, except the predefined ones and the actual directory
  • -l<archive>
    link with archive, the archive name expands to libname.a
  • -L<path>
    additional path to search archive files (libraries), except the predefined ones (actual directory is not included by default)
  • -std=c99: specify Iso C99 standard compliance (will be the standard for future gcc versions)

The same options apply for the C++ compiler, the GNU g++ compiler, as well.

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