compiling string with GCC fives linker errors [duplicate] - c++

Question

What is the difference between g++ and gcc? Which one of them should be used for general c++ development?

Answer 1

gcc and g++ are compiler-drivers of the GNU Compiler Collection (which was once upon a time just the GNU C Compiler).
Even though they automatically determine which backends (cc1 cc1plus ...) to call depending on the file-type, unless overridden with -x language, they have some differences.
The probably most important difference in their defaults is which libraries they link against automatically.
According to GCC's online documentation link options and how g++ is invoked, g++ is equivalent to gcc -xc++ -lstdc++ -shared-libgcc (the 1st is a compiler option, the 2nd two are linker options). This can be checked by running both with the -v option (it displays the backend toolchain commands being run).

Answer 2

GCC: GNU Compiler Collection
Referrers to all the different languages that are supported by the GNU compiler.
gcc: GNU C      Compiler
g++: GNU C++ Compiler
The main differences:
gcc will compile: *.c\*.cpp files as C and C++ respectively.
g++ will compile: *.c\*.cpp files but they will all be treated as C++ files.
Also if you use g++ to link the object files it automatically links in the std C++ libraries (gcc does not do this).
gcc compiling C files has fewer predefined macros.
gcc compiling *.cpp and g++ compiling *.c\*.cpp files has a few extra macros.
Extra Macros when compiling *.cpp files:
#define __GXX_WEAK__ 1
#define __cplusplus 1
#define __DEPRECATED 1
#define __GNUG__ 4
#define __EXCEPTIONS 1
#define __private_extern__ extern

Answer 3

For c++ you should use g++.
It's the same compiler (e.g. the GNU compiler collection). GCC or G++ just choose a different front-end with different default options.
In a nutshell: if you use g++ the frontend will tell the linker that you may want to link with the C++ standard libraries. The gcc frontend won't do that (also it could link with them if you pass the right command line options).

Answer 4

What is the difference between g++ and gcc?
gcc has evolved from a single language "GNU C Compiler" to be a multi-language "GNU Compiler Collection". The term gcc may still sometimes refer to the "GNU C Compiler" in the context of C programming.
man gcc
# GCC(1) GNU
#
# NAME
# gcc - GNU project C and C++ compiler
However, g++ is the C++ compiler for the GNU Compiler Collection. Like gnat is the Ada compiler for gcc. see Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)
For example, the Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 man g++ command returns the GCC(1) manual page.
The Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 man gcc states that ...
g++ accepts mostly the same options as gcc
and that the default ...
... use of gcc does not add the C++ library. g++ is a program
that calls GCC and automatically specifies linking against the C++
library. It treats .c, .h and .i files as C++ source files instead of
C source files unless -x is used. This program is also useful when
precompiling a C header file with a .h extension for use in C++
compilations.
Search the gcc man pages for more details on the option variances between gcc and g++.
Which one should be used for general c++ development?
Technically, either gcc or g++ can be used for general C++ development with applicable option settings. However, the g++ default behavior is naturally aligned to a C++ development.
The Ubuntu 18.04 'gcc' man page added, and Ubuntu 20.04 continues to have, the following paragraph:
The usual way to run GCC is to run the executable called gcc, or machine-gcc when cross-compiling, or machine-gcc-version to run a specific version of GCC. When you compile C++ programs, you should invoke GCC as g++ instead.
Side Note: In the case of the Xcode.app embedded toolchain, g++ simply links to gcc. Thus, g++ invocations may vary on a per-toolchain basis.
ls -l /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin
# …
# lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 3 Apr 27 2021 g++ -> gcc
# -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 167120 Nov 23 20:51 gcc
### -- versus --
which -a g++
# /usr/bin/g++
ls -l /usr/bin/g++
# -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 137616 Jan 1 2020 /usr/bin/g++

Answer 5

One notable difference is that if you pass a .c file to gcc it will compile as C.
The default behavior of g++ is to treat .c files as C++ (unless -x c is specified).

Answer 6

Although the gcc and g++ commands do very similar things, g++ is designed to be the command you'd invoke to compile a C++ program; it's intended to automatically do the right thing.
Behind the scenes, they're really the same program. As I understand, both decide whether to compile a program as C or as C++ based on the filename extension. Both are capable of linking against the C++ standard library, but only g++ does this by default. So if you have a program written in C++ that doesn't happen to need to link against the standard library, gcc will happen to do the right thing; but then, so would g++. So there's really no reason not to use g++ for general C++ development.

Answer 7

I became interested in the issue and perform some experiments
I found that description here, but it is very short.
Then I tried to experiment with gcc.exe and g++.exe on my windows machine:
$ g++ --version | head -n1
g++.exe (gcc-4.6.3 release with patches [build 20121012 by perlmingw.sf.net]) 4.6.3
$ gcc --version | head -n1
gcc.exe (gcc-4.6.3 release with patches [build 20121012 by perlmingw.sf.net]) 4.6.3
I tried to compile c89, c99, and c++1998 simple test files and It's work well for me with correct extensions matching for language
gcc -std=c99 test_c99.c
gcc -std=c89 test_c89.c
g++ -std=c++98 test_cpp.cpp
gcc -std=c++98 test_cpp.cpp
But when I try to run "gnu compiler collection" tool in that fashion:
$ gcc -std=c++98 test_cpp.c
cc1.exe: warning: command line option '-std=c++98' is valid for C++/ObjC++ but not for C [enabled by default]
But this one still work with no errors
$ gcc -x c++ -std=c++98 test_cpp.c
And this also
$ g++ -std=c++0x test_cpp_11.cpp
p.s. Test files
$ cat test_c89.c test_c99.c test_cpp.cpp
// C89 compatible file
int main()
{
int x[] = {0, 2};
return sizeof(x);
}
// C99 compatible file
int main()
{
int x[] = {[1]=2};
return sizeof(x);
}
// C++1998,2003 compatible file
class X{};
int main()
{
X x;
return sizeof(x);
}
// C++11
#include <vector>
enum class Color : int{red,green,blue}; // scoped enum
int main()
{
std::vector<int> a {1,2,3}; // bracket initialization
return 0;
}
Findings:
If look at process tree then it seems that gcc, and g++ is backend to other tools, which in my environment are: cc1plus.exe, cc1.exe, collect2.exe, as.exe, ld.exe
gcc works fine as metatool for if you have correct extension or set correct
-std -x flags. See this

Answer 8

“GCC” is a common shorthand term for the GNU Compiler Collection. This is both the most general name for the compiler, and the name used when the emphasis is on compiling C programs (as the abbreviation formerly stood for “GNU C Compiler”).
When referring to C++ compilation, it is usual to call the compiler “G++”. Since there is only one compiler, it is also accurate to call it “GCC” no matter what the language context; however, the term “G++” is more useful when the emphasis is on compiling C++ programs.
You could read more here.

Answer 9

I was testing gcc and g++ in a linux system. By using MAKEFILE, I can define the compliler used by "GNU make". I tested with the so called "dynamic memory" locating feature of "C plus plus" by :
int main(){
int * myptr = new int;
* myptr = 1;
printf("myptr[0] is %i\n",*myptr);
return 0;
}
Only g++ can successfully compile on my computer while gcc will report error
undefined reference to `operator new(unsigned long)'
So my own conclusion is gcc does not fully support "C plus plus". It seems that choosing g++ for C++ source files is a better option.

Answer 10

gcc and g ++ are both GNU compiler. They both compile c and c++. The difference is for *.c files gcc treats it as a c program, and g++ sees it as a c ++ program. *.cpp files are considered to be c ++ programs. c++ is a super set of c and the syntax is more strict, so be careful about the suffix.