When to use the -g flag to GCC - c++

I'm trying to force ValGrind to tell me what's wrong with my program. Every shred of documentation on the face of the Internet says that you must supply the -g option to GCC, but not one single document says whether you need this flag at compile-time or link-time (or both). So which is it??

The GNU ld documentation says that -g will be ignored, so it doesn't make much sense to pass it. In general you pass -g to gcc (which really is a front-end for the whole compilation process and not just a compiler) and it will take care of it.

GCC provides -g flag to get the debugging, So one you compile the program like
Consider a code of example.c like:
#include <stdio.h>
/* Warning: This program is wrong on purpose. */
int main()
{
int age = 10;
int height;
printf("I am %d years old.\n");
printf("I am %d inches tall.\n", height);
return 0;
}
By default if you compile say using make example
It will trigger command
cc example.c -o example
Now you run command like
cc -g example.c -o example1
then you will find the size of the file example1 is greater than the size of example
because -g flag enabled the debugging information.
While running valgrind is -g flag is not required. -g is only required in compilation process.

Related

Why am I getting "undefined reference to main"

I am a very new to programming and have a very basic question that may be answered in other threads however I think they are far too advanced for me to understand how. I have actually found many answers so far on this site but this is the first problem that forced me to create an account and ask.
Anyway i am running a very basic example program on linux mint 18.3. Now I have seen this exact code work on a machine with windows 8 I believe so I was wondering if that could be the problem. I have created a class and when i plug in my object then build and run I get:
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/5/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/crt1.o||In function _start':|
(.text+0x20)||undefined reference tomain'|
This is the entire code:
#include <iostream>
#include "Gladius.h"
using namespace std;
int main()
{
Gladius io;
return 0;
}
Thats it very basic. here is the .h
#ifndef GLADIUS_H
#define GLADIUS_H
class Gladius
{
public:
Gladius();
};
#endif // GLADIUS_H
and the .cpp for the class.
#include "Gladius.h"
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
Gladius::Gladius()
{
cout << "The Gladius is a short sword" << endl;
}
I know this seems extremely simple but I am just learning to code and i have been looking all over for an explanation why this isn't working yet I see it work on another pc exactly as is. Anyway any explanation would be greatly appreciated.
Here is what i found in command line If this answers your questions about what was in the cmd.
g++ -Wall -fexceptions -g -std=c++11 -Wall -I -c /home/gator/Documents/Spartan1/Gladius.cpp -o obj/Debug/Gladius.o
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/5/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/crt1.o: In function _start':
(.text+0x20): undefined reference tomain'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
Know the compiler options(gcc/g++ compiler):
-c : Compile and assemble, but do not link
-o file : Place the output into file
So when you run
g++ filename.cpp -o executable_name
, you generate an application which can be executed.
The problem is you are compiling, assembling as well as linking when you are trying to compile "Gladius.cpp" and compiler is trying to search for main() definition.
So in your case, the compilation steps would be:
First compile "Gladius.cpp" and generate object file "Gladius.o":
g++ -Wall -fexceptions -g -std=c++11 -c Gladius.cpp
Next compile "main.cpp" and generate object file "main.o":
g++ -Wall -fexceptions -g -std=c++11 -c main.cpp
Generate executable by linking "main.o" and "Gladius.o"
g++ -Wall -fexceptions -g -std=c++11 -o main main.o Gladius.o
Now you can run "main":
./main
Your compiler's command line contains -I -c sequence.
This -I option "swallows" your -c option. -I requires an additional argument, which is an include directory name. You failed to supply that argument, which is why -I assumes that -c that follows it is the directory name. So that -I consumes that -c.
The compiler never sees that -c. Without -c it assumes that you want to compile and link your program. Since Gladius.cpp does not have main in it, you get the error at linking stage.
Here 's a simple demo of the same problem: http://coliru.stacked-crooked.com/a/8a37cd3e90a443e2
You need to figure out why you have an orphaned -I in your command line.
If you are compiling this code using a command line like:
g++ -Wall -Wextra -Werror -O gladius.cpp -o output.exe
then make sure that you include all the .cpp files (not .h files) that contain code that your program needs.
g++ -Wall -Wextra -Werror -O gladius.cpp main.cpp -o output.exe
I explain this to beginners all the time as each .cpp being a bag of Lego's in a kit. You need all the bags that came with the box in order to build the kit. If you omitted main.cpp (or the file that contains main) then you will get the linker error that you are currently getting.
What command are you using to compile, link, and then execute? It should look something like
$ g++ main.cpp gladius.cpp -odemo
$ ./demo
check your command line for linking step.. You may forgot file with main as input, or you had forgot output file name after -o (and masked main.o in result)
I had this very kind of problem myself, and though it may not be the conventional, "proper" solution, I simply renamed the ".c" file to ".cpp", and it all worked.
After all, I was compiling both c and c++ together with a c++ compiler (recommended by the library), and the c code already had the proper c++ #extern flags (see here for more on that).
Also related:
C++ Error: undefined reference to `main'
Including C Code in C++
Why do you need an explicit `-lm` compiler option
Compilation on Linux - In function '_start': (.text+0x20): undefined reference to 'main'

g++ doesn't output any errors

Whenever I try to compile a c++ code with g++ on terminal, I can't seem to get g++ to output any error messages even though I am certain that there are errors that should be caught during compile time (such as syntax, reference types...).
I tried several ways such as this make file:
all:
g++ -W -Wall -Werror main.cpp
All it does is output:
make: *** [all] Error 1
which isn't that useful, obviously...
Typing things like this:
g++ -W -Wall -Werror main.cpp
directly to terminal (without the make file) doesn't output any messages at all.
However this successfully outputs all of the errors while compiling:
cc main.cpp
My question is: how do I make g++ to output error messages so I can know where to correct my code?
Just guessing - is it possible your terminal doesn't print stderr? Say, for example, it moves it to a log file or something?
Try running
g++ [whatever your arguments are] |& cat
(this is if you use tcsh)
or
g++ [whatever] 2>&1 | cat
if you use bash.
Try something simple like this:
g++ -c main.cpp
Make reports an error when one of it's tasks returns non-0 status. If g++ silently returns non-0 - well, i suppose it's broken somehow. Check $? after you've run g++. Also, try g++ --version - will it report anything at all? Also you could run it under debugger, just to be sure.
Try adding a line like
#warning hello from here
(or perhaps #error instead of #warning) into main.cc near the beginning (perhaps as the first line).
If
gcc -Wall -v main.cc
don't give any output (notably no warnings or errors) that means that your gcc is broken. Perhaps type /usr/bin/gcc instead of just gcc
BTW, Apple don't like GCC (because they dont like its GPLv3+ license). Maybe it is worth your time to build [using e.g. ..../configure --program-suffix=-local] and install a newer GCC (perhaps from the released source tar ball of the compiler). Current version is 4.8.1!

How do I compile C++ with Clang?

I have installed Clang by using apt-get in Ubuntu, and I can successfully compile C files using it. However, I have no idea how to compile C++ through it. What do I need to do to compile C++?
The command clang is for C, and the command clang++ is for C++.
I do not know why there is no answer directly addressing the problem. When you want to compile C++ program, it is best to use clang++, instead of using clang. For example, the following works for me:
clang++ -Wall -std=c++11 test.cc -o test
If compiled correctly, it will produce the executable file test, and you can run the file by using ./test.
Or you can just use clang++ test.cc to compile the program. It will produce a default executable file named a.out. Use ./a.out to run the file.
The whole process is a lot like g++ if you are familiar with g++. See this
post to check which warnings are included with -Wall option. This
page shows a list of diagnostic flags supported by Clang.
A note on using clang -x c++: Kim Gräsman says that you can also use
clang -x c++ to compile CPP programs, but that may not be always viable. For example, I am having a simple program below:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
int main() {
/* std::vector<int> v = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}; */
std::vector<int> v(10, 5);
int sum = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < v.size(); i++){
sum += v[i]*2;
}
std::cout << "sum is " << sum << std::endl;
return 0;
}
clang++ test.cc -o test will compile successfully, but clang -x c++ will
not, showing a lot of undefined reference errors. So I guess they are not exactly equivalent. It is best to use clang++ instead of clang -x c++ when compiling c++ programs to avoid extra troubles.
clang version: 11.0.0
Platform: Ubuntu 16.04
Also, for posterity -- Clang (like GCC) accepts the -x switch to set the language of the input files, for example,
$ clang -x c++ some_random_file.txt
This mailing list thread explains the difference between clang and clang++ well: Difference between clang and clang++
Solution 1:
clang++ your.cpp
Solution 2:
clang your.cpp -lstdc++
Solution 3:
clang -x c++ your.cpp
I've had a similar problem when building Clang from source (but not with sudo apt-get install. This might depend on the version of Ubuntu which you're running).
It might be worth checking if clang++ can find the correct locations of your C++ libraries:
Compare the results of g++ -v <filename.cpp> and clang++ -v <filename.cpp>, under "#include < ... > search starts here:".
Open a Terminal window and navigate to your project directory. Run these sets of commands, depending on which compiler you have installed:
To compile multiple C++ files using clang++:
$ clang++ *.cpp
$ ./a.out
To compile multiple C++ files using g++:
$ g++ -c *.cpp
$ g++ -o temp.exe *.o
$ ./temp.exe

mingw linker error when using vector templates

I'm using MinGw on Windows 7. The following simple program compiles fine, but the linker complains and I do not understand what's wrong:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
std::vector<int> iv;
iv.push_back(7);
cout << iv.back() << endl;
return 0;
}
the compiler/linker messages look as follows:
mingw32-g++.exe -Wall -fexceptions -std=c++0x -Wall -g -std=c++0x -Wall -g -frepo -IC:\cppbuchincludes\include -IG:\Boost -IG:\Users\thomas\cpp\STLUsage\\include -c G:\Users\thomas\cpp\STLUsage\main.cpp -o obj\Debug\main.o
mingw32-g++.exe -o bin\Debug\STLUsage.exe obj\Debug\main.o G:\Boost\stage\lib\libboost_filesystem-mgw45-mt-d-1_45.dll.a G:\Boost\stage\lib\libboost_regex-mgw45-mt-d-1_45.dll.a G:\Boost\stage\lib\libboost_system-mgw45-mt-d-1_45.dll.a G:\Boost\stage\lib\libboost_thread-mgw45-mt-1_45.dll.a G:\Boost\stage\lib\libboost_unit_test_framework-mgw45-mt-d-1_45.dll.a
collect: recompiling G:\Users\thomas\cpp\STLUsage\main.cpp
collect: relinking
collect2: '_ZNSt12_Vector_baseIiSaIiEEC1Ev' was assigned to 'obj\Debug\main.rpo', but was not defined during recompilation, or vice versa
obj\Debug\main.o: In function `vector':
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/4.5.2/include/c++/bits/stl_vector.h:208: undefined reference to `std::_Vector_base<int, std::allocator<int> >::_Vector_base()'
(...and so on...)
I can use templates I defined myself.
I have that MinGw binary from a book and followed the instructions in that book regarding compiler settings. In particular the references to the Boost libs are taken from there.
This must be a simple thing, I just want to make trivial use of the STL.
Edit following the advice given in an answer, I replaced the binary to be used to compile by g++.exe in the Settings -> Compiler and debugging -> toolchain executables dialog, but I'm getting the same error messages (with mingw32-g++.exe now replaced by g++.exe).
Edit (once more) this has to be problem eith the Code::Blocks settings, since compiling using g++ from the command line works just fine.
Use g++ to compile and link the program. mingw32-g++.exe doesn't do that.
FAQ says,
What's the difference between gcc and mingw32-gcc?
The mingw32-gcc, mingw32-g++, etc. binaries exist as an aid to cross development. They are created in a typical build of gcc. They are therefore distributed as the maintainers of GCC meant them to be. The gcc.exe indicates that the binary produces binaries for a target equal to the build, while the mingw32-gcc binary produces binaries to be executed on the mingw32 target.
So I guess the problem is because of mingw32-g++.exe which you're not supposed to use, for normal build.
Try these:
g++ program.cpp //simple build
g++ program.cpp -Wall //build with all warnings enabled
g++ program.cpp -Wall -O2 //enable warnings and optimization level 2
g++ program.cpp -std=c++0x //use C++11 features
Hope that helps.

Running compiled program - "Invalid argument"

I have simple Hello World C++ program (main.cpp):
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main ( void ) {
cout << "Hello world" << endl;
return ( 0 );
}
I compile it through
g++ -Wall -pedantic -Wno-long-long -Werror -c main.cpp
then add the "be executable" permission
chmod +x main.o
and try to run it
./main.o
My console returns
-bash: ./main.o: Invalid argument
What am i doing wring?
The -c option instructs the compiler to just compile the source file in an "object file", and not to link it.
Without the linking step the object file you get is not an executable, but just an intermediate step. What you probably want to do is
g++ -o main.x -Wall -pedantic -Wno-long-long -Werror main.cpp
This will generate the executable main.x (I usually use the .x for executables and .o for object files); notice that it will be already chmodded correctly for execution. (tip: another useful "lint-style" option is -Wextra; in optimized builds you should also consider -O3)
The intermediate step is often done when you have multiple files to compile and then link together; although you can simply pass all the sources as arguments to the compiler and let it do all the work, this means that at every recompilation you're recompiling all the source files, and if you start to have big projects this can be a problem in terms of wasted time (just to give you an idea: building OpenOffice.org from scratch can take more than 4 hours).
Instead, in these situations you just recompile the object files of the modified files, and link everything together passing the object files' names to g++ (or ld if you feel brave enough to fiddle with the linker options). In general this operation is automated with Makefiles or other build systems.