More detailed compile output?

Konstantinos

Hi I all. I have two compilers: MinGW (4.4, 4.8, 4.9, 5.3) and Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler (14.0), but the "compile output" that they give, does not satisfy me.

So, I wonder, is there a better way to see how all the compiling is done with more detailed - bigger way? Something like debugger log?

Chris Kawa

The compile output pane shows you the command line used to invoke the compiler and its output. There's not really much more to show. What information are you exactly interested in?

I'm not sure what you mean by a debugger log. Compiling and debugging are two entirely different things and output from a debugger will be completely different from that of a compiler.

Konstantinos

Hi Chris Kawa, thank you for your answer. I know that compiling and debugging are completely different. Just I like the detailed debugger log and I was expected something similar for compiling.

Anyways, I like very much the process of compiling and I want to understand better how it is done. For example MinGW is a free and open source compiler, so maybe there is a way to track its code and to watch step by step how all the compiling is done?

If someone wants to deepen in compiling, what he has to do?

Thanks in advance.

Chris Kawa

So you basically want to run a debugger on the compiler itself. Well, a compiler is a program like any other. If you want to step through its execution you'll need to download the source code and build a debug version. The MinGW build provided with Qt installation is a release build and does not have debug symbols.

Debugging a compiler can be a little bit overwhelming to start with. If you're just interested in a more verbose output you can play around with compiler specific switches. For example MinGW has a -v switch for verbose output that you can pass by specifying it in the .pro file like this:

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -v

You can look around for other interesting options in the manual - there are a lot of them.

mrjj

Hi
To gain better understanding of compiling, i suggest reading a book
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-books-about-compilers
It will give a understanding of each step involved.

Konstantinos

Ok, thanks both.