Re: [Mingw-users] Why does mingw produce large executables(compared toa linux build)?

[Jef D. <jef...@ho...>]

Brian Dessent wrote:
> Jef Driesen wrote:
> 
>> I tried compiling with CFLAGS='-gdwarf-2', but the size reduction is
>> only about 10KB (for both the object files and the final dll). I also
>> tried with CFLAGS='-g0' to disable debug info, and the size reduction is
>> now around 40KB. So I don't think the debug info is the problem here.
> 
> You said already that stripping the DLL eliminates the discrepancy, and
> that amounts to nothing more than removing sections containing debug
> info.  So of course it's the debug info.
> 
> Note that changing CFLAGS only affects the debug info generated for your
> objects.  You also have to consider that you may be linking with a
> library with STABS debug data when linking the DLL -- things such as
> libmingw, libmingwex, and the dllcrt2.o startup code all contain code
> that is linked into your DLL and all can have debug info depending on
> how they were built.
> 
> The contents of the file is not a mystery.  Use objdump -h to see the
> sections and their sizes.  For example, if you build your objects
> without -g and you still see .stab/.stabstr and/or .debug_* sections,
> you know that you're pulling in debug data from those other sources.

I checked, and there are indeed .stab and .stabstr sections present. So 
now that I know where the size increase is coming from, how do I avoid 
it? Is there a compiler flag to automatically strip the produced binary?

I tried CFLAGS='-s', but it only strips the object files, thus producing 
  exactly the same result as with CFLAGS='-g0'.

>>> Note that this has nothing to do with Dwarf-2 exception handling, using
>>> -gdwarf-2 does not affect EH -- that cannot be switched at runtime, it
>>> is configured when the compiler is built.
>> This is a C project, not C++, so I don't think EH has anything to do
>> with it.
> 
> I never said that EH had anything to do with your size issue, I just
> wanted to make it clear for the archives that selecting Dwarf-2 vs STABS
> for the debug format has nothing to do with choosing Dwarf-2 vs SJLJ for
> the EH method.

Then I just misunderstood you.