dwarf2out.c (add_data_member_location_attribute) always generates a full dwarf
location expression even for simple struct member offsets. This results in
debug_info for structs that looks like this:

 <1><77>: Abbrev Number: 7 (DW_TAG_structure_type)
    <78>   DW_AT_name        : (indirect string, offset: 0x64): mystruct        
    <7c>   DW_AT_byte_size   : 40       
    <7d>   DW_AT_decl_file   : 1        
    <7e>   DW_AT_decl_line   : 5        
    <7f>   DW_AT_sibling     : <0xc0>   
 <2><83>: Abbrev Number: 8 (DW_TAG_member)
    <84>   DW_AT_name        : n        
    <86>   DW_AT_decl_file   : 1        
    <87>   DW_AT_decl_line   : 6        
    <88>   DW_AT_type        : <0xc0>   
    <8c>   DW_AT_data_member_location: 2 byte block: 23 0      
(DW_OP_plus_uconst: 0)
 <2><8f>: Abbrev Number: 8 (DW_TAG_member)
    <90>   DW_AT_name        : c        
    <92>   DW_AT_decl_file   : 1        
    <93>   DW_AT_decl_line   : 7        
    <94>   DW_AT_type        : <0x6a>   
    <98>   DW_AT_data_member_location: 2 byte block: 23 8      
(DW_OP_plus_uconst: 8)
 <2><9b>: Abbrev Number: 8 (DW_TAG_member)
    <9c>   DW_AT_name        : i        
    <9e>   DW_AT_decl_file   : 1        
    <9f>   DW_AT_decl_line   : 8        
    <a0>   DW_AT_type        : <0x57>   
    <a4>   DW_AT_data_member_location: 2 byte block: 23 10     
(DW_OP_plus_uconst: 16)


The dwarf spec says:

"If a data member is defined in a structure, union or class, the corresponding
member entry has a DW_AT_data_member_location attribute whose value describes
the location of that member relative to the base address of the structure,
union, or class that most closely encloses the member declaration. If that
value is a constant, it is the offset in bytes from the beginning of the
innermost enclosing structure, union or class to the beginning of the data
member. Otherwise, the value must be a location description."

So if we only have a simple constant offset it seems more space efficient to
output the offset as a constant instead of a location expression using
DW_OP_plus_uconst.

A suggested patch might be the following (still building/testing against gdb
and stap - gdb should work, systemtap will need some adjusting):

Index: gcc/dwarf2out.c
===================================================================
--- gcc/dwarf2out.c    (revision 149279)
+++ gcc/dwarf2out.c    (working copy)
@@ -11475,8 +11475,6 @@

   if (! loc_descr)
     {
-      enum dwarf_location_atom op;
-
       /* The DWARF2 standard says that we should assume that the structure
      address is already on the stack, so we can specify a structure field
      address by using DW_OP_plus_uconst.  */
@@ -11485,12 +11483,16 @@
       /* ??? The SGI dwarf reader does not handle the DW_OP_plus_uconst
      operator correctly.  It works only if we leave the offset on the
      stack.  */
+      enum dwarf_location_atom op;
+
       op = DW_OP_constu;
+      loc_descr = new_loc_descr (op, offset, 0);
 #else
-      op = DW_OP_plus_uconst;
+      /* Don't need an whole location expression, just a constant offset. */
+      add_AT_int (die, DW_AT_data_member_location, offset);
+      return;
 #endif

-      loc_descr = new_loc_descr (op, offset, 0);
     }

   add_AT_loc (die, DW_AT_data_member_location, loc_descr);


That will simplify the debug_info for structs so it reads:

 <1><77>: Abbrev Number: 7 (DW_TAG_structure_type)
    <78>   DW_AT_name        : (indirect string, offset: 0x3d): mystruct        
    <7c>   DW_AT_byte_size   : 40       
    <7d>   DW_AT_decl_file   : 1        
    <7e>   DW_AT_decl_line   : 4        
    <7f>   DW_AT_sibling     : <0xb6>   
 <2><83>: Abbrev Number: 8 (DW_TAG_member)
    <84>   DW_AT_name        : n        
    <86>   DW_AT_decl_file   : 1        
    <87>   DW_AT_decl_line   : 6        
    <88>   DW_AT_type        : <0xb6>   
    <8c>   DW_AT_data_member_location: 0        
 <2><8d>: Abbrev Number: 8 (DW_TAG_member)
    <8e>   DW_AT_name        : c        
    <90>   DW_AT_decl_file   : 1        
    <91>   DW_AT_decl_line   : 7        
    <92>   DW_AT_type        : <0x6a>   
    <96>   DW_AT_data_member_location: 8        
 <2><97>: Abbrev Number: 8 (DW_TAG_member)
    <98>   DW_AT_name        : i        
    <9a>   DW_AT_decl_file   : 1        
    <9b>   DW_AT_decl_line   : 8        
    <9c>   DW_AT_type        : <0x57>   
    <a0>   DW_AT_data_member_location: 16