cpp seems not to include # line "file" output for empty files

[E. Jay Berkenbilt]

With gcc 2.96-20000731 as included with vanilla RedHat Linux 7.0
(i386) cpp does not provide # line ... output for include files that
don't generate any output.  This is very bad for automatic dependency
generators.  Create the following two files:

a.h:

#define HELLO 1


a.c:

#include "a.h"


Then run cpp a.c

With an older version you get

# 1 "a.c"
# 1 "a.h" 1

# 1 "a.c" 2



With 2.96, you get

# 1 "a.c"



It appears that cpp is deciding that it doesn't have to generate the #
line output if there is no output from the file.  This makes sense for
the intend use of these directives for telling the compiler what
filename/line number a line of cpp output came from, but it badly
hoses dependency generators and other programs that rely on this
output for getting a list of files that cpp read.  Such functionality
is essential for writing portable dependency generators.  I feel like
I've read this in the ISO standard but I can't seem to find any
documentation that firmly states that ISO requires this behavior.