[PATCH GCC]Add 'force-dwarf-lexical-blocks' command line option

[Herman, Andrei]

Thanks for the suggestion.
The current patch includes the following text added in gcc/doc/invoke.texi:

@item -fforce-dwarf-lexical-blocks
Produce debug information (a DW_TAG_lexical_block) for every function
body, loop body, switch body, case statement, if-then and if-else statement,
even if the body is a single statement.  Likewise, a lexical block will be
emitted for the first label of a statement.  This block ends at the end of the
current lexical scope, or when a break, continue, goto or return statement is
encountered at the same lexical scope level.
This option is available when using DWARF Version 4 or higher.

I can add the suggested sentence at the beginning of the description, to save time for users not interested in the more detailed explanation.

Regards,
Andrei Herman
Mentor Graphics Corporation
Israel branch 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Stump [mailto:mikestump@comcast.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 7:00 PM
> To: Herman, Andrei
> Cc: gcc-patches@gcc.gnu.org; Herman_Andrei@mentor.com
> Subject: Re: [PATCH GCC]Add 'force-dwarf-lexical-blocks' command line
> option
> 
> On May 7, 2014, at 2:32 AM, Herman, Andrei
> <Andrei_Herman@codesourcery.com> wrote:
> > However, code coverage tools that process the DWARF debug information
> > to implement block/path coverage need more complete lexical block
> information.
> 
> So, it would be nice to give a hint in the actual documentation, why a user
> might use the flag, or for a maintainer to be able to predict exactly what
> was desired in some obscure corner of dwarf semantics given the
> documentation.  I think it can be as simple as "This option is useful for code
> coverage tools that utilize the dwarf debug information."  A user, upon
> seeing that, would then ask, do I have such a tool, say no, and then know
> they don't have to contemplate the goodness of the option further.  If one
> is writing a coverage tool, upon seeing the documentation, they might then
> ask themselves, how might I use that flag profitably for my users.