Need doc of debug output produced by -fdump-translation-unit

[Jim Wilson]

Holger Peine wrote:
> I would like to use gcc as a front-end for a source code analysis tool.
> gcc -fdump-translation-unit produces output which seems quite promising
> for my purpose. Is the format of that output documented anywhere?

No.  This info is only intended to help with debugging gcc, and it is 
deliberately incomplete in some ways.

FSF policy forbids us from writing information into intermediate files 
and then reading it back in later.  This is because of concerns that 
someone might use this feature to subvert the GPL.  If a proprietary 
compiler can exchange intermediate files with gcc, then they can avoid 
linking with any gcc code, and thus avoid the GPL.  The 
-fdump-translation-unit stuff is thus intentionally crippled to try to 
prevent this from happening.

Many of us would like to see this policy changed, as it hampers gcc 
development, but we must respect FSF policy.
-- 
Jim Wilson, GNU Tools Support, http://www.SpecifixInc.com