checking for debug a plugin on a production compiler?

[Basile STARYNKEVITCH <basile@starynkevitch.net>]

Hello All

Is the following scenario possible:

gcc-4.5 is being released at Christmas 2009 [*]. Since it is a 
production compiler, it has been compiled without any checking (no 
ENABLE_CHECKING, etc...)

a plugin foo.c is compiled as foo.so for that gcc-4.5, but since the 
plugin is probably buggy, it is compiled with ENABLE_CHECKING.

This should probably work if ENABLE_CHECKING does not add extra fields 
in data structure, but only runs checks without "side-effects" - other 
than consume CPU resources (& memory)... In other words, if 
ENABLE_CHECKING only enables gcc_assert and similar stuff (that is, only 
add code but not "data" inside GCC, if you guess what I am thinking of).

If this is impossible (for instance because ENABLE_CHECKING modifies the 
  data structure inside GCC), we might consider documenting that.

Regards.

Note [*]: I don't pretend knowing when 4.5 will be released, and its 
release date is not the subject of that discussion!

-- 
Basile STARYNKEVITCH         http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/
email: basile<at>starynkevitch<dot>net mobile: +33 6 8501 2359
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