What is the difference between gcc -ggdb and gcc -g

Question

When I use gcc to compile C programs I usually use -g to get some debug information into the elf file so that gdb can help me if needed.

However, I not

Answer 1

I have atleast one example where -ggdb worked better for me than another debug option which we were using :

amitkar@lohgad:~> cat > main.c
#include 

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
        printf("Args :%d\n", argc);
        for ( ;argc > 0;)
                printf("%s\n", argv[--argc]);

        return 0;
}
amitkar@lohgad:~> gcc -gstabs+ main.c -o main

amitkar@lohgad:~> file main
main: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.6.4, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), not stripped
amitkar@lohgad:~> /usr/bin/gdb ./main
GNU gdb 6.6.50.20070726-cvs
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you are
welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditions.
Type "show copying" to see the conditions.
There is absolutely no warranty for GDB.  Type "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "x86_64-suse-linux"...
Using host libthread_db library "/lib64/libthread_db.so.1".
(gdb) break main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x400577: file main.c, line 5.
(gdb) run
Starting program: /home/amitkar/main

Breakpoint 1, main (argc=Cannot access memory at address 0x8000df37d57c
) at main.c:5
5               printf("Args :%d\n", argc);
(gdb) print argc
Cannot access memory at address 0x8000df37d57c
(gdb)

Note: This happens only on x86-64 boxes and goes away when compiled with -ggdb. But newer versions of the debugger do work even with -gstabs+