How is the -fprofile-prefix-path option supposed to work? - linux

Question

When compiling code for coverage instrumentation (to use with lcov later on), we're compiling from a base directory tree (let's call it A), and we want the .gcda files to be produced at a different place (because the target directory tree is different - let's call it B).
So, the compilation command looked like this:
gcc -O0 -g --coverage -fprofile-dir=B -c -fPIC -Wall -o A/otherpath/to/mySourceFile.o A/path/to/mySourceFile.c
When checking the contents of mySourceFile.o (with the strings command), I saw that the mySourceFile.gcda file was set to be generated in B/A/otherpath/to/mySourceFile.gcda
Which is the mangling of the path given through the -fprofile-dir option with the exact absolute path of the object file created - just as written in the documentation. So far, no problem - except that what I want would be the mySourceFile.gcda file to be generated from the B directory, WITHOUT the A part.
So, the documentation also mentions the -fprofile-prefix-path option, which is supposed to allow you to remove part of the path, so that the mangling doesn't add the old path to the new.
I tried using it in the following way:
gcc -O0 -g --coverage -fprofile-dir=B -fprofile-prefix-path=A -c -fPIC -Wall -o A/otherpath/to/mySourceFile.o A/path/to/mySourceFile.c
However, after checking through strings, once again, in the generated object file, the path was still B/A/otherpath/to/mySourceFile.gcda, whereas I expected it to be B/otherpath/to/mySourceFile.gcda (that is, I expected the A part to have been stripped by the -fprofile-prefix-path option.)
Obviously, it didn't work. Any insight why ?
( Compiler used is GCC 11.2.1, which is a version recent enough to know about the option. )

Answer 1

Ok, after some tinkering, I got results. Maybe not exactly what I was expecting, but close enough.
Let me start by saying that the A and B "directories" I mentioned in my question were absolute paths. And it didn't work well.
However, while keeping the absolute B (target) path, I tried not using the full A (source) path while compiling. More precisely, I didn't use it to specify the OUTPUT file name, for the object. Instead, I went to the base directory (the A path), and then, ran the command by specifying the output file path relative to the current (A) directory
Which would give the following command:
(From directory A)
gcc -O0 -g --coverage -fprofile-dir=B -fprofile-prefix-path=A -c -fPIC -Wall -o otherpath/to/mySourceFile.o path/to/mySourceFile.c
This time, the source command did show an interesting result, for the mySourceFile.gcda file:
B#otherpath#to#mySourceFile.gcda
As you can see, it's not exactly what I wanted (there are # instead of /), but mentions to A disappeared, and overall, I'm confident it should work as intended. Not utterly sure yet (I still have to test it on the target platform, which will need tinkering with the way the makefiles currently work), but confident nonetheless.
Also, if I didn't use the -fprofile-prefix-path in the command, then the string would mention the A path, like this (with the '/' inside the A path being replaced with '#' characters, obviously):
B#A#otherpath#to#mySourceFile.gcda
So, the option works, but only when using relative paths, not when using absolute ones, for the object file. Hope that helps people.
PS: I checked by changing the path to the source (.c) file. Whether specified using absolute, or relative, paths, it didn't change the outcome. What matters is specifying the path to the object file in a relative manner.