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This file documents the internals of the GNU compilers.

Copyright © 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being “GNU General Public License” and “Funding Free Software”, the Front-Cover texts being (a) (see below), and with the Back-Cover Texts being (b) (see below). A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.

(a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is:

A GNU Manual

(b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is:

You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.


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Introduction

This manual documents the internals of the GNU compilers, including how to port them to new targets and some information about how to write front ends for new languages. It corresponds to GCC version 4.2.1. The use of the GNU compilers is documented in a separate manual. See Introduction.

This manual is mainly a reference manual rather than a tutorial. It discusses how to contribute to GCC (see Contributing), the characteristics of the machines supported by GCC as hosts and targets (see Portability), how GCC relates to the ABIs on such systems (see Interface), and the characteristics of the languages for which GCC front ends are written (see Languages). It then describes the GCC source tree structure and build system, some of the interfaces to GCC front ends, and how support for a target system is implemented in GCC.

Additional tutorial information is linked to from http://gcc.gnu.org/readings.html.