The
-gen compiler option sets the backend code emitter and assembler. If this option is not specified, the default is
-gen gas for x86 and
-gen gcc for x86_64.
-gen gas
The compiler will emit GAS assembler code to a .asm file which will then be compiled to an object file using 'as'. This is fbc's original x86 code generation backend.
-gen gas64
The compiler will emit GAS assembler code (64-bit) to a .asm file which will then be compiled to an object file using 'as'.
On Darwin, use gcc, clang or llvm. GAS64 does not currently emit native Mach-O sections.
-gen gcc
The compiler will emit C code to a
.c file which will then be compiled to an .asm file using '
gcc' as a high level assembler. The C backend is intended to make FB portable to more platforms than just x86. This requires gcc to be installed so that fbc can invoke it to compile the C code, also see
Installing gcc for -gen gcc.
-gen clang
The compiler will emit C code to a .c file which will then be compiled to an .asm file using 'clang' as a high level assembler.
-gen llvm
The compiler will emit LLVM IR code to a .ll file which will then be compiled to an .asm file using 'llc'. The LLVM backend is still a work in progress. It is intended for the same purpose as the C backend, and could theoretically solve some of the C backend's problems, such as debugging meta data support.