Why are default compiler flags not shown in gcc lines?

Question

As there are default compiler flags (e.g. for Ubuntu one of them is -fstack-protector), why are they not shown in gcc lines? When I build a source package and use ./configure and make to build it, there is the output on the terminal showing all steps inlcuding compilations. If the compiler uses by default a compiler flag like -fstack-protector it should appear in all or at most several gcc lines, but it does not. Does this mean the default compiler flag was not set in this case or does this mean the compiler flag was set but won't be printed in the gcc lines (maybe to improve overview)?

This question is not about how to get the info about default compilation flags, but to ensure if the default gcc flag was used or not, because I can't see any hint on that looking into the printed compilation output of the terminal.

Answer 1

The default is to not display everything because most people don't want to see that much noise on a build. It would hide any warnings that occurred.

Try the default flags once just to see what they are. They'll keep happening on future invocations of gcc unless overridden by the command line.

If I add a -v to see everything when building a small one file program, I see:

evaitl@evbb ~/se $ gcc -v foo.c  
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/lto-wrapper
Target: x86_64-linux-gnu
Configured with: ../src/configure -v --with-pkgversion='Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.3' --with-bugurl=file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-4.8/README.Bugs --enable-languages=c,c++,java,go,d,fortran,objc,obj-c++ --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-4.8 --enable-shared --enable-linker-build-id --libexecdir=/usr/lib --without-included-gettext --enable-threads=posix --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.8 --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-nls --with-sysroot=/ --enable-clocale=gnu --enable-libstdcxx-debug --enable-libstdcxx-time=yes --enable-gnu-unique-object --disable-libmudflap --enable-plugin --with-system-zlib --disable-browser-plugin --enable-java-awt=gtk --enable-gtk-cairo --with-java-home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.8-amd64/jre --enable-java-home --with-jvm-root-dir=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.8-amd64 --with-jvm-jar-dir=/usr/lib/jvm-exports/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.8-amd64 --with-arch-directory=amd64 --with-ecj-jar=/usr/share/java/eclipse-ecj.jar --enable-objc-gc --enable-multiarch --disable-werror --with-arch-32=i686 --with-abi=m64 --with-multilib-list=m32,m64,mx32 --with-tune=generic --enable-checking=release --build=x86_64-linux-gnu --host=x86_64-linux-gnu --target=x86_64-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.8.4 (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.3) 
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=generic' '-march=x86-64'
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/cc1 -quiet -v -imultiarch x86_64-linux-gnu foo.c -quiet -dumpbase foo.c -mtune=generic -march=x86-64 -auxbase foo -version -fstack-protector -Wformat -Wformat-security -o /tmp/ccAO131b.s
GNU C (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.3) version 4.8.4 (x86_64-linux-gnu)
    compiled by GNU C version 4.8.4, GMP version 5.1.3, MPFR version 3.1.2-p3, MPC version 1.0.1
GGC heuristics: --param ggc-min-expand=100 --param ggc-min-heapsize=131072
ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/local/include/x86_64-linux-gnu"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/include"
#include "..." search starts here:
#include <...> search starts here:
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/include
 /usr/local/include
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/include-fixed
 /usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu
 /usr/include
End of search list.
GNU C (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.3) version 4.8.4 (x86_64-linux-gnu)
    compiled by GNU C version 4.8.4, GMP version 5.1.3, MPFR version 3.1.2-p3, MPC version 1.0.1
GGC heuristics: --param ggc-min-expand=100 --param ggc-min-heapsize=131072
Compiler executable checksum: a0a649d344b1ed798e33d30772d46437
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=generic' '-march=x86-64'
 as -v --64 -o /tmp/ccLkvMvF.o /tmp/ccAO131b.s
GNU assembler version 2.24 (x86_64-linux-gnu) using BFD version (GNU Binutils for Ubuntu) 2.24
COMPILER_PATH=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/
LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../lib/:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/:/lib/../lib/:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/:/usr/lib/../lib/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../:/lib/:/usr/lib/
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=generic' '-march=x86-64'
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/collect2 --sysroot=/ --build-id --eh-frame-hdr -m elf_x86_64 --hash-style=gnu --as-needed -dynamic-linker /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 -z relro /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/crt1.o /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/crti.o /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/crtbegin.o -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8 -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../lib -L/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -L/lib/../lib -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -L/usr/lib/../lib -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../.. /tmp/ccLkvMvF.o -lgcc --as-needed -lgcc_s --no-as-needed -lc -lgcc --as-needed -lgcc_s --no-as-needed /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/crtend.o /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/crtn.o
evaitl@evbb ~/se $ 

Answer 2

An option will appear as far as the option is not enabled by default and it is passed to the gcc command.

Your previous question is strictly linked to this one.