Using Split DWARF on Solaris
Starting with the Solaris Studio 12.4 compilers, Oracle® supports a Split-DWARF variant (also known as excluded DWARF) that can greatly reduce link time, disk usage, and debugger start-up time for large applications. When enabled, the full DWARF information remains in the object (.o) file and is excluded from the executable or shared library file. The compiler generates a lightweight symbol table index in the executable or shared library file. TotalView uses the symbol table index information to build a skeleton symbol table to locate the source files, functions, types, and other externally defined objects. The full DWARF information contained in the object file is read on-demand, only when required during the debug session.
To enable Split DWARF in the Solaris Studio 12.4 (or later) compilers, use the following compiler options:
-xdebugformat=dwarf -xs=no
For more information on how Oracle implements Split DWARF, please refer to the Oracle documentation.