MINIMIZING DEBUG INFORMATION FOR GLOBAL TYPES IN COMPILED LANGUAGES

The invention provides a technique for generating minimal debugging type information in a distinguished compile unit while still supporting the debug ging of classes for which the distinguished compile unit is not, in this module, being built or debugged, where the debugging information for the classes has been previously compiled into one or more object modules. On detecting a reference to a type in a program, the co mpiler inserts code into the module it is compiling to direct the linker where to locate th e debugging information object module describing that type. Usually, the object module w ill be located in a separate link library, so the compiler directs the linker to add the de bug library to the list of libraries from which it tries to resolve symbolic references, and to add a reference to an external linkage symbol defined in the object module describing the type. Th e linker will have to resolve this symbol by adding the debug library into the link.