Undocumented flag in CC

Question

When compiling a file using a new version of Informix-4GL it launches the following command link the generated object into a executable.

cc -qchars=signed -D_H_LOCALEDEF -DASIAN -DAIX_43 -DAIX_53 -DUSE_PROTOTYPES \ 
   -Dsigflag=ix_os_sigflag -DTERMINFO -bh:8 -s -brtl -DASIAN \
   -qarch=com -qchars=signed -D_H_LOCALEDEF -DINFX_ANSI -DASIAN \
   -s -DAIX_43 -DAIX_53 \
   -o teste -s teste.o \
   -lm -lbsd -lc_r -ldl -ltli_r -lm_r

If there are an undefined symbol, it gives an error, but generates the file teste, although without execution permission. This behaviour is different from the previous versions and it does not go well with make: if I do make 2 times, the first time it gives the undef error, but in the second time it does nothing, because the executable already exists.

If I take out the -bh:8 option, it works as before (does not generate the exec file).

Does anyone knows this option/flag: -bh:8 ? I could not find it in the cc documentaion.

Answer 1

I believe -bh is short for -bhalt, which specifies the maximum error level that is allowed before the linker command halts.