@@ -6665,17 +6665,19 @@ Says to make debugging dumps during compilation at times specified by
@var{letters}. This is used for debugging the RTL-based passes of the
compiler. The file names for most of the dumps are made by appending
a pass number and a word to the @var{dumpname}, and the files are
-created in the directory of the output file. In case of
+created in the directory of the output file. In case of
@option{=@var{filename}} option, the dump is output on the given file
-instead of the pass numbered dump files. Note that the pass number is
-computed statically as passes get registered into the pass manager.
-Thus the numbering is not related to the dynamic order of execution of
-passes. In particular, a pass installed by a plugin could have a
-number over 200 even if it executed quite early. @var{dumpname} is
-generated from the name of the output file, if explicitly specified
-and it is not an executable, otherwise it is the basename of the
-source file. These switches may have different effects when
-@option{-E} is used for preprocessing.
+instead of the pass numbered dump files. Note that the pass number is
+assigned as passes are registered into the pass manager. Most passes
+will be registered in the order that they will execute and so often the
+number will correspond to the pass execution order. However, passes
+registered by plugins, which are specific to compilation targets, or
+which are otherwise registered after all the other passes, will be
+numbered higher than a pass named "final", even if they were executed
+earlier. @var{dumpname} is generated from the name of the output
+file, if explicitly specified and it is not an executable, otherwise it
+is the basename of the source file. These switches may have different
+effects when @option{-E} is used for preprocessing.
Debug dumps can be enabled with a @option{-fdump-rtl} switch or some
@option{-d} option @var{letters}. Here are the possible
Hi, The text for -fdump-rtl- is a little misleading about how much you can derive about pass ordering from the numbers on the dumps. This patch tries to update the text to clarify that (most of the time) you can quite happily derive execution order from these pass numbers. While I'm there I've fixed some missing two-space-after-period issues. Checked that documentation still builds and looks OK in info. OK for trunk? Thanks, James --- 2015-10-29 James Greenhalgh <james.greenhalgh@arm.com> * doc/invoke.texi (fdump-rtl-@var{pass}): Clarify relationship between pass numbering and execution order.