[carterehsmith]

Is there a better way? Can we make gcc with less options, while still catering to all the use cases.

[Paul-ish]

That might not be possible. What if instead we created a configuration tool that intelligently passed the correct options for you.

[carterehsmith]

Could that tool magically reduce the number of options? That would be quite a tool.

[bentcorner]

You could subdivide what gcc does into other utilities each with a smaller api.

[TeMPOraL]

This way lies Node.js. You'll end up with a complex config file just to orchestrate all these smaller utilities.

[Paul-ish]

Yes. We will call it autotools.

[pornel]

For some things, yes. For example, Rust manages warnings from the source code (-Wfoo is #[warn(foo)], and it's scoped!)

[Camas]

Too late now. Once they exist there's someone that depends on them.