I want the preprocessed output of a .c file, but I also want to include a header file without the macro "include..." in the .c file. Usually, you add the -I option for including a directory where headers are. But if I want to combine -I and -E, gcc does't seem to include my header files in the specified directory. My command:
gcc -E -I/externDefines myFirmware.c > myFirmware.preprocessed
Does anyone know what the problem could be?
-I does not mean “Include the header files from the given directory in the compilation.” It means “When searching for a file requested with #include, look for the file in the given directory.”
GCC has a command-line switch, -include file that will include a file in the compilation. However, it includes a single file, so you must list each file you want included; it will not automatically include all header files in a single directory. The command-line shell you are using may have features that help generate a list of -include switches with the file names.
A portable way to include a header file X.h while compiling Y.c without changing Y.c would be to create an auxiliary file containing:
#include "X.h"
#include "Y.c"
and then compile that instead of Y.c.