What does Intel ifort code coverage tool do to object files?

[DataScientist]

When compiling source files for code coverage, a few compiler flags must be passed, like, -prof-gen. Do these code coverage flags also change the object files in any way? In other words, can I use the generated object files during the code-coverage compilation process to link and release the target library for production?

[Steve_Lionel · Accepted solution]

No - the object files contain calls to PGO routines that write out a file with records of which "basic blocks" of code were entered. PGO uses this for optimization, Code Coverage uses it for.. code coverage. You would not want this in production code.