Question

If i run ./configure && make on any big open source project, for example Ruby, it will be thousands of compiler warnings displayed in the console. Is it possible to run it with warnings suppressed (and errors shown, if any)?

Answer 1

Add CFLAGS=-w CPPFLAGS=-w CXXFLAGS=-w LDFLAGS=-w to your configure line.

Numbers!

$ tar -xzf ruby-1.9.3-p125.tar.gz
$ cd ruby-1.9.3-p125
$ { ./configure && make; } 2>&1 | wc -l
1197
$ cd ..
$ rm ruby-1.9.3-p125
$ tar -xzf ruby-1.9.3-p125.tar.gz
$ cd ruby-1.9.3-p125
$ { CFLAGS=-w CPPFLAGS=-w CXXFLAGS=-w LDFLAGS=-w ./configure && make;} 2>&1 |wc -l
989
$

There you have it.
Vanilla configure && make: 1197 lines
Turning off warnings: 989 lines
Savings: 17%

Turning off warnings in no way inhibits display of errors, so you’ll still know when things don’t work.

^{Disabling warnings: 17% fewer lines. Building Ruby repeatedly just to count the lines of output: priceless.}