What is difference between sjlj vs dwarf vs seh?

I can't find enough information to decide which compiler should I use to compile my project. There are several programs on different computers simulating a process. On Linux, I'm using GCC. Everything is great. I can optimize code, it compiles fast and uses not-so-much memory.

I do my own benchmark with MSVC and GCC compilers. Later one produces slightly faster binaries (for each subarchitecture). Though compile time is much more than MSVC.

So I decided to use MinGW. But can't find any explanation about exception handling methods and their implementations in MinGW. I can use different distributions for different operating systems and architectures.

Considerations:

• Compile time and memory are not important for my usage. Only important thing is runtime optimization. I need my programs to be fast enough. A slow compiler is acceptable.
• OS: Microsoft Windows XP / 7 / 8 / Linux
• Architecture: Intel Core i7 / Core2 / and a very old i686 running XP :P

There's a short overview at MinGW-w64 Wiki:

> Why doesn't mingw-w64 gcc support Dwarf-2 Exception Handling? > > The Dwarf-2 EH implementation for Windows is not designed at all to > work under 64-bit Windows applications. In win32 mode, the exception > unwind handler cannot propagate through non-dw2 aware code, this means > that any exception going through any non-dw2 aware "foreign frames" > code will fail, including Windows system DLLs and DLLs built with > Visual Studio. Dwarf-2 unwinding code in gcc inspects the x86 > unwinding assembly and is unable to proceed without other dwarf-2 > unwind information. > > The SetJump LongJump method of exception handling works for most > cases on both win32 and win64, except for general protection faults. > Structured exception handling support in gcc is being developed to > overcome the weaknesses of dw2 and sjlj. On win64, the > unwind-information are placed in xdata-section and there is the .pdata > (function descriptor table) instead of the stack. For win32, the chain > of handlers are on stack and need to be saved/restored by real > executed code.

GCC GNU about Exception Handling:

> GCC supports two methods for exception handling (EH): > > - DWARF-2 (DW2) EH, which requires the use of DWARF-2 (or DWARF-3) debugging information. DW-2 EH can cause executables to be > slightly bloated because large call stack unwinding tables have to be > included in th executables. > - A method based on setjmp/longjmp (SJLJ). SJLJ-based EH is much slower than DW2 EH (penalising even normal execution when no > exceptions are thrown), but can work across code that has not been > compiled with GCC or that does not have call-stack unwinding > information. > > [...]
> > Structured Exception Handling (SEH)
> > Windows uses its own exception handling mechanism known as Structured Exception Handling (SEH). [...] > Unfortunately, GCC does not support SEH yet. [...]

See also:

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/318383/exception-handling-models-of-gcc
• C++ Exception Handling for IA-64
• EH newbies howto

> SJLJ (setjmp/longjmp): – available for 32 bit and 64 bit – not “zero-cost”: even if an exception isn’t thrown, it incurs a minor > performance penalty (~15% in exception heavy code) – allows exceptions > to traverse through e.g. windows callbacks > > DWARF (DW2, dwarf-2) – available for 32 bit only – no permanent runtime overhead – needs whole call stack to be dwarf-enabled, which > means exceptions cannot be thrown over e.g. Windows system DLLs. > > SEH (zero overhead exception) – will be available for 64-bit GCC 4.8.

source: https://wiki.qt.io/MinGW-64-bit