Compile time typeid without RTTI with GCC

Question

Is there anyway to get compile-time typeid information from GCC with RTTI disabled? Under Visual Studio, a simple command like const char* typeName = typeid(int).name(); will appropriately return "int", even if RTTI is disabled. Unfortunately, GCC can't do the same. When I try to call typeid without RTTI, my program crashes. I know disabling RTTI is not part of the standard, but is there anyway I can force GCC to do compile time resolution of known types?

RTTI is disabled for performance reasons. I have no need for runtime RTTI.

Edit:

Here's what I ended up going with:

template<typename T> const char* TypeName(void);
template<typename T> const char* TypeName(T type) { return TypeName<T>(); }

#define REFLECTION_REGISTER_TYPE(type) \
    template <> const char* TypeName<type>(void) { return #type; } 

It requires that REFLECTION_REGISTER_TYPE be called for every type that needs reflection info. But as long as it's called for every required type, calling TypeName<int> works perfectly. I also added the function TypeName(T type) which means you can do things like this: int x = 0; printf(TypeName(x)); and it will print out "int". GCC should really be able to do this at compile time like VC++ can.

Answer 1

There is another solution with its pros and cons:

typedef void* TypeId;
template<class T>
TypeId TypeIdNoRTTI() //this function is instantiated for every different type
{
    //WARNING: works only inside one module: same type coming from different module will have different value!
    static T* TypeUniqueMarker = NULL; //thus this static variable will be created for each TypeIdNoRTTI<T> separately
    return &TypeUniqueMarker; //it's address is unique identifier of TypeIdNoRTTI<T> type
}