It probably is. But nobody ever took the time to test it.
Not only would it need to be tested on all platforms, but also with a wide variety of GDB versions. Some platforms (Mac) still use gdb 6.3.5 (and that is supported); most linuxes will be on some 7.x (7.0 to 7.5). Windows is the only platform where gdb is part of the Lazarus install. It also can depend on the linker used. So that is even more to test.
Also, I am not sure if it is better.
Yes currently a few people see 15 MB for an empty form and are surprised.
But at least it gives them the chance to google and learn the difference between a debug and release build.
If you use -Xg the exe may be smaller. But it still is a debug build. People will just never know. Until maybe it is to slow for what thy need.
After all debug-info is not the only difference:
- smart linking (which must be off for debugging, even, if using -Xg)
so a debug build will still be bigger than release
- range, IO, overflow checks
- -O1 versus -O2 (or -O3)
- -gh (heap trace mem manager)
- compiled in asserts
....
So unless you do wince (the debug info is to big for the emulator/device), why would you mind if your debug build is huge. You need a release build anyway.