title: Explicit template instantiation and debug load time
body: <p>I have been wondering if the use of explicit template instantiation can help reduce the time that it takes the debugger to load binaries. Something similar to <a href="https://gem5.atlassian.net/browse/GEM5-572" rel="nofollow noreferrer">reducing link time</a> by the same mechanisms.</p>
  <p>In the same vein, are there any ways to measure this? I can use <code>readelf -e</code> to see the size of the debuginfo, like</p>
  <pre><code> [33] .debug_info       PROGBITS         0000000000000000  048d175c
         000000000583f7f3  0000000000000000           0     0     1   
  </code></pre>
  <p>Is there anything finer grained (without having all of the gory details)?</p>
  <p>For info, this is with GCC and GDB on Linux (RHEL 6.6).</p>