What is gcc really doing - the condensed version

• we invoke gcc on a single C source file,
• we know the C-processor is invoked to include system-wide header files, and to define our own preprocessor and definitions macros,
• the output of the preprocessor becomes the input of the "true" compiler,
• the output of the compiler (for correct programs!) is an executable program (and we may use the -o option to provide a specific executable name).