Many errors span multiple lines. However, any of the first lines start with 'error:' (or so it seems) the rest is not printed anymore (with using -Wfatal-errors).
For example: hikaru:~/projects/cwchessboard/cwchessboard-objdir>make tstpgn source='PgnDatabase.cc' object='tstpgn-PgnDatabase.o' libtool=no \ DEPDIR=.deps depmode=pch /bin/sh ../cwchessboard/depcomp \ g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../cwchessboard -DCWDEBUG -I/usr/local/install/4.3.1/include $(pkg-config --cflags giomm-2.4) -g3 -Winline -Wfatal-errors -DDEBUG -c -o tstpgn-PgnDatabase.o `test -f 'PgnDatabase.cc' || echo '../cwchessboard/'`PgnDatabase.cc ../cwchessboard/MemoryBlockList.h: In member function âvoid cwchess::pgn::DatabaseSeekable::read_async_open_ready(Glib::RefPtr<Gio::AsyncResult>&)â: ../cwchessboard/MemoryBlockList.h:124: error: âchar* util::MemoryBlockNode::block_begin()â is private compilation terminated due to -Wfatal-errors. make: *** [tstpgn-PgnDatabase.o] Error 1 This is little useful. Now I have to recompile without -Wfatal-errors to find: ../cwchessboard/PgnDatabase.cc:52: error: within this context -- Summary: -Wfatal-errors aborts too early Product: gcc Version: 4.3.1 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P3 Component: c++ AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org ReportedBy: carlo at gcc dot gnu dot org http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=37773