https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=31350
--- Comment #6 from Manuel López-Ibáñez <manu at gcc dot gnu.org> --- This is exactly the same case as: $ gcc --help --invalid 1> /dev/null gcc: error: unrecognized command line option ‘--invalid’ One should not expect the error output to go to stdout just because --help was provided.