How does the compilation stage of source files into an executable binary file occur in Linux?

In Linux, compiling source files (for example, in C or C++) into an executable binary file usually involves several stages:

1. Preprocessing — processing preprocessor directives (#include, #define, etc.), resulting in expanded source code.
2. Compilation — converting the expanded source code into assembly code.
3. Assembling — translating assembly code into an object file (.o), containing machine code but not linked with other modules.
4. Linking — combining one or more object files and libraries into a single executable file.

An example command for compilation and linking using gcc:

gcc main.c -o myprogram

Here, gcc automatically performs all stages: preprocessing, compilation, assembling, and linking, creating an executable file named myprogram.