def to_host_flags_base(cls, flags: T.List[str], phase: Phase = Phase.COMPILER, default_include_dirs: T.Optional[T.List[str]] = None) -> T.List[str]:
        """
        Translate generic "GCC-speak" plus particular "NVCC-speak" flags to NVCC flags.

        NVCC's "short" flags have broad similarities to the GCC standard, but have
        gratuitous, irritating differences.
        """
        xflags = []
        flagit = iter(flags)

        for flag in flagit:
            # The CUDA Toolkit Documentation, in 4.1. Command Option Types and Notation,
            # specifies that NVCC does not parse the standard flags as GCC does. It has
            # its own strategy, to wit:
            #
            #     nvcc recognizes three types of command options: boolean options, single
            #     value options, and list options.
            #
            #     Boolean options do not have an argument; they are either specified on a
            #     command line or not. Single value options must be specified at most once,
            #     and list options may be repeated. Examples of each of these option types
            #     are, respectively: --verbose (switch to verbose mode), --output-file
            #     (specify output file), and --include-path (specify include path).
            #
            #     Single value options and list options must have arguments, which must
            #     follow the name of the option itself by either one of more spaces or an
            #     equals character. When a one-character short name such as -I, -l, and -L
            #     is used, the value of the option may also immediately follow the option
            #     itself without being separated by spaces or an equal character. The
            #     individual values of list options may be separated by commas in a single
            #     instance of the option, or the option may be repeated, or any
            #     combination of these two cases.
            #
            # One strange consequence of this choice is that directory and filenames that
            # contain commas (',') cannot be passed to NVCC (at least, not as easily as
            # in GCC). Another strange consequence is that it is legal to supply flags
            # such as
            #
            #     -lpthread,rt,dl,util
            #     -l pthread,rt,dl,util
            #     -l=pthread,rt,dl,util
            #
            # and each of the above alternatives is equivalent to GCC-speak
            #
            #     -lpthread -lrt -ldl -lutil
            #     -l pthread -l rt -l dl -l util
            #     -l=pthread -l=rt -l=dl -l=util
            #
            # *With the exception of commas in the name*, GCC-speak for these list flags
            # is a strict subset of NVCC-speak, so we passthrough those flags.
            #
            # The -D macro-define flag is documented as somehow shielding commas from
            # splitting a definition. Balanced parentheses, braces and single-quotes
            # around the comma are not sufficient, but balanced double-quotes are. The
            # shielding appears to work with -l, -I, -L flags as well, for instance.
            #
            # Since our goal is to replicate GCC-speak as much as possible, we check for
            # commas in all list-arguments and shield them with double-quotes. We make
            # an exception for -D (where this would be value-changing) and -U (because
            # it isn't possible to define a macro with a comma in the name).

            if flag in cls._FLAG_PASSTHRU_NOARGS:
                xflags.append(flag)
                continue

            # Handle breakup of flag-values into a flag-part and value-part.
            if flag[:1] not in '-/':
                # This is not a flag. It's probably a file input. Pass it through.
                xflags.append(flag)
                continue
            elif flag[:1] == '/':
                # This is ambiguously either an MVSC-style /switch or an absolute path
                # to a file. For some magical reason the following works acceptably in
                # both cases.
                # We only want to prefix arguments that are NOT static archives, since
                # the latter could contain relocatable device code (-dc/-rdc=true).
                prefix = '' if flag.endswith('.a') else f'-X{phase.value}='
                wrap = '"' if ',' in flag else ''
                xflags.append(f'{prefix}{wrap}{flag}{wrap}')
                continue
            elif len(flag) >= 2 and flag[0] == '-' and flag[1] in 'IDULlmOxmte':
                # This is a single-letter short option. These options (with the
                # exception of -o) are allowed to receive their argument with neither
                # space nor = sign before them. Detect and separate them in that event.
                if flag[2:3] == '':            # -I something
                    try:
                        val = next(flagit)
                    except StopIteration:
                        pass
                elif flag[2:3] == '=':           # -I=something
                    val = flag[3:]
                else:                            # -Isomething
                    val = flag[2:]
                flag = flag[:2]                  # -I
            elif flag in cls._FLAG_LONG2SHORT_WITHARGS or \
                    flag in cls._FLAG_SHORT2LONG_WITHARGS:
                # This is either -o or a multi-letter flag, and it is receiving its
                # value isolated.
                try:
                    val = next(flagit)           # -o something
                except StopIteration:
                    pass
            elif flag.split('=', 1)[0] in cls._FLAG_LONG2SHORT_WITHARGS or \
                    flag.split('=', 1)[0] in cls._FLAG_SHORT2LONG_WITHARGS:
                # This is either -o or a multi-letter flag, and it is receiving its
                # value after an = sign.
                flag, val = flag.split('=', 1)    # -o=something
            # Some dependencies (e.g., BoostDependency) add unspaced "-isystem/usr/include" arguments
            elif flag.startswith('-isystem'):
                val = flag[8:].strip()
                flag = flag[:8]
            else:
                # This is a flag, and it's foreign to NVCC.
                #
                # We do not know whether this GCC-speak flag takes an isolated
                # argument. Assuming it does not (the vast majority indeed don't),
                # wrap this argument in an -Xcompiler flag and send it down to NVCC.
                if flag == '-ffast-math':
                    xflags.append('-use_fast_math')
                    xflags.append('-Xcompiler='+flag)
                elif flag == '-fno-fast-math':
                    xflags.append('-ftz=false')
                    xflags.append('-prec-div=true')
                    xflags.append('-prec-sqrt=true')
                    xflags.append('-Xcompiler='+flag)
                elif flag == '-freciprocal-math':
                    xflags.append('-prec-div=false')
                    xflags.append('-Xcompiler='+flag)
                elif flag == '-fno-reciprocal-math':
                    xflags.append('-prec-div=true')
                    xflags.append('-Xcompiler='+flag)
                else:
                    xflags.append('-Xcompiler='+cls._shield_nvcc_list_arg(flag))
                    # The above should securely handle GCC's -Wl, -Wa, -Wp, arguments.
                continue

            assert val is not None  # Should only trip if there is a missing argument.

            # Take care of the various NVCC-supported flags that need special handling.
            flag = cls._FLAG_LONG2SHORT_WITHARGS.get(flag, flag)

            if flag in {'-include', '-isystem', '-I', '-L', '-l'}:
                # These flags are known to GCC, but list-valued in NVCC. They potentially
                # require double-quoting to prevent NVCC interpreting the flags as lists
                # when GCC would not have done so.
                #
                # We avoid doing this quoting for -D to avoid redefining macros and for
                # -U because it isn't possible to define a macro with a comma in the name.
                # -U with comma arguments is impossible in GCC-speak (and thus unambiguous
                #in NVCC-speak, albeit unportable).
                if len(flag) == 2:
                    xflags.append(flag+cls._shield_nvcc_list_arg(val))
                elif flag == '-isystem' and default_include_dirs is not None and val in default_include_dirs:
                    # like GnuLikeCompiler, we have to filter out include directories specified
                    # with -isystem that overlap with the host compiler's search path
                    pass
                else:
                    xflags.append(flag)
                    xflags.append(cls._shield_nvcc_list_arg(val))
            elif flag == '-O':
                # Handle optimization levels GCC knows about that NVCC does not.
                if val == 'fast':
                    xflags.append('-O3')
                    xflags.append('-use_fast_math')
                    xflags.append('-Xcompiler')
                    xflags.append(flag+val)
                elif val in {'s', 'g', 'z'}:
                    xflags.append('-Xcompiler')
                    xflags.append(flag+val)
                else:
                    xflags.append(flag+val)
            elif flag in {'-D', '-U', '-m', '-t'}:
                xflags.append(flag+val)       # For style, keep glued.
            elif flag in {'-std'}:
                xflags.append(flag+'='+val)   # For style, keep glued.
            else:
                xflags.append(flag)
                xflags.append(val)

        return cls._merge_flags(xflags)

        Translate generic "GCC-speak" plus particular "NVCC-speak" flags to NVCC flags.

        NVCC's "short" flags have broad similarities to the GCC standard, but have
        gratuitous, irritating differences.
        
mesonbuild/compilers/cuda.py