diff --git a/phpunit/src/EntryScriptCodegenTest.php b/phpunit/src/EntryScriptCodegenTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..39bcf607
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phpunit/src/EntryScriptCodegenTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+<?php
+
+use TypePhp\CompilerBase;
+use TypePhp\CompilerTest;
+
+final class EntryScriptCodegenTest extends BaseTest
+{
+    private string $projectDir;
+
+    protected function setUp(): void
+    {
+        parent::setUp();
+        $this->projectDir = sys_get_temp_dir() . '/typephp_entry_script_' . bin2hex(random_bytes(6));
+        mkdir($this->projectDir, 0777, true);
+    }
+
+    protected function tearDown(): void
+    {
+        $this->removeDirectory($this->projectDir);
+        parent::tearDown();
+    }
+
+    public function testMainLinePaddingDoesNotBloatGeneratedExtension(): void
+    {
+        $source = $this->projectDir . '/main.php';
+        file_put_contents(
+            $source,
+            "<?php\n" . str_repeat("\n", 256) . <<<'PHP'
+function main(): void
+{
+}
+PHP,
+        );
+
+        global $translator;
+        $compiler = CompilerTest::create($this->projectDir);
+        $translator = $compiler;
+        $compiler->setBuildMode(CompilerBase::BUILD_MODE_BIN);
+        $compiler->setTargetName('entry_script');
+        $compiler->addFiles([$source]);
+        $compiler->prepareFile($source);
+        $compiler->convertFile($source);
+
+        $extension = file_get_contents($compiler->genExtension());
+
+        self::assertStringContainsString(
+            'php::eval(std::string(257, \'\\n\') + "main();",',
+            $extension,
+        );
+        self::assertStringNotContainsString('php::eval("\\n', $extension);
+    }
+
+    private function removeDirectory(string $directory): void
+    {
+        if (!is_dir($directory)) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        foreach (array_diff(scandir($directory), ['.', '..']) as $entry) {
+            $path = $directory . '/' . $entry;
+            if (is_dir($path)) {
+                $this->removeDirectory($path);
+            } else {
+                unlink($path);
+            }
+        }
+        rmdir($directory);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Translator.php b/src/Translator.php
index f407e5fa..c6429060 100644
--- a/src/Translator.php
+++ b/src/Translator.php
@@ -1214,14 +1214,24 @@ CODE;
             // CLI script fields always identify main()'s canonical absolute file.
             $entryFile = $entryFunction->sourceFile;
             $entryFileArg = $this->genCharPtr($entryFile, true);
-            $entryPrefix = str_repeat("\n", max(0, $entryFunction->startLine - 1));
+            $entryLineOffset = max(0, $entryFunction->startLine - 1);
             if (count($entryFunction->argInfoList) == 2) {
-                $entryScript = $entryPrefix . 'global $argc, $argv; main($argc, $argv);';
+                $entryScript = 'global $argc, $argv; main($argc, $argv);';
             } else {
-                $entryScript = $entryPrefix . 'main();';
+                $entryScript = 'main();';
             }
 
-            $code .= 'php::eval(' . $this->genCharPtr($entryScript, true) . ', ' . $entryFileArg . ');' . PHP_EOL;
+            $entryScriptArg = $this->genCharPtr($entryScript, true);
+            if ($entryLineOffset > 0) {
+                // entryLineOffset is main()'s source start line minus one. The
+                // generated std::string(N, '\n') supplies N padding newlines at
+                // runtime, so the eval() entry call is reported on main()'s
+                // original PHP source line. Constructing the padding at runtime
+                // avoids embedding hundreds of escaped newlines in the C++ file.
+                $entryScriptArg = 'std::string(' . $entryLineOffset . ", '\\n') + " . $entryScriptArg;
+            }
+
+            $code .= 'php::eval(' . $entryScriptArg . ', ' . $entryFileArg . ');' . PHP_EOL;
         }
 
         $code .= 'return SUCCESS;' . PHP_EOL;