Re: [PATCH 0/7] Support reading/writing memory on architectures with non 8-bits bytes

Eli Zaretskii
2015-04-10T17:42:09Z

> Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2015 12:01:00 -0400
> From: Simon Marchi <simon.marchi@ericsson.com>
> CC: <gdb-patches@sourceware.org>
>
> > I want GDB to be agnostic, as far as possible, to the size of 1 unit
> > of memory. Ideally, one unit will start as one unit in user-level
> > commands, pass all the way down to the target level, which should know
> > what one unit means.
>
> I totally agree with you, and I believe that's the idea you'll find implemented
> in the patches. The length is always passed in "units of memory" of whatever you
> are trying to read or write. The only thing is that I called a "unit of memory"
> a "byte", which seems the friction point. If it's just a wording issue, it can
> be changed easily. I just don't know what succinct term to use.

W could use the terminology that is already in use: "half-words" for
16 bits and "words" for 32 bits. Would that be OK?

> Ok, so if I understand correctly, you would be fine if the -data-read-memory-bytes
> command accepted a length in number of memory units, as long as this unit is not
> called a byte.

Yes. Though it's unfortunate that the name of the command explicitly
mentions "bytes".