Re: coffread.c extension for DLLs without debugging symbols

[Christopher Faylor <cgf@redhat.com>]

On Fri, Jan 03, 2003 at 07:39:31PM -0000, Raoul Gough wrote:
>Proposed ChangeLog entry, assuming the code is accepted:
>
>2003-01-03  Raoul Gough  <RaoulGough@yahoo.co.uk>
>
> * coffread.c: Support non-debug export symbols for win32 DLLs

WONDERFUL! I would love to have this code in the windows version of gdb.
I've often thought about doing something like this but I've never had
the stamina to look into what it would take to do this.

I have a few comments.

0) The ChangeLog needs more information.  Every new function should be
mentioned and changes to specific functions should be documented.

1) AFAICT, the formatting of the code looks great (a rarity for a first
timer) except for an odd comment or two which doesn't end in a "." as
required for a complete sentence.  Yeah, yeah, a total nit but hey we've
got standards!

2) I wonder if this code should be ifdef'ed somehow for Windows since
it will add extra code for no gain on every COFF platform.  Of course,
how many of those are there out there?  Maybe this isn't a huge issue
after all.

3) objdump -p already has the ability to read and report on the export
table.  I wonder if it would be useful (or possible) to generalize this
code so that gdb and objdump would be using the same base.  I haven't
looked too closely but I think the code in question is in bfd/peicode.h.
Hmm.  Maybe objdump isn't interested in the kinds of things that gdb
is, though, like what section a symbol is associated with...

Anyway, I'll be giving this an actual test run in the next couple of
days.  In the meantime, THANK YOU for doing this.  Even given the very
minor above points, I think this will be a great boon for the Windows
version of gdb.  This will help enormously in debugging on Windows.

You will definitely need to get an assignment in to the FSF, though,
unfortunately.  I think jimb at redhat dot com is the person to help
you with that.

cgf

P.S.  Assuming that this works as advertised, I assume that you will
have no objections to my releasing a new version of gdb for windows
with this patch in it before the patch makes its way into the official
gdb repository, right?  I think there are a few users in the cygwin
mailing list that would appreciate this change.
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