Re: CLI and GDB/MI documentation patch

Nick Roberts
2006-05-12T21:55:59Z

> > Putting these things in the manual just makes it harder to change GDB.
> > I would rather say: "Its there. Use it at your own risk". Or at least:
> >
> >
> > For the developers convenience CLI commands can be entered directly.
> > However this feature may be removed at some stage in the future and
> > it is recommended that front ends use the @code{-interpreter exec} command.
> > @xref{GDB/MI Miscellaneous Commands}.
>
> Do we indeed intend to remove this feature any time soon? If so, I
> agree that we should add a warning about that.

I don't know about any time soon buts it's clearly irregular and I guess
could interfere with the design of MI. Also it doesn't have to stay as
-interpreter exec provides an alternative.
> But, other than that,
> why do you say that describing the CLI support in mi in more detail
> will make it harder to change GDB?

Because if people write a front end that relies on a feature then understanably
they are upset when it is changed or removed, just as I was when it appeared
that annotations would be removed. The one advantage of Emacs long
release cycle is that it gives you more time to get everything right before
its released. GDB goes out about every six months along with an expectation
that its behaviour will some level of maintenance.

--
Nick http://www.inet.net.nz/~nickrob