Re: [RFC] GDB ARIndex Linux rule cleanup

Pedro Alves
2009-04-15T14:21:01Z

On Wednesday 15 April 2009 15:00:39, Ulrich Weigand wrote:
> > Index: ppc-linux-tdep.h
> > ===================================================================
>
> > -/* Linux target descriptions.  */
> > +/* Linux kernel target descriptions.  */
>
>
> It seems to me that in *those* cases, we should actually use
> GNU/Linux instead -- this is talking about GDB target support
> for the GNU/Linux operating system on PowerPC, and not specifically
> related to the kernel only (for example, those target descriptions
> are also used when analysing a core file on a remote system).

I disagree. Everything in that file is related to register descriptions
and layouts defined by Linux, the kernel, what's in userland doesn't
affect any of it, or did I miss something? Even if I built a system
comprising of a Linux kernel + all BSD userland, these constants and
offsets would still apply.

On Wednesday 15 April 2009 15:00:39, Ulrich Weigand wrote:
> /* Create a prototype generic GNU/Linux target.

I'm of the oposite opinion. I consider *this* a bug. This
file (linux-nat.c) concerns about abstracting of ptrace and /proc
interfaces, which are kernel defined interfaces.

> The other instances in your patch, where a kernel version
> is specifically named, clearly refer to the Linux kernel.
>
> I'd be fine with adding "kernel" to the text here; but I
> also agree with Eli's suggestion that it might be even
> better to have the ARI script recognize use of a version
> number ...

I re-suggest what Mark suggested, that we drop the ARI rule.
It is only inventing work. I suggest we apply the Linux vs
GNU/Linux judgement at patch review time, and be mostly careful
in documentation and user visible strings, not in code directly
interfacing with kernel data structures and interfaces.

--
Pedro Alves