Re: [rfc] Add help text to start-up text

Sergio Durigan Junior
2013-06-12T22:01:58Z

On Wednesday, June 12 2013, Phil Muldoon wrote:

> This patch proposes to add a few items to the GDB start-up text to
> provide some indication on where the user can find help.

Thanks for the patch, Phil!

> Also I am not sure if anything actually parses the initial output of
> the GDB start-up text and if adding these lines will affect that. So
> I am seeking comments.

That's a good question, but honestly I believe it would be
counter-productive to do such checks. I tried to check Eclipse but
couldn't find myself inside the source-code. Anyway, we'd better wait
for someone with more knowledge in this.

> 2013-06-12 Phil Muldoon <pmuldoon@redhat.com>
>
> * top.c (print_gdb_version): Add help, apropos description and
> urls to wiki and online documentation.

You probably could mention your own PR 12735 in the ChangeLog entry :-).

> diff --git a/gdb/top.c b/gdb/top.c
> index 8ac756f..4c85b51 100644
> --- a/gdb/top.c
> +++ b/gdb/top.c
> @@ -1156,8 +1156,16 @@ Type \"show configuration\" for configuration details.");
> {
> fprintf_filtered (stream,
> _("\nFor bug reporting instructions, please see:\n"));
> - fprintf_filtered (stream, "%s.", REPORT_BUGS_TO);
> + fprintf_filtered (stream, "%s.\n\n", REPORT_BUGS_TO);
> }
> +
> + fprintf_filtered (stream, _("The GDB manual can be found online at:\n\
> +<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/documentation/>\n"));
> + fprintf_filtered (stream, _("The GDB wiki can be found online at:\n\
> +<http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/>\n\n"));

I think the link for the wiki can go in the same line, without the
break.

> + fprintf_filtered (stream, _("For help, type 'help'.\n"));
> + fprintf_filtered (stream, _("Type 'apropos word' to search for \
> +commands related to 'word'.\n"));

These two lines could be joined, WDYT?

For help, type 'help'. Type 'apropos word' to search for commands related
to 'word'.

I already think GDB's initialization text is too verbose nowadays, and
it will become even more verbose with this patch. It's not that I don't
think your patch is useful (much to the contrary), but maybe we could
try to summarize the info a little bit?

Currently GDB displays (in my Fedora 17 x86_64):

$ gdb
GNU gdb (GDB) Fedora (7.4.50.20120120-54.fc17)
Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type "show copying"
and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu".
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>.

It could be (this is just a proposal, of course):

$ gdb
GNU gdb (GDB) Fedora (7.4.50.20120120-54.fc17)
License: GPLv3+. This is free software: you are free to change
and redistribute it. Type "show copying" and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu".

And then, with your patch (and my proposed modifications):

$ gdb
GNU gdb (GDB) Fedora (7.4.50.20120120-54.fc17)
License: GPLv3+. This is free software: you are free to change
and redistribute it. Type "show copying" and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu".
The GDB manual can be found online at:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/documentation/>
The GDB wiki can be found online at: <http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/>
For help, type 'help'. Type 'apropos word' to search for commands related
to 'word'.

Anyway, I know this is a topic which can become a hot discussion, but
since you opened the Pandora box... :-)

Thanks,

--
Sergio