Re: [PATCH 1/2] GDB: S12Z: Add assertion

[Kevin Buettner <kevinb@redhat.com>]

On Sun, 18 Nov 2018 10:22:58 +0100
John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> wrote:

> On Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 02:59:28PM -0700, Kevin Buettner wrote:
>      
>      > ---
>      >  gdb/s12z-tdep.c | 1 +
>      >  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
>      > 
>      > diff --git a/gdb/s12z-tdep.c b/gdb/s12z-tdep.c
>      > index 79f5772035..bd0bd7c001 100644
>      > --- a/gdb/s12z-tdep.c
>      > +++ b/gdb/s12z-tdep.c
>      > @@ -320,6 +320,7 @@ s12z_frame_cache (struct frame_info *this_frame, void **prologue_cache)
>      >      }
>      >    else
>      >      {
>      > +      gdb_assert (this_sp == this_sp_for_id);
>      >        /* The stack pointer of the prev frame is frame_size greater
>      >           than the stack pointer of this frame plus one address
>      >           size (caused by the JSR or BSR).  */
>      > --   
>      
>      Could you please add a ChangeLog entry?
>      
>      Also, on the same topic, what happened to the ChangeLog entries
>      for the initial commit / push of the s12z port?  (I don't see them
>      in the ChangeLog file.)
> 
> Is it really necessary in 2018 to have ChangeLogs?  After all, the same 
> information is available by typing git log and/or git diff.  If the answer is 
> "yes", then how about generating it automatically using the git-log-to-changelog
> script which is available in gnulib ?  Many other projects have gone over to 
> this method.
> 
> ChangeLogs are a dreaded nuisance.  They are almost guaranteed to cause merge 
> conflicts.  The information they contain is redundant.  Their formatting 
> requirements are onerous.  And in thirty years of software development, I don't 
> think I've ever experienced a case where I've needed to refer to one.

While I agree with some of your arguments against the use of
ChangeLogs in 2018, the GDB project still requires the use of
ChangeLogs.  See:

https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ContributionChecklist#ChangeLog

and:

https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ContributionChecklist#Properly_Formatted_GNU_ChangeLog

And, FWIW, the first thing that I did while reviewing your patches was
to look at the current ChangeLog to get a brief history of changes to
s12z-tdep.c. I was surprised when I did not find any ChangeLog entries,
though I did figure it out by consulting the git log.

Kevin