Re: [PATCH v1 3/6] gdb: introduce helper class file_reader_t

[Matthieu Longo <matthieu.longo@arm.com>]

On 10/08/2026 14:07, Joos, Christina wrote:
> Hi Matthieu,
> 
> Please find my feedback below.
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Matthieu Longo <matthieu.longo@arm.com>
>> Sent: Dienstag, 28. Juli 2026 17:17
>> To: gdb-patches@sourceware.org
>> Cc: Luis Machado <luis.machado@amd.com>; Luis Machado
>> <luis.machado.foss@gmail.com>; Thiago Jung Bauermann
>> <thiago.bauermann@linaro.org>; Simon Marchi <simark@simark.ca>; Kevin
>> Buettner <kevinb@redhat.com>; Joos, Christina <christina.joos@intel.com>;
>> Joos, Christina <christina.joos@intel.com>; Matthieu Longo
>> <matthieu.longo@arm.com>
>> Subject: [PATCH v1 3/6] gdb: introduce helper class file_reader_t
>>
>> Wrap all the boilerplate code required to read a file in a new helper
>> class: file_reader_t. The class owns the file contents together with the file path,
>> and provides convenient accessors for the data, size and typed views. It
>> supports both null-terminated text files and binary files.
>>
>> This helper eliminates repeated calls to target_fileio_read_stralloc and
>> target_fileio_read_alloc, remove explicit memory management with
>> gdb::unique_xmalloc_ptr, and simplifies the casting logic when working with
>> binary data.
>>
>> The patch converts some of the existing Linux, AMD64, and SPARC code that
>> reads files from /proc to use file_reader_t.
>> ---
>>  gdb/amd64-linux-tdep.c |  12 ++---
>>  gdb/linux-tdep.c       | 109 ++++++++++++++++++-----------------------
>>  gdb/sparc64-tdep.c     |  13 +++--
>>  gdb/target.h           |  79 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>  4 files changed, 137 insertions(+), 76 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/gdb/linux-tdep.c b/gdb/linux-tdep.c index
>> 9bdcc55a0e1..11f0a6952ea 100644
>> --- a/gdb/linux-tdep.c
>> +++ b/gdb/linux-tdep.c
>> @@ -1698,6 +1698,12 @@ parse_smaps_data (const char *data,
>>    return smaps;
>>  }
>>
>> +static std::vector<struct smaps_data>
> 
> Nit: we should omit the struct keyword here.
> 

Fixed. And in others places where it is relevant.

>> +parse_smaps_data (const file_reader_t<char> &freader) {
>> +  return parse_smaps_data (freader.data (), freader.filepath ()); }
>> +
>>  /* Helper that checks if an address is in a memory tag page for a live
>>     process.  */
>>
>> @@ -1709,17 +1715,13 @@ linux_process_address_in_memtag_page
>> (CORE_ADDR address)
>>
>>    ptid_t ptid = get_process_reference_ptid ();
>>
>> -  std::string smaps_file = string_printf ("/proc/%ld/smaps", ptid.lwp ());
>> -
>> -  gdb::unique_xmalloc_ptr<char> data
>> -    = target_fileio_read_stralloc (NULL, smaps_file.c_str ());
>> -
>> -  if (data == nullptr)
>> +  file_reader_t<char> smaps_freader
>> +    (string_printf ("/proc/%ld/smaps", ptid.lwp ()));  if
>> + (!smaps_freader)
>>      return false;
>>
>>    /* Parse the contents of smaps into a vector.  */
>> -  std::vector<struct smaps_data> smaps
>> -    = parse_smaps_data (data.get (), smaps_file);
>> +  std::vector<struct smaps_data> smaps = parse_smaps_data
>> + (smaps_freader);
> 
> Like amd64_linux_lam_untag_mask we have a minor behavioural change here.
> But I again see it as an improvement, as the result should be the same, we just
> return earlier. There might be some more cases in linux-tdep.c, but I did not check
> all of them.
> 
> I think it's worth pointing out in the commit message.
> 

Amended this paragraph in the commit message:

The patch converts some of the existing Linux, AMD64, and SPARC code that
reads files from /proc to use file_reader_t. As a side effect,
amd64_linux_lam_untag_mask and linux_process_address_in_memtag_page
may now return earlier in case the file is empty.

>> diff --git a/gdb/sparc64-tdep.c b/gdb/sparc64-tdep.c index
>> 93db3417a2a..955631b87df 100644
>> --- a/gdb/sparc64-tdep.c
>> +++ b/gdb/sparc64-tdep.c
>> @@ -301,18 +301,16 @@ adi_tag_fd ()
>>  static bool
>>  adi_is_addr_mapped (CORE_ADDR vaddr, size_t cnt)  {
>> -  char filename[MAX_PROC_NAME_SIZE];
>>    size_t i = 0;
>>
>>    pid_t pid = inferior_ptid.pid ();
>> -  snprintf (filename, sizeof filename, "/proc/%ld/adi/maps", (long) pid);
>> -  gdb::unique_xmalloc_ptr<char> data
>> -    = target_fileio_read_stralloc (NULL, filename);
>> -  if (data)
>> +  file_reader_t<char> adi_maps_freader
>> +    (string_printf ("/proc/%d/adi/maps", pid));  if
>> + (adi_maps_freader.error ())
> 
> Didn't you mean 
>   if (!adi_maps_freader.error ())
> 
> ?
> 

Yes, you're right.

However, I am wondering why the diagnostic message is not an error instead of warning.
Any idea ?

I would also like to change the program flow to something like:

  file_reader_t<char> adi_maps_freader
    (string_printf ("/proc/%d/adi/maps", pid));
  if (adi_maps_freader)
    {
      // This is skipped when the file is empty
      ...
    }
  else if (adi_maps_freader.error ())
    error (_("unable to open /proc file '%s'"),
	     adi_maps_freader.c_filepath ());
  return false;

>> diff --git a/gdb/target.h b/gdb/target.h index 819279c08fc..09830dfe3a9
>> 100644
>> --- a/gdb/target.h
>> +++ b/gdb/target.h
>> @@ -2341,6 +2341,85 @@ extern LONGEST target_fileio_read_alloc (struct
>> inferior *inf,  extern gdb::unique_xmalloc_ptr<char> target_fileio_read_stralloc
>>      (struct inferior *inf, const char *filename, LONGEST *len = nullptr);
>>
>> +/* Helper class for reading the content of a file on the target.  */
>> +template <typename T> class file_reader_t {
>> +  /* The filepath of the file being read.  */
>> +  std::string m_filepath;
>> +  /* Smart pointer to the data.  */
>> +  gdb::unique_xmalloc_ptr<T> m_data;
>> +  /* Number of bytes read.  */
>> +  LONGEST m_size;
>> +
>> +public:
>> +  file_reader_t (const std::string &filepath)
>> +    : m_filepath (filepath)
>> +    , m_size (0)
>> +  {
>> +    if constexpr (std::is_same_v<T, char>)
>> +      m_data = target_fileio_read_stralloc (nullptr, m_filepath.c_str (),
>> +					    &m_size);
>> +    else
>> +      {
>> +	gdb_byte *buf = nullptr;
>> +	m_size = target_fileio_read_alloc (nullptr, m_filepath.c_str (), &buf);
>> +	m_data = gdb::unique_xmalloc_ptr<T> (reinterpret_cast<T *>(buf));
>> +      }
>> +  }
>> +
>> +  file_reader_t (file_reader_t &&other)
>> +    : m_filepath (std::move (other.m_filepath))
>> +    , m_data (std::move (other.m_data))
>> +    , m_size (other.m_size)
>> +  {}
> 
> I hope I get the C++ rules right here:
> AFAIK, since we have the move constructor, we implicitly delete the copy
> constructor and the copy assignment operator.
> 
> Wouldn't it be clearer if we'd write this explicitly using DISABLE_COPY_AND_ASSIGN ?
> 

I agree. Added.

> I also wondered if the default move constructor is doing the same thing, so we could write sth. like:
> file_reader_t (file_reader_t &&other) = default;
> 
> instead.
> 

Fixed as follows:

  file_reader_t (file_reader_t &&) = default;
  file_reader_t &operator= (file_reader_t &&) = default;

  DISABLE_COPY_AND_ASSIGN (file_reader_t);

>> +  /* Return true if the file was read successfully but contained no
>> + data.  */  bool empty () const noexcept  { return m_data != nullptr &&
>> + m_size == 0; }
>> +
>> +  /* Return true if the file could not be read.  */  bool error ()
>> + const noexcept  { return m_data == nullptr || m_size < 0; }
>> +  /* Return true if the file was read successfully and is non-empty.
>> + */  explicit operator bool () const noexcept  { return !(error () ||
>> + empty ()); }
> 
> To me it would feel more natural if we return true also in case the file is empty.
> Then we could also omit the error function.
> 
> But I don't have a very strong opinion about this.
> 
>
> Christina

The cases where we use .error (), the alternative should check whether the file is not empty. From
this perspective, including !.empty () in the boolean operator makes sense.

See for instance linux_vsyscall_range_raw or adi_is_addr_mapped, the loop with strtok_r() will be
skipped if the content is empty.

Matthieu