Re: [PATCH] plugin patch

[Andrew Cagney <ac131313@redhat.com>]

>> GDB via runtime loaded shared libraries in ways that may not fit with
>> the direction of the main GDB tree (not cross-platform, not stable,
>> niche audience...).
> 
> For folks like myself that are working on an alternate architecture or 
> runtime support components (in this case NGPT threads) this would be 
> very useful, as I can see several info commands that I would like to 
> add for M:N user mode scheduling state and LWP state display that would 
> be unique to NGPT and it's implementation. 

I suspect that if NGPT needs additional thread specific info commands 
then other thread implementations will be interested in similar. 
Extending the command set in a generic way also means that a user will 
find a consistent interface that works across thread implementations.

Cf, ``info vector'' which works (well should work) across Altivec, e500 
and i386.

> Instead of having to add this to the standard gdb as a one-off for NGPT,
> I can use the standard gdb and design them as plug-ins to be loaded only
> 
> when debugging NGPT applications. This feels a lot cleaner and could be 
> applied for other gdb features/architectures to keep the core as small 
> and efficient as possible, loading additional support/features on demand
> only when needed.

That is the theory already.  Reality differs though, there is always 
more work to do :-(.  That work is, however, independant of a plug-in 
module.

Andrew