Re: [rfc/NEWS] GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.

Eli Zaretskii
2004-10-19T04:39:13Z

> Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 16:13:46 -0400
> From: Michael Chastain <mec.gnu@mindspring.com>
> Cc: gdb-patches@sources.redhat.com
>
> It's like this. When gdb and gcc don't work together, I have to decide
> whether I think it's a bug in gdb (so I file a gdb PR) or a bug in gcc
> (so I file a gcc PR). Some contemplation of this relationship leads
> me to say: gdb and gcc are truly separate entities. It's not that
> "gdb X works with gcc Y", it's more exactly "gdb X and gcc Y both
> support standards Z1, Z2, and Z3".

IMHO, these considerations don't matter when a NEWS entry is being
considered. What matters then is that something which didn't work
before works now.

> eli> GDB can now debug programs compiled with the -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
> eli> option to GCC 3.3.4 or later, as well as programs compiled with
> eli> proprietary compilers that produce similar debug information (a more
> eli> compact representation of DWARF-2 debug information using the
> eli> DW_FORM_ref_addr references).
>
> Well, after fooling with this a little bit, I like my version better.
> I'm comfortable claiming that GDB supports DW_FORM_ref_addr, so that if
> a compiler produces this information, GDB can support it. I'm not
> comfortable claiming that GDB can support "programs compiled with
> proprietary compilers that produce similar debug information".

I won't start a dispute out of a 5-liner, so go ahead and commit your
version. However, at the very least replace "commercial" with
"proprietary". This is a distinction the FSF asks us to make (there's
nothing to prevent a free software project from going commercial as
long at is stays GPL-compliant).