Re: [PATCH 1/2] gdb: add maintenance set/show gcore xml-target-description command

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Christina Schimpe <christina.schimpe@intel.com>
> Cc: hjl.tools@gmail.com,
> 	keiths@redhat.com
> Date: Tue,  2 Jun 2026 11:11:21 +0000
> 
> From: Felix Willgerodt <felix.willgerodt@intel.com>
> 
> This command will allow to enable/disable creating the NT_GDB_TDESC note
> in corefiles.  While GDB writes and reads this node, there aren't really many
> other pieces of software that create this node (e.g. the Linux kernel doesn't).
> To be able to test the code path in GDB that is used when NT_GDB_TDESC is not
> there, add a maintenance command which tests can use to test both cases.
> 
> Co-authored-by:  Christina Schimpe <christina.schimpe@intel.com>
> ---
>  gdb/NEWS            |  6 ++++++
>  gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo |  7 +++++++
>  gdb/elf-none-tdep.c | 16 +++++++++-------
>  gdb/fbsd-tdep.c     | 15 +++++++++------
>  gdb/gcore.c         | 40 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  gdb/gcore.h         |  3 +++
>  gdb/linux-tdep.c    | 15 +++++++++------
>  7 files changed, 83 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

Thanks.

> diff --git a/gdb/NEWS b/gdb/NEWS
> index 7c8cf9af4c2..eef1924c9f0 100644
> --- a/gdb/NEWS
> +++ b/gdb/NEWS
> @@ -97,6 +97,12 @@ AArch64 MinGW                   aarch64-*-mingw*
>  
>  * New commands
>  
> +maintenance set/show gcore xml-target-description
> +  With this command you can control whether or not the generate-core-file
> +  command emits the NT_GDB_TDESC note.  This is mainly useful for testing
> +  how GDB handles corefiles without this note, as not all software that
> +  creates corefiles generates it.
> +

If this command controls the emission of NT_GDB_TDESC note, then why
its name mentions a more general XML target description?  Am I right
in assuming that NT_GDB_TDESC is just part of the target description?
If so, perhaps the xml-target-description part should be renamed, or
maybe the NEWS text should be modified to say that the entire target
description is emitted as XML?

> --- a/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
> +++ b/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
> @@ -42077,6 +42077,13 @@ buffer.
>  Control whether @value{GDBN} will skip PAD packets when computing the
>  packet history.
>  
> +@kindex maint set gcore xml-target-description
> +@item maint set gcore xml-target-description
> +@kindex maint show gcore xml-target-description
> +@item maint show gcore xml-target-description
> +Control whether @value{GDBN} will create the NT_GDB_TDESC note when using
> +the @samp{generate-core-file} command.

NT_GDB_TDESC should be in @code or @samp.

> +  add_setshow_boolean_cmd ("xml-target-description", class_obscure,
> +			    &maint_gcore_emit_xml_tdesc, _("\
> +Set whether gcore emits a xml-target-description."), _("\
> +Show whether gore emits a xml-target-description."), _("\
> +By default, gcore emits the note NT_GDB_TDESC.\n\
> +Disabling this setting will cause gcore to no longer emit this note."),

This doc string has the same issue: it say GDB will emit the XML
target description, but then goes on to say that NT_GDB_TDESC note is
emitted.

Reviewed-By: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>