Re: [RFC PATCH 7/8] gdb/ctf: don't use psymtabs, create symtabs directly

Tom Tromey
2026-02-12T17:54:43Z

>>>>> "Simon" == simon marchi <simon.marchi@polymtl.ca> writes:

Simon> - make the CTF reader skip partial symtabs, create full symtabs
Simon> directly

Simon> My hypothesis is that CTF debug info is typically small enough and fast
Simon> enough to process that it's not worth it to bother with an intermediate
Simon> step before full symbols.

Makes sense to me, if accurate.

Simon> GDB is still able to load the resulting ELF, and there are about 150k
Simon> calls to ctf_add_type_cb. Before this patch, elfctf_build_psymtabs
Simon> takes anywhere between 300-350 ms. With this patch, it's around 400 ms.

This seems completely reasonable to me.

Also, the "quick" API isn't really all that large. So if this turns out
to be slow and CTF wants something fancy -- like lazy type instantiation
-- then that also seems like something that can be done at a later date.

Tom