Re: [PATCH 9/9] gdb, mi: Add -shadow-stack-list-frames command

[Thiago Jung Bauermann <thiago.bauermann@linaro.org>]

"Schimpe, Christina" <christina.schimpe@intel.com> writes:

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Tom Tromey <tom@tromey.com>
>> Sent: Friday, October 3, 2025 10:18 PM
>> To: Schimpe, Christina <christina.schimpe@intel.com>
>> Cc: gdb-patches@sourceware.org
>> Subject: Re: [PATCH 9/9] gdb, mi: Add -shadow-stack-list-frames command
>> 
>> >>>>> "Christina" == Christina Schimpe <christina.schimpe@intel.com> writes:
>> 
>> Christina> Add the mi command for the subcommand "backtrace shadow".
>> Christina> Similar to the mi interface for the ordinary backtrace
>> Christina> command, support low-frame and high-frame as command line
>> parameters.
>> 
>> Christina> +      if (uiout->is_mi_like_p ())
>> Christina> +	{
>> Christina> +	  uiout->field_string
>> Christina> +	    ("arch", (gdbarch_bfd_arch_info (gdbarch))-
>> >printable_name);
>> Christina> +	}
>> 
>> I was wondering if the arch field is really useful to clients.
>
> The commit message of commit "MI: Print frame architecture when printing frames on an MI
> channel",
> which added the field for -stack-list-frames, states:
>
> "This is useful for MI clients that need to know the architecture in
> order to perform further analysis, for example to use their own
> disassembler to analyze machine code."
>
> So I think we should have it for the mi command of "bt shadow" as well.

The old PowerPC Cell processor was an heterogeneous system (PowerPC main
processor and SPU accelerators) and could have frames of both those
architectures in a single stack, so this field would be useful in that
case.

I think there are other targets where this can happen, but I can't
remember the details right now. Perhaps at least one of the GPU
backends?

-- 
Thiago