[PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Khoo Yit Phang]

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Hi,

I'd like to add a warning when failing to import the Python "gdb" module to check that data-directory is set correctly, to address the confusion arising from the incompatibility between the old "gdb" module and the one I recently checked in.

Thank you,

Yit
September 17, 2012



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gdb/ChangeLog

2012-09-17  Khoo Yit Phang  <khooyp@cs.umd.edu>

	* gdb/python.c (finish_python_initialization): Augment the warning
	when importing "gdb" fails, to check that data-directory is set
	correctly.

diff --git a/gdb/python/python.c b/gdb/python/python.c
--- a/gdb/python/python.c
+++ b/gdb/python/python.c
@@ -1484,6 +1484,7 @@
       gdbpy_print_stack ();
       warning (_("Could not load the Python gdb module from `%s'."),
 		 gdb_pythondir);
+      warning (_("Please make sure that data-directory is set correctly."));
       warning (_("Limited Python support is available from the _gdb module."));
       do_cleanups (cleanup);
       return;

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Jan Kratochvil]

On Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:36:37 +0200, Khoo Yit Phang wrote:
> +      warning (_("Please make sure that data-directory is set correctly."));

Couldn't you make it more explicit, such as mentioning the -data-directory
command-line parameter and that it should contain file python/gdb/__init__.py
or that it is gdb/data-directory in the source tree or some such wording?


Thanks,
Jan

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Khoo Yit Phang]

Hi,

On Sep 17, 2012, at 4:22 PM, Jan Kratochvil wrote:

> On Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:36:37 +0200, Khoo Yit Phang wrote:
>> +      warning (_("Please make sure that data-directory is set correctly."));
> 
> Couldn't you make it more explicit, such as mentioning the -data-directory
> command-line parameter and that it should contain file python/gdb/__init__.py
> or that it is gdb/data-directory in the source tree or some such wording?

How about:

If you are running GDB from the build directory, please run gdb with the -data-directory flag set as appropriate, e.g., "builddir/gdb -data-directory builddir/data-directory".

Yit
September 17, 2012

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Jan Kratochvil]

On Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:27:45 +0200, Khoo Yit Phang wrote:
> How about:
> 
> If you are running GDB from the build directory, please run gdb with the -data-directory flag set as appropriate, e.g., "builddir/gdb -data-directory builddir/data-directory".

I would use:
..., e.g., "builddir/gdb/gdb -data-directory builddir/gdb/data-directory".

Otherwise fine with me; but please keep the mail for possible other comments.


Thanks,
Jan

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Joel Brobecker]

> If you are running GDB from the build directory, please run gdb with
> the -data-directory flag set as appropriate, e.g., "builddir/gdb
> -data-directory builddir/data-directory".

I expect that the majority of users will *not* be running GDB out
of the build directory. If they encounter the same issue with a
poorly installed GDB (Eg: They copied the GDB binary from one location
to another without copying the remaining support files), the error
message is not going to help them.

I think that people who do run GDB from the build directory (a power
user setup) should be sufficiently knowledgeable, and we should try
to tailor the hints towards regular users.

-- 
Joel

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Khoo Yit Phang]

Hi,

On Sep 17, 2012, at 4:58 PM, Joel Brobecker wrote:

>> If you are running GDB from the build directory, please run gdb with
>> the -data-directory flag set as appropriate, e.g., "builddir/gdb
>> -data-directory builddir/data-directory".
> 
> I expect that the majority of users will *not* be running GDB out
> of the build directory. If they encounter the same issue with a
> poorly installed GDB (Eg: They copied the GDB binary from one location
> to another without copying the remaining support files), the error
> message is not going to help them.
> 
> I think that people who do run GDB from the build directory (a power
> user setup) should be sufficiently knowledgeable, and we should try
> to tailor the hints towards regular users.

Perhaps:

GDB is unable to find its support files. You may need to provide the -data-directory flag to GDB (refer to the man pages for more details).

Yit
September 17, 2012

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:58:29 -0700
> From: Joel Brobecker <brobecker@adacore.com>
> Cc: Jan Kratochvil <jan.kratochvil@redhat.com>,	GDB Patches <gdb-patches@sourceware.org>
> 
> > If you are running GDB from the build directory, please run gdb with
> > the -data-directory flag set as appropriate, e.g., "builddir/gdb
> > -data-directory builddir/data-directory".
> 
> I expect that the majority of users will *not* be running GDB out
> of the build directory. If they encounter the same issue with a
> poorly installed GDB (Eg: They copied the GDB binary from one location
> to another without copying the remaining support files), the error
> message is not going to help them.
> 
> I think that people who do run GDB from the build directory (a power
> user setup) should be sufficiently knowledgeable, and we should try
> to tailor the hints towards regular users.

Is it possible to make GDB find its data-directory when it is run from
the directory where it was built?

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Jan Kratochvil]

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:17:29 +0200, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> Is it possible to make GDB find its data-directory when it is run from
> the directory where it was built?

relocate_gdb_directory call could be adjusted to handle data-directory also in
the GDB build directory.


Thanks,
Jan

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:58:14 +0200
> From: Jan Kratochvil <jan.kratochvil@redhat.com>
> Cc: Joel Brobecker <brobecker@adacore.com>, khooyp@cs.umd.edu,        gdb-patches@sourceware.org
> 
> On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:17:29 +0200, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Is it possible to make GDB find its data-directory when it is run from
> > the directory where it was built?
> 
> relocate_gdb_directory call could be adjusted to handle data-directory also in
> the GDB build directory.

That'd be nice, thanks.

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Joel Brobecker]

> > relocate_gdb_directory call could be adjusted to handle
> > data-directory also in the GDB build directory.
> 
> That'd be nice, thanks.

Yes, I agree :).

-- 
Joel

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Khoo Yit Phang]

Hi,

On Sep 18, 2012, at 7:58 AM, Jan Kratochvil wrote:

> On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:17:29 +0200, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>> Is it possible to make GDB find its data-directory when it is run from
>> the directory where it was built?
> 
> relocate_gdb_directory call could be adjusted to handle data-directory also in
> the GDB build directory.

If I understand relocate_gdb_directory, it already tries to relocate data-directory from /usr/local/share/gdb (GDB_DATADIR on my config) to build-directory/gdb/../share/gdb. Could we move the build-directory/gdb/data-directory there?

Otherwise, do you mean to change relocate_gdb_directory to specially check for GDB_DATADIR and replace it with buiid-directory/gdb/data-directory? That could lead to the odd possibility that an installed GDB would look for data-directory in a stray build directory. I suppose this can be prevented by checking if gdb_program_name is itself located in build-directory.

Yit
September 18, 2012

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Jan Kratochvil]

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:37:40 +0200, Khoo Yit Phang wrote:
> If I understand relocate_gdb_directory, it already tries to relocate
> data-directory from /usr/local/share/gdb (GDB_DATADIR on my config) to
> build-directory/gdb/../share/gdb. Could we move the
> build-directory/gdb/data-directory there?

No.


> Otherwise, do you mean to change relocate_gdb_directory to specially check
> for GDB_DATADIR and replace it with buiid-directory/gdb/data-directory? That
> could lead to the odd possibility that an installed GDB would look for
> data-directory in a stray build directory. I suppose this can be prevented
> by checking if gdb_program_name is itself located in build-directory.

Installed GDB will have path /usr/bin/gdb and I find OK if GDB checks that
/usr/bin/data-directory/ does not exist.


Thanks,
Jan

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Khoo Yit Phang]

Hi,

On Sep 17, 2012, at 5:04 PM, Khoo Yit Phang wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> On Sep 17, 2012, at 4:58 PM, Joel Brobecker wrote:
> 
>>> If you are running GDB from the build directory, please run gdb with
>>> the -data-directory flag set as appropriate, e.g., "builddir/gdb
>>> -data-directory builddir/data-directory".
>> 
>> I expect that the majority of users will *not* be running GDB out
>> of the build directory. If they encounter the same issue with a
>> poorly installed GDB (Eg: They copied the GDB binary from one location
>> to another without copying the remaining support files), the error
>> message is not going to help them.
>> 
>> I think that people who do run GDB from the build directory (a power
>> user setup) should be sufficiently knowledgeable, and we should try
>> to tailor the hints towards regular users.
> 
> Perhaps:
> 
> GDB is unable to find its support files. You may need to provide the -data-directory flag to GDB (refer to the man pages for more details).

I'd still like to add this warning: even with the data-directory patch I just posted, it is still possible for this issue to occur, e.g., due to a bad install. Some minor fixes:

GDB is unable to find its auxiliary files. You may need to provide the -data-directory flag to GDB (please refer to the manual for details).

Yit
September 18, 2012

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Jan Kratochvil]

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:39:51 +0200, Khoo Yit Phang wrote:
> I'd still like to add this warning: even with the data-directory patch
> I just posted, it is still possible for this issue to occur, e.g., due to
> a bad install. Some minor fixes:
> 
> GDB is unable to find its auxiliary files. You may need to provide the
> -data-directory flag to GDB (please refer to the manual for details).

There has been already discussion about how to reference the GDB manual and
the checked in variant is:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit 86635be5fbe89ff6c300de47fac5a70bf01486c1
To enable execution of this file add
	add-auto-load-safe-path /home/jkratoch/redhat/gdb-clean/gdb/gdb-gdb.gdb
line to your configuration file "/home/jkratoch/.gdbinit".
To completely disable this security protection add
	set auto-load safe-path /
line to your configuration file "/home/jkratoch/.gdbinit".
For more information about this security protection see the
"Auto-loading safe path" section in the GDB manual.  E.g., run from the shell:
	info "(gdb)Auto-loading safe path"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I find the proposed message "GDB is unable to find its auxiliary files."
redundant to the already printed:
	warning: Could not load the Python gdb module from `dfasdfsa/python'.

I would also change the second warning -> printf_filtered as it will then no
longer insert so many empty lines there.

In the end the output could be:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Python Exception <type 'exceptions.ImportError'> No module named gdb: 

warning: Could not load the Python gdb module from `dfasdfsa/python'.
You may need to provide the -data-directory flag to GDB.
Limited Python support is available from the _gdb module.
For more information about GDB dependencies on external files
see the "Data Files" section in the GDB manual.  E.g., run from the shell:
	info "(gdb)Data Files"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you agree or would you like to make more adjustments to the text?


Thanks,
Jan

Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Khoo Yit Phang]

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Hi Jan,

On Sep 22, 2012, at 9:30 AM, Jan Kratochvil wrote:

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Python Exception <type 'exceptions.ImportError'> No module named gdb: 
> 
> warning: Could not load the Python gdb module from `dfasdfsa/python'.
> You may need to provide the -data-directory flag to GDB.
> Limited Python support is available from the _gdb module.
> For more information about GDB dependencies on external files
> see the "Data Files" section in the GDB manual.  E.g., run from the shell:
> 	info "(gdb)Data Files"
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for pointing out this style, it looks good to me, and it's nice to be consistent. I've updated my patch with it.

Yit
September 22, 2012


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gdb/ChangeLog

2012-09-22  Khoo Yit Phang  <khooyp@cs.umd.edu>

	* gdb/python.c (finish_python_initialization): Augment the warning
	when importing "gdb" fails, to check that data-directory is set
	correctly.

diff --git a/gdb/python/python.c b/gdb/python/python.c
--- a/gdb/python/python.c
+++ b/gdb/python/python.c
@@ -1506,7 +1506,12 @@
       gdbpy_print_stack ();
       warning (_("Could not load the Python gdb module from `%s'."),
 		 gdb_pythondir);
-      warning (_("Limited Python support is available from the _gdb module."));
+      printf_filtered(_("\
+You may need to provide the -data-directory flag to GDB.\n\
+Limited Python support is available from the _gdb module.\n\
+For more information about GDB dependencies on external files\n\
+see the \"Data Files\" section in the GDB manual.  E.g., run from the shell:\n\
+\tinfo \"(gdb)Data Files\"\n"));
       do_cleanups (cleanup);
       return;
     }

Ping! Re: [PATCH] Warn about data-directory when failing to import Python "gdb" module

[Khoo Yit Phang]

Hi,

Any concerns about this patch? Shall I check it in?

Yit
October 6, 2012