Re: [RFC - Python scripting] New methods Symtab.global_block and Symtab.static_block (docs included)

[Siva Chandra <sivachandra@google.com>]

Phil> I am just not sure we should have compatibility warnings that the
Phil> content/structure of these blocks may change in some undefined way,
Phil> at some future time.

Eli> With that I agree.  Saying such things in a manual is never a good
Eli> idea, unless we also describe in detail what exactly can go wrong, how
Eli> to detect that, and how to work around.

Tom> I think the difficulty here is that saying nothing may also lull Python
Tom> users into a false sense of security that we will not change things in
Tom> this area.

Tom> But, we'd still like the freedom to change things.  For example, we've
Tom> talked off and on about implementing "hierarchical" symbol tables, where
Tom> the symbols in a namespace (e.g.) are kept in the namespace symbol, not
Tom> globally.

Tom> If we made this sort of change, then iterating over the block would
Tom> return different results.

Tom> Maybe there is some way to rewrite the original text to give us some
Tom> leeway.

Does this look good: http://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2012-04/msg00847.html

It adds a general note about symbols in a block under 'Blocks In Python'.

Thanks,
Siva Chandra