Re: [needs doc review] Re: [RFA 3/3] Implement support for PowerPC BookE masked watchpoints

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Thiago Jung Bauermann <bauerman@br.ibm.com>
> Cc: gdb-patches ml <gdb-patches@sourceware.org>
> Date: Tue, 03 May 2011 01:55:54 -0300
> 
>   The @code{@r{[}mask @var{maskvalue}@r{]}} argument allows creation
>   of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this
>   feature.  (Currently, this is only available on PowerPC Embedded
>   architecture, see @ref{PowerPC Embedded}.)  Specifying a mask argument
>   implies the @code{-location} argument.

I would prefer to avoid text in the manual that could easily become
obsolete tomorrow: we don't have any efficient mechanism in place to
tell us to revise such text.  So instead of

  (Currently, this is only available on PowerPC Embedded architecture,
  see @ref{PowerPC Embedded}.)

I would prefer either to say nothing, or use a more vague phrase,
without the too-decisive "currently, available only on...".  Like
this, for example:

  The @code{@r{[}mask @var{maskvalue}@r{]}} argument allows creation
  of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this
  feature (e.g., PowerPC Embedded architecture, see @ref{PowerPC
  Embedded}.)

>   A @dfn{masked watchpoint} specifies a mask in addition to an address
>   to watch.  The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits
>   which are reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the
>   address accessed by the inferior against the watchpoint address.
>   Thus, a masked watchpoint watches many addresses
>   simultaneously---those addresses whose unmasked bits are identical
>   to the unmasked bits in the watchpoint address.
> 
> became
> 
>   A @dfn{masked watchpoint} specifies a mask in addition to an address
>   to watch.  The @code{mask} argument implies the @code{-location}
>   argument, which means that the expression will be resolved to a memory
>   address at watchpoint creation time (@pxref{Set Watchpoints}.)

What do you mean by "implies"?  Do you mean that -location must be
specified if "mask" is specified?  If so, "implies" is not a good
word.

I also don't really understand the part about "resolving to a memory
address at watchpoint creation time".  What were you trying to say?

Thanks.