Re: [PATCH] Also install data-directory into the build directory as computed by relocate_gdb_directory

Khoo Yit Phang
2012-10-06T19:36:27Z

Hi,

On Oct 6, 2012, at 3:24 PM, Eli Zaretskii wrote:

>> From: Khoo Yit Phang <khooyp@cs.umd.edu>
>> Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2012 15:02:00 -0400
>> Cc: Khoo Yit Phang <khooyp@cs.umd.edu>, Joel Brobecker <brobecker@adacore.com>, Jan Kratochvil <jan.kratochvil@redhat.com>, GDB Patches <gdb-patches@sourceware.org>
>>
>> I think the bigger issue is that $BUILDDIR/gdb/data-directory overrides the standard data-directory. If we detect run-from-builddir based on the presence of other files/directories, and some other application happens to use the same files/directories, then the user is basically stuck with either a non-working gdb (sans -data-directory) or having to uninstall that other application.
>
> I see no reason to assume that we will not be able to reliably detect
> a GDB build directory and to distinguish between that and other
> projects. Surely, we can find at least one or 2 files that only exist
> in GDB.

But we have to make assumptions about other applications that are not under our control, that they do not use the same files, which I think is an assumption that we should avoid if possible (who knows what's out there). Of course, we can greatly minimize the risk by checking for more files and/or the contents of files. But it is possible to avoid this assumption, e.g., the other two solutions in my previous email, hence my preferences.

Yit
October 6, 2012