Re: [PATCH] gdb: fix IA64 build failure of linux-nat

[Simon Marchi <simark@simark.ca>]

On 2020-08-17 4:54 a.m., Tom de Vries wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> IA64 support was just obsoleted in bfd (commit 73d0dc162e "Obsolete ia64").
> 
> So, AFAIU, this should now be built with --enable-obsolete.
> 
> What are the consequences for gdb IA64 patches ?
> 
> Thanks,
> - Tom

By transitivity, I'd say that the GDB port is also obsolete.  But as long as it's in
the tree, it's fine to accept patches to keep it building (otherwise it's useless to
keep it in the tree).

If you wanted to build GDB with --target=ia64-something-something, you'll need to pass
--enable-obsolete in order to build BFD, which is a required dependency of GDB.  When we
pass --enable-targets=all, it builds a GDB with ia64 support without requiring that
--enable-obsolete flag though.

Do you know what's the BFD policy for obsolete configurations?  If they wanted to get
rid of it completely, they would need to remove GDB support too, otherwise they'd break
the build.  So should we eventually take the lead and remove support for it first?

Sergei, quick survey: do you, or someone you know actually use GDB on ia64?  Or you just
noticed it not building because you package it?

Simon