Re: [PATCH] Update testsuite mechanism to allow object files as source files.

[Joseph Myers <joseph@codesourcery.com>]

On Thu, 16 Jul 2020, Caroline Tice via Gdb-patches wrote:

> High level summary:
> In some (hopefully rare) cases, certain tests MUST be built with a
> particular compiler to work.  If that compiler is not GCC, then it
> makes it very burdensome for developers to run the GDB testsuite and
> test those tests.  This change allows those tests to use object files
> (generated by the required compiler) as the test source file, so that
> when the test suite is run with GCC those tests will still
> execute/test properly.

How is this expected to work when the GDB being tested is configured for a 
different architecture or OS from that of the checked-in object file and 
may not be able to read its object file format at all?  Will all such 
tests have explicit conditioning on the target for which GDB is 
configured?

On general free software and reproducible builds principles:

* The source for any checked-in object file should be checked in.

* That source should include comments giving all information required to 
be able to reproduce the object file byte-for-byte - for example, the 
exact git commit of the compiler used to generate it, the exact options 
with which that compiler should be configured and the exact command line 
to use with that compiler to generate that object file.  And it should 
have been verified by someone in a different environment from the person 
proposing the addition of such an object file that following those 
instructions does give a byte-for-byte identical object file.

-- 
Joseph S. Myers
joseph@codesourcery.com