[PATCH 2/8] bfd/binutils: support for gdb target descriptions in the core file

Andrew Burgess
2020-12-02T17:39:44Z

This commit lays the ground work for allowing GDB to write its target
description into a generated core file.

The goal of this work is to allow a user to connect to a remote
target, capture a core file from within GDB, then pass the executable
and core file to another user and have the user be able to examine the
state of the machine without needing to connect to a running target.

Different remote targets can have different register sets and this
information is communicated from the target to GDB in the target
description.

It is possible for a user to extract the target description from GDB
and pass this along with the core file so that when the core file is
used the target description can be fed back into GDB, however this is
not a great user experience.

It would be nicer, I think, if GDB could write the target description
directly into the core file, and then make use of this description
when loading a core file.

This commit performs the binutils/bfd side of this task, adding the
boiler plate functions to access the target description from within a
core file note, and reserving a new number for a note containing the
target description.

Later commits will extend GDB to make use of this.

bfd/ChangeLog:

* elf-bfd.h (elfcore_write_gdb_tdesc): Declare new function.
* elf.c (elfcore_grok_gdb_tdesc): New function.
(elfcore_grok_note): Handle NT_GDB_TDESC.
(elfcore_write_gdb_tdesc): New function.
(elfcore_write_register_note): Handle NT_GDB_TDESC.

binutils/ChangeLog:

* readelf.c (get_note_type): Handle NT_GDB_TDESC.

include/ChangeLog:

* elf/common.h (NT_GDB_TDESC): Define.
---
bfd/ChangeLog | 9 +++++++++
bfd/elf-bfd.h | 2 ++
bfd/elf.c | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++++
binutils/ChangeLog | 5 +++++
binutils/readelf.c | 2 ++
include/ChangeLog | 5 +++++
include/elf/common.h | 2 ++
7 files changed, 48 insertions(+)

diff --git a/bfd/elf-bfd.h b/bfd/elf-bfd.h
index e9c890f6f16..5ef69ab5b13 100644
--- a/bfd/elf-bfd.h
+++ b/bfd/elf-bfd.h
@@ -2796,6 +2796,8 @@ extern char *elfcore_write_aarch_pauth
(bfd *, char *, int *, const void *, int);
extern char *elfcore_write_arc_v2
(bfd *, char *, int *, const void *, int);
+extern char *elfcore_write_gdb_tdesc
+ (bfd *, char *, int *, const void *, int);
extern char *elfcore_write_lwpstatus
(bfd *, char *, int *, long, int, const void *);
extern char *elfcore_write_register_note
diff --git a/bfd/elf.c b/bfd/elf.c
index 419c5f4420c..bea5ab12773 100644
--- a/bfd/elf.c
+++ b/bfd/elf.c
@@ -9909,6 +9909,12 @@ elfcore_grok_arc_v2 (bfd *abfd, Elf_Internal_Note *note)
return elfcore_make_note_pseudosection (abfd, ".reg-arc-v2", note);
}

+static bfd_boolean
+elfcore_grok_gdb_tdesc (bfd *abfd, Elf_Internal_Note *note)
+{
+ return elfcore_make_note_pseudosection (abfd, ".gdb-tdesc", note);
+}
+
#if defined (HAVE_PRPSINFO_T)
typedef prpsinfo_t elfcore_psinfo_t;
#if defined (HAVE_PRPSINFO32_T) /* Sparc64 cross Sparc32 */
@@ -10566,6 +10572,9 @@ elfcore_grok_note (bfd *abfd, Elf_Internal_Note *note)
else
return TRUE;

+ case NT_GDB_TDESC:
+ return elfcore_grok_gdb_tdesc (abfd, note);
+
case NT_PRPSINFO:
case NT_PSINFO:
if (bed->elf_backend_grok_psinfo)
@@ -11947,6 +11956,18 @@ elfcore_write_arc_v2 (bfd *abfd,
note_name, NT_ARC_V2, arc_v2, size);
}

+char *
+elfcore_write_gdb_tdesc (bfd *abfd,
+ char *buf,
+ int *bufsiz,
+ const void *tdesc,
+ int size)
+{
+ const char *note_name = "CORE";
+ return elfcore_write_note (abfd, buf, bufsiz,
+ note_name, NT_GDB_TDESC, tdesc, size);
+}
+
char *
elfcore_write_register_note (bfd *abfd,
char *buf,
@@ -12031,6 +12052,8 @@ elfcore_write_register_note (bfd *abfd,
return elfcore_write_aarch_pauth (abfd, buf, bufsiz, data, size);
if (strcmp (section, ".reg-arc-v2") == 0)
return elfcore_write_arc_v2 (abfd, buf, bufsiz, data, size);
+ if (strcmp (section, ".gdb-tdesc") == 0)
+ return elfcore_write_gdb_tdesc (abfd, buf, bufsiz, data, size);
return NULL;
}

diff --git a/binutils/readelf.c b/binutils/readelf.c
index 57e0f1de459..5b3871d3e5f 100644
--- a/binutils/readelf.c
+++ b/binutils/readelf.c
@@ -18246,6 +18246,8 @@ get_note_type (Filedata * filedata, unsigned e_type)
return _("NT_PRPSINFO (prpsinfo structure)");
case NT_TASKSTRUCT:
return _("NT_TASKSTRUCT (task structure)");
+ case NT_GDB_TDESC:
+ return _("NT_GDB_TDESC (GDB XML target description)");
case NT_PRXFPREG:
return _("NT_PRXFPREG (user_xfpregs structure)");
case NT_PPC_VMX:
diff --git a/include/elf/common.h b/include/elf/common.h
index 95a852f0cf5..1dbf0b11983 100644
--- a/include/elf/common.h
+++ b/include/elf/common.h
@@ -666,6 +666,8 @@
#define NT_SIGINFO 0x53494749 /* Fields of siginfo_t. */
#define NT_FILE 0x46494c45 /* Description of mapped files. */

+#define NT_GDB_TDESC 0x54444553 /* Contains copy of GDB's target description XML. */
+
/* Note segments for core files on dir-style procfs systems. */

#define NT_PSTATUS 10 /* Has a struct pstatus */
--
2.25.4