Re: [PATCH v2] gdb/README: Refactor where build requirements are explained

[Guinevere Larsen <guinevere@redhat.com>]

On 3/6/26 11:25 AM, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>> From: Guinevere Larsen <guinevere@redhat.com>
>> Cc: Guinevere Larsen <guinevere@redhat.com>
>> Date: Fri,  6 Mar 2026 09:13:03 -0300
>>
>> User la_mettrie on IRC mentioned that they were having difficulties
>> building GDB, and after some debugging, we figured out that they weren't
>> using GNU Make. This is in the final documentation, but considering that
>> it is not an obvious place to look, and the README mentions other build
>> requirements, so this seems like a pretty obvious oversight.
>>
>> This commit also shortens the entire paragraph that explains the build
>> requirements, and moves it closer to the start of the install
>> requirements, so that they are less likely to be missed by users.
>> ---
>>   gdb/README | 11 ++++-------
>>   1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/gdb/README b/gdb/README
>> index 492b0891668..8dc50667212 100644
>> --- a/gdb/README
>> +++ b/gdb/README
>> @@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ Configuration scripts and makefiles exist to cruise up and down this
>>   directory tree and automatically build all the pieces in the right
>>   order.
>>   
>> +   GDB requires a C++17 compiler, an ISO C standard library and GNU
>> +Make.  The GDB remote server, GDBserver, builds with some non-ISO
>> +standard libraries - e.g. for Windows CE.
>> +
> I'd put that a bit farther, right after this:
>
>       When you unpack the gdb-VERSION.tar.gz file, it will create a
>    source directory called `gdb-VERSION'.
>
>    You can build GDB right in the source directory:
>
> 	cd gdb-VERSION
> 	./configure --prefix=/usr/local   (or wherever you want)
> 	make all install
>
> IMO, it's more natural, because it will directly follow the
> instructions for building GDB.

I think it doesn't quite work there, because right after this it says 
"but we don't recommend doing that, you should instead create a build 
directory", so we are cutting build instructions in the middle

Either we should place it before all build instructions (so after the 
first paragraph you placed there) or after all build instructions 
(before "This will configure and build .....)

In my opinion we should place it first, as users (or at least I) would 
probably run the commands and then continue reading as the scripts run, 
to save a little bit of time.

>
> Also, I'd begin the text with "Building GDB requires ...", to make it
> more clear that these are requirements for building GDB, not for using
> it.
Fair point, I'll update the wording for v3, once we agree on where to 
put it
>
> Thanks.
>

-- 
Cheers,
Guinevere Larsen
It/she