Re: MI: asynchronous operation details

[Konstantin Karganov <karganov@gmail.com>]

> so, in MI mode if I emit "-exec-continue" gdb starts inferiour and
> immediately gives me back the prompt, accepting further commands.
Who said it accepts commands? My gdb (6.3) does not.

> However, I can't:
> 1. Understand what commands can meaningfully be issued while the inferior
> is running. Say, all data read/write commands are likely to produce
> inconsistent results if inferior is running.
> 2. Practically figure out which commands can be issued at all. Say, both
> -data-evaluate-expression and -exec-continue just hang, returning
> nothing. This is with CVS HEAD.
>
> Do I understand correctly that asynchronous MI just don't exist in CVS HEAD,
> and only command prompt loop is asynchronous? Even if so, and fully
> asynchronous MI is coming, what's the answer to question (1) above?
Actually, MI also works synchonously. So for 1-2 the answer is "There
are no such commands."
And morover, you cannot issue the command while the inferior is
running. Gdb will process the input only when the execution stops.
As for me, I always ignore "(gdb)" prompt since it means nothing and
made a frontend work  with gdb synchronously (I.e. wait for one answer
before sending another command.).

All this asynchronism in gdb is also a ghost - it looks like it is
real but in fact it do not exist :)

PS. Try to search this mailing list for "(a)synchronous" or smth
alike, you will find the same questions that I asked a year or so ago
:)

--
Best regards,
Konstantin.