FORTRAN_HACK macro?

FORTRAN_HACK macro?

[Elena Zannoni]

Does anybody know where/why/when/if this macro is used?

It's in dwarf2read.c. It has been there since the dawn of times. I am
thinking of killing it.

elena

Re: FORTRAN_HACK macro?

[Jim Blandy]

Elena Zannoni <ezannoni@redhat.com> writes:
> Does anybody know where/why/when/if this macro is used?
> 
> It's in dwarf2read.c. It has been there since the dawn of times. I am
> thinking of killing it.

I don't know what it's for.  If no FORTRAN experts emerge from the
gloom to explain it, I say, kill it: if it's been #ifdef'd out since
1996, it can't hurt much, and since we have no idea what it does, we
can't maintain it anyway.

Re: FORTRAN_HACK macro?

[Elena Zannoni]

Jim Blandy writes:
 > 
 > Elena Zannoni <ezannoni@redhat.com> writes:
 > > Does anybody know where/why/when/if this macro is used?
 > > 
 > > It's in dwarf2read.c. It has been there since the dawn of times. I am
 > > thinking of killing it.
 > 
 > I don't know what it's for.  If no FORTRAN experts emerge from the
 > gloom to explain it, I say, kill it: if it's been #ifdef'd out since
 > 1996, it can't hurt much, and since we have no idea what it does, we
 > can't maintain it anyway.

I think you are repeating what I have said. BTW, it's not ifdeffed out.

Re: FORTRAN_HACK macro?

[Richard Henderson]

On Thu, Jan 08, 2004 at 05:31:19PM -0500, Elena Zannoni wrote:
> Does anybody know where/why/when/if this macro is used?

From the looks of it, it's working around a bug in some 
compiler output.  I don't know which compiler though.


r~

Re: FORTRAN_HACK macro?

[Stan Shebs]

Elena Zannoni wrote:

>Does anybody know where/why/when/if this macro is used?
>
>It's in dwarf2read.c. It has been there since the dawn of times. I am
>thinking of killing it.
>
It was probably there to support Harris' Fortran compiler (which was not
GCC). No longer a need for it in any case.

Stan

Re: FORTRAN_HACK macro?

[Elena Zannoni]

Michael Elizabeth Chastain writes:
 > Beats me.  Here's some fact-crumbs:
 > 
 >   dwarf2read.c was not in gdb 4.16.
 >   dwarf2read.c was in gdb 4.17, dated 1998-01-28
 >   1998-01-28 version already has FORTRAN_HACK
 >   code around FORTRAN_HACK is about the same as it is today
 >   ChangeLog-96 says dwarf2read.c introduced on 1996-07-19.
 > 
 > grepping on 'read_array_type' in the ChangeLogs turns up:
 > 
 >   1996-12-01:
 > 
 >     (dwarf_read_array_type):  Handle variable length arrays.
 >     Use lookup_pointer_type instead of handcrafting a type.
 >     Create array type only if a DW_TAG_subrange_type was found.
 > 
 >   1997-01-25:
 >     (read_array_type):  Renamed from dwarf_read_array_type.
 >     Default upper array bound to describe an array with unspecified
 >     length.
 >     Create array types in backwards order, as dwarf2 puts out the array
 >     dimensions from left to right.
 > 
 >   1998-01-28:
 > 
 >     (read_array_type): Fix langauge test.
 > 
 > If the FORTRAN_HACK was in the 1996-07-19 version then I would guess
 > that it is an unimplemented stub and can be killed/replaced easily.

yes I think it was there since the first incarnation of the file. It
hasn't been touched except for that one in 96. 

 > 
 > If it was added after 1996-07-19 then someone was trying to do
 > something.
 > 

I don't think it was.

elena

 > Michael C

Re: FORTRAN_HACK macro?

[Michael Elizabeth Chastain]

Beats me.  Here's some fact-crumbs:

  dwarf2read.c was not in gdb 4.16.
  dwarf2read.c was in gdb 4.17, dated 1998-01-28
  1998-01-28 version already has FORTRAN_HACK
  code around FORTRAN_HACK is about the same as it is today
  ChangeLog-96 says dwarf2read.c introduced on 1996-07-19.

grepping on 'read_array_type' in the ChangeLogs turns up:

  1996-12-01:

    (dwarf_read_array_type):  Handle variable length arrays.
    Use lookup_pointer_type instead of handcrafting a type.
    Create array type only if a DW_TAG_subrange_type was found.

  1997-01-25:
    (read_array_type):  Renamed from dwarf_read_array_type.
    Default upper array bound to describe an array with unspecified
    length.
    Create array types in backwards order, as dwarf2 puts out the array
    dimensions from left to right.

  1998-01-28:

    (read_array_type): Fix langauge test.

If the FORTRAN_HACK was in the 1996-07-19 version then I would guess
that it is an unimplemented stub and can be killed/replaced easily.

If it was added after 1996-07-19 then someone was trying to do
something.

Michael C