gdb/mi or annotations detection

[Bob Rossi <bob_rossi@cox.net>]

Hi,

How is the front end supposed to detect whether or not it should use
annotations or GDB/MI? I think there needs to be a way of doing this
besides starting it once for detection/failure for MI, and then starting
it again for annotations.

Also, what about different versions of MI. As it progresses different
versions will have different functionality. How will the front end know
what functionality each version has?

ex.
   In the first release of MI there might not be the
   -symbol-info-linetable command. So, the front end will have to give
   commands 'info line' over and over. Then, when this command becomes
   available in the next release, the front end can start using it
   instead.

The front end can not do a 'gdb --version' because usually there are
gdb's installed that are cvs snapshots ( debian ).

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Bob Rossi