re: [RFC] named thread support

Kris Warkentin
2005-10-06T17:40:24Z

> Daniel Jacobowitz <drow at false dot org> wrote:
> >On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 12:40:22PM -0400, Kris Warkentin wrote:
> >> Would it be of interest to have a generic 'set threadname
> <tid> <name>'
> >> that called a target_set_threadname()? I ask because
> we're implementing
> >> named threads in our kernel but I don't know if many other systems
> >> support this. I can always add it to our backend but if
> someone else
> >> might use it in the future, I can make it general.
> >
> > So by named thread support, you mean that the application
> can register
> > the name of the thread with the kernel? And you want GDB
> to be able to
> > set thread names?
> >
> > I recommend doing this in your backend, since I don't know any other
> > gdb-supported system with a similar feature.
>
> On the other hand, this is not the first time I have heard
> the idea put forth. Evidently at least some people want
> to be able to associate a name with a thread.
>
> For the sake of discussion, what about this? Split it into
> a generic part and a target-specific part.
>
> 1) The generic part would be to add a name field to gdb's
> thread struct, with appropriate UI for manipulating and
> displaying it. The "thread" and "thread apply" commands
> would be enhanced to accept a name as well as a number.

I actually hadn't thought of doing it this way but that's a good idea. I'm
using the private_thread_info structure to hold the thread names but if it
were part of the higher level thread structure, it would simplify the
backend code.

> 2) Target-specific part -- sends the gdb-selected names
> to the target, accepts target-selected names from the target
> and adds them to gdb thread database.

Good idea.

cheers,

Kris