From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 27128 invoked by alias); 19 Jun 2008 19:10:09 -0000 Received: (qmail 27120 invoked by uid 22791); 19 Jun 2008 19:10:08 -0000 X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Received: from rock.gnat.com (HELO rock.gnat.com) (205.232.38.15) by sourceware.org (qpsmtpd/0.31) with ESMTP; Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:09:46 +0000 Received: from localhost (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by filtered-rock.gnat.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 95C831FF2DA for ; Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:09:44 -0400 (EDT) Received: from rock.gnat.com ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (rock.gnat.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 7Vio7bonhdwn for ; Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:09:44 -0400 (EDT) Received: from joel.gnat.com (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by rock.gnat.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5EFCD1FF2D7 for ; Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:09:44 -0400 (EDT) Received: by joel.gnat.com (Postfix, from userid 1000) id C1707E7ACD; Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:09:42 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:10:00 -0000 From: Joel Brobecker To: gdb@sourceware.org Subject: GDB Focus Group at the 2008 GCC Summit Message-ID: <20080619190942.GA3744@adacore.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.2i Mailing-List: contact gdb-help@sourceware.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: gdb-owner@sourceware.org X-SW-Source: 2008-06/txt/msg00191.txt.bz2 Hello, we had a couple of 45min sessions where we discussed various items related to GDB. I took some brief notes, although I might have forgotten one or two. Anyway, here is what I wrote: | * Next GDB Release: | | Lots of new features, but not ready for real release. When | the features are in, need a little more maturing time before | shipping it in an official release. Suggest next release | in 6 months from now (Jan-Feb 2009). | | For people really interested in trying it out before the official | release, perhaps either: | - Announce various nightly tarballs that contain the features | - Or perhaps create a 6.9 branch but never release 6.9. Just | make various pre-releases 6.8.90, 6.8.91, etc. | | * Reverse debugging: | | 4 different implementations, but are starting to converge. | We think there is a reasonable chance that this makes 7.0. | | * Calling python function from the CLI: | | Several possible syntaxes: | $(function-name arguments) | $function_name (arguments) | | And also, should be treat the arguments as a simple string, | or should we treat each argument as an expression? | | We reached a consensus and Tom to send it to the gdb list. | | * Python support: | | Entire work has been split in ~10 patches. Daniel reviewed | the patches and 80% of the action items have now been done. | Work could be checked in as early as in a month from now. | | Real issue: Documentation and testsuite. | | Suggestion: Make sure that the distros build GDB with Python | enabled when support is provided in a release. | | * Transition to SVN: | | Required version (for the client) just released a couple of hours ago: | feature allows to checkout a subset of the module (?). There is still | no one-line command that allows to check gdb out, so maybe will have | a script. | | Pb: If we want to have a combined tree, we will need to convert | binutils, gnulib, etc. | | * Switch to Bugzilla (from gnats): | | We would like to move to bugzilla, and then need to write somei | documentation about the transition, and how to translate old bug | numbers into new bug numbers. Use same database as binutils. | | * Using threads inside GDB: | | Problem: Expression evaluation is synchronous and blocking. | While GDB is doing that work, it is not handling other events, | which can be a problem in non-stop mode. | | Typical problem is inferior function call that causes two issues: | - potential length of time it takes to evaluate | - having to re-enter the event loop to wait for function to return. | | Pedro to think about it and write a proposal. Idea we're gearing | towards is one thread that runs the event loop all the time. | | * Fix and continue: | | Perhaps try to implement this feature through the use of Python. | For instance, use python to build a return value, and return that. -- Joel