Re: The SPARC target

[Mark Kettenis <kettenis@chello.nl>]

Jiri Gaisler <jiri@gaisler.com> writes:

> Mark Kettenis wrote:
> 
> > Folks,
> > 
> > The SPARC target has been unmaintained for quite some time now[1]
> > (since november 2001) and it shows.  It doesn't compile on FreeBSD,
> > and running the testsuite on FreeBSD/sparc64 (after fixing it),
> > Solaris 2.8 and NetBSD/sparc results in hundreds of unexpected
> > failures with quite a few unresolved testcases.  I think the target is
> > bordering on (un)usability.
> 
> 
> I would like to point out that the sparc port works quite well
> for embedded (o/s unaware) 32-bit targets, at least up to gdb-5.3 .
> There are some (minor) quirks with stack unwinding to form the
> function backtrace, but overall it makes a good job. If you make
> a new (64-bit) backend, could the old 32-bit backend remain, at
> least the O/S independent parts?

Well, most of the bitrot seems to have taken place after the 5.3
release.  So I'm not at all confident that it still works to your
satisfaction.  I'm working on the 32-bit SPARC target now, and I'm
pretty confident that I can get it in a shape where it works better
than GDB 5.3.  It's not until then that I'll replace the old code with
my new implementation.

Just out of curiosity.  What's the --target you use to configure the
GDB you're using to debug your embedded system?

Mark