gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Bill Baxter]

The gdbmi.el file says it should work with emacs 22 by just dropping it in.

I tried it with this emacs 22: http://ourcomments.org/Emacs/EmacsW32.html
Using MinGW gdb 6.3-2 from here:
     http://prdownloads.sf.net/mingw/gdb-6.3-2.exe?download
I downloaded gdbmi.el out of CVS.
http://sourceware.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/src/gdb/mi/gdb-mi.el?cvsroot=src

The same gdb/emacs combo works fine with the regular M-x gdb mode and
--annotate=3, namely it shows the current line indicator and
breakpoints properly.

However M-x gdbmi with the default command-line did not work
properly.  It is able to debug, but the decorations don't show up in
the margin.

Is this a bug, or a known issue, or what?
Should I file a bug report?

Thanks,
Bill

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Nick Roberts]

 > The gdbmi.el file says it should work with emacs 22 by just dropping it in.
 > 
 > I tried it with this emacs 22: http://ourcomments.org/Emacs/EmacsW32.html
 > Using MinGW gdb 6.3-2 from here:
 >      http://prdownloads.sf.net/mingw/gdb-6.3-2.exe?download
 > I downloaded gdbmi.el out of CVS.
 > http://sourceware.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/src/gdb/mi/gdb-mi.el?cvsroot=src
 > 
 > The same gdb/emacs combo works fine with the regular M-x gdb mode and
 > --annotate=3, namely it shows the current line indicator and
 > breakpoints properly.

I'm glad to hear that this works with MinGW.

 > However M-x gdbmi with the default command-line did not work
 > properly.  It is able to debug, but the decorations don't show up in
 > the margin.

Emacs 22 has probably changed too much in CVS in that time.  It *should* work
with latest GDB (6.6) but I don't know if MinGW has such a build.

 > Is this a bug, or a known issue, or what?
 > Should I file a bug report?

Please don't file a bug report.  It does says in the file that it's under
development, but perhaps it should carry a stronger health warning.  If you
want an easy life then use the mode in Emacs 22.  If you want to help develop
gdb-mi.el then, welcome!, but you will need the latest GDB and to post your
findings here.  The plan was/is to keep it synchronised with GDB once Emacs is
released.

-- 
Nick                                           http://www.inet.net.nz/~nickrob

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Bill Baxter]

Thanks for the speedy reply, Nick.
Responses inline below:

On 3/1/07, Nick Roberts <nickrob@snap.net.nz> wrote:

> I'm glad to hear that this works with MinGW.
>
>  > However M-x gdbmi with the default command-line did not work
>  > properly.  It is able to debug, but the decorations don't show up in
>  > the margin.
>
> Emacs 22 has probably changed too much in CVS in that time.  It *should* work
> with latest GDB (6.6) but I don't know if MinGW has such a build.

No 6.2.3 is the latest snapshot.  So you suspect 6.2.3's MI output is
to old to work with the current emacs code?  I'm not sure what you
mean by Emacs 22 changing too much.  Does that mean my emacs is too
new or too old?  Or my gdb is too old or too new for it?

I'd like to try to help get it working by tinkering on the elisp side,
but some hints about what to look for would be nice.

>  > Is this a bug, or a known issue, or what?
>  > Should I file a bug report?
>
> Please don't file a bug report.  It does says in the file that it's under
> development, but perhaps it should carry a stronger health warning.

It says this:
;; This mode acts as a graphical user interface to GDB and works with Emacs
;; 22.x and the version of GDB with which it is distributed.

Which sounds like it pretty definitively does work, as in has been
successfully tested with Emacs 22.  So maybe that should be worded
with a little more uncertainty.

> If you
> want an easy life then use the mode in Emacs 22.  If you want to help develop
> gdb-mi.el then, welcome!, but you will need the latest GDB and to post your
> findings here.  The plan was/is to keep it synchronised with GDB once Emacs is
> released.

What I really want to do is use the D debugger
(http://ddbg.mainia.de/releases.html) which emulates GDB.  The author
is planning to support GDB/MI output, but I can't help him get ddbg
working in emacs until I can at least get GDB itself working in emacs.
 There's no point in him trying to emulate --annotate=3 output
starting from now just to make emacs happy.  GDB/MI is clearly the
future and --annotate is the past.  Eclipse already supports it for
example and other debuggers will or will soon also.  So if you're
emulating gdb for debuggers to use, emulating GDB/MI seems the way to
go.

The problem with waiting for the next emacs release is that Win32
versions pretty much *aren't* released. Ever.  FSF is providing emacs
21.3 from March 2004 as the  "latest" version on their web site.  The
version of Emacs 22 I've got is from some individual who was fed up
with that and decided to make his own.

So any hints about where I should focus my debugging efforts to figure
out how to make gdb 6.2.3 + gdb-mi.el + emacs 22.0.93.1 work together
nicely?

--bb

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Daniel Jacobowitz]

On Thu, Mar 01, 2007 at 09:00:46AM +0900, Bill Baxter wrote:
> >Emacs 22 has probably changed too much in CVS in that time.  It *should* 
> >work
> >with latest GDB (6.6) but I don't know if MinGW has such a build.
> 
> No 6.2.3 is the latest snapshot.  So you suspect 6.2.3's MI output is
> to old to work with the current emacs code?

What do you mean by 6.2.3?  Please see http://sourceware.org/gdb/ to
get a current release of GDB - I do not know of any with that version
number.

-- 
Daniel Jacobowitz
CodeSourcery

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Bill Baxter]

On 3/1/07, Daniel Jacobowitz <drow@false.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 01, 2007 at 09:00:46AM +0900, Bill Baxter wrote:
> > >Emacs 22 has probably changed too much in CVS in that time.  It *should*
> > >work
> > >with latest GDB (6.6) but I don't know if MinGW has such a build.
> >
> > No 6.2.3 is the latest snapshot.  So you suspect 6.2.3's MI output is
> > to old to work with the current emacs code?
>
> What do you mean by 6.2.3?  Please see http://sourceware.org/gdb/ to
> get a current release of GDB - I do not know of any with that version
> number.

Sorry I meant 6.3.2.

--bb

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Nick Roberts]

 > >  > However M-x gdbmi with the default command-line did not work
 > >  > properly.  It is able to debug, but the decorations don't show up in
 > >  > the margin.
 > >
 > > Emacs 22 has probably changed too much in CVS in that time.  It *should*
 > > work with latest GDB (6.6) but I don't know if MinGW has such a build.
 > 
 > No 6.2.3 is the latest snapshot.  So you suspect 6.2.3's MI output is
 > to old to work with the current emacs code?  

Yes.  MI is under development too, that's why I included gdb-mi.el in GDB
- to keep up with the changes.

 >                                              I'm not sure what you
 > mean by Emacs 22 changing too much.

Emacs 22 still hasn't officially been released although you may have got
a pretest tarball, or possibly a snapshot packaged for a ditribution such
as Debian. 

 > Does that mean my emacs is too
 > new or too old?  Or my gdb is too old or too new for it?

Probably just your gdb as your emacs is much more recent.

 >...
 > > Please don't file a bug report.  It does says in the file that it's under
 > > development, but perhaps it should carry a stronger health warning.
 > 
 > It says this:
 > ;; This mode acts as a graphical user interface to GDB and works with Emacs
 > ;; 22.x and the version of GDB with which it is distributed.
 > 
 > Which sounds like it pretty definitively does work, as in has been
 > successfully tested with Emacs 22.  So maybe that should be worded
 > with a little more uncertainty.

OK, well current gdb-mi.el says it's developmental.

 > > If you want an easy life then use the mode in Emacs 22.  If you want to
 > > help develop gdb-mi.el then, welcome!, but you will need the latest GDB
 > > and to post your findings here.  The plan was/is to keep it synchronised
 > > with GDB once Emacs is released.
 > 
 > What I really want to do is use the D debugger
 > (http://ddbg.mainia.de/releases.html) which emulates GDB.  The author
 > is planning to support GDB/MI output, but I can't help him get ddbg
 > working in emacs until I can at least get GDB itself working in emacs.
 >  There's no point in him trying to emulate --annotate=3 output
 > starting from now just to make emacs happy.  GDB/MI is clearly the
 > future and --annotate is the past.  Eclipse already supports it for
 > example and other debuggers will or will soon also.  So if you're
 > emulating gdb for debuggers to use, emulating GDB/MI seems the way to
 > go.
 > 
 > The problem with waiting for the next emacs release is that Win32
 > versions pretty much *aren't* released. Ever.  FSF is providing emacs
 > 21.3 from March 2004 as the  "latest" version on their web site.  The
 > version of Emacs 22 I've got is from some individual who was fed up
 > with that and decided to make his own.

Emacs 22 should be released shortly.  You can get prebuilt binaries
e.g http://ourcomments.org/Emacs/EmacsW32.html (I guess by `make his own'
you just mean `build' - this shouldn't be too hard from the CVS repository
at Savannah.

 > So any hints about where I should focus my debugging efforts to figure
 > out how to make gdb 6.2.3 + gdb-mi.el + emacs 22.0.93.1 work together
 > nicely?

Sorry, without a more recent version of gdb you're pretty much on your own.
FSF GDB can do this:

* GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
(mingw32) or Cygwin.  It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.

Maybe that does all you need.

-- 
Nick                                           http://www.inet.net.nz/~nickrob

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Daniel Jacobowitz]

On Thu, Mar 01, 2007 at 09:11:47AM +0900, Bill Baxter wrote:
> On 3/1/07, Daniel Jacobowitz <drow@false.org> wrote:
> >On Thu, Mar 01, 2007 at 09:00:46AM +0900, Bill Baxter wrote:
> >> >Emacs 22 has probably changed too much in CVS in that time.  It *should*
> >> >work
> >> >with latest GDB (6.6) but I don't know if MinGW has such a build.
> >>
> >> No 6.2.3 is the latest snapshot.  So you suspect 6.2.3's MI output is
> >> to old to work with the current emacs code?
> >
> >What do you mean by 6.2.3?  Please see http://sourceware.org/gdb/ to
> >get a current release of GDB - I do not know of any with that version
> >number.
> 
> Sorry I meant 6.3.2.

Same problem, same advice.  The latest release of GDB is version 6.6.

I suspect you're looking at some older MinGW package.

-- 
Daniel Jacobowitz
CodeSourcery

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Bill Baxter]

On 3/1/07, Daniel Jacobowitz <drow@false.org> wrote:

> Same problem, same advice.  The latest release of GDB is version 6.6.
>
> I suspect you're looking at some older MinGW package.

No that's the latest MinGW has.  Unless you see something I don't at
their download pages:
  http://www.mingw.org/download.shtml
  http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435

They don't have any gcc based on gcc-4.x either.

But anyway, I have cygwin too, so if their stuff is more recent and
has a better chance of working I'll try that.  <checks>  actually
cygwin's version is 6.5.50.
    GNU gdb 6.5.50.20060706-cvs (cygwin-special)
So I guess that won't cut it either?
--bb


--bb

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Bill Baxter]

On 3/1/07, Bill Baxter <wbaxter@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 3/1/07, Daniel Jacobowitz <drow@false.org> wrote:
>
> > Same problem, same advice.  The latest release of GDB is version 6.6.
> >
> > I suspect you're looking at some older MinGW package.
>
> No that's the latest MinGW has.  Unless you see something I don't at
> their download pages:
>   http://www.mingw.org/download.shtml
>   http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435
>
> They don't have any gcc based on gcc-4.x either.
>
> But anyway, I have cygwin too, so if their stuff is more recent and
> has a better chance of working I'll try that.  <checks>  actually
> cygwin's version is 6.5.50.
>     GNU gdb 6.5.50.20060706-cvs (cygwin-special)
> So I guess that won't cut it either?

I gave it a shot.  Looks like that doesn't work either.
Break points show up, which is an improvement, but current-line
display doesn't work.
Oh well.  I'll try again some day after Emacs 22 is official and gdb
6.6 is in cygwin.

Thanks for your help.
--bb

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Daniel Jacobowitz]

On Thu, Mar 01, 2007 at 10:09:23AM +0900, Bill Baxter wrote:
> I gave it a shot.  Looks like that doesn't work either.
> Break points show up, which is an improvement, but current-line
> display doesn't work.

You need to use a version of gdb-mi.el that comes with the version of
GDB you're using.  If you take the latest gdb-mi.el from CVS, you need
to build GDB from CVS too.

-- 
Daniel Jacobowitz
CodeSourcery

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Nick Roberts]

 > > I gave it a shot.  Looks like that doesn't work either.
 > > Break points show up, which is an improvement, but current-line
 > > display doesn't work.
 > 
 > You need to use a version of gdb-mi.el that comes with the version of
 > GDB you're using.  If you take the latest gdb-mi.el from CVS, you need
 > to build GDB from CVS too.

I'm not sure that Bill has the latest gdb-mi.el from CVS.  I think some of the
problems come from the versions of the gdb and emacs executables.  So I have
privately sent him the latest gdb-mi.el as it might just work (as an update to
Emacs), although it's probably unlikely.

-- 
Nick                                           http://www.inet.net.nz/~nickrob

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Bill Baxter]

On 3/1/07, Nick Roberts <nickrob@snap.net.nz> wrote:
>  > > I gave it a shot.  Looks like that doesn't work either.
>  > > Break points show up, which is an improvement, but current-line
>  > > display doesn't work.
>  >
>  > You need to use a version of gdb-mi.el that comes with the version of
>  > GDB you're using.  If you take the latest gdb-mi.el from CVS, you need
>  > to build GDB from CVS too.
>
> I'm not sure that Bill has the latest gdb-mi.el from CVS.

I downloaded 1.11 from the CVS web interface:
http://sourceware.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/src/gdb/mi/gdb-mi.el?cvsroot=src

But it does indeed seem to be different from the version you sent.  Is
the web interface to CVS not showing the latest?

> I think some of the
> problems come from the versions of the gdb and emacs executables.  So I have
> privately sent him the latest gdb-mi.el as it might just work (as an update to
> Emacs), although it's probably unlikely.

No it didn't fix the problems.  Debugging with cygwin's gdb 6.5.50
seems the same.  Breakpoint display works, but current line does not.

BUT -- I just tried this -- it seems that cygwin's gdb 6.5.50 doesn't
work with regular M-x gdb and --annotate=3 mode either.  So maybe
there's something else going on there, like line-ending conversion
problems.

Or not.  FWIW, here's the console output of cygwin's GDB 6.5.50:
--------------------------------
> gdb -interp=mi cyghello.exe
~"GNU gdb 6.5.50.20060706-cvs (cygwin-special)\n"
~"Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\n"
~"GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and
you are\n"
~"welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain
conditions.\n"
~"Type \"show copying\" to see the conditions.\n"
~"There is absolutely no warranty for GDB.  Type \"show warranty\" for
details.\n"
~"This GDB was configured as \"i686-pc-cygwin\"..."
~"\n"
(gdb)
b 20
&"b 20\n"
~"Breakpoint 1 at 0x40107a: file hello.c, line 20.\n"
^done
(gdb)
run
&"run\n"
~"Starting program: /cygdrive/c/tmp/gdbtest/cyghello.exe \n"
~"Loaded symbols for /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32/ntdll.dll\n"
~"Loaded symbols for /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32/kernel32.dll\n"
~"Loaded symbols for /usr/bin/cygwin1.dll\n"
~"Loaded symbols for /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32/advapi32.dll\n"
~"Loaded symbols for /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32/rpcrt4.dll\n"
~"\n"
~"Breakpoint 1, main (argc=1, argv=0x6630e0) at hello.c:20\n"
~"20\t  printf(\"Hello\\n\");\n"
^done
(gdb)

&"\n"
^done
(gdb)
next
&"next\n"
~"21\t  f=1.0;\n"
^done
(gdb)
next
&"next\n"
~"22\t  for (i=1; i<=10; i++) {\n"
^done
(gdb)
----------------------------------------------------

And also FWIW here's what MinGW's gives:
------------------------------------------------------
>gdb -interp=mi mingwhello.exe
~"GNU gdb 6.3\n"
~"Copyright 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\n"
~"GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and
you are\n"
~"welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain
conditions.\n"
~"Type \"show copying\" to see the conditions.\n"
~"There is absolutely no warranty for GDB.  Type \"show warranty\" for
details.\n"
~"This GDB was configured as \"i686-pc-mingw32\"..."
~"\n"
(gdb)
b 20
&"b 20\n"
^done
(gdb)
run
&"run\n"
^done,reason="breakpoint-hit",bkptno="1",thread-id="1",frame={addr="0x0040131a",func="main",args=[{name="argc",value="1"},{name="argv",value="0x3d4e50"}],file="hello.c",line="20"}
(gdb)
next
&"next\n"
Hello
^done,reason="end-stepping-range",thread-id="1",frame={addr="0x00401326",func="main",args=[{name="argc",value="1"},{name="argv",value="0x3d4e50"}],file="hello.c",line="21"}
(gdb)

------------------------------------------------


Anyway, is there concise spec for GDB/MI anywhere that a developer
trying to implement a the interface can follow?

--bb

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Nick Roberts]

 > > I'm not sure that Bill has the latest gdb-mi.el from CVS.
 > 
 > I downloaded 1.11 from the CVS web interface:
 > http://sourceware.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/src/gdb/mi/gdb-mi.el?cvsroot=src
 >
 > But it does indeed seem to be different from the version you sent.  Is
 > the web interface to CVS not showing the latest?

I don't know what you got but I'm pretty sure that I sent you 1.11.

 > > I think some of the problems come from the versions of the gdb and emacs
 > > executables.  So I have privately sent him the latest gdb-mi.el as it
 > > might just work (as an update to Emacs), although it's probably unlikely.
 > 
 > No it didn't fix the problems.  Debugging with cygwin's gdb 6.5.50
 > seems the same.  Breakpoint display works, but current line does not.
 > 
 > BUT -- I just tried this -- it seems that cygwin's gdb 6.5.50 doesn't
 > work with regular M-x gdb and --annotate=3 mode either.  So maybe
 > there's something else going on there, like line-ending conversion
 > problems.

This excerpt from gdb-ui.el might be relevant. (I think Windows doesn't have
ttys but uses pipes instead).

;;; Windows Platforms:

;; If you are using Emacs and GDB on Windows you will need to flush the buffer
;; explicitly in your program if you want timely display of I/O in Emacs.
;; Alternatively you can make the output stream unbuffered, for example, by
;; using a macro:

;;           #ifdef UNBUFFERED
;;	     setvbuf (stdout, (char *) NULL, _IONBF, 0);
;;	     #endif

;; and compiling with -DUNBUFFERED while debugging.

 > Or not.  FWIW, here's the console output of cygwin's GDB 6.5.50:
 > --------------------------------
 >...

 > ----------------------------------------------------
 > 
 > And also FWIW here's what MinGW's gives:
 > ------------------------------------------------------
 >...

I think these differences are due to version changes in GDB, not cygwin/MinGW

 > Anyway, is there concise spec for GDB/MI anywhere that a developer
 > trying to implement a the interface can follow?

Yes, under GDB/MI in the GDB manual.

-- 
Nick                                           http://www.inet.net.nz/~nickrob

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Nick Roberts <nickrob@snap.net.nz>
> Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 10:36:24 +1300
> Cc: gdb@sourceware.org
> 
> I don't know if MinGW has such a build [for GDB 6.6].

They don't.

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Nick Roberts <nickrob@snap.net.nz>
> Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 13:31:20 +1300
> Cc: gdb@sourceware.org
> 
> * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
> (mingw32) or Cygwin.

The OP needs a native debugger, not a cross-debugger.  I don't think
official sources support a native MinGW build of GDB as yet.

Re: gdbmi.el not working with emacs 22

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:32:49 -0500
> From: Daniel Jacobowitz <drow@false.org>
> Cc: Nick Roberts <nickrob@snap.net.nz>, gdb@sourceware.org
> 
> I suspect you're looking at some older MinGW package.

No.  MinGW does not have a build of GDB newer than what the OP cited.