From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 26079 invoked by alias); 25 Jun 2007 21:52:08 -0000 Received: (qmail 26069 invoked by uid 22791); 25 Jun 2007 21:52:07 -0000 X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Received: from mail.codesourcery.com (HELO mail.codesourcery.com) (65.74.133.4) by sourceware.org (qpsmtpd/0.31) with ESMTP; Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:52:05 +0000 Received: (qmail 7901 invoked from network); 25 Jun 2007 21:52:03 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO localhost) (jimb@127.0.0.2) by mail.codesourcery.com with ESMTPA; 25 Jun 2007 21:52:03 -0000 To: Eli Zaretskii Cc: eager@eagercon.com, stanshebs@earthlink.net, gdb@sources.redhat.com Subject: Re: What's an annex? stratum? References: <467D5FEF.7010900@eagercon.com> <467D6D1F.7090507@earthlink.net> <467D6FB8.4080909@eagercon.com> <468009EA.4040504@eagercon.com> From: Jim Blandy Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:52:00 -0000 In-Reply-To: (Eli Zaretskii's message of "Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:23:05 +0300") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.50 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-IsSubscribed: yes 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: 2007-06/txt/msg00276.txt.bz2 Eli Zaretskii writes: >> Cc: Stan Shebs , gdb@sources.redhat.com >> From: Jim Blandy >> Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:10:36 -0700 >> >> Well, let me try again to say what I meant: if you're new to GDB, you >> should not start by reading gdbint.texinfo. Instead, start by reading >> and grepping, and then experiment by debugging GDB with itself. > > That may be the only practical way today, but IMO it's a terribly > inefficient way. GDB's sources is a hodgepodge of many disparate and > not always related parts: different target-specific back-ends that > have no relation whatsoever, semi-obsolete APIs used by a couple of > rotting targets, features relevant only to remote debugging that are > not clearly separated from the native pieces, etc. For the > uninitiated, finding one's way in all this maze of twisted little > passages all alike, without some minimal guidance, is a very hard job, > to say the least. This is all true. >> I'm even a little skeptical about the value of internals documentation >> at all. > > I cannot disagree more. A well written, well indexed internal > documentation can be a real help in studying an unfamiliar program of > GDB's complexity. Well, if GCC's internals documentation is as good as they say, I could be wrong.