Re: [maint] Guidelines for experimental branches

[David Carlton <carlton@math.stanford.edu>]

On Mon, 03 Mar 2003 18:22:59 -0500, Andrew Cagney <ac131313@redhat.com> said:

> Comments, throughts, overspecified?

Great!  I was planning to write something up containing the mechanics
of branch creation, but you've beaten me to it.

> +@item a branch shall contain the entire @value{GDBN} module
> +The @value{GDBN} module @code{gdb} or @code{gdb+dejagnu} should be
> +specified when creating a branch (branches of individual files should be
> +avoided).

Maybe also mention insight, insight+dejagnu?  (And, for that matter,
to give some guidance as to when "+dejagnu" is appropriate?)

> +@smallexample
> +cvs rtag @var{owner}_@var{name}-@var{YYYYMMDD}-branchpoint gdb+dejagnu
> +cvs rtag -b -r @var{owner}_@var{name}-@var{YYYYMMDD}-branchpoint \
> +   @var{owner}_@var{name}-@var{YYYYMMDD}-branch gdb+dejagnu
> +@end smallexample

It might also be nice to give an example of how to actually check out
the branch here.

> +
> +@item @var{owner}_@var{name}-@var{yyyymmdd}-mergepoint
> +The tagged point, on the mainline, that was used when merging the branch
> +on @var{yyyymmdd}.  To merge in all changes since the branch was cut,
> +use a command sequence like:
> +@smallexample
> +cvs rtag @var{owner}_@var{name}-@var{yyyymmdd}-mergepoint gdb+dejagnu
> +cvs update \
> +   -j@var{owner}_@var{name}-@var{YYYYMMDD}-branchpoint
> +   -j@var{owner}_@var{name}-@var{yyyymmdd}-mergepoint
> +@end smallexample

I would consider adding "-kk" to the cvs update flags: it doesn't
matter for core GDB, but I _think_ it will help for, say, TCL.  Also,
might it be useful to give some guidance about how to detect
collisions (redirecting stdout+stderr to a file, etc.), or is that not
necessary?

> +@section Active branches
> +
> +@subheading cagney_@var{offbyone}-20030303-branch
> +Test fixes to a problem with the wrong frame ID unwind method being
> +called (with the wrong frame cache).

My first reaction is "shouldn't this be on a web page somewhere?".  On
the other hand, it's not like I've ever edited the GDB web pages; it's
easier for branch creaters to edit gdbint.texinfo.  But I still think
this sort of info should be accessible via a web page; maybe put a
link on a GDB web page (current cvs?) to a web copy of this section of
gdbint.texinfo?

David Carlton
carlton@math.stanford.edu