Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:00:59 -0500 From: Andrew Cagney To: rms@gnu.org Cc: hilfingr@CS.Berkeley.edu, vincent@waw.com, jimb@redhat.com, cagney@redhat.com, jtc@acorntoolworks.com, dewar@gnat.com, klee@apple.com, shebs@apple.com, toddpw@toddpw.org, nick@nick.uklinux.net Subject: Re: obsoleting the annotate level 2 interface Message-ID: <3E3565CB.1040706@redhat.com> References: <15917.39229.935851.920452@nick.uklinux.net> <3E301D28.3060504@redhat.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-length: 1533 > GDB developers are working to resolve all known issues with MI that > would block EMACS(1). We really don't want to be in a situtation where > we're forced to prop up the level two annotations. > > I support the goal of making Emacs use MI, but it may take some time > before this works, since it requires changes in GDB and bigger changes > in Emacs. Please don't drop support for the annotations until this > works. My understanding is: - To the best of my knowledge, all previous versions of EMACS use GDB's level-one annotations. - This new (unreleased?) EMACS debug mode is different. It is using level-two annotations even though GDB has deprecated support for this. - JimB's proposal was to continue providing level-one annotations (and hence allow existing EMACS releases to work) but obsolete (and eventually remove) level-two annotations. Supporting level-two annotations will involve an ongoing commitment of GDB developer resources (something we're sadly lacking). I think those developer resources would be far better spent improving GDB's support of features such as Java, C++ and threads, and the far more powerful / robust / tested MI interface. Consequently, I don't think it is reasonable to have GDB commit to supporting level-two annotations (something GDB has already deprecated) until the new EMACS mode is working with MI. I believe that GDB should obsolete (and schedule the removal of) level-two annotations the moment the remaining MI work is completed. Andrew