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To: Andrew Cagney <cagney@gnu.org>
Cc: gdb@sources.redhat.com
Subject: Re: GDB's command qualifier character is `/'
References: <3F92C0D2.6050807@gnu.org>
From: Jim Blandy <jimb@redhat.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 21:54:00 -0000
In-Reply-To: <3F92C0D2.6050807@gnu.org>
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Andrew Cagney <cagney@gnu.org> writes:
> GDB's CLI, long ago established `/' as its command qualifier character vis:
> 
> 	x/i
> 	display/i
> 	print/x
> 
> GDB's user base is very familar with this syntax(1) so adding new
> qualfiers using this syntax would provide a consistent user experience
> (if there is x/i, how come there isn't "info break/l"?).

I think / is only for format specifiers, not a general-purpose command
qualifier thing.

It seems to me that GDB has tended to use words for command
qualifiers, like:

  break foo if x == 10
  break foo thread 4
  `append [binary] memory FILENAME START_ADDR END_ADDR'
  `append [binary] value FILENAME EXPR'

We do have some existing examples of Unix-like command options:

  `symbol-file FILENAME [ -readnow ] [ -mapped ]'
  `file FILENAME [ -readnow ] [ -mapped ]'

  `add-symbol-file FILENAME ADDRESS'
  `add-symbol-file FILENAME ADDRESS [ -readnow ] [ -mapped ]'
  `add-symbol-file FILENAME -sSECTION ADDRESS ...'

I'd love to see discussion about how to pull these things together a
bit more, but I think it's difficult to argue that there is a
consistent rule in place already.