backtrace issues

[David Carlton <carlton@kealia.com>]

Does GDB have known issues with backtraces on programs compiled with a
recent GCC but with a C library compiled with an old GCC?  It happens
not infrequently around here that we get backtraces that GDB 5.3 can
read but where mainline GDB can't get past the first few frames.  I
know I've seen this in the following situation (user code is compiled
with GCC 3.2, system libraries are from Red Hat 7.3):

* We have user code, which seg faults.

* Our signal handler gets called.  This signal handler then prints out
  a (useful) backtrace, using the functions provided by the C
  library.  It then calls abort().

* A core file is generated.

Then, when we try to read the core file, mainline GDB gets confused a
few frames down (right around the signal handler), while GDB 5.3 has
no problem with the core file.

Is this a known issue?  Is there anything useful I can do to help
diagnose the issue?  Obviously I'll try to produce a stripped-down
example where this happens, but if I'm not able to do so, I can
certainly run GDB on itself to see what's going on, if anybody can
point me to useful places to look at.

David Carlton
carlton@kealia.com