s/ui_out_list/ui_out_tupple/
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / TODO
CommitLineData
c906108c 1If you find inaccuracies in this list, please send mail to
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2gdb-patches@sourceware.cygnus.com. If you would like to work on any
3of these, you should consider sending mail to the same address, to
4find out whether anyone else is working on it.
c906108c 5
138f88c0 6
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7 GDB 5.1 - Fixes
8 ===============
138f88c0 9
bc9e5bbf 10Below is a list of problems identified during the GDB 5.0 release
552054a8 11cycle. People hope to have these problems fixed in 5.1.
4fd99b5a 12
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13-- 2001-03-08
14
15Update GDB's coding standard documentation. Known topics:
16
17 o alloca/malloc et.al.
18
19 o typedef and structs
20
21 o ISO-C
22
23and most likely also:
24
25 o include conventions
26
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27--
28
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29Obsolete ser-ocd.c.
30
31--
32
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33Wow, three bug reports for the same problem in one day! We should
34probably make fixing this a real priority :-).
138f88c0 35
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36Anyway, thanks for reporting.
37
38The following patch will fix the problems with setting breakpoints in
39dynamically loaded objects:
40
41 http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00230.html
42
43This patch isn't checked in yet (ping Michael/JimB), but I hope this
44will be in the next GDB release.
45
46There should really be a test in the testsuite for this problem, since
47it keeps coming up :-(. Any volunteers?
48
49Mark
bc9e5bbf 50
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51--
52
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53x86 linux GDB and SIGALRM (???)
54http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00803.html
55
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56This problem has been fixed, but a regression test still needs to be
57added to the testsuite:
58http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00309.html
67edb2c6 59
bc9e5bbf 60Mark
67edb2c6 61
a50c34dc 62[The test has been submitted for approval - cagney]
b2f4b24d 63
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64--
65
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66RFD: infrun.c: No bpstat_stop_status call after proceed over break?
67http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00665.html
6bc37a96 68
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69GDB misses watchpoint triggers after proceeding over a breakpoint on
70x86 targets.
b2f4b24d 71
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72--
73
74GDB 5.0 doesn't work on Linux/SPARC
75
a50c34dc 76There are two parts to this.
552054a8 77
a50c34dc 78 o GDB 5.0 doesn't work on GNU/Linux/SPARC32
552054a8 79
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80 o GDB 5.0 doesn't work on the new target
81 GNU/Linux/SPARC64
552054a8 82
a50c34dc 83GDB does build on both these targets.
552054a8 84
a50c34dc 85The first problem is the one that should be fixed.
4afc966c 86
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87--
88
89 GDB 5.1 - New features
90 ======================
91
92The following new features should be included in 5.1.
93
94--
95
96Enable MI by default. Old code can be deleted after 5.1 is out.
97
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98Issues:
99
100 o syntax change where a list would
101 look like:
102 [ foo=a, foo=b, foo=c ]
103 instead of
104 { foo=a, foo=b, foo=c }
105
106 o kill off the idea of a reverse
107 query.
108
109 o review test cases
110
111 o enable it
112
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113--
114
115Pascal (Pierre Muller, David Taylor)
116
117Pierre Muller has contributed patches for adding Pascal Language
118support to GDB.
119
1202 pascal language patches inserted in database
121http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00521.html
122
123Indent -gnu ?
124http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00496.html
125
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126[I think this has been merged, need to confirm - cagney]
127
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128--
129
130Java (Anthony Green, David Taylor)
131
132Anthony Green has a number of Java patches that did not make it into
133the 5.0 release. The first two are in cvs now, but the third needs
134some fixing up before it can go in.
135
136Patch: java tests
137http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00512.html
138
139Patch: java booleans
140http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00515.html
141
142Patch: handle N_MAIN stab
143http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00527.html
144
a50c34dc 145-- 2001-03-08
552054a8 146
a50c34dc 147Add CRIS target.
552054a8 148
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149A predicate to this is the multi-arching of SOFTWARE_SINGLE_STEP(). A
150patch has been submitted.
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151
152--
153
154 GDB 5.1 - Cleanups
155 ==================
156
157The following code cleanups will hopefully be applied to GDB 5.1.
158
1a5cef06 159-- 2001-03-26
a50c34dc 160
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161Resolve the build status of all broken targets as identified by the
162MAINTAINERS file.
a50c34dc 163
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164 o arm-* vs NetBSD's lack of ``unix''
165 o arm-* vs IRIX (see below)
166
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167--
168
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169Fix copyright notices.
170
171Turns out that ``1998-2000'' isn't considered valid :-(
172
173http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00467.html
174
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175--
176
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177 GDB 5.1 - Known Problems
178 ========================
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179
180--
181
182z8k
183
184The z8k has suffered bit rot and is known to not build. The problem
185was occuring in the opcodes directory.
186
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187--
188
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189m88k
190
191The m88k has suffered bit rot and is known to not build.
192
193--
194
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195Solaris 8 x86 CURSES_H problem
196http://sources.redhat.com/ml/gdb/2000-07/msg00038.html
197
198The original problem was worked around with:
199
200 2000-06-06 Michael Snyder <msnyder@cygnus.com>
201
202 * configure.in: Enable autoconf to find curses.h on Solaris 2.8.
203 * configure: Regenerate.
204
205When building both GDB and SID using the same source tree the problem
206will still occure. sid/component/configure.in mis-configures
207<curses.h> and leaves wrong information in the config cache.
208
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209--
210
211 GDB 5.2 - Fixes
212 ===============
213
214--
215
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216Thread support. Right now, as soon as a thread finishes and exits,
217you're hosed. This problem is reported once a week or so.
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218
219--
220
221 GDB 5.2 - New features
222 ======================
223
224--
225
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226GCC 3.0 ABI support (but hopefully sooner...).
227
228--
229
230Objective C/C++ support (but hopefully sooner...).
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231
232--
233
234 GDB 5.2 - Cleanups
235 ==================
236
237The following cleanups have been identified as part of GDB 5.2.
238
239--
240
dafc8383 241Remove old code that does not use ui_out functions and all the related
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242"ifdef"s. This also allows the elimination of -DUI_OUT from
243Makefile.in and configure.in.
dafc8383
FN
244
245--
246
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247Compiler warnings.
248
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249Eliminate warnings for all targets on at least one host for one of the
250-W flags. Flags up for debate include: -Wswitch -Wcomment -trigraphs
251-Wtrigraphs -Wunused-function -Wunused-label -Wunused-variable
252-Wunused-value -Wchar-subscripts -Wtraditional -Wshadow -Wcast-qual
253-Wcast-align -Wwrite-strings -Wconversion -Wstrict-prototypes
254-Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -Wredundant-decls
255-Woverloaded-virtual -Winline
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256
257--
258
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259Deprecate, if not delete, the following:
260
261 register[]
262 register_valid[]
263 register_buffer()
264 REGISTER_BYTE()
265 Replaced by, on the target side
266 supply_register()
267 and on core-gdb side:
268 {read,write}_register_gen()
269 Remote.c will need to use something
270 other than REGISTER_BYTE() and
271 REGISTER_RAW_SIZE() when unpacking
272 [gG] packets.
273
274 STORE_PSEUDO_REGISTER
275 FETCH_PSEUDO_REGISTER
276 Now handed by the methods
277 gdbarch_{read,write}_register()
278 which sits between core GDB and
279 the register cache.
280
281 REGISTER_CONVERTIBLE
282 REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_RAW
283 REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_VIRTUAL
284 I think these three are redundant.
285 gdbarch_register_{read,write} can
286 do any conversion it likes.
287
288 REGISTER_VIRTUAL_SIZE
289 MAX_REGISTER_VIRTUAL_SIZE
290 REGISTER_VIRTUAL_TYPE
291 I think these can be replaced by
292 the pair:
293 FRAME_REGISTER_TYPE(frame, regnum)
294 REGISTER_TYPE(regnum)
295
296 DO_REGISTERS_INFO
297 Replace with
298 FRAME_REGISTER_INFO (frame, ...)
299
300 REGISTER_SIM_REGNO()
301 If nothing else rename this so that
302 how it relates to rawreg and the
303 regnum is clear.
304
305 REGISTER_BYTES
306 The size of the cache can be computed
307 on the fly.
308
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309 IS_TRAPPED_INTERNALVAR
310 The pseudo registers should eventually make
311 this redundant.
312
313--
314
315Obsolete the targets.
316
317arm*-wince-pe
318mips*-*-pe
319sh*-*-pe
320
321Obsolete the protocols:
322
323RDB
324
325``As of version 5.3, WindRiver has removed the RDB server (RDB
326protocol support is built into gdb).'' -- Till.
327
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328--
329
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330Restructure gdb directory tree so that it avoids any 8.3 and 14
331filename problems.
332
333--
334
335Convert GDB build process to AUTOMAKE.
336
337See also sub-directory configure below.
338
339The current convention is (kind of) to use $(<header>_h) in all
340dependency lists. It isn't done in a consistent way.
341
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342--
343
344 GDB 5.2 - Known Problems
345 ========================
346
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347--
348
349 Code Cleanups: General
350 ======================
351
352The following are more general cleanups and fixes. They are not tied
353to any specific release.
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354
355--
356
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357Investigate changing --target=a29k-amd-udi to a29k-*-coff* and
358rationalize *.mt files. The got-ya is in remote-eb.c - it has its own
359custom tty manipulation - it should be using the serial object.
360
361--
362
a2061976 363Rename read_register{,_pid}() to read_unsigned_register{,_pid}().
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364
365--
366
367Can't build IRIX -> arm GDB.
368http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-04/msg00356.html
369
370David Whedon writes:
371> Now I'm building for an embedded arm target. If there is a way of turning
372> remote-rdi off, I couldn't find it. It looks like it gets built by default
373> in gdb/configure.tgt(line 58) Anyway, the build dies in
374> gdb/rdi-share/unixcomm.c. SERPORT1 et. al. never get defined because we
375> aren't one of the architectures supported.
376
377--
378
379Problem with weak functions
380http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-05/msg00060.html
381
382Dan Nicolaescu writes:
383> It seems that gdb-4.95.1 does not display correctly the function when
384> stoping in weak functions.
385>
386> It stops in a function that is defined as weak, not in the function
387> that is actually run...
388
389--
390
391Follow through `make check' with --enable-shared.
392
393When the srcware tree is configured with --enable-shared, the `expect'
394program won't run properly. Jim Wilson found out gdb has a local hack
395to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH, but, AFAIK, no other project has been hacked
396similarly.
397
398http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00845.html
399
400--
401
402Delete macro TARGET_BYTE_ORDER_SELECTABLE.
403
404Patches in the database.
405
406--
407
408printcmd.c (print_address_numeric):
409
410NOTE: This assumes that the significant address information is kept in
411the least significant bits of ADDR - the upper bits were either zero
412or sign extended. Should ADDRESS_TO_POINTER() or some
413ADDRESS_TO_PRINTABLE() be used to do the conversion?
414
415--
416
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417The BFD directory requires bug-fixed AUTOMAKE et.al.
418
419AUTOMAKE 1.4 incorrectly set the TEXINPUTS environment variable. It
420contained the full path to texinfo.tex when it should have only
421contained the directory. The bug has been fixed in the current
422AUTOMAKE sources. Automake snapshots can be found in:
423 ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/gdb/snapshots
424and ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/binutils
425
426--
427
428Find something better than DEFAULT_BFD_ARCH, DEFAULT_BFD_VEC to
429determine the default isa/byte-order.
430
431--
432
e26cc349 433Rely on BFD_BIG_ENDIAN and BFD_LITTLE_ENDIAN instead of host dependent
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434BIG_ENDIAN and LITTLE_ENDIAN.
435
436--
437
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438Eliminate more compiler warnings.
439
440Of course there also needs to be the usual debate over which warnings
441are valid and how to best go about this.
442
443One method: choose a single option; get agreement that it is
444reasonable; try it out to see if there isn't anything silly about it
445(-Wunused-parameters is an example of that) then incrementally hack
446away.
447
448The other method is to enable all warnings and eliminate them from one
449file at a time.
450
451--
452
4afc966c 453Elimination of ``(catch_errors_ftype *) func''.
bc9e5bbf 454
4afc966c 455Like make_cleanup_func it isn't portable.
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456http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00791.html
457http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00814.html
458
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459--
460
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461Nuke #define CONST_PTR.
462
463--
464
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465Nuke USG define.
466
467--
468
469[PATCH/5] src/intl/Makefile.in:distclean additions
470http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-04/msg00363.html
471
472Do not forget to merge the patch back into the trunk.
473
474--
475
476Rationalize the host-endian code (grep for HOST_BYTE_ORDER).
477
478At present defs.h includes <endian.h> (which is linux specific) yet
479almost nothing depends on it. Suggest "gdb_endian.h" which can also
480handle <machine/endian.h> and only include that where it is really
481needed.
482
483--
484
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485Replace savestring() with something from libiberty.
486
487An xstrldup()? but that would have different semantics.
488
489--
490
491Rationalize use of floatformat_unknown in GDB sources.
492
493Instead of defaulting to floatformat_unknown, should hosts/targets
494specify the value explicitly?
495
496http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00447.html
497
498--
499
500Add a ``name'' member to include/floatformat.h:struct floatformat.
501Print that name in gdbarch.c.
502
503--
504
505Sort out the harris mess in include/floatformat.h (it hardwires two
506different floating point formats).
507
508--
509
510See of the GDB local floatformat_do_doublest() and libiberty's
511floatformat_to_double (which was once GDB's ...) can be merged some
512how.
513
514--
515
4fcf66da 516Eliminate mmalloc(), mstrsave() et.al. from GDB.
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517
518Also eliminate it from defs.h.
519
520--
521
522Eliminate PTR. ISO-C allows ``void *''.
523
524--
525
526Eliminate abort ().
527
528GDB should never abort. GDB should either throw ``error ()'' or
529``internal_error ()''. Better still GDB should naturally unwind with
530an error status.
531
532--
533
534GDB probably doesn't build on FreeBSD pre 2.2.x
535http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00378.html
536
537Fixes to get FreeBSD working on 2.2.x, 3.x and 4.x caused the code to
538suffer bit rot.
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539
540--
541
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542Deprecate "fg". Apparently ``fg'' is actually continue.
543
544http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00417.html
545
546--
547
548Deprecate current use of ``floatformat_unknown''.
549
550Require all targets to explicitly provide their float format instead
551of defaulting to floatformat unknown. Doing the latter leads to nasty
552bugs.
553
554http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00447.html
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555
556--
557
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558Rationalize floatformat_to_double() vs floatformat_to_doublest().
559
560Looks like GDB migrated floatformat_to_double() to libiberty but then
561turned around and created a ..._to_doublest() the latter containing
562several bug fixes.
563
564http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00472.html
565
566--
567
568Move floatformat_ia64_ext to libiberty/include floatformat.[ch].
569
570http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00466.html
571
572--
573
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574The ``maintenance deprecate set endian big'' command doesn't notice
575that it is deprecating ``set endian'' and not ``set endian big'' (big
576is implemented using an enum). Is anyone going to notice this?
577
578--
579
580When tab expanding something like ``set arch<tab>'' ignore the
581deprecated ``set archdebug'' and expand to ``set architecture''.
582
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583--
584
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585Eliminate ``arm_register_names[j] = (char *) regnames[j]'' and the
586like from arm-tdep.c.
587
588--
589
590Fix uses of ->function.cfunc = set_function().
591
592The command.c code calls sfunc() when a set command. Rather than
593change it suggest fixing the callback function so that it is more
594useful. See:
595
596http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-06/msg00062.html
597
598See also ``Fix implementation of ``target xxx''.'' below.
599
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600--
601
602IRIX 3.x support is probably broken.
603
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604--
605
606Delete sim/SIM_HAVE_BREAKPOINTS and gdb/SIM_HAS_BREAKPOINTS.
607http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-07/msg00042.html
608
609Apart from the d30v, are there any sim/common simulators that make use
610of this?
611
e26cc349 612A brief summary of what happened is that sim/common/sim-break.c was
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613created as a good idea. It turned out a better idea was to use
614SIM_SIGBREAK and have GDB pass back sim_resume (..., SIGBREAK).
615
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616--
617
618Move remote_remove_hw_breakpoint, remote_insert_hw_breakpoint,
619remote_remove_watchpoint, remote_insert_watchpoint into target vector.
620
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621--
622
623Eliminate ``extern'' from C files.
624
625--
626
627Replace ``STREQ()'' et.al. with ``strcmp() == 0'' et.al.
628
629Extreme care is recommeded - perhaps only modify tests that are
630exercised by the testsuite (as determined using some type of code
631coverage analysis).
632
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633--
634
635Replace the file gdb/CONTRIBUTE with a file that is generated from the
636gdb/doc/*.texinfo directory.
637
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638--
639
640Rewrite/break up sparcl-tdep.c so that it uses ser*.c as the mechanism
641for accessing either the serial or UDP port.
642
53904c9e 643--
78566ebe 644
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645 New Features and Fixes
646 ======================
bc9e5bbf 647
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648These are harder than cleanups but easier than work involving
649fundamental architectural change.
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650
651--
652
0db23c95 653Hardware watchpoint problems on x86 OSes, including Linux:
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654
6551. Delete/disable hardware watchpoints should free hardware debug
656registers.
6572. Watch for different values on a viariable with one hardware debug
658register.
659
660According to Eli Zaretskii <eliz@delorie.com>:
661
662These are not GDB/ia32 issues per se: the above features are all
663implemented in the DJGPP port of GDB and work in v5.0. Every
664x86-based target should be able to lift the relevant parts of
665go32-nat.c and use them almost verbatim. You get debug register
666sharing through reference counts, and the ability to watch large
667regions (up to 16 bytes) using multiple registers. (The required
668infrastructure in high-level GDB application code, mostly in
669breakpoint.c, is also working since v5.0.)
670
671--
672
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673Add built-by, build-date, tm, xm, nm and anything else into gdb binary
674so that you can see how the GDB was created.
bc9e5bbf 675
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676--
677
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678Add an "info bfd" command that displays supported object formats,
679similarly to objdump -i.
5683e87a 680
4afc966c 681Is there a command already?
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682
683--
684
4afc966c 685Fix ``I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that.'' from symfile.c.
bc9e5bbf 686
4afc966c 687This requires internationalization.
bc9e5bbf 688
4afc966c 689--
bc9e5bbf 690
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691Add support for:
692
693(gdb) p fwprintf(stdout,L"%S\n", f)
694No symbol "L" in current context.
695
696--
697
4afc966c 698Cleanup configury support for optional sub-directories.
7ae38352 699
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700Check how GCC handles multiple front ends for an example of how things
701could work. A tentative first step is to rationalize things so that
702all sub directories are handled in a fashion similar to gdb/mi.
703
704See also automake above.
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705
706--
707
4afc966c
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708Add a transcript mechanism to GDB.
709
710Such a mechanism might log all gdb input and output to a file in a
711form that would allow it to be replayed. It could involve ``gdb
712--transcript=FILE'' or it could involve ``(gdb) transcript file''.
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713
714--
715
4afc966c 716Can the xdep files be replaced by autoconf?
bc9e5bbf 717
4afc966c 718--
bc9e5bbf 719
4afc966c 720Document trace machinery
bc9e5bbf 721
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722--
723
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724Document ui-out and ui-file.
725
726http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-04/msg00121.html
727
728--
729
730Update texinfo.tex to latest?
731
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732--
733
734Incorporate agentexpr.texi into gdb.texinfo
735
736agentexpr.texi mostly describes the details of the byte code used for
737tracepoints, not the internals of the support for this in GDB. So it
738looks like gdb.texinfo is a better place for this information.
739
740http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-04/msg00566.html
741
742--
743
4afc966c 744Document overlay machinery.
bc9e5bbf 745
7ae38352
AC
746--
747
4afc966c 748``(gdb) catch signal SIGNAL''
7ae38352 749
e26cc349 750Overlaps with ``handle SIGNAL'' but the implied behavior is different.
4afc966c
AC
751You can attach commands to a catch but not a handle. A handle has a
752limited number of hardwired actions.
7ae38352
AC
753
754--
755
1c5b31ef
AC
756Fix TUI
757
758 o readline/*.h bitrot
759
760 The TUI isn't up-to-date with
761 respect to the readline currently
762 bundled with GDB. Importing a
763 new readline is on the 5.1 wish
764 list so this can only get worse.
765
766 Grep for things like term_cursor_move.
767
768 (To be honest, I don't see anyone
769 importing a new readline before 5.1 is
770 out)
771
772 o tui.c:va_catch_errors() bitrot
773
774 This nasty piece of work used knowledge
775 of the internals of GDBs error functions :-(
776 Ever since those internals were cleaned
777 up this code has been broken. :-(
778
779 o tuiWin.c:c_makeVisibleWithNewHeight() broken
780 tuiLayout.c:_extractDisplayStartAddr() broken
781
782 Both these function call find_line_pc()
783 incorrectly (wrong args, wrong return value).
784
785 I suspect this bug has always been there!
786 It had been hidden because those files
787 didn't include the necessary header files
788 from gdb proper :-(
789
790 o tuiRegs() host dependant
791
792 Not suprisingly, this isn't a very portable
793 section of code. However, I'm sure people
794 could live with no regs in the short to
795 medium term.
796
797 o defs.h: #include "tui.h" et.al.
798
799 I'm not sure where this came from.
800 It was a really bad idea.
801
802 To get things to compile I did a nasty
803 hack (Just declare what was needed and
804 replace any expressions like xx->y.z()
805 in GDB proper with function calls). I
806 could commit it slightly cleaned up if
807 you like.
808
809 Medium Term. the #ifdef TUI and TuiDo()
810 should be changed to hooks (like GDBTK).
811 The gdb-events.[hc] is there for that
812 purpose (1)
813
814 o tui.c:_tuiReset() host dependant
815
816 tui.c contains a lump of termio[s]
817 I suspect an equivalent block of
818 code can be lifted from readline.
819 An equivalent readline function may
820 even be available.
821
822 o curses.h vs ncurses.h.
823
824 Simple portability problem.
825
826 o subsetCompare()
827
828 This function is a mystery - where is it?
829
830 o tui-file.[hc] cleanup
831
832 This can be significantly simplified.
833
834 o The code should be pacified. (-Werror -W...)
835
836 There are plenty of #includes,
837 duplicate #includes, missing function decls
838 and the like.
839
840 Some of the problems I found were through
841 fixing a few of the warnings.
842
843 o The code should be GNUtified.
844
845 It would be very nice to have this code
846 look like the rest of GDB. That way people
847 would be more accepting of it as a true
848 gdb component.
849
850 Until it is GNUtified it is going to stick
851 out like a sore thumb to the programmer.
852
853 o The code should be clearly copyrighted
854
855 (FSF, with due credit to HP)
7ae38352 856
bc9e5bbf
AC
857--
858
4afc966c
AC
859Add support for ``gdb --- PROGRAM ARGS ...''.
860Add support for ``gdb -cmd=...''
9debab2f 861
4afc966c
AC
862Along with many variations. Check:
863
864????? for a full discussion.
865
866for a discussion.
9debab2f
AC
867
868--
869
4afc966c 870Implement ``(gdb) !ls''.
e55e8cee 871
4afc966c
AC
872Which is very different from ``(gdb) ! ls''. Implementing the latter
873is trivial.
874
875http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00034.html
e55e8cee
AC
876
877--
878
b4a20239
AC
879Change the (char *list[]) to (const char (*)[]) so that dynamic lists can
880be passed.
881
882--
883
884When tab expanding something like ``set arch<tab>'' ignore the
885deprecated ``set archdebug'' and expand to ``set architecture''.
886
887--
888
4afc966c
AC
889Replace the code that uses the host FPU with an emulator of the target
890FPU.
7ae38352 891
4930751a
C
892--
893
894The "ocd reset" command needs to flush the dcache, which requires breaking
895the abstraction layer between the target independent and target code. One
896way to address this is provide a generic "reset" command and target vector.
897
898http://sources.redhat.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-10/msg00011.html
899
4afc966c
AC
900--
901
902 Thread Support
903 ==============
7ae38352
AC
904
905--
906
4afc966c
AC
907Generic: lin-thread cannot handle thread exit (Mark Kettenis, Michael
908Snyder) http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00525.html
7ae38352 909
4afc966c
AC
910The thread_db assisted debugging code doesn't handle exiting threads
911properly, at least in combination with glibc 2.1.3 (the framework is
912there, just not the actual code). There are at least two problems
913that prevent this from working.
914
915As an additional reference point, the pre thread_db code did not work
916either.
7ae38352
AC
917
918--
919
4afc966c
AC
920GNU/Linux/x86 and random thread signals (and Solaris/SPARC but not
921Solaris/x86).
922http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00336.html
7ae38352 923
4afc966c
AC
924Christopher Blizzard writes:
925
926So, I've done some more digging into this and it looks like Jim
927Kingdon has reported this problem in the past:
928
929http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/bug-gdb/1999-10/msg00058.html
930
931I can reproduce this problem both with and without Tom's patch. Has
932anyone seen this before? Maybe have a solution for it hanging around?
933:)
934
935There's a test case for this documented at:
936
937when debugging threaded applications you get extra SIGTRAPs
938http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=9565
939
940[There should be a GDB testcase - cagney]
7ae38352
AC
941
942--
943
4afc966c
AC
944GDB5 TOT on unixware 7
945http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-04/msg00119.html
7ae38352 946
4afc966c
AC
947Robert Lipe writes:
948> I just spun the top of tree of the GDB5 branch on UnixWare 7. As a
949> practical matter, the current thread support is somewhat more annoying
950> than when GDB was thread-unaware.
7ae38352 951
7ae38352
AC
952--
953
4afc966c
AC
954 Language Support
955 ================
7ae38352 956
4afc966c 957New languages come onto the scene all the time.
7ae38352
AC
958
959--
960
4afc966c
AC
961Re: Various C++ things
962
26099b4a
AC
963value_headof/value_from_vtable_info are worthless, and should be
964removed. The one place in printcmd.c that uses it should use the RTTI
965functions.
4afc966c 966
26099b4a
AC
967RTTI for g++ should be using the typeinfo functions rather than the
968vtables. The typeinfo functions are always at offset 4 from the
969beginning of the vtable, and are always right. The vtables will have
970weird names like E::VB sometimes. The typeinfo function will always
971be "E type_info function", or somesuch.
4afc966c 972
26099b4a
AC
973value_virtual_fn_field needs to be fixed so there are no failures for
974virtual functions for C++ using g++.
4afc966c 975
26099b4a
AC
976Testsuite cases are the major priority right now for C++ support,
977since i have to make a lot of changes that could potentially break
978each other.
7ae38352
AC
979
980--
981
4afc966c 982Add support for Modula3
7ae38352 983
4afc966c 984Get DEC/Compaq to contribute their Modula-3 support.
7ae38352
AC
985
986--
987
4afc966c
AC
988 Remote Protocol Support
989 =======================
7ae38352
AC
990
991--
992
a2061976
AC
993Revised UDP support (was: Re: [Fwd: [patch] UDP transport support])
994http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-04/msg00000.html
995
996(Broken) support for GDB's remote protocol across UDP is to be
997included in the follow-on release.
998
999It should be noted that UDP can only work when the [Gg] packet fits in
1000a single UDP packet.
1001
1002There is also much debate over the merit of this.
1003
1004--
1005
1006Migrate qfThreadInfo packet -> qThreadInfo. (Andrew Cagney)
1007
1008Add support for packet enable/disable commands with these thread
1009packets. General cleanup.
1010
1011[PATCH] Document the ThreadInfo remote protocol queries
1012http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00832.html
1013
1014[PATCH] "info threads" queries for remote.c
1015http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00831.html
1016
1017--
1018
7ae38352
AC
1019Remote protocol doco feedback.
1020
1021Too much feedback to mention needs to be merged in (901660). Search
1022for the word ``remote''.
1023
4afc966c
AC
1024
1025http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00023.html
1026http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00056.html
1027http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00382.html
1028
7ae38352
AC
1029--
1030
4afc966c 1031GDB doesn't recover gracefully from remote protocol errors.
7ae38352 1032
4afc966c
AC
1033GDB wasn't checking for NAKs from the remote target. Instead a NAK is
1034ignored and a timeout is required before GDB retries. A pre-cursor to
1035fixing this this is making GDB's remote protocol packet more robust.
1036
1037While downloading to a remote protocol target, gdb ignores packet
d471ea57 1038errors in so far as it will continue to download with chunk N+1 even
4afc966c
AC
1039if chunk N was not correctly sent. This causes gdb.base/remote.exp to
1040take a painfully long time to run. As a PS that test needs to be
1041fixed so that it builds on 16 bit machines.
7ae38352
AC
1042
1043--
1044
a2061976
AC
1045Fix the ``!'' packet.
1046
1047JT reported that the existing targets do, in fact return ``OK'' so it
1048is possible to merge remote and extended-remote targets.
1049
1050--
1051
1052Drop ``<address>'' from the [SsCc] packets.
1053
1054I don't think that GDB generates them so having it in the protocol is
1055silly.
1056
1057--
1058
1059Fix doco on the ``q'' packet.
1060
1061It has evolved into a generic RPC. The notes should reflect this and,
1062perhaps, the ``Q'' packet can be deprecated.
1063
1064The doco should mention that ``OK'' is a valid packet response.
1065
1066The doco should explain why ``OK'' needs to be a valid packet
1067response.
1068
1069--
1070
4afc966c 1071Add the cycle step command.
7ae38352 1072
4afc966c 1073http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00237.html
7ae38352 1074
26099b4a
AC
1075--
1076
1077Resolve how to scale things to support very large packets.
1078
1079--
1080
1081Resolve how to handle a target that changes things like its endianess
1082on the fly - should it be returned in the ``T'' packet?
1083
1084Underlying problem is that the register file is target endian. If the
1085target endianess changes gdb doesn't know.
1086
ee055267
AC
1087Suggest encoding registers as NN!VALUE.
1088
1089--
1090
1091GDB should allow incomming packets to be larger than outgoing ones. A
1092fully loaded T packet (containing all registers) can be very large -
1093definitly larger than a corresponding Gg packet.
1094
7ae38352
AC
1095--
1096
4afc966c
AC
1097 Symbol Support
1098 ==============
7ae38352 1099
4afc966c
AC
1100If / when GDB starts to support the debugging of multi-processor
1101(rather than multi-thread) applications the symtab code will need to
e26cc349 1102be updated a little so that several independent symbol tables are
4afc966c
AC
1103active at a given time.
1104
1105The other interesting change is a clarification of the exact meaning
1106of CORE_ADDR and that has had consequences for a few targets (that
1107were abusing that data type).
7ae38352 1108
d8038014
AC
1109--
1110
4afc966c 1111Investiagate ways of reducing memory.
d8038014
AC
1112
1113--
1114
4afc966c 1115Investigate ways of improving load time.
d8038014 1116
4afc966c
AC
1117--
1118
1119Get the d10v to use POINTER_TO_ADDRESS and ADDRESS_TO_POINTER.
1120
1121Consequence of recent symtab clarification. No marks for figuring out
1122who maintains the d10v.
d8038014 1123
0aaf65d7
AC
1124--
1125
4afc966c
AC
1126Get the MIPS to correctly sign extend all address <-> pointer
1127conversions.
0aaf65d7 1128
4afc966c
AC
1129Consequence of recent symtab clarification. No marks for figuring out
1130who maintains the MIPS.
0aaf65d7 1131
5d35f0ac
AC
1132--
1133
1134GDB truncates 64 bit enums.
1135
1136http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-06/msg00290.html
1137
26099b4a
AC
1138--
1139
1140 Testsuite Support
1141 =================
1142
1143There are never to many testcases.
1144
1145--
1146
1147Better thread testsuite.
1148
1149--
1150
1151Better C++ testsuite.
1152
1153--
1154
1155Look at adding a GDB specific testsuite directory so that white box
1156tests of key internals can be added (eg ui_file).
1157
1158--
1159
1160Separate out tests that involve the floating point (FP).
1161
1162(Something for people brining up new targets). FP and non-fp tests
1163are combined. I think there should be set of basic tests that
1164exercise pure integer support and then a more expanded set that
1165exercise FP and FP/integer interactions.
1166
1167As an example, the MIPS, for n32 as problems with passing FP's and
1168structs. Since most inferior call tests include FP it is difficult to
1169determine of the integer tests are ok.
1170
7ae38352
AC
1171--
1172
4afc966c
AC
1173 Architectural Changes: General
1174 ==============================
7ae38352
AC
1175
1176These are harder than simple cleanups / fixes and, consequently
1177involve more work. Typically an Architectural Change will be broken
1178down into a more digestible set of cleanups and fixes.
1179
1180--
1181
4afc966c
AC
1182Cleanup software single step.
1183
1184At present many targets implement software single step by directly
1185blatting memory (see rs6000-tdep.c). Those targets should register
1186the applicable breakpoints using the breakpoint framework. Perhaphs a
1187new internal breakpoint class ``step'' is needed.
1188
1189--
1190
7ae38352
AC
1191Replace READ_FP() with FRAME_HANDLE().
1192
1193READ_FP() is a hangover from the days of the vax when the ABI really
1194did have a frame pointer register. Modern architectures typically
1195construct a virtual frame-handle from the stack pointer and various
1196other bits of string.
1197
e26cc349 1198Unfortunately GDB still treats this synthetic FP register as though it
7ae38352
AC
1199is real. That in turn really confuses users (arm and ``print $fp'' VS
1200``info registers fp''). The synthetic FP should be separated out of
1201the true register set presented to the user.
1202
1203--
1204
2a00c9ce
AC
1205Register Cache Cleanup (below from Andrew Cagney)
1206
1207I would depict the current register architecture as something like:
1208
1209 High GDB --> Low GDB
1210 | |
1211 \|/ \|/
1212 --- REG NR -----
1213 |
1214 register + REGISTER_BYTE(reg_nr)
1215 |
1216 \|/
1217 -------------------------
1218 | extern register[] |
1219 -------------------------
1220
1221where neither the high (valops.c et.al.) or low gdb (*-tdep.c) are
1222really clear on what mechanisms they should be using to manipulate that
1223buffer. Further, much code assumes, dangerously, that registers are
1224contigious. Having got mips-tdep.c to support multiple ABIs, believe
1225me, that is a bad assumption. Finally, that register cache layout is
1226determined by the current remote/local target and _not_ the less
1227specific target ISA. In fact, in many cases it is determined by the
1228somewhat arbitrary layout of the [gG] packets!
1229
1230
1231How I would like the register file to work is more like:
1232
1233
1234 High GDB
1235 |
1236 \|/
1237 pseudo reg-nr
1238 |
1239 map pseudo <->
1240 random cache
1241 bytes
1242 |
1243 \|/
1244 ------------
1245 | register |
1246 | cache |
1247 ------------
1248 /|\
1249 |
1250 map random cache
1251 bytes to target
e26cc349 1252 dependent i-face
2a00c9ce
AC
1253 /|\
1254 |
e26cc349 1255 target dependent
2a00c9ce
AC
1256 such as [gG] packet
1257 or ptrace buffer
1258
1259The main objectives being:
1260
1261 o a clear separation between the low
1262 level target and the high level GDB
1263
1264 o a mechanism that solves the general
1265 problem of register aliases, overlaps
1266 etc instead of treating them as optional
1267 extras that can be wedged in as an after
1268 thought (that is a reasonable description
1269 of the current code).
1270
1271 Identify then solve the hard case and the
1272 rest just falls out. GDB solved the easy
1273 case and then tried to ignore the real
1274 world :-)
1275
1276 o a removal of the assumption that the
1277 mapping between the register cache
1278 and virtual registers is largely static.
1279 If you flip the USR/SSR stack register
1280 select bit in the status-register then
1281 the corresponding stack registers should
1282 reflect the change.
1283
1284 o a mechanism that clearly separates the
1285 gdb internal register cache from any
e26cc349 1286 target (not architecture) dependent
2a00c9ce
AC
1287 specifics such as [gG] packets.
1288
1289Of course, like anything, it sounds good in theory. In reality, it
1290would have to contend with many<->many relationships at both the
1291virt<->cache and cache<->target level. For instance:
1292
1293 virt<->cache
1294 Modifying an mmx register may involve
1295 scattering values across both FP and
1296 mmpx specific parts of a buffer
1297
1298 cache<->target
1299 When writing back a SP it may need to
1300 both be written to both SP and USP.
1301
1302
1303Hmm,
1304
1305Rather than let this like the last time it was discussed, just slip, I'm
1306first going to add this e-mail (+ references) to TODO. I'd then like to
1307sketch out a broad strategy I think could get us there.
1308
1309
1310First thing I'd suggest is separating out the ``extern registers[]''
1311code so that we can at least identify what is using it. At present
1312things are scattered across many files. That way we can at least
1313pretend that there is a cache instead of a global array :-)
1314
1315I'd then suggest someone putting up a proposal for the pseudo-reg /
1316high-level side interface so that code can be adopted to it. For old
1317code, initially a blanket rename of write_register_bytes() to
1318deprecated_write_register_bytes() would help.
1319
1320Following that would, finaly be the corresponding changes to the target.
bc9e5bbf
AC
1321
1322--
1323
67edb2c6
AC
1324Check that GDB can handle all BFD architectures (Andrew Cagney)
1325
1326There should be a test that checks that BFD/GDB are in sync with
1327regard to architecture changes. Something like a test that first
1328queries GDB for all supported architectures and then feeds each back
1329to GDB.. Anyone interested in learning how to write tests? :-)
1330
1331--
1332
4afc966c
AC
1333 Architectural Change: Multi-arch et al.
1334 =======================================
2a00c9ce 1335
4afc966c
AC
1336The long term objective is to remove all assumptions that there is a
1337single target with a single address space with a single instruction
1338set architecture and single application binary interface.
2a00c9ce 1339
4afc966c
AC
1340This is an ongoing effort. The first milestone is to enable
1341``multi-arch'' where by all architectural decisions are made at
1342runtime.
7ae38352 1343
4afc966c
AC
1344It should be noted that ``gdbarch'' is really ``gdbabi'' and
1345``gdbisa''. Once things are multi-arched breaking that down correctly
1346will become much easier.
7ae38352
AC
1347
1348--
1349
4afc966c 1350GDBARCH cleanup (Andrew Cagney)
7ae38352 1351
4afc966c
AC
1352The non-generated parts of gdbarch.{sh,h,c} should be separated out
1353into arch-utils.[hc].
1354
1355Document that gdbarch_init_ftype could easily fail because it didn't
1356identify an architecture.
ed952ac5
AC
1357
1358--
1359
4afc966c 1360Fix BELIEVE_PPC_PROMOTION. Change it to BELIEVE_PPC_PROMOTION_P?
ed952ac5 1361
4afc966c
AC
1362At present there is still #ifdef BELIEVE_PPC_PROMOTION code in the
1363symtab file.
ed952ac5 1364
4afc966c
AC
1365--
1366
8e6a3c35
AC
1367Fix target_signal_from_host() etc.
1368
1369The name is wrong for starters. ``target_signal'' should probably be
1370``gdb_signal''. ``from_host'' should be ``from_target_signal''.
e26cc349 1371After that it needs to be multi-arched and made independent of any
8e6a3c35
AC
1372host signal numbering.
1373
ee055267
AC
1374Once this is done, the signal enum can probably be moved to
1375include/gdb so that it is available to embedded stubs.
1376
8e6a3c35
AC
1377--
1378
4afc966c
AC
1379Update ALPHA so that it uses ``struct frame_extra_info'' instead of
1380EXTRA_FRAME_INFO.
1381
1382This is a barrier to replacing mips_extra_func_info with something
1383that works with multi-arch.
7ae38352
AC
1384
1385--
1386
4afc966c
AC
1387Multi-arch mips_extra_func_info.
1388
1389This first needs the alpha to be updated so that it uses ``struct
1390frame_extra_info''.
7ae38352
AC
1391
1392--
1393
4afc966c 1394Rationalize TARGET_SINGLE_FORMAT and TARGET_SINGLE_BIT et al.
7ae38352 1395
4afc966c 1396Surely one of them is redundant.
7ae38352
AC
1397
1398--
1399
4afc966c 1400Convert ALL architectures to MULTI-ARCH.
7ae38352
AC
1401
1402--
1403
1404Select the initial multi-arch ISA / ABI based on --target or similar.
1405
1406At present the default is based on what ever is first in the BFD
1407archures table. It should be determined based on the ``--target=...''
1408name.
1409
1410--
1411
bf64bfd6
AC
1412Make MIPS pure multi-arch.
1413
1414It is only at the multi-arch enabled stage.
1415
1416--
1417
7ae38352
AC
1418Truly multi-arch.
1419
1420Enable the code to recognize --enable-targets=.... like BINUTILS does.
1421
4afc966c
AC
1422Can the tm.h and nm.h files be eliminated by multi-arch.
1423
7ae38352
AC
1424--
1425
4afc966c
AC
1426 Architectural Change: MI, LIBGDB and scripting languages
1427 ========================================================
7ae38352 1428
4afc966c
AC
1429See also architectural changes related to the event loop. LIBGDB
1430can't be finished until there is a generic event loop being used by
1431all targets.
1432
1433The long term objective is it to be possible to integrate GDB into
1434scripting languages.
7ae38352
AC
1435
1436--
1437
4afc966c 1438Implement generic ``(gdb) commmand > file''
7ae38352 1439
4afc966c
AC
1440Once everything is going through ui_file it should be come fairly
1441easy.
1442
1443http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-04/msg00104.html
1444
1445--
1446
1447Replace gdb_stdtarg with gdb_targout (and possibly gdb_targerr).
1448
1449gdb_stdtarg is easily confused with gdb_stdarg.
1450
1451--
1452
1453Extra ui_file methods - dump.
1454
26099b4a 1455Very useful for whitebox testing.
4afc966c
AC
1456
1457--
1458
1459Eliminate error_begin().
1460
1461With ui_file, there is no need for the statefull error_begin ()
1462function.
1463
1464--
1465
1466Send normal output to gdb_stdout.
1467Send error messages to gdb_stderror.
1468Send debug and log output log gdb_stdlog.
1469
1470GDB still contains many cases where (f)printf or printf_filtered () is
1471used when it should be sending the messages to gdb_stderror or
1472gdb_stdlog. The thought of #defining printf to something has crossed
1473peoples minds ;-)
7ae38352
AC
1474
1475--
1476
1477Re-do GDB's output pager.
1478
1479GDB's output pager still relies on people correctly using *_filtered
1480for gdb_stdout and *_unfiltered for gdb_stdlog / gdb_stderr.
1481Hopefully, with all normal output going to gdb_stdout, the pager can
1482just look at the ui_file that the output is on and then use that to
1483decide what to do about paging. Sounds good in theory.
1484
1485--
1486
4afc966c
AC
1487Check/cleanup MI documentation.
1488
1489The list of commands specified in the documentation needs to be
1490checked against the mi-cmds.c table in a mechanical way (so that they
1491two can be kept up-to-date).
1492
1493--
1494
1495Convert MI into libgdb
1496
1497MI provides a text interface into what should be many of the libgdb
1498functions. The implementation of those functions should be separated
1499into the MI interface and the functions proper. Those functions being
1500moved to gdb/lib say.
1501
1502--
1503
1504Create libgdb.h
1505
1506The first part can already be found in defs.h.
1507
1508--
1509
1510MI's input does not use buffering.
1511
1512At present the MI interface reads raw characters of from an unbuffered
1513FD. This is to avoid several nasty buffer/race conditions. That code
1514should be changed so that it registers its self with the event loop
1515(on the input FD) and then push commands up to MI as they arrive.
1516
1517The serial code already does this.
1518
1519--
1520
e26cc349 1521Make MI interface accessible from existing CLI.
4afc966c
AC
1522
1523--
1524
1525Add a breakpoint-edit command to MI.
1526
1527It would be similar to MI's breakpoint create but would apply to an
1528existing breakpoint. It saves the need to delete/create breakpoints
1529when ever they are changed.
1530
1531--
1532
1533Add directory path to MI breakpoint.
1534
1535That way the GUI's task of finding the file within which the
1536breakpoint was set is simplified.
1537
1538--
1539
1540Add a mechanism to reject certain expression classes to MI
7ae38352
AC
1541
1542There are situtations where you don't want GDB's expression
1543parser/evaluator to perform inferior function calls or variable
4afc966c
AC
1544assignments. A way of restricting the expression parser so that such
1545operations are not accepted would be very helpful.
7ae38352
AC
1546
1547--
1548
1549Remove sideffects from libgdb breakpoint create function.
1550
1551The user can use the CLI to create a breakpoint with partial
1552information - no file (gdb would use the file from the last
1553breakpoint).
1554
1555The libgdb interface currently affects that environment which can lead
1556to confusion when a user is setting breakpoints via both the MI and
1557the CLI.
1558
1559This is also a good example of how getting the CLI ``right'' will be
1560hard.
1561
1562--
1563
4afc966c 1564Move gdb_lasterr to ui_out?
7ae38352 1565
4afc966c
AC
1566The way GDB throws errors and records them needs a re-think. ui_out
1567handles the correct output well. It doesn't resolve what to do with
1568output / error-messages when things go wrong.
7ae38352 1569
97c3646f
AC
1570--
1571
1572do_setshow_command contains a 1024 byte buffer.
1573
1574The function assumes that there will never be any more than 1024 bytes
1575of enum. It should use mem_file.
1576
1577--
1578
1579Should struct cmd_list_element . completer take the command as an
1580argument?
1581
1582--
1583
1584Should the bulk of top.c:line_completion_function() be moved to
1585command.[hc]? complete_on_cmdlist() and complete_on_enums() could
1586then be made private.
1587
1588--
1589
1590top.c (execute_command): Should a command being valid when the target
1591is running be made an attribute (predicate) to the command rather than
1592an explicit set of tests.
1593
1594--
1595
1596top.c (execute_command): Should the bulk of this function be moved
1597into command.[hc] so that top.c doesn't grub around in the command
1598internals?
1599
4afc966c
AC
1600--
1601
1602 Architectural Change: Async
1603 ===========================
1604
1605While GDB uses an event loop when prompting the user for input. That
1606event loop is not exploited by targets when they allow the target
1607program to continue. Typically targets still block in (target_wait())
1608until the program again halts.
1609
1610The closest a target comes to supporting full asynchronous mode are
1611the remote targets ``async'' and ``extended-async''.
7ae38352
AC
1612
1613--
1614
4afc966c 1615Asynchronous expression evaluator
7ae38352 1616
4afc966c 1617Inferior function calls hang GDB.
7ae38352
AC
1618
1619--
1620
1621Fix implementation of ``target xxx''.
1622
1623At present when the user specifies ``target xxxx'', the CLI maps that
1624directly onto a target open method. It is then assumed that the
1625target open method should do all sorts of complicated things as this
1626is the only chance it has. Check how the various remote targets
1627duplicate the target operations. Check also how the various targets
1628behave differently for purely arbitrary reasons.
1629
1630What should happen is that ``target xxxx'' should call a generic
1631``target'' function and that should then co-ordinate the opening of
1632``xxxx''. This becomes especially important when you're trying to
1633open an asynchronous target that may need to perform background tasks
1634as part of the ``attach'' phase.
1635
e26cc349 1636Unfortunately, due to limitations in the old/creaking command.h
7ae38352
AC
1637interface, that isn't possible. The function being called isn't told
1638of the ``xxx'' or any other context information.
1639
1640Consequently a precursor to fixing ``target xxxx'' is to clean up the
1641CLI code so that it passes to the callback function (attatched to a
1642command) useful information such as the actual command and a context
1643for that command. Other changes such as making ``struct command''
1644opaque may also help.
1645
53904c9e
AC
1646See also:
1647http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-06/msg00062.html
1648
7ae38352
AC
1649--
1650
4afc966c
AC
1651Make "target xxx" command interruptible.
1652
1653As things become async this becomes possible. A target would start
1654the connect and then return control to the event loop. A cntrl-c
1655would notify the target that the operation is to be abandoned and the
1656target code could respond.
7ae38352
AC
1657
1658--
1659
4afc966c
AC
1660Add a "suspend" subcommand of the "continue" command to suspend gdb
1661while continuing execution of the subprocess. Useful when you are
1662debugging servers and you want to dodge out and initiate a connection
1663to a server running under gdb.
1664
1665[hey async!!]
7ae38352 1666
2a00c9ce
AC
1667--
1668
26099b4a
AC
1669 TODO FAQ
1670 ========
1671
1672Frequently requested but not approved requests.
1673
1674--
1675
1676Eliminate unused argument warnings using ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED.
1677
1678The benefits on this one are thought to be marginal - GDBs design
1679means that unused parameters are very common. GCC 3.0 will also
1680include the option -Wno-unused-parameter which means that ``-Wall
1681-Wno-unused-parameters -Werror'' can be specified.
1682
1683--
1684
1685
1686
2a00c9ce
AC
1687 Legacy Wish List
1688 ================
1689
1690This list is not up to date, and opinions vary about the importance or
1691even desirability of some of the items. If you do fix something, it
1692always pays to check the below.
1693
1694--
c906108c 1695
b83266a0
SS
1696@c This does not work (yet if ever). FIXME.
1697@c @item --parse=@var{lang} @dots{}
1698@c Configure the @value{GDBN} expression parser to parse the listed languages.
1699@c @samp{all} configures @value{GDBN} for all supported languages. To get a
1700@c list of all supported languages, omit the argument. Without this
1701@c option, @value{GDBN} is configured to parse all supported languages.
1702
7ae38352 1703--
c906108c
SS
1704
1705START_INFERIOR_TRAPS_EXPECTED need never be defined to 2, since that
1706is its default value. Clean this up.
1707
7ae38352
AC
1708--
1709
c906108c
SS
1710It should be possible to use symbols from shared libraries before we know
1711exactly where the libraries will be loaded. E.g. "b perror" before running
1712the program. This could maybe be done as an extension of the "breakpoint
1713re-evaluation" after new symbols are loaded.
1714
7ae38352
AC
1715--
1716
c906108c
SS
1717Make single_step() insert and remove breakpoints in one operation.
1718
26099b4a
AC
1719[If this is talking about having single_step() insert the breakpoints,
1720run the target then pull the breakpoints then it is wrong. The
1721function has to return as control has to eventually be passed back to
1722the main event loop.]
1723
7ae38352
AC
1724--
1725
c906108c
SS
1726Speed up single stepping by avoiding extraneous ptrace calls.
1727
7ae38352
AC
1728--
1729
c906108c
SS
1730Speed up single stepping by not inserting and removing breakpoints
1731each time the inferior starts and stops.
1732
1733Breakpoints should not be inserted and deleted all the time. Only the
1734one(s) there should be removed when we have to step over one. Support
1735breakpoints that don't have to be removed to step over them.
1736
7ae38352 1737[this has resulted in numerous debates. The issue isn't clear cut]
c906108c 1738
7ae38352 1739--
c906108c
SS
1740
1741Provide "voodoo" debugging of core files. This creates a zombie
1742process as a child of the debugger, and loads it up with the data,
1743stack, and regs of the core file. This allows you to call functions
1744in the executable, to manipulate the data in the core file.
1745
7ae38352 1746[you wish]
c906108c 1747
7ae38352 1748--
c906108c 1749
7ae38352 1750GDB reopens the source file on every line, as you "next" through it.
c906108c 1751
7ae38352 1752[still true? I've a memory of this being fixed]
c906108c 1753
7ae38352 1754--
c906108c
SS
1755
1756Perhaps "i source" should take an argument like that of "list".
1757
7ae38352 1758--
c906108c
SS
1759
1760Remove "at 0xnnnn" from the "b foo" response, if `print address off' and if
1761it matches the source line indicated.
1762
7ae38352 1763--
c906108c 1764
7ae38352 1765The prompt at end of screen should accept space as well as CR.
c906108c 1766
7ae38352 1767--
c906108c
SS
1768
1769Backtrace should point out what the currently selected frame is, in
1770its display, perhaps showing "@3 foo (bar, ...)" or ">3 foo (bar,
1771...)" rather than "#3 foo (bar, ...)".
1772
7ae38352
AC
1773--
1774
c906108c
SS
1775"i program" should work for core files, and display more info, like what
1776actually caused it to die.
1777
7ae38352
AC
1778--
1779
c906108c
SS
1780"x/10i" should shorten the long name, if any, on subsequent lines.
1781
7ae38352 1782--
c906108c
SS
1783
1784"next" over a function that longjumps, never stops until next time you happen
1785to get to that spot by accident. E.g. "n" over execute_command which has
1786an error.
1787
7ae38352
AC
1788--
1789
c906108c
SS
1790"set zeroprint off", don't bother printing members of structs which
1791are entirely zero. Useful for those big structs with few useful
1792members.
1793
7ae38352
AC
1794--
1795
c906108c
SS
1796GDB does four ioctl's for every command, probably switching terminal modes
1797to/from inferior or for readline or something.
1798
7ae38352
AC
1799--
1800
c906108c
SS
1801terminal_ours versus terminal_inferior: cache state. Switch should be a noop
1802if the state is the same, too.
1803
7ae38352 1804--
c906108c
SS
1805
1806"i frame" shows wrong "arglist at" location, doesn't show where the args
1807should be found, only their actual values.
1808
7ae38352
AC
1809--
1810
c906108c
SS
1811There should be a way for "set" commands to validate the new setting
1812before it takes effect.
1813
7ae38352 1814--
c906108c
SS
1815
1816"ena d" is ambiguous, why? "ena delete" seems to think it is a command!
1817
7ae38352 1818--
c906108c
SS
1819
1820i line VAR produces "Line number not known for symbol ``var''.". I
1821thought we were stashing that info now!
1822
7ae38352
AC
1823--
1824
c906108c
SS
1825We should be able to write to random files at hex offsets like adb.
1826
7ae38352
AC
1827--
1828
7ae38352
AC
1829[elena - delete this]
1830
c906108c
SS
1831Handle add_file with separate text, data, and bss addresses. Maybe
1832handle separate addresses for each segment in the object file?
1833
7ae38352
AC
1834--
1835
1836[Jimb/Elena delete this one]
1837
c906108c
SS
1838Handle free_named_symtab to cope with multiply-loaded object files
1839in a dynamic linking environment. Should remember the last copy loaded,
1840but not get too snowed if it finds references to the older copy.
1841
7ae38352
AC
1842--
1843
1844[elena delete this also]
c906108c
SS
1845
1846Remove all references to:
1847 text_offset
1848 data_offset
1849 text_data_start
1850 text_end
1851 exec_data_offset
1852 ...
1853now that we have BFD. All remaining are in machine dependent files.
1854
7ae38352 1855--
c906108c
SS
1856
1857Re-organize help categories into things that tend to fit on a screen
1858and hang together.
1859
7ae38352 1860--
c906108c
SS
1861
1862Add in commands like ADB's for searching for patterns, etc. We should
1863be able to examine and patch raw unsymboled binaries as well in gdb as
1864we can in adb. (E.g. increase the timeout in /bin/login without source).
1865
7ae38352
AC
1866[actually, add ADB interface :-]
1867
1868--
c906108c
SS
1869
1870When doing "step" or "next", if a few lines of source are skipped between
1871the previous line and the current one, print those lines, not just the
1872last line of a multiline statement.
1873
7ae38352 1874--
c906108c
SS
1875
1876Handling of "&" address-of operator needs some serious overhaul
1877for ANSI C and consistency on arrays and functions.
1878 For "float point[15];":
1879ptype &point[4] ==> Attempt to take address of non-lvalue.
1880 For "char *malloc();":
1881ptype malloc ==> "char *()"; should be same as
1882ptype &malloc ==> "char *(*)()"
1883call printf ("%x\n", malloc) ==> weird value, should be same as
1884call printf ("%x\n", &malloc) ==> correct value
1885
7ae38352
AC
1886--
1887
c906108c
SS
1888Fix dbxread.c symbol reading in the presence of interrupts. It
1889currently leaves a cleanup to blow away the entire symbol table when a
1890QUIT occurs. (What's wrong with that? -kingdon, 28 Oct 1993).
1891
7ae38352
AC
1892[I suspect that the grype was that, on a slow system, you might want
1893to cntrl-c and get just half the symbols and then load the rest later
1894- scary to be honest]
1895
1896--
1897
c906108c
SS
1898Mipsread.c reads include files depth-first, because the dependencies
1899in the psymtabs are way too inclusive (it seems to me). Figure out what
1900really depends on what, to avoid recursing 20 or 30 times while reading
1901real symtabs.
1902
7ae38352
AC
1903--
1904
c906108c
SS
1905value_add() should be subtracting the lower bound of arrays, if known,
1906and possibly checking against the upper bound for error reporting.
1907
7ae38352 1908--
c906108c
SS
1909
1910When listing source lines, check for a preceding \n, to verify that
1911the file hasn't changed out from under us.
1912
7ae38352
AC
1913[fixed by some other means I think. That hack wouldn't actually work
1914reliably - the file might move such that another \n appears. ]
c906108c 1915
7ae38352 1916--
c906108c
SS
1917
1918Get all the remote systems (where the protocol allows it) to be able to
1919stop the remote system when the GDB user types ^C (like remote.c
1920does). For ebmon, use ^Ak.
1921
7ae38352
AC
1922--
1923
c906108c
SS
1924Possible feature: A version of the "disassemble" command which shows
1925both source and assembly code ("set symbol-filename on" is a partial
1926solution).
1927
7ae38352
AC
1928[has this been done? It was certainly done for MI and GDBtk]
1929
1930--
1931
c906108c
SS
1932investigate "x/s 0" (right now stops early) (I think maybe GDB is
1933using a 0 address for bad purposes internally).
1934
7ae38352
AC
1935--
1936
c906108c
SS
1937Make "info path" and path_command work again (but independent of the
1938environment either of gdb or that we'll pass to the inferior).
1939
7ae38352
AC
1940--
1941
c906108c
SS
1942Make GDB understand the GCC feature for putting octal constants in
1943enums. Make it so overflow on an enum constant does not error_type
1944the whole type. Allow arbitrarily large enums with type attributes.
1945Put all this stuff in the testsuite.
1946
7ae38352
AC
1947--
1948
c906108c
SS
1949Make TYPE_CODE_ERROR with a non-zero TYPE_LENGTH more useful (print
1950the value in hex; process type attributes). Add this to the
1951testsuite. This way future compilers can add new types and old
1952versions of GDB can do something halfway reasonable.
1953
7ae38352 1954--
c906108c
SS
1955
1956Fix mdebugread.c:parse_type to do fundamental types right (see
1957rs6000_builtin_type in stabsread.c for what "right" is--the point is
1958that the debug format fixes the sizes of these things and it shouldn't
1959depend on stuff like TARGET_PTR_BIT and so on. For mdebug, there seem
1960to be separate bt* codes for 64 bit and 32 bit things, and GDB should
1961be aware of that). Also use a switch statement for clarity and speed.
1962
7ae38352
AC
1963--
1964
c906108c
SS
1965Investigate adding symbols in target_load--some targets do, some
1966don't.
1967
7ae38352
AC
1968--
1969
c906108c
SS
1970Put dirname in psymtabs and change lookup*symtab to use dirname (so
1971/foo/bar.c works whether compiled by cc /foo/bar.c, or cd /foo; cc
1972bar.c).
1973
7ae38352
AC
1974--
1975
c906108c
SS
1976Merge xcoffread.c and coffread.c. Use breakpoint_re_set instead of
1977fixup_breakpoints.
1978
7ae38352 1979--
c906108c
SS
1980
1981Make a watchpoint which contains a function call an error (it is
1982broken now, making it work is probably not worth the effort).
1983
7ae38352 1984--
c906108c
SS
1985
1986New test case based on weird.exp but in which type numbers are not
1987renumbered (thus multiply defining a type). This currently causes an
1988infinite loop on "p v_comb".
1989
7ae38352 1990--
c906108c 1991
7ae38352 1992[Hey! Hint Hint Delete Delete!!!]
c906108c
SS
1993
1994Fix 386 floating point so that floating point registers are real
1995registers (but code can deal at run-time if they are missing, like
1996mips and 68k). This would clean up "info float" and related stuff.
1997
7ae38352 1998--
c906108c
SS
1999
2000gcc -g -c enummask.c then gdb enummask.o, then "p v". GDB complains
2001about not being able to access memory location 0.
2002
2003-------------------- enummask.c
2004enum mask
2005{
2006 ANIMAL = 0,
2007 VEGETABLE = 1,
2008 MINERAL = 2,
2009 BASIC_CATEGORY = 3,
2010
2011 WHITE = 0,
2012 BLUE = 4,
2013 GREEN = 8,
2014 BLACK = 0xc,
2015 COLOR = 0xc,
2016
2017 ALIVE = 0x10,
2018
2019 LARGE = 0x20
2020} v;
2021
7ae38352
AC
2022--
2023
c906108c
SS
2024If try to modify value in file with "set write off" should give
2025appropriate error not "cannot access memory at address 0x65e0".
2026
7ae38352 2027--
c906108c 2028
c906108c
SS
2029Allow core file without exec file on RS/6000.
2030
7ae38352
AC
2031--
2032
c906108c
SS
2033Make sure "shell" with no arguments works right on DOS.
2034
7ae38352
AC
2035--
2036
c906108c
SS
2037Make gdb.ini (as well as .gdbinit) be checked on all platforms, so
2038the same directory can be NFS-mounted on unix or DOS, and work the
2039same way.
2040
7ae38352
AC
2041--
2042
2043[Is this another delete???]
c906108c
SS
2044
2045Get SECT_OFF_TEXT stuff out of objfile_relocate (might be needed to
2046get RS/6000 to work right, might not be immediately relevant).
2047
7ae38352 2048--
c906108c
SS
2049
2050Work out some kind of way to allow running the inferior to be done as
2051a sub-execution of, eg. breakpoint command lists. Currently running
2052the inferior interupts any command list execution. This would require
2053some rewriting of wait_for_inferior & friends, and hence should
2054probably be done in concert with the above.
2055
7ae38352
AC
2056--
2057
c906108c
SS
2058Add function arguments to gdb user defined functions.
2059
7ae38352
AC
2060--
2061
c906108c
SS
2062Add convenience variables that refer to exec file, symbol file,
2063selected frame source file, selected frame function, selected frame
2064line number, etc.
2065
7ae38352
AC
2066--
2067
c906108c
SS
2068Modify the handling of symbols grouped through BINCL/EINCL stabs to
2069allocate a partial symtab for each BINCL/EINCL grouping. This will
2070seriously decrease the size of inter-psymtab dependencies and hence
2071lessen the amount that needs to be read in when a new source file is
2072accessed.
2073
7ae38352 2074--
c906108c 2075
c906108c
SS
2076Add a command for searching memory, a la adb. It specifies size,
2077mask, value, start address. ADB searches until it finds it or hits
2078an error (or is interrupted).
2079
7ae38352
AC
2080--
2081
b83266a0
SS
2082Remove the range and type checking code and documentation, if not
2083going to implement.
2084
c906108c
SS
2085# Local Variables:
2086# mode: text
2087# End:
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