Add support for FreeBSD/i386 ELF.
[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 Known problems in GDB 5.0
8 =========================
138f88c0 9
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10Below is a list of problems identified during the GDB 5.0 release
11cycle. People hope to have these problems fixed in a follow-on
12release.
138f88c0 13
bc9e5bbf 14(The names in paren indicate people that posted the original problem.)
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15
16--
17
6e8cb14a 18GDB requires GCC to build under IRIX
c906108c 19
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20IRIX, being more pedantic than GCC reports as errors certain
21assignments that GCC treats as warnings.
bc9e5bbf 22
6e8cb14a 23This can be worked around by building GDB with the GCC compiler.
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24
25--
26
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27The BFD directory requires bug-fixed AUTOMAKE et.al.
28
29AUTOMAKE 1.4 incorrectly set the TEXINPUTS environment variable. It
30contained the full path to texinfo.tex when it should have only
31contained the directory. The bug has been fixed in the current
32AUTOMAKE sources. Automake snapshots can be found in:
33 ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/gdb/snapshots
34and ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/binutils
35
36--
37
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38gdb-cvs fails to build on freebsd-elf
39http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-04/msg00004.html
138f88c0 40
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41Either the FreeBSD group need to contribute their local GDB changes
42back to the master sources or someone needs to provides a new
43(clean-room) implementation. Since the former involves a fairly
44complicated assignment the latter may be easier. [cagney]
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45
46--
47
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48Generic: lin-thread cannot handle thread exit (Mark Kettenis, Michael
49Snyder) http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00525.html
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50
51The thread_db assisted debugging code doesn't handle exiting threads
52properly, at least in combination with glibc 2.1.3 (the framework is
53there, just not the actual code). There are at least two problems
54that prevent this from working.
55
bc9e5bbf 56As an additional reference point, the pre thread_db code did not work
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57either.
58
59--
60
61Java (Anthony Green, David Taylor)
62
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63Anthony Green has a number of Java patches that did not make it into
64the 5.0 release.
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65
66Patch: java tests
67http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00512.html
68
69Patch: java booleans
70http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00515.html
71
72Patch: handle N_MAIN stab
73http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00527.html
74
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75--
76
77Pascal (Pierre Muller, David Taylor)
78
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79Pierre Muller has contributed patches for adding Pascal Language
80support to GDB.
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81
822 pascal language patches inserted in database
83http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00521.html
84
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85Indent -gnu ?
86http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00496.html
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87
88--
89
90GNU/Linux/x86 and random thread signals (and Solaris/SPARC but not
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91Solaris/x86).
92http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00336.html
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93
94Christopher Blizzard writes:
95
96So, I've done some more digging into this and it looks like Jim
97Kingdon has reported this problem in the past:
98
99http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/bug-gdb/1999-10/msg00058.html
100
101I can reproduce this problem both with and without Tom's patch. Has
102anyone seen this before? Maybe have a solution for it hanging around?
103:)
104
105There's a test case for this documented at:
106
107when debugging threaded applications you get extra SIGTRAPs
108http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=9565
109
110[There should be a GDB testcase - cagney]
111
112--
113
bc9e5bbf 114Possible regressions with some devel GCCs.
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115http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00475.html
116
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117gcc-2.95.2 outputs a line note *before* the prologue (and one for the
118closing brace after the epilogue, instead of before it, as it used to
119be). By disabling the RTL-style prologue generating mechanism
120(undocumented GCC option -mno-schedule-prologue), you get back the
121traditional behaviour.
122http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00510.html
138f88c0 123
bc9e5bbf 124This should now be fixed.
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125
126--
127
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128RFD: infrun.c: No bpstat_stop_status call after proceed over break?
129(Peter Schauer)
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130http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00665.html
131
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132GDB misses watchpoint triggers after proceeding over a breakpoint on
133x86 targets.
134
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135--
136
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137x86 linux GDB and SIGALRM (???)
138http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-q1/msg00803.html
139
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140I know there are problems with single stepping through signal
141handlers. These problems were present in 4.18. They were just masked
142because 4.18 failed to recognize signal handlers. Fixing it is not
143easy, and will require changes to handle_inferior_event(), that I
144prefer not to make before the 5.0 release.
67edb2c6 145
bc9e5bbf 146Mark
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147
148--
149
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150Revised UDP support (was: Re: [Fwd: [patch] UDP transport support])
151http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-04/msg00000.html
152
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153(Broken) support for GDB's remote protocol across UDP is to be
154included in the follow-on release.
138f88c0 155
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156--
157
158Can't build IRIX -> arm GDB.
159http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-04/msg00356.html
160
161David Whedon writes:
162> Now I'm building for an embedded arm target. If there is a way of turning
163> remote-rdi off, I couldn't find it. It looks like it gets built by default
164> in gdb/configure.tgt(line 58) Anyway, the build dies in
165> gdb/rdi-share/unixcomm.c. SERPORT1 et. al. never get defined because we
166> aren't one of the architectures supported.
167
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168--
169
170Problem with weak functions
171http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-05/msg00060.html
172
173Dan Nicolaescu writes:
174> It seems that gdb-4.95.1 does not display correctly the function when
175> stoping in weak functions.
176>
177> It stops in a function that is defined as weak, not in the function
178> that is actualy run...
b2f4b24d 179
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180--
181
182GDB5 TOT on unixware 7
183http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb/2000-04/msg00119.html
184
185Robert Lipe writes:
186> I just spun the top of tree of the GDB5 branch on UnixWare 7. As a
187> practical matter, the current thread support is somewhat more annoying
188> than when GDB was thread-unaware.
189
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190--
191
7ae38352 192 Code Cleanups
2a00c9ce 193 =============
bc9e5bbf 194
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195The following are small cleanups that will hopefully be completed by
196the follow on to 5.0.
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197
198--
199
200ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED
201
202The need for this as almost been eliminated. The next version of GCC
203(assuming cagney gets the relevant patch committed) will be able to
204supress unused parameter warnings.
205
206--
207
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208Eliminate more compiler warnings.
209
210Of course there also needs to be the usual debate over which warnings
211are valid and how to best go about this.
212
213One method: choose a single option; get agreement that it is
214reasonable; try it out to see if there isn't anything silly about it
215(-Wunused-parameters is an example of that) then incrementally hack
216away.
217
218The other method is to enable all warnings and eliminate them from one
219file at a time.
220
221--
222
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223Delete macro TARGET_BYTE_ORDER_SELECTABLE.
224
225Patches in the database.
226
227--
228
229Updated readline
230
231Readline 4.? is out. A merge wouldn't hurt.
232
233--
234
235Purge PARAMS
236
237Eliminate all uses of PARAMS in GDB's source code.
238
239--
240
241Elimination of make_cleanup_func. (Andrew Cagney)
242
243make_cleanup_func elimination
244http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00791.html
245http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00814.html
246
247--
248
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249Elimination of ``(catch_errors_ftype *) func''.
250
251Like make_cleanup_func it isn't portable.
252
253--
254
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255Re: Various C++ things
256
257value_headof/value_from_vtable_info are worthless, and should be removed.
258The one place in printcmd.c that uses it should use the RTTI functions.
259
260RTTI for g++ should be using the typeinfo functions rather than the vtables.
261The typeinfo functions are always at offset 4 from the beginning of the vtable,
262and are always right. The vtables will have weird names like E::VB sometimes.
263The typeinfo function will always be "E type_info function", or somesuch.
264
265value_virtual_fn_field needs to be fixed so there are no failures for virtual
266functions for C++ using g++.
267
268Testsuite cases are the major priority right now for C++ support, since i have
269to make a lot of changes that could potentially break each other.
138f88c0 270
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271--
272
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273Fix ``set architecture <tab>''
274
275This command should expand to a list of all supported architectures.
276At present ``info architecture'' needs to be used. That is simply
277wrong. It involves the use of add_set_enum_cmd().
278
279--
280
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281GDBARCH cleanup (Andrew Cagney)
282
283The non-generated parts of gdbarch.{sh,h,c} should be separated out
bc9e5bbf 284into arch-utils.[hc].
67edb2c6 285
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286Document that gdbarch_init_ftype could easily fail because it didn't
287identify an architecture.
288
289--
290
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291Migrate qfThreadInfo packet -> qThreadInfo. (Andrew Cagney)
292
293Add support for packet enable/disable commands with these thread
294packets. General cleanup.
295
296[PATCH] Document the ThreadInfo remote protocol queries
297http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00832.html
298
299[PATCH] "info threads" queries for remote.c
300http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-q1/msg00831.html
301
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302--
303
304 General Cleanups / Fixes
305 ========================
306
307The following are more general cleanups and fixes. They are not tied
308to any specific release.
309
310--
311
312Nuke USG define.
313
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314--
315
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316Eliminate gdb/tui/Makefile.in.
317Cleanup configury support for optional sub-directories.
318
319Check how GCC handles multiple front ends for an example of how things
320could work. A tentative first step is to rationalize things so that
321all sub directories are handled in a fashion similar to gdb/mi.
322
323--
324
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325[PATCH/5] src/intl/Makefile.in:distclean additions
326http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-04/msg00363.html
327
328Do not forget to merge the patch back into the trunk.
329
330--
331
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332Update ALPHA so that it uses ``struct frame_extra_info'' instead of
333EXTRA_FRAME_INFO.
e55e8cee 334
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335This is a barrier to replacing mips_extra_func_info with something
336that works with multi-arch.
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337
338--
339
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340Multi-arch mips_extra_func_info.
341
342This first needs the alpha to be updated so that it uses ``struct
343frame_extra_info''.
344
345--
346
347Send normal output to gdb_stdout.
348Send error messages to gdb_stderror.
349Send debug and log output log gdb_stdlog.
350
351GDB still contains many cases where (f)printf or printf_filtered () is
352used when it should be sending the messages to gdb_stderror or
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353gdb_stdlog. The thought of #defining printf to something has crossed
354peoples minds ;-)
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355
356--
357
358Rationalize the host-endian code (grep for HOST_BYTE_ORDER).
359
5683e87a 360At present defs.h includes <endian.h> (which is linux specific) yet
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361almost nothing depends on it. Suggest "gdb_endian.h" which can also
362handle <machine/endian.h> and only include that where it is really
363needed.
364
365--
366
367Replace asprintf() calls with xasprintf() calls.
368
369As with things like strdup() most calls to asprintf() don't check the
370return value.
371
372--
373
374Rationaize savestring(), msavestring() and mstrsave().
375
376In general libiberty's xstrdup () can be used.
377
378--
379
380Eliminate mmalloc() from GDB.
381
382Also eliminate it from defs.h.
383
384--
385
386Check/cleanup MI documentation.
387
388The list of commands specified in the documentation needs to be
389checked against the mi-cmds.c table in a mechanical way (so that they
390two can be kept up-to-date).
391
392--
393
394Eliminate error_begin().
395
396With ui_file, there is no need for the statefull error_begin ()
397function.
398
399--
400
401Add built-by, build-date, tm, xm, nm and anything else into gdb binary
402so that you can see how the GDB was created.
403
404Some of these (*m.h) would be added to the generated config.h. That
405in turn would fix a long standing bug where by the build process many
406not notice a changed tm.h file. Since everything depends on config.h,
407a change to *m.h forces a change to config.h and, consequently forces
408a rebuild.
409
410--
411
412Replace gdb_stdtarg with gdb_targout (and possibly gdb_targerr).
413
414gdb_stdtarg is easily confused with gdb_stdarg.
415
416--
417
418Remote protocol doco feedback.
419
420Too much feedback to mention needs to be merged in (901660). Search
421for the word ``remote''.
422
423--
424
425set/show remote X-packet ...
426
427``(gdb) help set remote X-packet'' doesn't list the applicable
428responses. The help message needs to be expanded.
429
430--
431
432Extra ui_file methods - dump.
433
434These are for debugging / testing. An aside is to set up a whitebox
435testsuite for key internals such as ui_file.
436
437--
438
439Add an "info bfd" command that displays supported object formats,
440similarly to objdump -i.
441
442Is there a command already?
443
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444--
445
446Eliminate PTR. ISO-C allows ``void *''.
447
448--
449
450Eliminate abort ().
451
452GDB should never abort. GDB should either throw ``error ()'' or
453``internal_error ()''. Better still GDB should naturally unwind with
454an error status.
455
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456--
457
458 Architectural Changes
459 =====================
460
461These are harder than simple cleanups / fixes and, consequently
462involve more work. Typically an Architectural Change will be broken
463down into a more digestible set of cleanups and fixes.
464
465--
466
467Replace READ_FP() with FRAME_HANDLE().
468
469READ_FP() is a hangover from the days of the vax when the ABI really
470did have a frame pointer register. Modern architectures typically
471construct a virtual frame-handle from the stack pointer and various
472other bits of string.
473
474Unfortunatly GDB still treats this synthetic FP register as though it
475is real. That in turn really confuses users (arm and ``print $fp'' VS
476``info registers fp''). The synthetic FP should be separated out of
477the true register set presented to the user.
478
479--
480
481MI's input does not use buffering.
482
483At present the MI interface reads raw characters of from an unbuffered
484FD. This is to avoid several nasty buffer/race conditions. That code
485should be changed so that it registers its self with the event loop
486(on the input FD) and then push commands up to MI as they arrive.
487
488The serial code already does this.
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489
490--
491
492Register Cache Cleanup (below from Andrew Cagney)
493
494I would depict the current register architecture as something like:
495
496 High GDB --> Low GDB
497 | |
498 \|/ \|/
499 --- REG NR -----
500 |
501 register + REGISTER_BYTE(reg_nr)
502 |
503 \|/
504 -------------------------
505 | extern register[] |
506 -------------------------
507
508where neither the high (valops.c et.al.) or low gdb (*-tdep.c) are
509really clear on what mechanisms they should be using to manipulate that
510buffer. Further, much code assumes, dangerously, that registers are
511contigious. Having got mips-tdep.c to support multiple ABIs, believe
512me, that is a bad assumption. Finally, that register cache layout is
513determined by the current remote/local target and _not_ the less
514specific target ISA. In fact, in many cases it is determined by the
515somewhat arbitrary layout of the [gG] packets!
516
517
518How I would like the register file to work is more like:
519
520
521 High GDB
522 |
523 \|/
524 pseudo reg-nr
525 |
526 map pseudo <->
527 random cache
528 bytes
529 |
530 \|/
531 ------------
532 | register |
533 | cache |
534 ------------
535 /|\
536 |
537 map random cache
538 bytes to target
539 dependant i-face
540 /|\
541 |
542 target dependant
543 such as [gG] packet
544 or ptrace buffer
545
546The main objectives being:
547
548 o a clear separation between the low
549 level target and the high level GDB
550
551 o a mechanism that solves the general
552 problem of register aliases, overlaps
553 etc instead of treating them as optional
554 extras that can be wedged in as an after
555 thought (that is a reasonable description
556 of the current code).
557
558 Identify then solve the hard case and the
559 rest just falls out. GDB solved the easy
560 case and then tried to ignore the real
561 world :-)
562
563 o a removal of the assumption that the
564 mapping between the register cache
565 and virtual registers is largely static.
566 If you flip the USR/SSR stack register
567 select bit in the status-register then
568 the corresponding stack registers should
569 reflect the change.
570
571 o a mechanism that clearly separates the
572 gdb internal register cache from any
573 target (not architecture) dependant
574 specifics such as [gG] packets.
575
576Of course, like anything, it sounds good in theory. In reality, it
577would have to contend with many<->many relationships at both the
578virt<->cache and cache<->target level. For instance:
579
580 virt<->cache
581 Modifying an mmx register may involve
582 scattering values across both FP and
583 mmpx specific parts of a buffer
584
585 cache<->target
586 When writing back a SP it may need to
587 both be written to both SP and USP.
588
589
590Hmm,
591
592Rather than let this like the last time it was discussed, just slip, I'm
593first going to add this e-mail (+ references) to TODO. I'd then like to
594sketch out a broad strategy I think could get us there.
595
596
597First thing I'd suggest is separating out the ``extern registers[]''
598code so that we can at least identify what is using it. At present
599things are scattered across many files. That way we can at least
600pretend that there is a cache instead of a global array :-)
601
602I'd then suggest someone putting up a proposal for the pseudo-reg /
603high-level side interface so that code can be adopted to it. For old
604code, initially a blanket rename of write_register_bytes() to
605deprecated_write_register_bytes() would help.
606
607Following that would, finaly be the corresponding changes to the target.
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608
609--
610
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611Fix ``I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that.'' from symfile.c.
612
613This requires internationalization.
614
615--
616
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617Check that GDB can handle all BFD architectures (Andrew Cagney)
618
619There should be a test that checks that BFD/GDB are in sync with
620regard to architecture changes. Something like a test that first
621queries GDB for all supported architectures and then feeds each back
622to GDB.. Anyone interested in learning how to write tests? :-)
623
624--
625
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626Add support for Modula3
627
628Get DEC/Compaq to contribute their Modula-3 support.
629
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630--
631
632Convert ALL architectures to MULTI-ARCH.
633
634--
635
636Convert GDB build process to AUTOMAKE.
637
638--
639
640Restructure gdb directory tree so that it avoids any 8.3 and 14
641filename problems.
642
643--
644
645Can the xdep files be replaced by autoconf?
646Can the tm.h and nm.h files be eliminated by multi-arch.
647
648--
649
650Add a transcript mechanism to GDB.
651
652Such a mechanism might log all gdb input and output to a file in a
653form that would allow it to be replayed. It could involve ``gdb
654--transcript=FILE'' or it could involve ``(gdb) transcript file''.
655
656--
657
658Make MI interface accessable from existing CLI.
659
660--
661
662Select the initial multi-arch ISA / ABI based on --target or similar.
663
664At present the default is based on what ever is first in the BFD
665archures table. It should be determined based on the ``--target=...''
666name.
667
668--
669
670Truly multi-arch.
671
672Enable the code to recognize --enable-targets=.... like BINUTILS does.
673
674--
675
676Add a breakpoint-edit command to MI.
677
678It would be similar to MI's breakpoint create but would apply to an
679existing breakpoint. It saves the need to delete/create breakpoints
680when ever they are changed.
681
682--
683
684Add directory path to MI breakpoint.
685
686That way the GUI's task of finding the file within which the
687breakpoint was set is simplified.
688
689--
690
691Re-do GDB's output pager.
692
693GDB's output pager still relies on people correctly using *_filtered
694for gdb_stdout and *_unfiltered for gdb_stdlog / gdb_stderr.
695Hopefully, with all normal output going to gdb_stdout, the pager can
696just look at the ui_file that the output is on and then use that to
697decide what to do about paging. Sounds good in theory.
698
699--
700
701Add mechanism to reject expression classes to MI
702
703There are situtations where you don't want GDB's expression
704parser/evaluator to perform inferior function calls or variable
705assignments.
706
707--
708
709Remove sideffects from libgdb breakpoint create function.
710
711The user can use the CLI to create a breakpoint with partial
712information - no file (gdb would use the file from the last
713breakpoint).
714
715The libgdb interface currently affects that environment which can lead
716to confusion when a user is setting breakpoints via both the MI and
717the CLI.
718
719This is also a good example of how getting the CLI ``right'' will be
720hard.
721
722--
723
724GDB doesn't recover gracefully from remote protocol errors.
725
726GDB wasn't checking for NAKs from the remote target. Instead a NAK is
727ignored and a timeout is required before GDB retries. A pre-cursor to
728fixing this this is making GDB's remote protocol packet more robust.
729
730While downloading to a remote protocol target, gdb ignores packet
731errors in so far as it will continue to edownload with chunk N+1 even
732if chunk N was not correctly sent. This causes gdb.base/remote.exp to
733take a painfully long time to run. As a PS that test needs to be
734fixed so that it builds on 16 bit machines.
735
736--
737
738Move gdb_lasterr to ui_out?
739
740The way GDB throws errors and records them needs a re-think. ui_out
741handles the correct output well. It doesn't resolve what to do with
742output / error-messages when things go wrong.
743
744--
745
746Fix implementation of ``target xxx''.
747
748At present when the user specifies ``target xxxx'', the CLI maps that
749directly onto a target open method. It is then assumed that the
750target open method should do all sorts of complicated things as this
751is the only chance it has. Check how the various remote targets
752duplicate the target operations. Check also how the various targets
753behave differently for purely arbitrary reasons.
754
755What should happen is that ``target xxxx'' should call a generic
756``target'' function and that should then co-ordinate the opening of
757``xxxx''. This becomes especially important when you're trying to
758open an asynchronous target that may need to perform background tasks
759as part of the ``attach'' phase.
760
761Unfortunatly, due to limitations in the old/creaking command.h
762interface, that isn't possible. The function being called isn't told
763of the ``xxx'' or any other context information.
764
765Consequently a precursor to fixing ``target xxxx'' is to clean up the
766CLI code so that it passes to the callback function (attatched to a
767command) useful information such as the actual command and a context
768for that command. Other changes such as making ``struct command''
769opaque may also help.
770
771--
772
773Document trace machinery
774
775--
776
777Document overlay machinery.
778
2a00c9ce
AC
779--
780
781 Legacy Wish List
782 ================
783
784This list is not up to date, and opinions vary about the importance or
785even desirability of some of the items. If you do fix something, it
786always pays to check the below.
787
788--
c906108c 789
b83266a0
SS
790@c This does not work (yet if ever). FIXME.
791@c @item --parse=@var{lang} @dots{}
792@c Configure the @value{GDBN} expression parser to parse the listed languages.
793@c @samp{all} configures @value{GDBN} for all supported languages. To get a
794@c list of all supported languages, omit the argument. Without this
795@c option, @value{GDBN} is configured to parse all supported languages.
796
7ae38352 797--
c906108c
SS
798
799START_INFERIOR_TRAPS_EXPECTED need never be defined to 2, since that
800is its default value. Clean this up.
801
7ae38352
AC
802--
803
c906108c
SS
804It should be possible to use symbols from shared libraries before we know
805exactly where the libraries will be loaded. E.g. "b perror" before running
806the program. This could maybe be done as an extension of the "breakpoint
807re-evaluation" after new symbols are loaded.
808
7ae38352
AC
809--
810
c906108c
SS
811Make single_step() insert and remove breakpoints in one operation.
812
7ae38352
AC
813--
814
c906108c
SS
815Speed up single stepping by avoiding extraneous ptrace calls.
816
7ae38352
AC
817--
818
c906108c
SS
819Speed up single stepping by not inserting and removing breakpoints
820each time the inferior starts and stops.
821
822Breakpoints should not be inserted and deleted all the time. Only the
823one(s) there should be removed when we have to step over one. Support
824breakpoints that don't have to be removed to step over them.
825
7ae38352 826[this has resulted in numerous debates. The issue isn't clear cut]
c906108c 827
7ae38352 828--
c906108c
SS
829
830Provide "voodoo" debugging of core files. This creates a zombie
831process as a child of the debugger, and loads it up with the data,
832stack, and regs of the core file. This allows you to call functions
833in the executable, to manipulate the data in the core file.
834
7ae38352 835[you wish]
c906108c 836
7ae38352 837--
c906108c 838
7ae38352 839GDB reopens the source file on every line, as you "next" through it.
c906108c 840
7ae38352 841[still true? I've a memory of this being fixed]
c906108c 842
7ae38352 843--
c906108c
SS
844
845Perhaps "i source" should take an argument like that of "list".
846
7ae38352 847--
c906108c
SS
848
849Remove "at 0xnnnn" from the "b foo" response, if `print address off' and if
850it matches the source line indicated.
851
7ae38352 852--
c906108c 853
7ae38352 854The prompt at end of screen should accept space as well as CR.
c906108c 855
7ae38352 856--
c906108c
SS
857
858Backtrace should point out what the currently selected frame is, in
859its display, perhaps showing "@3 foo (bar, ...)" or ">3 foo (bar,
860...)" rather than "#3 foo (bar, ...)".
861
7ae38352
AC
862--
863
c906108c
SS
864"i program" should work for core files, and display more info, like what
865actually caused it to die.
866
7ae38352
AC
867--
868
c906108c
SS
869"x/10i" should shorten the long name, if any, on subsequent lines.
870
7ae38352 871--
c906108c
SS
872
873"next" over a function that longjumps, never stops until next time you happen
874to get to that spot by accident. E.g. "n" over execute_command which has
875an error.
876
7ae38352
AC
877--
878
c906108c
SS
879"set zeroprint off", don't bother printing members of structs which
880are entirely zero. Useful for those big structs with few useful
881members.
882
7ae38352
AC
883--
884
c906108c
SS
885GDB does four ioctl's for every command, probably switching terminal modes
886to/from inferior or for readline or something.
887
7ae38352
AC
888--
889
c906108c
SS
890terminal_ours versus terminal_inferior: cache state. Switch should be a noop
891if the state is the same, too.
892
7ae38352 893--
c906108c
SS
894
895"i frame" shows wrong "arglist at" location, doesn't show where the args
896should be found, only their actual values.
897
7ae38352
AC
898--
899
c906108c
SS
900There should be a way for "set" commands to validate the new setting
901before it takes effect.
902
7ae38352 903--
c906108c
SS
904
905"ena d" is ambiguous, why? "ena delete" seems to think it is a command!
906
7ae38352 907--
c906108c
SS
908
909i line VAR produces "Line number not known for symbol ``var''.". I
910thought we were stashing that info now!
911
7ae38352
AC
912--
913
c906108c
SS
914We should be able to write to random files at hex offsets like adb.
915
7ae38352
AC
916--
917
c906108c
SS
918Make "target xxx" command interruptible.
919
7ae38352
AC
920--
921
922[elena - delete this]
923
c906108c
SS
924Handle add_file with separate text, data, and bss addresses. Maybe
925handle separate addresses for each segment in the object file?
926
7ae38352
AC
927--
928
929[Jimb/Elena delete this one]
930
c906108c
SS
931Handle free_named_symtab to cope with multiply-loaded object files
932in a dynamic linking environment. Should remember the last copy loaded,
933but not get too snowed if it finds references to the older copy.
934
7ae38352
AC
935--
936
937[elena delete this also]
c906108c
SS
938
939Remove all references to:
940 text_offset
941 data_offset
942 text_data_start
943 text_end
944 exec_data_offset
945 ...
946now that we have BFD. All remaining are in machine dependent files.
947
7ae38352 948--
c906108c
SS
949
950Re-organize help categories into things that tend to fit on a screen
951and hang together.
952
7ae38352 953--
c906108c
SS
954
955Add in commands like ADB's for searching for patterns, etc. We should
956be able to examine and patch raw unsymboled binaries as well in gdb as
957we can in adb. (E.g. increase the timeout in /bin/login without source).
958
7ae38352
AC
959[actually, add ADB interface :-]
960
961--
c906108c
SS
962
963When doing "step" or "next", if a few lines of source are skipped between
964the previous line and the current one, print those lines, not just the
965last line of a multiline statement.
966
7ae38352 967--
c906108c
SS
968
969Handling of "&" address-of operator needs some serious overhaul
970for ANSI C and consistency on arrays and functions.
971 For "float point[15];":
972ptype &point[4] ==> Attempt to take address of non-lvalue.
973 For "char *malloc();":
974ptype malloc ==> "char *()"; should be same as
975ptype &malloc ==> "char *(*)()"
976call printf ("%x\n", malloc) ==> weird value, should be same as
977call printf ("%x\n", &malloc) ==> correct value
978
7ae38352
AC
979--
980
c906108c
SS
981Fix dbxread.c symbol reading in the presence of interrupts. It
982currently leaves a cleanup to blow away the entire symbol table when a
983QUIT occurs. (What's wrong with that? -kingdon, 28 Oct 1993).
984
7ae38352
AC
985[I suspect that the grype was that, on a slow system, you might want
986to cntrl-c and get just half the symbols and then load the rest later
987- scary to be honest]
988
989--
990
c906108c
SS
991Mipsread.c reads include files depth-first, because the dependencies
992in the psymtabs are way too inclusive (it seems to me). Figure out what
993really depends on what, to avoid recursing 20 or 30 times while reading
994real symtabs.
995
7ae38352
AC
996--
997
c906108c
SS
998value_add() should be subtracting the lower bound of arrays, if known,
999and possibly checking against the upper bound for error reporting.
1000
7ae38352 1001--
c906108c
SS
1002
1003When listing source lines, check for a preceding \n, to verify that
1004the file hasn't changed out from under us.
1005
7ae38352
AC
1006[fixed by some other means I think. That hack wouldn't actually work
1007reliably - the file might move such that another \n appears. ]
c906108c 1008
7ae38352 1009--
c906108c
SS
1010
1011Get all the remote systems (where the protocol allows it) to be able to
1012stop the remote system when the GDB user types ^C (like remote.c
1013does). For ebmon, use ^Ak.
1014
7ae38352
AC
1015--
1016
c906108c
SS
1017Possible feature: A version of the "disassemble" command which shows
1018both source and assembly code ("set symbol-filename on" is a partial
1019solution).
1020
7ae38352
AC
1021[has this been done? It was certainly done for MI and GDBtk]
1022
1023--
1024
c906108c
SS
1025investigate "x/s 0" (right now stops early) (I think maybe GDB is
1026using a 0 address for bad purposes internally).
1027
7ae38352
AC
1028--
1029
c906108c
SS
1030Make "info path" and path_command work again (but independent of the
1031environment either of gdb or that we'll pass to the inferior).
1032
7ae38352
AC
1033--
1034
c906108c
SS
1035Make GDB understand the GCC feature for putting octal constants in
1036enums. Make it so overflow on an enum constant does not error_type
1037the whole type. Allow arbitrarily large enums with type attributes.
1038Put all this stuff in the testsuite.
1039
7ae38352
AC
1040--
1041
c906108c
SS
1042Make TYPE_CODE_ERROR with a non-zero TYPE_LENGTH more useful (print
1043the value in hex; process type attributes). Add this to the
1044testsuite. This way future compilers can add new types and old
1045versions of GDB can do something halfway reasonable.
1046
7ae38352 1047--
c906108c
SS
1048
1049Fix mdebugread.c:parse_type to do fundamental types right (see
1050rs6000_builtin_type in stabsread.c for what "right" is--the point is
1051that the debug format fixes the sizes of these things and it shouldn't
1052depend on stuff like TARGET_PTR_BIT and so on. For mdebug, there seem
1053to be separate bt* codes for 64 bit and 32 bit things, and GDB should
1054be aware of that). Also use a switch statement for clarity and speed.
1055
7ae38352
AC
1056--
1057
c906108c
SS
1058Investigate adding symbols in target_load--some targets do, some
1059don't.
1060
7ae38352
AC
1061--
1062
c906108c
SS
1063Put dirname in psymtabs and change lookup*symtab to use dirname (so
1064/foo/bar.c works whether compiled by cc /foo/bar.c, or cd /foo; cc
1065bar.c).
1066
7ae38352
AC
1067--
1068
c906108c
SS
1069Merge xcoffread.c and coffread.c. Use breakpoint_re_set instead of
1070fixup_breakpoints.
1071
7ae38352 1072--
c906108c
SS
1073
1074Make a watchpoint which contains a function call an error (it is
1075broken now, making it work is probably not worth the effort).
1076
7ae38352 1077--
c906108c
SS
1078
1079New test case based on weird.exp but in which type numbers are not
1080renumbered (thus multiply defining a type). This currently causes an
1081infinite loop on "p v_comb".
1082
7ae38352 1083--
c906108c 1084
7ae38352 1085[Hey! Hint Hint Delete Delete!!!]
c906108c
SS
1086
1087Fix 386 floating point so that floating point registers are real
1088registers (but code can deal at run-time if they are missing, like
1089mips and 68k). This would clean up "info float" and related stuff.
1090
7ae38352 1091--
c906108c
SS
1092
1093gcc -g -c enummask.c then gdb enummask.o, then "p v". GDB complains
1094about not being able to access memory location 0.
1095
1096-------------------- enummask.c
1097enum mask
1098{
1099 ANIMAL = 0,
1100 VEGETABLE = 1,
1101 MINERAL = 2,
1102 BASIC_CATEGORY = 3,
1103
1104 WHITE = 0,
1105 BLUE = 4,
1106 GREEN = 8,
1107 BLACK = 0xc,
1108 COLOR = 0xc,
1109
1110 ALIVE = 0x10,
1111
1112 LARGE = 0x20
1113} v;
1114
7ae38352
AC
1115--
1116
c906108c
SS
1117If try to modify value in file with "set write off" should give
1118appropriate error not "cannot access memory at address 0x65e0".
1119
7ae38352 1120--
c906108c 1121
c906108c
SS
1122Allow core file without exec file on RS/6000.
1123
7ae38352
AC
1124--
1125
c906108c
SS
1126Make sure "shell" with no arguments works right on DOS.
1127
7ae38352
AC
1128--
1129
c906108c
SS
1130Make gdb.ini (as well as .gdbinit) be checked on all platforms, so
1131the same directory can be NFS-mounted on unix or DOS, and work the
1132same way.
1133
7ae38352
AC
1134--
1135
1136[Is this another delete???]
c906108c
SS
1137
1138Get SECT_OFF_TEXT stuff out of objfile_relocate (might be needed to
1139get RS/6000 to work right, might not be immediately relevant).
1140
7ae38352 1141--
c906108c
SS
1142
1143Work out some kind of way to allow running the inferior to be done as
1144a sub-execution of, eg. breakpoint command lists. Currently running
1145the inferior interupts any command list execution. This would require
1146some rewriting of wait_for_inferior & friends, and hence should
1147probably be done in concert with the above.
1148
7ae38352
AC
1149--
1150
c906108c
SS
1151Add function arguments to gdb user defined functions.
1152
7ae38352
AC
1153--
1154
c906108c
SS
1155Add convenience variables that refer to exec file, symbol file,
1156selected frame source file, selected frame function, selected frame
1157line number, etc.
1158
7ae38352
AC
1159--
1160
c906108c
SS
1161Add a "suspend" subcommand of the "continue" command to suspend gdb
1162while continuing execution of the subprocess. Useful when you are
1163debugging servers and you want to dodge out and initiate a connection
1164to a server running under gdb.
1165
7ae38352 1166[hey async!!]
c906108c 1167
7ae38352 1168--
c906108c
SS
1169
1170Modify the handling of symbols grouped through BINCL/EINCL stabs to
1171allocate a partial symtab for each BINCL/EINCL grouping. This will
1172seriously decrease the size of inter-psymtab dependencies and hence
1173lessen the amount that needs to be read in when a new source file is
1174accessed.
1175
7ae38352 1176--
c906108c 1177
7ae38352 1178[Comming...]
c906108c
SS
1179
1180Modify gdb to work correctly with Pascal.
1181
7ae38352
AC
1182--
1183
c906108c
SS
1184Add a command for searching memory, a la adb. It specifies size,
1185mask, value, start address. ADB searches until it finds it or hits
1186an error (or is interrupted).
1187
7ae38352
AC
1188--
1189
b83266a0
SS
1190Remove the range and type checking code and documentation, if not
1191going to implement.
1192
c906108c
SS
1193# Local Variables:
1194# mode: text
1195# End:
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