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1\input texinfo
2@setfilename gdbint.info
25822942 3@include gdb-cfg.texi
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4@ifinfo
5@format
6START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
7* Gdb-Internals: (gdbint). The GNU debugger's internals.
8END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
9@end format
10@end ifinfo
11
12@ifinfo
25822942 13This file documents the internals of the GNU debugger @value{GDBN}.
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14
15Copyright 1990-1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
16Contributed by Cygnus Solutions. Written by John Gilmore.
17Second Edition by Stan Shebs.
18
19Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
20manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
21preserved on all copies.
22
23@ignore
24Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
25results, provided the printed document carries copying permission notice
26identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph (this
27paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
28
29@end ignore
30Permission is granted to copy or distribute modified versions of this
31manual under the terms of the GPL (for which purpose this text may be
32regarded as a program in the language TeX).
33@end ifinfo
34
35@setchapternewpage off
25822942 36@settitle @value{GDBN} Internals
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37
38@titlepage
25822942 39@title @value{GDBN} Internals
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40@subtitle{A guide to the internals of the GNU debugger}
41@author John Gilmore
42@author Cygnus Solutions
43@author Second Edition:
44@author Stan Shebs
45@author Cygnus Solutions
46@page
47@tex
48\def\$#1${{#1}} % Kluge: collect RCS revision info without $...$
49\xdef\manvers{\$Revision$} % For use in headers, footers too
50{\parskip=0pt
51\hfill Cygnus Solutions\par
52\hfill \manvers\par
53\hfill \TeX{}info \texinfoversion\par
54}
55@end tex
56
57@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
58Copyright @copyright{} 1990-1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59
60Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
61this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
62are preserved on all copies.
63
64@end titlepage
65
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66@c TeX can handle the contents at the start but makeinfo 3.12 can not
67@iftex
68@contents
69@end iftex
70
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71@node Top
72@c Perhaps this should be the title of the document (but only for info,
73@c not for TeX). Existing GNU manuals seem inconsistent on this point.
74@top Scope of this Document
75
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76This document documents the internals of the GNU debugger, @value{GDBN}. It
77includes description of @value{GDBN}'s key algorithms and operations, as well
78as the mechanisms that adapt @value{GDBN} to specific hosts and targets.
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79
80@menu
81* Requirements::
82* Overall Structure::
83* Algorithms::
84* User Interface::
85* Symbol Handling::
86* Language Support::
87* Host Definition::
88* Target Architecture Definition::
89* Target Vector Definition::
90* Native Debugging::
91* Support Libraries::
92* Coding::
93* Porting GDB::
085dd6e6 94* Testsuite::
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95* Hints::
96@end menu
97
98@node Requirements
99
100@chapter Requirements
101
102Before diving into the internals, you should understand the formal
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103requirements and other expectations for @value{GDBN}. Although some of these may
104seem obvious, there have been proposals for @value{GDBN} that have run counter to
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105these requirements.
106
25822942 107First of all, @value{GDBN} is a debugger. It's not designed to be a front panel
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108for embedded systems. It's not a text editor. It's not a shell. It's
109not a programming environment.
110
25822942 111@value{GDBN} is an interactive tool. Although a batch mode is available, @value{GDBN}'s
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112primary role is to interact with a human programmer.
113
25822942 114@value{GDBN} should be responsive to the user. A programmer hot on the trail of
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115a nasty bug, and operating under a looming deadline, is going to be very
116impatient of everything, including the response time to debugger
117commands.
118
25822942 119@value{GDBN} should be relatively permissive, such as for expressions. While the
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120compiler should be picky (or have the option to be made picky), since
121source code lives for a long time usually, the programmer doing
122debugging shouldn't be spending time figuring out to mollify the
123debugger.
124
25822942 125@value{GDBN} will be called upon to deal with really large programs. Executable
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126sizes of 50 to 100 megabytes occur regularly, and we've heard reports of
127programs approaching 1 gigabyte in size.
128
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129@value{GDBN} should be able to run everywhere. No other debugger is available
130for even half as many configurations as @value{GDBN} supports.
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131
132
133@node Overall Structure
134
135@chapter Overall Structure
136
25822942 137@value{GDBN} consists of three major subsystems: user interface, symbol handling
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138(the ``symbol side''), and target system handling (the ``target side'').
139
140Ther user interface consists of several actual interfaces, plus
141supporting code.
142
143The symbol side consists of object file readers, debugging info
144interpreters, symbol table management, source language expression
145parsing, type and value printing.
146
147The target side consists of execution control, stack frame analysis, and
148physical target manipulation.
149
150The target side/symbol side division is not formal, and there are a
151number of exceptions. For instance, core file support involves symbolic
152elements (the basic core file reader is in BFD) and target elements (it
153supplies the contents of memory and the values of registers). Instead,
154this division is useful for understanding how the minor subsystems
155should fit together.
156
157@section The Symbol Side
158
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159The symbolic side of @value{GDBN} can be thought of as ``everything you can do in
160@value{GDBN} without having a live program running''. For instance, you can look
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161at the types of variables, and evaluate many kinds of expressions.
162
163@section The Target Side
164
25822942 165The target side of @value{GDBN} is the ``bits and bytes manipulator''. Although
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166it may make reference to symbolic info here and there, most of the
167target side will run with only a stripped executable available -- or
168even no executable at all, in remote debugging cases.
169
170Operations such as disassembly, stack frame crawls, and register
171display, are able to work with no symbolic info at all. In some cases,
25822942 172such as disassembly, @value{GDBN} will use symbolic info to present addresses
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173relative to symbols rather than as raw numbers, but it will work either
174way.
175
176@section Configurations
177
25822942 178@dfn{Host} refers to attributes of the system where @value{GDBN} runs.
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179@dfn{Target} refers to the system where the program being debugged
180executes. In most cases they are the same machine, in which case a
181third type of @dfn{Native} attributes come into play.
182
183Defines and include files needed to build on the host are host support.
184Examples are tty support, system defined types, host byte order, host
185float format.
186
187Defines and information needed to handle the target format are target
188dependent. Examples are the stack frame format, instruction set,
189breakpoint instruction, registers, and how to set up and tear down the stack
190to call a function.
191
192Information that is only needed when the host and target are the same,
193is native dependent. One example is Unix child process support; if the
194host and target are not the same, doing a fork to start the target
195process is a bad idea. The various macros needed for finding the
196registers in the @code{upage}, running @code{ptrace}, and such are all
197in the native-dependent files.
198
199Another example of native-dependent code is support for features that
200are really part of the target environment, but which require
201@code{#include} files that are only available on the host system. Core
202file handling and @code{setjmp} handling are two common cases.
203
25822942 204When you want to make @value{GDBN} work ``native'' on a particular machine, you
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205have to include all three kinds of information.
206
207
208@node Algorithms
209
210@chapter Algorithms
211
25822942 212@value{GDBN} uses a number of debugging-specific algorithms. They are often not
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213very complicated, but get lost in the thicket of special cases and
214real-world issues. This chapter describes the basic algorithms and
215mentions some of the specific target definitions that they use.
216
217@section Frames
218
25822942 219A frame is a construct that @value{GDBN} uses to keep track of calling and called
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220functions.
221
222@code{FRAME_FP} in the machine description has no meaning to the
25822942 223machine-independent part of @value{GDBN}, except that it is used when setting up
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224a new frame from scratch, as follows:
225
226@example
227 create_new_frame (read_register (FP_REGNUM), read_pc ()));
228@end example
229
230Other than that, all the meaning imparted to @code{FP_REGNUM} is
231imparted by the machine-dependent code. So, @code{FP_REGNUM} can have
232any value that is convenient for the code that creates new frames.
233(@code{create_new_frame} calls @code{INIT_EXTRA_FRAME_INFO} if it is
234defined; that is where you should use the @code{FP_REGNUM} value, if
235your frames are nonstandard.)
236
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237Given a @value{GDBN} frame, define @code{FRAME_CHAIN} to determine the address of
238the calling function's frame. This will be used to create a new @value{GDBN}
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239frame struct, and then @code{INIT_EXTRA_FRAME_INFO} and
240@code{INIT_FRAME_PC} will be called for the new frame.
241
242@section Breakpoint Handling
243
244In general, a breakpoint is a user-designated location in the program
245where the user wants to regain control if program execution ever reaches
246that location.
247
248There are two main ways to implement breakpoints; either as ``hardware''
249breakpoints or as ``software'' breakpoints.
250
251Hardware breakpoints are sometimes available as a builtin debugging
252features with some chips. Typically these work by having dedicated
253register into which the breakpoint address may be stored. If the PC
254ever matches a value in a breakpoint registers, the CPU raises an
25822942 255exception and reports it to @value{GDBN}. Another possibility is when an
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256emulator is in use; many emulators include circuitry that watches the
257address lines coming out from the processor, and force it to stop if the
258address matches a breakpoint's address. A third possibility is that the
259target already has the ability to do breakpoints somehow; for instance,
260a ROM monitor may do its own software breakpoints. So although these
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261are not literally ``hardware breakpoints'', from @value{GDBN}'s point of view
262they work the same; @value{GDBN} need not do nothing more than set the breakpoint
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263and wait for something to happen.
264
265Since they depend on hardware resources, hardware breakpoints may be
25822942 266limited in number; when the user asks for more, @value{GDBN} will start trying to
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267set software breakpoints.
268
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269Software breakpoints require @value{GDBN} to do somewhat more work. The basic
270theory is that @value{GDBN} will replace a program instruction with a trap,
7be570e7 271illegal divide, or some other instruction that will cause an exception,
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272and then when it's encountered, @value{GDBN} will take the exception and stop the
273program. When the user says to continue, @value{GDBN} will restore the original
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274instruction, single-step, re-insert the trap, and continue on.
275
276Since it literally overwrites the program being tested, the program area
277must be writeable, so this technique won't work on programs in ROM. It
278can also distort the behavior of programs that examine themselves,
279although the situation would be highly unusual.
280
281Also, the software breakpoint instruction should be the smallest size of
282instruction, so it doesn't overwrite an instruction that might be a jump
283target, and cause disaster when the program jumps into the middle of the
284breakpoint instruction. (Strictly speaking, the breakpoint must be no
285larger than the smallest interval between instructions that may be jump
286targets; perhaps there is an architecture where only even-numbered
287instructions may jumped to.) Note that it's possible for an instruction
288set not to have any instructions usable for a software breakpoint,
289although in practice only the ARC has failed to define such an
290instruction.
291
292The basic definition of the software breakpoint is the macro
293@code{BREAKPOINT}.
294
295Basic breakpoint object handling is in @file{breakpoint.c}. However,
296much of the interesting breakpoint action is in @file{infrun.c}.
297
298@section Single Stepping
299
300@section Signal Handling
301
302@section Thread Handling
303
304@section Inferior Function Calls
305
306@section Longjmp Support
307
25822942 308@value{GDBN} has support for figuring out that the target is doing a
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309@code{longjmp} and for stopping at the target of the jump, if we are
310stepping. This is done with a few specialized internal breakpoints,
311which are visible in the @code{maint info breakpoint} command.
312
313To make this work, you need to define a macro called
314@code{GET_LONGJMP_TARGET}, which will examine the @code{jmp_buf}
315structure and extract the longjmp target address. Since @code{jmp_buf}
316is target specific, you will need to define it in the appropriate
317@file{tm-@var{xyz}.h} file. Look in @file{tm-sun4os4.h} and
318@file{sparc-tdep.c} for examples of how to do this.
319
320@node User Interface
321
322@chapter User Interface
323
25822942 324@value{GDBN} has several user interfaces. Although the command-line interface
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325is the most common and most familiar, there are others.
326
327@section Command Interpreter
328
25822942 329The command interpreter in @value{GDBN} is fairly simple. It is designed to
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330allow for the set of commands to be augmented dynamically, and also
331has a recursive subcommand capability, where the first argument to
332a command may itself direct a lookup on a different command list.
333
334For instance, the @code{set} command just starts a lookup on the
335@code{setlist} command list, while @code{set thread} recurses
336to the @code{set_thread_cmd_list}.
337
338To add commands in general, use @code{add_cmd}. @code{add_com} adds to
339the main command list, and should be used for those commands. The usual
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340place to add commands is in the @code{_initialize_@var{xyz}} routines at
341the ends of most source files.
342
343Before removing commands from the command set it is a good idea to
344deprecate them for some time. Use @code{deprecate_cmd} on commands or
345aliases to set the deprecated flag. @code{deprecate_cmd} takes a
346@code{struct cmd_list_element} as it's first argument. You can use the
347return value from @code{add_com} or @code{add_cmd} to deprecate the
348command immediately after it is created.
349
350The first time a comamnd is used the user will be warned and offered a
351replacement (if one exists). Note that the replacement string passed to
352@code{deprecate_cmd} should be the full name of the command, i.e. the
353entire string the user should type at the command line.
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354
355@section Console Printing
356
357@section TUI
358
359@section libgdb
360
361@code{libgdb} was an abortive project of years ago. The theory was to
25822942 362provide an API to @value{GDBN}'s functionality.
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363
364@node Symbol Handling
365
366@chapter Symbol Handling
367
25822942 368Symbols are a key part of @value{GDBN}'s operation. Symbols include variables,
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369functions, and types.
370
371@section Symbol Reading
372
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373@value{GDBN} reads symbols from ``symbol files''. The usual symbol file is the
374file containing the program which @value{GDBN} is debugging. @value{GDBN} can be directed
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375to use a different file for symbols (with the @code{symbol-file}
376command), and it can also read more symbols via the ``add-file'' and
377``load'' commands, or while reading symbols from shared libraries.
378
379Symbol files are initially opened by code in @file{symfile.c} using the
380BFD library. BFD identifies the type of the file by examining its
96baa820 381header. @code{find_sym_fns} then uses this identification to locate a
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382set of symbol-reading functions.
383
25822942 384Symbol reading modules identify themselves to @value{GDBN} by calling
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385@code{add_symtab_fns} during their module initialization. The argument
386to @code{add_symtab_fns} is a @code{struct sym_fns} which contains the
387name (or name prefix) of the symbol format, the length of the prefix,
388and pointers to four functions. These functions are called at various
389times to process symbol-files whose identification matches the specified
390prefix.
391
392The functions supplied by each module are:
393
394@table @code
395@item @var{xyz}_symfile_init(struct sym_fns *sf)
396
397Called from @code{symbol_file_add} when we are about to read a new
398symbol file. This function should clean up any internal state (possibly
399resulting from half-read previous files, for example) and prepare to
400read a new symbol file. Note that the symbol file which we are reading
401might be a new "main" symbol file, or might be a secondary symbol file
402whose symbols are being added to the existing symbol table.
403
404The argument to @code{@var{xyz}_symfile_init} is a newly allocated
405@code{struct sym_fns} whose @code{bfd} field contains the BFD for the
406new symbol file being read. Its @code{private} field has been zeroed,
407and can be modified as desired. Typically, a struct of private
408information will be @code{malloc}'d, and a pointer to it will be placed
409in the @code{private} field.
410
411There is no result from @code{@var{xyz}_symfile_init}, but it can call
412@code{error} if it detects an unavoidable problem.
413
414@item @var{xyz}_new_init()
415
416Called from @code{symbol_file_add} when discarding existing symbols.
417This function need only handle the symbol-reading module's internal
25822942 418state; the symbol table data structures visible to the rest of @value{GDBN} will
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419be discarded by @code{symbol_file_add}. It has no arguments and no
420result. It may be called after @code{@var{xyz}_symfile_init}, if a new
421symbol table is being read, or may be called alone if all symbols are
422simply being discarded.
423
424@item @var{xyz}_symfile_read(struct sym_fns *sf, CORE_ADDR addr, int mainline)
425
426Called from @code{symbol_file_add} to actually read the symbols from a
427symbol-file into a set of psymtabs or symtabs.
428
429@code{sf} points to the struct sym_fns originally passed to
430@code{@var{xyz}_sym_init} for possible initialization. @code{addr} is
431the offset between the file's specified start address and its true
432address in memory. @code{mainline} is 1 if this is the main symbol
433table being read, and 0 if a secondary symbol file (e.g. shared library
434or dynamically loaded file) is being read.@refill
435@end table
436
437In addition, if a symbol-reading module creates psymtabs when
438@var{xyz}_symfile_read is called, these psymtabs will contain a pointer
439to a function @code{@var{xyz}_psymtab_to_symtab}, which can be called
25822942 440from any point in the @value{GDBN} symbol-handling code.
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441
442@table @code
443@item @var{xyz}_psymtab_to_symtab (struct partial_symtab *pst)
444
445Called from @code{psymtab_to_symtab} (or the PSYMTAB_TO_SYMTAB macro) if
446the psymtab has not already been read in and had its @code{pst->symtab}
447pointer set. The argument is the psymtab to be fleshed-out into a
448symtab. Upon return, pst->readin should have been set to 1, and
449pst->symtab should contain a pointer to the new corresponding symtab, or
450zero if there were no symbols in that part of the symbol file.
451@end table
452
453@section Partial Symbol Tables
454
25822942 455@value{GDBN} has three types of symbol tables.
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456
457@itemize @bullet
458
459@item full symbol tables (symtabs). These contain the main information
460about symbols and addresses.
461
462@item partial symbol tables (psymtabs). These contain enough
463information to know when to read the corresponding part of the full
464symbol table.
465
466@item minimal symbol tables (msymtabs). These contain information
467gleaned from non-debugging symbols.
468
469@end itemize
470
471This section describes partial symbol tables.
472
473A psymtab is constructed by doing a very quick pass over an executable
474file's debugging information. Small amounts of information are
475extracted -- enough to identify which parts of the symbol table will
476need to be re-read and fully digested later, when the user needs the
25822942 477information. The speed of this pass causes @value{GDBN} to start up very
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478quickly. Later, as the detailed rereading occurs, it occurs in small
479pieces, at various times, and the delay therefrom is mostly invisible to
480the user.
481@c (@xref{Symbol Reading}.)
482
483The symbols that show up in a file's psymtab should be, roughly, those
484visible to the debugger's user when the program is not running code from
485that file. These include external symbols and types, static symbols and
486types, and enum values declared at file scope.
487
488The psymtab also contains the range of instruction addresses that the
489full symbol table would represent.
490
491The idea is that there are only two ways for the user (or much of the
492code in the debugger) to reference a symbol:
493
494@itemize @bullet
495
496@item by its address
497(e.g. execution stops at some address which is inside a function in this
498file). The address will be noticed to be in the range of this psymtab,
499and the full symtab will be read in. @code{find_pc_function},
500@code{find_pc_line}, and other @code{find_pc_@dots{}} functions handle
501this.
502
503@item by its name
504(e.g. the user asks to print a variable, or set a breakpoint on a
505function). Global names and file-scope names will be found in the
506psymtab, which will cause the symtab to be pulled in. Local names will
507have to be qualified by a global name, or a file-scope name, in which
508case we will have already read in the symtab as we evaluated the
509qualifier. Or, a local symbol can be referenced when we are "in" a
510local scope, in which case the first case applies. @code{lookup_symbol}
511does most of the work here.
512
513@end itemize
514
515The only reason that psymtabs exist is to cause a symtab to be read in
516at the right moment. Any symbol that can be elided from a psymtab,
517while still causing that to happen, should not appear in it. Since
518psymtabs don't have the idea of scope, you can't put local symbols in
519them anyway. Psymtabs don't have the idea of the type of a symbol,
520either, so types need not appear, unless they will be referenced by
521name.
522
25822942 523It is a bug for @value{GDBN} to behave one way when only a psymtab has been read,
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524and another way if the corresponding symtab has been read in. Such bugs
525are typically caused by a psymtab that does not contain all the visible
526symbols, or which has the wrong instruction address ranges.
527
528The psymtab for a particular section of a symbol-file (objfile) could be
529thrown away after the symtab has been read in. The symtab should always
530be searched before the psymtab, so the psymtab will never be used (in a
531bug-free environment). Currently, psymtabs are allocated on an obstack,
532and all the psymbols themselves are allocated in a pair of large arrays
533on an obstack, so there is little to be gained by trying to free them
534unless you want to do a lot more work.
535
536@section Types
537
538Fundamental Types (e.g., FT_VOID, FT_BOOLEAN).
539
25822942 540These are the fundamental types that @value{GDBN} uses internally. Fundamental
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541types from the various debugging formats (stabs, ELF, etc) are mapped
542into one of these. They are basically a union of all fundamental types
25822942 543that gdb knows about for all the languages that @value{GDBN} knows about.
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544
545Type Codes (e.g., TYPE_CODE_PTR, TYPE_CODE_ARRAY).
546
25822942 547Each time @value{GDBN} builds an internal type, it marks it with one of these
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548types. The type may be a fundamental type, such as TYPE_CODE_INT, or a
549derived type, such as TYPE_CODE_PTR which is a pointer to another type.
550Typically, several FT_* types map to one TYPE_CODE_* type, and are
551distinguished by other members of the type struct, such as whether the
552type is signed or unsigned, and how many bits it uses.
553
554Builtin Types (e.g., builtin_type_void, builtin_type_char).
555
556These are instances of type structs that roughly correspond to
25822942 557fundamental types and are created as global types for @value{GDBN} to use for
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558various ugly historical reasons. We eventually want to eliminate these.
559Note for example that builtin_type_int initialized in gdbtypes.c is
560basically the same as a TYPE_CODE_INT type that is initialized in
561c-lang.c for an FT_INTEGER fundamental type. The difference is that the
562builtin_type is not associated with any particular objfile, and only one
563instance exists, while c-lang.c builds as many TYPE_CODE_INT types as
564needed, with each one associated with some particular objfile.
565
566@section Object File Formats
567
568@subsection a.out
569
570The @file{a.out} format is the original file format for Unix. It
571consists of three sections: text, data, and bss, which are for program
572code, initialized data, and uninitialized data, respectively.
573
574The @file{a.out} format is so simple that it doesn't have any reserved
575place for debugging information. (Hey, the original Unix hackers used
576@file{adb}, which is a machine-language debugger.) The only debugging
577format for @file{a.out} is stabs, which is encoded as a set of normal
578symbols with distinctive attributes.
579
580The basic @file{a.out} reader is in @file{dbxread.c}.
581
582@subsection COFF
583
584The COFF format was introduced with System V Release 3 (SVR3) Unix.
585COFF files may have multiple sections, each prefixed by a header. The
586number of sections is limited.
587
588The COFF specification includes support for debugging. Although this
589was a step forward, the debugging information was woefully limited. For
590instance, it was not possible to represent code that came from an
591included file.
592
593The COFF reader is in @file{coffread.c}.
594
595@subsection ECOFF
596
597ECOFF is an extended COFF originally introduced for Mips and Alpha
598workstations.
599
600The basic ECOFF reader is in @file{mipsread.c}.
601
602@subsection XCOFF
603
604The IBM RS/6000 running AIX uses an object file format called XCOFF.
605The COFF sections, symbols, and line numbers are used, but debugging
606symbols are dbx-style stabs whose strings are located in the
607@samp{.debug} section (rather than the string table). For more
608information, see @xref{Top,,,stabs,The Stabs Debugging Format}.
609
610The shared library scheme has a clean interface for figuring out what
611shared libraries are in use, but the catch is that everything which
612refers to addresses (symbol tables and breakpoints at least) needs to be
613relocated for both shared libraries and the main executable. At least
614using the standard mechanism this can only be done once the program has
615been run (or the core file has been read).
616
617@subsection PE
618
619Windows 95 and NT use the PE (Portable Executable) format for their
620executables. PE is basically COFF with additional headers.
621
25822942 622While BFD includes special PE support, @value{GDBN} needs only the basic
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623COFF reader.
624
625@subsection ELF
626
627The ELF format came with System V Release 4 (SVR4) Unix. ELF is similar
628to COFF in being organized into a number of sections, but it removes
629many of COFF's limitations.
630
631The basic ELF reader is in @file{elfread.c}.
632
633@subsection SOM
634
635SOM is HP's object file and debug format (not to be confused with IBM's
636SOM, which is a cross-language ABI).
637
638The SOM reader is in @file{hpread.c}.
639
640@subsection Other File Formats
641
25822942 642Other file formats that have been supported by @value{GDBN} include Netware
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643Loadable Modules (@file{nlmread.c}.
644
645@section Debugging File Formats
646
647This section describes characteristics of debugging information that
648are independent of the object file format.
649
650@subsection stabs
651
652@code{stabs} started out as special symbols within the @code{a.out}
653format. Since then, it has been encapsulated into other file
654formats, such as COFF and ELF.
655
656While @file{dbxread.c} does some of the basic stab processing,
657including for encapsulated versions, @file{stabsread.c} does
658the real work.
659
660@subsection COFF
661
662The basic COFF definition includes debugging information. The level
663of support is minimal and non-extensible, and is not often used.
664
665@subsection Mips debug (Third Eye)
666
667ECOFF includes a definition of a special debug format.
668
669The file @file{mdebugread.c} implements reading for this format.
670
671@subsection DWARF 1
672
673DWARF 1 is a debugging format that was originally designed to be
674used with ELF in SVR4 systems.
675
676@c CHILL_PRODUCER
677@c GCC_PRODUCER
678@c GPLUS_PRODUCER
679@c LCC_PRODUCER
680@c If defined, these are the producer strings in a DWARF 1 file. All of
681@c these have reasonable defaults already.
682
683The DWARF 1 reader is in @file{dwarfread.c}.
684
685@subsection DWARF 2
686
687DWARF 2 is an improved but incompatible version of DWARF 1.
688
689The DWARF 2 reader is in @file{dwarf2read.c}.
690
691@subsection SOM
692
693Like COFF, the SOM definition includes debugging information.
694
25822942 695@section Adding a New Symbol Reader to @value{GDBN}
c906108c
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696
697If you are using an existing object file format (a.out, COFF, ELF, etc),
698there is probably little to be done.
699
700If you need to add a new object file format, you must first add it to
701BFD. This is beyond the scope of this document.
702
703You must then arrange for the BFD code to provide access to the
25822942 704debugging symbols. Generally @value{GDBN} will have to call swapping routines
c906108c 705from BFD and a few other BFD internal routines to locate the debugging
25822942 706information. As much as possible, @value{GDBN} should not depend on the BFD
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707internal data structures.
708
709For some targets (e.g., COFF), there is a special transfer vector used
710to call swapping routines, since the external data structures on various
711platforms have different sizes and layouts. Specialized routines that
712will only ever be implemented by one object file format may be called
713directly. This interface should be described in a file
25822942 714@file{bfd/libxyz.h}, which is included by @value{GDBN}.
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715
716
717@node Language Support
718
719@chapter Language Support
720
25822942 721@value{GDBN}'s language support is mainly driven by the symbol reader, although
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722it is possible for the user to set the source language manually.
723
25822942 724@value{GDBN} chooses the source language by looking at the extension of the file
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725recorded in the debug info; @code{.c} means C, @code{.f} means Fortran,
726etc. It may also use a special-purpose language identifier if the debug
727format supports it, such as DWARF.
728
25822942 729@section Adding a Source Language to @value{GDBN}
c906108c 730
25822942 731To add other languages to @value{GDBN}'s expression parser, follow the following
c906108c
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732steps:
733
734@table @emph
735@item Create the expression parser.
736
737This should reside in a file @file{@var{lang}-exp.y}. Routines for
738building parsed expressions into a @samp{union exp_element} list are in
739@file{parse.c}.
740
741Since we can't depend upon everyone having Bison, and YACC produces
742parsers that define a bunch of global names, the following lines
743@emph{must} be included at the top of the YACC parser, to prevent the
744various parsers from defining the same global names:
745
746@example
747#define yyparse @var{lang}_parse
748#define yylex @var{lang}_lex
749#define yyerror @var{lang}_error
750#define yylval @var{lang}_lval
751#define yychar @var{lang}_char
752#define yydebug @var{lang}_debug
753#define yypact @var{lang}_pact
754#define yyr1 @var{lang}_r1
755#define yyr2 @var{lang}_r2
756#define yydef @var{lang}_def
757#define yychk @var{lang}_chk
758#define yypgo @var{lang}_pgo
759#define yyact @var{lang}_act
760#define yyexca @var{lang}_exca
761#define yyerrflag @var{lang}_errflag
762#define yynerrs @var{lang}_nerrs
763@end example
764
765At the bottom of your parser, define a @code{struct language_defn} and
766initialize it with the right values for your language. Define an
767@code{initialize_@var{lang}} routine and have it call
25822942 768@samp{add_language(@var{lang}_language_defn)} to tell the rest of @value{GDBN}
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769that your language exists. You'll need some other supporting variables
770and functions, which will be used via pointers from your
771@code{@var{lang}_language_defn}. See the declaration of @code{struct
772language_defn} in @file{language.h}, and the other @file{*-exp.y} files,
773for more information.
774
775@item Add any evaluation routines, if necessary
776
777If you need new opcodes (that represent the operations of the language),
778add them to the enumerated type in @file{expression.h}. Add support
779code for these operations in @code{eval.c:evaluate_subexp()}. Add cases
780for new opcodes in two functions from @file{parse.c}:
781@code{prefixify_subexp()} and @code{length_of_subexp()}. These compute
782the number of @code{exp_element}s that a given operation takes up.
783
784@item Update some existing code
785
786Add an enumerated identifier for your language to the enumerated type
787@code{enum language} in @file{defs.h}.
788
789Update the routines in @file{language.c} so your language is included.
790These routines include type predicates and such, which (in some cases)
791are language dependent. If your language does not appear in the switch
792statement, an error is reported.
793
794Also included in @file{language.c} is the code that updates the variable
795@code{current_language}, and the routines that translate the
796@code{language_@var{lang}} enumerated identifier into a printable
797string.
798
799Update the function @code{_initialize_language} to include your
800language. This function picks the default language upon startup, so is
25822942 801dependent upon which languages that @value{GDBN} is built for.
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SS
802
803Update @code{allocate_symtab} in @file{symfile.c} and/or symbol-reading
804code so that the language of each symtab (source file) is set properly.
805This is used to determine the language to use at each stack frame level.
806Currently, the language is set based upon the extension of the source
807file. If the language can be better inferred from the symbol
808information, please set the language of the symtab in the symbol-reading
809code.
810
811Add helper code to @code{expprint.c:print_subexp()} to handle any new
812expression opcodes you have added to @file{expression.h}. Also, add the
813printed representations of your operators to @code{op_print_tab}.
814
815@item Add a place of call
816
817Add a call to @code{@var{lang}_parse()} and @code{@var{lang}_error} in
818@code{parse.c:parse_exp_1()}.
819
820@item Use macros to trim code
821
25822942
DB
822The user has the option of building @value{GDBN} for some or all of the
823languages. If the user decides to build @value{GDBN} for the language
c906108c
SS
824@var{lang}, then every file dependent on @file{language.h} will have the
825macro @code{_LANG_@var{lang}} defined in it. Use @code{#ifdef}s to
826leave out large routines that the user won't need if he or she is not
827using your language.
828
25822942 829Note that you do not need to do this in your YACC parser, since if @value{GDBN}
c906108c 830is not build for @var{lang}, then @file{@var{lang}-exp.tab.o} (the
25822942 831compiled form of your parser) is not linked into @value{GDBN} at all.
c906108c 832
25822942 833See the file @file{configure.in} for how @value{GDBN} is configured for different
c906108c
SS
834languages.
835
836@item Edit @file{Makefile.in}
837
838Add dependencies in @file{Makefile.in}. Make sure you update the macro
839variables such as @code{HFILES} and @code{OBJS}, otherwise your code may
840not get linked in, or, worse yet, it may not get @code{tar}red into the
841distribution!
842
843@end table
844
845
846@node Host Definition
847
848@chapter Host Definition
849
850With the advent of autoconf, it's rarely necessary to have host
851definition machinery anymore.
852
853@section Adding a New Host
854
25822942
DB
855Most of @value{GDBN}'s host configuration support happens via autoconf. It
856should be rare to need new host-specific definitions. @value{GDBN} still uses
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SS
857the host-specific definitions and files listed below, but these mostly
858exist for historical reasons, and should eventually disappear.
859
25822942 860Several files control @value{GDBN}'s configuration for host systems:
c906108c
SS
861
862@table @file
863
864@item gdb/config/@var{arch}/@var{xyz}.mh
865Specifies Makefile fragments needed when hosting on machine @var{xyz}.
866In particular, this lists the required machine-dependent object files,
867by defining @samp{XDEPFILES=@dots{}}. Also specifies the header file
868which describes host @var{xyz}, by defining @code{XM_FILE=
869xm-@var{xyz}.h}. You can also define @code{CC}, @code{SYSV_DEFINE},
870@code{XM_CFLAGS}, @code{XM_ADD_FILES}, @code{XM_CLIBS}, @code{XM_CDEPS},
871etc.; see @file{Makefile.in}.
872
873@item gdb/config/@var{arch}/xm-@var{xyz}.h
874(@file{xm.h} is a link to this file, created by configure). Contains C
875macro definitions describing the host system environment, such as byte
876order, host C compiler and library.
877
878@item gdb/@var{xyz}-xdep.c
879Contains any miscellaneous C code required for this machine as a host.
880On most machines it doesn't exist at all. If it does exist, put
881@file{@var{xyz}-xdep.o} into the @code{XDEPFILES} line in
882@file{gdb/config/@var{arch}/@var{xyz}.mh}.
883
884@end table
885
886@subheading Generic Host Support Files
887
888There are some ``generic'' versions of routines that can be used by
889various systems. These can be customized in various ways by macros
890defined in your @file{xm-@var{xyz}.h} file. If these routines work for
891the @var{xyz} host, you can just include the generic file's name (with
892@samp{.o}, not @samp{.c}) in @code{XDEPFILES}.
893
894Otherwise, if your machine needs custom support routines, you will need
895to write routines that perform the same functions as the generic file.
896Put them into @code{@var{xyz}-xdep.c}, and put @code{@var{xyz}-xdep.o}
897into @code{XDEPFILES}.
898
899@table @file
900
901@item ser-unix.c
902This contains serial line support for Unix systems. This is always
903included, via the makefile variable @code{SER_HARDWIRE}; override this
904variable in the @file{.mh} file to avoid it.
905
906@item ser-go32.c
907This contains serial line support for 32-bit programs running under DOS,
908using the GO32 execution environment.
909
910@item ser-tcp.c
911This contains generic TCP support using sockets.
912
913@end table
914
915@section Host Conditionals
916
25822942 917When @value{GDBN} is configured and compiled, various macros are defined or left
c906108c
SS
918undefined, to control compilation based on the attributes of the host
919system. These macros and their meanings (or if the meaning is not
920documented here, then one of the source files where they are used is
921indicated) are:
922
923@table @code
924
25822942
DB
925@item @value{GDBN}INIT_FILENAME
926The default name of @value{GDBN}'s initialization file (normally @file{.gdbinit}).
c906108c
SS
927
928@item MEM_FNS_DECLARED
929Your host config file defines this if it includes declarations of
930@code{memcpy} and @code{memset}. Define this to avoid conflicts between
931the native include files and the declarations in @file{defs.h}.
932
cce74817
JM
933@item NO_STD_REGS
934This macro is deprecated.
935
c906108c
SS
936@item NO_SYS_FILE
937Define this if your system does not have a @code{<sys/file.h>}.
938
939@item SIGWINCH_HANDLER
940If your host defines @code{SIGWINCH}, you can define this to be the name
941of a function to be called if @code{SIGWINCH} is received.
942
943@item SIGWINCH_HANDLER_BODY
944Define this to expand into code that will define the function named by
945the expansion of @code{SIGWINCH_HANDLER}.
946
947@item ALIGN_STACK_ON_STARTUP
948Define this if your system is of a sort that will crash in
949@code{tgetent} if the stack happens not to be longword-aligned when
950@code{main} is called. This is a rare situation, but is known to occur
951on several different types of systems.
952
953@item CRLF_SOURCE_FILES
954Define this if host files use @code{\r\n} rather than @code{\n} as a
955line terminator. This will cause source file listings to omit @code{\r}
956characters when printing and it will allow \r\n line endings of files
957which are "sourced" by gdb. It must be possible to open files in binary
958mode using @code{O_BINARY} or, for fopen, @code{"rb"}.
959
960@item DEFAULT_PROMPT
961The default value of the prompt string (normally @code{"(gdb) "}).
962
963@item DEV_TTY
964The name of the generic TTY device, defaults to @code{"/dev/tty"}.
965
966@item FCLOSE_PROVIDED
967Define this if the system declares @code{fclose} in the headers included
968in @code{defs.h}. This isn't needed unless your compiler is unusually
969anal.
970
971@item FOPEN_RB
972Define this if binary files are opened the same way as text files.
973
974@item GETENV_PROVIDED
975Define this if the system declares @code{getenv} in its headers included
976in @code{defs.h}. This isn't needed unless your compiler is unusually
977anal.
978
979@item HAVE_MMAP
980In some cases, use the system call @code{mmap} for reading symbol
981tables. For some machines this allows for sharing and quick updates.
982
983@item HAVE_SIGSETMASK
984Define this if the host system has job control, but does not define
985@code{sigsetmask()}. Currently, this is only true of the RS/6000.
986
987@item HAVE_TERMIO
988Define this if the host system has @code{termio.h}.
989
990@item HOST_BYTE_ORDER
991The ordering of bytes in the host. This must be defined to be either
992@code{BIG_ENDIAN} or @code{LITTLE_ENDIAN}.
993
994@item INT_MAX
995@item INT_MIN
996@item LONG_MAX
997@item UINT_MAX
998@item ULONG_MAX
999Values for host-side constants.
1000
1001@item ISATTY
1002Substitute for isatty, if not available.
1003
1004@item LONGEST
1005This is the longest integer type available on the host. If not defined,
1006it will default to @code{long long} or @code{long}, depending on
1007@code{CC_HAS_LONG_LONG}.
1008
1009@item CC_HAS_LONG_LONG
1010Define this if the host C compiler supports ``long long''. This is set
1011by the configure script.
1012
1013@item PRINTF_HAS_LONG_LONG
1014Define this if the host can handle printing of long long integers via
1015the printf format directive ``ll''. This is set by the configure script.
1016
1017@item HAVE_LONG_DOUBLE
1018Define this if the host C compiler supports ``long double''. This is
1019set by the configure script.
1020
1021@item PRINTF_HAS_LONG_DOUBLE
1022Define this if the host can handle printing of long double float-point
1023numbers via the printf format directive ``Lg''. This is set by the
1024configure script.
1025
1026@item SCANF_HAS_LONG_DOUBLE
1027Define this if the host can handle the parsing of long double
1028float-point numbers via the scanf format directive directive
1029``Lg''. This is set by the configure script.
1030
1031@item LSEEK_NOT_LINEAR
1032Define this if @code{lseek (n)} does not necessarily move to byte number
1033@code{n} in the file. This is only used when reading source files. It
1034is normally faster to define @code{CRLF_SOURCE_FILES} when possible.
1035
1036@item L_SET
1037This macro is used as the argument to lseek (or, most commonly,
1038bfd_seek). FIXME, should be replaced by SEEK_SET instead, which is the
1039POSIX equivalent.
1040
c906108c
SS
1041@item MALLOC_INCOMPATIBLE
1042Define this if the system's prototype for @code{malloc} differs from the
1043@sc{ANSI} definition.
1044
1045@item MMAP_BASE_ADDRESS
1046When using HAVE_MMAP, the first mapping should go at this address.
1047
1048@item MMAP_INCREMENT
1049when using HAVE_MMAP, this is the increment between mappings.
1050
1051@item NEED_POSIX_SETPGID
1052Define this to use the POSIX version of @code{setpgid} to determine
1053whether job control is available.
1054
1055@item NORETURN
1056If defined, this should be one or more tokens, such as @code{volatile},
1057that can be used in both the declaration and definition of functions to
1058indicate that they never return. The default is already set correctly
1059if compiling with GCC. This will almost never need to be defined.
1060
1061@item ATTR_NORETURN
1062If defined, this should be one or more tokens, such as
1063@code{__attribute__ ((noreturn))}, that can be used in the declarations
1064of functions to indicate that they never return. The default is already
1065set correctly if compiling with GCC. This will almost never need to be
1066defined.
1067
7a292a7a
SS
1068@item USE_GENERIC_DUMMY_FRAMES
1069Define this to 1 if the target is using the generic inferior function
1070call code. See @code{blockframe.c} for more information.
1071
c906108c 1072@item USE_MMALLOC
25822942 1073@value{GDBN} will use the @code{mmalloc} library for memory allocation for symbol
c906108c
SS
1074reading if this symbol is defined. Be careful defining it since there
1075are systems on which @code{mmalloc} does not work for some reason. One
1076example is the DECstation, where its RPC library can't cope with our
1077redefinition of @code{malloc} to call @code{mmalloc}. When defining
1078@code{USE_MMALLOC}, you will also have to set @code{MMALLOC} in the
1079Makefile, to point to the mmalloc library. This define is set when you
1080configure with --with-mmalloc.
1081
1082@item NO_MMCHECK
1083Define this if you are using @code{mmalloc}, but don't want the overhead
1084of checking the heap with @code{mmcheck}. Note that on some systems,
1085the C runtime makes calls to malloc prior to calling @code{main}, and if
1086@code{free} is ever called with these pointers after calling
1087@code{mmcheck} to enable checking, a memory corruption abort is certain
1088to occur. These systems can still use mmalloc, but must define
1089NO_MMCHECK.
1090
1091@item MMCHECK_FORCE
1092Define this to 1 if the C runtime allocates memory prior to
1093@code{mmcheck} being called, but that memory is never freed so we don't
1094have to worry about it triggering a memory corruption abort. The
1095default is 0, which means that @code{mmcheck} will only install the heap
1096checking functions if there has not yet been any memory allocation
1097calls, and if it fails to install the functions, gdb will issue a
1098warning. This is currently defined if you configure using
1099--with-mmalloc.
1100
1101@item NO_SIGINTERRUPT
1102Define this to indicate that siginterrupt() is not available.
1103
1104@item R_OK
1105Define if this is not in a system .h file.
1106
1107@item SEEK_CUR
1108@item SEEK_SET
1109Define these to appropriate value for the system lseek(), if not already
1110defined.
1111
1112@item STOP_SIGNAL
25822942 1113This is the signal for stopping @value{GDBN}. Defaults to SIGTSTP. (Only
c906108c
SS
1114redefined for the Convex.)
1115
1116@item USE_O_NOCTTY
1117Define this if the interior's tty should be opened with the O_NOCTTY
1118flag. (FIXME: This should be a native-only flag, but @file{inflow.c} is
1119always linked in.)
1120
1121@item USG
1122Means that System V (prior to SVR4) include files are in use. (FIXME:
1123This symbol is abused in @file{infrun.c}, @file{regex.c},
1124@file{remote-nindy.c}, and @file{utils.c} for other things, at the
1125moment.)
1126
1127@item lint
1128Define this to help placate lint in some situations.
1129
1130@item volatile
1131Define this to override the defaults of @code{__volatile__} or
1132@code{/**/}.
1133
1134@end table
1135
1136
1137@node Target Architecture Definition
1138
1139@chapter Target Architecture Definition
1140
25822942
DB
1141@value{GDBN}'s target architecture defines what sort of machine-language programs
1142@value{GDBN} can work with, and how it works with them.
c906108c
SS
1143
1144At present, the target architecture definition consists of a number of C
1145macros.
1146
1147@section Registers and Memory
1148
25822942 1149@value{GDBN}'s model of the target machine is rather simple. @value{GDBN} assumes the
c906108c
SS
1150machine includes a bank of registers and a block of memory. Each
1151register may have a different size.
1152
25822942 1153@value{GDBN} does not have a magical way to match up with the compiler's idea of
c906108c
SS
1154which registers are which; however, it is critical that they do match up
1155accurately. The only way to make this work is to get accurate
1156information about the order that the compiler uses, and to reflect that
1157in the @code{REGISTER_NAME} and related macros.
1158
25822942 1159@value{GDBN} can handle big-endian, little-endian, and bi-endian architectures.
c906108c 1160
93e79dbd
JB
1161@section Pointers Are Not Always Addresses
1162@cindex pointer representation
1163@cindex address representation
1164@cindex word-addressed machines
1165@cindex separate data and code address spaces
1166@cindex spaces, separate data and code address
1167@cindex address spaces, separate data and code
1168@cindex code pointers, word-addressed
1169@cindex converting between pointers and addresses
1170@cindex D10V addresses
1171
1172On almost all 32-bit architectures, the representation of a pointer is
1173indistinguishable from the representation of some fixed-length number
1174whose value is the byte address of the object pointed to. On such
1175machines, the words `pointer' and `address' can be used interchangeably.
1176However, architectures with smaller word sizes are often cramped for
1177address space, so they may choose a pointer representation that breaks this
1178identity, and allows a larger code address space.
1179
1180For example, the Mitsubishi D10V is a 16-bit VLIW processor whose
1181instructions are 32 bits long@footnote{Some D10V instructions are
1182actually pairs of 16-bit sub-instructions. However, since you can't
1183jump into the middle of such a pair, code addresses can only refer to
1184full 32 bit instructions, which is what matters in this explanation.}.
1185If the D10V used ordinary byte addresses to refer to code locations,
1186then the processor would only be able to address 64kb of instructions.
1187However, since instructions must be aligned on four-byte boundaries, the
1188low two bits of any valid instruction's byte address are always zero ---
1189byte addresses waste two bits. So instead of byte addresses, the D10V
1190uses word addresses --- byte addresses shifted right two bits --- to
1191refer to code. Thus, the D10V can use 16-bit words to address 256kb of
1192code space.
1193
1194However, this means that code pointers and data pointers have different
1195forms on the D10V. The 16-bit word @code{0xC020} refers to byte address
1196@code{0xC020} when used as a data address, but refers to byte address
1197@code{0x30080} when used as a code address.
1198
1199(The D10V also uses separate code and data address spaces, which also
1200affects the correspondence between pointers and addresses, but we're
1201going to ignore that here; this example is already too long.)
1202
1203To cope with architectures like this --- the D10V is not the only one!
1204--- @value{GDBN} tries to distinguish between @dfn{addresses}, which are
1205byte numbers, and @dfn{pointers}, which are the target's representation
1206of an address of a particular type of data. In the example above,
1207@code{0xC020} is the pointer, which refers to one of the addresses
1208@code{0xC020} or @code{0x30080}, depending on the type imposed upon it.
1209@value{GDBN} provides functions for turning a pointer into an address
1210and vice versa, in the appropriate way for the current architecture.
1211
1212Unfortunately, since addresses and pointers are identical on almost all
1213processors, this distinction tends to bit-rot pretty quickly. Thus,
1214each time you port @value{GDBN} to an architecture which does
1215distinguish between pointers and addresses, you'll probably need to
1216clean up some architecture-independent code.
1217
1218Here are functions which convert between pointers and addresses:
1219
1220@deftypefun CORE_ADDR extract_typed_address (void *@var{buf}, struct type *@var{type})
1221Treat the bytes at @var{buf} as a pointer or reference of type
1222@var{type}, and return the address it represents, in a manner
1223appropriate for the current architecture. This yields an address
1224@value{GDBN} can use to read target memory, disassemble, etc. Note that
1225@var{buf} refers to a buffer in @value{GDBN}'s memory, not the
1226inferior's.
1227
1228For example, if the current architecture is the Intel x86, this function
1229extracts a little-endian integer of the appropriate length from
1230@var{buf} and returns it. However, if the current architecture is the
1231D10V, this function will return a 16-bit integer extracted from
1232@var{buf}, multiplied by four if @var{type} is a pointer to a function.
1233
1234If @var{type} is not a pointer or reference type, then this function
1235will signal an internal error.
1236@end deftypefun
1237
1238@deftypefun CORE_ADDR store_typed_address (void *@var{buf}, struct type *@var{type}, CORE_ADDR @var{addr})
1239Store the address @var{addr} in @var{buf}, in the proper format for a
1240pointer of type @var{type} in the current architecture. Note that
1241@var{buf} refers to a buffer in @value{GDBN}'s memory, not the
1242inferior's.
1243
1244For example, if the current architecture is the Intel x86, this function
1245stores @var{addr} unmodified as a little-endian integer of the
1246appropriate length in @var{buf}. However, if the current architecture
1247is the D10V, this function divides @var{addr} by four if @var{type} is
1248a pointer to a function, and then stores it in @var{buf}.
1249
1250If @var{type} is not a pointer or reference type, then this function
1251will signal an internal error.
1252@end deftypefun
1253
1254@deftypefun CORE_ADDR value_as_pointer (value_ptr @var{val})
1255Assuming that @var{val} is a pointer, return the address it represents,
1256as appropriate for the current architecture.
1257
1258This function actually works on integral values, as well as pointers.
1259For pointers, it performs architecture-specific conversions as
1260described above for @code{extract_typed_address}.
1261@end deftypefun
1262
1263@deftypefun CORE_ADDR value_from_pointer (struct type *@var{type}, CORE_ADDR @var{addr})
1264Create and return a value representing a pointer of type @var{type} to
1265the address @var{addr}, as appropriate for the current architecture.
1266This function performs architecture-specific conversions as described
1267above for @code{store_typed_address}.
1268@end deftypefun
1269
1270
1271@value{GDBN} also provides functions that do the same tasks, but assume
1272that pointers are simply byte addresses; they aren't sensitive to the
1273current architecture, beyond knowing the appropriate endianness.
1274
1275@deftypefun CORE_ADDR extract_address (void *@var{addr}, int len)
1276Extract a @var{len}-byte number from @var{addr} in the appropriate
1277endianness for the current architecture, and return it. Note that
1278@var{addr} refers to @value{GDBN}'s memory, not the inferior's.
1279
1280This function should only be used in architecture-specific code; it
1281doesn't have enough information to turn bits into a true address in the
1282appropriate way for the current architecture. If you can, use
1283@code{extract_typed_address} instead.
1284@end deftypefun
1285
1286@deftypefun void store_address (void *@var{addr}, int @var{len}, LONGEST @var{val})
1287Store @var{val} at @var{addr} as a @var{len}-byte integer, in the
1288appropriate endianness for the current architecture. Note that
1289@var{addr} refers to a buffer in @value{GDBN}'s memory, not the
1290inferior's.
1291
1292This function should only be used in architecture-specific code; it
1293doesn't have enough information to turn a true address into bits in the
1294appropriate way for the current architecture. If you can, use
1295@code{store_typed_address} instead.
1296@end deftypefun
1297
1298
1299Here are some macros which architectures can define to indicate the
1300relationship between pointers and addresses. These have default
1301definitions, appropriate for architectures on which all pointers are
1302simple byte addresses.
1303
1304@deftypefn {Target Macro} CORE_ADDR POINTER_TO_ADDRESS (struct type *@var{type}, char *@var{buf})
1305Assume that @var{buf} holds a pointer of type @var{type}, in the
1306appropriate format for the current architecture. Return the byte
1307address the pointer refers to.
1308
1309This function may safely assume that @var{type} is either a pointer or a
1310C++ reference type.
1311@end deftypefn
1312
1313@deftypefn {Target Macro} void ADDRESS_TO_POINTER (struct type *@var{type}, char *@var{buf}, CORE_ADDR @var{addr})
1314Store in @var{buf} a pointer of type @var{type} representing the address
1315@var{addr}, in the appropriate format for the current architecture.
1316
1317This function may safely assume that @var{type} is either a pointer or a
1318C++ reference type.
1319@end deftypefn
1320
1321
9fb4dd36
JB
1322@section Using Different Register and Memory Data Representations
1323@cindex raw representation
1324@cindex virtual representation
1325@cindex representations, raw and virtual
1326@cindex register data formats, converting
1327@cindex @code{struct value}, converting register contents to
1328
1329Some architectures use one representation for a value when it lives in a
1330register, but use a different representation when it lives in memory.
25822942 1331In @value{GDBN}'s terminology, the @dfn{raw} representation is the one used in
9fb4dd36 1332the target registers, and the @dfn{virtual} representation is the one
25822942 1333used in memory, and within @value{GDBN} @code{struct value} objects.
9fb4dd36
JB
1334
1335For almost all data types on almost all architectures, the virtual and
1336raw representations are identical, and no special handling is needed.
1337However, they do occasionally differ. For example:
1338
1339@itemize @bullet
1340
1341@item
1342The x86 architecture supports an 80-bit long double type. However, when
1343we store those values in memory, they occupy twelve bytes: the
1344floating-point number occupies the first ten, and the final two bytes
1345are unused. This keeps the values aligned on four-byte boundaries,
1346allowing more efficient access. Thus, the x86 80-bit floating-point
1347type is the raw representation, and the twelve-byte loosely-packed
1348arrangement is the virtual representation.
1349
1350@item
25822942
DB
1351Some 64-bit MIPS targets present 32-bit registers to @value{GDBN} as 64-bit
1352registers, with garbage in their upper bits. @value{GDBN} ignores the top 32
9fb4dd36
JB
1353bits. Thus, the 64-bit form, with garbage in the upper 32 bits, is the
1354raw representation, and the trimmed 32-bit representation is the
1355virtual representation.
1356
1357@end itemize
1358
1359In general, the raw representation is determined by the architecture, or
25822942
DB
1360@value{GDBN}'s interface to the architecture, while the virtual representation
1361can be chosen for @value{GDBN}'s convenience. @value{GDBN}'s register file,
1362@code{registers}, holds the register contents in raw format, and the @value{GDBN}
9fb4dd36
JB
1363remote protocol transmits register values in raw format.
1364
1365Your architecture may define the following macros to request raw /
1366virtual conversions:
1367
1368@deftypefn {Target Macro} int REGISTER_CONVERTIBLE (int @var{reg})
1369Return non-zero if register number @var{reg}'s value needs different raw
1370and virtual formats.
1371@end deftypefn
1372
1373@deftypefn {Target Macro} int REGISTER_RAW_SIZE (int @var{reg})
1374The size of register number @var{reg}'s raw value. This is the number
25822942 1375of bytes the register will occupy in @code{registers}, or in a @value{GDBN}
9fb4dd36
JB
1376remote protocol packet.
1377@end deftypefn
1378
1379@deftypefn {Target Macro} int REGISTER_VIRTUAL_SIZE (int @var{reg})
1380The size of register number @var{reg}'s value, in its virtual format.
1381This is the size a @code{struct value}'s buffer will have, holding that
1382register's value.
1383@end deftypefn
1384
1385@deftypefn {Target Macro} struct type *REGISTER_VIRTUAL_TYPE (int @var{reg})
1386This is the type of the virtual representation of register number
1387@var{reg}. Note that there is no need for a macro giving a type for the
25822942 1388register's raw form; once the register's value has been obtained, @value{GDBN}
9fb4dd36
JB
1389always uses the virtual form.
1390@end deftypefn
1391
1392@deftypefn {Target Macro} void REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_VIRTUAL (int @var{reg}, struct type *@var{type}, char *@var{from}, char *@var{to})
1393Convert the value of register number @var{reg} to @var{type}, which
1394should always be @code{REGISTER_VIRTUAL_TYPE (@var{reg})}. The buffer
1395at @var{from} holds the register's value in raw format; the macro should
1396convert the value to virtual format, and place it at @var{to}.
1397
1398Note that REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_VIRTUAL and REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_RAW take
1399their @var{reg} and @var{type} arguments in different orders.
1400@end deftypefn
1401
1402@deftypefn {Target Macro} void REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_RAW (struct type *@var{type}, int @var{reg}, char *@var{from}, char *@var{to})
1403Convert the value of register number @var{reg} to @var{type}, which
1404should always be @code{REGISTER_VIRTUAL_TYPE (@var{reg})}. The buffer
1405at @var{from} holds the register's value in raw format; the macro should
1406convert the value to virtual format, and place it at @var{to}.
1407
1408Note that REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_VIRTUAL and REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_RAW take
1409their @var{reg} and @var{type} arguments in different orders.
1410@end deftypefn
1411
1412
c906108c
SS
1413@section Frame Interpretation
1414
1415@section Inferior Call Setup
1416
1417@section Compiler Characteristics
1418
1419@section Target Conditionals
1420
1421This section describes the macros that you can use to define the target
1422machine.
1423
1424@table @code
1425
1426@item ADDITIONAL_OPTIONS
1427@item ADDITIONAL_OPTION_CASES
1428@item ADDITIONAL_OPTION_HANDLER
1429@item ADDITIONAL_OPTION_HELP
1430These are a set of macros that allow the addition of additional command
25822942 1431line options to @value{GDBN}. They are currently used only for the unsupported
c906108c
SS
1432i960 Nindy target, and should not be used in any other configuration.
1433
1434@item ADDR_BITS_REMOVE (addr)
adf40b2e
JM
1435If a raw machine instruction address includes any bits that are not
1436really part of the address, then define this macro to expand into an
1437expression that zeros those bits in @var{addr}. This is only used for
1438addresses of instructions, and even then not in all contexts.
1439
1440For example, the two low-order bits of the PC on the Hewlett-Packard PA
14412.0 architecture contain the privilege level of the corresponding
1442instruction. Since instructions must always be aligned on four-byte
1443boundaries, the processor masks out these bits to generate the actual
1444address of the instruction. ADDR_BITS_REMOVE should filter out these
1445bits with an expression such as @code{((addr) & ~3)}.
c906108c 1446
93e79dbd
JB
1447@item ADDRESS_TO_POINTER (@var{type}, @var{buf}, @var{addr})
1448Store in @var{buf} a pointer of type @var{type} representing the address
1449@var{addr}, in the appropriate format for the current architecture.
1450This macro may safely assume that @var{type} is either a pointer or a
1451C++ reference type.
1452@xref{Target Architecture Definition, , Pointers Are Not Always Addresses}.
1453
c906108c
SS
1454@item BEFORE_MAIN_LOOP_HOOK
1455Define this to expand into any code that you want to execute before the
1456main loop starts. Although this is not, strictly speaking, a target
1457conditional, that is how it is currently being used. Note that if a
1458configuration were to define it one way for a host and a different way
25822942 1459for the target, @value{GDBN} will probably not compile, let alone run correctly.
c906108c
SS
1460This is currently used only for the unsupported i960 Nindy target, and
1461should not be used in any other configuration.
1462
1463@item BELIEVE_PCC_PROMOTION
1464Define if the compiler promotes a short or char parameter to an int, but
1465still reports the parameter as its original type, rather than the
1466promoted type.
1467
1468@item BELIEVE_PCC_PROMOTION_TYPE
25822942 1469Define this if @value{GDBN} should believe the type of a short argument when
c906108c
SS
1470compiled by pcc, but look within a full int space to get its value.
1471Only defined for Sun-3 at present.
1472
1473@item BITS_BIG_ENDIAN
1474Define this if the numbering of bits in the targets does *not* match the
1475endianness of the target byte order. A value of 1 means that the bits
1476are numbered in a big-endian order, 0 means little-endian.
1477
1478@item BREAKPOINT
1479This is the character array initializer for the bit pattern to put into
1480memory where a breakpoint is set. Although it's common to use a trap
1481instruction for a breakpoint, it's not required; for instance, the bit
1482pattern could be an invalid instruction. The breakpoint must be no
1483longer than the shortest instruction of the architecture.
1484
7a292a7a
SS
1485@var{BREAKPOINT} has been deprecated in favour of
1486@var{BREAKPOINT_FROM_PC}.
1487
c906108c
SS
1488@item BIG_BREAKPOINT
1489@item LITTLE_BREAKPOINT
1490Similar to BREAKPOINT, but used for bi-endian targets.
1491
7a292a7a
SS
1492@var{BIG_BREAKPOINT} and @var{LITTLE_BREAKPOINT} have been deprecated in
1493favour of @var{BREAKPOINT_FROM_PC}.
1494
c906108c
SS
1495@item REMOTE_BREAKPOINT
1496@item LITTLE_REMOTE_BREAKPOINT
1497@item BIG_REMOTE_BREAKPOINT
1498Similar to BREAKPOINT, but used for remote targets.
1499
7a292a7a
SS
1500@var{BIG_REMOTE_BREAKPOINT} and @var{LITTLE_REMOTE_BREAKPOINT} have been
1501deprecated in favour of @var{BREAKPOINT_FROM_PC}.
1502
c906108c
SS
1503@item BREAKPOINT_FROM_PC (pcptr, lenptr)
1504
1505Use the program counter to determine the contents and size of a
1506breakpoint instruction. It returns a pointer to a string of bytes that
1507encode a breakpoint instruction, stores the length of the string to
1508*lenptr, and adjusts pc (if necessary) to point to the actual memory
1509location where the breakpoint should be inserted.
1510
1511Although it is common to use a trap instruction for a breakpoint, it's
1512not required; for instance, the bit pattern could be an invalid
1513instruction. The breakpoint must be no longer than the shortest
1514instruction of the architecture.
1515
7a292a7a
SS
1516Replaces all the other @var{BREAKPOINT} macros.
1517
917317f4
JM
1518@item MEMORY_INSERT_BREAKPOINT (addr, contents_cache)
1519@item MEMORY_REMOVE_BREAKPOINT (addr, contents_cache)
1520
1521Insert or remove memory based breakpoints. Reasonable defaults
1522(@code{default_memory_insert_breakpoint} and
1523@code{default_memory_remove_breakpoint} respectively) have been
1524provided so that it is not necessary to define these for most
1525architectures. Architectures which may want to define
1526@var{MEMORY_INSERT_BREAKPOINT} and @var{MEMORY_REMOVE_BREAKPOINT} will
1527likely have instructions that are oddly sized or are not stored in a
1528conventional manner.
1529
1530It may also be desirable (from an efficiency standpoint) to define
1531custom breakpoint insertion and removal routines if
1532@var{BREAKPOINT_FROM_PC} needs to read the target's memory for some
1533reason.
1534
7a292a7a
SS
1535@item CALL_DUMMY_P
1536A C expresson that is non-zero when the target suports inferior function
1537calls.
1538
1539@item CALL_DUMMY_WORDS
1540Pointer to an array of @var{LONGEST} words of data containing
1541host-byte-ordered @var{REGISTER_BYTES} sized values that partially
1542specify the sequence of instructions needed for an inferior function
1543call.
1544
1545Should be deprecated in favour of a macro that uses target-byte-ordered
1546data.
1547
1548@item SIZEOF_CALL_DUMMY_WORDS
1549The size of @var{CALL_DUMMY_WORDS}. When @var{CALL_DUMMY_P} this must
1550return a positive value. See also @var{CALL_DUMMY_LENGTH}.
c906108c
SS
1551
1552@item CALL_DUMMY
7a292a7a
SS
1553A static initializer for @var{CALL_DUMMY_WORDS}. Deprecated.
1554
c906108c
SS
1555@item CALL_DUMMY_LOCATION
1556inferior.h
7a292a7a 1557
c906108c 1558@item CALL_DUMMY_STACK_ADJUST
7a292a7a
SS
1559Stack adjustment needed when performing an inferior function call.
1560
1561Should be deprecated in favor of something like @var{STACK_ALIGN}.
1562
1563@item CALL_DUMMY_STACK_ADJUST_P
1564Predicate for use of @var{CALL_DUMMY_STACK_ADJUST}.
1565
1566Should be deprecated in favor of something like @var{STACK_ALIGN}.
c906108c
SS
1567
1568@item CANNOT_FETCH_REGISTER (regno)
1569A C expression that should be nonzero if @var{regno} cannot be fetched
1570from an inferior process. This is only relevant if
1571@code{FETCH_INFERIOR_REGISTERS} is not defined.
1572
1573@item CANNOT_STORE_REGISTER (regno)
1574A C expression that should be nonzero if @var{regno} should not be
1575written to the target. This is often the case for program counters,
25822942 1576status words, and other special registers. If this is not defined, @value{GDBN}
c906108c
SS
1577will assume that all registers may be written.
1578
1579@item DO_DEFERRED_STORES
1580@item CLEAR_DEFERRED_STORES
1581Define this to execute any deferred stores of registers into the inferior,
1582and to cancel any deferred stores.
1583
1584Currently only implemented correctly for native Sparc configurations?
1585
ef36d45e
JB
1586@item COERCE_FLOAT_TO_DOUBLE (@var{formal}, @var{actual})
1587If we are calling a function by hand, and the function was declared
1588(according to the debug info) without a prototype, should we
1589automatically promote floats to doubles? This macro must evaluate to
1590non-zero if we should, or zero if we should leave the value alone.
1591
1592The argument @var{actual} is the type of the value we want to pass to
1593the function. The argument @var{formal} is the type of this argument,
1594as it appears in the function's definition. Note that @var{formal} may
1595be zero if we have no debugging information for the function, or if
1596we're passing more arguments than are officially declared (for example,
1597varargs). This macro is never invoked if the function definitely has a
1598prototype.
1599
1600The default behavior is to promote only when we have no type information
1601for the formal parameter. This is different from the obvious behavior,
1602which would be to promote whenever we have no prototype, just as the
1603compiler does. It's annoying, but some older targets rely on this. If
25822942 1604you want @value{GDBN} to follow the typical compiler behavior --- to always
ef36d45e
JB
1605promote when there is no prototype in scope --- your gdbarch init
1606function can call @code{set_gdbarch_coerce_float_to_double} and select
1607the @code{standard_coerce_float_to_double} function.
1608
c906108c
SS
1609@item CPLUS_MARKER
1610Define this to expand into the character that G++ uses to distinguish
1611compiler-generated identifiers from programmer-specified identifiers.
1612By default, this expands into @code{'$'}. Most System V targets should
1613define this to @code{'.'}.
1614
1615@item DBX_PARM_SYMBOL_CLASS
1616Hook for the @code{SYMBOL_CLASS} of a parameter when decoding DBX symbol
1617information. In the i960, parameters can be stored as locals or as
1618args, depending on the type of the debug record.
1619
1620@item DECR_PC_AFTER_BREAK
1621Define this to be the amount by which to decrement the PC after the
1622program encounters a breakpoint. This is often the number of bytes in
1623BREAKPOINT, though not always. For most targets this value will be 0.
1624
1625@item DECR_PC_AFTER_HW_BREAK
1626Similarly, for hardware breakpoints.
1627
1628@item DISABLE_UNSETTABLE_BREAK addr
1629If defined, this should evaluate to 1 if @var{addr} is in a shared
1630library in which breakpoints cannot be set and so should be disabled.
1631
1632@item DO_REGISTERS_INFO
1633If defined, use this to print the value of a register or all registers.
1634
1635@item END_OF_TEXT_DEFAULT
1636This is an expression that should designate the end of the text section
1637(? FIXME ?)
1638
1639@item EXTRACT_RETURN_VALUE(type,regbuf,valbuf)
1640Define this to extract a function's return value of type @var{type} from
1641the raw register state @var{regbuf} and copy that, in virtual format,
1642into @var{valbuf}.
1643
1644@item EXTRACT_STRUCT_VALUE_ADDRESS(regbuf)
ac9a91a7
JM
1645When @var{EXTRACT_STRUCT_VALUE_ADDRESS_P} this is used to to extract
1646from an array @var{regbuf} (containing the raw register state) the
1647address in which a function should return its structure value, as a
1648CORE_ADDR (or an expression that can be used as one).
1649
1650@item EXTRACT_STRUCT_VALUE_ADDRESS_P
1651Predicate for @var{EXTRACT_STRUCT_VALUE_ADDRESS}.
c906108c
SS
1652
1653@item FLOAT_INFO
1654If defined, then the `info float' command will print information about
1655the processor's floating point unit.
1656
1657@item FP_REGNUM
cce74817
JM
1658If the virtual frame pointer is kept in a register, then define this
1659macro to be the number (greater than or equal to zero) of that register.
1660
1661This should only need to be defined if @code{TARGET_READ_FP} and
1662@code{TARGET_WRITE_FP} are not defined.
c906108c 1663
392a587b
JM
1664@item FRAMELESS_FUNCTION_INVOCATION(fi)
1665Define this to an expression that returns 1 if the function invocation
1666represented by @var{fi} does not have a stack frame associated with it.
1667Otherwise return 0.
c906108c
SS
1668
1669@item FRAME_ARGS_ADDRESS_CORRECT
1670stack.c
1671
1672@item FRAME_CHAIN(frame)
1673Given @var{frame}, return a pointer to the calling frame.
1674
1675@item FRAME_CHAIN_COMBINE(chain,frame)
1676Define this to take the frame chain pointer and the frame's nominal
1677address and produce the nominal address of the caller's frame.
1678Presently only defined for HP PA.
1679
1680@item FRAME_CHAIN_VALID(chain,thisframe)
1681
1682Define this to be an expression that returns zero if the given frame is
c4093a6a
JM
1683an outermost frame, with no caller, and nonzero otherwise. Several
1684common definitions are available.
1685
1686@code{file_frame_chain_valid} is nonzero if the chain pointer is nonzero
1687and given frame's PC is not inside the startup file (such as
1688@file{crt0.o}). @code{func_frame_chain_valid} is nonzero if the chain
1689pointer is nonzero and the given frame's PC is not in @code{main()} or a
1690known entry point function (such as @code{_start()}).
1691@code{generic_file_frame_chain_valid} and
1692@code{generic_func_frame_chain_valid} are equivalent implementations for
1693targets using generic dummy frames.
c906108c
SS
1694
1695@item FRAME_INIT_SAVED_REGS(frame)
1696See @file{frame.h}. Determines the address of all registers in the
1697current stack frame storing each in @code{frame->saved_regs}. Space for
1698@code{frame->saved_regs} shall be allocated by
1699@code{FRAME_INIT_SAVED_REGS} using either
1700@code{frame_saved_regs_zalloc} or @code{frame_obstack_alloc}.
1701
1702@var{FRAME_FIND_SAVED_REGS} and @var{EXTRA_FRAME_INFO} are deprecated.
1703
392a587b
JM
1704@item FRAME_NUM_ARGS (fi)
1705For the frame described by @var{fi} return the number of arguments that
1706are being passed. If the number of arguments is not known, return
1707@code{-1}.
c906108c
SS
1708
1709@item FRAME_SAVED_PC(frame)
1710Given @var{frame}, return the pc saved there. That is, the return
1711address.
1712
1713@item FUNCTION_EPILOGUE_SIZE
1714For some COFF targets, the @code{x_sym.x_misc.x_fsize} field of the
1715function end symbol is 0. For such targets, you must define
1716@code{FUNCTION_EPILOGUE_SIZE} to expand into the standard size of a
1717function's epilogue.
1718
f7cb2b90
JB
1719@item FUNCTION_START_OFFSET
1720An integer, giving the offset in bytes from a function's address (as
1721used in the values of symbols, function pointers, etc.), and the
1722function's first genuine instruction.
1723
1724This is zero on almost all machines: the function's address is usually
1725the address of its first instruction. However, on the VAX, for example,
1726each function starts with two bytes containing a bitmask indicating
1727which registers to save upon entry to the function. The VAX @code{call}
1728instructions check this value, and save the appropriate registers
1729automatically. Thus, since the offset from the function's address to
1730its first instruction is two bytes, @code{FUNCTION_START_OFFSET} would
1731be 2 on the VAX.
1732
c906108c
SS
1733@item GCC_COMPILED_FLAG_SYMBOL
1734@item GCC2_COMPILED_FLAG_SYMBOL
25822942 1735If defined, these are the names of the symbols that @value{GDBN} will look for to
c906108c
SS
1736detect that GCC compiled the file. The default symbols are
1737@code{gcc_compiled.} and @code{gcc2_compiled.}, respectively. (Currently
1738only defined for the Delta 68.)
1739
25822942 1740@item @value{GDBN}_MULTI_ARCH
0f71a2f6 1741If defined and non-zero, enables suport for multiple architectures
25822942 1742within @value{GDBN}.
0f71a2f6
JM
1743
1744The support can be enabled at two levels. At level one, only
1745definitions for previously undefined macros are provided; at level two,
1746a multi-arch definition of all architecture dependant macros will be
1747defined.
1748
25822942 1749@item @value{GDBN}_TARGET_IS_HPPA
c906108c
SS
1750This determines whether horrible kludge code in dbxread.c and
1751partial-stab.h is used to mangle multiple-symbol-table files from
1752HPPA's. This should all be ripped out, and a scheme like elfread.c
1753used.
1754
c906108c
SS
1755@item GET_LONGJMP_TARGET
1756For most machines, this is a target-dependent parameter. On the
1757DECstation and the Iris, this is a native-dependent parameter, since
1758<setjmp.h> is needed to define it.
1759
1760This macro determines the target PC address that longjmp() will jump to,
1761assuming that we have just stopped at a longjmp breakpoint. It takes a
1762CORE_ADDR * as argument, and stores the target PC value through this
1763pointer. It examines the current state of the machine as needed.
1764
1765@item GET_SAVED_REGISTER
1766Define this if you need to supply your own definition for the function
7a292a7a 1767@code{get_saved_register}.
c906108c
SS
1768
1769@item HAVE_REGISTER_WINDOWS
1770Define this if the target has register windows.
1771@item REGISTER_IN_WINDOW_P (regnum)
1772Define this to be an expression that is 1 if the given register is in
1773the window.
1774
1775@item IBM6000_TARGET
1776Shows that we are configured for an IBM RS/6000 target. This
1777conditional should be eliminated (FIXME) and replaced by
1778feature-specific macros. It was introduced in haste and we are
1779repenting at leisure.
1780
2df3850c
JM
1781@item SYMBOLS_CAN_START_WITH_DOLLAR
1782Some systems have routines whose names start with @samp{$}. Giving this
25822942 1783macro a non-zero value tells @value{GDBN}'s expression parser to check for such
2df3850c
JM
1784routines when parsing tokens that begin with @samp{$}.
1785
1786On HP-UX, certain system routines (millicode) have names beginning with
1787@samp{$} or @samp{$$}. For example, @code{$$dyncall} is a millicode
1788routine that handles inter-space procedure calls on PA-RISC.
1789
c906108c
SS
1790@item IEEE_FLOAT
1791Define this if the target system uses IEEE-format floating point numbers.
1792
1793@item INIT_EXTRA_FRAME_INFO (fromleaf, frame)
1794If additional information about the frame is required this should be
1795stored in @code{frame->extra_info}. Space for @code{frame->extra_info}
1796is allocated using @code{frame_obstack_alloc}.
1797
1798@item INIT_FRAME_PC (fromleaf, prev)
1799This is a C statement that sets the pc of the frame pointed to by
1800@var{prev}. [By default...]
1801
1802@item INNER_THAN (lhs,rhs)
1803Returns non-zero if stack address @var{lhs} is inner than (nearer to the
1804stack top) stack address @var{rhs}. Define this as @code{lhs < rhs} if
1805the target's stack grows downward in memory, or @code{lhs > rsh} if the
1806stack grows upward.
1807
1808@item IN_SIGTRAMP (pc, name)
1809Define this to return true if the given @var{pc} and/or @var{name}
1810indicates that the current function is a sigtramp.
1811
1812@item SIGTRAMP_START (pc)
1813@item SIGTRAMP_END (pc)
1814Define these to be the start and end address of the sigtramp for the
1815given @var{pc}. On machines where the address is just a compile time
1816constant, the macro expansion will typically just ignore the supplied
1817@var{pc}.
1818
1819@item IN_SOLIB_CALL_TRAMPOLINE pc name
1820Define this to evaluate to nonzero if the program is stopped in the
1821trampoline that connects to a shared library.
1822
1823@item IN_SOLIB_RETURN_TRAMPOLINE pc name
1824Define this to evaluate to nonzero if the program is stopped in the
1825trampoline that returns from a shared library.
1826
d4f3574e
SS
1827@item IN_SOLIB_DYNSYM_RESOLVE_CODE pc
1828Define this to evaluate to nonzero if the program is stopped in the
1829dynamic linker.
1830
1831@item SKIP_SOLIB_RESOLVER pc
1832Define this to evaluate to the (nonzero) address at which execution
1833should continue to get past the dynamic linker's symbol resolution
1834function. A zero value indicates that it is not important or necessary
1835to set a breakpoint to get through the dynamic linker and that single
1836stepping will suffice.
1837
c906108c
SS
1838@item IS_TRAPPED_INTERNALVAR (name)
1839This is an ugly hook to allow the specification of special actions that
1840should occur as a side-effect of setting the value of a variable
25822942 1841internal to @value{GDBN}. Currently only used by the h8500. Note that this
c906108c
SS
1842could be either a host or target conditional.
1843
1844@item NEED_TEXT_START_END
25822942 1845Define this if @value{GDBN} should determine the start and end addresses of the
c906108c
SS
1846text section. (Seems dubious.)
1847
1848@item NO_HIF_SUPPORT
1849(Specific to the a29k.)
1850
93e79dbd
JB
1851@item POINTER_TO_ADDRESS (@var{type}, @var{buf})
1852Assume that @var{buf} holds a pointer of type @var{type}, in the
1853appropriate format for the current architecture. Return the byte
1854address the pointer refers to.
1855@xref{Target Architecture Definition, , Pointers Are Not Always Addresses}.
1856
9fb4dd36
JB
1857@item REGISTER_CONVERTIBLE (@var{reg})
1858Return non-zero if @var{reg} uses different raw and virtual formats.
4281a42e 1859@xref{Target Architecture Definition, , Using Different Register and Memory Data Representations}.
9fb4dd36
JB
1860
1861@item REGISTER_RAW_SIZE (@var{reg})
1862Return the raw size of @var{reg}.
4281a42e 1863@xref{Target Architecture Definition, , Using Different Register and Memory Data Representations}.
9fb4dd36
JB
1864
1865@item REGISTER_VIRTUAL_SIZE (@var{reg})
1866Return the virtual size of @var{reg}.
4281a42e 1867@xref{Target Architecture Definition, , Using Different Register and Memory Data Representations}.
9fb4dd36
JB
1868
1869@item REGISTER_VIRTUAL_TYPE (@var{reg})
1870Return the virtual type of @var{reg}.
4281a42e 1871@xref{Target Architecture Definition, , Using Different Register and Memory Data Representations}.
9fb4dd36
JB
1872
1873@item REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_VIRTUAL(@var{reg}, @var{type}, @var{from}, @var{to})
1874Convert the value of register @var{reg} from its raw form to its virtual
4281a42e
JB
1875form.
1876@xref{Target Architecture Definition, , Using Different Register and Memory Data Representations}.
9fb4dd36
JB
1877
1878@item REGISTER_CONVERT_TO_RAW(@var{type}, @var{reg}, @var{from}, @var{to})
1879Convert the value of register @var{reg} from its virtual form to its raw
4281a42e
JB
1880form.
1881@xref{Target Architecture Definition, , Using Different Register and Memory Data Representations}.
9fb4dd36 1882
e5419804
JB
1883@item RETURN_VALUE_ON_STACK(@var{type})
1884@findex RETURN_VALUE_ON_STACK
1885@cindex returning structures by value
1886@cindex structures, returning by value
1887
1888Return non-zero if values of type TYPE are returned on the stack, using
1889the ``struct convention'' (i.e., the caller provides a pointer to a
1890buffer in which the callee should store the return value). This
1891controls how the @samp{finish} command finds a function's return value,
1892and whether an inferior function call reserves space on the stack for
1893the return value.
1894
1895The full logic @value{GDBN} uses here is kind of odd.
1896@itemize @bullet
1897
1898@item
1899If the type being returned by value is not a structure, union, or array,
1900and @code{RETURN_VALUE_ON_STACK} returns zero, then @value{GDBN}
1901concludes the value is not returned using the struct convention.
1902
1903@item
1904Otherwise, @value{GDBN} calls @code{USE_STRUCT_CONVENTION} (see below).
1905If that returns non-zero, @value{GDBN} assumes the struct convention is
1906in use.
1907
1908@end itemize
1909
1910In other words, to indicate that a given type is returned by value using
1911the struct convention, that type must be either a struct, union, array,
1912or something @code{RETURN_VALUE_ON_STACK} likes, @emph{and} something
1913that @code{USE_STRUCT_CONVENTION} likes.
1914
1915Note that, in C and C++, arrays are never returned by value. In those
1916languages, these predicates will always see a pointer type, never an
1917array type. All the references above to arrays being returned by value
1918apply only to other languages.
1919
c906108c
SS
1920@item SOFTWARE_SINGLE_STEP_P
1921Define this as 1 if the target does not have a hardware single-step
1922mechanism. The macro @code{SOFTWARE_SINGLE_STEP} must also be defined.
1923
1924@item SOFTWARE_SINGLE_STEP(signal,insert_breapoints_p)
1925A function that inserts or removes (dependant on
1926@var{insert_breapoints_p}) breakpoints at each possible destinations of
1927the next instruction. See @code{sparc-tdep.c} and @code{rs6000-tdep.c}
1928for examples.
1929
da59e081
JM
1930@item SOFUN_ADDRESS_MAYBE_MISSING
1931
1932Somebody clever observed that, the more actual addresses you have in the
1933debug information, the more time the linker has to spend relocating
1934them. So whenever there's some other way the debugger could find the
1935address it needs, you should omit it from the debug info, to make
1936linking faster.
1937
1938@code{SOFUN_ADDRESS_MAYBE_MISSING} indicates that a particular set of
1939hacks of this sort are in use, affecting @code{N_SO} and @code{N_FUN}
1940entries in stabs-format debugging information. @code{N_SO} stabs mark
1941the beginning and ending addresses of compilation units in the text
1942segment. @code{N_FUN} stabs mark the starts and ends of functions.
1943
1944@code{SOFUN_ADDRESS_MAYBE_MISSING} means two things:
1945@itemize @bullet
1946
1947@item
1948@code{N_FUN} stabs have an address of zero. Instead, you should find the
1949addresses where the function starts by taking the function name from
1950the stab, and then looking that up in the minsyms (the linker/
1951assembler symbol table). In other words, the stab has the name, and
1952the linker / assembler symbol table is the only place that carries
1953the address.
1954
1955@item
1956@code{N_SO} stabs have an address of zero, too. You just look at the
1957@code{N_FUN} stabs that appear before and after the @code{N_SO} stab,
1958and guess the starting and ending addresses of the compilation unit from
1959them.
1960
1961@end itemize
1962
c906108c
SS
1963@item PCC_SOL_BROKEN
1964(Used only in the Convex target.)
1965
1966@item PC_IN_CALL_DUMMY
1967inferior.h
1968
1969@item PC_LOAD_SEGMENT
1970If defined, print information about the load segment for the program
1971counter. (Defined only for the RS/6000.)
1972
1973@item PC_REGNUM
1974If the program counter is kept in a register, then define this macro to
cce74817
JM
1975be the number (greater than or equal to zero) of that register.
1976
1977This should only need to be defined if @code{TARGET_READ_PC} and
1978@code{TARGET_WRITE_PC} are not defined.
c906108c
SS
1979
1980@item NPC_REGNUM
1981The number of the ``next program counter'' register, if defined.
1982
1983@item NNPC_REGNUM
1984The number of the ``next next program counter'' register, if defined.
1985Currently, this is only defined for the Motorola 88K.
1986
2df3850c
JM
1987@item PARM_BOUNDARY
1988If non-zero, round arguments to a boundary of this many bits before
1989pushing them on the stack.
1990
c906108c
SS
1991@item PRINT_REGISTER_HOOK (regno)
1992If defined, this must be a function that prints the contents of the
1993given register to standard output.
1994
1995@item PRINT_TYPELESS_INTEGER
1996This is an obscure substitute for @code{print_longest} that seems to
1997have been defined for the Convex target.
1998
1999@item PROCESS_LINENUMBER_HOOK
2000A hook defined for XCOFF reading.
2001
2002@item PROLOGUE_FIRSTLINE_OVERLAP
2003(Only used in unsupported Convex configuration.)
2004
2005@item PS_REGNUM
2006If defined, this is the number of the processor status register. (This
2007definition is only used in generic code when parsing "$ps".)
2008
2009@item POP_FRAME
2010Used in @samp{call_function_by_hand} to remove an artificial stack
2011frame.
2012
2013@item PUSH_ARGUMENTS (nargs, args, sp, struct_return, struct_addr)
392a587b
JM
2014Define this to push arguments onto the stack for inferior function
2015call. Return the updated stack pointer value.
c906108c
SS
2016
2017@item PUSH_DUMMY_FRAME
2018Used in @samp{call_function_by_hand} to create an artificial stack frame.
2019
2020@item REGISTER_BYTES
25822942 2021The total amount of space needed to store @value{GDBN}'s copy of the machine's
c906108c
SS
2022register state.
2023
2024@item REGISTER_NAME(i)
2025Return the name of register @var{i} as a string. May return @var{NULL}
2026or @var{NUL} to indicate that register @var{i} is not valid.
2027
7a292a7a
SS
2028@item REGISTER_NAMES
2029Deprecated in favor of @var{REGISTER_NAME}.
2030
c906108c
SS
2031@item REG_STRUCT_HAS_ADDR (gcc_p, type)
2032Define this to return 1 if the given type will be passed by pointer
2033rather than directly.
2034
43ff13b4
JM
2035@item SAVE_DUMMY_FRAME_TOS (sp)
2036Used in @samp{call_function_by_hand} to notify the target dependent code
2037of the top-of-stack value that will be passed to the the inferior code.
2038This is the value of the @var{SP} after both the dummy frame and space
2039for parameters/results have been allocated on the stack.
2040
c906108c 2041@item SDB_REG_TO_REGNUM
25822942 2042Define this to convert sdb register numbers into @value{GDBN} regnums. If not
c906108c
SS
2043defined, no conversion will be done.
2044
2045@item SHIFT_INST_REGS
2046(Only used for m88k targets.)
2047
c2c6d25f 2048@item SKIP_PERMANENT_BREAKPOINT
25822942 2049Advance the inferior's PC past a permanent breakpoint. @value{GDBN} normally
c2c6d25f
JM
2050steps over a breakpoint by removing it, stepping one instruction, and
2051re-inserting the breakpoint. However, permanent breakpoints are
2052hardwired into the inferior, and can't be removed, so this strategy
2053doesn't work. Calling SKIP_PERMANENT_BREAKPOINT adjusts the processor's
2054state so that execution will resume just after the breakpoint. This
2055macro does the right thing even when the breakpoint is in the delay slot
2056of a branch or jump.
2057
c906108c 2058@item SKIP_PROLOGUE (pc)
b83266a0
SS
2059A C expression that returns the address of the ``real'' code beyond the
2060function entry prologue found at @var{pc}.
c906108c
SS
2061
2062@item SKIP_PROLOGUE_FRAMELESS_P
b83266a0
SS
2063A C expression that should behave similarly, but that can stop as soon
2064as the function is known to have a frame. If not defined,
c906108c
SS
2065@code{SKIP_PROLOGUE} will be used instead.
2066
2067@item SKIP_TRAMPOLINE_CODE (pc)
2068If the target machine has trampoline code that sits between callers and
2069the functions being called, then define this macro to return a new PC
2070that is at the start of the real function.
2071
2072@item SP_REGNUM
cce74817
JM
2073If the stack-pointer is kept in a register, then define this macro to be
2074the number (greater than or equal to zero) of that register.
2075
2076This should only need to be defined if @code{TARGET_WRITE_SP} and
2077@code{TARGET_WRITE_SP} are not defined.
c906108c
SS
2078
2079@item STAB_REG_TO_REGNUM
2080Define this to convert stab register numbers (as gotten from `r'
25822942 2081declarations) into @value{GDBN} regnums. If not defined, no conversion will be
c906108c
SS
2082done.
2083
2084@item STACK_ALIGN (addr)
2085Define this to adjust the address to the alignment required for the
2086processor's stack.
2087
2088@item STEP_SKIPS_DELAY (addr)
2089Define this to return true if the address is of an instruction with a
2090delay slot. If a breakpoint has been placed in the instruction's delay
25822942 2091slot, @value{GDBN} will single-step over that instruction before resuming
c906108c
SS
2092normally. Currently only defined for the Mips.
2093
2094@item STORE_RETURN_VALUE (type, valbuf)
2095A C expression that stores a function return value of type @var{type},
2096where @var{valbuf} is the address of the value to be stored.
2097
2098@item SUN_FIXED_LBRAC_BUG
2099(Used only for Sun-3 and Sun-4 targets.)
2100
2101@item SYMBOL_RELOADING_DEFAULT
2102The default value of the `symbol-reloading' variable. (Never defined in
2103current sources.)
2104
2105@item TARGET_BYTE_ORDER_DEFAULT
2106The ordering of bytes in the target. This must be either
2107@code{BIG_ENDIAN} or @code{LITTLE_ENDIAN}. This macro replaces
2108@var{TARGET_BYTE_ORDER} which is deprecated.
2109
2110@item TARGET_BYTE_ORDER_SELECTABLE_P
2111Non-zero if the target has both @code{BIG_ENDIAN} and
2112@code{LITTLE_ENDIAN} variants. This macro replaces
2113@var{TARGET_BYTE_ORDER_SELECTABLE} which is deprecated.
2114
2115@item TARGET_CHAR_BIT
2116Number of bits in a char; defaults to 8.
2117
2118@item TARGET_COMPLEX_BIT
2119Number of bits in a complex number; defaults to @code{2 * TARGET_FLOAT_BIT}.
2120
ac9a91a7
JM
2121At present this macro is not used.
2122
c906108c
SS
2123@item TARGET_DOUBLE_BIT
2124Number of bits in a double float; defaults to @code{8 * TARGET_CHAR_BIT}.
2125
2126@item TARGET_DOUBLE_COMPLEX_BIT
2127Number of bits in a double complex; defaults to @code{2 * TARGET_DOUBLE_BIT}.
2128
ac9a91a7
JM
2129At present this macro is not used.
2130
c906108c
SS
2131@item TARGET_FLOAT_BIT
2132Number of bits in a float; defaults to @code{4 * TARGET_CHAR_BIT}.
2133
2134@item TARGET_INT_BIT
2135Number of bits in an integer; defaults to @code{4 * TARGET_CHAR_BIT}.
2136
2137@item TARGET_LONG_BIT
2138Number of bits in a long integer; defaults to @code{4 * TARGET_CHAR_BIT}.
2139
2140@item TARGET_LONG_DOUBLE_BIT
2141Number of bits in a long double float;
2142defaults to @code{2 * TARGET_DOUBLE_BIT}.
2143
2144@item TARGET_LONG_LONG_BIT
2145Number of bits in a long long integer; defaults to @code{2 * TARGET_LONG_BIT}.
2146
2147@item TARGET_PTR_BIT
2148Number of bits in a pointer; defaults to @code{TARGET_INT_BIT}.
2149
2150@item TARGET_SHORT_BIT
2151Number of bits in a short integer; defaults to @code{2 * TARGET_CHAR_BIT}.
2152
2153@item TARGET_READ_PC
2154@item TARGET_WRITE_PC (val, pid)
2155@item TARGET_READ_SP
2156@item TARGET_WRITE_SP
2157@item TARGET_READ_FP
2158@item TARGET_WRITE_FP
2159These change the behavior of @code{read_pc}, @code{write_pc},
2160@code{read_sp}, @code{write_sp}, @code{read_fp} and @code{write_fp}.
25822942 2161For most targets, these may be left undefined. @value{GDBN} will call the read
c906108c
SS
2162and write register functions with the relevant @code{_REGNUM} argument.
2163
2164These macros are useful when a target keeps one of these registers in a
2165hard to get at place; for example, part in a segment register and part
2166in an ordinary register.
2167
2168@item TARGET_VIRTUAL_FRAME_POINTER(pc,regp,offsetp)
2169Returns a @code{(register, offset)} pair representing the virtual
2170frame pointer in use at the code address @code{"pc"}. If virtual
2171frame pointers are not used, a default definition simply returns
2172@code{FP_REGNUM}, with an offset of zero.
2173
2174@item USE_STRUCT_CONVENTION (gcc_p, type)
2175If defined, this must be an expression that is nonzero if a value of the
2176given @var{type} being returned from a function must have space
2177allocated for it on the stack. @var{gcc_p} is true if the function
2178being considered is known to have been compiled by GCC; this is helpful
2179for systems where GCC is known to use different calling convention than
2180other compilers.
2181
2182@item VARIABLES_INSIDE_BLOCK (desc, gcc_p)
2183For dbx-style debugging information, if the compiler puts variable
2184declarations inside LBRAC/RBRAC blocks, this should be defined to be
2185nonzero. @var{desc} is the value of @code{n_desc} from the
25822942 2186@code{N_RBRAC} symbol, and @var{gcc_p} is true if @value{GDBN} has noticed the
c906108c
SS
2187presence of either the @code{GCC_COMPILED_SYMBOL} or the
2188@code{GCC2_COMPILED_SYMBOL}. By default, this is 0.
2189
2190@item OS9K_VARIABLES_INSIDE_BLOCK (desc, gcc_p)
2191Similarly, for OS/9000. Defaults to 1.
2192
2193@end table
2194
2195Motorola M68K target conditionals.
2196
2197@table @code
2198
2199@item BPT_VECTOR
2200Define this to be the 4-bit location of the breakpoint trap vector. If
2201not defined, it will default to @code{0xf}.
2202
2203@item REMOTE_BPT_VECTOR
2204Defaults to @code{1}.
2205
2206@end table
2207
2208@section Adding a New Target
2209
25822942 2210The following files define a target to @value{GDBN}:
c906108c
SS
2211
2212@table @file
2213
2214@item gdb/config/@var{arch}/@var{ttt}.mt
2215Contains a Makefile fragment specific to this target. Specifies what
2216object files are needed for target @var{ttt}, by defining
104c1213
JM
2217@samp{TDEPFILES=@dots{}} and @samp{TDEPLIBS=@dots{}}. Also specifies
2218the header file which describes @var{ttt}, by defining @samp{TM_FILE=
2219tm-@var{ttt}.h}.
2220
2221You can also define @samp{TM_CFLAGS}, @samp{TM_CLIBS}, @samp{TM_CDEPS},
2222but these are now deprecated, replaced by autoconf, and may go away in
25822942 2223future versions of @value{GDBN}.
c906108c
SS
2224
2225@item gdb/config/@var{arch}/tm-@var{ttt}.h
2226(@file{tm.h} is a link to this file, created by configure). Contains
2227macro definitions about the target machine's registers, stack frame
2228format and instructions.
2229
2230@item gdb/@var{ttt}-tdep.c
2231Contains any miscellaneous code required for this target machine. On
2232some machines it doesn't exist at all. Sometimes the macros in
2233@file{tm-@var{ttt}.h} become very complicated, so they are implemented
2234as functions here instead, and the macro is simply defined to call the
2235function. This is vastly preferable, since it is easier to understand
2236and debug.
2237
2238@item gdb/config/@var{arch}/tm-@var{arch}.h
2239This often exists to describe the basic layout of the target machine's
2240processor chip (registers, stack, etc). If used, it is included by
2241@file{tm-@var{ttt}.h}. It can be shared among many targets that use the
2242same processor.
2243
2244@item gdb/@var{arch}-tdep.c
2245Similarly, there are often common subroutines that are shared by all
2246target machines that use this particular architecture.
2247
2248@end table
2249
2250If you are adding a new operating system for an existing CPU chip, add a
2251@file{config/tm-@var{os}.h} file that describes the operating system
2252facilities that are unusual (extra symbol table info; the breakpoint
2253instruction needed; etc). Then write a @file{@var{arch}/tm-@var{os}.h}
2254that just @code{#include}s @file{tm-@var{arch}.h} and
2255@file{config/tm-@var{os}.h}.
2256
2257
2258@node Target Vector Definition
2259
2260@chapter Target Vector Definition
2261
25822942 2262The target vector defines the interface between @value{GDBN}'s abstract handling
c906108c 2263of target systems, and the nitty-gritty code that actually exercises
25822942
DB
2264control over a process or a serial port. @value{GDBN} includes some 30-40
2265different target vectors; however, each configuration of @value{GDBN} includes
c906108c
SS
2266only a few of them.
2267
2268@section File Targets
2269
2270Both executables and core files have target vectors.
2271
2272@section Standard Protocol and Remote Stubs
2273
25822942
DB
2274@value{GDBN}'s file @file{remote.c} talks a serial protocol to code that runs in
2275the target system. @value{GDBN} provides several sample ``stubs'' that can be
c906108c
SS
2276integrated into target programs or operating systems for this purpose;
2277they are named @file{*-stub.c}.
2278
25822942 2279The @value{GDBN} user's manual describes how to put such a stub into your target
c906108c
SS
2280code. What follows is a discussion of integrating the SPARC stub into a
2281complicated operating system (rather than a simple program), by Stu
2282Grossman, the author of this stub.
2283
2284The trap handling code in the stub assumes the following upon entry to
2285trap_low:
2286
2287@enumerate
2288
2289@item %l1 and %l2 contain pc and npc respectively at the time of the trap
2290
2291@item traps are disabled
2292
2293@item you are in the correct trap window
2294
2295@end enumerate
2296
2297As long as your trap handler can guarantee those conditions, then there
2298is no reason why you shouldn't be able to `share' traps with the stub.
2299The stub has no requirement that it be jumped to directly from the
2300hardware trap vector. That is why it calls @code{exceptionHandler()},
2301which is provided by the external environment. For instance, this could
2302setup the hardware traps to actually execute code which calls the stub
2303first, and then transfers to its own trap handler.
2304
2305For the most point, there probably won't be much of an issue with
2306`sharing' traps, as the traps we use are usually not used by the kernel,
2307and often indicate unrecoverable error conditions. Anyway, this is all
2308controlled by a table, and is trivial to modify. The most important
2309trap for us is for @code{ta 1}. Without that, we can't single step or
2310do breakpoints. Everything else is unnecessary for the proper operation
2311of the debugger/stub.
2312
2313From reading the stub, it's probably not obvious how breakpoints work.
25822942 2314They are simply done by deposit/examine operations from @value{GDBN}.
c906108c
SS
2315
2316@section ROM Monitor Interface
2317
2318@section Custom Protocols
2319
2320@section Transport Layer
2321
2322@section Builtin Simulator
2323
2324
2325@node Native Debugging
2326
2327@chapter Native Debugging
2328
25822942 2329Several files control @value{GDBN}'s configuration for native support:
c906108c
SS
2330
2331@table @file
2332
2333@item gdb/config/@var{arch}/@var{xyz}.mh
2334Specifies Makefile fragments needed when hosting @emph{or native} on
2335machine @var{xyz}. In particular, this lists the required
2336native-dependent object files, by defining @samp{NATDEPFILES=@dots{}}.
2337Also specifies the header file which describes native support on
2338@var{xyz}, by defining @samp{NAT_FILE= nm-@var{xyz}.h}. You can also
2339define @samp{NAT_CFLAGS}, @samp{NAT_ADD_FILES}, @samp{NAT_CLIBS},
2340@samp{NAT_CDEPS}, etc.; see @file{Makefile.in}.
2341
2342@item gdb/config/@var{arch}/nm-@var{xyz}.h
2343(@file{nm.h} is a link to this file, created by configure). Contains C
2344macro definitions describing the native system environment, such as
2345child process control and core file support.
2346
2347@item gdb/@var{xyz}-nat.c
2348Contains any miscellaneous C code required for this native support of
2349this machine. On some machines it doesn't exist at all.
2350
2351@end table
2352
2353There are some ``generic'' versions of routines that can be used by
2354various systems. These can be customized in various ways by macros
2355defined in your @file{nm-@var{xyz}.h} file. If these routines work for
2356the @var{xyz} host, you can just include the generic file's name (with
2357@samp{.o}, not @samp{.c}) in @code{NATDEPFILES}.
2358
2359Otherwise, if your machine needs custom support routines, you will need
2360to write routines that perform the same functions as the generic file.
2361Put them into @code{@var{xyz}-nat.c}, and put @code{@var{xyz}-nat.o}
2362into @code{NATDEPFILES}.
2363
2364@table @file
2365
2366@item inftarg.c
2367This contains the @emph{target_ops vector} that supports Unix child
2368processes on systems which use ptrace and wait to control the child.
2369
2370@item procfs.c
2371This contains the @emph{target_ops vector} that supports Unix child
2372processes on systems which use /proc to control the child.
2373
2374@item fork-child.c
2375This does the low-level grunge that uses Unix system calls to do a "fork
2376and exec" to start up a child process.
2377
2378@item infptrace.c
2379This is the low level interface to inferior processes for systems using
2380the Unix @code{ptrace} call in a vanilla way.
2381
2382@end table
2383
2384@section Native core file Support
2385
2386@table @file
2387
2388@item core-aout.c::fetch_core_registers()
2389Support for reading registers out of a core file. This routine calls
2390@code{register_addr()}, see below. Now that BFD is used to read core
2391files, virtually all machines should use @code{core-aout.c}, and should
2392just provide @code{fetch_core_registers} in @code{@var{xyz}-nat.c} (or
2393@code{REGISTER_U_ADDR} in @code{nm-@var{xyz}.h}).
2394
2395@item core-aout.c::register_addr()
2396If your @code{nm-@var{xyz}.h} file defines the macro
2397@code{REGISTER_U_ADDR(addr, blockend, regno)}, it should be defined to
25822942 2398set @code{addr} to the offset within the @samp{user} struct of @value{GDBN}
c906108c
SS
2399register number @code{regno}. @code{blockend} is the offset within the
2400``upage'' of @code{u.u_ar0}. If @code{REGISTER_U_ADDR} is defined,
2401@file{core-aout.c} will define the @code{register_addr()} function and
2402use the macro in it. If you do not define @code{REGISTER_U_ADDR}, but
2403you are using the standard @code{fetch_core_registers()}, you will need
2404to define your own version of @code{register_addr()}, put it into your
2405@code{@var{xyz}-nat.c} file, and be sure @code{@var{xyz}-nat.o} is in
2406the @code{NATDEPFILES} list. If you have your own
2407@code{fetch_core_registers()}, you may not need a separate
2408@code{register_addr()}. Many custom @code{fetch_core_registers()}
2409implementations simply locate the registers themselves.@refill
2410
2411@end table
2412
25822942 2413When making @value{GDBN} run native on a new operating system, to make it
c906108c
SS
2414possible to debug core files, you will need to either write specific
2415code for parsing your OS's core files, or customize
2416@file{bfd/trad-core.c}. First, use whatever @code{#include} files your
2417machine uses to define the struct of registers that is accessible
2418(possibly in the u-area) in a core file (rather than
2419@file{machine/reg.h}), and an include file that defines whatever header
2420exists on a core file (e.g. the u-area or a @samp{struct core}). Then
2421modify @code{trad_unix_core_file_p()} to use these values to set up the
2422section information for the data segment, stack segment, any other
2423segments in the core file (perhaps shared library contents or control
2424information), ``registers'' segment, and if there are two discontiguous
2425sets of registers (e.g. integer and float), the ``reg2'' segment. This
2426section information basically delimits areas in the core file in a
2427standard way, which the section-reading routines in BFD know how to seek
2428around in.
2429
25822942 2430Then back in @value{GDBN}, you need a matching routine called
c906108c
SS
2431@code{fetch_core_registers()}. If you can use the generic one, it's in
2432@file{core-aout.c}; if not, it's in your @file{@var{xyz}-nat.c} file.
2433It will be passed a char pointer to the entire ``registers'' segment,
2434its length, and a zero; or a char pointer to the entire ``regs2''
2435segment, its length, and a 2. The routine should suck out the supplied
25822942 2436register values and install them into @value{GDBN}'s ``registers'' array.
c906108c
SS
2437
2438If your system uses @file{/proc} to control processes, and uses ELF
2439format core files, then you may be able to use the same routines for
2440reading the registers out of processes and out of core files.
2441
2442@section ptrace
2443
2444@section /proc
2445
2446@section win32
2447
2448@section shared libraries
2449
2450@section Native Conditionals
2451
25822942 2452When @value{GDBN} is configured and compiled, various macros are defined or left
c906108c
SS
2453undefined, to control compilation when the host and target systems are
2454the same. These macros should be defined (or left undefined) in
2455@file{nm-@var{system}.h}.
2456
2457@table @code
2458
2459@item ATTACH_DETACH
25822942 2460If defined, then @value{GDBN} will include support for the @code{attach} and
c906108c
SS
2461@code{detach} commands.
2462
2463@item CHILD_PREPARE_TO_STORE
2464If the machine stores all registers at once in the child process, then
2465define this to ensure that all values are correct. This usually entails
2466a read from the child.
2467
2468[Note that this is incorrectly defined in @file{xm-@var{system}.h} files
2469currently.]
2470
2471@item FETCH_INFERIOR_REGISTERS
2472Define this if the native-dependent code will provide its own routines
2473@code{fetch_inferior_registers} and @code{store_inferior_registers} in
2474@file{@var{HOST}-nat.c}. If this symbol is @emph{not} defined, and
2475@file{infptrace.c} is included in this configuration, the default
2476routines in @file{infptrace.c} are used for these functions.
2477
2478@item FILES_INFO_HOOK
2479(Only defined for Convex.)
2480
2481@item FP0_REGNUM
2482This macro is normally defined to be the number of the first floating
2483point register, if the machine has such registers. As such, it would
2484appear only in target-specific code. However, /proc support uses this
2485to decide whether floats are in use on this target.
2486
2487@item GET_LONGJMP_TARGET
2488For most machines, this is a target-dependent parameter. On the
2489DECstation and the Iris, this is a native-dependent parameter, since
2490<setjmp.h> is needed to define it.
2491
2492This macro determines the target PC address that longjmp() will jump to,
2493assuming that we have just stopped at a longjmp breakpoint. It takes a
2494CORE_ADDR * as argument, and stores the target PC value through this
2495pointer. It examines the current state of the machine as needed.
2496
2497@item KERNEL_U_ADDR
2498Define this to the address of the @code{u} structure (the ``user
25822942 2499struct'', also known as the ``u-page'') in kernel virtual memory. @value{GDBN}
c906108c
SS
2500needs to know this so that it can subtract this address from absolute
2501addresses in the upage, that are obtained via ptrace or from core files.
2502On systems that don't need this value, set it to zero.
2503
2504@item KERNEL_U_ADDR_BSD
25822942 2505Define this to cause @value{GDBN} to determine the address of @code{u} at
c906108c
SS
2506runtime, by using Berkeley-style @code{nlist} on the kernel's image in
2507the root directory.
2508
2509@item KERNEL_U_ADDR_HPUX
25822942 2510Define this to cause @value{GDBN} to determine the address of @code{u} at
c906108c
SS
2511runtime, by using HP-style @code{nlist} on the kernel's image in the
2512root directory.
2513
2514@item ONE_PROCESS_WRITETEXT
2515Define this to be able to, when a breakpoint insertion fails, warn the
2516user that another process may be running with the same executable.
2517
adf40b2e
JM
2518@item PREPARE_TO_PROCEED @var{select_it}
2519This (ugly) macro allows a native configuration to customize the way the
2520@code{proceed} function in @file{infrun.c} deals with switching between
2521threads.
2522
2523In a multi-threaded task we may select another thread and then continue
2524or step. But if the old thread was stopped at a breakpoint, it will
2525immediately cause another breakpoint stop without any execution (i.e. it
25822942 2526will report a breakpoint hit incorrectly). So @value{GDBN} must step over it
adf40b2e
JM
2527first.
2528
2529If defined, @code{PREPARE_TO_PROCEED} should check the current thread
2530against the thread that reported the most recent event. If a step-over
2531is required, it returns TRUE. If @var{select_it} is non-zero, it should
2532reselect the old thread.
2533
c906108c
SS
2534@item PROC_NAME_FMT
2535Defines the format for the name of a @file{/proc} device. Should be
2536defined in @file{nm.h} @emph{only} in order to override the default
2537definition in @file{procfs.c}.
2538
2539@item PTRACE_FP_BUG
2540mach386-xdep.c
2541
2542@item PTRACE_ARG3_TYPE
2543The type of the third argument to the @code{ptrace} system call, if it
2544exists and is different from @code{int}.
2545
2546@item REGISTER_U_ADDR
2547Defines the offset of the registers in the ``u area''.
2548
2549@item SHELL_COMMAND_CONCAT
2550If defined, is a string to prefix on the shell command used to start the
2551inferior.
2552
2553@item SHELL_FILE
2554If defined, this is the name of the shell to use to run the inferior.
2555Defaults to @code{"/bin/sh"}.
2556
2557@item SOLIB_ADD (filename, from_tty, targ)
2558Define this to expand into an expression that will cause the symbols in
25822942 2559@var{filename} to be added to @value{GDBN}'s symbol table.
c906108c
SS
2560
2561@item SOLIB_CREATE_INFERIOR_HOOK
2562Define this to expand into any shared-library-relocation code that you
2563want to be run just after the child process has been forked.
2564
2565@item START_INFERIOR_TRAPS_EXPECTED
25822942 2566When starting an inferior, @value{GDBN} normally expects to trap twice; once when
c906108c
SS
2567the shell execs, and once when the program itself execs. If the actual
2568number of traps is something other than 2, then define this macro to
2569expand into the number expected.
2570
2571@item SVR4_SHARED_LIBS
2572Define this to indicate that SVR4-style shared libraries are in use.
2573
2574@item USE_PROC_FS
2575This determines whether small routines in @file{*-tdep.c}, which
25822942 2576translate register values between @value{GDBN}'s internal representation and the
c906108c
SS
2577/proc representation, are compiled.
2578
2579@item U_REGS_OFFSET
2580This is the offset of the registers in the upage. It need only be
2581defined if the generic ptrace register access routines in
2582@file{infptrace.c} are being used (that is, @file{infptrace.c} is
2583configured in, and @code{FETCH_INFERIOR_REGISTERS} is not defined). If
2584the default value from @file{infptrace.c} is good enough, leave it
2585undefined.
2586
2587The default value means that u.u_ar0 @emph{points to} the location of
2588the registers. I'm guessing that @code{#define U_REGS_OFFSET 0} means
2589that u.u_ar0 @emph{is} the location of the registers.
2590
2591@item CLEAR_SOLIB
2592objfiles.c
2593
2594@item DEBUG_PTRACE
2595Define this to debug ptrace calls.
2596
2597@end table
2598
2599
2600@node Support Libraries
2601
2602@chapter Support Libraries
2603
2604@section BFD
2605
25822942 2606BFD provides support for @value{GDBN} in several ways:
c906108c
SS
2607
2608@table @emph
2609
2610@item identifying executable and core files
2611BFD will identify a variety of file types, including a.out, coff, and
2612several variants thereof, as well as several kinds of core files.
2613
2614@item access to sections of files
2615BFD parses the file headers to determine the names, virtual addresses,
2616sizes, and file locations of all the various named sections in files
25822942 2617(such as the text section or the data section). @value{GDBN} simply calls BFD to
c906108c
SS
2618read or write section X at byte offset Y for length Z.
2619
2620@item specialized core file support
2621BFD provides routines to determine the failing command name stored in a
2622core file, the signal with which the program failed, and whether a core
2623file matches (i.e. could be a core dump of) a particular executable
2624file.
2625
2626@item locating the symbol information
25822942
DB
2627@value{GDBN} uses an internal interface of BFD to determine where to find the
2628symbol information in an executable file or symbol-file. @value{GDBN} itself
c906108c 2629handles the reading of symbols, since BFD does not ``understand'' debug
25822942 2630symbols, but @value{GDBN} uses BFD's cached information to find the symbols,
c906108c
SS
2631string table, etc.
2632
2633@end table
2634
2635@section opcodes
2636
25822942 2637The opcodes library provides @value{GDBN}'s disassembler. (It's a separate
c906108c
SS
2638library because it's also used in binutils, for @file{objdump}).
2639
2640@section readline
2641
2642@section mmalloc
2643
2644@section libiberty
2645
2646@section gnu-regex
2647
2648Regex conditionals.
2649
2650@table @code
2651
2652@item C_ALLOCA
2653
2654@item NFAILURES
2655
2656@item RE_NREGS
2657
2658@item SIGN_EXTEND_CHAR
2659
2660@item SWITCH_ENUM_BUG
2661
2662@item SYNTAX_TABLE
2663
2664@item Sword
2665
2666@item sparc
2667
2668@end table
2669
2670@section include
2671
2672@node Coding
2673
2674@chapter Coding
2675
2676This chapter covers topics that are lower-level than the major
25822942 2677algorithms of @value{GDBN}.
c906108c
SS
2678
2679@section Cleanups
2680
2681Cleanups are a structured way to deal with things that need to be done
2682later. When your code does something (like @code{malloc} some memory,
2683or open a file) that needs to be undone later (e.g. free the memory or
2684close the file), it can make a cleanup. The cleanup will be done at
2685some future point: when the command is finished, when an error occurs,
2686or when your code decides it's time to do cleanups.
2687
2688You can also discard cleanups, that is, throw them away without doing
2689what they say. This is only done if you ask that it be done.
2690
2691Syntax:
2692
2693@table @code
2694
2695@item struct cleanup *@var{old_chain};
2696Declare a variable which will hold a cleanup chain handle.
2697
2698@item @var{old_chain} = make_cleanup (@var{function}, @var{arg});
2699Make a cleanup which will cause @var{function} to be called with
2700@var{arg} (a @code{char *}) later. The result, @var{old_chain}, is a
2701handle that can be passed to @code{do_cleanups} or
2702@code{discard_cleanups} later. Unless you are going to call
2703@code{do_cleanups} or @code{discard_cleanups} yourself, you can ignore
2704the result from @code{make_cleanup}.
2705
2706@item do_cleanups (@var{old_chain});
2707Perform all cleanups done since @code{make_cleanup} returned
2708@var{old_chain}. E.g.:
2709@example
2710make_cleanup (a, 0);
2711old = make_cleanup (b, 0);
2712do_cleanups (old);
2713@end example
2714@noindent
2715will call @code{b()} but will not call @code{a()}. The cleanup that
2716calls @code{a()} will remain in the cleanup chain, and will be done
2717later unless otherwise discarded.@refill
2718
2719@item discard_cleanups (@var{old_chain});
2720Same as @code{do_cleanups} except that it just removes the cleanups from
2721the chain and does not call the specified functions.
2722
2723@end table
2724
2725Some functions, e.g. @code{fputs_filtered()} or @code{error()}, specify
2726that they ``should not be called when cleanups are not in place''. This
2727means that any actions you need to reverse in the case of an error or
2728interruption must be on the cleanup chain before you call these
2729functions, since they might never return to your code (they
2730@samp{longjmp} instead).
2731
2732@section Wrapping Output Lines
2733
2734Output that goes through @code{printf_filtered} or @code{fputs_filtered}
2735or @code{fputs_demangled} needs only to have calls to @code{wrap_here}
2736added in places that would be good breaking points. The utility
2737routines will take care of actually wrapping if the line width is
2738exceeded.
2739
2740The argument to @code{wrap_here} is an indentation string which is
2741printed @emph{only} if the line breaks there. This argument is saved
2742away and used later. It must remain valid until the next call to
2743@code{wrap_here} or until a newline has been printed through the
2744@code{*_filtered} functions. Don't pass in a local variable and then
2745return!
2746
2747It is usually best to call @code{wrap_here()} after printing a comma or
2748space. If you call it before printing a space, make sure that your
2749indentation properly accounts for the leading space that will print if
2750the line wraps there.
2751
2752Any function or set of functions that produce filtered output must
2753finish by printing a newline, to flush the wrap buffer, before switching
2754to unfiltered (``@code{printf}'') output. Symbol reading routines that
2755print warnings are a good example.
2756
25822942 2757@section @value{GDBN} Coding Standards
c906108c 2758
25822942 2759@value{GDBN} follows the GNU coding standards, as described in
c906108c 2760@file{etc/standards.texi}. This file is also available for anonymous
25822942 2761FTP from GNU archive sites. @value{GDBN} takes a strict interpretation of the
c906108c 2762standard; in general, when the GNU standard recommends a practice but
25822942 2763does not require it, @value{GDBN} requires it.
c906108c 2764
25822942 2765@value{GDBN} follows an additional set of coding standards specific to @value{GDBN},
c906108c
SS
2766as described in the following sections.
2767
2768You can configure with @samp{--enable-build-warnings} to get GCC to
25822942 2769check on a number of these rules. @value{GDBN} sources ought not to engender any
c906108c
SS
2770complaints, unless they are caused by bogus host systems. (The exact
2771set of enabled warnings is currently @samp{-Wall -Wpointer-arith
2772-Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations}.
2773
2774@subsection Formatting
2775
2776The standard GNU recommendations for formatting must be followed
2777strictly.
2778
2779Note that while in a definition, the function's name must be in column
2780zero; in a function declaration, the name must be on the same line as
2781the return type.
2782
2783In addition, there must be a space between a function or macro name and
2784the opening parenthesis of its argument list (except for macro
2785definitions, as required by C). There must not be a space after an open
2786paren/bracket or before a close paren/bracket.
2787
2788While additional whitespace is generally helpful for reading, do not use
2789more than one blank line to separate blocks, and avoid adding whitespace
2790after the end of a program line (as of 1/99, some 600 lines had whitespace
2791after the semicolon). Excess whitespace causes difficulties for diff and
2792patch.
2793
2794@subsection Comments
2795
2796The standard GNU requirements on comments must be followed strictly.
2797
2798Block comments must appear in the following form, with no `/*'- or
2799'*/'-only lines, and no leading `*':
2800
2801@example @code
2802/* Wait for control to return from inferior to debugger. If inferior
2803 gets a signal, we may decide to start it up again instead of
2804 returning. That is why there is a loop in this function. When
2805 this function actually returns it means the inferior should be left
25822942 2806 stopped and @value{GDBN} should read more commands. */
c906108c
SS
2807@end example
2808
2809(Note that this format is encouraged by Emacs; tabbing for a multi-line
2810comment works correctly, and M-Q fills the block consistently.)
2811
2812Put a blank line between the block comments preceding function or
2813variable definitions, and the definition itself.
2814
2815In general, put function-body comments on lines by themselves, rather
2816than trying to fit them into the 20 characters left at the end of a
2817line, since either the comment or the code will inevitably get longer
2818than will fit, and then somebody will have to move it anyhow.
2819
2820@subsection C Usage
2821
2822Code must not depend on the sizes of C data types, the format of the
2823host's floating point numbers, the alignment of anything, or the order
2824of evaluation of expressions.
2825
2826Use functions freely. There are only a handful of compute-bound areas
25822942
DB
2827in @value{GDBN} that might be affected by the overhead of a function call, mainly
2828in symbol reading. Most of @value{GDBN}'s performance is limited by the target
c906108c
SS
2829interface (whether serial line or system call).
2830
2831However, use functions with moderation. A thousand one-line functions
2832are just as hard to understand as a single thousand-line function.
2833
2834@subsection Function Prototypes
2835
53a5351d 2836Prototypes must be used to @emph{declare} functions, and may be used to
25822942 2837@emph{define} them. Prototypes for @value{GDBN} functions must include both the
c906108c
SS
2838argument type and name, with the name matching that used in the actual
2839function definition.
2840
53a5351d
JM
2841All external functions should have a declaration in a header file that
2842callers include, except for @code{_initialize_*} functions, which must
2843be external so that @file{init.c} construction works, but shouldn't be
2844visible to random source files.
c906108c
SS
2845
2846All static functions must be declared in a block near the top of the
2847source file.
2848
2849@subsection Clean Design
2850
2851In addition to getting the syntax right, there's the little question of
25822942 2852semantics. Some things are done in certain ways in @value{GDBN} because long
c906108c
SS
2853experience has shown that the more obvious ways caused various kinds of
2854trouble.
2855
2856You can't assume the byte order of anything that comes from a target
2857(including @var{value}s, object files, and instructions). Such things
25822942 2858must be byte-swapped using @code{SWAP_TARGET_AND_HOST} in @value{GDBN}, or one of
c906108c
SS
2859the swap routines defined in @file{bfd.h}, such as @code{bfd_get_32}.
2860
2861You can't assume that you know what interface is being used to talk to
2862the target system. All references to the target must go through the
2863current @code{target_ops} vector.
2864
2865You can't assume that the host and target machines are the same machine
2866(except in the ``native'' support modules). In particular, you can't
2867assume that the target machine's header files will be available on the
2868host machine. Target code must bring along its own header files --
2869written from scratch or explicitly donated by their owner, to avoid
2870copyright problems.
2871
2872Insertion of new @code{#ifdef}'s will be frowned upon. It's much better
2873to write the code portably than to conditionalize it for various
2874systems.
2875
2876New @code{#ifdef}'s which test for specific compilers or manufacturers
2877or operating systems are unacceptable. All @code{#ifdef}'s should test
2878for features. The information about which configurations contain which
2879features should be segregated into the configuration files. Experience
2880has proven far too often that a feature unique to one particular system
2881often creeps into other systems; and that a conditional based on some
2882predefined macro for your current system will become worthless over
2883time, as new versions of your system come out that behave differently
2884with regard to this feature.
2885
2886Adding code that handles specific architectures, operating systems,
2887target interfaces, or hosts, is not acceptable in generic code. If a
2888hook is needed at that point, invent a generic hook and define it for
2889your configuration, with something like:
2890
2891@example
2892#ifdef WRANGLE_SIGNALS
2893 WRANGLE_SIGNALS (signo);
2894#endif
2895@end example
2896
2897In your host, target, or native configuration file, as appropriate,
2898define @code{WRANGLE_SIGNALS} to do the machine-dependent thing. Take a
2899bit of care in defining the hook, so that it can be used by other ports
2900in the future, if they need a hook in the same place.
2901
2902If the hook is not defined, the code should do whatever "most" machines
2903want. Using @code{#ifdef}, as above, is the preferred way to do this,
2904but sometimes that gets convoluted, in which case use
2905
2906@example
2907#ifndef SPECIAL_FOO_HANDLING
2908#define SPECIAL_FOO_HANDLING(pc, sp) (0)
2909#endif
2910@end example
2911
2912where the macro is used or in an appropriate header file.
2913
2914Whether to include a @dfn{small} hook, a hook around the exact pieces of
2915code which are system-dependent, or whether to replace a whole function
2916with a hook depends on the case. A good example of this dilemma can be
25822942 2917found in @code{get_saved_register}. All machines that @value{GDBN} 2.8 ran on
c906108c
SS
2918just needed the @code{FRAME_FIND_SAVED_REGS} hook to find the saved
2919registers. Then the SPARC and Pyramid came along, and
2920@code{HAVE_REGISTER_WINDOWS} and @code{REGISTER_IN_WINDOW_P} were
2921introduced. Then the 29k and 88k required the @code{GET_SAVED_REGISTER}
2922hook. The first three are examples of small hooks; the latter replaces
2923a whole function. In this specific case, it is useful to have both
2924kinds; it would be a bad idea to replace all the uses of the small hooks
2925with @code{GET_SAVED_REGISTER}, since that would result in much
2926duplicated code. Other times, duplicating a few lines of code here or
2927there is much cleaner than introducing a large number of small hooks.
2928
25822942
DB
2929Another way to generalize @value{GDBN} along a particular interface is with an
2930attribute struct. For example, @value{GDBN} has been generalized to handle
c906108c
SS
2931multiple kinds of remote interfaces -- not by #ifdef's everywhere, but
2932by defining the "target_ops" structure and having a current target (as
2933well as a stack of targets below it, for memory references). Whenever
2934something needs to be done that depends on which remote interface we are
2935using, a flag in the current target_ops structure is tested (e.g.
2936`target_has_stack'), or a function is called through a pointer in the
2937current target_ops structure. In this way, when a new remote interface
2938is added, only one module needs to be touched -- the one that actually
2939implements the new remote interface. Other examples of
2940attribute-structs are BFD access to multiple kinds of object file
25822942 2941formats, or @value{GDBN}'s access to multiple source languages.
c906108c 2942
25822942
DB
2943Please avoid duplicating code. For example, in @value{GDBN} 3.x all the code
2944interfacing between @code{ptrace} and the rest of @value{GDBN} was duplicated in
2945@file{*-dep.c}, and so changing something was very painful. In @value{GDBN} 4.x,
c906108c
SS
2946these have all been consolidated into @file{infptrace.c}.
2947@file{infptrace.c} can deal with variations between systems the same way
2948any system-independent file would (hooks, #if defined, etc.), and
2949machines which are radically different don't need to use infptrace.c at
2950all.
2951
9e0b60a8 2952Don't put debugging printfs in the code.
c906108c 2953
8487521e 2954@node Porting GDB
c906108c 2955
25822942 2956@chapter Porting @value{GDBN}
c906108c 2957
25822942 2958Most of the work in making @value{GDBN} compile on a new machine is in specifying
c906108c
SS
2959the configuration of the machine. This is done in a dizzying variety of
2960header files and configuration scripts, which we hope to make more
2961sensible soon. Let's say your new host is called an @var{xyz} (e.g.
2962@samp{sun4}), and its full three-part configuration name is
2963@code{@var{arch}-@var{xvend}-@var{xos}} (e.g. @samp{sparc-sun-sunos4}).
2964In particular:
2965
2966In the top level directory, edit @file{config.sub} and add @var{arch},
2967@var{xvend}, and @var{xos} to the lists of supported architectures,
2968vendors, and operating systems near the bottom of the file. Also, add
2969@var{xyz} as an alias that maps to
2970@code{@var{arch}-@var{xvend}-@var{xos}}. You can test your changes by
2971running
2972
2973@example
2974./config.sub @var{xyz}
2975@end example
2976@noindent
2977and
2978@example
2979./config.sub @code{@var{arch}-@var{xvend}-@var{xos}}
2980@end example
2981@noindent
2982which should both respond with @code{@var{arch}-@var{xvend}-@var{xos}}
2983and no error messages.
2984
2985You need to port BFD, if that hasn't been done already. Porting BFD is
2986beyond the scope of this manual.
2987
25822942 2988To configure @value{GDBN} itself, edit @file{gdb/configure.host} to recognize
c906108c
SS
2989your system and set @code{gdb_host} to @var{xyz}, and (unless your
2990desired target is already available) also edit @file{gdb/configure.tgt},
2991setting @code{gdb_target} to something appropriate (for instance,
2992@var{xyz}).
2993
25822942 2994Finally, you'll need to specify and define @value{GDBN}'s host-, native-, and
c906108c
SS
2995target-dependent @file{.h} and @file{.c} files used for your
2996configuration.
2997
25822942 2998@section Configuring @value{GDBN} for Release
c906108c
SS
2999
3000From the top level directory (containing @file{gdb}, @file{bfd},
3001@file{libiberty}, and so on):
3002@example
3003make -f Makefile.in gdb.tar.gz
3004@end example
3005
3006This will properly configure, clean, rebuild any files that are
3007distributed pre-built (e.g. @file{c-exp.tab.c} or @file{refcard.ps}),
3008and will then make a tarfile. (If the top level directory has already
3009been configured, you can just do @code{make gdb.tar.gz} instead.)
3010
3011This procedure requires:
3012@itemize @bullet
3013@item symbolic links
3014@item @code{makeinfo} (texinfo2 level)
3015@item @TeX{}
3016@item @code{dvips}
3017@item @code{yacc} or @code{bison}
3018@end itemize
3019@noindent
3020@dots{} and the usual slew of utilities (@code{sed}, @code{tar}, etc.).
3021
3022@subheading TEMPORARY RELEASE PROCEDURE FOR DOCUMENTATION
3023
3024@file{gdb.texinfo} is currently marked up using the texinfo-2 macros,
3025which are not yet a default for anything (but we have to start using
3026them sometime).
3027
3028For making paper, the only thing this implies is the right generation of
3029@file{texinfo.tex} needs to be included in the distribution.
3030
3031For making info files, however, rather than duplicating the texinfo2
3032distribution, generate @file{gdb-all.texinfo} locally, and include the
3033files @file{gdb.info*} in the distribution. Note the plural;
3034@code{makeinfo} will split the document into one overall file and five
3035or so included files.
3036
085dd6e6
JM
3037@node Testsuite
3038
3039@chapter Testsuite
3040
25822942 3041The testsuite is an important component of the @value{GDBN} package. While it is
085dd6e6
JM
3042always worthwhile to encourage user testing, in practice this is rarely
3043sufficient; users typically use only a small subset of the available
3044commands, and it has proven all too common for a change to cause a
3045significant regression that went unnoticed for some time.
3046
25822942 3047The @value{GDBN} testsuite uses the DejaGNU testing framework. DejaGNU is built
085dd6e6
JM
3048using tcl and expect. The tests themselves are calls to various tcl
3049procs; the framework runs all the procs and summarizes the passes and
3050fails.
3051
3052@section Using the Testsuite
3053
25822942 3054To run the testsuite, simply go to the @value{GDBN} object directory (or to the
085dd6e6
JM
3055testsuite's objdir) and type @code{make check}. This just sets up some
3056environment variables and invokes DejaGNU's @code{runtest} script. While
3057the testsuite is running, you'll get mentions of which test file is in use,
3058and a mention of any unexpected passes or fails. When the testsuite is
3059finished, you'll get a summary that looks like this:
3060@example
3061 === gdb Summary ===
3062
3063# of expected passes 6016
3064# of unexpected failures 58
3065# of unexpected successes 5
3066# of expected failures 183
3067# of unresolved testcases 3
3068# of untested testcases 5
3069@end example
3070The ideal test run consists of expected passes only; however, reality
3071conspires to keep us from this ideal. Unexpected failures indicate
25822942 3072real problems, whether in @value{GDBN} or in the testsuite. Expected failures
085dd6e6
JM
3073are still failures, but ones which have been decided are too hard to
3074deal with at the time; for instance, a test case might work everywhere
3075except on AIX, and there is no prospect of the AIX case being fixed in
3076the near future. Expected failures should not be added lightly, since
25822942 3077you may be masking serious bugs in @value{GDBN}. Unexpected successes are expected
085dd6e6
JM
3078fails that are passing for some reason, while unresolved and untested
3079cases often indicate some minor catastrophe, such as the compiler being
3080unable to deal with a test program.
3081
25822942 3082When making any significant change to @value{GDBN}, you should run the testsuite
085dd6e6
JM
3083before and after the change, to confirm that there are no regressions.
3084Note that truly complete testing would require that you run the
3085testsuite with all supported configurations and a variety of compilers;
3086however this is more than really necessary. In many cases testing with
3087a single configuration is sufficient. Other useful options are to test
3088one big-endian (Sparc) and one little-endian (x86) host, a cross config
3089with a builtin simulator (powerpc-eabi, mips-elf), or a 64-bit host
3090(Alpha).
3091
25822942
DB
3092If you add new functionality to @value{GDBN}, please consider adding tests for it
3093as well; this way future @value{GDBN} hackers can detect and fix their changes
085dd6e6
JM
3094that break the functionality you added. Similarly, if you fix a bug
3095that was not previously reported as a test failure, please add a test
3096case for it. Some cases are extremely difficult to test, such as code
3097that handles host OS failures or bugs in particular versions of
3098compilers, and it's OK not to try to write tests for all of those.
3099
3100@section Testsuite Organization
3101
3102The testsuite is entirely contained in @file{gdb/testsuite}. While the
3103testsuite includes some makefiles and configury, these are very minimal,
3104and used for little besides cleaning up, since the tests themselves
25822942 3105handle the compilation of the programs that @value{GDBN} will run. The file
085dd6e6 3106@file{testsuite/lib/gdb.exp} contains common utility procs useful for
25822942 3107all @value{GDBN} tests, while the directory @file{testsuite/config} contains
085dd6e6
JM
3108configuration-specific files, typically used for special-purpose
3109definitions of procs like @code{gdb_load} and @code{gdb_start}.
3110
3111The tests themselves are to be found in @file{testsuite/gdb.*} and
3112subdirectories of those. The names of the test files must always end
3113with @file{.exp}. DejaGNU collects the test files by wildcarding
3114in the test directories, so both subdirectories and individual files
3115get chosen and run in alphabetical order.
3116
3117The following table lists the main types of subdirectories and what they
3118are for. Since DejaGNU finds test files no matter where they are
3119located, and since each test file sets up its own compilation and
3120execution environment, this organization is simply for convenience and
3121intelligibility.
3122
3123@table @code
3124
3125@item gdb.base
3126
3127This is the base testsuite. The tests in it should apply to all
25822942 3128configurations of @value{GDBN} (but generic native-only tests may live here).
085dd6e6
JM
3129The test programs should be in the subset of C that is valid K&R,
3130ANSI/ISO, and C++ (ifdefs are allowed if necessary, for instance
3131for prototypes).
3132
3133@item gdb.@var{lang}
3134
3135Language-specific tests for all languages besides C. Examples are
3136@file{gdb.c++} and @file{gdb.java}.
3137
3138@item gdb.@var{platform}
3139
3140Non-portable tests. The tests are specific to a specific configuration
3141(host or target), such as HP-UX or eCos. Example is @file{gdb.hp}, for
3142HP-UX.
3143
3144@item gdb.@var{compiler}
3145
3146Tests specific to a particular compiler. As of this writing (June
31471999), there aren't currently any groups of tests in this category that
3148couldn't just as sensibly be made platform-specific, but one could
25822942 3149imagine a gdb.gcc, for tests of @value{GDBN}'s handling of GCC extensions.
085dd6e6
JM
3150
3151@item gdb.@var{subsystem}
3152
25822942 3153Tests that exercise a specific @value{GDBN} subsystem in more depth. For
085dd6e6
JM
3154instance, @file{gdb.disasm} exercises various disassemblers, while
3155@file{gdb.stabs} tests pathways through the stabs symbol reader.
3156
3157@end table
3158
3159@section Writing Tests
3160
25822942 3161In many areas, the @value{GDBN} tests are already quite comprehensive; you
085dd6e6
JM
3162should be able to copy existing tests to handle new cases.
3163
3164You should try to use @code{gdb_test} whenever possible, since it
3165includes cases to handle all the unexpected errors that might happen.
3166However, it doesn't cost anything to add new test procedures; for
3167instance, @file{gdb.base/exprs.exp} defines a @code{test_expr} that
3168calls @code{gdb_test} multiple times.
3169
3170Only use @code{send_gdb} and @code{gdb_expect} when absolutely
25822942 3171necessary, such as when @value{GDBN} has several valid responses to a command.
085dd6e6
JM
3172
3173The source language programs do @emph{not} need to be in a consistent
25822942 3174style. Since @value{GDBN} is used to debug programs written in many different
085dd6e6 3175styles, it's worth having a mix of styles in the testsuite; for
25822942 3176instance, some @value{GDBN} bugs involving the display of source lines would
085dd6e6
JM
3177never manifest themselves if the programs used GNU coding style
3178uniformly.
3179
c906108c
SS
3180@node Hints
3181
3182@chapter Hints
3183
3184Check the @file{README} file, it often has useful information that does not
3185appear anywhere else in the directory.
3186
3187@menu
25822942 3188* Getting Started:: Getting started working on @value{GDBN}
33e16fad 3189* Debugging GDB:: Debugging @value{GDBN} with itself
c906108c
SS
3190@end menu
3191
3192@node Getting Started,,, Hints
3193
3194@section Getting Started
3195
25822942 3196@value{GDBN} is a large and complicated program, and if you first starting to
c906108c
SS
3197work on it, it can be hard to know where to start. Fortunately, if you
3198know how to go about it, there are ways to figure out what is going on.
3199
25822942
DB
3200This manual, the @value{GDBN} Internals manual, has information which applies
3201generally to many parts of @value{GDBN}.
c906108c
SS
3202
3203Information about particular functions or data structures are located in
3204comments with those functions or data structures. If you run across a
3205function or a global variable which does not have a comment correctly
25822942 3206explaining what is does, this can be thought of as a bug in @value{GDBN}; feel
c906108c
SS
3207free to submit a bug report, with a suggested comment if you can figure
3208out what the comment should say. If you find a comment which is
3209actually wrong, be especially sure to report that.
3210
3211Comments explaining the function of macros defined in host, target, or
3212native dependent files can be in several places. Sometimes they are
3213repeated every place the macro is defined. Sometimes they are where the
3214macro is used. Sometimes there is a header file which supplies a
3215default definition of the macro, and the comment is there. This manual
3216also documents all the available macros.
3217@c (@pxref{Host Conditionals}, @pxref{Target
3218@c Conditionals}, @pxref{Native Conditionals}, and @pxref{Obsolete
3219@c Conditionals})
3220
25822942 3221Start with the header files. Once you have some idea of how @value{GDBN}'s internal
c906108c
SS
3222symbol tables are stored (see @file{symtab.h}, @file{gdbtypes.h}), you
3223will find it much easier to understand the code which uses and creates
3224those symbol tables.
3225
3226You may wish to process the information you are getting somehow, to
3227enhance your understanding of it. Summarize it, translate it to another
25822942 3228language, add some (perhaps trivial or non-useful) feature to @value{GDBN}, use
c906108c
SS
3229the code to predict what a test case would do and write the test case
3230and verify your prediction, etc. If you are reading code and your eyes
3231are starting to glaze over, this is a sign you need to use a more active
3232approach.
3233
25822942 3234Once you have a part of @value{GDBN} to start with, you can find more
c906108c
SS
3235specifically the part you are looking for by stepping through each
3236function with the @code{next} command. Do not use @code{step} or you
3237will quickly get distracted; when the function you are stepping through
3238calls another function try only to get a big-picture understanding
3239(perhaps using the comment at the beginning of the function being
3240called) of what it does. This way you can identify which of the
3241functions being called by the function you are stepping through is the
3242one which you are interested in. You may need to examine the data
3243structures generated at each stage, with reference to the comments in
3244the header files explaining what the data structures are supposed to
3245look like.
3246
3247Of course, this same technique can be used if you are just reading the
3248code, rather than actually stepping through it. The same general
3249principle applies---when the code you are looking at calls something
3250else, just try to understand generally what the code being called does,
3251rather than worrying about all its details.
3252
3253A good place to start when tracking down some particular area is with a
3254command which invokes that feature. Suppose you want to know how
25822942 3255single-stepping works. As a @value{GDBN} user, you know that the @code{step}
c906108c
SS
3256command invokes single-stepping. The command is invoked via command
3257tables (see @file{command.h}); by convention the function which actually
3258performs the command is formed by taking the name of the command and
3259adding @samp{_command}, or in the case of an @code{info} subcommand,
3260@samp{_info}. For example, the @code{step} command invokes the
3261@code{step_command} function and the @code{info display} command invokes
3262@code{display_info}. When this convention is not followed, you might
25822942 3263have to use @code{grep} or @kbd{M-x tags-search} in emacs, or run @value{GDBN} on
c906108c
SS
3264itself and set a breakpoint in @code{execute_command}.
3265
3266If all of the above fail, it may be appropriate to ask for information
3267on @code{bug-gdb}. But @emph{never} post a generic question like ``I was
3268wondering if anyone could give me some tips about understanding
25822942 3269@value{GDBN}''---if we had some magic secret we would put it in this manual.
c906108c
SS
3270Suggestions for improving the manual are always welcome, of course.
3271
33e16fad 3272@node Debugging GDB,,,Hints
c906108c 3273
25822942 3274@section Debugging @value{GDBN} with itself
c906108c 3275
25822942 3276If @value{GDBN} is limping on your machine, this is the preferred way to get it
c906108c
SS
3277fully functional. Be warned that in some ancient Unix systems, like
3278Ultrix 4.2, a program can't be running in one process while it is being
3279debugged in another. Rather than typing the command @code{@w{./gdb
3280./gdb}}, which works on Suns and such, you can copy @file{gdb} to
3281@file{gdb2} and then type @code{@w{./gdb ./gdb2}}.
3282
25822942 3283When you run @value{GDBN} in the @value{GDBN} source directory, it will read a
c906108c
SS
3284@file{.gdbinit} file that sets up some simple things to make debugging
3285gdb easier. The @code{info} command, when executed without a subcommand
25822942 3286in a @value{GDBN} being debugged by gdb, will pop you back up to the top level
c906108c
SS
3287gdb. See @file{.gdbinit} for details.
3288
3289If you use emacs, you will probably want to do a @code{make TAGS} after
3290you configure your distribution; this will put the machine dependent
3291routines for your local machine where they will be accessed first by
3292@kbd{M-.}
3293
25822942 3294Also, make sure that you've either compiled @value{GDBN} with your local cc, or
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3295have run @code{fixincludes} if you are compiling with gcc.
3296
3297@section Submitting Patches
3298
3299Thanks for thinking of offering your changes back to the community of
25822942 3300@value{GDBN} users. In general we like to get well designed enhancements.
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3301Thanks also for checking in advance about the best way to transfer the
3302changes.
3303
25822942
DB
3304The @value{GDBN} maintainers will only install ``cleanly designed'' patches.
3305This manual summarizes what we believe to be clean design for @value{GDBN}.
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3306
3307If the maintainers don't have time to put the patch in when it arrives,
3308or if there is any question about a patch, it goes into a large queue
3309with everyone else's patches and bug reports.
3310
3311The legal issue is that to incorporate substantial changes requires a
3312copyright assignment from you and/or your employer, granting ownership
3313of the changes to the Free Software Foundation. You can get the
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3314standard documents for doing this by sending mail to @code{gnu@@gnu.org}
3315and asking for it. We recommend that people write in "All programs
3316owned by the Free Software Foundation" as "NAME OF PROGRAM", so that
25822942 3317changes in many programs (not just @value{GDBN}, but GAS, Emacs, GCC, etc) can be
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3318contributed with only one piece of legalese pushed through the
3319bureacracy and filed with the FSF. We can't start merging changes until
3320this paperwork is received by the FSF (their rules, which we follow
3321since we maintain it for them).
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3322
3323Technically, the easiest way to receive changes is to receive each
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3324feature as a small context diff or unidiff, suitable for "patch". Each
3325message sent to me should include the changes to C code and header files
3326for a single feature, plus ChangeLog entries for each directory where
3327files were modified, and diffs for any changes needed to the manuals
3328(gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo or gdb/doc/gdbint.texinfo). If there are a lot of
3329changes for a single feature, they can be split down into multiple
3330messages.
3331
3332In this way, if we read and like the feature, we can add it to the
c906108c 3333sources with a single patch command, do some testing, and check it in.
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3334If you leave out the ChangeLog, we have to write one. If you leave
3335out the doc, we have to puzzle out what needs documenting. Etc.
c906108c 3336
9e0b60a8
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3337The reason to send each change in a separate message is that we will not
3338install some of the changes. They'll be returned to you with questions
3339or comments. If we're doing our job correctly, the message back to you
c906108c 3340will say what you have to fix in order to make the change acceptable.
9e0b60a8
JM
3341The reason to have separate messages for separate features is so that
3342the acceptable changes can be installed while one or more changes are
3343being reworked. If multiple features are sent in a single message, we
3344tend to not put in the effort to sort out the acceptable changes from
3345the unacceptable, so none of the features get installed until all are
3346acceptable.
3347
3348If this sounds painful or authoritarian, well, it is. But we get a lot
3349of bug reports and a lot of patches, and many of them don't get
3350installed because we don't have the time to finish the job that the bug
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3351reporter or the contributor could have done. Patches that arrive
3352complete, working, and well designed, tend to get installed on the day
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3353they arrive. The others go into a queue and get installed as time
3354permits, which, since the maintainers have many demands to meet, may not
3355be for quite some time.
c906108c 3356
25822942 3357Please send patches directly to the @value{GDBN} maintainers at
9e0b60a8 3358@code{gdb-patches@@sourceware.cygnus.com}.
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3359
3360@section Obsolete Conditionals
3361
25822942 3362Fragments of old code in @value{GDBN} sometimes reference or set the following
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3363configuration macros. They should not be used by new code, and old uses
3364should be removed as those parts of the debugger are otherwise touched.
3365
3366@table @code
3367
3368@item STACK_END_ADDR
3369This macro used to define where the end of the stack appeared, for use
3370in interpreting core file formats that don't record this address in the
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DB
3371core file itself. This information is now configured in BFD, and @value{GDBN}
3372gets the info portably from there. The values in @value{GDBN}'s configuration
c906108c 3373files should be moved into BFD configuration files (if needed there),
25822942 3374and deleted from all of @value{GDBN}'s config files.
c906108c
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3375
3376Any @file{@var{foo}-xdep.c} file that references STACK_END_ADDR
3377is so old that it has never been converted to use BFD. Now that's old!
3378
3379@item PYRAMID_CONTROL_FRAME_DEBUGGING
3380pyr-xdep.c
3381@item PYRAMID_CORE
3382pyr-xdep.c
3383@item PYRAMID_PTRACE
3384pyr-xdep.c
3385
3386@item REG_STACK_SEGMENT
3387exec.c
3388
3389@end table
3390
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3391@c TeX can handle the contents at the start but makeinfo 3.12 can not
3392@ifinfo
c906108c 3393@contents
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3394@end ifinfo
3395@ifhtml
3396@contents
3397@end ifhtml
3398
c906108c 3399@bye
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