[fpc-devel] AnsiString in DWARF2 vs DWARF3

[Graeme Geldenhuys]

Op 2010-10-26 10:23, Joost van der Sluis het geskryf:
> are problems with gdb also. The problem is that if a problem in fpc is
> fixed properly, that will lead to problems in gdb. And the other way
> around. Only way to fix those is to update both at the same time. This
> is difficult because of the different release-cycles.

OK, this is what I thought.


> As I try to do things now, is to fix these problems in the Dwarf-3 debug
> information. (Even it's not a Dwarf-3 issue. See for example the
> case-sensitivity).

OK, I'll take a look.


> This will lead to problems with debugging with Dwarf-3
> at the short-term. (Ie: with unpatched gdb versions) But it won't affect
> the debugging with Dwarf-2. So you can use the default Dwarf-debug
> format for normal circumstances. And if you want to test and improve the
> debugging, try Dwarf-3.

What I am trying to do, is invest some time in duby development (Object
Pascal based debugger). This is a rather large undertaking for me, because
I lack compiler, debugger and dwarf knowledge - but I am up for the
challenge and think the effort I put in will be rewarded later down the
line. Currently duby reads stabs and dwarf3 debugging. I want to
concentrate on the dwarf3 debugging only.

I haven't looked at the code you mentioned yet, so I might have this wrong,
but it sounds like you are implemented non-standard dwarf3 debugging
"hacks" in the dwarf3 debug class, and then want to patch gdb to work with
that. That is not good, because I want duby to be dwarf3 compliant and work
with FPC + DWARF3 + Object Pascal, so we can finally have a native Object
Pascal debugger.

GDB is too C/C++ centric, and Object Pascal support will never come near as
good. Using duby instead will also mean we can easily coordinate releases
or debug features (in FPC and duby), contributions are made easier because
it uses our familiar Object Pascal language etc. Then later down the line,
even consider moving duby into FPC source tree and become the default
debugger for FPC (but lets not get ahead of ourselves).

I'm just getting sick of the sad state that FPC debugging (with our only
choice GDB) is in. It's near unusable and currently only good for stepping
through code. So I'll take the cue and see if I can do something about it.


Regards,
  - Graeme -

-- 
fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal
http://opensoft.homeip.net:8080/fpgui/