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Diffstat (limited to 'gdb/TODO')
| -rw-r--r-- | gdb/TODO | 471 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 471 deletions
diff --git a/gdb/TODO b/gdb/TODO deleted file mode 100644 index fcbcd16..0000000 --- a/gdb/TODO +++ /dev/null @@ -1,471 +0,0 @@ -If you find inaccuracies in this list, please send mail to -bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu. If you would like to work on any of these, -you should consider sending mail to the same address, to find out -whether anyone else is working on it. - -General To Do List ------------------- - -This list is probably not up to date, and opinions vary about the -importance or even desirability of some of the items. - -Add an "info bfd" command that displays supported object formats, -similarly to objdump -i. - -START_INFERIOR_TRAPS_EXPECTED need never be defined to 2, since that -is its default value. Clean this up. - -It should be possible to use symbols from shared libraries before we know -exactly where the libraries will be loaded. E.g. "b perror" before running -the program. This could maybe be done as an extension of the "breakpoint -re-evaluation" after new symbols are loaded. - -Make single_step() insert and remove breakpoints in one operation. - -Speed up single stepping by avoiding extraneous ptrace calls. - -Speed up single stepping by not inserting and removing breakpoints -each time the inferior starts and stops. - -Breakpoints should not be inserted and deleted all the time. Only the -one(s) there should be removed when we have to step over one. Support -breakpoints that don't have to be removed to step over them. - -Update gdbint.texinfo to include doc on the directory structure and -the various tricks of building gdb. - -Do a tutorial in gdb.texinfo on how to do simple things in gdb. -E.g. how to set a breakpoint that just prints something and continues. -How to break on aborts. Etc. - -Provide "voodoo" debugging of core files. This creates a zombie -process as a child of the debugger, and loads it up with the data, -stack, and regs of the core file. This allows you to call functions -in the executable, to manipulate the data in the core file. - -GDB reopens the source file on every line, as you "next" through it. - -Referencing the vtbl member of a struct doesn't work. It prints OK -if you print the struct, but it gets 0 if you try to deref it. - -Persistent command history: A feature where you could save off a list -of the commands you did, so you can edit it into something that will bring -the target to the same place every time you source it. -This would also be useful for automated fast watchpointing; if you go -past the place where it watchpoints, you just start it over again and -do it more carefully. - -Deal with the SunOS 4.0 and 4.1.1 ptrace bug that loses the registers if -the stack is paged out. - -Finish the C++ exception handling stub routines. Lint points them out -as unused statics functions. - -Perhaps "i source" should take an argument like that of "list". - -See if core-aout.c's fetch_core_registers can be used on more machines. -E.g. MIPS (mips-xdep.c). - -unpack_double() does not handle IEEE float on the target unless the host -is also IEEE. Death on a vax. - -Set up interface between GDB and INFO so that you can hop into interactive -INFO and back out again. When running under Emacs, should use Emacs -info, else fork the info program. Installation of GDB should install -its texinfo files into the info tree automagically, including the readline -texinfo files. - -"help address" ought to find the "help set print address" entry. - -Remove the VTBL internal guts from printouts of C++ structs, unless -vtblprint is set. - -Remove "at 0xnnnn" from the "b foo" response, if `print address off' and if -it matches the source line indicated. - -The prompt at end of screen should accept space as well as CR. - -Check STORE_RETURN_VALUE on all architectures. Check near it in tm-sparc.h -for other bogosities. - -Check for storage leaks in GDB, I'm sure there are a lot! - -vtblprint of a vtbl should demangle the names it's printing. - -Backtrace should point out what the currently selected frame is, in -its display, perhaps showing "@3 foo (bar, ...)" or ">3 foo (bar, -...)" rather than "#3 foo (bar, ...)". - -"i program" should work for core files, and display more info, like what -actually caused it to die. - -"x/10i" should shorten the long name, if any, on subsequent lines. - -Check through the code for FIXME comments and fix them. dbxread.c, -blockframe.c, and plenty more. (I count 634 as of 940621 - sts) - -"next" over a function that longjumps, never stops until next time you happen -to get to that spot by accident. E.g. "n" over execute_command which has -an error. - -"set zeroprint off", don't bother printing members of structs which -are entirely zero. Useful for those big structs with few useful -members. - -GDB does four ioctl's for every command, probably switching terminal modes -to/from inferior or for readline or something. - -terminal_ours versus terminal_inferior: cache state. Switch should be a noop -if the state is the same, too. - -ptype $i6 = void??! - -Clean up invalid_float handling so gdb doesn't coredump when it tries to -access a NaN. While this might work on SPARC, other machines are not -configured right. - -"b value_at ; commands ; continue ; end" stops EVERY OTHER TIME! -Then once you enter a command, it does the command, runs two more -times, and then stops again! Bizarre... (This behaviour has been -modified, but it is not yet 100% predictable when e.g. the commands -call functions in the child, and while there, the child is interrupted -with a signal, or hits a breakpoint.) - -help completion, help history should work. - -Check that we can handle stack trace through varargs AND alloca in same -function, on 29K. - -wait_for_inferior loops forever if wait() gives it an error. - -"i frame" shows wrong "arglist at" location, doesn't show where the args -should be found, only their actual values. - -There should be a way for "set" commands to validate the new setting -before it takes effect. - -A mess of floating point opcodes are missing from sparc-opcode.h. -Also, a little program should test the table for bits that are -overspecified or underspecified. E.g. if the must-be-ones bits -and the must-be-zeroes bits leave some fields unexamined, and the format -string leaves them unprinted, then point this out. If multiple -non-alias patterns match, point this out too. Finally, there should -be a sparc-optest.s file that tries each pattern out. This file -should end up coming back the same (modulo transformation comments) -if fed to "gas" then the .o is fed to gdb for disassembly. - -Eliminate all the core_file_command's in all the xdep files. -Eliminate separate declarations of registers[] everywhere. - -"ena d" is ambiguous, why? "ena delete" seems to think it is a command! - -Perhaps move the tdep, xdep, and nat files, into the config -subdirectories. If not, at least straighten out their names so that -they all start with the machine name. - -inferior_status should include stop_print_frame. It won't need to be -reset in wait_for_inferior after bpstat_stop_status call, then. - -i line VAR produces "Line number not known for symbol ``var''.". I -thought we were stashing that info now! - -We should be able to write to random files at hex offsets like adb. - -Make "target xxx" command interruptible. - -Handle add_file with separate text, data, and bss addresses. Maybe -handle separate addresses for each segment in the object file? - -Handle free_named_symtab to cope with multiply-loaded object files -in a dynamic linking environment. Should remember the last copy loaded, -but not get too snowed if it finds references to the older copy. - -Generalize and Standardize the RPC interface to a target program, -improve it beyond the "ptrace" interface, and see if it can become a -standard for remote debugging. (This is talking about the vxworks -interface. Seems unlikely to me that there will be "a standard" for -remote debugging anytime soon --kingdon, 8 Nov 1994). - -Remove all references to: - text_offset - data_offset - text_data_start - text_end - exec_data_offset - ... -now that we have BFD. All remaining are in machine dependent files. - -When quitting with a running program, if a core file was previously -examined, you get "Couldn't read float regs from core file"...if -indeed it can't. generic_mourn_inferior... - -Have remote targets give a warning on a signal argument to -target_resume. Or better yet, extend the protocols so that it works -like it does on the Unix-like systems. - -Sort help and info output. - -Re-organize help categories into things that tend to fit on a screen -and hang together. - -renote-nindy.c handles interrupts poorly; it error()s out of badly -chosen places, e.g. leaving current_frame zero, which causes core dumps -on the next command. - -Add in commands like ADB's for searching for patterns, etc. We should -be able to examine and patch raw unsymboled binaries as well in gdb as -we can in adb. (E.g. increase the timeout in /bin/login without source). - -Those xdep files that call register_addr without defining it are -probably simply broken. When reconfiguring this part of gdb, I could -only make guesses about how to redo some of those files, and I -probably guessed wrong, or left them "for later" when I have a -machine that can attempt to build them. - -When doing "step" or "next", if a few lines of source are skipped between -the previous line and the current one, print those lines, not just the -last line of a multiline statement. - -When searching for C++ superclasses in value_cast in valops.c, we must -not search the "fields", only the "superclasses". There might be a -struct with a field name that matches the superclass name. This can -happen when the struct was defined before the superclass (before the -name became a typedef). - -Handling of "&" address-of operator needs some serious overhaul -for ANSI C and consistency on arrays and functions. - For "float point[15];": -ptype &point[4] ==> Attempt to take address of non-lvalue. - For "char *malloc();": -ptype malloc ==> "char *()"; should be same as -ptype &malloc ==> "char *(*)()" -call printf ("%x\n", malloc) ==> weird value, should be same as -call printf ("%x\n", &malloc) ==> correct value - -Fix dbxread.c symbol reading in the presence of interrupts. It -currently leaves a cleanup to blow away the entire symbol table when a -QUIT occurs. (What's wrong with that? -kingdon, 28 Oct 1993). - -Mipsread.c reads include files depth-first, because the dependencies -in the psymtabs are way too inclusive (it seems to me). Figure out what -really depends on what, to avoid recursing 20 or 30 times while reading -real symtabs. - -value_add() should be subtracting the lower bound of arrays, if known, -and possibly checking against the upper bound for error reporting. - -mipsread.c symbol table allocation and deallocation should be checked. -My suspicion is that it's full of memory leaks. - -SunOS should have a target_lookup_symbol() for common'd things allocated -by the shared library linker ld.so. - -When listing source lines, check for a preceding \n, to verify that -the file hasn't changed out from under us. - -When listing source lines, eat leading whitespace corresponding to the -line-number prefix we print. This avoids long lines wrapping. - -mipsread.c needs to check for old symtabs and psymtabs for the same -files, the way it happens for dbxread.c and coffread.c, for VxWorks -incremental symbol table reloading. - -Get all the remote systems (where the protocol allows it) to be able to -stop the remote system when the GDB user types ^C (like remote.c -does). For ebmon, use ^Ak. - -Possible feature: A version of the "disassemble" command which shows -both source and assembly code ("set symbol-filename on" is a partial -solution). - -investigate "x/s 0" (right now stops early) (I think maybe GDB is -using a 0 address for bad purposes internally). - -Make "info path" and path_command work again (but independent of the -environment either of gdb or that we'll pass to the inferior). - -Make GDB understand the GCC feature for putting octal constants in -enums. Make it so overflow on an enum constant does not error_type -the whole type. Allow arbitrarily large enums with type attributes. -Put all this stuff in the testsuite. - -Make TYPE_CODE_ERROR with a non-zero TYPE_LENGTH more useful (print -the value in hex; process type attributes). Add this to the -testsuite. This way future compilers can add new types and old -versions of GDB can do something halfway reasonable. - -Clean up formatting of "info registers" on MIPS and 88k. See if it -is possible to do this generically across all target architectures. - -GDB gets bfd/corefile.c and gdb/corefile.c confused (this should be easy to -repeat even with something more recent than GDB 4.9). - -Check that unmatched RBRAC doesn't abort(). - -Fix mdebugread.c:parse_type to do fundamental types right (see -rs6000_builtin_type in stabsread.c for what "right" is--the point is -that the debug format fixes the sizes of these things and it shouldn't -depend on stuff like TARGET_PTR_BIT and so on. For mdebug, there seem -to be separate bt* codes for 64 bit and 32 bit things, and GDB should -be aware of that). Also use a switch statement for clarity and speed. - -Investigate adding symbols in target_load--some targets do, some -don't. - -Put dirname in psymtabs and change lookup*symtab to use dirname (so -/foo/bar.c works whether compiled by cc /foo/bar.c, or cd /foo; cc -bar.c). - -Merge xcoffread.c and coffread.c. Use breakpoint_re_set instead of -fixup_breakpoints. - -Fix byte order and int size sins in tm-a29k.h -(EXTRACT_RETURN_VALUE). Perhaps should reproduce bug and verify fix -(or perhaps should just fix it...). - -Make a watchpoint on a constant expression an error (or warning -perhaps) - -Make a watchpoint which contains a function call an error (it is -broken now, making it work is probably not worth the effort). - -Re-do calls to signal() in remote.c, and inflow.c (set_sigint_trap and -so on) to be independent of the debugging target, using target_stop to -stop the inferior. Probably the part which is now handled by -interrupt_query in remote.c can be done without any new features in -the debugging target. - -New test case based on weird.exp but in which type numbers are not -renumbered (thus multiply defining a type). This currently causes an -infinite loop on "p v_comb". - -Nuke baseclass_addr. - -Nuke USG define. - -"source file more recent" loses on re-read - -Fix 386 floating point so that floating point registers are real -registers (but code can deal at run-time if they are missing, like -mips and 68k). This would clean up "info float" and related stuff. - -Look at Solaris bug in interrupt.exp. Can get out of syscall with -PRSABORT (syscall will return EINTR) but merely doing that leads to a -"can't read memory" error. - -gcc -g -c enummask.c then gdb enummask.o, then "p v". GDB complains -about not being able to access memory location 0. - --------------------- enummask.c -enum mask -{ - ANIMAL = 0, - VEGETABLE = 1, - MINERAL = 2, - BASIC_CATEGORY = 3, - - WHITE = 0, - BLUE = 4, - GREEN = 8, - BLACK = 0xc, - COLOR = 0xc, - - ALIVE = 0x10, - - LARGE = 0x20 -} v; - -If try to modify value in file with "set write off" should give -appropriate error not "cannot access memory at address 0x65e0". - -Why do we allow a target to omit standard register names (NO_STD_REGS -in tm-z8k.h)? I thought the standard register names were supposed to -be just that, standard. - -Make DEBUG_EXPRESSIONS a maintenance command, dependent on -MAINTENANCE_COMMANDS. - -Allow core file without exec file on RS/6000. - -Make sure "shell" with no arguments works right on DOS. - -Make gdb.ini (as well as .gdbinit) be checked on all platforms, so -the same directory can be NFS-mounted on unix or DOS, and work the -same way. - -cd ~/tmp/<M-?> causes infinite loop (where ~/tmp is a directory). - -Get SECT_OFF_TEXT stuff out of objfile_relocate (might be needed to -get RS/6000 to work right, might not be immediately relevant). - -Clean up add_toc_to_loadinfo - -Think about attached processes and sharing terminal. - -John sez in reference to ignoring errors from tcsegpgrp if attach_flag: -set_tty_state should not have any trouble with attached processes. -Instead, the tty handling should leave the pgrp of the tty alone when -attaching to processes (perhaps pass terminal_init_inferior a flag -saying whether we're attaching). - -PAGE_SIZE redefined warnings on AIX. Probably should be using -BFD_PAGE_SIZE throughout BFD. - -Rewrite proceed, wait_for_inferior, and normal_stop to clean them up. -Suggestions: - - 1) Make each test in wait_for_inferior a seperate subroutine - call. - 2) Combine wait_for_inferior and normal_stop to clean up - communication via global variables. - 3) See if you can find some way to clean up the global - variables that are used; possibly group them by data flow - and information content? - -Work out some kind of way to allow running the inferior to be done as -a sub-execution of, eg. breakpoint command lists. Currently running -the inferior interupts any command list execution. This would require -some rewriting of wait_for_inferior & friends, and hence should -probably be done in concert with the above. - -Add function arguments to gdb user defined functions. - -Add convenience variables that refer to exec file, symbol file, -selected frame source file, selected frame function, selected frame -line number, etc. - -Add a "suspend" subcommand of the "continue" command to suspend gdb -while continuing execution of the subprocess. Useful when you are -debugging servers and you want to dodge out and initiate a connection -to a server running under gdb. - -Add stab information to allow reasonable debugging of inline functions -(possibly they should show up on a stack backtrace? With a note -indicating that they weren't "real"?). - -Modify the naked "until" command to step until past the current source -line, rather than past the current pc value. This is tricky simply -because the low level routines have no way of specifying a multi-line -step range, and there is no way of saying "don't print stuff when we -stop" from above (otherwise could just call step many times). - -Modify the handling of symbols grouped through BINCL/EINCL stabs to -allocate a partial symtab for each BINCL/EINCL grouping. This will -seriously decrease the size of inter-psymtab dependencies and hence -lessen the amount that needs to be read in when a new source file is -accessed. - -Do an "x/i $pc" after each stepi or nexti. - -Modify all of the disassemblers to use printf_filtered to get correct -more filtering. - -Modify gdb to work correctly with Pascal. - -Add a command for searching memory, a la adb. It specifies size, -mask, value, start address. ADB searches until it finds it or hits -an error (or is interrupted). - -# Local Variables: -# mode: text -# End: |