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Re: [eliz@is.elta.co.il: GDB: fine print in 387 info]




> > What exactly is the additional information you want "info float" to
> > show that "info all-registers" cannot show?
> 
> My understanding is that "info all-registers" is the way to display
> the registers whose values the user can change.  Therefore, it _must_
> show all the registers using *exactly* the names and the format that
> users needs to work with when they change the register's value.
> 
> For example, since the FP registers are called st0, st1, etc., "info
> all-registers" *must* use those names.  As another example, the
> register that Bill called "fcs" includes, in addition to the code
> selector, the last 11 bits of the opcode.  "info all-registers" must
> present that register exactly as stored, because that's what the user
> would have to use to change its value.
> 
> In contrast, "info float" is free from this limitation, and can
> therefore present the information in more user-friendly fashion
> without bothering about the original format of the data inside the
> registers.
> 
> > "info float" is an opportunity to provide information that "info
> > all-registers" cannot, but since the latter is allowed to print out
> > nice human-readable versions of flags, etc. to the right of the raw
> > value, it can provide quite a bit of information.
> 
> The problem is the real estate available for display.  There are only
> so many rows and columns on any given screen, before you are forced to
> go to small fonts and/or multi-page displays.  "info all-registers"
> already takes up more than a screenful on many displays.

Okay, I understand now.  Let's get the common register format
straightened out, and then someone can put together patches to make
info float work better.

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