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Re: [PATCH 0/2] Demangler crash handler
- From: Gary Benson <gbenson at redhat dot com>
- To: Joel Brobecker <brobecker at adacore dot com>
- Cc: Tom Tromey <tromey at redhat dot com>, Stan Shebs <stanshebs at earthlink dot net>, gdb-patches at sourceware dot org, Florian Weimer <fw at deneb dot enyo dot de>, Mark Kettenis <mark dot kettenis at xs4all dot nl>, Pedro Alves <palves at redhat dot com>
- Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 13:56:17 +0100
- Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/2] Demangler crash handler
- Authentication-results: sourceware.org; auth=none
- References: <20140509100656 dot GA4760 at blade dot nx> <201405091120 dot s49BKO1f010622 at glazunov dot sibelius dot xs4all dot nl> <87fvkhjqvs dot fsf at mid dot deneb dot enyo dot de> <53737737 dot 2030901 at redhat dot com> <87ppj8s7my dot fsf at fleche dot redhat dot com> <537BA194 dot 904 at earthlink dot net> <87tx8kqm3o dot fsf at fleche dot redhat dot com> <20140520202311 dot GK22822 at adacore dot com>
Joel Brobecker wrote:
> Tom Tromey wrote:
> > I realize there is an attractive quality to the "suffering is
> > good for us" idea. It appeals to my inner spartan. However,
> > I disagree very strongly with this.
>
> Having been on the receiving end of this kind of logic, I agree
> with Tom - quite strongly too, in fact. As a user, I do not want
> to be held hostage, especially when there is no workaround. If
> the proposed solution brings no noticeable harm for our users
> in the situation where things are working as expected, I think
> we should consider it. And to help mitigating the fears that
> we would be hiding bugs, we can perhaps find a middle-ground;
> for instance, making sure that we print a really verbose error
> message.
I'm definitely not trying to hide bugs; if anything I'm trying to
make them more reportable. FWIW users would see this:
(gdb) set lang c++
(gdb) maint demangle _Z1-Av23*;cG~Wo2Vu
/home/gary/work/archer/demangle-crashcatcher/src/gdb/cp-support.c:1590:
internal-warning: unable to demangle '_Z1-Av23*;cG~Wo2Vu' (demangler
failed with signal 11)
A problem internal to GDB has been detected,
further debugging may prove unreliable.
Quit this debugging session? (y or n)
A separate patch [1] I've posted augments this with the lines:
This is a bug, please report it. For instructions, see:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>.
The point is to make it easier for users to file straightforward bug
reports *with reproducers* rather than the opaque "GDB crashed at
startup" bugs we've been getting at the moment that people (by which
I mean Keith) have had to spend time triaging. And, at the same time,
for the user to have the option to attempt to continue using GDB to
debug their program. I realise that people may feel that the user
*should* then fix GDB, but not everyone has the time or the ability
or the inclination. I don't want the workaround for this to become
"try LLDB".
Cheers,
Gary
--
[1] https://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2014-05/msg00198.html