Re: Moving Linux-specific stuff out of i386-tdep.c

[Stan Shebs <shebs at apple dot com>]

Chris Faylor wrote:

> I don't know about the 14 character limit, but I do note that we've
> already violated this rule at least once in the gdb directory.  A
> truncated i386-linux-nat file is not apt to be a problem on a 14
> character OS.

As I recall, the problem with old systems is that programs like tar
would blow up just unpacking an archive, even if the files with long
names weren't used with that machine.  But as I mentioned before,
we've had >14-char filenames in the past couple releases of GDB,
and I've not seen a single report of a problem resulting from that.

So the way seems clear to changing the rule.  I'll be upfront; I
personally find lengthy filenames to be a pain to work with.  I think
they impose lots of little overheads on one's daily work, and the
longer name is still no substitute for putting real documentation in
the file about what it is really supposed to do.  That said, I realize
that this sort of thing is a matter of personal taste, and we should
adopt whatever rule is most helpful for the majority of developers.

Stan