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Re: Gdb
> Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 23:38:49 +1000
> From: Russell Shaw <rjshaw@netspace.net.au>
> CC: gdb@sourceware.org
>
> There are places with long sequences of:
>
> if() {
> ...
> }
>
> if() {
> ...
> }
>
> if() {
> ...
> }
>
> Instead of something more rigorous like:
>
> if() {
> ...
> }
> else if {
> ...
These two are not the same. If you can show us places where the
conditions are disjoint, i.e. they cannot happen together, please do.
> When a "run" resets a simple breakpoint, the stack depth is no less
> than 35 levels.
That is not necessarily a sign of bad design. For example, when Emacs
does garbage collection, the stack depth sometimes exceeds 10,000
levels when recursive data structures are marked. That is normal and
by design.
> It also invokes a tortuous 10-level trip thru various
> "memory set" functions until it eventually reaches target_xfer_partial or whatever,
> intermingled with re-reading symbol files, re-syncing dynamic libraries, and
> resetting breakpoints.
This multi-level trip is mostly for valid reasons.
> It's undoable by anyone not intimately familiar with the code which means
> weeks of prodding with a second gdb.
That is a wild exaggeration, IMO. When I first came to hack GDB to
submit a patch, it was no harder than in any other real-life program.
Perhaps you lack good tools for learning programs, or don't use them
to their full power.