Re: [PATCH 01/19] include: new header ctf.h: file format description

[Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>]

Hi Nick.

 Some random thoughts as I read through this patch...

> +/* CTF format description.
> +   Copyright (C) 2004-2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Copyright starting from 2004, really ?


> +/* CTF - Compact ANSI-C Type Format

ANSI-C ?  Isn't everyone using ISO-C these days ?

Also - does this format explicitly exclude other languages like C++ or Go or Rust ?


> +   operating system kernel in a form that is significantly more compact than
> +   the equivalent stabs or DWARF representation. 

Out of curiosity, do you have any data on how much better CTF is than say, DWARF ?




> +   CTF assumes that a standard ELF symbol table is
> +   available for use in the debugger,

In my experience many executables are stripped of their symbol tables.  (The
symbol tables are stored in the separate debug information file associated
with the executable, but often these are not installed by the users.  Plus if
they are installed, then what benefit would CTF provide ?)  

So will CTF work if the symbol table is missing ?


> +   header itself.  If the CTF data has been uniquified against another set of

Is "uniquified" really a word ? :-)

> +#define CTF_VERSION_3 4
> +#define CTF_VERSION CTF_VERSION_3 /* Current version.  */

Hang on - so the value of CTF_VERSION_3 is 4 ?  Does this mean that the
full version number is 3.4, or 4.0 or just 4 ?  I am a bit confused...

 
OK, I am going to stop here as my brain is starting to hurt.  I will resume
looking at the patches tomorrow.

Cheers
  Nick