Re: DW_AT_base_types

[brender at gemevn dot zko dot dec dot com (Ron 603-884-2088)]

>I don't know of any implementation which uses DW_AT_base_types.  It was
>proposed to solve a problem which, it appears, no one really finds all
>that pressing.  This makes discussion of what and how it really works or
>should work a bit vague.

What problem is it supposed to solve? The only one I can imagine (so far)
is trying to save space by avoiding the repetition of the same set of
basic types in every compilation unit for a given language. (Sorta like a
poor man's COMDAT mechanism? :-) For languages without user-defined basic
types (FORTRAN, COBOL, C?) that might be possible...

At one point I thought it might be an attempt to model the implicit outer
environment that "contains" a compilation, as in package SYSTEM in Ada (and
perhaps Pascal?). But then the specificity to *basic types* rather than all
types, indeed all declarations, is a mistake -- so that doesn't fit.

Maybe the reason it has never been used is that no one -- not even us --
can think of anything that it is good for?

Still quite puzzled,
Ron

p.s. Anyone feel comfortable making a proposal to can it?