[RFA/commit/dwarf] Create partial symbols for nested subprograms

[Tom Tromey]

>>>>> "Daniel" == Daniel Jacobowitz <drow@false.org> writes:

Joel> . To measure the startup time, I used the --statistics command-line
Joel> switch.

Daniel> I usually use 'gdb -batch foo.exe' to time reading partial
Daniel> symbols

FWIW -- me too.

Joel> It looks like roughly a 4% increase in startup time. Not sure whether
Joel> that's considered a large increase or not - I just think that it's not
Joel> noticeable. None of our users have reported issues with startup time.

How much memory do you have on your machine?  Are you using a 32- or
64-bit machine?  And how many objfiles are made with this test
program?

I am just curious to know what differs between my tests and yours.  In
my case, I start the system OpenOffice writer and then attach to it.
I have all the debuginfo packages installed.  I'm using x86, and on
this machine with that test, gdb takes 256569344 bytes (measured by
maint space 1) and it takes about 1:00 elapsed time to start up.  I
think there are 262 objfiles created, half of them for separate
debuginfo (this is from memory, I could be off by a little).

Daniel> Your users must be more patient than mine or Tom's :-)  I consider
Daniel> startup time to be pretty important, and I've been working on bringing
Daniel> it down... Tom's been working on an even more drastic version.

FWIW I don't think Joel's patch will negatively affect my current
approach.

Tom