RFC: gdb/targets

[Andrew Cagney]

Fernando Nasser wrote:
> 
> It is annoying to work with the gdb directory with the number of files
> that it has today.  Andrew said that, in the future, we will have a
> series of subdirectories.
> 
> While this does not occur, I was looking for some immediate relief and I
> noticed that we have a class with a good number of files with clear
> separation that we could separate right now.

Can I suggest leaving this until after 5.1 as part of a proper
restructuring.  If nothing else it is going to be easier since, at that
point, a heap of code will simply be deleted.

> As you know, GDB has a core part of the code that talks to several
> "targets" that implement operations of the "target vector".  I propose
> that we move these files (I volunteer) to a gdb/targets subdirectory
> (please see the list of files below).

> My only doubt is where we should keep the target.c file itself, or even
> the target.h file (which defines the target vector proper).  Should they
> go in the subdirectory or stay at the top level GDB directory?

In a way, moving these these files at this point is a bit like
re-aranging the deck chairs on the titanic.  The current target vector
has some serious design limitations.  I'd really rather see effort being
put into fixing the fundamental design.

Imagine a young child with access to: a loaf of bread, a knife, random
spreads (vegemite, peanut paste, fritz and even ``jelly''), and finally
your favorite book.  You can be 99% certain that the child will first:
build a tidy stack of sandwiches; and second: carefully position that
stack on the, floor put your book on top of it, and then sit on it ...

That flattened mess, that was once a stack, is what GDB's target vector
ends up looking like :-)

	Andrew