Porting GDB - Where to start?

[Andrew Cagney]

>>> It's an ELF port, but xstormy16 is still probably your best bet.
> 
>>
>>Yes.
>>
>>(GDB ports are object file netural.  Handling elf, xcoff, coff, ... is a
>>bfd problem and as long as BFD can handle it, so can GDB. The only
>>potential got-ya is the debug info, use GCC and you should be safe >there.)
> 
> 
> Ok then :-)
> 
> A couple of questions:
> 
> 1. Why is xstormy16 the best place to start?.

Being fairly new, and for a relatively straightforward architecture, it 
doesn't come with much baggage.  It's roughly 1000 lines long, while the 
MIPS is a wopping 6000 lines!

> 2. Since I can't use GCC to make target specific code for a C55x I must use 
> CCS (Code Composer Studio) from TI. What could a "got-ya" be?.

There is a good chance that after you've kind of got the target `mostly' 
working, you will spend time debugging problems in the symtab code. 
This is because, when it comes to debug info, no two compilers are 
alike.   Consequently, is a very good chance that GDB won't properly 
handle the debug info being output by this compiler.

Anyway, a first step is to find out what the debug info is and if GDB 
has any support for it at all ....  One way is to compile a simple 
program using `-g -S' and then look at the assembler that is created. 
If it contains ``.stabn'' lines its stabs, if it contains ``.debug_...'' 
symbols it's dwarf2 (or dwarf1?).  Beyond that, you may want to post the 
contents here.

(btw, anyone got an easier way of identifying the debug info?)

Andrew