[RFC] named thread support

[Michael Snyder]

Daniel Jacobowitz <drow at false dot org> wrote:
>On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 12:40:22PM -0400, Kris Warkentin wrote:
>> Would it be of interest to have a generic 'set threadname <tid> <name>'
>> that called a target_set_threadname()?  I ask because we're implementing
>> named threads in our kernel but I don't know if many other systems
>> support this.  I can always add it to our backend but if someone else
>> might use it in the future, I can make it general.
>
> So by named thread support, you mean that the application can register
> the name of the thread with the kernel?  And you want GDB to be able to
> set thread names?
>
> I recommend doing this in your backend, since I don't know any other
> gdb-supported system with a similar feature.

On the other hand, this is not the first time I have heard
the idea put forth.  Evidently at least some people want
to be able to associate a name with a thread.

For the sake of discussion, what about this?  Split it into
a generic part and a target-specific part.

1) The generic part would be to add a name field to gdb's
thread struct, with appropriate UI for manipulating and
displaying it.  The "thread" and "thread apply" commands
would be enhanced to accept a name as well as a number.

2) Target-specific part -- sends the gdb-selected names
to the target, accepts target-selected names from the target
and adds them to gdb thread database.

Part 1 could be used by everybody, independently of
whether their target implements part 2.

Michael