[EXT] Re: Slow "symbol-file" when using GDB 12.1 on Windows hosts

[Pedro Alves]

On 2023-04-04 3:07 p.m., Adrian Oltean wrote:
> GDB 12:
> (gdb) show version
> GNU gdb (Arm GNU Toolchain 12.2.Rel1 (Build arm-12.24)) 12.1.90.20221210-git
> (gdb) show configuration
> This GDB was configured as follows:
...
>              --with-separate-debug-dir=//lib/debug (relocatable)
                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^
> 

There you go, it's right there.

> GDB 10:
> (gdb) show version
> GNU gdb (GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain 10.3-2021.10) 10.2.90.20210621-git
> (gdb) show configuration
> This GDB was configured as follows:
...
>              --with-separate-debug-dir=/mnt/workspace/workspace/GCC-10-pipeline/jenkins-GCC-10-pipeline-338_20211018_1634516203/install-mingw/lib/debug (relocatable)
...

> Is the described behavior specific to the Windows image I have? Maybe... I don't know...

Looks like your GDB 12 was configured to look into that network path for separate debug files.

> But it's a fact that the default 'debug-file-directory' that's configured in GDB 12 introduces some
> unwanted side effects for me. If I 'set debug-file-directory' before issuing a 'symbol-file',
> everything's fine.

The next question would be whether "--with-separate-debug-dir=//lib/debug" would be the default
on Windows GDB 12 for some reason, of whether it was explicitly specified in that build.  I would
hazard a guess that it's the latter, but you never know.