Johns release

gdb/TODO

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+
+	gdb bug list
+	John Gilmore, gnu@cygnus.com
+
+This bug list is probably not up to date or accurate, but it reflects
+some known bugs in gdb, if you are into bug-hunting.
+
+
+Update the TODO list with all the lists of gdb bugs lying around on paper.
+
+"share" command should not need to be manually run.  It should be run
+as soon as possible, automatically, both on "run" and on core files.
+
+It should be possible to use symbols from shared libraries before we know
+exactly where the libraries will be loaded.  E.g. "b perror" before running
+the program.  This could maybe be done as an extension of the "breakpoint
+re-evaluation" after new symbols are loaded.
+
+Make single_step() insert and remove breakpoints in one operation.
+
+Speed up single stepping by avoiding extraneous ptrace calls.
+
+Speed up single stepping by not inserting and removing breakpoints
+each time the inferior starts and stops.
+
+Speed up watchpoints by not single-stepping them, but do something
+faster like single-line execution.
+
+Update gdb.texinfo to include doc on the directory structure and 
+the various tricks of building gdb.
+
+Do a tutorial in gdb.texinfo on how to do simple things in gdb.
+E.g. how to set a breakpoint that just prints something and continues.
+How to break on aborts.  Etc.
+
+Do a "new features" section for release 4.
+
+Provide "voodoo" debugging of core files.  This creates a zombie
+process as a child of the debugger, and loads it up with the data,
+stack, and regs of the core file.  This allows you to call functions
+in the executable, to manipulate the data in the core file.
+
+GDB reopens the source file on every line, as you "next" through it.
+
+Referencing the vtbl member of a struct doesn't work.  It prints OK
+if you print the struct, but it gets 0 if you try to deref it.
+
+Persistent command history: A feature where you could save off a list
+of the commands you did, so you can edit it into something that will bring
+the target to the same place every time you source it.  Sun wants it.
+This would also be useful for automated fast watchpointing; if you go
+past the place where it watchpoints, you just start it over again and
+do it more carefully.
+
+Deal with the Sun ptrace bug that loses the registers if the stack is
+paged out.
+
+Finish the C++ exception handling stub routines.  Lint points them out
+as unused statics functions.
+
+"i source" only shows you info about files that it can read.  When it
+can't read a file and complains, you can't see any info about it, like
+where it was compiled.  Perhaps "i source" should take an argument
+like that of "list".
+
+See if coredep.c's fetch_core_registers can be used on more machines.
+E.g. MIPS (mips-xdep.c).
+
+coredep.c is completely broken.  Needs work just to compile, it uses
+"u" and doesn't declare it, etc.
+
+unpack_double() does not handle IEEE float on the target unless the host
+is also IEEE.  Death on a vax.
+
+Test cross-debugging Unix-to-Unix.
+
+Check the RAPP remote protocol.  What is it?  It's in Makefile.dist
+and one ChangeLog entry.
+
+Set up interface between GDB and INFO so that you can hop into interactive
+INFO and back out again.  When running under Emacs, should use Emacs
+info, else fork the info program.  Installation of GDB should install
+its texinfo files into the info tree automagically, including the readline
+texinfo files..
+
+Improve backtrace output to avoid line wraps.  Prettify it.
+
+"help address" ought to find the "help set addressprint" entry.
+
+Remove the VTBL internal guts from printouts of C++ structs, unless
+vtblprint is set.
+
+Remove "at 0xnnnn" from the "b foo" response, if !addressprint and if
+it matches the source line indicated.
+
+The prompt at end of screen should accept space as well as CR.
+
+"List" should put you into a pseudo-"more" where you can hit space 
+to get more, forever to eof.
+
+Check STORE_RETURN_VALUE on all architectures.  Check near it in tm-sparc.h
+for other bogosities.
+
+Check for storage leaks in GDB, I'm sure there are a lot!
+
+vtblprint of a vtbl should demangle the names it's printing.
+
+Backtrace should point out what the currently selected frame is, in its
+display, perhaps showing ">3 foo (bar, ...)" rather than "#3 foo (bar, ...)".
+
+"i program" should work for core files, and display more info, like what
+actually caused it to die.
+
+Hitting ^Z to an inferior doesn't work right, it takes several continues
+to make it actually go.
+
+"i fun" doesn't show misc function vector symbols.
+
+"x/10i" should shorten the long name, if any, on subsequent lines.
+
+Check through the code for FIXME comments and fix them.  dbxread.c,
+blockframe.c, and plenty more.
+
+"next" over a function that longjumps, never stops until next time you happen
+to get to that spot by accident.  E.g. "n" over execute_command which has
+an error.
+
+Watchpoints seem not entirely reliable.
+
+"set zeroprint off", don't bother printing members of structs which are entirely
+zero.  Useful for those big structs with few useful members.
+
+GDB does four ioctl's for every command, probably switching terminal modes
+to/from inferior or for readline or something.
+
+terminal_ours versus terminal_inferior: cache state.  Switch should be a noop
+if the state is the same, too.
+
+ptype $i6 = void??!
+
+Clean up invalid_float handling so gdb doesn't coredump when it tries to
+access a NaN.  While this might work on SPARC, other machines are not
+configured right.
+
+"b value_at ; commands ; continue ; end" stops EVERY OTHER TIME!
+Then once you enter a command, it does the command, runs two more
+times, and then stops again!  Bizarre...  (This behaviour has been
+modified, but it is not yet 100% predictable when e.g. the commands
+call functions in the child, and while there, the child is interrupted
+with a signal, or hits a breakpoint.)
+
+Symbol completion with TAB does not unmangle names!
+
+help completion, help history should work.
+
+Symbol completion doesn't handle e.g. W::f.  (symtab.c,
+make_symbol_completion_list).
+
+AMD version: ^C should do ^Ak to stop ebmon.
+
+Check that we can handle stack trace through varargs AND alloca in same
+function, on 29K.
+
+wait_for_inferior loops forever if wait() gives it an error.
+
+"i frame" arg formatting sucks.  Should wrap lines.
+"bt" arg formatting needs the same treatment .
+
+"i frame" shows wrong "arglist at" location, doesn't show where the args
+should be found, only their actual values.
+
+Symbolic display of addrs, (& disassembly prefixes), don't show static
+fns, e.g. enable_command in gdb.
+
+'ptype yylval' ==> "union YYSTYPE { ..... }".  However, it is not a
+union YYSTYPE, but is simply a YYSTYPE, which is a typedef for an
+unnamed union.
+
+"show all" should work.
+
+There should be a way for "set" commands to validate the new setting
+before it takes effect.
+
+The "display" command should become the "always" command, e.g.
+	"always print XXX"
+	"always p/xxx XXX"
+	"always echo foo"
+	"always call XXX"
+	"always x/i $pc", etc.
+
+A mess of floating point opcodes are missing from sparc-opcode.h.
+Also, a little program should test the table for bits that are
+overspecified or underspecified.  E.g. if the must-be-ones bits
+and the must-be-zeroes bits leave some fields unexamined, and the format
+string leaves them unprinted, then point this out.  If multiple
+non-alias patterns match, point this out too.  Finally, there should
+be a sparc-optest.s file that tries each pattern out.  This file
+should end up coming back the same (modulo transformation comments) 
+if fed to "gas" then the .o is fed to gdb for disassembly.
+
+Merge the xxx-opcode.h files with gas again...
+
+Eliminate all the core_file_command's in all the xdep files.
+Eliminate separate declarations of registers[] everywhere.
+
+"ena d" is ambiguous, why?  "ena delete" seems to think it is a command!
+
+Line numbers are off in some spots.  In proceed() at 1st "oneproc = 1",
+it seems to run that statement, but it doesn't actually.
+
+Perhaps the tdep and xdep files, and the tm and xm files, into a config
+subdirectory.  If not, at least straighten out their names so that
+they all start with the machine name.
+
+inferior_status should include stop_print_frame.  It won't need to be
+reset in wait_for_inferior after bpstat_stop_status call, then.
+
+i line VAR produces "Line number not known for symbol ``var''.".  I
+thought we were stashing that info now!
+
+Make sure we can handle executables with no symbol info, e.g. /bin/csh.
+
+We should be able to write to executables that aren't running.
+
+We should be able to write to random files at hex offsets like adb.
+
+Tiemann:  It is very painful to look at fp registers that hold
+double precision values.  GDB is happy to show them to you as single
+precision, but you cannot look at them as doubles.  Perhaps casting
+should be changed to make this work; or maybe a new "set" option that
+sets the default fp precision to single, double, or quad.  This is not
+urgent, but would be nice to get into GDB 4.0.
+
+Make "target xxx" command interruptible.
+
+Handle add_file with separate text, data, and bss addresses.  Maybe
+handle separate addresses for each segment in the object file?
+
+Handle free_named_symtab to cope with multiply-loaded object files
+in a dynamic linking environment.  Should remember the last copy loaded,
+but not get too snowed if it finds references to the older copy.
+
+Implement have_memory, have_stack, have_registers, have_execution.
+Memory:  core, exec, child, vxworks even without child.
+stack:   core, child, vxworks with child
+registers:  core, child, vxworks with child
+execution:  child, vxworks with child.
+
+The original BFD core dump reading routine would itself coredump when fed
+a garbage file as a core file.  Does the current one?
+
+Breakpoints should not be inserted and deleted all the time.  Only the
+one(s) there should be removed when we have to step over one.  Support
+breakpoints that don't have to be removed to step over them.
+
+Stop reading stop_registers!
+
+Generalize and Standardize the RPC interface to a target program,
+improve it beyond the "ptrace" interface, and see if it can become a standard
+for remote debugging.  Is WRS interested in donating their target-end
+code?
+
+Remove all references to:
+	text_offset
+	data_offset
+	text_data_start
+	text_end
+	exec_data_offset
+	...
+now that we have BFD.  All remaining are in machine dependent files.
+
+When quitting with a running program, if a core file was previously
+examined, you get "Couldn't read float regs from core file"...if 
+indeed it can't.  generic_mourn_inferior...
+
+...
+
+Check signal argument to remote proceed's and error if set.
+
+Handle floating point registers in core files under BFD.  Currently
+they are punted.
+
+Sort help and info output.
+
+Re-organize help categories into things that tend to fit on a screen
+and hang together.
+
+When trying to print source lines but you can't find the file,
+print the file name and line number, and leave it selected anyway
+so "i source" will show it.
+
+renote-nindy.c handles interrupts poorly; it error()s out of badly
+chosen places, e.g. leaving current_frame zero, which causes core dumps
+on the next command.
+
+Add in commands like ADB's for searching for patterns, etc.  We should
+be able to examine and patch raw unsymboled binaries as well in gdb as
+we can in adb.  (E.g. increase the timeout in /bin/login without source).
+
+Those xdep files that call register_addr without defining it are
+probably simply broken.  When reconfiguring this part of gdb, I could
+only make guesses about how to redo some of those files, and I
+probably guessed wrong, or left them "for later" when I have a
+machine that can attempt to build them.
+
+Use the complain() mechanism for handling all the error() calls in dbxread.c,
+and in similar situations in coffread.c and mipsread.c.
+
+When doing "step" or "next", if a few lines of source are skipped between
+the previous line and the current one, print those lines, not just the
+last line of a multiline statement.
+
+When searching for C++ superclasses in value_cast in valops.c, we must
+not search the "fields", only the "superclasses".  There might be a
+struct with a field name that matches the superclass name.  This can
+happen when the struct was defined before the superclass (before the
+name became a typedef).
+
+For "float point[15];":
+ptype &point[4]   ==> Attempt to take address of non-lvalue.
+p     &point[4]   ==> Dereferences point[4] rather than giving you point+4.
+
+Fix symbol reading in the presence of interrupts.  It currently leaves a
+cleanup to blow away the entire symbol table when a QUIT occurs.
+