binutils-gdb/gdb/doc/gdbint.texinfo

\input texinfo
@setfilename gdb-internals
@ifinfo
This file documents the internals of the GNU debugger GDB.

Copyright (C) 1990, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Contributed by Cygnus Support.  Written by John Gilmore.

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
are preserved on all copies.

@ignore
Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
(this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).

@end ignore
Permission is granted to copy or distribute modified versions of this
manual under the terms of the GPL (for which purpose this text may be
regarded as a program in the language TeX).
@end ifinfo

@setchapternewpage odd
@settitle GDB Internals
@titlepage
@title{Working in GDB}
@subtitle{A guide to the internals of the GNU debugger}
@author John Gilmore
@author Cygnus Support
@page
@tex
\def\$#1${{#1}}  % Kluge: collect RCS revision info without $...$
\xdef\manvers{\$Revision$}  % For use in headers, footers too
{\parskip=0pt
\hfill Cygnus Support\par
\hfill \manvers\par
\hfill \TeX{}info \texinfoversion\par
}
@end tex

@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
Copyright @copyright{} 1990, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
are preserved on all copies.

@end titlepage

@node Top, Cleanups, (dir), (dir)

@menu
* Cleanups::			Cleanups
* Wrapping::			Wrapping output lines
* Releases::			Configuring GDB for release
* README::			The README file
* New Architectures::		Defining a new host or target architecture
* Host versus Target::		What features are in which files
* Symbol Reading::		Defining new symbol readers

@end menu

@node Cleanups, Wrapping, Top, Top
@chapter Cleanups

Cleanups are a structured way to deal with things that need to be done
later.  When your code does something (like malloc some memory, or open
a file) that needs to be undone later (e.g. free the memory or close
the file), it can make a cleanup.  The cleanup will be done at some
future point:  when the command is finished, when an error occurs, or
when your code decides it's time to do cleanups.

You can also discard cleanups, that is, throw them away without doing
what they say.  This is only done if you ask that it be done.

Syntax:

@table @code
@item old_chain = make_cleanup (function, arg);
This makes a cleanup which will cause FUNCTION to be called with ARG
(a char *) later.  The result, OLD_CHAIN, is a handle that can be
passed to do_cleanups or discard_cleanups later.  Unless you are
going to call do_cleanups or discard_cleanups yourself,
you can ignore the result from make_cleanup.


@item do_cleanups (old_chain);
Performs all cleanups done since make_cleanup returned OLD_CHAIN.
E.g.:   make_cleanup (a, 0); old = make_cleanup (b, 0); do_cleanups (old);
will call b() but will not call a().  The cleanup that calls a() will remain
in the cleanup chain, and will be done later unless otherwise discarded.

@item discard_cleanups (old_chain);
Same as do_cleanups except that it just removes the cleanups from the
chain and does not call the specified functions.

@end table

Some functions, e.g. @code{fputs_filtered()} or @code{error()}, specify that they
``should not be called when cleanups are not in place''.  This means
that any actions you need to reverse in the case of an error or
interruption must be on the cleanup chain before you call these functions,
since they might never return to your code (they @samp{longjmp} instead).


@node Wrapping, Releases, Cleanups, Top
@chapter Wrapping output lines

Output that goes through printf_filtered or fputs_filtered or
fputs_demangled needs only to have calls to wrap_here() added 
in places that would be good breaking points.  The utility routines
will take care of actually wrapping if the line width is exceeded.

The argument to wrap_here() is an indentation string which is printed
ONLY if the line breaks there.  This argument is saved away and used
later.  It must remain valid until the next call to wrap_here() or
until a newline has been printed through the *_filtered functions.
Don't pass in a local variable and then return!

It is usually best to call wrap_here() after printing a comma or space.
If you call it before printing a space, make sure that your indentation
properly accounts for the leading space that will print if the line wraps
there.

Any function or set of functions that produce filtered output must finish
by printing a newline, to flush the wrap buffer, before switching to
unfiltered ("printf") output.  Symbol reading routines that print
warnings are a good example.


@node Releases, README, Wrapping, Top
@chapter Configuring GDB for release


GDB should be released after doing @samp{./configure none} in the top level
directory.  This will leave a makefile there, but no tm- or xm- files.
The makefile is needed, for example, for @samp{make gdb.tar.Z}@dots{}  If you
have tm- or xm-files in the main source directory, C's include rules
cause them to be used in preference to tm- and xm-files in the 
subdirectories where the user will actually configure and build the
binaries.

@samp{./configure none} is also a good way to rebuild the top level Makefile
after changing Makefile.in, alldeps.mak, etc.

@emph{TEMPORARY RELEASE PROCEDURE FOR DOCUMENTATION}
@file{gdb.texinfo} is currently marked up using the texinfo-2 macros,
which are not yet a default for anything (but we have to start using
them sometime).  

For making paper, the only thing this implies is the right generation of
texinfo.tex needs to be included in the distribution.

For making info files, however, rather than duplicating the texinfo2
distribution, generate gdb.texinfo locally, and include the files
gdb.info* in the distribution.  Note the plural; 
@samp{M-x texinfo-format-buffer} will split the document into one overall file
and five or so include files.

@node README, New Architectures, Releases, Top
@chapter The README file


Check the README file, it often has useful information that does not
appear anywhere else in the directory.



@node New Architectures, Host versus Target, README, Top
@chapter Defining a new host or target architecture


When building support for a new host and/or target, this will help you
organize where to put the various parts.  @var{ARCH} stands for the
architecture involved.

Object files needed when the host system is an @var{ARCH} are listed in
the file @file{xconfig/@var{ARCH}}, in the Makefile macro @samp{XDEPFILES
= }@dots{}.  You can also define XXXXXX in there.

There are some ``generic'' versions of routines that can be used by
various host systems.  If these routines work for the @var{ARCH} host,
you can just include the generic file's name (with .o, not .c) in
@code{XDEPFILES}.  Otherwise, you will need to write routines that
perform the same functions as the generic file, put them into
@code{@var{ARCH}-xdep.c}, and put @code{@var{ARCH}-xdep.o} into
@code{XDEPFILES}.  These generic host support files include:

@example
	coredep.c, coredep.o
@end example

@table @code
@item fetch_core_registers()
Support for reading registers out of a core file.  This routine calls
@code{register_addr(}), see below.

@item register_addr()
If your @code{xm-@var{ARCH}.h} file defines the macro @code{REGISTER_U_ADDR(reg)} to be the
offset within the @samp{user} struct of a register (represented as a GDB
register number), @file{coredep.c} will define the @code{register_addr()} function
and use the macro in it.  If you do not define @code{REGISTER_U_ADDR}, but
you are using the standard @code{fetch_core_registers}, you
will need to define your own version of @code{register_addr}, put it into
your @code{@var{ARCH}-xdep.c} file, and be sure @code{@var{ARCH}-xdep.o} is in the @code{XDEPFILES} list.
If you have your own @code{fetch_core_registers}, you only need to define
@code{register_addr} if your @code{fetch_core_registers} calls it.  Many custom
@code{fetch_core_registers} implementations simply locate the registers
themselves.
@end table

Files needed when the target system is an @var{ARCH} are listed in the file
@file{tconfig/@var{ARCH}}, in the @code{Makefile} macro @samp{TDEPFILES = }@dots{}.  You can also
define XXXXXX in there.

Similar generic support files for target systems are:

@example
	exec.c, exec.o:
@end example

This file defines functions for accessing files that are executable
on the target system.  These functions open and examine an exec file,
extract data from one, write data to one, print information about one,
etc.  Now that executable files are handled with BFD, every architecture
should be able to use the generic exec.c rather than its own custom code.

@node Host versus Target, Symbol Reading, New Architectures, Top
@chapter What is considered ``host-dependent'' versus ``target-dependent''?

The xconfig/*, xm-*.h and *-xdep.c files are for host support.  The
question is, what features or aspects of a debugging or cross-debugging
environment are considered to be ``host'' support.

Defines and include files needed to build on the host are host support.
Examples are tty support, system defined types, host byte order, host
float format.

Unix child process support is considered an aspect of the host.  Since
when you fork on the host you are still on the host, the various macros
needed for finding the registers in the upage, running ptrace, and such
are all in the host-dependent files.

This is still somewhat of a grey area; I (John Gilmore) didn't do the
xm- and tm- split for gdb (it was done by Jim Kingdon) so I have had to
figure out the grounds on which it was split, and make my own choices
as I evolve it.  I have moved many things out of the xdep files
actually, partly as a result of BFD and partly by removing duplicated
code.


@node Symbol Reading, , Host Versus Target, Top
@chapter Symbol Reading

GDB reads symbols from "symbol files".  The usual symbol file is the
file containing the program which gdb is debugging.  GDB can be directed
to use a different file for symbols (with the ``symbol-file''
command), and it can also read more symbols via the ``add-file'' and ``load''
commands, or while reading symbols from shared libraries.

Symbol files are initially opened by @file{symfile.c} using the BFD
library.  BFD identifies the type of the file by examining its header.
@code{symfile_init} then uses this identification to locate a
set of symbol-reading functions.

Symbol reading modules identify themselves to GDB by calling
@code{add_symtab_fns} during their module initialization.  The argument
to @code{add_symtab_fns} is a @code{struct sym_fns} which contains
the name (or name prefix) of the symbol format, the length of the prefix,
and pointers to four functions.  These functions are called at various
times to process symbol-files whose identification matches the specified
prefix.

The functions supplied by each module are:

@table @code
@item XXX_symfile_init(struct sym_fns *sf)

Called from @code{symbol_file_add} when we are about to read a new
symbol file.  This function should clean up any internal state
(possibly resulting from half-read previous files, for example)
and prepare to read a new symbol file. Note that the symbol file
which we are reading might be a new "main" symbol file, or might
be a secondary symbol file whose symbols are being added to the
existing symbol table.

The argument to @code{XXX_symfile_init} is a newly allocated
@code{struct sym_fns} whose @code{bfd} field contains the BFD
for the new symbol file being read.  Its @code{private} field
has been zeroed, and can be modified as desired.  Typically,
a struct of private information will be @code{malloc}'d, and
a pointer to it will be placed in the @code{private} field.

There is no result from @code{XXX_symfile_init}, but it can call
@code{error} if it detects an unavoidable problem.

@item XXX_new_init()

Called from @code{symbol_file_add} when discarding existing symbols.
This function need only handle 
the symbol-reading module's internal state; the symbol table data
structures visible to the rest of GDB will be discarded by
@code{symbol_file_add}.  It has no arguments and no result.
It may be called after @code{XXX_symfile_init}, if a new symbol
table is being read, or may be called alone if all symbols are
simply being discarded.

@item XXX_symfile_read(struct sym_fns *sf, CORE_ADDR addr, int mainline)

Called from @code{symbol_file_add} to actually read the symbols from a
symbol-file into a set of psymtabs or symtabs.

@code{sf} points to the struct sym_fns originally passed to @code{XXX_sym_init} for possible initialization.  
@code{addr} is the offset between the file's specified start address and
its true address in memory.  @code{mainline} is 1 if this is the
main symbol table being read, and 0 if a secondary
symbol file (e.g. shared library or dynamically loaded file)
is being read.

@end table

In addition, if a symbol-reading module creates psymtabs when
XXX_symfile_read is called, these psymtabs will contain a pointer to
a function @code{XXX_psymtab_to_symtab}, which can be called from
any point in the GDB symbol-handling code.

@table @code
@item XXX_psymtab_to_symtab (struct partial_symtab *pst)

Called from @code{psymtab_to_symtab} (or the PSYMTAB_TO_SYMTAB
macro) if the psymtab has not already been read in and had its
@code{pst->symtab} pointer set.  The argument is the psymtab
to be fleshed-out into a symtab.  Upon return, pst->readin
should have been set to 1, and pst->symtab should contain a
pointer to the new corresponding symtab, or zero if there
were no symbols in that part of the symbol file.
@end table

@contents
@bye