mirror of
https://github.com/bminor/binutils-gdb.git
synced 2026-02-05 07:31:30 +00:00
1837ca7053
This patch removes support for reading in the COFF debug info.
I am not a specialist of the COFF format, but my understanding is that
debug info in the COFF format consisted of extra symbol table entries
describing the standard symbol table entries. For instance, when
compiling without debug info, a function would get a simple symbol
entry, akin to an ELF symbol. We would create a minimal symbol out of
that. When compiling with debug info, that symbol table entry would be
followed by special additional entries, describing things like
parameters and local variables (what would now be in DWARF). We would
create some full symbols out of that.
This patch removes everything that reads this extra information, on the
basis that any target still used today would not use it anymore, having
switched to DWARF instead. We still read the standard symbol table
entries and create minimal symbols out of that. This can be seen when
loading a Windows executable (the only COFF executable kind I know how
to produce):
$ ./gdb -nx -q --data-directory=data-directory -ex "set debug symtab-create 2" -ex "file a.exe"
...
[symtab-create] record_full: recording minsym: mst_file_bss 0x140008018 6 argv
[symtab-create] record_full: recording minsym: mst_file_bss 0x140008008 6 managedapp
[symtab-create] record_full: recording minsym: mst_text 0x1400013e0 0 WinMainCRTStartup
[symtab-create] record_full: recording minsym: mst_text 0x140001400 0 mainCRTStartup
[symtab-create] record_full: recording minsym: mst_text 0x140001420 0 atexit
[symtab-create] record_full: recording minsym: mst_file_data 0x140005000 3 __EH_FRAME_BEGIN__
[symtab-create] record_full: recording minsym: mst_file_bss 0x140008060 6 obj
...
[symtab-create] install: installing 299 minimal symbols of objfile /home/smarchi/src/binutils-gdb/gdb/a.exe
I did not and can't easily test more than that. At least, the remaining
code is understandable enough that I think we would be able to fix any
bug that comes up.
This change should not alter the debugging experience on Windows.
For more info on the COFF symbol table format:
https://www.delorie.com/djgpp/doc/coff/symtab.html
Change-Id: I83220589b8e5b242a4ac42a842e504a4aa47aada
Approved-By: Tom Tromey <tom@tromey.com>
README for GNU development tools This directory contains various GNU compilers, assemblers, linkers, debuggers, etc., plus their support routines, definitions, and documentation. If you are receiving this as part of a GDB release, see the file gdb/README. If with a binutils release, see binutils/README, and so on. That'll give you info about this package -- supported targets, how to use it, how to report bugs, etc. It is now possible to automatically configure and build a variety of tools with one command. To build all of the tools contained herein, run the ``configure'' script here, e.g.: ./configure make To install them (by default in /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, etc), then do: make install (If the configure script can't determine your type of computer, give it the name as an argument, for instance ``./configure sun4''. You can use the script ``config.sub'' to test whether a name is recognized; if it is, config.sub translates it to a triplet specifying CPU, vendor, and OS.) If you have more than one compiler on your system, it is often best to explicitly set CC in the environment before running configure, and to also set CC when running make. For example (assuming sh/bash/ksh): CC=gcc ./configure make A similar example using csh: setenv CC gcc ./configure make Much of the code and documentation enclosed is copyright by the Free Software Foundation, Inc. See the file COPYING or COPYING.LIB in the various directories, for a description of the GNU General Public License terms under which you can copy the files. REPORTING BUGS: Again, see gdb/README, binutils/README, etc., for info on where and how to report problems.