Calling -enable-pretty-printing without modifying the GUI frontend

Calling -enable-pretty-printing without modifying the GUI frontend

[Noam Yorav-Raphael]

Hello,

This applies to the archer-tromey-python branch - I don't know if it
applies to other branches.

A command -enable-pretty-printing was added, for
backward-compatibility reasons, which is needed to let MI commands be
affected by pretty-printers.

My question is whether there's a way to automatically enable pretty
printing without the frontend calling the command - for example, it
would be nice if I could add it to the gdbinit file. I have to work
with a not very new version of kdevelop as a gdb frontend, and
recompiling it is not an option. I would prefer not to use a special
branch of gdb which has pretty printers enabled by default.

Is it possible?

Thanks,
Noam

Re: Calling -enable-pretty-printing without modifying the GUI frontend

[Pedro Alves]

On Thursday 03 September 2009 22:16:39, Noam Yorav-Raphael wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> This applies to the archer-tromey-python branch - I don't know if it
> applies to other branches.
> 
> A command -enable-pretty-printing was added, for
> backward-compatibility reasons, which is needed to let MI commands be
> affected by pretty-printers.
> 
> My question is whether there's a way to automatically enable pretty
> printing without the frontend calling the command - for example, it
> would be nice if I could add it to the gdbinit file. I have to work
> with a not very new version of kdevelop as a gdb frontend, and
> recompiling it is not an option. I would prefer not to use a special
> branch of gdb which has pretty printers enabled by default.
> 
> Is it possible?

Maybe 'interpreter-exec mi -enable-pretty-printing'.

-- 
Pedro Alves

Re: Calling -enable-pretty-printing without modifying the GUI frontend

[Tom Tromey]

>>>>> "Noam" == Noam Yorav-Raphael <noamraph@gmail.com> writes:

Noam> My question is whether there's a way to automatically enable pretty
Noam> printing without the frontend calling the command - for example, it
Noam> would be nice if I could add it to the gdbinit file. I have to work
Noam> with a not very new version of kdevelop as a gdb frontend, and
Noam> recompiling it is not an option. I would prefer not to use a special
Noam> branch of gdb which has pretty printers enabled by default.

Noam> Is it possible?

The reason we added an explicit command is that older clients may not
function properly with pretty-printing.

For example, if you try to pretty-print an uninitialized object, you
might get a very large number of children, causing your debug session to
lock up or crash.

So, even if it is possible, I would recommend against it.

Tom

Re: Calling -enable-pretty-printing without modifying the GUI frontend

[Noam Yorav-Raphael]

Thanks! It's just what I need.

2009/9/4 Pedro Alves <pedro@codesourcery.com>:
> On Thursday 03 September 2009 22:16:39, Noam Yorav-Raphael wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> This applies to the archer-tromey-python branch - I don't know if it
>> applies to other branches.
>>
>> A command -enable-pretty-printing was added, for
>> backward-compatibility reasons, which is needed to let MI commands be
>> affected by pretty-printers.
>>
>> My question is whether there's a way to automatically enable pretty
>> printing without the frontend calling the command - for example, it
>> would be nice if I could add it to the gdbinit file. I have to work
>> with a not very new version of kdevelop as a gdb frontend, and
>> recompiling it is not an option. I would prefer not to use a special
>> branch of gdb which has pretty printers enabled by default.
>>
>> Is it possible?
>
> Maybe 'interpreter-exec mi -enable-pretty-printing'.
>
> --
> Pedro Alves
>

Re: Calling -enable-pretty-printing without modifying the GUI frontend

[Noam Yorav-Raphael]

Thanks for the warning. I think that in my case it will be ok - I'm
only adding my own pretty-printers, which have a constant number of
fields. (I've seen them pretty-printed uninitialized in the GUI, and
it looks ok.)

2009/9/4 Tom Tromey <tromey@redhat.com>:
>>>>>> "Noam" == Noam Yorav-Raphael <noamraph@gmail.com> writes:
>
> Noam> My question is whether there's a way to automatically enable pretty
> Noam> printing without the frontend calling the command - for example, it
> Noam> would be nice if I could add it to the gdbinit file. I have to work
> Noam> with a not very new version of kdevelop as a gdb frontend, and
> Noam> recompiling it is not an option. I would prefer not to use a special
> Noam> branch of gdb which has pretty printers enabled by default.
>
> Noam> Is it possible?
>
> The reason we added an explicit command is that older clients may not
> function properly with pretty-printing.
>
> For example, if you try to pretty-print an uninitialized object, you
> might get a very large number of children, causing your debug session to
> lock up or crash.
>
> So, even if it is possible, I would recommend against it.
>
> Tom
>