[Bug gdb/16360] New: Provide a --shortversion flag

[Bug gdb/16360] New: Provide a --shortversion flag

[marc.khouzam at ericsson dot com]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16360

            Bug ID: 16360
           Summary: Provide a --shortversion flag
           Product: gdb
           Version: 7.4
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P2
         Component: gdb
          Assignee: unassigned at sourceware dot org
          Reporter: marc.khouzam at ericsson dot com

Eclipse uses the GDB version to figure out what features are supported by GDB.

I keep running into parsing problems because the version printout is not
standard between different GDB builds.

I would be safer to have a --shortversion flag that would simply provide the
number part of the version.

For example

> gdb --shortversion
7.6.1

> gdb --shortversion
7.6.50.20131126-cvs

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[Bug gdb/16360] Provide a --shortversion flag

[marc.khouzam at ericsson dot com]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16360

Marc Khouzam <marc.khouzam at ericsson dot com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Version|7.4                         |HEAD

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[Bug gdb/16360] Provide a --shortversion flag

[tromey at redhat dot com]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16360

Tom Tromey <tromey at redhat dot com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |tromey at redhat dot com

--- Comment #1 from Tom Tromey <tromey at redhat dot com> ---
I'm curious why you use versions and what you use them for.
On the whole I think it would be better if you could use
feature tests instead.

In theory I think the allowable versions are defined in the
internals manual: https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/Internals%20Versions
I'm afraid I don't know how closely reality conforms to this.
Also see the vendor branch page:
https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/Internals%20Vendor-Branches

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[Bug gdb/16360] Provide a --shortversion flag

[marc.khouzam at ericsson dot com]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16360

--- Comment #2 from Marc Khouzam <marc.khouzam at ericsson dot com> ---
(In reply to Tom Tromey from comment #1)
> I'm curious why you use versions and what you use them for.

Eclipse CDT bases itself on the GDB version to know what features are available
or not.  For example, Reverse debugging will only be possible to enable if we
are dealing with GDB version >= 7.0; multi-process needs >= 7.2; showing
information on cores needs >= 7.1

> On the whole I think it would be better if you could use
> feature tests instead.

Yes, the solution we use works for FSF GDB but will not work so well for any
modified GDB.  However, I'm not sure there is a reliable way to figure out
feature availability for everything CDT uses from GDB.  Futhermore, there are
many drawbacks to test for features in a 'brute force' fashion: error printouts
visible to the user (or the complexity of silencing them), affecting the GDB
state, delayed startup time to run through the many feature tests.

> In theory I think the allowable versions are defined in the
> internals manual: https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/Internals%20Versions
> I'm afraid I don't know how closely reality conforms to this.
> Also see the vendor branch page:
> https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/Internals%20Vendor-Branches

Over the years, this is the list of formats we've seen in the wild.

GNU gdb 6.8.50.20080730
GNU gdb (GDB) 6.8.50.20080730-cvs
GNU gdb (Ericsson GDB 1.0-10) 6.8.50.20080730-cvs
GNU gdb (GDB) Fedora (7.0-3.fc12)
GNU gdb 6.8.0.20080328-cvs (cygwin-special)
GNU gdb 7.0
GNU gdb Fedora (6.8-27.el5)
GNU gdb Red Hat Linux (6.3.0.0-1.162.el4rh)
GNU gdb (GDB) STMicroelectronics/Linux Base 7.4-71 [build Mar  1 2013]

and then there's Apple's GDB, but I'm not sure this one has a future:
GNU gdb 6.3.50-20050815 (Apple version gdb-696) (Sat Oct 20 18:20:28 GMT 2007)
GNU gdb 6.3.50-20050815 (Apple version gdb-966) (Tue Mar 10 02:43:13 UTC 2009)
GNU gdb 6.3.50-20050815 (Apple version gdb-1346) (Fri Sep 18 20:40:51 UTC 2009)
GNU gdb 6.3.50-20050815 (Apple version gdb-1461.2) (Fri Mar  5 04:43:10 UTC
2010)
GNU gdb 7.0 (Apple version gdb-1) (Fri Sep 18 20:40:51 UTC 2009)
GNU gdb 7.0-20050815 (Apple version gdb-01) (Fri Sep 18 20:40:51 UTC 2009)

Having a --shortversion option would reduce the risk of some unexpected format
with special characters or interchanged ordering.

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[Bug gdb/16360] Provide a --shortversion flag

[antoine.tremblay at ericsson dot com]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16360

Antoine Tremblay <antoine.tremblay at ericsson dot com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
                 CC|                            |antoine.tremblay at ericsson dot c
                   |                            |om
         Resolution|---                         |FIXED

--- Comment #3 from Antoine Tremblay <antoine.tremblay at ericsson dot com> ---
Fixed by above commit

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[Bug gdb/16360] Provide a --shortversion flag

[antoine.tremblay at ericsson dot com]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16360

Antoine Tremblay <antoine.tremblay at ericsson dot com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|RESOLVED                    |REOPENED
         Resolution|FIXED                       |---

--- Comment #4 from Antoine Tremblay <antoine.tremblay at ericsson dot com> ---
Ooops disregard last comment and status change
I used the wrong bug :(...

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[Bug gdb/16360] Provide a --shortversion flag

[antoine.tremblay at ericsson dot com]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16360

Antoine Tremblay <antoine.tremblay at ericsson dot com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|REOPENED                    |NEW

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