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From: rfg@NCD.COM (Ron Guilmette)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: C++ and debugger for SVR4 (386/486)?
Message-ID: <4456@lupine.NCD.COM>
Date: 16 Mar 91 00:14:17 GMT
References: <360@oiscola.Columbia.NCR.COM>
Distribution: na
Organization: Network Computing Devices, Inc., Mt. View, CA
Lines: 35

In article <360@oiscola.Columbia.NCR.COM> kornegay@oiscola.UUCP (Michael L. Kornegay) writes:
>I am looking for a good implementation of C++ with source level
>debugger for Intel 386/486 based SVR4 implemetations.

Isn't everybody? :-)

But seriously folks, I (and some other people) are working on some
things which may provide people with some nice debugging capabilities
for C++ under svr4 in the not too distant future.  Unfortunately,
I have nothing which I can give you today which works.

Later on I hope to be in a position to provide GNU software tools (i.e.
C compiler, C++ compiler, and debugger) which work with ELF (that's the
easy part) and with "extended" DWARF (i.e. the hard part) to provide a
robust debugging environment for C++ on System V Release 4.

Many problems have already been solved and much development has already
been done, but much work remains.  ELF and DWARF support are available
now in the GNU C compiler, but the adaptations of the GNU debugger and
the GNU G++ compiler still have quite a long way to go.

Expect *robust* extended DWARF support in G++ perhaps around Q391 (and
perhaps some not-so-robust DWARF support before then.

I'd kinda like to see somebody hack cfront to get it to output special
#pragmas (which I could then make GCC understand) which would effectively
transmit additional crucial C++ level debugging information from cfront
through the C compiler, and down into the DWARF information in the object
files, but I haven't got either the necessary $20K for a cfront source
licence or the necessary time to do that little project.  Oh, well. :-(
-- 

// Ron Guilmette  -  C++ Entomologist
// Internet: rfg@ncd.com      uucp: ...uunet!lupine!rfg
// New motto:  If it ain't broke, try using a bigger hammer.