Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wasatch!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: VMS vs. UNIX s/w development tools - query
Message-ID: <1396@auspex.auspex.com>
Date: 7 Apr 89 06:44:14 GMT
References: <401@bionov.UUCP> <810033@hpsemc.HP.COM> <1081@vsi.COM>
Reply-To: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 15

>When System V Release 4 comes out, the /proc interface will make
>it possible for *phenomenal* debuggers to be built

It also makes it possible to reimplement the same old crufty debuggers
like "sdb"; I don't know if they'll provide up anything better or not. 
A lot of the stuff that other debuggers have to offer that make them
superior to "sdb" have nothing to do with extra stuff you can do with
"/proc"; they have to do with additional information stuffed into the
symbol table and better, more powerful, command languages.

"/proc" makes it possible to do some more stuff, but there are a *lot*
of improvements you can make without it, and I suspect a lot of the nice
stuff from the VMS debuggers can be added without it.  Some may have
their complaints about "dbx", but I find it *tons* better than "sdb" -
and it's implemented atop "ptrace" on most UNIX systems, at present.