GNAT built-in symbolic trace-back

GNAT built-in symbolic trace-back

[gautier_niouzes]

Had a (positive) shock this morning, looking at gnatbind options: there is a built-in symbolic trace-back! The switch is -Es . I thought it was a feature that would never be implemented after 20+ years of GNAT's existence...
A short research shows me that:
 - it is there since GNAT GPL/Community 2016
 - GPS GPL 2017 doesn't show it in the Project Properties box - only a checkbox for the old -E switch
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Re: GNAT built-in symbolic trace-back

[Simon Wright]

gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com writes:

> Had a (positive) shock this morning, looking at gnatbind options:
> there is a built-in symbolic trace-back! The switch is -Es . I thought
> it was a feature that would never be implemented after 20+ years of
> GNAT's existence...
> A short research shows me that:
>  - it is there since GNAT GPL/Community 2016
>  - GPS GPL 2017 doesn't show it in the Project Properties box - only a
> checkbox for the old -E switch

As ever, not on macOS.

Re: GNAT built-in symbolic trace-back

[Anh Vo]

On Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:08:06 AM UTC-7, gautier...@hotmail.com wrote:
> Had a (positive) shock this morning, looking at gnatbind options: there is a built-in symbolic trace-back! The switch is -Es . I thought it was a feature that would never be implemented after 20+ years of GNAT's existence...
> A short research shows me that:
>  - it is there since GNAT GPL/Community 2016
>  - GPS GPL 2017 doesn't show it in the Project Properties box - only a checkbox for the old -E switch

With this capability, most of the time (99%) a debugger is not needed.

Anh Vo

Re: GNAT built-in symbolic trace-back

[Dmitry A. Kazakov]

On 2018-08-15 17:56, Anh Vo wrote:
> On Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:08:06 AM UTC-7, gautier...@hotmail.com wrote:
>> Had a (positive) shock this morning, looking at gnatbind options: there is a built-in symbolic trace-back! The switch is -Es . I thought it was a feature that would never be implemented after 20+ years of GNAT's existence...
>> A short research shows me that:
>>   - it is there since GNAT GPL/Community 2016
>>   - GPS GPL 2017 doesn't show it in the Project Properties box - only a checkbox for the old -E switch
> 
> With this capability, most of the time (99%) a debugger is not needed.

Certainly so with gdb, which is not usable in any way. But some working 
visual debugger could be a useful addition to tracing. I still remember 
the great DEC's debugger for VMS.

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de

Re: GNAT built-in symbolic trace-back

[Roger]

On Thursday, August 16, 2018 at 4:22:00 AM UTC+10, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:
> On 2018-08-15 17:56, Anh Vo wrote:
> > On Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:08:06 AM UTC-7, gautier...@hotmail.com wrote:
> >> Had a (positive) shock this morning, looking at gnatbind options: there is a built-in symbolic trace-back! The switch is -Es . I thought it was a feature that would never be implemented after 20+ years of GNAT's existence...
> >> A short research shows me that:
> >>   - it is there since GNAT GPL/Community 2016
> >>   - GPS GPL 2017 doesn't show it in the Project Properties box - only a checkbox for the old -E switch
> > 
> > With this capability, most of the time (99%) a debugger is not needed.
> 
> Certainly so with gdb, which is not usable in any way. But some working 
> visual debugger could be a useful addition to tracing. I still remember 
> the great DEC's debugger for VMS.
> 
> -- 
> Regards,
> Dmitry A. Kazakov
> http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de

I also remember the long lost world of easy to use, very helpful, debuggers.
Unfortunately, things of the distant past.
I am continually frustrated by unpleasant, useless, experiences with gdb.

Re: GNAT built-in symbolic trace-back

[alby.gamper]

On Thursday, August 16, 2018 at 4:22:00 AM UTC+10, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:
> On 2018-08-15 17:56, Anh Vo wrote:
> > On Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:08:06 AM UTC-7, gautier...@hotmail.com wrote:
> >> Had a (positive) shock this morning, looking at gnatbind options: there is a built-in symbolic trace-back! The switch is -Es . I thought it was a feature that would never be implemented after 20+ years of GNAT's existence...
> >> A short research shows me that:
> >>   - it is there since GNAT GPL/Community 2016
> >>   - GPS GPL 2017 doesn't show it in the Project Properties box - only a checkbox for the old -E switch
> > 
> > With this capability, most of the time (99%) a debugger is not needed.
> 
> Certainly so with gdb, which is not usable in any way. But some working 
> visual debugger could be a useful addition to tracing. I still remember 
> the great DEC's debugger for VMS.
> 
> -- 
> Regards,
> Dmitry A. Kazakov
> http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de

Yes bring back VMS/DEC's debugger any day! As an alternative you could try
the debugging facilities available via the "Visual Studio plugin" If you
are developing under MS Windows

It currently supports both the GDB MI interface as well as native
MS debugging (If you enable linking via the MS linker)

Both solutions are not perfect and have their pro's and cons's, But MAYBE
worth a try (you might be surprized ?)

Alex

Re: GNAT built-in symbolic trace-back

[jrmarino]

FWIW, I've always patched in symbolic traceback support at FreeBSD ports and Ravenports (e.g. http://www.ravenports.com/catalog/bucket_D6/gcc8/standard/ ) so it's been there for years for users of those.

Good to know about the bind option though.

Re: GNAT built-in symbolic trace-back

[Randy Brukardt]

<gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:6193ff6e-8e9e-43be-adde-6ae0483e76af@googlegroups.com...
> Had a (positive) shock this morning, looking at gnatbind options: there is 
> a built-in
> symbolic trace-back! The switch is -Es . I thought it was a feature that 
> would never
> be implemented after 20+ years of GNAT's existence...

Janus/Ada has had that feature by default from the very beginning in 1981. 
Even on 64K Z80 targets. I never understood why GNAT would want to make 
getting them so hard. (Some customers need them turned off for ultimate 
performance, so there needs to be a way to run without them, but most users 
will want them on.)

                                                 Randy.