[Lazarus] debug "textfile" [[was: Re: Feedback about GDB on Windows]]

[Martin Frb]

On 25/10/2019 08:42, Luca Olivetti via lazarus wrote:
> I just wanted to know why you said using stabs is pointless.
> A while ago I tried dwarf but then I switched back to stabs. I don't 
> think I did it only because of the records but my memory is failing me 
> :-(

Actually it seems to have (mostly) been based on incorrect memory.
- Just looked through my testcase, and there are actually less special 
cases for stabs, than I remembered.  (And most of them are not important)
- There is (while properties do not work): "property Foo read FFoo" 
direct field access is encoded as field, but afaik only in dwarf.

What does really not work, according to a quick test (gdb 8.3 / 32 bit 
win) are sets. They show an integer value.

Otherwise it seems most things are worked around 
https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/GDB_Debugger_Tips#Stabs_.28only_GDB.29

I do however remember the opposite experience that you have. I know that 
every now and then I was unable to inspect some data, because I 
accidentally had my settings on stabs. But I do not recall what data 
that was. Quite possible the need to see the content of a set (in human 
readable form).


Note that "dwarf"  here means "dwarf 2 with sets".
Dwarf without sets => no reason to use / dwarf3 with gdb => not stable.