845888 - JS GDB support: libxul.so should autoload JavaScript pretty-printers

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox Build System :: General, defect)

Description

[Jim Blandy :jimb]

While the Mozilla source tree includes GDB pretty-printers for JavaScript types (see js/src/gdb/README) since December 2012, GDB does not automatically load them when debugging a program that uses libxul.so.

That was a deliberate decision, made when the pretty-printers first landed: we were concerned that the pretty-printers were relatively young code, and that enabling them for pretty much every developer debugging Mozilla C++ code would mean that any problems would have a wide impact. But the pretty-printers have been enabled by default for the SpiderMonkey shell and test programs for a few months now. We've fixed a few problems, but I think, overall, they've been okay.

Comment 1

[Jim Blandy :jimb]

Attachment: Have GDB load JavaScript value pretty-printers when debugging libxul.so, or anything that links against it.

Not requesting review yet. I've solicited opinions about the general user experience on dev-tech-js-engine-internals, and I'd like to see what people think.

Comment 2

[Jim Blandy :jimb]

Comment on attachment 719073 [details] [diff] [review]
Have GDB load JavaScript value pretty-printers when debugging libxul.so, or anything that links against it.

No comment on the dev-tech-js-engine-internals list, so going ahead with an r?.

Comment 3

[Mike Hommey [:glandium]]

Comment on attachment 719073 [details] [diff] [review]
Have GDB load JavaScript value pretty-printers when debugging libxul.so, or anything that links against it.

Review of attachment 719073 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

::: toolkit/library/Makefile.in
@@ +658,5 @@
> +# Create a GDB Python auto-load file alongside the libxul shared library in
> +# the build directory.
> +PP_TARGETS += LIBXUL_AUTOLOAD
> +LIBXUL_AUTOLOAD = libxul.so-gdb.py.in
> +LIBXUL_AUTOLOAD_FLAGS := -Dtopsrcdir=$(abspath $(topsrcdir))

Maybe enclose in a ifdef GNU_CC.

Comment 4

[Jim Blandy :jimb]

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/mozilla-inbound/rev/b53bc50a79b2

Comment 5

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/b53bc50a79b2