> Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:24:41 -0400
> From: Daniel Jacobowitz <drow false.org>
>
> Some time ago, I got a bug report that gdbserver
couldn't be used to
> debug a program. You'd tell it to
"continue", and it wouldn't - it
> would just spin in place.
>
> We realized eventually that the problem was SIGALRM.
There was a tiny
> signal handler running every timer tick (at about
100Hz, if I remember
> right). That's plenty of time for native GDB to
notice, resume, and
> let the code run. But if you have to stop the program,
including any
> threads, and send a packet over a socket to another
machine, only to
> have GDB tell you that you're not interested in it
anyway, then you
> never make any progress. By the time the program
returns from its
> signal handler, SIGALRM is pending again.
>
> This is the solution I came up with for that problem,
adjusted to HEAD
> and given a more sensible packet name. I have a tested
implementation
> of this patch for HEAD, if my remote protocol choices
are acceptable.
> The new mechanism is completely transparent to the
user.
>
> All comments welcome!
Makes sense to me. There are native targets too that
support
something similar; on Solaris you can tell the kernel what
signals
you're interested in, and GDB will not even get the signals
that are
"nostop noprint pass".
I hope someone who is more familiar with the remote protocol
can say
something sane about the syntax you chose for the
QPassSignals packet.
Mark
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