On Mon, 11 Sep 2000 09:46:15 -0600,
"Jeff V. Merkey" <jmerkey@timpanogas.com> wrote:
>Thanks Ted. I know, but a kernel debugger is one of those nasty pieaces
>of software that can quickly get out of sync if it's maintained
>separately from the tree -- the speed at which changes occur in Linux
>would render it a very difficult project to maintain.
Bullshit. It takes me about 30 minutes for most 2.4 kernel patches to
see if kdb needs to be changed. A combination of a decent source
control system (PRCS, ftp://ftp.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/pub/prcs) to merge and
compare source branches, a little bit of Perl to standardize the patch
and tkdiff to compare the old and new patches tells me very quickly if
I need to release a new kdb patch. If the kernel changes might have
affected kdb then I compile and test, 1-5 hours depending on the extent
of the kernel changes. Most of the time I don't bother compiling.
The kernel debuggers that are kept up to date get used. The ones that
are used get feedback for kernel changes which keep them up to date.
kdb has taken off precisely because it is being kept up to date with
the kernel. And if I miss something, I know that people will tell me.
>Linus' dislike of the kernel debugger concept would also
>assure that it would not be considered in design decisions moving
>forward, which is probably the biggest disuader in the whole debate.
Irrelevant. Linus can change any kernel interface in the developing
kernels at any time and does. Half the time this breaks existing
kernel code, never mind external patches. But we manage to keep up to
date with API changes. kdb is very low level, no I/O, restricted VFS
and SMP dependencies. My biggest problem is gcc changes, not the
kernel.
>I don't spend money on things I believe are destined to fail. Until Linus
>changes his mind, there's no point ...
Destined to fail? Tell that to all the people downloading and using
kdb and watch them laugh.
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