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binutils development (was Re: Problems building binutils-000220 snapshot)

H . J . Lu hjl@lucon.org
Tue Feb 22 10:18:00 GMT 2000 
On Tue, Feb 22, 2000 at 01:05:39PM -0500, Ian Lance Taylor wrote:
>    Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 09:57:45 -0800
>    From: "H . J . Lu" <hjl@lucon.org>
> 
>    On Tue, Feb 22, 2000 at 09:28:56AM -0800, H . J . Lu wrote:
>    > 
>    > > 
>    > > Actually, neither dlopen support nor GNAT support has anything to do
>    > > with adding --demangler and --style options to the binutils.  Sure,
>    > 
>    > The whole purpose of --demangler and --style is for dlopen and GNAT.
>    > At least, that was what I had in mind when I implemented them.
> 
>    BTW, I don't think the current demangler scheme in binutils works very
>    well. The problem is the mangling scheme in compiler changes over time.
>    I don't think binutils can keep up with it. Instead, each compiler
>    should provide its down demangler.so so that binutils can have a chance
>    to correctly demangle the mangled symbol. The builtin demangler in
>    binutils should be used as the last resort.
> 
> The compiler already provides c++filt, so there already is a mechanism
> for using an up to date demangler with the binutils: pipe the output
> through c++filt.  That is how the linker already works, in fact, when
> invoked via the gcc compiler driver.  The builtin demangler is already
> the last resort.
> 

I see. I guess Compaq's C++ compiler takes a different approach
which may not involve c++filt.

I believe c++filt should be fold into gcc.c. Otherwise, the wrong
c++filt may be used when you have more than one C++ compiler installed.
I think c++filt should be in binutils and gcc should use something
else which is unqiue to each gcc and/or in the same place where
cc1plus is.

> Perhaps the bug is adding --demangle options to objdump and nm in the
> first place.  They are sometimes convenient, but, as you point out,
> they don't always work.

That is true.

> 
> I'm not opposed to adding a shared library interface.  But I see it as
> a compiler issue, not a binutils issue.

You are right. But sometimes, it is hard to draw the line.

H.J.
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