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A gdb+bfd string pool?

Daniel Jacobowitz drow@mvista.com
Fri Oct 31 15:19:00 GMT 2003 
On Fri, Oct 31, 2003 at 10:15:39AM -0500, Andrew Cagney wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> GDB, to contain its run-time size is, uses gdb/bcaches where ...
> /* A bcache is a data structure for factoring out duplication in
>    read-only structures.  You give the bcache some string of bytes S.
>    If the bcache already contains a copy of S, it hands you back a
>    pointer to its copy.  Otherwise, it makes a fresh copy of S, and
>    hands you back a pointer to that.  In either case, you can throw
>    away your copy of S, and use the bcache's.
> One notable feature of this mechanism is that it lets you eliminate 
> string equality comparisons - equal bcache values implies equal strings.
> 
> Now, if I'm reading the BFD elf reader correctly, elf-strtab implements 
> a similar mechanism (But I think it is currently only used by the linker?).
> 
> Should/could BFD export a string pool that GDB could use and then use 
> that for any slurped symbol names?

Well, if so, it should go in libiberty - and in fact, is the hash table
in libiberty in any way unsuited to replace bcache?

-- 
Daniel Jacobowitz
MontaVista Software                         Debian GNU/Linux Developer
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