Re: [cdt-dev] MinGW gdb

[James Blackburn <jamesblackburn@xxxxxxxxx>]

> It's too optimistic to believe in the bright future when we will have one
> universal launch configuration for GDB. Many clients not only add new
> features but also hide the features they don't support.

I think this point is key, and likely what Doug was trying to get at:
integrators customise the platform, often provide their own launches
for their build products, and set defaults for their users.

In my mind there really are two separate issues:
  - What debug engine CDT should use for debugging GDB by default
  - What APIs are exposed for ISVs to to plug debugging into their product.

As a case in point, we use a GDB based debugger + a custom launch for
CDI which allows multi-core debugging and GUI for target specific
options. It's my intention to migrate to DSF, but due to lack of time
(+ higher priorities) I haven't yet investigated how I can do the same
things with DSF as I can with CDI.  It'll happen, just not today.

As it stands both sets of API are available and will continue to be so
for some time.

I guess this debate really centers on the first point: what the
default should be for fresh eclipse.org downloads using platform GDB.
In CDT currently, project configurations don't dictate / affect launch
configurations, as users might see in Visual Studio. In my opinion the
Eclipse way is more flexible for integrators and perhaps as a result
more confusing for users.  I'm not sure what the right answer is here,
perhaps integrators really should be able to specify a default launch
type / debug engines for their build configurations, and the default
toolchains for the various platforms could specify the best default
for the platform?

Cheers,
James