[cc65] Debug info changes

From: Ullrich von Bassewitz <uz1musoftware.de>
Date: 2011-06-13 21:06:43
Since I do not know how many other tools use the dbginfo API that comes with
the cc65 package, I will post the following to the list:

The debug info API has been extended to allow access to size information for
symbols. This means that the value returned by .sizeof for a symbol is now
also available to a debugger or similar. This is probably most useful for data
or anything within a .proc.

As a consequence, the format of the object files and the debug info has
changed[1]. The new dbginfo module is downwards compatible and can read the
old (1.1) format but not vice versa. So if you're using this module, I would
suggest an upgrade, otherwise users of newer snapshot versions might complain,
because your tool cannot read newer files.

I've also tried to improve cross version compatibility between different minor
versions of the debug info. The new version of the dbginfo module should be
smarter when unknown keywords in the debug info files are encountered, that
may have been introduced in newer versions. But it is of course impossible to
have older software read and understand newer formats, so there might still be
problems in the future, at least as long as the format and the features are
evolving. I will try to keep the module downards compatible within minor
version changes, so as long as you have the most recent module, your users may
also feed it with older debug info files. At least this is my intention:-)

Besides that I'm still waiting for a decent CBM emulator to support source
level debugging. Any takers? I might donate a few bitcoins once I have some:-)

Regards


        Uz



[1] Not much. For symbols where size information is available, there's now
    an additional size=n attribute.
-- 
Ullrich von Bassewitz                                  uz@musoftware.de
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Received on Mon Jun 13 21:06:55 2011

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