Re: re-enabling debugging of 32 bit processes with 64 bit debugger

[Andrew Cagney <andrew.cagney%gmail.com@localhost>]

> > What do you think? SHould we make the code work like before? Or this is
> > functionality that we don't want to have because it is "dumb"? (I think
> > that Max here means that it adds complexity and it could be dangerous,
> > but I am just guessing)
>
> I'm baffled that this is even debatable.  The system supports running 32 bit code in a 64 bit system.  Obviously you must be able to debug such processes.
>
> I suppose you could claim it would suffice to build two debuggers, one for each target.  But that makes no sense.  All the toolchains are multi-architecture: you can compile for 32 or 64 bit at the drop of a switch, and you can link all that with a single toolchain. GDB has supported multi-arch for a long time (in fact, not just multiple width but entirely different ISAs from a single image).  So it would be thoroughly strange to say that this sort of basic flexibility and user-friendliness is to be abandoned here.  And why would NetBSD want to regress like that?  Other platforms do this as a matter of course; it seems odd for NetBSD even to consider looking technically inferior in this respect.

Having 32-bit and 64-bit debuggers isn't sufficient.  Specifically, it
can't handle an exec() call where the new executable has a different
ISA; and this imnsho is a must have.

Andrew