Confused about MKBUILD=yes

[Richard Hansen <rhansen%bbn.com@localhost>]

Hi all,

While investigating a segfault in libpam on the netbsd-5 branch, I 
discovered that MKDEBUG=yes (see mk.conf(5)):

  * does not install debugging symbols for libraries
  * does not install any debug symbols at all (because it does not 
cause -g to be passed to gcc)
  * does not strip debug symbols from installed binaries

This behavior is contrary to my expectations, and arguably contrary to 
the documentation of MKDEBUG in mk.conf(5).  I was expecting the build to:

  1. pass '-g' or '-ggdb' to gcc/g++
  2. copy the debug symbols for all binaries to /usr/libdata/debug
  3. strip the debug symbols from the binaries
  4. add a .gnu_debuglink section to the binaries that refers to the 
corresponding debug data in /usr/libdata/debug

Currently only steps 2 and 4 are done, and only for programs (not 
libraries).

I'm new to NetBSD, and I'm not familiar with the standard ways the 
NetBSD developer community debugs base libraries.  Is the approach I 
tried to take obsolete?  Is this a bug/incomplete feature that has been 
or is planned to be addressed in current?

Thanks,
Richard