Re: [RFC] Changes to signed char and unsigned char handling

[Daniel Jacobowitz <drow at false dot org>]

On Fri, Jul 06, 2007 at 01:33:24PM +0300, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 09:54:02 -0400
> > From: Daniel Jacobowitz <drow@false.org>
> > 
> >  3.  Treat "char" as a character, but "unsigned char" and "signed char"
> >  as numbers
> 
> Didn't RMS object to this change?

His objection was to the original change, which is currently in HEAD,
to not print "unsigned char *" variables as strings.  It was not an
especially definitive objection; I think that this version is better
than the behavior of earlier versions of GDB, which would satisfy his
stated concern.

I'm willing to change my mind on the approach; that's why it's an RFC
:-)

> The changes for the manual are also okay, but I have a few
> comments/requests:

Thank you, as usual.  I will incorporate your suggestions.

> > @@ -5932,8 +5946,7 @@ displays you request manually using @cod
> >  specify the output format you prefer; in fact, @code{display} decides
> >  whether to use @code{print} or @code{x} depending on how elaborate your
> >  format specification is---it uses @code{x} if you specify a unit size,
> > -or one of the two formats (@samp{i} and @samp{s}) that are only
> > -supported by @code{x}; otherwise it uses @code{print}.
> > +the @samp{i} format, or the @samp{s} format; otherwise it uses @code{print}.
> 
> This change produces a sentence that is hard to parse:
> 
>   in fact, @code{display} decides
>   whether to use @code{print} or @code{x} depending on how elaborate your
>   format specification is---it uses @code{x} if you specify a unit size,
>   the @samp{i} format, or the @samp{s} format; otherwise it uses @code{print}.
> 
> The conditions under which `x' is used are described, but the
> conditions under which we use `i' or `s' are left unspecified.

We don't use `i' or `s'; the use of `i' or `s' in the user's format
specification causes `display' to behave like `examine' instead of
like `print'.  How is this?

   in fact, @code{display} decides
   whether to use @code{print} or @code{x} depending on your format
   specification---@code{display} uses @code{x} if you specify a unit size,
   the @samp{i} format, or the @samp{s} format; otherwise it uses @code{print}.

-- 
Daniel Jacobowitz
CodeSourcery