gdb/637: Add support for debugging linux-abi executables

[carl dot sopchak at cegis123 dot com]

>Number:         637
>Category:       gdb
>Synopsis:       Add support for debugging linux-abi executables
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    unassigned
>State:          open
>Class:          change-request
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Wed Aug 07 13:08:01 PDT 2002
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Carl Sopchak
>Release:        Red Hat Linux (5.2-2)
>Organization:
>Environment:
Red Hat 7.3 on i686
>Description:
Moving a binary onto Linux that is to run via linux-abi (such as a SCO COFF binary, as in my case) can be difficult, as quite a number of problems do not produce "good" error messages.

Having a debugger such as gdb that could allow full debugging of linux-abi supported binaries would enable a(n experienced) user to determine the cause of such issues, and resolve them.

Currently, gdb does not "know" how to run such a binary, and therefore can not be used.

gdb as packaged with Red Hat does not recognize the binary file format.

I tried to make my own gdb binary from the sources using --target=i396-pc-sco3.2v2, but in this case, gdb reported that it did not know how to execute such a binary (but it did recognize the file format).
>How-To-Repeat:
Copy a COFF binary from an SCO OpenServer 5 machine (along with any libraries).  Try to debug under gdb.
>Fix:
No known work-arounds.

I tried compiling gdb with --target=i386-pc-sco3.2v2 to no avail.

I tried using objcopy -I coff-i386 -O elf32-i386, but the binary crashed earlier in the execution (than the coff version did under linux-abi) with a SIGSEGV, so that was no help...
>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: