tui/1556: need generic way to avoid stepping through certain functions

[esp5 at pge dot com]

>Number:         1556
>Category:       tui
>Synopsis:       need generic way to avoid stepping through certain functions
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       high
>Responsible:    unassigned
>State:          open
>Class:          change-request
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Wed Feb 18 01:38:00 UTC 2004
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Edward peschko
>Release:        gdb-6.0
>Organization:
>Environment:
sun64-solaris (applies to all environments though)
>Description:
When debugging C++ code, I am spending most of my time stepping in and out of constructors. Ex: the following call:

string a[100];

will cause gdb to jump in and out of the standard libraries 100 times.
>How-To-Repeat:
debug a C++ file with any standard string constructor
>Fix:
a block command with three types of arguments:

block <function>
block <file>
block <directory>

the first says ignore stepping into a function, the second says ignore stepping into any of the functions/statements in a file, and the third says ignore stepping into any of the functions in a given directory (or underneath). Either that or,

block <directory> -r

instead.

This feature would be incredibly useful - right now, more than half my time is devoted to filtering gdb's output when it comes to standard C++ headers. A judicious use of block <directory> would let people debug *users* code rather than stepping into the gritty details of system or third-party headers. I'm exceedingly surprised that it isn't already there.

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: