From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jul 19 17:59:30 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E0221106567B for ; Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:59:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from xcllnt@mac.com) Received: from asmtpout022.mac.com (asmtpout022.mac.com [17.148.16.97]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AF4D68FC1A for ; Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:59:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from xcllnt@mac.com) MIME-version: 1.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Received: from [192.168.1.102] (209-128-86-226.BAYAREA.NET [209.128.86.226]) by asmtp022.mac.com (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 6.3-6.03 (built Mar 14 2008; 32bit)) with ESMTPSA id <0K4900LZ1LZ53T80@asmtp022.mac.com> for arch@freebsd.org; Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:59:30 -0700 (PDT) Sender: xcllnt@mac.com Message-id: <34889018-8358-46AC-897E-32767FB84E14@mac.com> From: Marcel Moolenaar To: FreeBSD Arch Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:59:29 -0700 X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.928.1) Cc: Subject: RFC: cross-libkvm/libthread_db/proc_service X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:59:31 -0000 All, We have a couple of interfaces/APIs that can't be used cross-platform. Take for example libkvm. On a 32-bit platform, we can't typically use libkvm on a 64-kernel, because the libkvm interface uses u_long for the target address, which on 32-bit platforms is 32 bits wide. Likewise, libthread_db and proc_service are designed for native use only and need API tweaks to work in a cross-environment. Both use psaddr_t to represent a target address, which is defined as a void* in . I'd like to change those interfaces/APIs to allow them to be used in a cross-platform debugging environment. Basically, this means that a target address will have to be defined as a uint64_t. Other datatypes may also need to be retyped. For libkvm in particular I don't want to redefine struct kinfo_proc, struct nlist, etc. While it could be useful in a hybrid 32/64-bit environment, the effect of such changes have too high a chance to trickle down various other components/interfaces. Thus, for libkvm the focus is on kvm_read() and kvm_write(). Suggested plan of attack: o add kvm_xread() and kvm_xwrite() to the libkvm API to minimize the overall impact. The new functions operate on a 64-bit target address (psaddr_t). o change psaddr_t from a void* to a 64-bit integral (sys/procfs.h) This affects proc_service and libthread_db. And consequently our threading support in GDB. Comments/thoughts? -- Marcel Moolenaar xcllnt@mac.com