Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2020 22:31:08 +0100 From: Robert Clausecker <fuz@fuz.su> To: freebsd-arch <freebsd-arch@freebsd.org>, FreeBSD Ports <freebsd-ports@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Retiring GNU objdump 2.17.50 Message-ID: <20200109213108.GA86373@fuz.su> In-Reply-To: <CAPyFy2CJYYkcBRkajEf9miGUDBgpJ-DU3kGuJyHf5u%2BhjrF4uw@mail.gmail.com> References: <CAPyFy2CJYYkcBRkajEf9miGUDBgpJ-DU3kGuJyHf5u%2BhjrF4uw@mail.gmail.com>
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As a FreeBSD user, I cannot understate the importance of having a disassembler and ELF dumper in the base install. The binutils are invaluable as debugging and development tools. Not having them available by default would make the base distribution a lot less of a well-rounded UNIX system for general use than it currently is. If you are going to throw out the GNU binutils, shipping the LLVM variant would be of great use to all people who have to debug random FreeBSD installations where the presence of ports cannot be guaranteed. Yours, Robert Clausecker On Thu, Jan 09, 2020 at 10:31:55AM -0500, Ed Maste wrote: > We currently install and use at most three tools from GNU binutils > 2.17.50, depending on target architecture: > > 1. as - assembler > 2. ld - linker > 3. objdump - diagnostic / information tool > > I hope to retire all use of these obsolete binutils before FreeBSD 13. > Here I'd like to discuss objdump. It is a diagnostic tool that > provides information about object files, binaries and libraries. It's > not required as a bootstrap tool (i.e., not needed to build FreeBSD > world or kernel). It is required to build a limited number of ports, > and is used by some developers. > > I have a tracking PR for GNU objdump's retirement open in PR 229046. > https://bugs.freebsd.org/229046. > > There are two ways we can proceed with its retirement: > > 1. Remove it without replacement. Ports that need objdump to build > will have to depend on the binutils package/port, and users who wish > to use it will have to install it. > > Related links for this path: > Ports exp-run: https://bugs.freebsd.org/212319 > Patch review: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D7338 > > 2. Install llvm-objdump in its place (perhaps via a symlink). > llvm-objdump is broadly compatible in both command-line argument > parsing and output format, but there are many small differences and > it's not a full drop-in replacement. > > Related links for this path: > Patch review: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D18307 > > I am interested in feedback on the preferred approach. Installing > llvm's objdump has the advantage that for most use cases everything > will "just work", but may also introduce subtle failures. > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-arch@freebsd.org mailing list > https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-arch > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-arch-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" -- () ascii ribbon campaign - for an 8-bit clean world /\ - against html email - against proprietary attachments
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