Re: Is gdb/rdi-share is RDI complaint?

[Grant Edwards <grante at visi dot com>]

On Thu, Apr 17, 2003 at 07:38:15AM -0700, Keith Seitz wrote:
> On Thu, 2003-04-17 at 04:36, vadraj kulkarni wrote:
> 
> >  I have installed and cross compiled insight-5.1.1 for arm-elf.
> >  I want to debug a target system through serial port as per RDI
> >  specificaiton. Is rdi-share folder has been implemented as per
> >  specification? Can i use "ARM Remote/Serial" target options to
> >  debug target system through emulator?
> 
> As I recall, the rdi-share directory was contributed by ARM; I would
> assume that it is RDI compliant.

Could be, but I doubt it.  Anyway, I doubt it matters.  As best
as I can figure out, RDI is the spec for the API between the
debugger sw and the library that the debugger uses when talking
to the hardware.  In this case, that interface is internal to
GDB and has been hacked up over the years by me and various
other people who had neither access to the RDI spec nor the
inclination to care about it.

> I've used it to debug using various versions of ARMulators.
> 
>> If rdi-share folder is implemented as per specification, where
>> can i get RDI specification? Does above target is used only
>> with ARM emulator or can i use for any emulator?

If you're asking about the external interface (defining what
appears on the wire), then that's ADP, the Angel [ARM?]
Debugging Protocol, which is what shows up on the wire when you
do a "target rdi" in gdb.  You can use the rdi target in gdb to
talk to anything that impliments ADP via ether serial/parallel
port or UDP connection.  The things I'm aware of that do that
are:

 1) ARM EmbeddedICE (serial or serial+parallel).  It's always
    been flakey for me, and I don't recommend it.

 2) EPI Jeeni (serial or Ethernet+UDP/IP).  It's a solid
    product works like a champ over Ethernet.  Works fine over
    serial port, but serial interface is too slow for
    heavy-duty use.

 3) Any board with serial port running the Angel ROM monitor.
    Never tried any of them, but people report varying degrees
    of success.

Note that newer products from both ARM (e.g. MultiICE) and EPI
(e.g. Majik) do _not_ speek ADP.  They speek proprietary
protocols and to use them with GDB you run a protocol
translator daemon that translates between GDB's remote protocol
and whatever the emulator understands.  For the MultiICE, the
translator has run on under Windows.  For the Majik, it can run
under Linux or Cygwin (IIRC).

I don't much like the proprietary protocal + translater daemon
approach, and the last time around I bought an Abatron BDI2000
which speaks GDB remote protocol directly.

[clear as mud, eh?]

> I have no idea where one can find the RDI spec. You might try a
> web search or delving into ARM's DevZone at http://www.armdevzone.com .
>
> If all else fails, ask on the GDB mailing list. Send email to
> gdb at sources dot redhat dot com dot 

Yup.

-- 
Grant Edwards
grante at visi dot com