This page was produced by an automated import process, and may have formatting errors; feel free to fix.
Obsoleting code
Before anything else, poke the other developers (and around the source code) to see if there is anything that can be removed from GDB (an old target, an unused file).
The process is done in stages — this is mainly to ensure that the wider GDB community has a reasonable opportunity to respond. Remember, everything on the Internet takes a week.
Post the proposal on mailto:gdb@sourceware.org and mailto:gdb-patches@sourceware.org. Creating a bug report to track the task’s state, is also highly recommended.
- Wait a week or so.
Post the proposal on [mailto:gdb-announce@sourceware.org the GDB Announcement mailing list].
- Wait a week or so.
- Remove the obsolete code.
- Add a NEWS entry.
The delay between the first announcement until the moment the associated code is removed can appear to be very short. And in many ways, it is, especially by internet standards. However, the purpose in setting such short delays is to avoid hindering the maintainers with obsolete code for longer than necessary. The understanding is that, should someone step up even after the code was removed, the fact that the sources are maintained under git should make it relatively easy to revert the removal.
Maintainer note: While removing old code is regrettable it is hopefully better for GDB’s long term development. Firstly it helps the developers by removing code that is either no longer relevant or simply wrong. Secondly since it removes any history associated with the file (effectively clearing the slate) the developer has a much freer hand when it comes to fixing broken files.