Re: obsoleting annotate level 2

[Jim Blandy <jimb at redhat dot com>]

Mike Mueller <mmueller@cs.uri.edu> writes:
> Jim Blandy wrote:
> 
> > The plan has been, for a very long time, to remove all 
> > annotations.  I proposed keeping level one annotations.  Here was 
> > my rationale:
> 
> > Level one annotations are implemented by code at two or three 
> > points in GDB.  They're not a big deal to maintain.  And they're 
> > what current releases of Emacs use.
> 
> > Level two annotations are implemented by (I think) around eighty
> > different bits of code, scattered throughout GDB.
> 
> > Thus, while level one annotations are only a small maintenance 
> > burden, level two annotations are.  Even if Emacs had been using 
> > level two annotations for years, we would be trying to get rid of 
> > them.
> 
> Jim,
> 
> Our only concern is that annotate 2 is the basis of our 
> application.  Our request is that the removal of annotate 2 is done 
> when MI is stable and is successfully used by at least one 
> application.  Until MI has reached that point, our application will 
> be forced to depend on annotate 2.

MI is already successfully in use by one (admittedly non-free)
application --- Apple's Power Builder.  Eclipse uses it now, too.

MI is, by design, always going to be more stable than annotation level
two.  MI imposes more structure on its output than annotation level
two does.

So I think MI is ready for the transition.

When you do find something you need, ask here.  In most cases, it's
very easy to add something to MI; when an easy case comes up, I'll
point it out, and you can get a chance to try doing it yourself.  Once
you can write your own patches to provide what you need, and you
understand the GDB coding standards, I think things will go very
quickly for you.