Questions and anomalies

• For GNU C stabs defining local and global variables (N_LSYM and N_GSYM), the desc field is supposed to contain the source line number on which the variable is defined. In reality the desc field is always 0. (This behavour is defined in dbxout.c and putting a line number in desc is controlled by #ifdef WINNING_GDB which defaults to false). Gdb supposedly uses this information if you say 'list var'. In reality var can be a variable defined in the program and gdb says `function var not defined'
• In GNU C stabs there seems to be no way to differentiate tag types: structures, unions, and enums (symbol descriptor T) and typedefs (symbol descriptor t) defined at file scope from types defined locally to a procedure or other more local scope. They all use the N_LSYM stab type. Types defined at procedure scope are emited after the N_RBRAC of the preceding function and before the code of the procedure in which they are defined. This is exactly the same as types defined in the source file between the two procedure bodies. GDB overcompensates by placing all types in block #1 the block for symbols of file scope. This is true for default, -ansi and -traditional compiler options. (p0001063-gcc, p0001066-gdb)
• What ends the procedure scope? Is it the proc block's N_RBRAC or the next N_FUN? (I believe its the first.)
• The comment in xcoff.h says DBX_STATIC_CONST_VAR_CODE is used for static const variables. DBX_STATIC_CONST_VAR_CODE is set to N_FUN by default, in dbxout.c. If included, xcoff.h redefines it to N_STSYM. But testing the default behaviour, my Sun4 native example shows N_STSYM not N_FUN is used to describe file static initialized variables. (the code tests for TREE_READONLY(decl) && !TREE_THIS_VOLATILE(decl) and if true uses DBX_STATIC_CONST_VAR_CODE).
• Global variable stabs don't have location information. This comes from the external symbol for the same variable. The external symbol has a leading underbar on the _name of the variable and the stab does not. How do we know these two symbol table entries are talking about the same symbol when their names are different?
• Can gcc be configured to output stabs the way the Sun compiler does, so that their native debugging tools work? <NO?> It doesn't by default. GDB reads either format of stab. (gcc or SunC). How about dbx?