So, I think part of the confusion is that there are two names now,
debug flags and trace flags, but they're different views of the same
mechanism (yes? no?) It seems like the --trace* options are like the
--debug* options, except their intended use is a subset of --debug*,
specifically DPRINTFs. What about returning the DPRINTF ones to
--trace-flags, etc., and introducing a separate parallel set of
options and namespace for the debug stuff? There's some macro or
something to check if trace flags are turned on, and that encourages
their use as debug flags (although I think that use is minimal in the
current code). We could introduce a new DEBUG_ON() macro (or a better
name) and optionally eliminate the trace oriented one or make it
internal to DPRINTFs only. I can think of some valid uses for keeping
it like blocks of DPRINTFs like Ali added recently, but it blurs the
line and could add to the confusion.
By having two parallel systems, even though they're a bit redundant
where they overlap, I think it introduces a clear conceptual
separation between the two. Then it's clear what trace flags are for
and when to use them, and also what debug flags are for and when to
use them.
We really have two different ideas budding off from each other
(controlling tracing and debug features), and by partially bundling
them together and partially distinguishing them that leads to
confusion. The mental model is different from the way you have to
control things, and trying to reconcile the two views makes the system
hard to reason about.
Gabe
Quoting nathan binkert <n...@binkert.org>:
Ok, there has been a lot of confusion about debug flags and trace
flags. I changed the way the flags stuff worked from a compile
perspective which required me to make changes throughout the tree, so
I took the opportunity to rename the trace flags to debug flags. The
idea behind the change was that the flags can be used for things other
than tracing (I use them for breakpoints) and there is only one
namespace, so I just renamed it to debug (people did review that
change).
So, I renamed --trace-flags to --debug-flags and --trace-flags-help to
--debug-flags-help. --trace-start, --trace-file, and --trace-ignore
stayed the same because those only affect the tracing portion of the
debugging stuff. I never renamed the TraceFlags SCons option to
DebugFlags.
So, how do we clear up the confusion? Should I just fix the SCons
thing and people will just learn? Should I change the name back?
(There are a ton of places where this would change).
Anyone care?
Nate
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