bug#7896: 23.2.91; Multi-window gdb uses other frames confusingly

bug#7896: 23.2.91; Multi-window gdb uses other frames confusingly

[Reuben Thomas]

While using multi-window gdb, I opened another frame, and looked at a
related source file in it, though not the one that currently contained
the execution point. I then switched back to the gdb frame, and advanced
execution until it reached a point in the file in the buffer currently
displayed in the other frame. gdb raised this frame, which happened to
fill the whole screen (although the focus remained in the gdb frame).

I submit that this is rather unhelpful behavior: in multi-window mode,
gdb should always show the current execution point in the source window.
I don’t expect the behavior to change just because I happen to have the
relevant buffer open in another frame.


In GNU Emacs 23.2.91.4 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.22.0)
 of 2011-01-13 on canta
Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.10900000
Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: en_GB.UTF-8
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: C/l

Minor modes in effect:
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  flyspell-mode: t
  recentf-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  savehist-mode: t
  minibuffer-electric-default-mode: t
  iswitchb-mode: t
  icomplete-mode: t
  global-whitespace-mode: t
  global-auto-revert-mode: t
  desktop-save-mode: t
  yas/global-mode: t
  yas/minor-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t
  abbrev-mode: t

Recent input:
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f 
C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-a C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-k C-x 
C-s C-x k <return> C-r C-e C-r C-g g r e p SPC M-p 
<M-backspace> <M-backspace> <M-backspace> <M-backspace> 
<S-prior> C-g <S-next> C-g C-r t a g s C-r C-r C-r 
C-r C-r C-a C-g C-k l s SPC - l SPC ~ / . b a s h _ 
h i s t r y <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> o <backspace> 
t o r y <return> g r e p SPC t a g s SPC M-. C-g ~ 
/ . b a s h _ h i s t o r e y <backspace> <backspace> 
y <return> e t a g s SPC * . c SPC * . h <return> C-x 
b C-g C-x C-f <up> C-g M-. <up> <return> <return> <switch-frame> 
<switch-frame> C-s z r e a d C-a C-x b C-g <switch-frame> 
n <return> t u n SPC <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> r u n SPC M-p <return> y <return> n <return> 
<return> <return> <return> <return> <return> <return> 
<return> <return> <return> <return> <return> s <return> 
n <return> <return> <return> <return> <return> <return> 
<return> <return> <return> s <return> <return> <return> 
<return> <return> <return> <switch-frame> <switch-frame> 
<switch-frame> <switch-frame> n <return> <return> C-x 
o C-x o C-x b m a i n . c <return> <switch-frame> C-x 
5 0 <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> C-x 5 2 <switch-frame> 
M-x e m a c s - <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> r e p o r t - b 
<backspace> e m a c s - b u g <return>

Recent messages:
History item: 498
History item: 499
History item: 500
Mark saved where search started
Quit [4 times]
Starting a new list of tags tables
Mark set
Mark saved where search started
Quit
History item: 7

Load-path shadows:
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/ruby-mode-1.1/ruby-mode hides /usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/ruby1.8-elisp/ruby-mode
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/popup hides /usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auto-complete/popup
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/fuzzy hides /usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auto-complete/fuzzy
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/css-mode-1.0/css-mode hides /usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/css-mode/css-mode
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/link hides /usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/link
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/connection hides /usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/connection
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/dictionary-init hides /usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/dictionary-init
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/dictionary hides /usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/dictionary
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/css-mode-1.0/css-mode hides /usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/lisp/textmodes/css-mode
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/ruby-mode-1.1/ruby-mode hides /usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/lisp/progmodes/ruby-mode
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/css-mode-1.0/css-mode hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/css-mode/css-mode
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-info hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-info
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/context-nl hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/context-nl
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/context-en hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/context-en
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/latex hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/latex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-mik hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-mik
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/lpath hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/lpath
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-buf hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-buf
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-jp hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-jp
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-bar hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-bar
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/multi-prompt hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/multi-prompt
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fptex hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fptex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-font hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-font
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fold hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fold
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/texmathp hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/texmathp
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/context hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/context
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/font-latex hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/font-latex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/bib-cite hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/bib-cite
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/toolbar-x hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/toolbar-x
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-style hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-style

Features:
(shadow sort mail-extr message sendmail ecomplete rfc822 mml mml-sec
password-cache mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mailcap mail-parse rfc2231
rfc2047 rfc2045 qp ietf-drums mailabbrev nnheader gnus-util netrc
time-date mm-util mail-prsvr gmm-utils mailheader canlock sha1 hex-util
hashcash mail-utils emacsbug ansi-color shell multi-isearch gdb-ui
byte-opt warnings bytecomp byte-compile bindat json gud sh-script
executable vc-git face-remap filladapt flyspell completing-help recentf
tree-widget wid-edit uniquify paren savehist minibuf-eldef iswitchb
icomplete whitespace autorevert time cus-start cus-load desktop server
php-mode etags cc-langs cc-mode cc-fonts cc-menus cc-cmds cc-styles
cc-align cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs speedbar sb-image ezimage dframe
lua-mode regexp-opt comint ring ropemacs pymacs etags-update
smart-quotes ispell auto-dictionary-autoloads css-mode-autoloads
dictionary-autoloads diff-git-autoloads dired-isearch-autoloads
full-ack-autoloads guess-style-autoloads http-post-simple-autoloads
js2-mode-autoloads magit-autoloads mv-shell-autoloads
ruby-mode-autoloads package reporter advice advice-preload yasnippet
help-fns derived edmacro kmacro easymenu assoc cl cl-19 muse-autoloads
emacs-goodies-el emacs-goodies-custom emacs-goodies-loaddefs easy-mmode
bbdb-autoloads preview-latex tex-site auto-loads tooltip ediff-hook
vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel x-win x-dnd font-setting tool-bar dnd
fontset image fringe lisp-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer
select scroll-bar mldrag mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu
font-core frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan
thai tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak czech
european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook
jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev loaddefs button minibuffer faces
cus-face files text-properties overlay md5 base64 format env code-pages
mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote
make-network-process dbusbind system-font-setting font-render-setting
gtk x-toolkit x multi-tty emacs)

-- 
http://rrt.sc3d.org/

bug#7896: 23.2.91; Multi-window gdb uses other frames confusingly

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Reuben Thomas <rrt@sc3d.org> writes:

> While using multi-window gdb, I opened another frame, and looked at a
> related source file in it, though not the one that currently contained
> the execution point. I then switched back to the gdb frame, and advanced
> execution until it reached a point in the file in the buffer currently
> displayed in the other frame. gdb raised this frame, which happened to
> fill the whole screen (although the focus remained in the gdb frame).
>
> I submit that this is rather unhelpful behavior: in multi-window mode,
> gdb should always show the current execution point in the source window.
> I don’t expect the behavior to change just because I happen to have the
> relevant buffer open in another frame.

(I'm going through old bug reports that unfortunately weren't resolved
at the time.)

Some people have multi frame setups they display side-by-side, and in
those cases, popping up a new window with the same buffer would be
unhelpful.  So different people have different preferences here, but it
sounds like what gdb does by default is reasonable.  (I haven't actually
tested this to see whether the behaviour is still the same.)

In any case, to customise complex window preferences like this, Emacs
uses the display-buffer-alist (and related) variables.

So I don't think there's anything to be done here on the Emacs side, and
I'm therefore closing this bug report.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no