Re: Using gdb (windows popping up)

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 10:00:45 -0400
> From: jonetsu <jonetsu@teksavvy.com>
> 
> On Mon, 10 Jun 2019 15:44:01 +0200
> Óscar Fuentes <ofv@wanadoo.es> wrote:
> 
> > Even if what you see is everything that counts for you, the definition
> > of "instance" that you use is not correct, because you can change what
> > you see on frame1 while operating from frame2.
> 
> Of course, it can be re-ordered.  The thing is, though, is this overhead
> worthwhile to do at the beginning of each debugging session ?  What are
> the benefits towards the work being done ?

One again, the GDB UI was _designed_ to work in dedicated windows,
something that few Emacs features do.  I suggest not to fight that,
but instead find a way of coexisting peacefully with that design.

One way of coexisting peacefully is to invoke "M-x gdb" in a new
frame.  That is, first type "C-x 5 2" to create a new frame, then
invoke "M-x gdb" in that new frame.  This way, your window arrangement
in the original frame will be left intact.  Switching to that original
frame is easy both with a mouse and via keyboard, so this is what the
Emacs manual recommends.

> Especially in the light that the M-x gdb session actually starts with
> the gdb interactive buffer and source /automatically/ placed
> side-by-side by emacs.  ... Only to be disrupted with the source thrown
> into another frame as soon as the debugging session starts.

You can save the customization of gdb-many-windows with a non-nil
value for your future sessions, in which case Emacs will start with
all the UI windows right after you invoke "M-x gdb", thus avoiding
this temporary "disruption" altogether.