[PATCH] D76336: [DWARF] Emit DW_AT_call_pc for tail calls

[Vedant Kumar via Phabricator via llvm-commits]

vsk added a comment.

In D76336#1934635 <https://reviews.llvm.org/D76336#1934635>, @dblaikie wrote:

> In D76336#1934599 <https://reviews.llvm.org/D76336#1934599>, @vsk wrote:
>
> > Per @djtodoro's suggestion, avoid emitting DW_AT_call_pc when tuning for gdb. We already emit AT_call_return_pc in this case, which seems weird/wrong to me, but that's what gdb expects to see it seems.
>
>
> Does it work for GDB?


Yes, @djtodoro's second-to-last comment shows an example where gdb works out the address for an artificial frame using the "return pc".

> If so, how? Please be sure there's clear documentation (probably in a somewhat long explanatory comment in the LLVM source itself) about why this divergence is justified

I left a comment where DW_AT_call_pc is emitted explaining the situation: 'GDB prefers to work out what the call pc is by subtracting an offset from DW_AT_low_pc/DW_AT_call_return_pc'. I'll expand on this.

> does GDB need this for providing some functionality, but less than is possible with DW_AT_call_pc, so LLDB wants that so it can provide the better experience, but providing only that would mean GDB would provide a worse experience than if it has return_pc?

gdb works backwards from non-standard usage of DW_AT_low_pc/DW_AT_call_return_pc at tail-call site entries to figure out the PC of tail-calling branch instructions. This means it doesn't need the compiler to emit DW_AT_call_pc, so we don't emit it (this change happened in my last patch update -- incidentally this means this patch no longer has any effect on debug info emission when tuning for gdb).

However, there isn't a good reason to tie non-gdb debuggers to this non-standardness, as it adds unnecessary complexity to the debugger. It forces the debugger to disassemble around the fake "return pc" to find the actual tail-calling branch. In the case where the tail-calling branch is the last instruction in the function, I'm not sure how that would work, as the fake "return pc" wouldn't necessarily point anywhere meaningful. To side-step that, we emit DW_AT_call_pc for non-gdb debuggers.


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