[cfe-dev] JSONCompilationDB Parser

[Tobias Grosser]

On 11/29/2012 06:44 PM, Manuel Klimek wrote:
> Hi Ramneek,
>
> On Thu, Nov 29, 2012 at 7:19 AM, Ramneek Handa <ramneekhanda at gmail.com
> <mailto:ramneekhanda at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Why is it so strict? I am trying to write an ide backend would like
>     to use the compilation commands file to contain some extra
>     information so that i don't have to keep multiple files. the
>     following code in parse message doesn't allow me to keep any other
>     key but directory, command and file.
>
>     else {
>              ErrorMessage = ("Unknown key: \"" +
>                              KeyString->getRawValue() + "\"").str();
>              return false;
>            }
>
>     Could this be removed?
>
> In my experience being strict is better in the long run. It allows us to
> extend the format without the need to worry about clashing names with
> other mixed formats, and it surfaces errors early instead of hiding them.
>
> Is there a reason why having multiple files is a problem?

Hi Manuel,

I see your point. However, being strict has one large problem. If we at 
some point decide to add additional information to the compilation 
database, all previously released libclang tools will break. This means, 
this restriction makes it even for ourselves unnecessarily hard and 
disruptive to extend the compilation db format.
If possible, I would be very much in favor of removing this restriction 
even before clang 3.2.

Cheers,
Tobi