[llvm-dev] Gauging interest in generating PDBs from LLVM-backed languages

[Michael Lewis via llvm-dev]

On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 8:02 AM, Reid Kleckner <rnk at google.com> wrote:

> We've been pursuing the direction of writing PDBs from scratch in
> llvm/lib/DebugInfo/PDB/Raw and related directories. It might be interesting
> to have code that talks to MSPDB140.dll in LLVM, but we really want LLD to
> be able to produce its output on any platform.
>



I completely agree about independence from arbitrary platform-specific
binaries. (After all, escaping LINK.EXE just to rely on MSPDB140.dll isn't
that huge of a win by itself.)

I forgot to mention it in my original mail, but my plan is to transition
away from using MSPDB140.dll and fabricate "whole cloth" PDB/MSF files in
the near future. Based on the microsoft-pdb GitHub repo and the code I've
seen in LLVM, I think this is a totally reachable goal.

Most of what I've found has little to do with the mechanics of the MSF
format (yet!) and more to do with the semantic content of PDBs and how to
coax the debuggers in question to yield the desired results. I don't know
how much of that stuff is mysterious to the larger community and what was
just mysterious to me when I set out on this little venture :-)

But in any case I'd be glad to compare notes with anyone who's working in
this space.



 - Mike
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