On Fri, 16 Dec 2016 13:33:52 +0100, Jonathan Wakely wrote:
> We don't do auto-deref for std::shared_ptr or std::unique_ptr, even
> though we know the object they point to definitely is live and safe to
> access, and that's because those types have pointer semantics not
> reference semantics.

This is wrong std::shared_ptr or std::unique_ptr is not auto-dereferenced for
GDB printing.  But it may be more a GDB problem, not libstdc++ pretty printers
problem.

For example glib pretty printers already auto-dereference data structures:
        5  GList* list = NULL;
        (gdb) p/r list
        $1 = (GList *) 0x607a00
        (gdb) p list
        $2 = 0x607a00 = {0x400810}
        /usr/share/glib-2.0/gdb/glib.py
            if type.code == gdb.TYPE_CODE_PTR:
                type = type.target().unqualified()
                t = str(type)
                if t == "GList":
                    return GListPrinter(val, "GList")

But that is more a GDB bug that should be solved even for generic pointers.
Currently while traversing through data structures one has to randomly add or
remove '*' from the beginning of the GDB print expression:

        1       class E { int a[1000]; int i=42; } ee;
        2       class D { E *e=ⅇ } dd;
        3       class C { D &d=dd; } cc;
        4       class B { C *c=&cc; } bb;
        5       int main() {}
        (gdb) p bb
        $1 = {c = 0x601030 <cc>}
        (gdb) p bb.c
        $2 = (C *) 0x601030 <cc>
Oops, I need to add a dereference:
        (gdb) p *bb.c
        $3 = {d = @0x601028}
        (gdb) p *bb.c.d
        No symbol "operator*" in current context.
Oops, I need to remove a dereference:
        (gdb) p bb.c.d
        $4 = (D &) @0x601028: {e = 0x601060 <ee>}
        (gdb) p bb.c.d.e
        $5 = (E *) 0x601060 <ee>
Oops, I need to add a dereference:
        (gdb) p *bb.c.d.e
        $6 = {a = {0 <repeats 1000 times>}, i = 42}
        (gdb) p *bb.c.d.e.i
        Cannot access memory at address 0x2a
Oops, I need to remove a dereference:
        (gdb) p bb.c.d.e.i
        $7 = 42

This is probably solved in some clickable front-end interfaces.


Jan

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