No gdb?

[Todd Denniston]

Linuxguy123 wrote, On 12/12/2008 01:15 PM:
> On Fri, 2008-12-12 at 18:03 +0000, dexter wrote:
>> 2008/12/12 Linuxguy123 <linuxguy123 at gmail.com>:
>>>> gdb without *debuginfo* is also useless to a bug report and they get
>>>> big pretty quick so I say no gdb for normal folk.
>>> How big is big ?  Hard drives are cheap these days, right ?
>> true, but bandwith & media sizes are also a factor.
> 
> Yes and no... 
> 
> Bandwidth: most of us with broadband connections will pay the same gdb
> or no.  For Fedora, I understand that server bandwidth might be an
> issue, but I think most of Fedora is served via mirrors.
> 
> Media sizes: DVDs don't cost a lot more than CDs.   I am VERY excited
> about installing on USB sticks.  4GB sticks are pretty affordable. 
> 
> 

I think you missed the point about the *debuginfo*
kernel-2.6.27.7-134.fc10.i586.rpm	08-Dec-2008 14:07 	 19M
kernel-debuginfo-2.6.27.7-134.fc10.i586.rpm	08-Dec-2008 14:19 	249M	

kdebase-4.1.3-2.fc10.i386.rpm	25-Nov-2008 14:53 	5.6M	
kdebase-runtime-4.1.3-1.fc10.i386.rpm	25-Nov-2008 14:53 	5.7M	
kdebase-debuginfo-4.1.3-2.fc10.i386.rpm	25-Nov-2008 14:53 	 27M	
kdebase-runtime-debuginfo-4.1.3-1.fc10.i386.rpm	25-Nov-2008 14:54 	 14M	

Now how many packages did you install?
how many are giving you trouble that you need to debug them?

I understand the convince thing of having gdb+debuginfo already installed, but 
for folks who are:
a) happy running a system that never gives them a problem
b) just into running their system and will not be bothered to put in a BZ
or
c) are rarely running into problems that would kick an error where 
gdb+debuginfo is useful

having *_ALL_* of the debuginfo's installed is a waste of their machine's hard 
drive and sometimes memory, update bandwidth, and always their time away from 
wesnoth waiting for the download.

What would probably be useful is:
a) have the KDE applet which spit out Anne's "it couldn't create a bug report, 
as gdb is not installed.", get some _more_ intelligence added such that it 
might suggest (on a fedora system)
'please execute as root `yum install gdb kdeThingThatBroke-debuginfo`, so that 
next time this happens we can provide a full bug report.'
[Note, I believe Anne already knew about that, but other folks could benefit.]

-- 
Todd Denniston
Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane)
Harnessing the Power of Technology for the Warfighter