Re: Improve GDB's first user experience by reducing "print_gdb_version" output

Eli Zaretskii via Gdb <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.comp.gdb.devel
Message-ID <[email protected]>
> Date: Tue, 27 May 2025 17:43:18 -0300
> From: Guinevere Larsen via Gdb <[email protected]>
> 
> GNU gdb (GDB) 17.0.50.20250526-git
> Copyright (C) 2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later 
> <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
> This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
> There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
> Type "show copying" and "show warranty" for details.
> This GDB was configured as "x86_64-pc-linux-gnu".
> Type "show configuration" for configuration details.
> For bug reporting instructions, please see:
> <https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>.
> Find the GDB manual and other documentation resources online at:
>      <http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/documentation/>.
> 
> For help, type "help".
> Type "apropos word" to search for commands related to "word".
> (gdb)
> 
> For the *vast* majority of our users, only 4 of those lines are useful 
> at all: the GDB version (to ask for help), where to find the 
> documentation, the "help" command, and the "apropos" command. Arguably, 
> where to report bugs could be useful, but the worst ones already print 
> it and otherwise users are incredibly unlikely to report them 
> (especially given the email requirements to create an account). Worthy 
> of note, the important lines are the last ones, so even if a new user 
> was eager enough to start reading everything, they'd likely gloss over 
> everything assuming this entire thing is just copyright.
> 
> I propose that the text be updated to something similar to this:
> 
> GNU gdb (GDB) 17.0.50.20250526-git
> For a list of commands, use "help"
> For all commands related to a certain word, use "apropos word"
> For a thorough explanation of what GDB can do, check the manual at:
>      <http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/documentation/>
> For information on GDB's copyright, warranty or configuration, use
>      "show copying/warranty/configuration"
> (gdb)

This line is NOT redundant, and conveys important information:

  This GDB was configured as "x86_64-pc-linux-gnu".

Also, why did you decide to change the wording of this line:

  Type "apropos word" to search for commands related to "word".

I think the original wording was good.
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