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.