From: Nir Lichtman <nir@lichtman.org>
Subject: Re: Fix incorrect default editor path in GDB
To: Theo Buehler <tb@theobuehler.org>
Cc: tech@openbsd.org, pascal@openbsd.org
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2024 09:31:32 +0000

On Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 11:04:02AM +0200, Theo Buehler wrote:
> Thanks. I'm ok with committing this.
> 
> If we do commit this, we should probably add the following to ports gdb.
> It's annoying that it needs three patches. I suppose either nobody is
> using gdb's edit command or those who do all have EDITOR set...
> 
> I don't think this needs to make 7.6 release (I'd say setting EDITOR is
> an acceptable workaround for something that's been broken since forever),
> so I plan on committing this after ports unlock.
> 
> Index: Makefile
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /cvs/ports/devel/gdb/Makefile,v
> diff -u -p -r1.84 Makefile
> --- Makefile	28 May 2024 16:48:39 -0000	1.84
> +++ Makefile	20 Sep 2024 08:59:36 -0000
> @@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ COMMENT=	GNU debugger
>  CATEGORIES=	devel
>  
>  DISTNAME=	gdb-9.2
> -REVISION=	6
> +REVISION=	7
>  
>  HOMEPAGE=	https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/
>  
> Index: patches/patch-gdb_cli_cli-cmds_c
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: patches/patch-gdb_cli_cli-cmds_c
> diff -N patches/patch-gdb_cli_cli-cmds_c
> --- /dev/null	1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
> +++ patches/patch-gdb_cli_cli-cmds_c	20 Sep 2024 08:57:48 -0000
> @@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
> +Index: gdb/cli/cli-cmds.c
> +--- gdb/cli/cli-cmds.c.orig
> ++++ gdb/cli/cli-cmds.c
> +@@ -956,7 +956,7 @@ edit_command (const char *arg, int from_tty)
> +     }
> + 
> +   if ((editor = getenv ("EDITOR")) == NULL)
> +-    editor = "/bin/ex";
> ++    editor = "/usr/bin/ex";
> + 
> +   fn = symtab_to_fullname (sal.symtab);
> + 
> Index: patches/patch-gdb_doc_gdb_info-2
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: patches/patch-gdb_doc_gdb_info-2
> diff -N patches/patch-gdb_doc_gdb_info-2
> --- /dev/null	1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
> +++ patches/patch-gdb_doc_gdb_info-2	20 Sep 2024 08:57:41 -0000
> @@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
> +Index: gdb/doc/gdb.info-2
> +--- gdb/doc/gdb.info-2.orig
> ++++ gdb/doc/gdb.info-2
> +@@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ parts of the program:
> + --------------------------
> + 
> + You can customize GDB to use any editor you want (1).  By default, it is
> +-'/bin/ex', but you can change this by setting the environment variable
> ++'/usr/bin/ex', but you can change this by setting the environment variable
> + 'EDITOR' before using GDB.  For example, to configure GDB to use the
> + 'vi' editor, you could use these commands with the 'sh' shell:
> +      EDITOR=/usr/bin/vi
> Index: patches/patch-gdb_doc_gdb_texinfo
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: patches/patch-gdb_doc_gdb_texinfo
> diff -N patches/patch-gdb_doc_gdb_texinfo
> --- /dev/null	1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
> +++ patches/patch-gdb_doc_gdb_texinfo	20 Sep 2024 08:57:43 -0000
> @@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
> +Index: gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
> +--- gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo.orig
> ++++ gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
> +@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
> + @set EDITION Tenth
> + 
> + @c !!set GDB edit command default editor
> +-@set EDITOR /bin/ex
> ++@set EDITOR /usr/bin/ex
> + 
> + @c THIS MANUAL REQUIRES TEXINFO 4.0 OR LATER.
> + 

An alternative solution could be to have the installation add a symlink from /bin/ex to /usr/bin/ex, this could save patching GDB which indeed looks to have until today /bin/ex hardcoded in the codebase.
It looks to be a pretty standard path across unix likes.

I can work on a patch for the alternative solution if it sounds better

Thanks,