https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=19893
I've traced the main source of the problem to pieced_value_funcs.coerce_ref not being
implemented. Since gdb always assumes references are implemented as pointers, this
causes it to think that it's dealing with a NULL pointer, thus breaking any operations
involving synthetic references.
What I did here was implementing pieced_value_funcs.coerce_ref using some of the synthetic
pointer handling code from indirect_pieced_value, as Pedro suggested. I also made a few
adjustments to the reference printing code so that it correctly shows either the address
of the referenced value or (if it's non-addressable) the "<synthetic pointer>" string.
I also wrote some unit tests based on Dwarf::assemble; these took a while to make
because in most cases I needed a synthetic reference to a physical variable. Additionally,
I started working on a unit test for classes that have a vtable, but ran into a few issues
so that'll probably go in a future patch. One thing that should definitely be fixed is that
proc function_range (called for MACRO_AT_func) will always try to compile/link using gcc
with the default options instead of g++, thus breaking C++ compilations that require e.g. libstdc++.
gdb/ChangeLog:
* dwarf2loc.c (coerce_pieced_ref, indirect_synthetic_pointer,
fetch_const_value_from_synthetic_pointer): New functions.
(indirect_pieced_value): Move lower half to indirect_synthetic_pointer.
(pieced_value_funcs): Implement coerce_ref.
* valops.c (value_addr): Call coerce_ref for synthetic references.
* valprint.c (valprint_check_validity): Return true for synthetic
references. Also, don't show "<synthetic pointer>" if they reference
addressable values.
(generic_val_print_ref): Handle synthetic references. Also move some
code to print_ref_address.
(print_ref_address, get_value_addr_contents): New functions.
gdb/testsuite/ChangeLog:
* gdb.dwarf2/implref.exp: Rename to...
* gdb.dwarf2/implref-const.exp: ...this. Also add more test statements.
* gdb.dwarf2/implref-array.c: New file.
* gdb.dwarf2/implref-array.exp: Likewise.
* gdb.dwarf2/implref-global.c: Likewise.
* gdb.dwarf2/implref-global.exp: Likewise.
* gdb.dwarf2/implref-struct.c: Likewise.
* gdb.dwarf2/implref-struct.exp: Likewise.
