[Dwarf-Discuss] Reserving a new DW_AT_calling_convention value

[Roland McGrath]

> I would like to use a new DW_AT_calling_convention attribute value in  
> the range DW_CC_lo_user .. DW_CC_hi_user. As far as I can tell, the  
> only one currently in (public) use is DW_CC_GNU_renesas_sh (= 0x40).  
> My question is: how does one go about reserving/obtaining such a  
> number? Do you just take the next one that appears to be available and  
> submit patches using this value to binutils (for elf/dwarf.h) and gdb?  
> (and possibly dwarflib, and maybe others)

In the lo_user..hi_user range, it is up to each "vendor" to decide the
conventions for using that range.  The different implementors ("vendors")
try to stay aware of each other's uses, but "vendor-specific extensions"
means exactly that there is not any shared formal management of that space.

The DWARF committee decides on the common uses in the <lo_user range.
It's entirely reasonable to propose new values in the common range.

For ELF and DWARF "vendor" stuff in the GNU and Linux world, the convention
is consensus of the binutils, elfutils, and (when relevant) GCC maintainers.
If you propose your patches for binutils/gdb and gcc in the normal ways on
those mailing lists, that will do it.


Thanks,
Roland