[Dwarf-Discuss] DW_AT_low_pc/DW_AT_high_pc for empty compilation units

[Jan Kratochvil]

Hi,

for the 'int x;' compilation unit there exists no code.

echo 'int x;' | cc -c -x c - -g; echo 'main(){}' | cc 1.o -x c -; readelf -wi a.out
->
 <0><b>: Abbrev Number: 1 (DW_TAG_compile_unit)
    < c>   DW_AT_producer    : (indirect string, offset: 0x11): GNU C 4.5.1 20100924 (Red Hat 4.5.1-4)	
[...]
    <19>   DW_AT_low_pc      : 0x400454	
    <21>   DW_AT_high_pc     : 0x400454	

Should be DW_AT_low_pc == DW_AT_high_pc as is with GCC or should be both
attributes omitted at all?

Appendix A states the list of tag-attribute pairs is not binding in any way.

Some my interpretations of DWARF-4 statements can be found in:
	[patch] Fix empty PC range psymtab<->symtab discrepancy
	http://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2011-03/msg00739.html


There is a related issue with both attributes being 0 by the GNU toolchain for
functions discarded during linking.  I guess the whole DIE(s) should have been
also discarded instead as it violates DWARF this way:

 <1><12ff>: Abbrev Number: 58 (DW_TAG_subprogram)
    <1300>   DW_AT_external    : 1
    <1301>   DW_AT_name        : (indirect string, offset: 0x381): bus_activation_ref
[...]
    <130d>   DW_AT_low_pc      : 0x0
    <1315>   DW_AT_high_pc     : 0x0
[...]


Thanks,
Jan