[Dwarf-Discuss] DWP mixed (DWARFv4/pre-standard + DWARFv5) content

[Michael Eager]

On 2/26/20 1:05 AM, Pavel Labath via Dwarf-Discuss wrote:
> The main question on my mind now is, what is the likely future
> direction of the DWARF spec -- if say DWARF v6 adds a new section, how
> will it handle mixed v5+v6 debug_cu_indexes? I don't think it will
> want to make that unsupported (1). I also doubt it will resort to
> "subjective" DW_SECT constants, as it is easy to ensure the official
> DW_SECT constants do not overlap.

As much as possible, we try to insure that different versions of DWARF 
can be used together.  For example, a library may have debug data in one 
version of DWARF while the program may use a different (later) version. 
That is, we try to maintain forward compatibility whenever possible.

We also try to insure that an older consumer can accept newer versions 
of DWARF, skipping over the parts that it does not understand. 
Sometimes this may mean reduced functionality, but it should not result 
in failure.

HTH