[Dwarf-discuss] DWARF 5 &6 documents mention .debug_line_str_offsets

[Cary Coutant]

On Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 6:35 AM David Anderson via Dwarf-discuss <
dwarf-discuss@lists.dwarfstd.org> wrote:

> Both DWARF5 (p 158) and DWARF6 (p171) mention .debug_line_str_offsets in
> sec 6.2.4.1.  That section is not mentioned elsewhere, so I presume
> these mentions are mistakes and there is no
> .debug_line_str_offsets[.dwo] section at all.
>

Section 6.2.4.1 says (emphasis added):

These refer into the .debug_str_offsets.dwo section (and indirectly
also the .debug_str.dwo section)
*because no .debug_line_str_offsets.dwo*
*or .debug_line_str.dwo sections exist* or are defined for use in split
objects.

It's pointing out that one might expect a DW_FORM_line_strx form that would
refer to a .debug_line_str_offsets section, because there is a line_strp
form refers to a separate .debug_line_str section. The phrasing is a bit
awkward, though (Mark W. raised the same question in an email from May
2024). If we want to say anything, we should say that there is no set of
DW_FORM_line_strx forms that would point to a .debug_line_str_offsets
section, and that could be non-normative. After all, in the same way that
DW_FORM_strp refers to .debug_str, while DW_FORM_line_strp refers to
.debug_line_str, one would naturally expect DW_FORM_strx to continue to
refer to .debug_str_offsets.

-cary
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