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From: Nicholas N. <nj...@ca...> - 2003-12-02 15:15:36
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Hi, Our README file sucks. This is bad, as it's going to be the first thing a lot of new Valgrind users read. It says things like: "Release notes for Valgrind 1.0.0", says Valgrind works on old distros like RH7.2, says it has problems with gcc 3.1 and glibc 2.3.X, and the description of Valgrind pre-dates the whole core/tool split. I think files like these are best written in a way that doesn't require updating, because files like these rarely get updated -- nobody bothers. So I include below the changes I think should be made; my comments are written on lines beginning with '>'. If no-one complains, I'll probably wade in and make the changes sometime soon. N Release notes for Valgrind, version 1.0.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > We're well past 1.0.0. I suggest removing the version number here; > it doesn't contribute anything, and just gets out-of-date. KDE3 developers: please read also README_KDE3_FOLKS for guidance about how to debug KDE3 applications with Valgrind. > I suggest removing README_KDE3_FOLKS, and this reference to it; I think > Valgrind has been around long enough that KDE developers don't need > separate instructions (and it would be one less file to keep up-to-date). [snip] Valgrind works best on systems with glibc-2.1.X or 2.2.X, and with gcc versions prior to 3.1. gcc-3.1 works, but generates code which causes valgrind to report many false errors. For now, try to use a gcc prior to 3.1; if you can't, at least compile your application without optimisation. Valgrind-1.0.X also can't handle glibc-2.3.X systems. > Out of date: I think glibc-2.3.X is ok, right? Also gcc-3.1 is ok? > I suggest keeping this pretty generic, or removing it completely, perhaps replacing it with something like "works with most setups; see the FAQ if you have problems". Executive Summary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > This summary doesn't account for the core/tool split. Should be > similar to the overview on the website. [snip] Valgrind is closely tied to details of the CPU, operating system and to a less extent, compiler and basic C libraries. This makes it difficult to make it portable, so I have chosen at the outset to concentrate on what I believe to be a widely used platform: Red Hat Linux 7.2, on x86s. I believe that it will work without significant difficulty on other x86 GNU/Linux systems which use the 2.4 kernel and GNU libc 2.2.X, for example SuSE 7.1 and Mandrake 8.0. This version 1.0 release is known to work on Red Hats 6.2, 7.2 and 7.3, at the very least. > Out of date... could make more generic, eg. works on most/all common > Linux distros [snip] Documentation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A comprehensive user guide is supplied. Point your browser at docs/index.html. If your browser doesn't like frames, point it instead at docs/manual.html. There's also detailed, although somewhat out of date, documentation of how valgrind works, in docs/techdocs.html. > These paths are incorrect. [snip] Julian Seward (js...@ac...) 1 July 2002 > out of date, I suggest removing the date, and saying "report bugs to > valgrind.kde.org" or similar. |