applies to all variables of this type.
@item s@var{size}
-Size in bits of a variable of this type.
+Size in bits of a variable of this type. This is fully supported by GDB
+4.11 and later.
@item p@var{integer}
Pointer class (for checking). Not sure what this means, or how
expense of speed.
@end table
-All of this can make the string field quite long. All
-versions of GDB, and some versions of dbx, can handle arbitrarily long
-strings. But many versions of dbx cretinously limit the strings to
-about 80 characters, so compilers which must work with such dbx's need
-to split the @code{.stabs} directive into several @code{.stabs}
-directives. Each stab duplicates exactly all but the
-string field. The string field of
-every stab except the last is marked as continued with a
-double-backslash at the end. Removing the backslashes and concatenating
-the string fields of each stab produces the original,
-long string.
+All of this can make the string field quite long. All versions of GDB,
+and some versions of dbx, can handle arbitrarily long strings. But many
+versions of dbx (or assemblers or linkers, I'm not sure which)
+cretinously limit the strings to about 80 characters, so compilers which
+must work with such systems need to split the @code{.stabs} directive
+into several @code{.stabs} directives. Each stab duplicates every field
+except the string field. The string field of every stab except the last
+is marked as continued with a backslash at the end (in the assembly code
+this may be written as a double backslash, depending on the assembler).
+Removing the backslashes and concatenating the string fields of each
+stab produces the original, long string.
@node C Example
@section A Simple Example in C Source
following the @samp{22=} of the type definition narrows it down to an
enumeration type. Following the @samp{e} is a list of the elements of
the enumeration. The format is @samp{@var{name}:@var{value},}. The
-list of elements ends with @samp{;}.
+list of elements ends with @samp{;}. The fact that @var{value} is
+specified as an integer can cause problems if the value is large. GCC
+2.5.2 tries to output it in octal in that case with a leading zero,
+which is probably a good thing, although GDB 4.11 supports octal only in
+cases where decimal is perfectly good. Negative decimal values are
+supported by both GDB and dbx.
There is no standard way to specify the size of an enumeration type; it
is determined by the architecture (normally all enumerations types are
-32 bits). There should be a way to specify an enumeration type of
-another size; type attributes would be one way to do this. @xref{Stabs
-Format}.
+32 bits). Type attributes can be used to specify an enumeration type of
+another size for debuggers which support them; see @ref{String Field}.
@node Structures
@section Structures