[pacman-dev] [PATCH] external debug symbols

[Bernhard Beschow]

Hello pacman devs,

I'm an Arch user and I really enjoy the tight integration of the KDE packages from the extra repository. Given that Arch seems to be one of the best KDE distros around, it's a pity that - unlike many other distros - Arch doesn't provide (external) debug symbols. However, these are critical for useful crash reports. Moreover, the KDE crash dialogue even prevents reporting crashes to bugzilla when no debug symbols are present.

Sure, there are two obvious alternatives: 1) use kdemod, or 2) compile own packages with debug symbols. However, both have drawbacks: kdemod isn't integrated as tightly into Arch, wich means that things could break. The second option takes a lot of resources and a lot of time, especially on low-end hardware.

That's why I propose that Arch should deliver extra packages with external debug symbols. To help you out, I've added support for external debug symbols to the makepkg tool [1]. BTW, my patch is based on the kdemod-version of makepkg.

I've tested the patch with the kdeplasma-addons module and got a separate debug package for each split package without modifying the PKGBUILD. So I can say that it "works for me". However, it would be nice if there was a chance for the patch to get merged so it works for all Arch users.

What do you think?

Greetings,
Bernhard

[1] http://gitorious.org/pacman-shentey/pacman-shentey