Source file info is scarce in AST line numbers

[toivoh]

When I quote an AST in julia, almost no line numbers give the source file. Example:

julia> quote
           f(x) = x^2
               for x=1:3
                   println(x)
               end
           end
quote   #  line 2:
    f(x) = begin    #  none, line 2:
            ^(x, 2)
        end #  line 3:
    for x = 1:3 #  line 4:
        println(x)
    end
end

The only place I've found where the source file is given is for the first line inside a function body.
While that is easier on the eyes when looking at a quoted AST, it does complicate things for my debugger. I've tried to propagate source file info from a block into its nodes, but still

• expressions outside any function don't get any source file info.
• macro expansions paste code from quote blocks into other places, usually without any source file info, which will be very confusing.

Would it be possible to have this info present in more lines?
Most convenient for my purposes would be if every line included a source file along with the line number. I guess it would go a long way for me if source file info was included at the top line nodes of AST:s produced by quote blocks and used as macro arguments.

[JeffBezanson]

I can do this, but it actually gets tricky since this does not map neatly to native debug info, which doesn't expect the source file to change on every line.

[toivoh]

I see. But source files that change from function to function are ok, of course.
Is this data currently being passed to any native debugger?

Perhaps one option could be to include the source file everywhere to start with, and filter out unrepresentable changes when using the data to create native debug info? I realize that would mean some extra work on your part, but I'm not sure how I would avoid confusing people who step into macro expansions without this kind of thing.

[toivoh]

Does this seem like a reasonable approach? If you point me in the right direction, I might be able to write the patch myself.