1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.8
6 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
7 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
8 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
9 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
11 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
12 now complete on file names.
14 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
15 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
16 For instance, consider:
18 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
19 # struct example variable;
22 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
23 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
25 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
26 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
32 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
35 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
36 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
37 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
40 Obtains additional operating system information
42 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
44 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
45 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
46 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
48 * The "disassemble" command now supports an optional /m modifier to print mixed
51 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
52 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
54 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
55 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
56 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
58 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
59 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
61 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
63 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
65 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
66 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
68 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
69 list of section offsets.
71 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
72 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
75 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
76 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
77 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
79 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
81 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
82 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
84 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
85 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
86 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
88 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
89 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
91 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
96 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
97 available is determined at configure time.
101 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
105 Print the list of Ada tasks.
107 Print detailed information about task number N.
109 Print the task number of the current task.
111 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
113 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
114 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
118 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
120 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
122 maint set python print-stack
123 maint show python print-stack
124 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
127 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
129 set print symbol-loading
130 show print symbol-loading
131 Control printing of symbol loading messages.
135 Display timestamps with GDB debugging output.
140 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
142 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
143 show multiple-symbols
144 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
145 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
146 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
148 set breakpoint always-inserted
149 show breakpoint always-inserted
150 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
151 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
152 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
154 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
155 show arm fallback-mode
156 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
158 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
159 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
160 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
161 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
163 set disable-randomization
164 show disable-randomization
165 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
166 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
167 multiple debugging sessions.
170 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
171 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
172 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
173 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
175 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
177 set tcp connect-timeout
178 show tcp connect-timeout
179 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
180 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
181 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
186 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
189 * New native configurations
191 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
194 Show operating system information about processes.
198 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
204 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
206 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
208 * New native configurations
210 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
211 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
215 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
216 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
218 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
220 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
221 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
222 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
223 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
225 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
226 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
228 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
231 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
232 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
233 and in inlined functions.
235 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
236 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
237 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
239 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
241 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
242 registers on PowerPC targets.
244 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
245 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
247 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
248 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
250 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
251 extended-remote mode.
253 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
254 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
255 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
256 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
258 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
259 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
260 target architectures.
262 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
263 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
264 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
265 stored in two consecutive float registers.
267 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
270 * Improved support for debugging Ada
271 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
273 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
274 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
275 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
276 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
278 - Improved command completion in Ada
281 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
286 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
287 show print frame-arguments
288 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
289 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
294 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
301 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
310 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
313 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
317 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
319 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
321 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
322 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
323 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
325 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
326 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
327 -Bsymbolic linker option.
329 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
330 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
333 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
334 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
336 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
337 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
339 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
341 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
342 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
343 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
345 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
346 automatically displayed as character or string data.
348 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
349 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
352 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
353 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
354 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
356 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
359 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
360 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
361 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
363 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
365 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
367 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
368 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
369 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
371 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
372 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
374 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
375 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
376 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
377 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
378 Windows and SymbianOS).
380 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
381 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
383 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
384 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
390 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
391 when debugging using remote targets.
393 set mem inaccessible-by-default
394 show mem inaccessible-by-default
395 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
396 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
397 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
398 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
399 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
401 set breakpoint auto-hw
402 show breakpoint auto-hw
403 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
404 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
405 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
406 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
407 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
408 including "next" and "finish".
411 catch exception unhandled
412 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
415 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
419 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
420 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
421 an alias to "set sysroot".
424 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
425 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
428 * New native configurations
430 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
435 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
436 not query the target for its built-in description.
440 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
441 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
442 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
447 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
448 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
451 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
456 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
457 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
459 qXfer:libraries:read:
460 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
461 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
462 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
463 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
467 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
476 i[34567]86-*-netware*
477 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
478 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
480 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
483 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
484 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
493 * Other removed features
500 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
507 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
512 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
513 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
518 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
519 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
521 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
523 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
524 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
525 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
526 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
530 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
531 in debugging information.
535 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
536 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
538 set mips stack-arg-size
539 set mips saved-gpreg-size
541 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
543 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
548 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
550 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
551 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
552 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
554 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
555 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
558 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
559 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
561 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
562 stub provides the required support.
564 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
565 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
570 unset substitute-path
572 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
573 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
574 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
575 between compilation and debugging.
579 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
580 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
581 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
585 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
587 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
588 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
590 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
595 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
596 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
597 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
598 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
602 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
603 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
605 qXfer:memory-map:read:
606 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
607 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
612 Erase and program a flash memory device.
614 * Removed remote packets
617 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
618 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
620 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
624 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
626 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
630 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
631 only if it doesn't already have a value.
633 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
635 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
637 restart <n> Return the program state to a
638 previously saved state.
640 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
642 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
644 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
645 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
647 info forks List forks of the user program that
648 are available to be debugged.
650 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
651 forks of the user program that are
652 available to be debugged.
654 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
655 that are available to be debugged (and
656 kill the forked process).
658 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
659 that are available to be debugged (and
660 allow the process to continue).
664 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
666 * Improved Windows host support
668 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
669 native console support, and remote communications using either
670 network sockets or serial ports.
672 * Improved Modula-2 language support
674 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
675 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
676 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
677 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
678 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
679 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
683 The ARM rdi-share module.
685 The Netware NLM debug server.
687 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
689 * New native configurations
691 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
692 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
696 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
698 * New command line options
700 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
701 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
702 the child (debugged) program exited with.
703 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
704 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
705 specified multiple times and in conjunction
706 with the --command (-x) option.
708 * Deprecated commands removed
710 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
714 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
715 othernames set arm disassembler
716 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
717 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
718 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
721 * New BSD user-level threads support
723 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
724 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
727 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
728 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
729 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
731 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
732 are not yet supported.
734 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
735 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
737 * REMOVED configurations and files
739 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
740 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
741 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
743 * New "set print array-indexes" command
745 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
746 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
749 * VAX floating point support
751 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
753 * User-defined command support
755 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
756 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
757 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
759 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
761 * New command line option
763 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
766 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
768 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
769 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
770 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
771 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
772 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
774 * Internationalization
776 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
777 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
778 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
782 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
783 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
784 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
786 * New native configurations
788 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
792 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
793 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
795 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
797 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
798 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
799 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
802 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
803 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
804 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
816 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
817 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
819 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
821 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
822 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
823 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
833 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
835 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
837 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
838 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
841 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
843 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
844 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
845 IRIX long double values).
849 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
850 command. This problem has been fixed.
852 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
854 * Fix for ``many threads''
856 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
857 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
860 ptrace: No such process.
861 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
863 This problem has been fixed.
865 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
867 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
870 * New ``start'' command.
872 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
874 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
876 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
877 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
878 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
880 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
881 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
882 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
883 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
884 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
885 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
886 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
887 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
888 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
890 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
892 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
893 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
894 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
895 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
896 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
898 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
899 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
900 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
902 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
904 * New native configurations
906 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
907 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
908 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
909 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
910 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
911 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
912 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
914 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
916 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
917 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
918 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
919 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
920 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
921 work, was also included.
923 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
924 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
934 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
935 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
937 * REMOVED configurations and files
939 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
940 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
941 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
942 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
943 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
944 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
945 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
946 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
947 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
949 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
951 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
953 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
955 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
956 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
957 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
958 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
961 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
963 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
964 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
965 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
966 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
967 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
968 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
971 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
973 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
975 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
976 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
977 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
979 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
981 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
982 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
984 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
986 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
987 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
988 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
990 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
992 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
993 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
995 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
997 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
998 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
999 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
1001 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
1003 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
1004 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
1005 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
1007 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
1009 * Removed --with-mmalloc
1011 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
1012 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
1014 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
1016 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
1017 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
1018 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
1019 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
1021 * Revised SPARC target
1023 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
1024 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
1025 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
1026 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
1027 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
1031 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
1032 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
1033 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
1036 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1038 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
1039 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
1042 * C++ nested types and namespaces
1044 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
1045 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
1046 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
1047 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
1048 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
1049 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
1050 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
1051 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
1052 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
1054 * New native configurations
1056 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
1057 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
1058 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
1059 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
1060 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
1062 * New debugging protocols
1064 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
1066 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
1068 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
1069 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
1070 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
1072 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1074 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1075 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1076 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1077 permanently REMOVED.
1079 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
1080 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
1081 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
1082 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
1083 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
1084 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
1085 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
1086 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
1087 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
1088 sonymips mips-sony-*
1089 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
1091 * REMOVED configurations and files
1093 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1094 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
1095 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1096 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1097 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1098 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1099 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1100 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1101 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1102 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
1103 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1104 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1105 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1106 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
1107 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
1108 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1109 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1111 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
1115 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
1116 integrated into GDB.
1118 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
1120 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
1121 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
1122 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
1125 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
1126 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
1127 DWARF 2 CFI support.
1131 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
1132 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
1133 remote protocol documentation for details.
1135 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
1137 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
1138 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
1139 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
1142 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
1144 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
1145 per-thread variables.
1147 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
1149 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
1150 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
1152 * Separate debug info.
1154 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
1155 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
1156 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
1157 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
1158 and optional debug files.
1160 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1162 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
1163 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
1166 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
1167 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
1171 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
1172 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
1173 considered "useable".
1175 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
1177 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
1178 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
1181 * GDB supports logging output to a file
1183 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
1184 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
1186 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
1188 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
1189 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
1192 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
1194 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
1195 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
1199 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
1200 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
1201 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
1202 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
1203 data, for more informative profiling results.
1205 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
1207 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
1208 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
1209 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
1211 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
1214 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
1215 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
1216 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
1217 in a subsequent -var-update.
1219 * New native configurations.
1221 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1223 * Multi-arched targets.
1225 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
1226 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1228 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1230 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1231 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1232 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1233 permanently REMOVED.
1235 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1236 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1237 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1238 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1239 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1240 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1241 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1242 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1243 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1244 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1245 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1246 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1248 * REMOVED configurations and files
1251 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1252 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1253 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1254 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1255 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1256 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1258 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1259 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1260 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1261 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1262 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1263 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1265 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
1267 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
1268 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
1269 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
1270 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
1271 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
1273 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
1275 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
1277 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
1278 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
1279 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
1280 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
1281 shared libs like mad''.
1283 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
1285 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
1286 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
1287 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
1288 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
1290 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
1292 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
1293 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
1296 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
1297 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1299 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1300 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1302 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1303 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1304 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1305 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1307 * Multi-arched targets.
1309 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1310 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1312 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1313 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1314 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1318 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1321 * New native configurations
1323 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1324 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1325 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1326 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1328 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1330 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1331 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1332 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1333 permanently REMOVED.
1335 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1336 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1337 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1338 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1339 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1340 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1341 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1342 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1343 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1344 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1346 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1347 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1349 * OBSOLETE languages
1351 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1353 * REMOVED configurations and files
1355 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1356 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1357 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1358 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1359 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1361 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1363 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1365 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1366 commands. The default is 1024.
1368 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1370 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1372 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1374 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1375 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1376 from a file into memory (restore).
1378 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1380 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1381 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1382 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1384 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1392 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1393 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1394 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1396 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1397 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1398 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1400 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1401 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1402 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1404 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1405 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1406 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1408 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1410 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1412 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1413 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1414 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1415 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1416 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1417 (notably embedded) targets.
1419 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1421 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1422 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1423 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1424 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1426 * New command line option
1428 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1430 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1432 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1433 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1434 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1435 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1436 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1437 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1438 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1439 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1440 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1441 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1443 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1445 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1446 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1448 * New native configurations
1450 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1451 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1452 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1453 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1457 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1459 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1461 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1462 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1463 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1464 permanently REMOVED.
1466 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1467 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1468 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1469 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1470 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1472 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1474 * REMOVED configurations and files
1476 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1478 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1479 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1480 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1481 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1482 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1483 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1484 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1485 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1486 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1487 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1488 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1490 * Changes to command line processing
1492 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1493 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1495 * Changes to key bindings
1497 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1499 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1501 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1503 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1506 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1508 Numerous documentation fixes.
1510 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1512 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1514 * New native configurations
1516 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1517 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1518 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1519 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1520 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1521 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1525 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1527 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1529 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1531 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1532 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1533 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1534 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1535 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1537 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1538 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1539 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1540 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1541 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1542 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1543 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1544 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1546 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1547 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1549 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1550 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1551 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1552 permanently REMOVED.
1554 * REMOVED configurations and files
1556 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1557 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1559 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1563 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1565 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1566 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1571 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1573 * The MI enabled by default.
1575 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1576 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1577 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1578 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1579 which is now deprecated.
1581 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1583 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1584 main features are supported:
1586 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1588 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1591 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1593 - a Pascal expression parser.
1595 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1597 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1599 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1601 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1602 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1604 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1606 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1608 * Changes in completion.
1610 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1611 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1612 users expect at the shell prompt.
1614 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1615 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1616 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1617 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1618 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1619 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1620 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1622 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1624 * New platform-independent commands:
1626 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1627 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1628 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1630 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1632 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1633 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1634 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1636 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1638 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1639 multi-threaded programs though.
1641 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1643 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1645 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1646 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1649 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1651 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1652 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1653 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1654 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1655 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1658 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1659 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1660 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1662 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1664 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1665 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1667 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1668 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1671 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1672 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1673 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1674 a given linear address.
1676 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1677 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1678 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1680 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1682 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1684 * Changes in documentation.
1686 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1687 Documentation License.
1689 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1692 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1694 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1697 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1698 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1699 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1701 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1703 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1704 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1705 contents of this file.
1709 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1711 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1713 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1715 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1716 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1717 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1718 greater level of detail.
1720 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1722 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1723 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1724 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1727 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1729 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1730 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1731 machines ``out of the box''.
1733 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1734 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1735 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1736 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1737 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1739 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1740 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1741 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1742 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1743 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1745 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1746 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1749 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1752 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1753 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1754 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1755 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1757 * New native configurations
1759 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1760 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1764 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1765 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1766 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1767 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1769 * OBSOLETE configurations
1771 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1772 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1774 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1777 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1778 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1779 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1780 be permanently REMOVED.
1782 * Gould support removed
1784 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1786 * New features for SVR4
1788 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1789 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1790 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1792 * Many C++ enhancements
1794 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1795 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1797 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1799 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1800 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1801 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1802 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1804 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1805 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1807 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1809 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1810 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1811 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1813 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1814 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1816 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1818 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1819 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1820 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1822 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1824 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1825 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1826 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1828 * ``apropos'' command added.
1830 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1831 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1832 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1836 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1837 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1838 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1839 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1840 enabled by configuring with:
1842 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1844 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1846 * New native configurations
1848 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1849 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1850 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1854 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1855 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1856 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1858 * OBSOLETE configurations
1860 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1862 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1863 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1864 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1865 be permanently REMOVED.
1869 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1870 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1871 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1872 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1873 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1874 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1875 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1880 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1882 * set extension-language
1884 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1885 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1886 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1887 set extension-language .c c++
1888 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1889 and their associated languages.
1891 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1893 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1894 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1895 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1899 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1900 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1902 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1903 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1905 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1906 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1907 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1908 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1909 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1910 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1911 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1912 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1914 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1915 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1916 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1917 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1921 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1922 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1923 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1924 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1925 for xdb and dbx commands.
1929 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1930 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1931 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1933 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1934 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1935 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1937 * Debugging across forks
1939 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1944 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1945 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1946 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1948 * GDB remote protocol additions
1950 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1951 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1952 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1953 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1955 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1956 full 64-bit address. The command
1958 set remoteaddresssize 32
1960 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1961 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1964 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1965 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1967 maint packet heythere
1969 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1970 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1973 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1974 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1975 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1977 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1979 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1980 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1981 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1983 * mask-address variable for Mips
1985 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1986 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1987 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1989 * Higher serial baud rates
1991 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1992 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1993 to achieve all of these rates.)
1997 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1998 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
2001 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
2003 * New native configurations
2005 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
2006 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
2007 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
2008 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
2009 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
2010 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
2011 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
2015 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
2016 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
2017 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
2018 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
2019 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
2020 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
2021 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
2022 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
2023 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
2024 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2025 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
2027 * New debugging protocols
2029 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
2030 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
2031 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
2032 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2033 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2034 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2038 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
2039 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
2044 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
2045 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
2047 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
2049 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
2050 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
2051 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
2053 * Live range splitting
2055 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
2056 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
2057 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
2061 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
2062 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
2066 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
2067 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
2068 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
2073 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
2078 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
2079 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
2080 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
2081 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
2082 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
2083 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
2087 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
2088 the symbol at the specified address.
2092 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
2093 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
2094 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
2095 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
2096 file tracepoint.c for more details.
2100 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
2101 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
2102 of most MIPS variants.
2106 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
2107 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
2108 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
2112 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
2113 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
2114 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
2115 the possible architectures.
2117 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
2119 * New native configurations
2121 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
2122 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
2123 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
2124 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
2125 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
2126 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
2130 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
2131 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
2132 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
2133 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
2134 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
2136 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2140 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
2141 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
2142 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
2143 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
2144 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
2148 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
2150 * Windows 95/NT native
2152 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
2153 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
2154 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
2155 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
2156 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
2158 * dont-repeat command
2160 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
2161 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
2162 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
2163 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
2165 * Send break instead of ^C
2167 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
2168 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
2169 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
2171 * Remote protocol timeout
2173 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
2174 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
2175 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
2177 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
2179 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
2180 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
2181 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
2182 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
2183 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
2185 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
2186 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
2187 automatically on hpux10.
2189 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
2191 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
2193 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
2195 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
2196 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
2197 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
2198 every character. The default value is 1050.
2200 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
2202 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
2203 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
2204 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
2205 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
2206 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
2207 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
2209 * Speedups for remote debugging
2211 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
2212 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
2213 and more efficient S-record downloading.
2215 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
2217 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
2218 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
2220 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
2222 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
2224 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
2225 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
2227 * Remote targets use caching
2229 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
2230 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
2231 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
2232 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
2233 off' turns the the data cache off.
2235 * Remote targets may have threads
2237 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
2238 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
2239 gdb/remote.c for details.
2243 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
2244 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
2245 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
2246 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
2247 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
2248 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
2249 sequence is something like
2251 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
2253 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
2257 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
2258 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
2259 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
2260 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
2261 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
2262 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
2263 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
2264 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
2268 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
2269 but does simplify configuration and building.
2273 GDB now supports hpux10.
2275 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
2277 * New native configurations
2279 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
2280 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
2281 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
2282 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
2286 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2287 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
2288 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
2289 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
2292 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
2294 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
2295 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
2296 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
2297 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2298 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2300 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2302 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2303 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2306 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2308 To execute the command use:
2311 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2312 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2313 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2315 * New `if' and `while' commands
2317 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2318 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2319 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2320 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2321 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2322 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2323 if the expression is zero.
2325 * Fortran source language mode
2327 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2328 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2329 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2330 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2333 * Better HPUX support
2335 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2336 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2337 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2338 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2339 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2345 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2346 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2352 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2353 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2356 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2357 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2359 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2361 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2362 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2363 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2364 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2365 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2366 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2368 * New DOS host serial code
2370 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2371 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2374 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2376 * New "complete" command
2378 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2379 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2381 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2383 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2384 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2386 * Breakpoint hit counts
2388 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2389 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2390 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2391 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2392 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2395 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2397 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2398 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2399 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2401 * Shared library breakpoints
2403 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2404 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2406 * Hardware watchpoints
2408 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2409 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2411 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2415 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2416 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2418 * Improved Irix 5 support
2420 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2422 * Improved HPPA support
2424 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2426 * New native configurations
2428 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2429 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2430 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2431 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2435 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2436 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2439 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2441 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2442 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2446 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2447 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2449 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2451 * Irix 5 is now supported
2455 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2456 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2457 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2458 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2459 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2462 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2464 * User visible changes:
2468 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2469 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2470 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2471 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2472 debugging info for the mips target).
2474 * DEC Alpha native support
2476 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2477 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2478 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2479 Alpha-specific notes.
2481 * Preliminary thread implementation
2483 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2485 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2487 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2488 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2491 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2493 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2494 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2495 call methods, ...etc.
2497 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2499 * User visible changes:
2501 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2502 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2503 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2504 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2506 Filename completion now works.
2508 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2509 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2510 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2512 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2513 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2514 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2515 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2516 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2520 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2521 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2524 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2528 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2529 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2530 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2534 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2535 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2536 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2537 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2538 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2542 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2543 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2544 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2546 * New targets supported
2548 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2549 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2550 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2551 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2552 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2554 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2555 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2556 GO32 memory extender.
2558 * New remote protocols
2560 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2562 * New source languages supported
2564 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2565 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2566 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2569 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2571 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2573 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2574 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2575 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2576 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2577 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2578 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2580 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2582 * Faster and better demangling
2584 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2585 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2586 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2587 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2588 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2589 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2592 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2593 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2594 compiler does not actually implement.
2596 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2598 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2599 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2600 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2601 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2602 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2603 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2606 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2607 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2609 * Improved configure script
2611 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2612 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2613 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2614 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2616 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2617 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2618 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2619 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2620 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2621 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2623 * Documentation improvements
2625 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2626 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2627 before submitting changes.
2629 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2630 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2631 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2632 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2633 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2635 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2636 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2637 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2638 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2639 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2640 around this problem.
2644 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2645 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2646 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2649 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2650 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2652 * New native hosts supported
2654 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2655 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2657 * New targets supported
2659 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2661 * New file formats supported
2663 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2664 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2668 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2670 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2671 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2673 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2674 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2675 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2677 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2678 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2680 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2681 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2682 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2685 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2686 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2687 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2688 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2689 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2691 * Internal improvements
2693 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2694 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2696 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2697 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2698 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2699 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2700 shared code that handles any of them.
2702 * New command line options
2704 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2708 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2709 General Public License.
2711 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2713 * Host/native/target split
2715 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2716 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2717 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2718 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2719 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2721 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2722 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2723 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2724 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2725 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2726 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2727 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2729 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2730 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2731 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2733 * New hosts supported
2735 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2736 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2737 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2739 * New targets supported
2741 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2742 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2744 * New native hosts supported
2746 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2747 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2748 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2750 * New file formats supported
2752 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2753 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2754 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2758 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2759 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2760 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2762 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2764 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2765 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2766 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2767 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2771 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2772 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2773 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2775 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2779 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2780 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2783 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2784 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2786 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2787 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2788 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2789 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2790 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2791 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2793 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2794 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2795 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2796 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2800 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2801 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2802 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2803 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2804 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2806 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2807 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2808 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2809 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2813 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2814 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2815 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2816 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2817 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2818 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2819 each instruction being stepped through.
2821 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2822 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2824 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2825 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2826 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2827 processor with a serial port.
2831 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2832 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2833 supported, and what files each one uses.
2837 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2838 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2839 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2840 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2842 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2843 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2844 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2845 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2849 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2850 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2851 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2852 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2853 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2854 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2856 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2859 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2861 * Better support for C++ function names
2863 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2864 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2865 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2866 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2867 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2869 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2870 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2871 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2872 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2873 for the list of formats.
2875 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2877 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2878 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2879 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2880 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2881 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2882 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2885 * New 'maintenance' command
2887 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2888 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2889 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2891 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2892 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2893 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2894 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2895 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2896 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2898 The following commands are new:
2900 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2901 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2902 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2904 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2906 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2907 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2908 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2909 read after argv processing.
2911 * New hosts supported
2913 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2915 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2917 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2918 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2919 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2920 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2921 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2924 * New targets supported
2926 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2928 * More smarts about finding #include files
2930 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2931 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2932 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2933 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2934 the one that contains your sources.
2936 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2937 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2938 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2940 * Interesting infernals change
2942 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2943 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2944 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2945 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2947 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2949 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2950 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2951 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2953 See the ChangeLog for details.
2955 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2957 * New machines supported (host and target)
2959 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2961 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2963 * New malloc package
2965 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2966 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2967 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2968 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2969 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2970 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2974 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2975 'help info proc' for details.
2977 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2979 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2980 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2983 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2985 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2986 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2987 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2988 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2989 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2990 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2992 * Cross byte order fixes
2994 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2995 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2997 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2999 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
3000 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
3001 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
3002 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
3003 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
3004 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
3005 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
3006 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
3007 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
3008 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
3010 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
3011 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
3012 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
3013 slower, but makes future operations faster.
3015 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
3016 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
3017 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
3020 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
3022 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
3023 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
3024 shared across multiple host platforms.
3026 * longjmp() handling
3028 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
3029 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
3030 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
3031 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
3035 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
3036 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
3041 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
3042 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
3043 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
3045 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
3047 * New machines supported (host and target)
3049 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
3051 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
3052 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
3054 * New machines supported (target)
3056 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3060 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
3061 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
3062 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
3064 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
3065 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
3066 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
3067 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
3068 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
3071 * New features for SVR4
3073 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
3074 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
3075 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
3077 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
3078 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
3079 it prints the address mappings of the process.
3081 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
3082 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
3084 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
3086 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
3087 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
3088 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
3089 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
3090 same code linked statically.
3094 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
3095 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
3096 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
3097 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
3098 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
3099 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
3103 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
3104 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
3105 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
3108 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
3110 * New machines supported (host and target)
3112 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
3113 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
3114 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3116 * Almost SCO Unix support
3118 We had hoped to support:
3119 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
3120 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
3121 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
3122 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
3124 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
3126 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
3127 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
3128 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
3129 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
3134 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
3135 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
3136 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
3140 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
3141 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
3142 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
3144 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
3146 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
3147 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
3148 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
3150 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
3151 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
3152 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
3153 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
3156 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
3157 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
3158 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
3159 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
3162 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
3163 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
3166 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
3167 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
3168 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
3171 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
3173 * Improved configuration
3175 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
3176 Porting BFD is simpler.
3180 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
3181 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
3182 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
3183 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
3187 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
3189 * New host supported (not target)
3191 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
3194 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
3196 * Multiple source language support
3198 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
3199 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
3200 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
3201 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
3202 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
3203 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
3207 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
3208 currently under development at the State University of New York at
3209 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
3210 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
3212 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
3213 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
3214 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
3216 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
3217 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
3221 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
3222 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
3223 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
3224 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
3227 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
3229 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
3230 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
3231 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
3232 examining core files.
3236 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
3239 * New machines supported (host and target)
3241 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3242 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
3243 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
3245 * New hosts supported (not targets)
3247 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
3249 * New targets supported (not hosts)
3251 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3252 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3253 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
3255 * New remote interfaces
3261 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
3265 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
3267 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
3268 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
3269 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
3270 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
3271 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
3272 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
3273 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
3274 stub on the target system.
3276 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
3278 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
3279 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
3280 object file types such as a.out and coff.
3282 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
3283 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
3286 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
3288 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
3289 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
3291 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
3292 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
3293 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
3295 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
3296 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
3297 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3298 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3300 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3301 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3302 it is already running. Default is ON.
3304 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3305 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3306 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3307 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3310 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3311 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3312 or the value of the environment variable
3315 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3316 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3319 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3320 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3321 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3323 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3324 history expansion will be performed on
3325 command line input. The default is OFF.
3327 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3328 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3329 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3331 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3332 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3333 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3336 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3337 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3338 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3341 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3342 ``set width'' instead.
3344 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3345 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3346 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3347 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3349 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3352 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3355 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3358 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3361 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3363 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3364 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3365 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3369 * Support for Shared Libraries
3371 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3372 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3373 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3374 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3375 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3376 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3377 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3378 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3380 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3381 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3382 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3384 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3389 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3390 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3391 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3392 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3393 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3394 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3396 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3398 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3400 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3401 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3402 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3405 * C++ multiple inheritance
3407 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3410 * C++ exception handling
3412 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3413 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3414 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3417 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3418 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3419 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3421 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3422 current stack frame.
3425 * Minor command changes
3427 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3428 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3429 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3431 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3432 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3433 frames without printing.
3435 * New directory command
3437 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3438 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3439 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3440 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3441 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3443 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3445 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3448 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3449 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3450 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3451 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob