1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.0:
6 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
8 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
9 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
10 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
12 * REMOVED configurations and files
14 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
15 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
17 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
21 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
24 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
26 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
27 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
28 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
31 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
32 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
37 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
38 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
39 remote protocol documentation for details.
41 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
43 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
44 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
45 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
48 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
50 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
53 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
55 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
56 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
58 * Separate debug info.
60 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
61 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
62 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
63 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
64 and optional debug files.
66 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
68 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
69 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
72 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
73 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
77 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
78 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
81 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
83 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
84 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
87 * GDB supports logging output to a file
89 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
90 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
92 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
94 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
95 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
98 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
100 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
101 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
105 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
106 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
107 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
108 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
109 data, for more informative profiling results.
111 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
113 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
114 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
115 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
117 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
120 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
121 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
122 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
123 in a subsequent -var-update.
125 * New native configurations.
127 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
129 * Multi-arched targets.
131 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
132 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
134 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
136 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
137 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
138 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
141 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
142 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
143 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
144 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
145 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
146 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
147 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
148 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
149 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
150 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
151 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
152 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
154 * REMOVED configurations and files
157 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
158 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
159 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
160 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
161 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
162 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
164 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
165 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
166 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
167 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
168 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
169 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
171 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
173 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
174 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
175 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
176 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
177 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
179 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
181 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
183 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
184 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
185 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
186 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
187 shared libs like mad''.
189 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
191 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
192 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
193 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
194 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
196 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
198 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
199 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
202 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
203 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
205 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
206 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
208 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
209 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
210 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
211 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
213 * Multi-arched targets.
215 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
216 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
218 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
219 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
220 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
224 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
227 * New native configurations
229 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
230 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
231 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
232 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
234 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
236 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
237 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
238 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
241 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
242 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
243 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
244 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
245 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
246 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
247 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
248 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
249 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
250 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
252 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
253 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
257 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
259 * REMOVED configurations and files
261 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
262 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
263 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
264 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
265 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
267 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
269 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
271 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
272 commands. The default is 1024.
274 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
276 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
278 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
280 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
281 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
282 from a file into memory (restore).
284 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
286 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
287 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
288 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
290 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
298 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
299 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
300 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
302 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
303 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
304 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
306 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
307 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
308 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
310 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
311 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
312 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
314 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
316 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
318 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
319 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
320 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
321 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
322 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
323 (notably embedded) targets.
325 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
327 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
328 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
329 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
330 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
332 * New command line option
334 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
336 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
338 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
339 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
340 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
341 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
342 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
343 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
344 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
345 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
346 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
347 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
349 * Changes in ARM configurations.
351 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
352 configuration is fully multi-arch.
354 * New native configurations
356 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
357 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
358 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
359 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
363 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
365 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
367 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
368 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
369 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
372 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
373 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
374 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
375 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
376 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
378 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
380 * REMOVED configurations and files
382 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
384 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
385 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
386 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
387 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
388 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
389 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
390 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
391 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
392 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
393 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
394 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
396 * Changes to command line processing
398 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
399 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
401 * Changes to key bindings
403 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
405 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
407 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
409 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
412 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
414 Numerous documentation fixes.
416 Numerous testsuite fixes.
418 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
420 * New native configurations
422 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
423 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
424 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
425 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
427 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
431 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
433 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
435 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
437 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
438 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
439 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
440 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
441 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
443 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
444 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
445 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
446 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
447 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
448 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
449 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
450 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
452 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
453 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
455 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
456 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
457 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
460 * REMOVED configurations and files
462 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
463 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
465 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
469 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
471 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
472 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
477 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
479 * The MI enabled by default.
481 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
482 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
483 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
484 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
485 which is now deprecated.
487 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
489 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
490 main features are supported:
492 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
494 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
497 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
499 - a Pascal expression parser.
501 However, some important features are not yet supported.
503 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
505 - there are some problems with boolean types;
507 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
508 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
510 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
512 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
514 * Changes in completion.
516 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
517 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
518 users expect at the shell prompt.
520 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
521 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
522 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
523 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
524 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
525 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
526 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
528 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
530 * New platform-independent commands:
532 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
533 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
534 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
536 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
538 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
539 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
540 many threads as your system allows you to have.
542 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
544 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
545 multi-threaded programs though.
547 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
549 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
551 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
552 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
555 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
557 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
558 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
559 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
560 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
561 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
564 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
565 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
566 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
568 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
570 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
571 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
573 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
574 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
577 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
578 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
579 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
580 a given linear address.
582 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
583 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
584 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
586 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
588 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
590 * Changes in documentation.
592 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
593 Documentation License.
595 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
598 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
600 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
603 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
604 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
605 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
607 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
609 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
610 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
611 contents of this file.
615 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
617 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
619 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
621 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
622 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
623 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
624 greater level of detail.
626 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
628 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
629 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
630 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
633 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
635 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
636 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
637 machines ``out of the box''.
639 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
640 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
641 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
642 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
643 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
645 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
646 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
647 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
648 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
649 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
651 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
652 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
655 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
658 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
659 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
660 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
661 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
663 * New native configurations
665 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
666 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
670 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
671 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
672 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
673 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
675 * OBSOLETE configurations
677 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
678 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
680 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
683 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
684 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
685 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
686 be permanently REMOVED.
688 * Gould support removed
690 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
692 * New features for SVR4
694 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
695 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
696 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
698 * Many C++ enhancements
700 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
701 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
703 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
705 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
706 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
707 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
708 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
710 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
711 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
713 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
715 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
716 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
717 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
719 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
720 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
722 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
724 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
725 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
726 include ``set remote P-packet''.
728 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
730 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
731 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
732 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
734 * ``apropos'' command added.
736 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
737 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
738 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
742 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
743 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
744 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
745 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
746 enabled by configuring with:
748 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
750 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
752 * New native configurations
754 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
755 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
756 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
760 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
761 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
762 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
764 * OBSOLETE configurations
766 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
768 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
769 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
770 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
771 be permanently REMOVED.
775 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
776 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
777 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
778 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
779 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
780 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
781 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
786 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
788 * set extension-language
790 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
791 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
792 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
793 set extension-language .c c++
794 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
795 and their associated languages.
797 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
799 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
800 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
801 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
805 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
806 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
808 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
809 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
811 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
812 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
813 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
814 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
815 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
816 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
817 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
818 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
820 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
821 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
822 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
823 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
827 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
828 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
829 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
830 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
831 for xdb and dbx commands.
835 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
836 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
837 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
839 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
840 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
841 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
843 * Debugging across forks
845 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
850 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
851 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
852 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
854 * GDB remote protocol additions
856 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
857 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
858 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
859 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
861 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
862 full 64-bit address. The command
864 set remoteaddresssize 32
866 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
867 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
870 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
871 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
873 maint packet heythere
875 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
876 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
879 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
880 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
881 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
883 * Tracing can collect general expressions
885 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
886 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
887 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
889 * mask-address variable for Mips
891 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
892 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
893 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
895 * Higher serial baud rates
897 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
898 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
899 to achieve all of these rates.)
903 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
904 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
907 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
909 * New native configurations
911 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
912 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
913 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
914 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
915 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
916 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
917 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
921 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
922 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
923 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
924 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
925 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
926 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
927 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
928 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
929 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
930 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
931 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
933 * New debugging protocols
935 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
936 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
937 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
938 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
939 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
940 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
944 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
945 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
950 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
951 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
953 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
955 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
956 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
957 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
959 * Live range splitting
961 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
962 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
963 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
967 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
968 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
972 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
973 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
974 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
979 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
984 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
985 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
986 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
987 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
988 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
989 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
993 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
994 the symbol at the specified address.
998 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
999 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1000 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1001 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1002 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1006 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1007 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1008 of most MIPS variants.
1012 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1013 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1014 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1018 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1019 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1020 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1021 the possible architectures.
1023 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1025 * New native configurations
1027 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1028 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1029 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1030 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1031 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1032 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1036 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1037 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1038 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1039 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1040 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1042 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1046 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1047 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1048 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1049 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1050 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1054 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1056 * Windows 95/NT native
1058 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1059 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1060 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1061 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1062 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1064 * dont-repeat command
1066 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1067 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1068 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1069 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1071 * Send break instead of ^C
1073 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1074 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1075 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1077 * Remote protocol timeout
1079 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1080 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1081 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1083 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1085 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1086 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1087 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1088 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1089 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1091 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1092 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1093 automatically on hpux10.
1095 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1097 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1099 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1101 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1102 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1103 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1104 every character. The default value is 1050.
1106 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1108 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1109 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1110 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1111 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1112 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1113 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1115 * Speedups for remote debugging
1117 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1118 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1119 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1121 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1123 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1124 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1126 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1128 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1130 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1131 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1133 * Remote targets use caching
1135 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1136 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1137 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1138 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1139 off' turns the the data cache off.
1141 * Remote targets may have threads
1143 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1144 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1145 gdb/remote.c for details.
1149 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1150 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1151 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1152 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1153 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1154 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1155 sequence is something like
1157 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1159 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1163 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1164 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1165 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1166 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1167 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1168 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1169 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1170 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1174 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1175 but does simplify configuration and building.
1179 GDB now supports hpux10.
1181 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1183 * New native configurations
1185 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1186 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1187 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1188 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1192 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1193 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1194 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1195 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1198 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1200 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1201 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1202 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1203 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1204 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1206 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1208 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1209 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1212 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1214 To execute the command use:
1217 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1218 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1219 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1221 * New `if' and `while' commands
1223 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1224 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1225 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1226 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1227 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1228 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1229 if the expression is zero.
1231 * Fortran source language mode
1233 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1234 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1235 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1236 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1239 * Better HPUX support
1241 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1242 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1243 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1244 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1245 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1251 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1252 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1258 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1259 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1262 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1263 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1265 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1267 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1268 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1269 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1270 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1271 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1272 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1274 * New DOS host serial code
1276 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1277 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1280 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1282 * New "complete" command
1284 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1285 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1287 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1289 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1290 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1292 * Breakpoint hit counts
1294 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1295 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1296 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1297 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1298 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1301 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1303 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1304 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1305 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1307 * Shared library breakpoints
1309 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1310 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1312 * Hardware watchpoints
1314 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1315 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1317 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1321 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1322 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1324 * Improved Irix 5 support
1326 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1328 * Improved HPPA support
1330 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1332 * New native configurations
1334 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1335 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1336 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1337 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1341 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1342 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1345 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1347 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1348 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1352 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1353 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1355 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1357 * Irix 5 is now supported
1361 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1362 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1363 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1364 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1365 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1368 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1370 * User visible changes:
1374 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1375 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1376 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1377 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1378 debugging info for the mips target).
1380 * DEC Alpha native support
1382 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1383 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1384 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1385 Alpha-specific notes.
1387 * Preliminary thread implementation
1389 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1391 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1393 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1394 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1397 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1399 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1400 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1401 call methods, ...etc.
1403 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1405 * User visible changes:
1407 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1408 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1409 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1410 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1412 Filename completion now works.
1414 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1415 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1416 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1418 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1419 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1420 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1421 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1422 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1426 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1427 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1430 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1434 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1435 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1436 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1440 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1441 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1442 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1443 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1444 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1448 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1449 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1450 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1452 * New targets supported
1454 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1455 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1456 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1457 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1458 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1460 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1461 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1462 GO32 memory extender.
1464 * New remote protocols
1466 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1468 * New source languages supported
1470 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1471 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1472 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1475 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1477 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1479 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1480 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1481 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1482 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1483 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1484 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1486 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1488 * Faster and better demangling
1490 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1491 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1492 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1493 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1494 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1495 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1498 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1499 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1500 compiler does not actually implement.
1502 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1504 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1505 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1506 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1507 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1508 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1509 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1512 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1513 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1515 * Improved configure script
1517 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1518 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1519 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1520 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1522 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1523 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1524 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1525 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1526 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1527 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1529 * Documentation improvements
1531 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1532 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1533 before submitting changes.
1535 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1536 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1537 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1538 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1539 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1541 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1542 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1543 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1544 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1545 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1546 around this problem.
1550 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1551 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1552 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1555 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1556 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1558 * New native hosts supported
1560 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1561 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1563 * New targets supported
1565 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1567 * New file formats supported
1569 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1570 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1574 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1576 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1577 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1579 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1580 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1581 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1583 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1584 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1586 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1587 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1588 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1591 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1592 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1593 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1594 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1595 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1597 * Internal improvements
1599 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1600 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1602 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1603 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1604 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1605 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1606 shared code that handles any of them.
1608 * New command line options
1610 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1614 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1615 General Public License.
1617 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1619 * Host/native/target split
1621 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
1622 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
1623 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
1624 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
1625 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
1627 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
1628 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
1629 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
1630 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
1631 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
1632 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
1633 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
1635 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
1636 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
1637 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
1639 * New hosts supported
1641 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
1642 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1643 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
1645 * New targets supported
1647 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1648 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
1650 * New native hosts supported
1652 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1653 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
1654 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
1656 * New file formats supported
1658 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
1659 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
1660 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
1664 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
1665 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
1666 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
1668 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
1670 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
1671 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
1672 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
1673 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
1677 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
1678 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
1679 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
1681 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
1685 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
1686 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
1689 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
1690 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
1692 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
1693 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
1694 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
1695 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
1696 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
1697 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
1699 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
1700 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
1701 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
1702 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
1706 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
1707 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
1708 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
1709 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
1710 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
1712 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
1713 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
1714 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
1715 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
1719 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
1720 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
1721 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
1722 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
1723 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
1724 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
1725 each instruction being stepped through.
1727 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
1728 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
1730 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
1731 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
1732 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
1733 processor with a serial port.
1737 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1738 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1739 supported, and what files each one uses.
1743 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1744 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1745 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1746 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1748 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1749 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1750 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1751 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1755 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1756 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1757 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1758 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1759 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1760 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1762 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1765 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1767 * Better support for C++ function names
1769 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1770 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1771 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1772 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1773 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1775 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1776 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1777 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1778 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1779 for the list of formats.
1781 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1783 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1784 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1785 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1786 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1787 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1788 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1791 * New 'maintenance' command
1793 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1794 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1795 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1797 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1798 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1799 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1800 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1801 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1802 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1804 The following commands are new:
1806 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1807 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1808 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1810 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1812 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1813 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1814 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1815 read after argv processing.
1817 * New hosts supported
1819 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1821 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1823 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1824 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1825 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1826 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1827 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1830 * New targets supported
1832 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1834 * More smarts about finding #include files
1836 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1837 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1838 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1839 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1840 the one that contains your sources.
1842 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1843 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1844 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1846 * Interesting infernals change
1848 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1849 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1850 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1851 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1853 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1855 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1856 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1857 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1859 See the ChangeLog for details.
1861 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1863 * New machines supported (host and target)
1865 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1867 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1869 * New malloc package
1871 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1872 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1873 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1874 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1875 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
1876 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
1880 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
1881 'help info proc' for details.
1883 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
1885 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
1886 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
1889 * File name changes for MS-DOS
1891 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
1892 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
1893 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
1894 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
1895 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
1896 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
1898 * Cross byte order fixes
1900 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
1901 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
1903 * New -mapped and -readnow options
1905 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
1906 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
1907 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
1908 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
1909 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
1910 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
1911 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
1912 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
1913 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
1914 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
1916 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
1917 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
1918 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
1919 slower, but makes future operations faster.
1921 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
1922 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
1923 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
1926 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
1928 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
1929 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
1930 shared across multiple host platforms.
1932 * longjmp() handling
1934 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
1935 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
1936 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
1937 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
1941 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
1942 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
1947 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
1948 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
1949 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
1951 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
1953 * New machines supported (host and target)
1955 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1957 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
1958 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
1960 * New machines supported (target)
1962 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1966 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
1967 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
1968 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
1970 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
1971 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
1972 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
1973 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
1974 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
1977 * New features for SVR4
1979 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
1980 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
1981 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
1983 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
1984 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
1985 it prints the address mappings of the process.
1987 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
1988 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
1990 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
1992 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
1993 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
1994 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
1995 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
1996 same code linked statically.
2000 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2001 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2002 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2003 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2004 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2005 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2009 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2010 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2011 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2014 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2016 * New machines supported (host and target)
2018 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2019 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2020 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2022 * Almost SCO Unix support
2024 We had hoped to support:
2025 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2026 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2027 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2028 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2030 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2032 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2033 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2034 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2035 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2040 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2041 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2042 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2046 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2047 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2048 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2050 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2052 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2053 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2054 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2056 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2057 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2058 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2059 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2062 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2063 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2064 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2065 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2068 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2069 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2072 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2073 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2074 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2077 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2079 * Improved configuration
2081 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2082 Porting BFD is simpler.
2086 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2087 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2088 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2089 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2093 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2095 * New host supported (not target)
2097 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2100 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2102 * Multiple source language support
2104 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2105 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2106 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2107 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2108 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2109 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2113 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2114 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2115 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2116 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2118 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2119 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2120 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2122 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2123 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2127 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2128 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2129 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2130 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2133 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2135 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2136 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2137 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2138 examining core files.
2142 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2145 * New machines supported (host and target)
2147 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2148 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2149 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2151 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2153 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2155 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2157 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2158 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2159 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2161 * New remote interfaces
2167 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2171 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2173 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2174 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2175 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2176 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2177 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2178 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2179 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2180 stub on the target system.
2182 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2184 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2185 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2186 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2188 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2189 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2192 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2194 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2195 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2197 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2198 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2199 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2201 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2202 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2203 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2204 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2206 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2207 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2208 it is already running. Default is ON.
2210 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2211 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2212 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2213 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2216 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2217 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2218 or the value of the environment variable
2221 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2222 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2225 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2226 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2227 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2229 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2230 history expansion will be performed on
2231 command line input. The default is OFF.
2233 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2234 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2235 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2237 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2238 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2239 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2242 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2243 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2244 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2247 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2248 ``set width'' instead.
2250 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2251 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2252 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2253 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2255 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2258 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2261 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2264 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2267 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2269 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2270 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2271 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2275 * Support for Shared Libraries
2277 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2278 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2279 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2280 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2281 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2282 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2283 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2284 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2286 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2287 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2288 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2290 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2295 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2296 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2297 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2298 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2299 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2300 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2302 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2304 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2306 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2307 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2308 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2311 * C++ multiple inheritance
2313 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2316 * C++ exception handling
2318 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2319 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2320 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2323 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2324 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2325 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2327 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2328 current stack frame.
2331 * Minor command changes
2333 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2334 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2335 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2337 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2338 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2339 frames without printing.
2341 * New directory command
2343 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2344 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2345 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2346 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2347 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2349 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2351 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2354 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2355 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2356 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2357 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob