proc-events.c: fix compilation on Solaris
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 8.1
5
6 * The commands 'info variables/functions/types' now show the source line
7 numbers of symbol definitions when available.
8
9 * 'info proc' now works on running processes on FreeBSD systems and core
10 files created on FreeBSD systems.
11
12 * New commands
13
14 set debug fbsd-nat
15 show debug fbsd-nat
16 Control display of debugging info regarding the FreeBSD native target.
17
18 set|show varsize-limit
19 This new setting allows the user to control the maximum size of Ada
20 objects being printed when those objects have a variable type,
21 instead of that maximum size being hardcoded to 65536 bytes.
22
23 set|show record btrace cpu
24 Controls the processor to be used for enabling errata workarounds for
25 branch trace decode.
26
27 * New targets
28
29 RiscV ELF riscv*-*-elf
30
31 * Removed targets and native configurations
32
33 m88k running OpenBSD m88*-*-openbsd*
34 SH-5/SH64 ELF sh64-*-elf*, SH-5/SH64 support in sh*
35 SH-5/SH64 running GNU/Linux SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-linux*
36 SH-5/SH64 running OpenBSD SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-openbsd*
37
38 *** Changes in GDB 8.1
39
40 * GDB now supports dynamically creating arbitrary register groups specified
41 in XML target descriptions. This allows for finer grain grouping of
42 registers on systems with a large amount of registers.
43
44 * The 'ptype' command now accepts a '/o' flag, which prints the
45 offsets and sizes of fields in a struct, like the pahole(1) tool.
46
47 * New "--readnever" command line option instructs GDB to not read each
48 symbol file's symbolic debug information. This makes startup faster
49 but at the expense of not being able to perform symbolic debugging.
50 This option is intended for use cases where symbolic debugging will
51 not be used, e.g., when you only need to dump the debuggee's core.
52
53 * GDB now uses the GNU MPFR library, if available, to emulate target
54 floating-point arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target
55 uses different floating-point formats than the host. At least version
56 3.1 of GNU MPFR is required.
57
58 * GDB now supports access to the guarded-storage-control registers and the
59 software-based guarded-storage broadcast control registers on IBM z14.
60
61 * On Unix systems, GDB now supports transmitting environment variables
62 that are to be set or unset to GDBserver. These variables will
63 affect the environment to be passed to the remote inferior.
64
65 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be transmitted to
66 GDBserver, use the "set environment" command. Only user set
67 environment variables are sent to GDBserver.
68
69 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be unset before
70 the remote inferior is started by the GDBserver, use the "unset
71 environment" command.
72
73 * Completion improvements
74
75 ** GDB can now complete function parameters in linespecs and
76 explicit locations without quoting. When setting breakpoints,
77 quoting around functions names to help with TAB-completion is
78 generally no longer necessary. For example, this now completes
79 correctly:
80
81 (gdb) b function(in[TAB]
82 (gdb) b function(int)
83
84 Related, GDB is no longer confused with completing functions in
85 C++ anonymous namespaces:
86
87 (gdb) b (anon[TAB]
88 (gdb) b (anonymous namespace)::[TAB][TAB]
89 (anonymous namespace)::a_function()
90 (anonymous namespace)::b_function()
91
92 ** GDB now has much improved linespec and explicit locations TAB
93 completion support, that better understands what you're
94 completing and offers better suggestions. For example, GDB no
95 longer offers data symbols as possible completions when you're
96 setting a breakpoint.
97
98 ** GDB now TAB-completes label symbol names.
99
100 ** The "complete" command now mimics TAB completion accurately.
101
102 * New command line options (gcore)
103
104 -a
105 Dump all memory mappings.
106
107 * Breakpoints on C++ functions are now set on all scopes by default
108
109 By default, breakpoints on functions/methods are now interpreted as
110 specifying all functions with the given name ignoring missing
111 leading scopes (namespaces and classes).
112
113 For example, assuming a C++ program with symbols named:
114
115 A::B::func()
116 B::func()
117
118 both commands "break func()" and "break B::func()" set a breakpoint
119 on both symbols.
120
121 You can use the new flag "-qualified" to override this. This makes
122 GDB interpret the specified function name as a complete
123 fully-qualified name instead. For example, using the same C++
124 program, the "break -q B::func" command sets a breakpoint on
125 "B::func", only. A parameter has been added to the Python
126 gdb.Breakpoint constructor to achieve the same result when creating
127 a breakpoint from Python.
128
129 * Breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
130
131 GDB can now set breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
132 (e.g., [abi:cxx11]). See here for a description of ABI tags:
133 https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2015/02/05/gcc5-and-the-c11-abi/
134
135 Functions with a C++11 abi tag are demangled/displayed like this:
136
137 function[abi:cxx11](int)
138 ^^^^^^^^^^^
139
140 You can now set a breakpoint on such functions simply as if they had
141 no tag, like:
142
143 (gdb) b function(int)
144
145 Or if you need to disambiguate between tags, like:
146
147 (gdb) b function[abi:other_tag](int)
148
149 Tab completion was adjusted accordingly as well.
150
151 * Python Scripting
152
153 ** New events gdb.new_inferior, gdb.inferior_deleted, and
154 gdb.new_thread are emitted. See the manual for further
155 description of these.
156
157 ** A new function, "gdb.rbreak" has been added to the Python API.
158 This function allows the setting of a large number of breakpoints
159 via a regex pattern in Python. See the manual for further details.
160
161 ** Python breakpoints can now accept explicit locations. See the
162 manual for a further description of this feature.
163
164
165 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
166
167 ** GDBserver is now able to start inferior processes with a
168 specified initial working directory.
169
170 The user can set the desired working directory to be used from
171 GDB using the new "set cwd" command.
172
173 ** New "--selftest" command line option runs some GDBserver self
174 tests. These self tests are disabled in releases.
175
176 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now does globbing expansion and variable
177 substitution in inferior command line arguments.
178
179 This is done by starting inferiors using a shell, like GDB does.
180 See "set startup-with-shell" in the user manual for how to disable
181 this from GDB when using "target extended-remote". When using
182 "target remote", you can disable the startup with shell by using the
183 new "--no-startup-with-shell" GDBserver command line option.
184
185 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now supports receiving environment
186 variables that are to be set or unset from GDB. These variables
187 will affect the environment to be passed to the inferior.
188
189 * When catching an Ada exception raised with a message, GDB now prints
190 the message in the catchpoint hit notification. In GDB/MI mode, that
191 information is provided as an extra field named "exception-message"
192 in the *stopped notification.
193
194 * Trait objects can now be inspected When debugging Rust code. This
195 requires compiler support which will appear in Rust 1.24.
196
197 * New remote packets
198
199 QEnvironmentHexEncoded
200 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be passed to
201 the inferior when starting it.
202
203 QEnvironmentUnset
204 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be unset
205 before starting the remote inferior.
206
207 QEnvironmentReset
208 Inform GDBserver that the environment should be reset (i.e.,
209 user-set environment variables should be unset).
210
211 QStartupWithShell
212 Indicates whether the inferior must be started with a shell or not.
213
214 QSetWorkingDir
215 Tell GDBserver that the inferior to be started should use a specific
216 working directory.
217
218 * The "maintenance print c-tdesc" command now takes an optional
219 argument which is the file name of XML target description.
220
221 * The "maintenance selftest" command now takes an optional argument to
222 filter the tests to be run.
223
224 * The "enable", and "disable" commands now accept a range of
225 breakpoint locations, e.g. "enable 1.3-5".
226
227 * New commands
228
229 set|show cwd
230 Set and show the current working directory for the inferior.
231
232 set|show compile-gcc
233 Set and show compilation command used for compiling and injecting code
234 with the 'compile' commands.
235
236 set debug separate-debug-file
237 show debug separate-debug-file
238 Control the display of debug output about separate debug file search.
239
240 set dump-excluded-mappings
241 show dump-excluded-mappings
242 Control whether mappings marked with the VM_DONTDUMP flag should be
243 dumped when generating a core file.
244
245 maint info selftests
246 List the registered selftests.
247
248 starti
249 Start the debugged program stopping at the first instruction.
250
251 set|show debug or1k
252 Control display of debugging messages related to OpenRISC targets.
253
254 set|show print type nested-type-limit
255 Set and show the limit of nesting level for nested types that the
256 type printer will show.
257
258 * TUI Single-Key mode now supports two new shortcut keys: `i' for stepi and
259 `o' for nexti.
260
261 * Safer/improved support for debugging with no debug info
262
263 GDB no longer assumes functions with no debug information return
264 'int'.
265
266 This means that GDB now refuses to call such functions unless you
267 tell it the function's type, by either casting the call to the
268 declared return type, or by casting the function to a function
269 pointer of the right type, and calling that:
270
271 (gdb) p getenv ("PATH")
272 'getenv' has unknown return type; cast the call to its declared return type
273 (gdb) p (char *) getenv ("PATH")
274 $1 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
275 (gdb) p ((char * (*) (const char *)) getenv) ("PATH")
276 $2 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
277
278 Similarly, GDB no longer assumes that global variables with no debug
279 info have type 'int', and refuses to print the variable's value
280 unless you tell it the variable's type:
281
282 (gdb) p var
283 'var' has unknown type; cast it to its declared type
284 (gdb) p (float) var
285 $3 = 3.14
286
287 * New native configurations
288
289 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
290 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
291
292 * New targets
293
294 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
295 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
296 OpenRISC ELF or1k*-*-elf
297
298 * Removed targets and native configurations
299
300 Solaris 2.0-9 i?86-*-solaris2.[0-9], sparc*-*-solaris2.[0-9]
301
302 *** Changes in GDB 8.0
303
304 * GDB now supports access to the PKU register on GNU/Linux. The register is
305 added by the Memory Protection Keys for Userspace feature which will be
306 available in future Intel CPUs.
307
308 * GDB now supports C++11 rvalue references.
309
310 * Python Scripting
311
312 ** New functions to start, stop and access a running btrace recording.
313 ** Rvalue references are now supported in gdb.Type.
314
315 * GDB now supports recording and replaying rdrand and rdseed Intel 64
316 instructions.
317
318 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++11 compiler.
319
320 For example, GCC 4.8 or later.
321
322 It is no longer possible to build GDB or GDBserver with a C
323 compiler. The --disable-build-with-cxx configure option has been
324 removed.
325
326 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.81.
327
328 It is no longer supported to build GDB or GDBserver with another
329 implementation of the make program or an earlier version of GNU make.
330
331 * Native debugging on MS-Windows supports command-line redirection
332
333 Command-line arguments used for starting programs on MS-Windows can
334 now include redirection symbols supported by native Windows shells,
335 such as '<', '>', '>>', '2>&1', etc. This affects GDB commands such
336 as "run", "start", and "set args", as well as the corresponding MI
337 features.
338
339 * Support for thread names on MS-Windows.
340
341 GDB now catches and handles the special exception that programs
342 running on MS-Windows use to assign names to threads in the
343 debugger.
344
345 * Support for Java programs compiled with gcj has been removed.
346
347 * User commands now accept an unlimited number of arguments.
348 Previously, only up to 10 was accepted.
349
350 * The "eval" command now expands user-defined command arguments.
351
352 This makes it easier to process a variable number of arguments:
353
354 define mycommand
355 set $i = 0
356 while $i < $argc
357 eval "print $arg%d", $i
358 set $i = $i + 1
359 end
360 end
361
362 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for sparc32 and sparc64.
363
364 * GDB now supports DWARF version 5 (debug information format).
365 Its .debug_names index is not yet supported.
366
367 * New native configurations
368
369 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
370
371 * New targets
372
373 Synopsys ARC arc*-*-elf32
374 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
375
376 * Removed targets and native configurations
377
378 Alpha running FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
379 Alpha running GNU/kFreeBSD alpha*-*-kfreebsd*-gnu
380
381 * New commands
382
383 flash-erase
384 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target.
385
386 maint print arc arc-instruction address
387 Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
388
389 * New options
390
391 set disassembler-options
392 show disassembler-options
393 Controls the passing of target specific information to the disassembler.
394 If it is necessary to specify more than one disassembler option then
395 multiple options can be placed together into a comma separated list.
396 The default value is the empty string. Currently, the only supported
397 targets are ARM, PowerPC and S/390.
398
399 * New MI commands
400
401 -target-flash-erase
402 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
403 equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
404
405 -file-list-shared-libraries
406 List the shared libraries in the program. This is
407 equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
408
409 -catch-handlers
410 Catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are
411 handled. This is equivalent to the CLI command "catch handlers".
412
413 *** Changes in GDB 7.12
414
415 * GDB and GDBserver now build with a C++ compiler by default.
416
417 The --enable-build-with-cxx configure option is now enabled by
418 default. One must now explicitly configure with
419 --disable-build-with-cxx in order to build with a C compiler. This
420 option will be removed in a future release.
421
422 * GDBserver now supports recording btrace without maintaining an active
423 GDB connection.
424
425 * GDB now supports a negative repeat count in the 'x' command to examine
426 memory backward from the given address. For example:
427
428 (gdb) bt
429 #0 Func1 (n=42, p=0x40061c "hogehoge") at main.cpp:4
430 #1 0x400580 in main (argc=1, argv=0x7fffffffe5c8) at main.cpp:8
431 (gdb) x/-5i 0x0000000000400580
432 0x40056a <main(int, char**)+8>: mov %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
433 0x40056d <main(int, char**)+11>: mov %rsi,-0x10(%rbp)
434 0x400571 <main(int, char**)+15>: mov $0x40061c,%esi
435 0x400576 <main(int, char**)+20>: mov $0x2a,%edi
436 0x40057b <main(int, char**)+25>:
437 callq 0x400536 <Func1(int, char const*)>
438
439 * Fortran: Support structures with fields of dynamic types and
440 arrays of dynamic types.
441
442 * The symbol dumping maintenance commands have new syntax.
443 maint print symbols [-pc address] [--] [filename]
444 maint print symbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
445 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-pc address] [--] [filename]
446 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
447 maint print msymbols [-objfile objfile] [--] [filename]
448
449 * GDB now supports multibit bitfields and enums in target register
450 descriptions.
451
452 * New Python-based convenience function $_as_string(val), which returns
453 the textual representation of a value. This function is especially
454 useful to obtain the text label of an enum value.
455
456 * Intel MPX bound violation handling.
457
458 Segmentation faults caused by a Intel MPX boundary violation
459 now display the kind of violation (upper or lower), the memory
460 address accessed and the memory bounds, along with the usual
461 signal received and code location.
462
463 For example:
464
465 Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault
466 Upper bound violation while accessing address 0x7fffffffc3b3
467 Bounds: [lower = 0x7fffffffc390, upper = 0x7fffffffc3a3]
468 0x0000000000400d7c in upper () at i386-mpx-sigsegv.c:68
469
470 * Rust language support.
471 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Rust programming
472 language. See https://www.rust-lang.org/ for more information about
473 Rust.
474
475 * Support for running interpreters on specified input/output devices
476
477 GDB now supports a new mechanism that allows frontends to provide
478 fully featured GDB console views, as a better alternative to
479 building such views on top of the "-interpreter-exec console"
480 command. See the new "new-ui" command below. With that command,
481 frontends can now start GDB in the traditional command-line mode
482 running in an embedded terminal emulator widget, and create a
483 separate MI interpreter running on a specified i/o device. In this
484 way, GDB handles line editing, history, tab completion, etc. in the
485 console all by itself, and the GUI uses the separate MI interpreter
486 for its own control and synchronization, invisible to the command
487 line.
488
489 * The "catch syscall" command catches groups of related syscalls.
490
491 The "catch syscall" command now supports catching a group of related
492 syscalls using the 'group:' or 'g:' prefix.
493
494 * New commands
495
496 skip -file file
497 skip -gfile file-glob-pattern
498 skip -function function
499 skip -rfunction regular-expression
500 A generalized form of the skip command, with new support for
501 glob-style file names and regular expressions for function names.
502 Additionally, a file spec and a function spec may now be combined.
503
504 maint info line-table REGEXP
505 Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data struture.
506
507 maint selftest
508 Run any GDB unit tests that were compiled in.
509
510 new-ui INTERP TTY
511 Start a new user interface instance running INTERP as interpreter,
512 using the TTY file for input/output.
513
514 * Python Scripting
515
516 ** gdb.Breakpoint objects have a new attribute "pending", which
517 indicates whether the breakpoint is pending.
518 ** Three new breakpoint-related events have been added:
519 gdb.breakpoint_created, gdb.breakpoint_modified, and
520 gdb.breakpoint_deleted.
521
522 signal-event EVENTID
523 Signal ("set") the given MS-Windows event object. This is used in
524 conjunction with the Windows JIT debugging (AeDebug) support, where
525 the OS suspends a crashing process until a debugger can attach to
526 it. Resuming the crashing process, in order to debug it, is done by
527 signalling an event.
528
529 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on s390-linux and s390x-linux
530 was added in GDBserver, including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's
531 conditional expression bytecode into native code.
532
533 * Support for various remote target protocols and ROM monitors has
534 been removed:
535
536 target m32rsdi Remote M32R debugging over SDI
537 target mips MIPS remote debugging protocol
538 target pmon PMON ROM monitor
539 target ddb NEC's DDB variant of PMON for Vr4300
540 target rockhopper NEC RockHopper variant of PMON
541 target lsi LSI variant of PMO
542
543 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on powerpc-linux,
544 powerpc64-linux, and powerpc64le-linux was added in GDBserver,
545 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression
546 bytecode into native code.
547
548 * MI async record =record-started now includes the method and format used for
549 recording. For example:
550
551 =record-started,thread-group="i1",method="btrace",format="bts"
552
553 * MI async record =thread-selected now includes the frame field. For example:
554
555 =thread-selected,id="3",frame={level="0",addr="0x00000000004007c0"}
556
557 * New targets
558
559 Andes NDS32 nds32*-*-elf
560
561 *** Changes in GDB 7.11
562
563 * GDB now supports debugging kernel-based threads on FreeBSD.
564
565 * Per-inferior thread numbers
566
567 Thread numbers are now per inferior instead of global. If you're
568 debugging multiple inferiors, GDB displays thread IDs using a
569 qualified INF_NUM.THR_NUM form. For example:
570
571 (gdb) info threads
572 Id Target Id Frame
573 1.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8155) (running)
574 1.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8168) (running)
575 * 2.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157) (running)
576 2.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8190) (running)
577
578 As consequence, thread numbers as visible in the $_thread
579 convenience variable and in Python's InferiorThread.num attribute
580 are no longer unique between inferiors.
581
582 GDB now maintains a second thread ID per thread, referred to as the
583 global thread ID, which is the new equivalent of thread numbers in
584 previous releases. See also $_gthread below.
585
586 For backwards compatibility, MI's thread IDs always refer to global
587 IDs.
588
589 * Commands that accept thread IDs now accept the qualified
590 INF_NUM.THR_NUM form as well. For example:
591
592 (gdb) thread 2.1
593 [Switching to thread 2.1 (Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157))] (running)
594 (gdb)
595
596 * In commands that accept a list of thread IDs, you can now refer to
597 all threads of an inferior using a star wildcard. GDB accepts
598 "INF_NUM.*", to refer to all threads of inferior INF_NUM, and "*" to
599 refer to all threads of the current inferior. For example, "info
600 threads 2.*".
601
602 * You can use "info threads -gid" to display the global thread ID of
603 all threads.
604
605 * The new convenience variable $_gthread holds the global number of
606 the current thread.
607
608 * The new convenience variable $_inferior holds the number of the
609 current inferior.
610
611 * GDB now displays the ID and name of the thread that hit a breakpoint
612 or received a signal, if your program is multi-threaded. For
613 example:
614
615 Thread 3 "bar" hit Breakpoint 1 at 0x40087a: file program.c, line 20.
616 Thread 1 "main" received signal SIGINT, Interrupt.
617
618 * Record btrace now supports non-stop mode.
619
620 * Support for tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver.
621
622 * The 'record instruction-history' command now indicates speculative execution
623 when using the Intel Processor Trace recording format.
624
625 * GDB now allows users to specify explicit locations, bypassing
626 the linespec parser. This feature is also available to GDB/MI
627 clients.
628
629 * Multi-architecture debugging is supported on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
630 GDB now is able to debug both AArch64 applications and ARM applications
631 at the same time.
632
633 * Support for fast tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver,
634 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression bytecode
635 into native code.
636
637 * GDB now supports displaced stepping on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
638
639 * "info threads", "info inferiors", "info display", "info checkpoints"
640 and "maint info program-spaces" now list the corresponding items in
641 ascending ID order, for consistency with all other "info" commands.
642
643 * In Ada, the overloads selection menu has been enhanced to display the
644 parameter types and the return types for the matching overloaded subprograms.
645
646 * New commands
647
648 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
649 maint show target-non-stop
650 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
651 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
652 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
653
654 maint set bfd-sharing
655 maint show bfd-sharing
656 Control the reuse of bfd objects.
657
658 set debug bfd-cache
659 show debug bfd-cache
660 Control display of debugging info regarding bfd caching.
661
662 set debug fbsd-lwp
663 show debug fbsd-lwp
664 Control display of debugging info regarding FreeBSD threads.
665
666 set remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
667 show remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
668 Set/show the use of the remote protocol multiprocess extensions.
669
670 set remote thread-events
671 show remote thread-events
672 Set/show the use of thread create/exit events.
673
674 set ada print-signatures on|off
675 show ada print-signatures"
676 Control whether parameter types and return types are displayed in overloads
677 selection menus. It is activaled (@code{on}) by default.
678
679 set max-value-size
680 show max-value-size
681 Controls the maximum size of memory, in bytes, that GDB will
682 allocate for value contents. Prevents incorrect programs from
683 causing GDB to allocate overly large buffers. Default is 64k.
684
685 * The "disassemble" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
686 It prints mixed source+disassembly like /m with two differences:
687 - disassembled instructions are now printed in program order, and
688 - and source for all relevant files is now printed.
689 The "/m" option is now considered deprecated: its "source-centric"
690 output hasn't proved useful in practice.
691
692 * The "record instruction-history" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
693 It behaves exactly like /m and prints mixed source+disassembly.
694
695 * The "set scheduler-locking" command supports a new mode "replay".
696 It behaves like "off" in record mode and like "on" in replay mode.
697
698 * Support for various ROM monitors has been removed:
699
700 target dbug dBUG ROM monitor for Motorola ColdFire
701 target picobug Motorola picobug monitor
702 target dink32 DINK32 ROM monitor for PowerPC
703 target m32r Renesas M32R/D ROM monitor
704 target mon2000 mon2000 ROM monitor
705 target ppcbug PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC
706
707 * Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
708 whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
709
710 catch handlers
711 Allows to break when an Ada exception is handled.
712
713 * New remote packets
714
715 exec stop reason
716 Indicates that an exec system call was executed.
717
718 exec-events feature in qSupported
719 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for exec
720 events using the new 'gdbfeature' exec-event, and the qSupported
721 response can contain the corresponding 'stubfeature'. Set and
722 show commands can be used to display whether these features are enabled.
723
724 vCtrlC
725 Equivalent to interrupting with the ^C character, but works in
726 non-stop mode.
727
728 thread created stop reason (T05 create:...)
729 Indicates that the thread was just created and is stopped at entry.
730
731 thread exit stop reply (w exitcode;tid)
732 Indicates that the thread has terminated.
733
734 QThreadEvents
735 Enables/disables thread create and exit event reporting. For
736 example, this is used in non-stop mode when GDB stops a set of
737 threads and synchronously waits for the their corresponding stop
738 replies. Without exit events, if one of the threads exits, GDB
739 would hang forever not knowing that it should no longer expect a
740 stop for that same thread.
741
742 N stop reply
743 Indicates that there are no resumed threads left in the target (all
744 threads are stopped). The remote stub reports support for this stop
745 reply to GDB's qSupported query.
746
747 QCatchSyscalls
748 Enables/disables catching syscalls from the inferior process.
749 The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's qSupported query.
750
751 syscall_entry stop reason
752 Indicates that a syscall was just called.
753
754 syscall_return stop reason
755 Indicates that a syscall just returned.
756
757 * Extended-remote exec events
758
759 ** GDB now has support for exec events on extended-remote Linux targets.
760 For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later, this enables
761 follow-exec-mode and exec catchpoints.
762
763 set remote exec-event-feature-packet
764 show remote exec-event-feature-packet
765 Set/show the use of the remote exec event feature.
766
767 * Thread names in remote protocol
768
769 The reply to qXfer:threads:read may now include a name attribute for each
770 thread.
771
772 * Target remote mode fork and exec events
773
774 ** GDB now has support for fork and exec events on target remote mode
775 Linux targets. For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later,
776 this enables follow-fork-mode, detach-on-fork, follow-exec-mode, and
777 fork and exec catchpoints.
778
779 * Remote syscall events
780
781 ** GDB now has support for catch syscall on remote Linux targets,
782 currently enabled on x86/x86_64 architectures.
783
784 set remote catch-syscall-packet
785 show remote catch-syscall-packet
786 Set/show the use of the remote catch syscall feature.
787
788 * MI changes
789
790 ** The -var-set-format command now accepts the zero-hexadecimal
791 format. It outputs data in hexadecimal format with zero-padding on the
792 left.
793
794 * Python Scripting
795
796 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "global_num",
797 which refers to the thread's global thread ID. The existing
798 "num" attribute now refers to the thread's per-inferior number.
799 See "Per-inferior thread numbers" above.
800 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "inferior", which
801 is the Inferior object the thread belongs to.
802
803 *** Changes in GDB 7.10
804
805 * Support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on aarch64*-linux*
806 targets has been added. GDB now supports recording of A64 instruction set
807 including advance SIMD instructions.
808
809 * Support for Sun's version of the "stabs" debug file format has been removed.
810
811 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
812 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
813 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
814 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
815 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
816 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
817 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
818
819 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
820 cpu information :
821 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
822
823 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
824 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
825 remote serial I/O.
826
827 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
828 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
829 and may include things like its command line arguments.
830
831 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
832 is now available on all platforms.
833
834 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
835 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
836 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
837 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
838 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
839 backward compatibility.
840
841 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
842 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
843 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
844 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
845
846 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
847 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
848 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
849 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
850 packets" below.
851
852 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
853
854 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
855
856 * On GNU/Linux, GDB and gdbserver are now able to access executable
857 and shared library files without a "set sysroot" command when
858 attaching to processes running in different mount namespaces from
859 the debugger. This makes it possible to attach to processes in
860 containers as simply as "gdb -p PID" or "gdbserver --attach PID".
861 See "New remote packets" below.
862
863 * The "tui reg" command now provides completion for all of the
864 available register groups, including target specific groups.
865
866 * The HISTSIZE environment variable is no longer read when determining
867 the size of GDB's command history. GDB now instead reads the dedicated
868 GDBHISTSIZE environment variable. Setting GDBHISTSIZE to "-1" or to "" now
869 disables truncation of command history. Non-numeric values of GDBHISTSIZE
870 are ignored.
871
872 * Guile Scripting
873
874 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
875
876 * Python Scripting
877
878 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
879 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
880 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
881 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
882 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
883 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
884 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
885 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
886 "const" version of the value respectively.
887
888 * New commands
889
890 maint print symbol-cache
891 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
892
893 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
894 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
895
896 maint flush-symbol-cache
897 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
898
899 record btrace bts
900 record bts
901 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
902
903 compile print
904 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
905
906 tui enable
907 tui disable
908 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
909
910 show mpx bound
911 set mpx bound on i386 and amd64
912 Support for bound table investigation on Intel MPX enabled applications.
913
914 record btrace pt
915 record pt
916 Start branch trace recording using Intel Processor Trace format.
917
918 maint info btrace
919 Print information about branch tracing internals.
920
921 maint btrace packet-history
922 Print the raw branch tracing data.
923
924 maint btrace clear-packet-history
925 Discard the stored raw branch tracing data.
926
927 maint btrace clear
928 Discard all branch tracing data. It will be fetched and processed
929 anew by the next "record" command.
930
931 * New options
932
933 set debug dwarf-die
934 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-die".
935 show debug dwarf-die
936 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-die".
937
938 set debug dwarf-read
939 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-read".
940 show debug dwarf-read
941 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-read".
942
943 maint set dwarf always-disassemble
944 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 always-disassemble".
945 maint show dwarf always-disassemble
946 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 always-disassemble".
947
948 maint set dwarf max-cache-age
949 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 max-cache-age".
950 maint show dwarf max-cache-age
951 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 max-cache-age".
952
953 set debug dwarf-line
954 show debug dwarf-line
955 Control display of debugging info regarding DWARF line processing.
956
957 set max-completions
958 show max-completions
959 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
960 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
961 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
962 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
963
964 set history remove-duplicates
965 show history remove-duplicates
966 Control the removal of duplicate history entries.
967
968 maint set symbol-cache-size
969 maint show symbol-cache-size
970 Control the size of the symbol cache.
971
972 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
973 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
974 BTS format.
975 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
976 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
977
978 set debug linux-namespaces
979 show debug linux-namespaces
980 Control display of debugging info regarding Linux namespaces.
981
982 set|show record btrace pt buffer-size
983 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
984 Intel Processor Trace format.
985 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
986 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
987
988 maint set|show btrace pt skip-pad
989 Set and show whether PAD packets are skipped when computing the
990 packet history.
991
992 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
993 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
994
995 * Python/Guile scripting
996
997 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
998 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
999
1000 * New remote packets
1001
1002 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
1003 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
1004
1005 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
1006 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
1007
1008 Qbtrace:pt
1009 Enable Intel Procesor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
1010 process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
1011 qSupported query.
1012
1013 Qbtrace-conf:pt:size
1014 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in Intel Processor
1015 Trace format.
1016
1017 swbreak stop reason
1018 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
1019 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
1020 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
1021 mode operation.
1022
1023 hwbreak stop reason
1024 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
1025 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
1026
1027 vFile:fstat:
1028 Return information about files on the remote system.
1029
1030 qXfer:exec-file:read
1031 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
1032 create a process running on the remote system.
1033
1034 vFile:setfs:
1035 Select the filesystem on which vFile: operations with filename
1036 arguments will operate. This is required for GDB to be able to
1037 access files on remote targets where the remote stub does not
1038 share a common filesystem with the inferior(s).
1039
1040 fork stop reason
1041 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
1042
1043 vfork stop reason
1044 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
1045
1046 vforkdone stop reason
1047 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
1048 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
1049
1050 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
1051 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
1052 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
1053 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
1054 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
1055 whether these features are enabled.
1056
1057 * Extended-remote fork events
1058
1059 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
1060 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
1061 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
1062 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
1063
1064 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
1065 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
1066 the btrace record target.
1067 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
1068
1069 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
1070 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
1071
1072 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
1073 targets.
1074
1075 * Removed command line options
1076
1077 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
1078
1079 * Removed targets and native configurations
1080
1081 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
1082 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1083
1084 * New configure options
1085
1086 --with-intel-pt
1087 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with support for
1088 Intel Processor Trace (default: auto). This requires libipt.
1089
1090 --with-libipt-prefix=PATH
1091 Specify the path to the version of libipt that GDB should use.
1092 $PATH/include should contain the intel-pt.h header and
1093 $PATH/lib should contain the libipt.so library.
1094
1095 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
1096
1097 * Python Scripting
1098
1099 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
1100
1101 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
1102
1103 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
1104
1105 * Python Scripting
1106
1107 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
1108 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
1109 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
1110 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
1111 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
1112 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
1113 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
1114 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
1115 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
1116 selecting a new file to debug.
1117 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
1118 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
1119
1120 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
1121 inferior.
1122
1123 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
1124 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
1125 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
1126 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
1127
1128 * New Python-based convenience functions:
1129
1130 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
1131 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
1132 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
1133 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
1134
1135 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
1136 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
1137 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
1138 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
1139 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
1140 interface with this new feature are:
1141
1142 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
1143 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
1144
1145 * New commands
1146
1147 demangle [-l language] [--] name
1148 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
1149 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
1150 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
1151 as "maint demangler-warning".
1152
1153 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
1154 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
1155
1156 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
1157 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
1158 scripts.
1159
1160 maint print user-registers
1161 List all currently available "user" registers.
1162
1163 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
1164 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
1165 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
1166
1167 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
1168 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
1169 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
1170 provided.
1171
1172 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
1173 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
1174 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
1175 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
1176 at resume time.
1177
1178 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
1179 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
1180 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
1181 switched threads meanwhile.
1182
1183 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
1184
1185 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
1186 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
1187 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
1188 is now the default mode.
1189
1190 * New options
1191
1192 set debug symbol-lookup
1193 show debug symbol-lookup
1194 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
1195
1196 * MI changes
1197
1198 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
1199 inferiors that have exited.
1200
1201 * New targets
1202
1203 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
1204
1205 * Removed targets
1206
1207 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
1208
1209 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
1210 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
1211 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
1212 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
1213 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
1214
1215 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
1216 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
1217 its alias "share", instead.
1218
1219 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
1220
1221 * New command line options
1222
1223 -D data-directory
1224 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
1225
1226 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
1227 as specified in ISO C99.
1228
1229 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
1230 with or without disassembly.
1231
1232 * Guile scripting
1233
1234 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
1235 available is determined at configure time.
1236 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
1237 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
1238
1239 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1240
1241 guile [code]
1242 gu [code]
1243 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
1244
1245 guile-repl
1246 gr
1247 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
1248
1249 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
1250 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
1251
1252 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
1253 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
1254
1255 * New options
1256
1257 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
1258 show print symbol-loading
1259 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
1260 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
1261 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
1262 becomes less useful.
1263
1264 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
1265 show guile print-stack
1266 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
1267
1268 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
1269 show auto-load guile-scripts
1270 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
1271
1272 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
1273 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
1274 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
1275 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
1276 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
1277 usage of this option.
1278
1279 set auto-connect-native-target
1280
1281 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
1282 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
1283 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
1284
1285 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
1286 show record btrace replay-memory-access
1287 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
1288
1289 maint set target-async (on|off)
1290 maint show target-async
1291 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
1292 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
1293 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
1294 occurring only in synchronous mode.
1295
1296 set mi-async (on|off)
1297 show mi-async
1298 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
1299 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
1300
1301 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
1302 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
1303
1304 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
1305 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
1306 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
1307 "set target-async on" command.
1308
1309 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1310
1311 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
1312 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
1313 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
1314 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
1315 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
1316
1317 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
1318 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
1319 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
1320
1321 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
1322 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
1323 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
1324 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
1325 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
1326 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
1327 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
1328
1329 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
1330 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
1331
1332 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
1333 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
1334 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
1335
1336 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
1337 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
1338 memory or registers.
1339
1340 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
1341
1342 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
1343 remote. It now works with all targets.
1344
1345 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
1346 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
1347 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
1348 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
1349 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
1350 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
1351 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
1352 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
1353 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
1354 target-stack".
1355
1356 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
1357 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
1358 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
1359
1360 * GDB now supports access to Intel MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
1361
1362 * Support for Intel AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
1363 Support displaying and modifying Intel AVX-512 registers
1364 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
1365
1366 * New remote packets
1367
1368 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
1369 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
1370 branch trace incrementally.
1371
1372 * Python Scripting
1373
1374 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
1375 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
1376 available.
1377 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
1378 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
1379 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
1380 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
1381 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
1382
1383 * New targets
1384 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
1385
1386 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
1387 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
1388 its alias "share", instead.
1389
1390 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
1391 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
1392 instead.
1393
1394 * MI changes
1395
1396 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
1397 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
1398 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
1399 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
1400 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
1401 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
1402 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
1403 commands and CLI execution commands.
1404
1405 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
1406
1407 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
1408 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
1409 recording has been added.
1410
1411 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
1412
1413 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
1414 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
1415
1416 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
1417 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
1418 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
1419 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
1420 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
1421 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
1422 "void".
1423
1424 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
1425
1426 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
1427
1428 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
1429 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
1430 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
1431 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
1432
1433 (gdb) p $rax
1434 $1 = <not saved>
1435
1436 (gdb) info registers rax
1437 rax <not saved>
1438
1439 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
1440 "*value not available*".
1441
1442 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
1443 to binaries.
1444
1445 * Python scripting
1446
1447 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
1448 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
1449 ** Line tables representation has been added.
1450 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
1451 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
1452 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
1453
1454 * New targets
1455
1456 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
1457 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
1458 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
1459
1460 * Removed native configurations
1461
1462 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
1463 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
1464
1465 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1466 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1467 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
1468 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
1469 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1470 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1471 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1472
1473 * New commands:
1474 catch rethrow
1475 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
1476 maint check-psymtabs
1477 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
1478 maint check-symtabs
1479 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
1480 maint expand-symtabs
1481 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
1482
1483 show configuration
1484 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
1485
1486 maint set|show per-command
1487 maint set|show per-command space
1488 maint set|show per-command time
1489 maint set|show per-command symtab
1490 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
1491
1492 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
1493 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
1494 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
1495 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
1496 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
1497
1498 info exceptions
1499 info exceptions REGEXP
1500 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
1501 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
1502 are listed.
1503
1504 * New options
1505
1506 set debug symfile off|on
1507 show debug symfile
1508 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
1509 symbol tables within those files
1510
1511 set print raw frame-arguments
1512 show print raw frame-arguments
1513 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
1514 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
1515
1516 set remote trace-status-packet
1517 show remote trace-status-packet
1518 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
1519
1520 set debug nios2
1521 show debug nios2
1522 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
1523
1524 set range-stepping
1525 show range-stepping
1526 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
1527
1528 set startup-with-shell
1529 show startup-with-shell
1530 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
1531 directly.
1532
1533 set code-cache
1534 show code-cache
1535 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
1536 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
1537
1538 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
1539 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
1540 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
1541 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
1542 "set height 0".
1543
1544 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
1545 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
1546 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
1547
1548 * New command-line options
1549 --configuration
1550 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
1551
1552 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
1553 buffer in Common Trace Format.
1554
1555 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
1556 GDB command gcore.
1557
1558 * GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
1559
1560 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
1561 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
1562
1563 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
1564 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
1565
1566 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
1567 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
1568 due to an uncaught signal.
1569
1570 * MI changes
1571
1572 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
1573 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
1574 command, which should contain "language-option".
1575
1576 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
1577 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
1578
1579 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
1580 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
1581 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
1582 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
1583 "undefined-command-error-code".
1584
1585 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
1586 Trace Format now.
1587
1588 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
1589
1590 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
1591 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
1592 are displayed.
1593
1594 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
1595 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
1596
1597 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
1598 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
1599 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
1600
1601 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
1602 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
1603 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
1604 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
1605 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
1606 "exec-run-start-option".
1607
1608 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
1609 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
1610
1611 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
1612 the new "info exceptions" command.
1613
1614 * New system-wide configuration scripts
1615 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
1616 configuration scripts for the following systems:
1617 ** ElinOS
1618 ** Wind River Linux
1619
1620 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
1621 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
1622 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
1623 below.
1624
1625 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
1626 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
1627
1628 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
1629 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
1630 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
1631
1632 * New remote packets
1633
1634 vCont;r
1635
1636 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
1637 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
1638 involvemement at each single-step.
1639
1640 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
1641 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
1642 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
1643 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
1644 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
1645 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
1646 speedup.
1647
1648 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1649
1650 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
1651 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
1652
1653 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
1654 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
1655 trace state variables.
1656
1657 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
1658 target.
1659
1660 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
1661 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
1662
1663 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
1664
1665 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
1666 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
1667 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
1668 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1669
1670 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
1671
1672 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
1673 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
1674 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
1675 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
1676
1677 set|show record full insn-number-max
1678 set|show record full stop-at-limit
1679 set|show record full memory-query
1680
1681 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
1682 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
1683 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
1684 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
1685 This new recording method can be enabled using:
1686
1687 record btrace
1688
1689 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
1690 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
1691
1692 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
1693 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
1694 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
1695
1696 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
1697 instruction granularity
1698
1699 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
1700 function granularity
1701
1702 * New native configurations
1703
1704 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
1705 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
1706 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
1707 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
1708
1709 * New targets
1710
1711 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
1712 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
1713 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
1714 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
1715 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
1716
1717 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
1718 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
1719 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
1720 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
1721 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
1722 --data-directory command-line option.
1723
1724 * New command line options:
1725
1726 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
1727 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
1728
1729 * Removed command line options
1730
1731 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
1732 Emacs.
1733
1734 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
1735 type formatting.
1736
1737 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
1738
1739 * Python scripting
1740
1741 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
1742
1743 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
1744
1745 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
1746
1747 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
1748
1749 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
1750 of architecture in the Python API.
1751
1752 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
1753 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
1754
1755 * New Python-based convenience functions:
1756
1757 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
1758 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
1759 ** $_strlen(str)
1760 ** $_regex(str, regex)
1761
1762 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
1763 given an argument.
1764
1765 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
1766 default for GCC since November 2000.
1767
1768 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
1769
1770 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
1771 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
1772
1773 * New configure options
1774
1775 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
1776 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
1777 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
1778 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
1779 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
1780 options allow the user to override that default.
1781 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
1782 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
1783 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
1784
1785 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1786
1787 catch signal
1788 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
1789 conditions to be attached.
1790
1791 maint info bfds
1792 List the BFDs known to GDB.
1793
1794 python-interactive [command]
1795 pi [command]
1796 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
1797 and print the result of expressions.
1798
1799 py [command]
1800 "py" is a new alias for "python".
1801
1802 enable type-printer [name]...
1803 disable type-printer [name]...
1804 Enable or disable type printers.
1805
1806 * Removed commands
1807
1808 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
1809 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
1810 instead.
1811
1812 * New options
1813
1814 set print type methods (on|off)
1815 show print type methods
1816 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
1817 The default is to show them.
1818
1819 set print type typedefs (on|off)
1820 show print type typedefs
1821 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
1822 The default is to show them.
1823
1824 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
1825 show filename-display
1826 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
1827 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
1828
1829 set trace-buffer-size
1830 show trace-buffer-size
1831 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
1832
1833 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
1834 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
1835 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
1836
1837 set debug aarch64
1838 show debug aarch64
1839 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
1840 The default is off.
1841
1842 set debug coff-pe-read
1843 show debug coff-pe-read
1844 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
1845 exported symbols.
1846
1847 set debug mach-o
1848 show debug mach-o
1849 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
1850 processing.
1851
1852 set debug notification
1853 show debug notification
1854 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
1855
1856 * MI changes
1857
1858 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
1859 "=cmd-param-changed".
1860 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
1861 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
1862 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
1863 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
1864 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
1865 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
1866 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
1867 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
1868 "=memory-changed".
1869 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
1870 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
1871 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
1872 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
1873 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
1874 library load/unload events.
1875 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
1876 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
1877 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
1878 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
1879 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
1880 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
1881 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
1882 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
1883
1884 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
1885 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
1886 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
1887 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
1888
1889 * New remote packets
1890
1891 QTBuffer:size
1892 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
1893 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
1894
1895 Qbtrace:bts
1896 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
1897 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
1898 qSupported query.
1899
1900 Qbtrace:off
1901 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
1902 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
1903
1904 qXfer:btrace:read
1905 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
1906 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
1907
1908 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
1909
1910 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
1911 for more x32 ABI info.
1912
1913 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
1914
1915 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
1916
1917 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
1918 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
1919 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
1920 "info os files" lists file descriptors
1921 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
1922 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
1923 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
1924 "info os msg" lists message queues
1925 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
1926
1927 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
1928 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
1929 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
1930 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
1931 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
1932 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
1933
1934 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
1935 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
1936 record/replay support.
1937
1938 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
1939
1940 * Python scripting
1941
1942 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
1943 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
1944
1945 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
1946
1947 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
1948 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
1949
1950 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
1951
1952 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
1953 the source at which the symbol was defined.
1954
1955 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
1956 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
1957 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
1958 symbol's value.
1959
1960 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
1961 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
1962
1963 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
1964 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
1965 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
1966
1967 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
1968 object associated with a PC value.
1969
1970 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
1971 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
1972
1973 * Go language support.
1974 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
1975 language.
1976
1977 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
1978 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
1979
1980 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
1981 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
1982
1983 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
1984 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
1985 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
1986 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
1987 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
1988 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
1989
1990 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
1991 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
1992 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
1993 build/libcpp/expr.c.
1994
1995 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
1996 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
1997
1998 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
1999 since December 2007.
2000
2001 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
2002 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
2003 command does. For instance:
2004
2005 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
2006
2007 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
2008 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
2009 created, using the "condition" command.
2010
2011 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
2012 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
2013
2014 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
2015
2016 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
2017 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
2018 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
2019 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
2020 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
2021 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
2022 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
2023 files with older .gdb_index sections.
2024
2025 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
2026 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
2027 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
2028 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
2029 the .gdb_index section.
2030
2031 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
2032
2033 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
2034 target.
2035
2036 * MI changes
2037
2038 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
2039
2040 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
2041
2042 * New commands
2043
2044 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
2045 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
2046 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
2047
2048 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
2049 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
2050
2051 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
2052 several hits.
2053
2054 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
2055 C++ and Java objects.
2056
2057 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
2058 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
2059 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
2060 configured with '--with-python'.
2061
2062 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
2063 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
2064 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
2065 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
2066 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
2067 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
2068 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
2069
2070 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
2071 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
2072 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
2073 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
2074
2075 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
2076 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
2077 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
2078 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
2079
2080 ** "set print symbol"
2081 "show print symbol"
2082 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
2083 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
2084 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
2085
2086 * Deprecated commands
2087
2088 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
2089 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
2090
2091 * New targets
2092
2093 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
2094 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
2095
2096 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
2097 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
2098 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
2099 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
2100 evaluates to true.
2101
2102 * New options
2103
2104 set mips compression
2105 show mips compression
2106 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
2107 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
2108 mips16
2109 micromips
2110 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
2111
2112 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
2113 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
2114 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
2115 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
2116 available mode.
2117 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
2118 target.
2119
2120 set auto-load off
2121 Disable auto-loading globally.
2122
2123 show auto-load
2124 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
2125
2126 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
2127 show auto-load gdb-scripts
2128 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
2129
2130 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
2131 show auto-load python-scripts
2132 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
2133
2134 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
2135 show auto-load local-gdbinit
2136 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
2137
2138 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
2139 show auto-load libthread-db
2140 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
2141
2142 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
2143 show auto-load scripts-directory
2144 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
2145 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
2146 of the directories listed by this option.
2147 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
2148
2149 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
2150 show auto-load safe-path
2151 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
2152 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
2153
2154 set debug auto-load on|off
2155 show debug auto-load
2156 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
2157
2158 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
2159 show dprintf-style
2160 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
2161 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
2162 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
2163 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
2164
2165 set dprintf-function <expr>
2166 show dprintf-function
2167 set dprintf-channel <expr>
2168 show dprintf-channel
2169 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
2170 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
2171
2172 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
2173 show disconnected-dprintf
2174 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
2175 after GDB disconnects.
2176
2177 * New configure options
2178
2179 --with-auto-load-dir
2180 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
2181 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
2182 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
2183 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
2184 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
2185
2186 --with-auto-load-safe-path
2187 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
2188 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
2189
2190 --without-auto-load-safe-path
2191 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
2192 security feature.
2193
2194 * New remote packets
2195
2196 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
2197
2198 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
2199 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
2200 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
2201 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
2202
2203 QProgramSignals:
2204
2205 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
2206 program without GDB involvement.
2207
2208 * New command line options
2209
2210 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
2211 before loading inferior.
2212 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
2213 execute it before loading inferior.
2214
2215 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
2216
2217 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
2218 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
2219 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
2220 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
2221 inferior changes.
2222
2223 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
2224 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
2225
2226 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
2227 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
2228 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
2229 target hardware watchpoint.
2230
2231 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
2232 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
2233 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
2234 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
2235
2236 * Python scripting
2237
2238 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
2239 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
2240 existing one.
2241
2242 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
2243 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
2244 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
2245 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
2246 now "message", which just prints the error message without
2247 the stack trace.
2248
2249 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
2250 Python API.
2251
2252 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
2253 modules library. This module provides functionality for
2254 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
2255 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
2256 corresponding value.
2257
2258 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
2259 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
2260 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
2261 on GDB start-up.
2262
2263 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
2264 static_block will return the global and static blocks
2265 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
2266 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
2267
2268 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
2269
2270 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
2271 "gdb.breakpoints".
2272
2273 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
2274 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
2275 available in the CLI.
2276
2277 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
2278 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
2279 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
2280 "some_type.items()".
2281
2282 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
2283 new object file.
2284
2285 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
2286 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
2287 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
2288 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
2289 any anonymous fields.
2290
2291 * MI changes
2292
2293 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
2294 "solib-event".
2295
2296 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
2297 "=breakpoint-modified".
2298
2299 ** New command -ada-task-info.
2300
2301 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
2302 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
2303 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
2304 lives.
2305
2306 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
2307 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
2308 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
2309 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
2310 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
2311
2312 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
2313 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
2314
2315 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
2316 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
2317 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
2318 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
2319 use this option to specify where to find it.
2320
2321 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
2322 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
2323 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
2324 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
2325 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
2326 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
2327 section in the user manual for more details.
2328
2329 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
2330 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
2331 become available after that.
2332
2333 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
2334
2335 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
2336 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
2337 gcc version 4.7.
2338
2339 * New commands
2340
2341 !SHELL COMMAND
2342 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
2343 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
2344
2345 * Changed commands
2346
2347 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
2348 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
2349 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
2350
2351 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
2352 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
2353 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
2354
2355 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
2356 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
2357 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
2358 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
2359 name starts with a hyphen.
2360
2361 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
2362 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
2363 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
2364 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
2365 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
2366 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
2367 number of bytes that will be collected.
2368
2369 tstart [NOTES]
2370 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
2371 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
2372 setting the variable trace-notes.
2373
2374 tstop [NOTES]
2375 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
2376 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
2377 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
2378 trace-stop-notes.
2379
2380 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
2381 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
2382 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
2383 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
2384 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
2385 is running.
2386
2387 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
2388 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
2389 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
2390
2391 * New options
2392
2393 set debug dwarf2-read
2394 show debug dwarf2-read
2395 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
2396 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
2397
2398 set debug symtab-create
2399 show debug symtab-create
2400 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
2401 creation. The default is off.
2402
2403 set extended-prompt
2404 show extended-prompt
2405 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
2406 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
2407 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
2408 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
2409 prompt is displayed.
2410
2411 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
2412 show print entry-values
2413 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
2414 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
2415 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
2416
2417 set debug entry-values
2418 show debug entry-values
2419 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
2420 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
2421
2422 set basenames-may-differ
2423 show basenames-may-differ
2424 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
2425 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
2426 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
2427 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
2428 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
2429 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
2430 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
2431 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
2432
2433 set trace-user
2434 show trace-user
2435 set trace-notes
2436 show trace-notes
2437 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
2438 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
2439 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
2440 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
2441
2442 set trace-stop-notes
2443 show trace-stop-notes
2444 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
2445 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
2446 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
2447 started by someone else.
2448
2449 * New remote packets
2450
2451 QTEnable
2452
2453 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
2454
2455 QTDisable
2456
2457 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
2458
2459 QTNotes
2460
2461 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
2462
2463 qTP
2464
2465 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
2466
2467 qTMinFTPILen
2468
2469 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
2470 be placed.
2471
2472 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
2473 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
2474
2475 * New targets
2476
2477 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
2478
2479 * New Simulators
2480
2481 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
2482
2483 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
2484
2485 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
2486
2487 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
2488
2489 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
2490 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
2491 matches the given regular expression.
2492
2493 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
2494
2495 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
2496 dumping the instruction opcodes.
2497
2498 * New command line options
2499
2500 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
2501 This is mostly for testing purposes.
2502
2503 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
2504 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
2505
2506 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
2507 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
2508 source path list instead of augmenting it.
2509
2510 * GDB now understands thread names.
2511
2512 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
2513 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
2514
2515 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
2516 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
2517
2518 * OpenCL C
2519 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
2520 has been integrated into GDB.
2521
2522 * Python scripting
2523
2524 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
2525 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
2526 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
2527
2528 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
2529 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
2530 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
2531 and allows for more dynamic content.
2532
2533 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
2534 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
2535 have an is_valid method.
2536
2537 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
2538 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
2539 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
2540
2541 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
2542
2543 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
2544 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
2545 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
2546 that function like so:
2547
2548 result = some_value (10,20)
2549
2550 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
2551 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
2552 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
2553
2554 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
2555 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
2556 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
2557 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
2558 New function: register_pretty_printer.
2559
2560 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
2561 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
2562
2563 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
2564
2565 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
2566 selected thread.
2567
2568 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
2569 holds the thread's name.
2570
2571 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
2572 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
2573 occurring in the process being debugged.
2574 The following events are currently supported:
2575 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
2576 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
2577 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
2578
2579 * C++ Improvements:
2580
2581 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
2582 instantiation. For example, if you have:
2583
2584 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
2585
2586 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
2587 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
2588 was added to GCC 4.5.
2589
2590 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
2591 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
2592 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
2593 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
2594 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
2595 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
2596
2597 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
2598 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
2599 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
2600 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
2601 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
2602
2603 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
2604 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
2605 execution to a label.
2606
2607 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
2608 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
2609 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
2610 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
2611
2612 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
2613 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
2614 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
2615 of scope.
2616
2617 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
2618
2619 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
2620 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
2621 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
2622 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
2623 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
2624 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
2625
2626 (gdb) info threads
2627 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
2628
2629 While now you see this:
2630
2631 (gdb) info threads
2632 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
2633
2634 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
2635 dumps.
2636
2637 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
2638 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
2639 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
2640 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
2641
2642 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
2643 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
2644 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
2645 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
2646 section in the user manual for more details.
2647
2648 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2649
2650 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
2651 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
2652
2653 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
2654
2655 * New native configurations
2656
2657 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
2658
2659 * New targets:
2660
2661 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
2662
2663 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
2664 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
2665 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
2666 in the GDB user manual.
2667
2668 * Guile support was removed.
2669
2670 * New features in the GNU simulator
2671
2672 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
2673
2674 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
2675
2676 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
2677
2678 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
2679
2680 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
2681 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
2682 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
2683 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
2684 was always disabled for such configurations.
2685
2686 * C++ Improvements:
2687
2688 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
2689
2690 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
2691 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
2692 For example:
2693 namespace A
2694 {
2695 class B { };
2696 void foo (B) { }
2697 }
2698 ...
2699 A::B b
2700 foo(b)
2701 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
2702 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
2703 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
2704
2705 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
2706
2707 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
2708 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
2709 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
2710 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
2711 entry.
2712 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
2713 mentioned flavors of operators.
2714
2715 ** static const class members
2716
2717 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
2718 class definition has been fixed.
2719
2720 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
2721
2722 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
2723 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
2724 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
2725 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
2726 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
2727 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
2728
2729 * Static tracepoints
2730
2731 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
2732 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
2733 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
2734 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
2735 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
2736 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
2737 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
2738 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
2739 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
2740 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
2741 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
2742 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
2743 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
2744 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
2745 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
2746 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
2747 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
2748 the "New remote packets" section below.
2749
2750 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
2751
2752 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
2753 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
2754 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
2755 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
2756
2757 * Observer mode
2758
2759 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
2760 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
2761 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
2762 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
2763 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
2764 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
2765 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
2766
2767 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
2768 current thread.
2769
2770 * New remote packets
2771
2772 qGetTIBAddr
2773
2774 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
2775
2776 qRelocInsn
2777
2778 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
2779 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
2780 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
2781 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
2782 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
2783 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
2784
2785 qTfSTM, qTsSTM
2786
2787 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
2788
2789 qTSTMat
2790
2791 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
2792 program.
2793
2794 qXfer:statictrace:read
2795
2796 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
2797 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
2798 to gdb's qSupported query.
2799
2800 QAllow
2801
2802 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
2803
2804 QTDPsrc
2805
2806 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
2807 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
2808
2809 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
2810 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
2811 a directory.
2812
2813 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2814
2815 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
2816 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
2817 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
2818 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
2819
2820 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
2821 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
2822 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
2823 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
2824 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
2825 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
2826 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
2827
2828 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
2829 for static tracepoints support.
2830
2831 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
2832
2833 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
2834 it understands register description.
2835
2836 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
2837
2838 * X86 general purpose registers
2839
2840 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
2841 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
2842 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
2843 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
2844 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
2845
2846 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
2847 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
2848 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
2849 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
2850 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
2851 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
2852
2853 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
2854 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
2855 in the specified file.
2856
2857 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
2858 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
2859 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
2860 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
2861 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
2862 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
2863 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
2864 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
2865 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
2866 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
2867
2868 * New commands
2869
2870 eval template, expressions...
2871 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
2872 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
2873
2874 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
2875 show target-file-system-kind
2876 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
2877 names.
2878
2879 save breakpoints <filename>
2880 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
2881 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
2882 definitions, use the `source' command.
2883
2884 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
2885 is now deprecated.
2886
2887 info static-tracepoint-markers
2888 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
2889
2890 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
2891 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
2892 function, line, address, or marker ID.
2893
2894 set observer on|off
2895 show observer
2896 Enable and disable observer mode.
2897
2898 set may-write-registers on|off
2899 set may-write-memory on|off
2900 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
2901 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
2902 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
2903 set may-interrupt on|off
2904 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
2905 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
2906 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
2907 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
2908 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
2909 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
2910 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
2911
2912 set record memory-query on|off
2913 show record memory-query
2914 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
2915 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
2916
2917 * Changed commands
2918
2919 disassemble
2920 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
2921
2922 * Python scripting
2923
2924 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
2925 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
2926 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
2927 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
2928 GDB using Python' in the manual.
2929
2930 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
2931 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
2932 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
2933 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
2934
2935 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
2936 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
2937
2938 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
2939
2940 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
2941
2942 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
2943
2944 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
2945 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
2946 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
2947
2948 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
2949 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
2950 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
2951 regular breakpoints.
2952
2953 * New targets
2954
2955 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
2956
2957 * D language support.
2958 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
2959 language.
2960
2961 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
2962 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
2963 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
2964 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
2965 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
2966
2967 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
2968 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
2969 conditions of the form:
2970
2971 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
2972
2973 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
2974 interface mentioned above.
2975
2976 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
2977
2978 * C++ Improvements
2979
2980 ** Namespace Support
2981
2982 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
2983 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
2984 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
2985 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
2986 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
2987
2988 ** Bug Fixes
2989
2990 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
2991 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
2992 qualified name.
2993
2994 ** Cast Operators
2995
2996 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
2997 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
2998
2999 * New targets
3000
3001 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
3002 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
3003
3004 * New Simulators
3005
3006 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
3007 Renesas RX rx
3008
3009 * Multi-program debugging.
3010
3011 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
3012 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
3013 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
3014 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
3015 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
3016 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
3017 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
3018 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
3019
3020 * New tracing features
3021
3022 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
3023
3024 ** Trace state variables
3025
3026 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
3027 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
3028 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
3029 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
3030 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
3031 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
3032 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
3033 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
3034 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
3035 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
3036
3037 ** Fast tracepoints
3038
3039 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
3040 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
3041 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
3042 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
3043 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
3044 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
3045 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
3046 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
3047 the regular trace command.
3048
3049 ** Disconnected tracing
3050
3051 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
3052 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
3053 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
3054 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
3055 connection is lost unexpectedly.
3056
3057 ** Trace files
3058
3059 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
3060 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
3061 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
3062 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
3063 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
3064 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
3065 <name>".
3066
3067 ** Circular trace buffer
3068
3069 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
3070 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
3071 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
3072 not be available for all target agents.
3073
3074 * Changed commands
3075
3076 disassemble
3077 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
3078 the arguments to be comma-separated.
3079
3080 info variables
3081 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
3082 which only declare a variable are not shown.
3083
3084 source
3085 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
3086 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
3087 support.
3088
3089 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
3090 "set script-extension" (see below).
3091
3092 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3093
3094 record save [<FILENAME>]
3095 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
3096 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
3097
3098 record restore <FILENAME>
3099 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
3100 earlier time, for replay debugging.
3101
3102 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
3103 Add a new inferior.
3104
3105 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
3106 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
3107 inferior has loaded.
3108
3109 remove-inferior ID
3110 Remove an inferior.
3111
3112 maint info program-spaces
3113 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
3114
3115 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
3116 show remote interrupt-sequence
3117 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
3118 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
3119 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
3120 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
3121 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
3122
3123 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
3124 show remote interrupt-on-connect
3125 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
3126 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
3127 Linux kernel.
3128
3129 set remotebreak [on | off]
3130 show remotebreak
3131 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
3132
3133 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
3134 Create or modify a trace state variable.
3135
3136 info tvariables
3137 List trace state variables and their values.
3138
3139 delete tvariable $NAME ...
3140 Delete one or more trace state variables.
3141
3142 teval EXPR, ...
3143 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
3144 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
3145
3146 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
3147 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
3148
3149 * New expression syntax
3150
3151 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
3152 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
3153
3154 * New options
3155
3156 set follow-exec-mode new|same
3157 show follow-exec-mode
3158 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
3159 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
3160 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
3161
3162 set default-collect EXPR, ...
3163 show default-collect
3164 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
3165 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
3166 such as registers or a critical global variable.
3167
3168 set disconnected-tracing
3169 show disconnected-tracing
3170 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
3171 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
3172 upon disconnection.
3173
3174 set circular-trace-buffer
3175 show circular-trace-buffer
3176 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
3177 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
3178 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
3179 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
3180
3181 set script-extension off|soft|strict
3182 show script-extension
3183 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
3184 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
3185 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
3186 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
3187 evaluation failed.
3188 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
3189
3190 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
3191 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
3192 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
3193 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
3194 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
3195 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
3196 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
3197 is on.
3198
3199 * Python API Improvements
3200
3201 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
3202 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
3203 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
3204
3205 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
3206 `is_base_class' attribute.
3207
3208 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
3209
3210 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
3211 evaluate an expression.
3212
3213 * New remote packets
3214
3215 QTDV
3216 Define a trace state variable.
3217
3218 qTV
3219 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
3220
3221 QTDisconnected
3222 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
3223
3224 QTBuffer:circular
3225 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
3226
3227 qTfP, qTsP
3228 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
3229
3230 * Bug fixes
3231
3232 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
3233
3234 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
3235 much more reliable. In particular:
3236 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
3237 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
3238 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
3239 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
3240 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
3241 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
3242 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
3243 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
3244 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
3245 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
3246 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
3247 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
3248 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
3249 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
3250 non-threaded programs.
3251
3252 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
3253 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
3254 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
3255 executable program.
3256
3257 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
3258
3259 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
3260 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
3261 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
3262 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
3263 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
3264
3265 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
3266 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
3267 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
3268 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
3269 for tracepoint actions.
3270
3271 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
3272 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
3273 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
3274
3275 * Process record and replay
3276
3277 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
3278 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
3279 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
3280 execute commands.
3281
3282 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
3283 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
3284 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
3285 reverse execution.
3286
3287 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
3288 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
3289 2.6.28 or later.
3290
3291 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
3292 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
3293 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
3294 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
3295 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
3296 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
3297 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
3298 the installation instructions for more information.
3299
3300 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
3301 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
3302 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
3303 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
3304
3305 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
3306 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
3307
3308 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
3309 now complete on file names.
3310
3311 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
3312 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
3313 For instance, consider:
3314
3315 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
3316 # struct example variable;
3317 (gdb) p variable.
3318
3319 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
3320 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
3321
3322 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
3323 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
3324
3325 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
3326 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
3327 macros.
3328
3329 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
3330 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
3331 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
3332
3333 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
3334 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
3335 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
3336 and simulator targets may also provide them.
3337
3338 * New remote packets
3339
3340 qSearch:memory:
3341 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
3342
3343 QStartNoAckMode
3344 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
3345 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
3346 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
3347
3348 vKill
3349 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
3350 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
3351
3352 qXfer:osdata:read
3353 Obtains additional operating system information
3354
3355 qXfer:siginfo:read
3356 qXfer:siginfo:write
3357 Read or write additional signal information.
3358
3359 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
3360
3361 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
3362 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
3363 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
3364
3365 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
3366 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
3367
3368 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
3369 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
3370 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
3371
3372 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
3373 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
3374
3375 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
3376
3377 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
3378
3379 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
3380 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
3381
3382 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
3383 list of section offsets.
3384
3385 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
3386 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
3387 have also been fixed.
3388
3389 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
3390 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
3391 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
3392
3393 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
3394 example, given:
3395
3396 template<typename T> class C { };
3397 C<char const *> c;
3398
3399 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
3400
3401 ptype C<char const *>
3402 ptype C<char const*>
3403 ptype C<const char *>
3404 ptype C<const char*>
3405
3406 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
3407
3408 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
3409 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
3410
3411 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
3412 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
3413 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
3414
3415 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
3416 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
3417
3418 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
3419 gdbserver.
3420
3421 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
3422 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
3423
3424 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
3425 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
3426 as appropriate.
3427
3428 * Python scripting
3429
3430 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
3431 available is determined at configure time.
3432
3433 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
3434
3435 * Ada tasking support
3436
3437 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
3438 been introduced:
3439
3440 info tasks
3441 Print the list of Ada tasks.
3442 info task N
3443 Print detailed information about task number N.
3444 task
3445 Print the task number of the current task.
3446 task N
3447 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
3448
3449 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
3450 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
3451
3452 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
3453
3454 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
3455 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
3456 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
3457 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
3458 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
3459 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
3460 below.
3461
3462 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
3463 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
3464 information.
3465
3466 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
3467 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
3468 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
3469 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
3470 more information.
3471
3472 * Multi-architecture debugging.
3473
3474 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
3475 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
3476 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
3477 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
3478 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
3479
3480 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
3481 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
3482 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
3483 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
3484 --enable-targets configure option.
3485
3486 * Non-stop mode debugging.
3487
3488 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
3489 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
3490 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
3491 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
3492 section in the user manual for more information.
3493
3494 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
3495 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
3496 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
3497 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
3498 extensions on linux targets.
3499
3500 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3501
3502 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
3503 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
3504 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
3505 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
3506 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
3507 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
3508 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
3509 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
3510 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
3511
3512 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
3513 val1 [, val2, ...]
3514 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
3515
3516 maint set python print-stack
3517 maint show python print-stack
3518 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
3519
3520 python [CODE]
3521 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
3522
3523 macro define
3524 macro list
3525 macro undef
3526 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
3527 interactively.
3528
3529 info os processes
3530 Show operating system information about processes.
3531
3532 info inferiors
3533 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
3534
3535 inferior NUM
3536 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
3537
3538 detach inferior NUM
3539 Detach from inferior number NUM.
3540
3541 kill inferior NUM
3542 Kill inferior number NUM.
3543
3544 * New options
3545
3546 set spu stop-on-load
3547 show spu stop-on-load
3548 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
3549
3550 set spu auto-flush-cache
3551 show spu auto-flush-cache
3552 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
3553 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
3554
3555 set sh calling-convention
3556 show sh calling-convention
3557 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
3558
3559 set debug timestamp
3560 show debug timestamp
3561 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
3562
3563 set disassemble-next-line
3564 show disassemble-next-line
3565 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
3566 the debuggee stops.
3567
3568 set remote noack-packet
3569 show remote noack-packet
3570 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
3571 under "New remote packets."
3572
3573 set remote query-attached-packet
3574 show remote query-attached-packet
3575 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
3576
3577 set remote read-siginfo-object
3578 show remote read-siginfo-object
3579 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
3580 packet.
3581
3582 set remote write-siginfo-object
3583 show remote write-siginfo-object
3584 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
3585 packet.
3586
3587 set remote reverse-continue
3588 show remote reverse-continue
3589 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
3590
3591 set remote reverse-step
3592 show remote reverse-step
3593 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
3594
3595 set displaced-stepping
3596 show displaced-stepping
3597 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
3598 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
3599 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
3600
3601 set debug displaced
3602 show debug displaced
3603 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
3604
3605 maint set internal-error
3606 maint show internal-error
3607 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
3608
3609 maint set internal-warning
3610 maint show internal-warning
3611 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
3612
3613 set exec-wrapper
3614 show exec-wrapper
3615 unset exec-wrapper
3616 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
3617
3618 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
3619 show multiple-symbols
3620 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
3621 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
3622 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
3623
3624 set breakpoint always-inserted
3625 show breakpoint always-inserted
3626 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
3627 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
3628 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
3629
3630 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
3631 show arm fallback-mode
3632 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
3633 show arm force-mode
3634 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
3635 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
3636 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
3637 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
3638
3639 set disable-randomization
3640 show disable-randomization
3641 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
3642 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
3643 multiple debugging sessions.
3644
3645 set non-stop
3646 show non-stop
3647 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
3648 a breakpoint.
3649
3650 set target-async
3651 show target-async
3652 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
3653 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
3654 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
3655 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
3656
3657 set target-wide-charset
3658 show target-wide-charset
3659 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
3660 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
3661
3662 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
3663 show tcp auto-retry
3664 set tcp connect-timeout
3665 show tcp connect-timeout
3666 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
3667 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
3668 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
3669
3670 set libthread-db-search-path
3671 show libthread-db-search-path
3672 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
3673 libthread_db.
3674
3675 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
3676 show schedule-multiple
3677 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
3678 the current process.
3679
3680 set stack-cache
3681 show stack-cache
3682 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
3683 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
3684 affecting correctness.
3685
3686 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
3687 show interactive-mode
3688 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
3689 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
3690 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
3691 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
3692 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
3693
3694 * Removed commands
3695
3696 info forks
3697 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
3698 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
3699 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
3700 command.
3701
3702 fork NUM
3703 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
3704 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
3705 alias for the `fork' command.
3706
3707 process PID
3708 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
3709 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
3710 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
3711
3712 delete fork NUM
3713 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
3714 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
3715 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
3716 fork' command.
3717
3718 detach fork NUM
3719 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
3720 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
3721 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
3722 fork' command.
3723
3724 * New native configurations
3725
3726 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
3727
3728 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
3729
3730 * New targets
3731
3732 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
3733 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
3734 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
3735 S+core 3 score-*-*
3736
3737 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
3738 (mingw32ce) debugging.
3739
3740 * Removed commands
3741
3742 catch load
3743 catch unload
3744 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
3745
3746 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
3747
3748 * New native configurations
3749
3750 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
3751 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
3752
3753 * New targets
3754
3755 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
3756 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
3757
3758 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
3759
3760 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
3761 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
3762 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
3763 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
3764
3765 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
3766 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
3767
3768 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
3769 is resolved.
3770
3771 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
3772 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
3773 and in inlined functions.
3774
3775 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
3776 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
3777 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
3778
3779 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
3780
3781 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
3782 registers on PowerPC targets.
3783
3784 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
3785 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
3786
3787 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
3788 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
3789
3790 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
3791 extended-remote mode.
3792
3793 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
3794 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
3795 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
3796 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
3797
3798 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
3799 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
3800 target architectures.
3801
3802 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
3803 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
3804 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
3805 stored in two consecutive float registers.
3806
3807 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
3808 breakpoints now.
3809
3810 * Improved support for debugging Ada
3811 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
3812 include:
3813 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
3814 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
3815 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
3816 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
3817 of an assignment
3818 - Improved command completion in Ada
3819 - Several bug fixes
3820
3821 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
3822 process.
3823
3824 * New commands
3825
3826 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
3827 show print frame-arguments
3828 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
3829 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
3830
3831 remote put
3832 remote get
3833 remote delete
3834 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
3835
3836 * New MI commands
3837
3838 -target-file-put
3839 -target-file-get
3840 -target-file-delete
3841 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
3842
3843 * New remote packets
3844
3845 vFile:open:
3846 vFile:close:
3847 vFile:pread:
3848 vFile:pwrite:
3849 vFile:unlink:
3850 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
3851
3852 vAttach
3853 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
3854 mode.
3855
3856 vRun
3857 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
3858
3859 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
3860
3861 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
3862 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
3863 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
3864
3865 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
3866 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
3867 -Bsymbolic linker option.
3868
3869 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
3870 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
3871 is not supported.
3872
3873 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
3874 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
3875
3876 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
3877 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
3878
3879 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
3880
3881 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
3882 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
3883 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
3884
3885 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
3886 automatically displayed as character or string data.
3887
3888 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
3889 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
3890 as strings.
3891
3892 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
3893 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
3894 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
3895
3896 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
3897 iWMMXt coprocessor.
3898
3899 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
3900 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
3901 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
3902
3903 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
3904
3905 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
3906
3907 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
3908 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
3909 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
3910
3911 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
3912 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
3913
3914 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
3915 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
3916 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
3917 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
3918 Windows and SymbianOS).
3919
3920 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
3921 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
3922
3923 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
3924 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
3925
3926 * New commands
3927
3928 set remoteflow
3929 show remoteflow
3930 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
3931 when debugging using remote targets.
3932
3933 set mem inaccessible-by-default
3934 show mem inaccessible-by-default
3935 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
3936 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
3937 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
3938 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
3939 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
3940
3941 set breakpoint auto-hw
3942 show breakpoint auto-hw
3943 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
3944 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
3945 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
3946 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
3947 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
3948 including "next" and "finish".
3949
3950 catch exception
3951 catch exception unhandled
3952 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
3953
3954 catch assert
3955 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
3956
3957 set sysroot
3958 show sysroot
3959 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
3960 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
3961 an alias to "set sysroot".
3962
3963 info spu
3964 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
3965 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
3966 architecture.
3967
3968 * New native configurations
3969
3970 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
3971
3972 set tdesc filename
3973 unset tdesc filename
3974 show tdesc filename
3975 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
3976 not query the target for its built-in description.
3977
3978 * New targets
3979
3980 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
3981 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
3982 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
3983
3984 * New remote packets
3985
3986 QPassSignals:
3987 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
3988 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
3989
3990 qXfer:features:read:
3991 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
3992 features.
3993
3994 qXfer:spu:read:
3995 qXfer:spu:write:
3996 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
3997 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
3998
3999 qXfer:libraries:read:
4000 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
4001 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
4002 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
4003 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
4004
4005 * Removed targets
4006
4007 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
4008
4009 alpha*-*-osf1*
4010 alpha*-*-osf2*
4011 d10v-*-*
4012 hppa*-*-hiux*
4013 i[34567]86-ncr-*
4014 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
4015 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
4016 i[34567]86-*-netware*
4017 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
4018 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
4019 i[34567]86-*-sco*
4020 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
4021 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
4022 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
4023 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
4024 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
4025 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
4026 i[34567]86-*-isc*
4027 m68*-cisco*-*
4028 m68*-tandem-*
4029 mips*-*-pe
4030 rs6000-*-lynxos*
4031 sh*-*-pe
4032
4033 * Other removed features
4034
4035 target abug
4036 target cpu32bug
4037 target est
4038 target rom68k
4039
4040 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
4041
4042 target hms
4043 target e7000
4044 target sh3
4045 target sh3e
4046
4047 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
4048 H8/300.
4049
4050 target ocd
4051
4052 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
4053 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
4054 interfaces.
4055
4056 DWARF 1 support
4057
4058 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
4059 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
4060
4061 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
4062
4063 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
4064 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
4065 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
4066 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
4067
4068 MIPS ".pdr" sections
4069
4070 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
4071 in debugging information.
4072
4073 Scheme support
4074
4075 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
4076 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
4077
4078 set mips stack-arg-size
4079 set mips saved-gpreg-size
4080
4081 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
4082
4083 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
4084
4085 * New targets
4086
4087 Xtensa xtensa-elf
4088 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
4089
4090 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
4091 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
4092 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
4093
4094 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
4095 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
4096 supported.
4097
4098 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
4099 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
4100
4101 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
4102 stub provides the required support.
4103
4104 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
4105 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
4106
4107 * New commands
4108
4109 set substitute-path
4110 unset substitute-path
4111 show substitute-path
4112 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
4113 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
4114 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
4115 between compilation and debugging.
4116
4117 set trace-commands
4118 show trace-commands
4119 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
4120 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
4121 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
4122
4123 * REMOVED features
4124
4125 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
4126
4127 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
4128 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
4129
4130 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
4131
4132 * New remote packets
4133
4134 qSupported:
4135 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
4136 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
4137 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
4138 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
4139 target.
4140
4141 qXfer:auxv:read:
4142 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
4143 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
4144
4145 qXfer:memory-map:read:
4146 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
4147 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
4148
4149 vFlashErase:
4150 vFlashWrite:
4151 vFlashDone:
4152 Erase and program a flash memory device.
4153
4154 * Removed remote packets
4155
4156 qPart:auxv:read:
4157 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
4158 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
4159
4160 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
4161
4162 * New targets
4163
4164 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
4165
4166 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
4167
4168 * New commands
4169
4170 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
4171 only if it doesn't already have a value.
4172
4173 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
4174
4175 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
4176
4177 restart <n> Return the program state to a
4178 previously saved state.
4179
4180 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
4181
4182 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
4183
4184 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
4185 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
4186
4187 info forks List forks of the user program that
4188 are available to be debugged.
4189
4190 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
4191 forks of the user program that are
4192 available to be debugged.
4193
4194 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
4195 that are available to be debugged (and
4196 kill the forked process).
4197
4198 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
4199 that are available to be debugged (and
4200 allow the process to continue).
4201
4202 * New architecture
4203
4204 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
4205
4206 * Improved Windows host support
4207
4208 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
4209 native console support, and remote communications using either
4210 network sockets or serial ports.
4211
4212 * Improved Modula-2 language support
4213
4214 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
4215 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
4216 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
4217 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
4218 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
4219 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
4220
4221 * REMOVED features
4222
4223 The ARM rdi-share module.
4224
4225 The Netware NLM debug server.
4226
4227 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
4228
4229 * New native configurations
4230
4231 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
4232 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
4233
4234 * New targets
4235
4236 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
4237
4238 * New command line options
4239
4240 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
4241 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
4242 the child (debugged) program exited with.
4243 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
4244 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
4245 specified multiple times and in conjunction
4246 with the --command (-x) option.
4247
4248 * Deprecated commands removed
4249
4250 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
4251 removed:
4252
4253 Command Replacement
4254 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
4255 othernames set arm disassembler
4256 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
4257 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
4258 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
4259 regs info registers
4260
4261 * New BSD user-level threads support
4262
4263 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
4264 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
4265 configurations are:
4266
4267 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4268 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
4269 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
4270
4271 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
4272 are not yet supported.
4273
4274 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
4275 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
4276
4277 * REMOVED configurations and files
4278
4279 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
4280 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
4281 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
4282
4283 * New "set print array-indexes" command
4284
4285 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
4286 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
4287 behavior.
4288
4289 * VAX floating point support
4290
4291 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
4292
4293 * User-defined command support
4294
4295 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
4296 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
4297 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
4298
4299 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
4300
4301 * New command line option
4302
4303 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
4304 debugging.
4305
4306 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
4307
4308 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
4309 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
4310 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
4311 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
4312 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
4313
4314 * Internationalization
4315
4316 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
4317 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
4318 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
4319
4320 * Ada
4321
4322 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
4323 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
4324 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
4325
4326 * New native configurations
4327
4328 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
4329
4330 * Remote 'p' packet
4331
4332 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
4333 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
4334
4335 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
4336
4337 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
4338 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
4339 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
4340 i386 application).
4341
4342 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
4343 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
4344 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
4345 configurations:
4346
4347 hppa-*-hpux
4348 ia64-*-aix
4349 mips-*-irix*
4350 *-*-lynx
4351 mips-*-linux-gnu
4352 sds protocol
4353 xdr protocol
4354 powerpc bdm protocol
4355
4356 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
4357 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
4358
4359 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4360
4361 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4362 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4363 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4364 permanently REMOVED.
4365
4366 h8300-*-*
4367 mcore-*-*
4368 mn10300-*-*
4369 ns32k-*-*
4370 sh64-*-*
4371 v850-*-*
4372
4373 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
4374
4375 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
4376
4377 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
4378 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
4379 been fixed.
4380
4381 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
4382
4383 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
4384 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
4385 IRIX long double values).
4386
4387 * VAX and "next"
4388
4389 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
4390 command. This problem has been fixed.
4391
4392 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
4393
4394 * Fix for ``many threads''
4395
4396 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
4397 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
4398 error message:
4399
4400 ptrace: No such process.
4401 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
4402
4403 This problem has been fixed.
4404
4405 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
4406
4407 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
4408 GDB to dump core).
4409
4410 * New ``start'' command.
4411
4412 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
4413
4414 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
4415
4416 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
4417 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
4418 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
4419
4420 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4421 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
4422 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
4423 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
4424 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
4425 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
4426 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
4427 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
4428 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
4429
4430 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
4431
4432 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
4433 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
4434 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
4435 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
4436 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
4437
4438 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
4439 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
4440 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
4441
4442 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
4443
4444 * New native configurations
4445
4446 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
4447 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
4448 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
4449 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
4450 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
4451 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
4452 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
4453
4454 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
4455
4456 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
4457 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
4458 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
4459 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
4460 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
4461 work, was also included.
4462
4463 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
4464 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
4465
4466 h8300-*-*
4467 mcore-*-*
4468 mn10300-*-*
4469 ns32k-*-*
4470 sh64-*-*
4471 v850-*-*
4472 xstormy16-*-*
4473
4474 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
4475 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
4476
4477 * REMOVED configurations and files
4478
4479 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
4480 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
4481 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
4482 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
4483 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
4484 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
4485 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
4486 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
4487 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
4488 sonymips mips-sony-*
4489 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
4490
4491 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
4492
4493 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
4494
4495 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
4496 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
4497 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
4498 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
4499 with GDB".
4500
4501 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
4502
4503 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
4504 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
4505 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
4506 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
4507 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
4508 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
4509 are created.
4510
4511 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
4512
4513 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
4514
4515 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
4516 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
4517 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
4518
4519 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
4520
4521 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
4522 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
4523
4524 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
4525
4526 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
4527 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
4528 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
4529
4530 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
4531
4532 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
4533 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
4534
4535 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
4536
4537 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
4538 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
4539 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
4540
4541 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
4542
4543 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
4544 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
4545 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
4546
4547 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
4548
4549 * Removed --with-mmalloc
4550
4551 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
4552 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
4553
4554 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
4555
4556 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
4557 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
4558 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
4559 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
4560
4561 * Revised SPARC target
4562
4563 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
4564 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
4565 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
4566 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
4567 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
4568
4569 * New C++ demangler
4570
4571 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
4572 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
4573 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
4574 programs.
4575
4576 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
4577
4578 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
4579 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
4580 encountered these.
4581
4582 * C++ nested types and namespaces
4583
4584 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
4585 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
4586 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
4587 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
4588 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
4589 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
4590 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
4591 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
4592 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
4593
4594 * New native configurations
4595
4596 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
4597 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
4598 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
4599 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
4600 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
4601
4602 * New debugging protocols
4603
4604 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
4605
4606 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
4607
4608 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
4609 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
4610 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
4611
4612 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4613
4614 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4615 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4616 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4617 permanently REMOVED.
4618
4619 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
4620 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
4621 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
4622 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
4623 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
4624 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
4625 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
4626 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
4627 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
4628 sonymips mips-sony-*
4629 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
4630
4631 * REMOVED configurations and files
4632
4633 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
4634 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4635 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4636 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4637 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4638 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
4639 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4640 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
4641 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
4642 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
4643 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
4644 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
4645 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
4646 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
4647 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
4648 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4649 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
4650
4651 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
4652
4653 * Objective-C
4654
4655 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
4656 integrated into GDB.
4657
4658 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
4659
4660 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
4661 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
4662 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
4663 backtraces.
4664
4665 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
4666 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
4667 DWARF 2 CFI support.
4668
4669 * Hosted file I/O.
4670
4671 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
4672 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
4673 remote protocol documentation for details.
4674
4675 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
4676
4677 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
4678 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
4679 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
4680 ppc32 on ppc64).
4681
4682 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
4683
4684 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
4685 per-thread variables.
4686
4687 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
4688
4689 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
4690 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
4691
4692 * Separate debug info.
4693
4694 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
4695 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
4696 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
4697 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
4698 and optional debug files.
4699
4700 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
4701
4702 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
4703 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
4704 debugger.
4705
4706 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
4707 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
4708
4709 * Java
4710
4711 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
4712 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
4713 considered "useable".
4714
4715 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
4716
4717 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
4718 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
4719 kernel.
4720
4721 * GDB supports logging output to a file
4722
4723 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
4724 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
4725
4726 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
4727
4728 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
4729 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
4730 command.
4731
4732 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
4733
4734 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
4735 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
4736
4737 * Profiling support
4738
4739 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
4740 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
4741 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
4742 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
4743 data, for more informative profiling results.
4744
4745 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
4746
4747 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
4748 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
4749 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
4750
4751 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
4752 removed.
4753
4754 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
4755 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
4756 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
4757 in a subsequent -var-update.
4758
4759 * New native configurations.
4760
4761 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4762
4763 * Multi-arched targets.
4764
4765 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
4766 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
4767
4768 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4769
4770 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4771 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4772 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4773 permanently REMOVED.
4774
4775 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4776 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4777 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4778 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
4779 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4780 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
4781 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
4782 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
4783 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
4784 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
4785 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4786 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
4787
4788 * REMOVED configurations and files
4789
4790 V850EA ISA
4791 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
4792 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
4793 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
4794 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
4795 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
4796 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
4797 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
4798 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4799 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4800 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
4801 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
4802 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
4803 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4804
4805 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
4806
4807 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
4808 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
4809 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
4810 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
4811 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
4812
4813 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
4814
4815 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
4816
4817 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
4818 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
4819 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
4820 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
4821 shared libs like mad''.
4822
4823 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
4824
4825 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
4826 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
4827 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
4828 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
4829
4830 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
4831
4832 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
4833 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
4834 they expand.
4835
4836 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
4837 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
4838
4839 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
4840 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
4841
4842 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
4843 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
4844 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
4845 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
4846
4847 * Multi-arched targets.
4848
4849 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
4850 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
4851 NEC V850 v850-*-*
4852 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
4853 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
4854 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
4855
4856 * New targets.
4857
4858 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
4859
4860
4861 * New native configurations
4862
4863 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
4864 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
4865 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
4866 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
4867
4868 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4869
4870 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4871 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4872 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4873 permanently REMOVED.
4874
4875 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
4876 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
4877 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
4878 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
4879 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
4880 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4881 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
4882 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
4883 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
4884 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
4885 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
4886 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4887 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4888
4889 * OBSOLETE languages
4890
4891 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
4892
4893 * REMOVED configurations and files
4894
4895 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
4896 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4897 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
4898 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
4899 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
4900
4901 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
4902
4903 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
4904
4905 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
4906 commands. The default is 1024.
4907
4908 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
4909
4910 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
4911
4912 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
4913
4914 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
4915 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
4916 from a file into memory (restore).
4917
4918 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
4919
4920 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
4921 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
4922 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
4923
4924 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
4925
4926 * New targets.
4927
4928 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
4929
4930 * Bug fixes
4931
4932 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
4933 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
4934 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
4935
4936 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
4937 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
4938 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
4939
4940 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
4941 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
4942 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
4943
4944 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
4945 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
4946 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
4947
4948 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
4949
4950 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
4951
4952 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
4953 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
4954 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
4955 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
4956 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
4957 (notably embedded) targets.
4958
4959 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
4960
4961 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
4962 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
4963 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
4964 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
4965
4966 * New command line option
4967
4968 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
4969
4970 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
4971
4972 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
4973 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
4974 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
4975 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
4976 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
4977 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
4978 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
4979 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
4980 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
4981 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
4982
4983 * Changes in ARM configurations.
4984
4985 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
4986 configuration is fully multi-arch.
4987
4988 * New native configurations
4989
4990 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
4991 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
4992 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
4993 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
4994
4995 * New targets
4996
4997 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
4998
4999 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5000
5001 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5002 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5003 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5004 permanently REMOVED.
5005
5006 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
5007 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5008 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5009 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5010 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5011
5012 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
5013
5014 * REMOVED configurations and files
5015
5016 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5017 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
5018 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5019 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5020 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5021 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
5022 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
5023 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
5024 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
5025 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
5026 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
5027 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
5028 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
5029
5030 * Changes to command line processing
5031
5032 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
5033 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
5034
5035 * Changes to key bindings
5036
5037 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
5038
5039 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
5040
5041 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
5042
5043 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
5044 corrupted.
5045
5046 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
5047
5048 Numerous documentation fixes.
5049
5050 Numerous testsuite fixes.
5051
5052 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
5053
5054 * New native configurations
5055
5056 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
5057 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
5058 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
5059 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
5060 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
5061 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
5062
5063 * New targets
5064
5065 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
5066 CRIS cris-axis
5067 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
5068
5069 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5070
5071 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
5072 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
5073 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
5074 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
5075 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5076 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
5077 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
5078 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5079 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5080 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5081 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
5082 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
5083 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
5084 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
5085
5086 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
5087 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
5088
5089 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5090 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5091 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5092 permanently REMOVED.
5093
5094 * REMOVED configurations and files
5095
5096 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
5097 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
5098 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
5099 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
5100 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
5101 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
5102
5103 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
5104
5105 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
5106 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
5107 present.
5108
5109 * Other news:
5110
5111 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
5112
5113 * The MI enabled by default.
5114
5115 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
5116 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
5117 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
5118 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
5119 which is now deprecated.
5120
5121 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
5122
5123 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
5124 main features are supported:
5125
5126 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
5127
5128 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
5129 extension;
5130
5131 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
5132
5133 - a Pascal expression parser.
5134
5135 However, some important features are not yet supported.
5136
5137 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
5138
5139 - there are some problems with boolean types;
5140
5141 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
5142 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
5143
5144 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
5145
5146 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
5147
5148 * Changes in completion.
5149
5150 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
5151 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
5152 users expect at the shell prompt.
5153
5154 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
5155 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
5156 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
5157 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
5158 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
5159 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
5160 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
5161
5162 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
5163
5164 * New platform-independent commands:
5165
5166 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
5167 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
5168 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
5169
5170 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
5171
5172 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
5173 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
5174 many threads as your system allows you to have.
5175
5176 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
5177
5178 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
5179 multi-threaded programs though.
5180
5181 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
5182
5183 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
5184
5185 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
5186 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
5187 supported.)
5188
5189 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
5190
5191 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
5192 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
5193 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
5194 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
5195 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
5196 registers.
5197
5198 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
5199 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
5200 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
5201
5202 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
5203
5204 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
5205 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
5206
5207 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
5208 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
5209 IDT.
5210
5211 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
5212 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
5213 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
5214 a given linear address.
5215
5216 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
5217 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
5218 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
5219
5220 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
5221
5222 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
5223
5224 * Changes in documentation.
5225
5226 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
5227 Documentation License.
5228
5229 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
5230 manual.
5231
5232 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
5233
5234 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
5235 manual.
5236
5237 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
5238 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
5239 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
5240
5241 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
5242
5243 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
5244 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
5245 contents of this file.
5246
5247 * gdba.el deleted
5248
5249 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
5250
5251 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
5252
5253 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
5254
5255 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
5256 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
5257 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
5258 greater level of detail.
5259
5260 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
5261
5262 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
5263 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
5264 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
5265 written.
5266
5267 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
5268
5269 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
5270 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
5271 machines ``out of the box''.
5272
5273 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
5274 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
5275 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
5276 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
5277 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
5278
5279 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
5280 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
5281 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
5282 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
5283 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
5284
5285 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
5286 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
5287 also works.
5288
5289 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
5290 GDB.
5291
5292 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
5293 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
5294 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
5295 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
5296
5297 * New native configurations
5298
5299 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
5300 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
5301
5302 * New targets
5303
5304 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
5305 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
5306 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
5307 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5308
5309 * OBSOLETE configurations
5310
5311 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
5312 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
5313 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
5314 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
5315 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
5316
5317 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
5318 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
5319 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
5320 be permanently REMOVED.
5321
5322 * Gould support removed
5323
5324 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
5325
5326 * New features for SVR4
5327
5328 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
5329 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
5330 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
5331
5332 * Many C++ enhancements
5333
5334 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
5335 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
5336
5337 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
5338
5339 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
5340 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
5341 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
5342 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
5343
5344 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
5345 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
5346
5347 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
5348
5349 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
5350 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
5351 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
5352
5353 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
5354 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
5355
5356 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
5357
5358 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
5359 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
5360 include ``set remote P-packet''.
5361
5362 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
5363
5364 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
5365 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
5366 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
5367
5368 * ``apropos'' command added.
5369
5370 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
5371 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
5372 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
5373
5374 * New MI interface
5375
5376 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
5377 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
5378 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
5379 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
5380 enabled by configuring with:
5381
5382 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
5383
5384 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
5385
5386 * New native configurations
5387
5388 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
5389 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
5390 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
5391
5392 * New targets
5393
5394 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5395 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
5396 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5397
5398 * OBSOLETE configurations
5399
5400 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
5401
5402 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
5403 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
5404 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
5405 be permanently REMOVED.
5406
5407 * ANSI/ISO C
5408
5409 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
5410 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
5411 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
5412 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
5413 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
5414 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
5415 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
5416 already.
5417
5418 * Readline 2.2
5419
5420 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
5421
5422 * set extension-language
5423
5424 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
5425 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
5426 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
5427 set extension-language .c c++
5428 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
5429 and their associated languages.
5430
5431 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
5432
5433 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
5434 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
5435 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
5436
5437 set processor NAME
5438
5439 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
5440 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
5441
5442 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
5443 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
5444 403 IBM PowerPC 403
5445 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
5446 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
5447 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
5448 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
5449 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
5450 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
5451 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
5452 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
5453
5454 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
5455 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
5456 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
5457 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
5458
5459 * HP-UX support
5460
5461 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
5462 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
5463 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
5464 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
5465 for xdb and dbx commands.
5466
5467 * Catchpoints
5468
5469 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
5470 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
5471 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
5472
5473 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
5474 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
5475 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
5476
5477 * Debugging across forks
5478
5479 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
5480 in the inferior.
5481
5482 * TUI
5483
5484 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
5485 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
5486 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
5487
5488 * GDB remote protocol additions
5489
5490 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
5491 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
5492 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
5493 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
5494
5495 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
5496 full 64-bit address. The command
5497
5498 set remoteaddresssize 32
5499
5500 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
5501 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
5502 will be discarded.
5503
5504 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
5505 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
5506
5507 maint packet heythere
5508
5509 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
5510 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
5511 time.
5512
5513 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
5514 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
5515 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
5516
5517 * Tracing can collect general expressions
5518
5519 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
5520 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
5521 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
5522
5523 * mask-address variable for Mips
5524
5525 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
5526 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
5527 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
5528
5529 * Higher serial baud rates
5530
5531 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
5532 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
5533 to achieve all of these rates.)
5534
5535 * i960 simulator
5536
5537 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
5538 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
5539
5540
5541 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
5542
5543 * New native configurations
5544
5545 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
5546 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
5547 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
5548 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
5549 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5550 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
5551 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
5552
5553 * New targets
5554
5555 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5556 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
5557 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
5558 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
5559 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
5560 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
5561 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
5562 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
5563 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
5564 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5565 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
5566
5567 * New debugging protocols
5568
5569 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
5570 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
5571 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
5572 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5573 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5574 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5575
5576 * DWARF 2
5577
5578 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
5579 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
5580 information.
5581
5582 * Java frontend
5583
5584 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
5585 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
5586
5587 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
5588
5589 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
5590 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
5591 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
5592
5593 * Live range splitting
5594
5595 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
5596 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
5597 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
5598
5599 * Hurd support
5600
5601 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
5602 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
5603
5604 * ARM Thumb support
5605
5606 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
5607 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
5608 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
5609 accordingly.
5610
5611 * MIPS16 support
5612
5613 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
5614 instruction set.
5615
5616 * Overlay support
5617
5618 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
5619 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
5620 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
5621 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
5622 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
5623 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
5624
5625 * info symbol
5626
5627 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
5628 the symbol at the specified address.
5629
5630 * Trace support
5631
5632 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
5633 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
5634 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
5635 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
5636 file tracepoint.c for more details.
5637
5638 * MIPS simulator
5639
5640 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
5641 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
5642 of most MIPS variants.
5643
5644 * Sparc simulator
5645
5646 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
5647 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
5648 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
5649
5650 * set architecture
5651
5652 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
5653 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
5654 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
5655 the possible architectures.
5656
5657 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
5658
5659 * New native configurations
5660
5661 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
5662 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
5663 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
5664 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
5665 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5666 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
5667
5668 * New targets
5669
5670 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
5671 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5672 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
5673 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
5674 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
5675 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
5676 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5677
5678 * PowerPC simulator
5679
5680 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
5681 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
5682 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
5683 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
5684 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
5685
5686 * Solaris 2.5
5687
5688 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
5689
5690 * Windows 95/NT native
5691
5692 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
5693 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
5694 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
5695 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
5696 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
5697
5698 * dont-repeat command
5699
5700 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
5701 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
5702 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
5703 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
5704
5705 * Send break instead of ^C
5706
5707 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
5708 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
5709 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
5710
5711 * Remote protocol timeout
5712
5713 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
5714 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
5715 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
5716
5717 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
5718
5719 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
5720 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
5721 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
5722 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
5723 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
5724
5725 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
5726 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
5727 automatically on hpux10.
5728
5729 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
5730
5731 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
5732
5733 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
5734
5735 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
5736 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
5737 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
5738 every character. The default value is 1050.
5739
5740 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
5741
5742 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
5743 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
5744 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
5745 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
5746 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
5747 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
5748
5749 * Speedups for remote debugging
5750
5751 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
5752 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
5753 and more efficient S-record downloading.
5754
5755 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
5756
5757 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
5758 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
5759
5760 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
5761
5762 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
5763
5764 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
5765 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
5766
5767 * Remote targets use caching
5768
5769 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
5770 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
5771 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
5772 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
5773 off' turns the the data cache off.
5774
5775 * Remote targets may have threads
5776
5777 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
5778 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
5779 gdb/remote.c for details.
5780
5781 * NetROM support
5782
5783 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
5784 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
5785 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
5786 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
5787 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
5788 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
5789 sequence is something like
5790
5791 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
5792 load <prog>
5793 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
5794
5795 * Macintosh host
5796
5797 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
5798 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
5799 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
5800 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
5801 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
5802 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
5803 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
5804 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
5805
5806 * Autoconf
5807
5808 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
5809 but does simplify configuration and building.
5810
5811 * hpux10
5812
5813 GDB now supports hpux10.
5814
5815 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
5816
5817 * New native configurations
5818
5819 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
5820 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
5821 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
5822 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
5823
5824 * New targets
5825
5826 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5827 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
5828 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
5829 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
5830 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
5831
5832 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
5833
5834 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
5835 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
5836 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
5837 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
5838 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
5839
5840 * Arguments to user-defined commands
5841
5842 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
5843 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
5844 trivial example:
5845 define adder
5846 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
5847
5848 To execute the command use:
5849 adder 1 2 3
5850
5851 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
5852 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
5853 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
5854
5855 * New `if' and `while' commands
5856
5857 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
5858 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
5859 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
5860 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
5861 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
5862 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
5863 if the expression is zero.
5864
5865 * Fortran source language mode
5866
5867 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
5868 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
5869 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
5870 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
5871 Fortran compilers.
5872
5873 * Better HPUX support
5874
5875 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
5876 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
5877 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
5878 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
5879 that behavior do the following before running the program:
5880
5881 adb -w a.out
5882 __dld_flags?W 0x5
5883 control-d
5884
5885 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
5886 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
5887
5888 adb -w a.out
5889 __dld_flags?W 0x4
5890 control-d
5891
5892 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
5893 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
5894 external linkage.
5895
5896 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
5897 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
5898
5899 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
5900
5901 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
5902 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
5903 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
5904 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
5905 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
5906 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
5907
5908 * New DOS host serial code
5909
5910 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
5911 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
5912 a PC's serial port.
5913
5914 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
5915
5916 * New "complete" command
5917
5918 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
5919 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
5920
5921 * Trailing space optional in prompt
5922
5923 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
5924 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
5925
5926 * Breakpoint hit counts
5927
5928 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
5929 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
5930 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
5931 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
5932 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
5933 that breakpoint.
5934
5935 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
5936
5937 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
5938 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
5939 arrays actually contain only short strings.
5940
5941 * Shared library breakpoints
5942
5943 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
5944 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
5945
5946 * Hardware watchpoints
5947
5948 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
5949 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
5950
5951 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
5952
5953 * Annotations
5954
5955 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
5956 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
5957
5958 * Improved Irix 5 support
5959
5960 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
5961
5962 * Improved HPPA support
5963
5964 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
5965
5966 * New native configurations
5967
5968 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
5969 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
5970 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
5971 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
5972
5973 * New targets
5974
5975 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5976 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
5977 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
5978
5979 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
5980
5981 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
5982 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
5983
5984 * Fixes
5985
5986 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
5987 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
5988
5989 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
5990
5991 * Irix 5 is now supported
5992
5993 * HPPA support
5994
5995 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
5996 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
5997 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
5998 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
5999 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
6000
6001
6002 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
6003
6004 * User visible changes:
6005
6006 * Remote Debugging
6007
6008 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
6009 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
6010 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
6011 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
6012 debugging info for the mips target).
6013
6014 * DEC Alpha native support
6015
6016 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
6017 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
6018 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
6019 Alpha-specific notes.
6020
6021 * Preliminary thread implementation
6022
6023 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
6024
6025 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
6026
6027 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
6028 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
6029 for details).
6030
6031 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
6032
6033 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
6034 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
6035 call methods, ...etc.
6036
6037 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
6038
6039 * User visible changes:
6040
6041 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
6042 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
6043 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
6044 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
6045
6046 Filename completion now works.
6047
6048 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
6049 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
6050 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
6051
6052 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
6053 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
6054 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
6055 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
6056 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
6057
6058 * DEC alpha support
6059
6060 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
6061 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
6062
6063
6064 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
6065
6066 * Testsuite
6067
6068 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
6069 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
6070 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
6071
6072 * C++ demangling
6073
6074 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
6075 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
6076 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
6077 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
6078 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
6079
6080 * Simulators
6081
6082 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
6083 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
6084 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
6085
6086 * New targets supported
6087
6088 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
6089 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
6090 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
6091 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
6092 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
6093
6094 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
6095 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
6096 GO32 memory extender.
6097
6098 * New remote protocols
6099
6100 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
6101
6102 * New source languages supported
6103
6104 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
6105 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
6106 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
6107
6108
6109 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
6110
6111 * HP Precision Architecture supported
6112
6113 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
6114 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
6115 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
6116 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
6117 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
6118 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
6119
6120 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
6121
6122 * Faster and better demangling
6123
6124 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
6125 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
6126 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
6127 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
6128 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
6129 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
6130 symbol lookups.
6131
6132 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
6133 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
6134 compiler does not actually implement.
6135
6136 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
6137
6138 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
6139 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
6140 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
6141 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
6142 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
6143 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
6144 fix.
6145
6146 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
6147 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
6148
6149 * Improved configure script
6150
6151 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
6152 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
6153 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
6154 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
6155
6156 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
6157 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
6158 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
6159 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
6160 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
6161 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
6162
6163 * Documentation improvements
6164
6165 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
6166 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
6167 before submitting changes.
6168
6169 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
6170 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
6171 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
6172 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
6173 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
6174
6175 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
6176 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
6177 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
6178 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
6179 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
6180 around this problem.
6181
6182 * New features
6183
6184 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
6185 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
6186 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
6187 the target program.
6188
6189 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
6190 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
6191
6192 * New native hosts supported
6193
6194 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
6195 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
6196
6197 * New targets supported
6198
6199 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
6200
6201 * New file formats supported
6202
6203 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
6204 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
6205
6206 * Major bug fixes
6207
6208 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
6209
6210 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
6211 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
6212
6213 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
6214 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
6215 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
6216
6217 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
6218 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
6219
6220 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
6221 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
6222 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
6223 libraries.
6224
6225 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
6226 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
6227 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
6228 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
6229 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
6230
6231 * Internal improvements
6232
6233 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
6234 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
6235
6236 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
6237 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
6238 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
6239 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
6240 shared code that handles any of them.
6241
6242 * New command line options
6243
6244 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
6245
6246 * Mmalloc licensing
6247
6248 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
6249 General Public License.
6250
6251 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
6252
6253 * Host/native/target split
6254
6255 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
6256 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
6257 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
6258 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
6259 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
6260
6261 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
6262 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
6263 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
6264 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
6265 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
6266 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
6267 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
6268
6269 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
6270 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
6271 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
6272
6273 * New hosts supported
6274
6275 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
6276 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
6277 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
6278
6279 * New targets supported
6280
6281 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
6282 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
6283
6284 * New native hosts supported
6285
6286 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
6287 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
6288 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
6289
6290 * New file formats supported
6291
6292 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
6293 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
6294 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
6295
6296 * New commands
6297
6298 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
6299 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
6300 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
6301
6302 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
6303
6304 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
6305 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
6306 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
6307 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
6308
6309 * C++ improvements
6310
6311 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
6312 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
6313 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
6314
6315 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
6316
6317 * Major bug fixes
6318
6319 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
6320 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
6321 by the compiler.
6322
6323 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
6324 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
6325
6326 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
6327 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
6328 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
6329 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
6330 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
6331 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
6332
6333 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
6334 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
6335 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
6336 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
6337
6338 * AMD 29k support
6339
6340 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
6341 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
6342 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
6343 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
6344 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
6345
6346 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
6347 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
6348 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
6349 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
6350
6351 * Remote interfaces
6352
6353 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
6354 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
6355 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
6356 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
6357 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
6358 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
6359 each instruction being stepped through.
6360
6361 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
6362 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
6363
6364 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
6365 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
6366 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
6367 processor with a serial port.
6368
6369 * Configuration
6370
6371 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
6372 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
6373 supported, and what files each one uses.
6374
6375 * Library changes
6376
6377 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
6378 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
6379 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
6380 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
6381
6382 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
6383 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
6384 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
6385 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
6386
6387 * Documentation
6388
6389 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
6390 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
6391 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
6392 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
6393 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
6394 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
6395
6396 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
6397
6398
6399 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
6400
6401 * Better support for C++ function names
6402
6403 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
6404 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
6405 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
6406 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
6407 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
6408
6409 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
6410 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
6411 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
6412 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
6413 for the list of formats.
6414
6415 * G++ symbol mangling problem
6416
6417 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
6418 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
6419 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
6420 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
6421 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
6422 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
6423 this problem.)
6424
6425 * New 'maintenance' command
6426
6427 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
6428 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
6429 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
6430
6431 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
6432 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
6433 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
6434 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
6435 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
6436 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
6437
6438 The following commands are new:
6439
6440 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
6441 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
6442 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
6443
6444 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
6445
6446 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
6447 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
6448 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
6449 read after argv processing.
6450
6451 * New hosts supported
6452
6453 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
6454
6455 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
6456
6457 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
6458 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
6459 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
6460 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
6461 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
6462 It costs extra.
6463
6464 * New targets supported
6465
6466 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
6467
6468 * More smarts about finding #include files
6469
6470 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
6471 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
6472 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
6473 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
6474 the one that contains your sources.
6475
6476 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
6477 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
6478 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
6479
6480 * Interesting infernals change
6481
6482 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
6483 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
6484 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
6485 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
6486
6487 * Bug fixes (of course!)
6488
6489 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
6490 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
6491 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
6492
6493 See the ChangeLog for details.
6494
6495 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
6496
6497 * New machines supported (host and target)
6498
6499 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
6500
6501 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
6502
6503 * New malloc package
6504
6505 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
6506 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
6507 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
6508 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
6509 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
6510 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
6511
6512 * info proc
6513
6514 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
6515 'help info proc' for details.
6516
6517 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
6518
6519 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
6520 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
6521 possible.
6522
6523 * File name changes for MS-DOS
6524
6525 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
6526 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
6527 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
6528 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
6529 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
6530 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
6531
6532 * Cross byte order fixes
6533
6534 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
6535 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
6536
6537 * New -mapped and -readnow options
6538
6539 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
6540 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
6541 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
6542 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
6543 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
6544 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
6545 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
6546 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
6547 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
6548 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
6549
6550 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
6551 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
6552 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
6553 slower, but makes future operations faster.
6554
6555 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
6556 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
6557 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
6558 use is:
6559
6560 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
6561
6562 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
6563 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
6564 shared across multiple host platforms.
6565
6566 * longjmp() handling
6567
6568 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
6569 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
6570 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
6571 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
6572
6573 * Solaris 2.0
6574
6575 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
6576 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
6577 reading symbols.
6578
6579 * Bug fixes
6580
6581 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
6582 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
6583 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
6584
6585 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
6586
6587 * New machines supported (host and target)
6588
6589 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
6590 (except core files)
6591 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
6592 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
6593
6594 * New machines supported (target)
6595
6596 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
6597
6598 * C++ support
6599
6600 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
6601 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
6602 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
6603
6604 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
6605 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
6606 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
6607 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
6608 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
6609 released.
6610
6611 * New features for SVR4
6612
6613 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
6614 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
6615 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
6616
6617 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
6618 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
6619 it prints the address mappings of the process.
6620
6621 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
6622 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
6623
6624 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
6625
6626 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
6627 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
6628 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
6629 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
6630 same code linked statically.
6631
6632 * New Getopt
6633
6634 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
6635 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
6636 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
6637 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
6638 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
6639 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
6640
6641 * Bugs fixed
6642
6643 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
6644 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
6645 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
6646
6647
6648 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
6649
6650 * New machines supported (host and target)
6651
6652 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
6653 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
6654 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
6655
6656 * Almost SCO Unix support
6657
6658 We had hoped to support:
6659 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
6660 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
6661 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
6662 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
6663
6664 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
6665
6666 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
6667 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
6668 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
6669 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
6670 reqired (if any).
6671
6672 * New Readline
6673
6674 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
6675 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
6676 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
6677
6678 * Bugs fixed
6679
6680 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
6681 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
6682 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
6683
6684 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
6685
6686 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
6687 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
6688 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
6689
6690 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
6691 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
6692 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
6693 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
6694 version 2.
6695
6696 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
6697 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
6698 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
6699 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
6700 situation somewhat.
6701
6702 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
6703 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
6704 methods.
6705
6706 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
6707 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
6708 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
6709
6710
6711 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
6712
6713 * Improved configuration
6714
6715 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
6716 Porting BFD is simpler.
6717
6718 * Stepping improved
6719
6720 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
6721 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
6722 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
6723 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
6724
6725 * Bug fixing
6726
6727 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
6728
6729 * New host supported (not target)
6730
6731 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
6732
6733
6734 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
6735
6736 * Multiple source language support
6737
6738 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
6739 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
6740 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
6741 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
6742 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
6743 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
6744
6745 * GDB and Modula-2
6746
6747 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
6748 currently under development at the State University of New York at
6749 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
6750 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
6751
6752 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
6753 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
6754 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
6755
6756 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
6757 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
6758
6759 * set write on/off
6760
6761 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
6762 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
6763 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
6764 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
6765 effect immediately.
6766
6767 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
6768
6769 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
6770 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
6771 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
6772 examining core files.
6773
6774 * set listsize
6775
6776 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
6777 The default is 10.
6778
6779 * New machines supported (host and target)
6780
6781 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
6782 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
6783 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
6784
6785 * New hosts supported (not targets)
6786
6787 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
6788
6789 * New targets supported (not hosts)
6790
6791 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
6792 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
6793 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
6794
6795 * New remote interfaces
6796
6797 AMD 29000 Adapt
6798 AMD 29000 Minimon
6799
6800
6801 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
6802
6803 * New Facilities
6804
6805 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
6806
6807 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
6808 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
6809 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
6810 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
6811 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
6812 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
6813 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
6814 stub on the target system.
6815
6816 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
6817
6818 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
6819 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
6820 object file types such as a.out and coff.
6821
6822 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
6823 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
6824
6825
6826 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
6827
6828 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
6829 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
6830
6831 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
6832 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
6833 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
6834
6835 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
6836 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
6837 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
6838 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
6839
6840 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
6841 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
6842 it is already running. Default is ON.
6843
6844 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
6845 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
6846 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
6847 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
6848 Default is ON.
6849
6850 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
6851 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
6852 or the value of the environment variable
6853 GDBHISTFILE.
6854
6855 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
6856 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
6857 HISTSIZE.
6858
6859 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
6860 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
6861 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
6862
6863 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
6864 history expansion will be performed on
6865 command line input. The default is OFF.
6866
6867 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
6868 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
6869 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
6870
6871 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
6872 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
6873 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
6874 variable TERM.
6875
6876 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
6877 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
6878 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
6879 variable TERM.
6880
6881 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
6882 ``set width'' instead.
6883
6884 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
6885 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
6886 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
6887 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
6888
6889 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
6890 is OFF.
6891
6892 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
6893 "raw" form if off.
6894
6895 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
6896 like instructions.
6897
6898 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
6899
6900
6901 * Support for Epoch Environment.
6902
6903 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
6904 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
6905 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
6906 window.
6907
6908
6909 * Support for Shared Libraries
6910
6911 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
6912 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
6913 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
6914 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
6915 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
6916 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
6917 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
6918 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
6919
6920 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
6921 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
6922 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
6923
6924 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
6925
6926
6927 * Watchpoints
6928
6929 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
6930 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
6931 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
6932 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
6933 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
6934 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
6935
6936 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
6937
6938 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
6939
6940 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6941 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6942 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6943
6944
6945 * C++ multiple inheritance
6946
6947 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
6948 for C++ programs.
6949
6950 * C++ exception handling
6951
6952 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
6953 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
6954 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
6955 handler's context).
6956
6957 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
6958 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
6959 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
6960
6961 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
6962 current stack frame.
6963
6964
6965 * Minor command changes
6966
6967 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
6968 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
6969 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
6970
6971 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
6972 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
6973 frames without printing.
6974
6975 * New directory command
6976
6977 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
6978 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
6979 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
6980 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
6981 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
6982
6983 * Configuring GDB for compilation
6984
6985 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
6986 for more details.
6987
6988 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
6989 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
6990 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
6991 where the program that you are debugging will run.
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