1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.8
6 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
7 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
8 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
9 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
11 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
12 now complete on file names.
14 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
15 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
16 For instance, consider:
18 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
19 # struct example variable;
22 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
23 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
25 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
26 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
32 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
35 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
36 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
37 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
39 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
41 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
42 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
43 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
45 * The "disassemble" command now supports an optional /m modifier to print mixed
48 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
49 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
51 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
52 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
53 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
55 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
56 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
58 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
60 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
62 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
63 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
65 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
66 list of section offsets.
68 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
69 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
72 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
73 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
74 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
76 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
78 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
79 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
81 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
82 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
83 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
85 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
86 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
88 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
93 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
94 available is determined at configure time.
98 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
102 Print the list of Ada tasks.
104 Print detailed information about task number N.
106 Print the task number of the current task.
108 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
112 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
114 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
116 maint set python print-stack
117 maint show python print-stack
118 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
121 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
123 set print symbol-loading
124 show print symbol-loading
125 Control printing of symbol loading messages.
129 Display timestamps with GDB debugging output.
134 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
136 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
137 show multiple-symbols
138 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
139 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
140 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
142 set breakpoint always-inserted
143 show breakpoint always-inserted
144 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
145 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
146 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
148 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
149 show arm fallback-mode
150 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
152 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
153 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
154 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
155 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
157 set disable-randomization
158 show disable-randomization
159 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
160 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
161 multiple debugging sessions.
164 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
165 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
166 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
167 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
172 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
175 * New native configurations
177 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
181 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
187 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
189 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
191 * New native configurations
193 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
194 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
198 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
199 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
201 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
203 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
204 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
205 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
206 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
208 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
209 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
211 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
214 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
215 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
216 and in inlined functions.
218 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
219 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
220 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
222 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
224 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
225 registers on PowerPC targets.
227 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
228 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
230 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
231 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
233 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
234 extended-remote mode.
236 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
237 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
238 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
239 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
241 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
242 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
243 target architectures.
245 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
246 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
247 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
248 stored in two consecutive float registers.
250 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
253 * Improved support for debugging Ada
254 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
256 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
257 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
258 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
259 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
261 - Improved command completion in Ada
264 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
269 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
270 show print frame-arguments
271 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
272 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
277 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
284 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
293 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
296 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
300 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
302 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
304 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
305 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
306 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
308 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
309 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
310 -Bsymbolic linker option.
312 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
313 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
316 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
317 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
319 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
320 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
322 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
324 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
325 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
326 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
328 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
329 automatically displayed as character or string data.
331 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
332 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
335 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
336 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
337 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
339 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
342 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
343 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
344 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
346 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
348 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
350 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
351 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
352 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
354 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
355 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
357 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
358 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
359 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
360 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
361 Windows and SymbianOS).
363 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
364 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
366 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
367 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
373 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
374 when debugging using remote targets.
376 set mem inaccessible-by-default
377 show mem inaccessible-by-default
378 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
379 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
380 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
381 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
382 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
384 set breakpoint auto-hw
385 show breakpoint auto-hw
386 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
387 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
388 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
389 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
390 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
391 including "next" and "finish".
394 catch exception unhandled
395 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
398 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
402 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
403 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
404 an alias to "set sysroot".
407 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
408 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
411 * New native configurations
413 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
418 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
419 not query the target for its built-in description.
423 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
424 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
425 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
430 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
431 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
434 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
439 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
440 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
442 qXfer:libraries:read:
443 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
444 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
445 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
446 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
450 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
459 i[34567]86-*-netware*
460 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
461 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
463 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
466 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
467 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
476 * Other removed features
483 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
490 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
495 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
496 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
501 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
502 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
504 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
506 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
507 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
508 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
509 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
513 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
514 in debugging information.
518 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
519 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
521 set mips stack-arg-size
522 set mips saved-gpreg-size
524 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
526 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
531 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
533 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
534 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
535 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
537 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
538 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
541 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
542 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
544 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
545 stub provides the required support.
547 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
548 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
553 unset substitute-path
555 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
556 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
557 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
558 between compilation and debugging.
562 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
563 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
564 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
568 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
570 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
571 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
573 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
578 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
579 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
580 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
581 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
585 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
586 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
588 qXfer:memory-map:read:
589 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
590 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
595 Erase and program a flash memory device.
597 * Removed remote packets
600 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
601 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
603 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
607 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
609 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
613 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
614 only if it doesn't already have a value.
616 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
618 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
620 restart <n> Return the program state to a
621 previously saved state.
623 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
625 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
627 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
628 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
630 info forks List forks of the user program that
631 are available to be debugged.
633 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
634 forks of the user program that are
635 available to be debugged.
637 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
638 that are available to be debugged (and
639 kill the forked process).
641 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
642 that are available to be debugged (and
643 allow the process to continue).
647 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
649 * Improved Windows host support
651 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
652 native console support, and remote communications using either
653 network sockets or serial ports.
655 * Improved Modula-2 language support
657 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
658 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
659 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
660 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
661 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
662 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
666 The ARM rdi-share module.
668 The Netware NLM debug server.
670 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
672 * New native configurations
674 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
675 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
679 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
681 * New command line options
683 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
684 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
685 the child (debugged) program exited with.
686 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
687 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
688 specified multiple times and in conjunction
689 with the --command (-x) option.
691 * Deprecated commands removed
693 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
697 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
698 othernames set arm disassembler
699 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
700 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
701 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
704 * New BSD user-level threads support
706 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
707 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
710 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
711 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
712 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
714 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
715 are not yet supported.
717 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
718 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
720 * REMOVED configurations and files
722 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
723 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
724 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
726 * New "set print array-indexes" command
728 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
729 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
732 * VAX floating point support
734 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
736 * User-defined command support
738 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
739 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
740 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
742 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
744 * New command line option
746 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
749 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
751 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
752 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
753 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
754 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
755 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
757 * Internationalization
759 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
760 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
761 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
765 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
766 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
767 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
769 * New native configurations
771 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
775 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
776 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
778 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
780 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
781 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
782 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
785 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
786 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
787 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
799 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
800 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
802 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
804 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
805 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
806 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
816 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
818 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
820 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
821 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
824 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
826 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
827 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
828 IRIX long double values).
832 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
833 command. This problem has been fixed.
835 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
837 * Fix for ``many threads''
839 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
840 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
843 ptrace: No such process.
844 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
846 This problem has been fixed.
848 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
850 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
853 * New ``start'' command.
855 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
857 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
859 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
860 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
861 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
863 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
864 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
865 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
866 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
867 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
868 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
869 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
870 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
871 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
873 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
875 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
876 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
877 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
878 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
879 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
881 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
882 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
883 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
885 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
887 * New native configurations
889 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
890 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
891 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
892 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
893 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
894 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
895 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
897 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
899 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
900 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
901 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
902 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
903 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
904 work, was also included.
906 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
907 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
917 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
918 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
920 * REMOVED configurations and files
922 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
923 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
924 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
925 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
926 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
927 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
928 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
929 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
930 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
932 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
934 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
936 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
938 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
939 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
940 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
941 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
944 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
946 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
947 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
948 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
949 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
950 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
951 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
954 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
956 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
958 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
959 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
960 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
962 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
964 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
965 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
967 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
969 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
970 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
971 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
973 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
975 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
976 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
978 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
980 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
981 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
982 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
984 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
986 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
987 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
988 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
990 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
992 * Removed --with-mmalloc
994 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
995 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
997 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
999 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
1000 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
1001 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
1002 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
1004 * Revised SPARC target
1006 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
1007 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
1008 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
1009 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
1010 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
1014 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
1015 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
1016 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
1019 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1021 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
1022 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
1025 * C++ nested types and namespaces
1027 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
1028 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
1029 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
1030 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
1031 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
1032 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
1033 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
1034 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
1035 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
1037 * New native configurations
1039 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
1040 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
1041 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
1042 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
1043 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
1045 * New debugging protocols
1047 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
1049 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
1051 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
1052 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
1053 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
1055 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1057 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1058 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1059 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1060 permanently REMOVED.
1062 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
1063 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
1064 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
1065 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
1066 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
1067 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
1068 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
1069 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
1070 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
1071 sonymips mips-sony-*
1072 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
1074 * REMOVED configurations and files
1076 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1077 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
1078 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1079 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1080 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1081 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1082 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1083 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1084 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1085 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
1086 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1087 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1088 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1089 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
1090 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
1091 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1092 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1094 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
1098 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
1099 integrated into GDB.
1101 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
1103 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
1104 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
1105 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
1108 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
1109 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
1110 DWARF 2 CFI support.
1114 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
1115 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
1116 remote protocol documentation for details.
1118 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
1120 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
1121 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
1122 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
1125 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
1127 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
1128 per-thread variables.
1130 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
1132 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
1133 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
1135 * Separate debug info.
1137 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
1138 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
1139 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
1140 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
1141 and optional debug files.
1143 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1145 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
1146 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
1149 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
1150 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
1154 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
1155 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
1156 considered "useable".
1158 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
1160 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
1161 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
1164 * GDB supports logging output to a file
1166 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
1167 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
1169 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
1171 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
1172 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
1175 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
1177 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
1178 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
1182 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
1183 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
1184 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
1185 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
1186 data, for more informative profiling results.
1188 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
1190 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
1191 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
1192 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
1194 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
1197 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
1198 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
1199 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
1200 in a subsequent -var-update.
1202 * New native configurations.
1204 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1206 * Multi-arched targets.
1208 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
1209 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1211 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1213 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1214 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1215 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1216 permanently REMOVED.
1218 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1219 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1220 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1221 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1222 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1223 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1224 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1225 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1226 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1227 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1228 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1229 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1231 * REMOVED configurations and files
1234 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1235 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1236 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1237 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1238 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1239 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1241 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1242 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1243 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1244 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1245 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1246 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1248 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
1250 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
1251 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
1252 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
1253 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
1254 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
1256 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
1258 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
1260 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
1261 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
1262 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
1263 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
1264 shared libs like mad''.
1266 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
1268 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
1269 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
1270 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
1271 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
1273 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
1275 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
1276 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
1279 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
1280 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1282 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1283 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1285 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1286 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1287 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1288 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1290 * Multi-arched targets.
1292 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1293 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1295 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1296 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1297 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1301 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1304 * New native configurations
1306 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1307 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1308 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1309 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1311 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1313 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1314 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1315 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1316 permanently REMOVED.
1318 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1319 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1320 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1321 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1322 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1323 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1324 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1325 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1326 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1327 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1329 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1330 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1332 * OBSOLETE languages
1334 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1336 * REMOVED configurations and files
1338 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1339 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1340 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1341 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1342 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1344 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1346 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1348 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1349 commands. The default is 1024.
1351 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1353 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1355 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1357 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1358 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1359 from a file into memory (restore).
1361 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1363 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1364 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1365 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1367 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1375 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1376 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1377 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1379 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1380 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1381 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1383 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1384 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1385 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1387 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1388 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1389 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1391 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1393 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1395 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1396 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1397 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1398 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1399 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1400 (notably embedded) targets.
1402 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1404 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1405 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1406 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1407 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1409 * New command line option
1411 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1413 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1415 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1416 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1417 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1418 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1419 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1420 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1421 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1422 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1423 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1424 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1426 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1428 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1429 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1431 * New native configurations
1433 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1434 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1435 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1436 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1440 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1442 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1444 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1445 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1446 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1447 permanently REMOVED.
1449 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1450 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1451 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1452 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1453 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1455 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1457 * REMOVED configurations and files
1459 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1461 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1462 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1463 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1464 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1465 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1466 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1467 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1468 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1469 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1470 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1471 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1473 * Changes to command line processing
1475 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1476 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1478 * Changes to key bindings
1480 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1482 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1484 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1486 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1489 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1491 Numerous documentation fixes.
1493 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1495 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1497 * New native configurations
1499 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1500 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1501 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1502 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1503 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1504 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1508 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1510 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1512 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1514 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1515 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1516 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1517 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1518 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1520 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1521 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1522 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1523 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1524 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1525 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1526 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1527 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1529 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1530 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1532 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1533 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1534 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1535 permanently REMOVED.
1537 * REMOVED configurations and files
1539 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1540 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1542 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1546 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1548 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1549 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1554 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1556 * The MI enabled by default.
1558 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1559 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1560 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1561 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1562 which is now deprecated.
1564 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1566 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1567 main features are supported:
1569 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1571 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1574 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1576 - a Pascal expression parser.
1578 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1580 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1582 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1584 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1585 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1587 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1589 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1591 * Changes in completion.
1593 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1594 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1595 users expect at the shell prompt.
1597 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1598 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1599 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1600 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1601 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1602 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1603 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1605 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1607 * New platform-independent commands:
1609 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1610 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1611 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1613 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1615 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1616 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1617 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1619 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1621 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1622 multi-threaded programs though.
1624 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1626 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1628 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1629 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1632 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1634 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1635 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1636 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1637 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1638 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1641 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1642 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1643 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1645 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1647 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1648 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1650 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1651 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1654 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1655 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1656 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1657 a given linear address.
1659 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1660 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1661 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1663 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1665 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1667 * Changes in documentation.
1669 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1670 Documentation License.
1672 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1675 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1677 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1680 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1681 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1682 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1684 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1686 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1687 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1688 contents of this file.
1692 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1694 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1696 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1698 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1699 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1700 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1701 greater level of detail.
1703 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1705 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1706 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1707 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1710 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1712 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1713 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1714 machines ``out of the box''.
1716 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1717 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1718 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1719 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1720 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1722 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1723 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1724 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1725 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1726 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1728 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1729 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1732 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1735 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1736 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1737 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1738 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1740 * New native configurations
1742 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1743 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1747 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1748 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1749 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1750 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1752 * OBSOLETE configurations
1754 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1755 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1757 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1760 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1761 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1762 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1763 be permanently REMOVED.
1765 * Gould support removed
1767 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1769 * New features for SVR4
1771 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1772 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1773 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1775 * Many C++ enhancements
1777 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1778 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1780 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1782 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1783 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1784 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1785 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1787 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1788 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1790 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1792 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1793 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1794 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1796 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1797 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1799 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1801 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1802 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1803 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1805 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1807 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1808 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1809 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1811 * ``apropos'' command added.
1813 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1814 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1815 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1819 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1820 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1821 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1822 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1823 enabled by configuring with:
1825 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1827 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1829 * New native configurations
1831 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1832 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1833 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1837 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1838 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1839 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1841 * OBSOLETE configurations
1843 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1845 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1846 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1847 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1848 be permanently REMOVED.
1852 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1853 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1854 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1855 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1856 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1857 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1858 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1863 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1865 * set extension-language
1867 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1868 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1869 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1870 set extension-language .c c++
1871 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1872 and their associated languages.
1874 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1876 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1877 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1878 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1882 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1883 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1885 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1886 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1888 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1889 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1890 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1891 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1892 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1893 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1894 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1895 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1897 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1898 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1899 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1900 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1904 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1905 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1906 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1907 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1908 for xdb and dbx commands.
1912 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1913 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1914 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1916 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1917 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1918 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1920 * Debugging across forks
1922 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1927 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1928 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1929 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1931 * GDB remote protocol additions
1933 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1934 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1935 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1936 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1938 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1939 full 64-bit address. The command
1941 set remoteaddresssize 32
1943 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1944 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1947 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1948 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1950 maint packet heythere
1952 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1953 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1956 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1957 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1958 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1960 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1962 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1963 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1964 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1966 * mask-address variable for Mips
1968 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1969 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1970 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1972 * Higher serial baud rates
1974 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1975 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1976 to achieve all of these rates.)
1980 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1981 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1984 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1986 * New native configurations
1988 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1989 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1990 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1991 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1992 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1993 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1994 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1998 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1999 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
2000 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
2001 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
2002 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
2003 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
2004 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
2005 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
2006 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
2007 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2008 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
2010 * New debugging protocols
2012 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
2013 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
2014 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
2015 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2016 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2017 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2021 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
2022 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
2027 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
2028 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
2030 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
2032 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
2033 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
2034 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
2036 * Live range splitting
2038 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
2039 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
2040 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
2044 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
2045 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
2049 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
2050 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
2051 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
2056 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
2061 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
2062 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
2063 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
2064 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
2065 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
2066 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
2070 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
2071 the symbol at the specified address.
2075 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
2076 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
2077 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
2078 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
2079 file tracepoint.c for more details.
2083 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
2084 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
2085 of most MIPS variants.
2089 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
2090 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
2091 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
2095 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
2096 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
2097 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
2098 the possible architectures.
2100 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
2102 * New native configurations
2104 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
2105 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
2106 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
2107 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
2108 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
2109 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
2113 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
2114 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
2115 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
2116 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
2117 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
2119 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2123 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
2124 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
2125 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
2126 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
2127 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
2131 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
2133 * Windows 95/NT native
2135 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
2136 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
2137 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
2138 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
2139 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
2141 * dont-repeat command
2143 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
2144 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
2145 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
2146 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
2148 * Send break instead of ^C
2150 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
2151 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
2152 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
2154 * Remote protocol timeout
2156 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
2157 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
2158 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
2160 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
2162 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
2163 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
2164 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
2165 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
2166 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
2168 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
2169 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
2170 automatically on hpux10.
2172 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
2174 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
2176 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
2178 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
2179 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
2180 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
2181 every character. The default value is 1050.
2183 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
2185 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
2186 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
2187 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
2188 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
2189 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
2190 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
2192 * Speedups for remote debugging
2194 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
2195 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
2196 and more efficient S-record downloading.
2198 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
2200 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
2201 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
2203 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
2205 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
2207 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
2208 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
2210 * Remote targets use caching
2212 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
2213 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
2214 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
2215 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
2216 off' turns the the data cache off.
2218 * Remote targets may have threads
2220 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
2221 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
2222 gdb/remote.c for details.
2226 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
2227 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
2228 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
2229 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
2230 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
2231 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
2232 sequence is something like
2234 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
2236 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
2240 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
2241 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
2242 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
2243 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
2244 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
2245 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
2246 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
2247 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
2251 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
2252 but does simplify configuration and building.
2256 GDB now supports hpux10.
2258 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
2260 * New native configurations
2262 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
2263 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
2264 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
2265 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
2269 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2270 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
2271 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
2272 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
2275 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
2277 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
2278 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
2279 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
2280 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2281 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2283 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2285 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2286 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2289 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2291 To execute the command use:
2294 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2295 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2296 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2298 * New `if' and `while' commands
2300 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2301 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2302 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2303 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2304 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2305 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2306 if the expression is zero.
2308 * Fortran source language mode
2310 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2311 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2312 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2313 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2316 * Better HPUX support
2318 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2319 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2320 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2321 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2322 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2328 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2329 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2335 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2336 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2339 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2340 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2342 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2344 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2345 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2346 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2347 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2348 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2349 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2351 * New DOS host serial code
2353 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2354 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2357 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2359 * New "complete" command
2361 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2362 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2364 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2366 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2367 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2369 * Breakpoint hit counts
2371 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2372 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2373 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2374 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2375 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2378 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2380 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2381 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2382 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2384 * Shared library breakpoints
2386 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2387 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2389 * Hardware watchpoints
2391 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2392 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2394 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2398 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2399 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2401 * Improved Irix 5 support
2403 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2405 * Improved HPPA support
2407 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2409 * New native configurations
2411 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2412 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2413 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2414 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2418 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2419 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2422 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2424 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2425 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2429 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2430 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2432 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2434 * Irix 5 is now supported
2438 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2439 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2440 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2441 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2442 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2445 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2447 * User visible changes:
2451 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2452 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2453 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2454 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2455 debugging info for the mips target).
2457 * DEC Alpha native support
2459 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2460 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2461 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2462 Alpha-specific notes.
2464 * Preliminary thread implementation
2466 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2468 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2470 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2471 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2474 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2476 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2477 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2478 call methods, ...etc.
2480 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2482 * User visible changes:
2484 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2485 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2486 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2487 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2489 Filename completion now works.
2491 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2492 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2493 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2495 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2496 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2497 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2498 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2499 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2503 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2504 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2507 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2511 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2512 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2513 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2517 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2518 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2519 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2520 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2521 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2525 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2526 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2527 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2529 * New targets supported
2531 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2532 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2533 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2534 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2535 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2537 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2538 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2539 GO32 memory extender.
2541 * New remote protocols
2543 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2545 * New source languages supported
2547 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2548 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2549 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2552 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2554 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2556 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2557 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2558 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2559 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2560 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2561 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2563 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2565 * Faster and better demangling
2567 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2568 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2569 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2570 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2571 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2572 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2575 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2576 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2577 compiler does not actually implement.
2579 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2581 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2582 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2583 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2584 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2585 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2586 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2589 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2590 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2592 * Improved configure script
2594 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2595 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2596 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2597 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2599 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2600 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2601 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2602 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2603 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2604 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2606 * Documentation improvements
2608 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2609 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2610 before submitting changes.
2612 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2613 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2614 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2615 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2616 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2618 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2619 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2620 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2621 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2622 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2623 around this problem.
2627 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2628 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2629 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2632 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2633 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2635 * New native hosts supported
2637 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2638 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2640 * New targets supported
2642 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2644 * New file formats supported
2646 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2647 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2651 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2653 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2654 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2656 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2657 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2658 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2660 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2661 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2663 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2664 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2665 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2668 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2669 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2670 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2671 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2672 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2674 * Internal improvements
2676 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2677 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2679 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2680 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2681 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2682 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2683 shared code that handles any of them.
2685 * New command line options
2687 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2691 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2692 General Public License.
2694 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2696 * Host/native/target split
2698 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2699 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2700 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2701 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2702 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2704 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2705 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2706 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2707 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2708 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2709 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2710 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2712 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2713 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2714 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2716 * New hosts supported
2718 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2719 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2720 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2722 * New targets supported
2724 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2725 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2727 * New native hosts supported
2729 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2730 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2731 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2733 * New file formats supported
2735 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2736 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2737 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2741 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2742 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2743 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2745 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2747 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2748 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2749 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2750 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2754 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2755 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2756 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2758 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2762 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2763 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2766 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2767 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2769 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2770 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2771 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2772 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2773 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2774 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2776 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2777 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2778 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2779 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2783 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2784 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2785 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2786 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2787 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2789 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2790 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2791 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2792 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2796 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2797 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2798 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2799 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2800 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2801 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2802 each instruction being stepped through.
2804 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2805 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2807 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2808 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2809 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2810 processor with a serial port.
2814 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2815 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2816 supported, and what files each one uses.
2820 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2821 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2822 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2823 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2825 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2826 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2827 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2828 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2832 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2833 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2834 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2835 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2836 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2837 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2839 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2842 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2844 * Better support for C++ function names
2846 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2847 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2848 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2849 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2850 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2852 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2853 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2854 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2855 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2856 for the list of formats.
2858 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2860 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2861 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2862 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2863 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2864 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2865 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2868 * New 'maintenance' command
2870 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2871 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2872 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2874 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2875 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2876 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2877 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2878 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2879 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2881 The following commands are new:
2883 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2884 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2885 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2887 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2889 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2890 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2891 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2892 read after argv processing.
2894 * New hosts supported
2896 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2898 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2900 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2901 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2902 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2903 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2904 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2907 * New targets supported
2909 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2911 * More smarts about finding #include files
2913 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2914 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2915 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2916 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2917 the one that contains your sources.
2919 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2920 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2921 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2923 * Interesting infernals change
2925 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2926 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2927 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2928 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2930 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2932 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2933 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2934 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2936 See the ChangeLog for details.
2938 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2940 * New machines supported (host and target)
2942 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2944 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2946 * New malloc package
2948 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2949 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2950 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2951 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2952 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2953 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2957 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2958 'help info proc' for details.
2960 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2962 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2963 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2966 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2968 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2969 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2970 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2971 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2972 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2973 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2975 * Cross byte order fixes
2977 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2978 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2980 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2982 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2983 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2984 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2985 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2986 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2987 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2988 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2989 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2990 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2991 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2993 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2994 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2995 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2996 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2998 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2999 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
3000 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
3003 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
3005 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
3006 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
3007 shared across multiple host platforms.
3009 * longjmp() handling
3011 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
3012 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
3013 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
3014 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
3018 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
3019 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
3024 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
3025 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
3026 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
3028 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
3030 * New machines supported (host and target)
3032 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
3034 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
3035 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
3037 * New machines supported (target)
3039 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3043 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
3044 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
3045 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
3047 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
3048 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
3049 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
3050 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
3051 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
3054 * New features for SVR4
3056 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
3057 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
3058 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
3060 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
3061 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
3062 it prints the address mappings of the process.
3064 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
3065 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
3067 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
3069 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
3070 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
3071 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
3072 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
3073 same code linked statically.
3077 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
3078 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
3079 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
3080 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
3081 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
3082 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
3086 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
3087 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
3088 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
3091 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
3093 * New machines supported (host and target)
3095 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
3096 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
3097 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3099 * Almost SCO Unix support
3101 We had hoped to support:
3102 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
3103 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
3104 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
3105 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
3107 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
3109 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
3110 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
3111 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
3112 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
3117 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
3118 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
3119 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
3123 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
3124 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
3125 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
3127 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
3129 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
3130 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
3131 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
3133 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
3134 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
3135 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
3136 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
3139 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
3140 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
3141 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
3142 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
3145 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
3146 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
3149 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
3150 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
3151 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
3154 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
3156 * Improved configuration
3158 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
3159 Porting BFD is simpler.
3163 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
3164 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
3165 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
3166 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
3170 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
3172 * New host supported (not target)
3174 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
3177 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
3179 * Multiple source language support
3181 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
3182 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
3183 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
3184 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
3185 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
3186 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
3190 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
3191 currently under development at the State University of New York at
3192 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
3193 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
3195 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
3196 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
3197 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
3199 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
3200 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
3204 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
3205 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
3206 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
3207 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
3210 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
3212 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
3213 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
3214 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
3215 examining core files.
3219 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
3222 * New machines supported (host and target)
3224 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3225 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
3226 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
3228 * New hosts supported (not targets)
3230 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
3232 * New targets supported (not hosts)
3234 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3235 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3236 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
3238 * New remote interfaces
3244 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
3248 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
3250 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
3251 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
3252 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
3253 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
3254 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
3255 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
3256 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
3257 stub on the target system.
3259 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
3261 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
3262 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
3263 object file types such as a.out and coff.
3265 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
3266 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
3269 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
3271 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
3272 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
3274 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
3275 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
3276 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
3278 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
3279 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
3280 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3281 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3283 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3284 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3285 it is already running. Default is ON.
3287 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3288 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3289 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3290 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3293 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3294 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3295 or the value of the environment variable
3298 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3299 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3302 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3303 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3304 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3306 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3307 history expansion will be performed on
3308 command line input. The default is OFF.
3310 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3311 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3312 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3314 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3315 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3316 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3319 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3320 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3321 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3324 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3325 ``set width'' instead.
3327 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3328 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3329 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3330 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3332 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3335 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3338 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3341 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3344 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3346 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3347 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3348 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3352 * Support for Shared Libraries
3354 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3355 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3356 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3357 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3358 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3359 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3360 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3361 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3363 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3364 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3365 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3367 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3372 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3373 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3374 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3375 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3376 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3377 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3379 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3381 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3383 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3384 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3385 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3388 * C++ multiple inheritance
3390 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3393 * C++ exception handling
3395 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3396 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3397 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3400 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3401 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3402 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3404 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3405 current stack frame.
3408 * Minor command changes
3410 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3411 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3412 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3414 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3415 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3416 frames without printing.
3418 * New directory command
3420 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3421 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3422 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3423 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3424 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3426 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3428 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3431 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3432 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3433 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3434 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob