1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.3
6 * Deprecated commands removed
8 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
12 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
13 othernames set arm disassembler
14 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
15 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
16 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
19 * New BSD user-level threads support
21 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
22 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
25 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
26 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
27 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
29 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
30 are not yet supported.
32 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
33 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
35 * REMOVED configurations and files
37 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
38 Renesas H8/300S h8300*-*-*
39 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
40 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
41 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
44 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
46 * New command line option
48 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
51 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
53 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
54 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
55 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
56 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
57 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
59 * Internationalization
61 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
62 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
63 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
67 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
68 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
69 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
71 * New native configurations
73 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
77 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
78 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
80 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
82 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
83 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
84 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
87 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
88 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
89 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
101 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
102 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
104 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
106 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
107 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
108 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
118 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
120 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
122 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
123 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
126 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
128 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
129 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
130 IRIX long double values).
134 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
135 command. This problem has been fixed.
137 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
139 * Fix for ``many threads''
141 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
142 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
145 ptrace: No such process.
146 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
148 This problem has been fixed.
150 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
152 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
155 * New ``start'' command.
157 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
159 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
161 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
162 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
163 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
165 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
166 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
167 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
168 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
169 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
170 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
171 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
172 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
173 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
175 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
177 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
178 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
179 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
180 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
181 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
183 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
184 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
185 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
187 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
189 * New native configurations
191 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
192 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
193 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
194 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
195 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
196 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
197 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
199 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
201 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
202 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
203 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
204 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
205 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
206 work, was also included.
208 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
209 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
219 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
220 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
222 * REMOVED configurations and files
224 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
225 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
226 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
227 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
228 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
229 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
230 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
231 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
232 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
234 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
236 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
238 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
240 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
241 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
242 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
243 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
246 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
248 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
249 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
250 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
251 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
252 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
253 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
256 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
258 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
260 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
261 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
262 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
264 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
266 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
267 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
269 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
271 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
272 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
273 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
275 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
277 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
278 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
280 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
282 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
283 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
284 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
286 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
288 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
289 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
290 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
292 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
294 * Removed --with-mmalloc
296 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
297 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
299 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
301 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
302 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
303 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
304 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
306 * Revised SPARC target
308 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
309 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
310 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
311 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
312 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
316 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
317 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
318 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
321 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
323 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
324 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
327 * C++ nested types and namespaces
329 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
330 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
331 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
332 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
333 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
334 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
335 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
336 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
337 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
339 * New native configurations
341 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
342 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
343 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
344 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
345 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
347 * New debugging protocols
349 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
351 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
353 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
354 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
355 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
357 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
359 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
360 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
361 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
364 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
365 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
366 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
367 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
368 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
369 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
370 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
371 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
372 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
374 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
376 * REMOVED configurations and files
378 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
379 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
380 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
381 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
382 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
383 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
384 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
385 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
386 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
387 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
388 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
389 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
390 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
391 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
392 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
393 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
394 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
396 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
400 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
403 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
405 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
406 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
407 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
410 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
411 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
416 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
417 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
418 remote protocol documentation for details.
420 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
422 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
423 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
424 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
427 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
429 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
430 per-thread variables.
432 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
434 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
435 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
437 * Separate debug info.
439 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
440 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
441 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
442 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
443 and optional debug files.
445 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
447 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
448 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
451 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
452 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
456 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
457 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
458 considered "useable".
460 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
462 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
463 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
466 * GDB supports logging output to a file
468 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
469 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
471 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
473 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
474 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
477 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
479 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
480 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
484 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
485 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
486 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
487 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
488 data, for more informative profiling results.
490 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
492 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
493 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
494 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
496 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
499 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
500 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
501 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
502 in a subsequent -var-update.
504 * New native configurations.
506 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
508 * Multi-arched targets.
510 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
511 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
513 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
515 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
516 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
517 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
520 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
521 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
522 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
523 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
524 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
525 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
526 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
527 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
528 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
529 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
530 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
531 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
533 * REMOVED configurations and files
536 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
537 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
538 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
539 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
540 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
541 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
543 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
544 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
545 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
546 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
547 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
548 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
550 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
552 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
553 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
554 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
555 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
556 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
558 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
560 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
562 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
563 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
564 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
565 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
566 shared libs like mad''.
568 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
570 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
571 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
572 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
573 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
575 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
577 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
578 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
581 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
582 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
584 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
585 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
587 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
588 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
589 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
590 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
592 * Multi-arched targets.
594 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
595 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
597 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
598 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
599 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
603 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
606 * New native configurations
608 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
609 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
610 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
611 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
613 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
615 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
616 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
617 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
620 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
621 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
622 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
623 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
624 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
625 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
626 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
627 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
628 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
629 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
631 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
632 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
636 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
638 * REMOVED configurations and files
640 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
641 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
642 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
643 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
644 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
646 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
648 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
650 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
651 commands. The default is 1024.
653 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
655 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
657 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
659 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
660 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
661 from a file into memory (restore).
663 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
665 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
666 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
667 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
669 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
677 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
678 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
679 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
681 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
682 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
683 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
685 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
686 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
687 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
689 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
690 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
691 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
693 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
695 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
697 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
698 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
699 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
700 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
701 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
702 (notably embedded) targets.
704 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
706 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
707 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
708 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
709 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
711 * New command line option
713 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
715 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
717 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
718 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
719 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
720 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
721 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
722 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
723 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
724 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
725 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
726 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
728 * Changes in ARM configurations.
730 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
731 configuration is fully multi-arch.
733 * New native configurations
735 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
736 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
737 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
738 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
742 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
744 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
746 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
747 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
748 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
751 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
752 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
753 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
754 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
755 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
757 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
759 * REMOVED configurations and files
761 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
763 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
764 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
765 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
766 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
767 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
768 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
769 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
770 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
771 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
772 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
773 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
775 * Changes to command line processing
777 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
778 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
780 * Changes to key bindings
782 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
784 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
786 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
788 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
791 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
793 Numerous documentation fixes.
795 Numerous testsuite fixes.
797 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
799 * New native configurations
801 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
802 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
803 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
804 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
806 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
810 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
812 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
814 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
816 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
817 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
818 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
819 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
820 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
822 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
823 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
824 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
825 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
826 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
827 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
828 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
829 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
831 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
832 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
834 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
835 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
836 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
839 * REMOVED configurations and files
841 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
842 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
844 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
848 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
850 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
851 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
856 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
858 * The MI enabled by default.
860 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
861 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
862 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
863 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
864 which is now deprecated.
866 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
868 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
869 main features are supported:
871 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
873 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
876 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
878 - a Pascal expression parser.
880 However, some important features are not yet supported.
882 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
884 - there are some problems with boolean types;
886 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
887 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
889 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
891 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
893 * Changes in completion.
895 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
896 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
897 users expect at the shell prompt.
899 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
900 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
901 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
902 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
903 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
904 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
905 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
907 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
909 * New platform-independent commands:
911 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
912 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
913 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
915 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
917 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
918 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
919 many threads as your system allows you to have.
921 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
923 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
924 multi-threaded programs though.
926 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
928 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
930 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
931 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
934 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
936 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
937 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
938 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
939 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
940 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
943 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
944 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
945 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
947 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
949 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
950 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
952 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
953 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
956 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
957 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
958 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
959 a given linear address.
961 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
962 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
963 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
965 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
967 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
969 * Changes in documentation.
971 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
972 Documentation License.
974 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
977 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
979 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
982 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
983 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
984 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
986 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
988 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
989 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
990 contents of this file.
994 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
996 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
998 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1000 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1001 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1002 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1003 greater level of detail.
1005 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1007 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1008 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1009 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1012 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1014 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1015 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1016 machines ``out of the box''.
1018 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1019 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1020 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1021 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1022 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1024 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1025 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1026 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1027 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1028 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1030 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1031 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1034 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1037 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1038 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1039 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1040 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1042 * New native configurations
1044 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1045 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1049 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1050 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1051 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1052 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1054 * OBSOLETE configurations
1056 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1057 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1059 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1062 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1063 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1064 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1065 be permanently REMOVED.
1067 * Gould support removed
1069 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1071 * New features for SVR4
1073 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1074 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1075 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1077 * Many C++ enhancements
1079 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1080 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1082 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1084 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1085 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1086 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1087 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1089 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1090 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1092 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1094 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1095 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1096 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1098 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1099 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1101 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1103 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1104 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1105 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1107 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1109 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1110 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1111 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1113 * ``apropos'' command added.
1115 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1116 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1117 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1121 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1122 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1123 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1124 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1125 enabled by configuring with:
1127 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1129 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1131 * New native configurations
1133 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1134 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1135 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1139 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1140 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1141 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1143 * OBSOLETE configurations
1145 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1147 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1148 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1149 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1150 be permanently REMOVED.
1154 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1155 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1156 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1157 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1158 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1159 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1160 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1165 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1167 * set extension-language
1169 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1170 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1171 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1172 set extension-language .c c++
1173 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1174 and their associated languages.
1176 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1178 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1179 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1180 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1184 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1185 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1187 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1188 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1190 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1191 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1192 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1193 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1194 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1195 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1196 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1197 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1199 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1200 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1201 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1202 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1206 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1207 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1208 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1209 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1210 for xdb and dbx commands.
1214 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1215 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1216 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1218 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1219 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1220 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1222 * Debugging across forks
1224 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1229 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1230 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1231 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1233 * GDB remote protocol additions
1235 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1236 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1237 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1238 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1240 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1241 full 64-bit address. The command
1243 set remoteaddresssize 32
1245 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1246 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1249 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1250 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1252 maint packet heythere
1254 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1255 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1258 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1259 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1260 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1262 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1264 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1265 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1266 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1268 * mask-address variable for Mips
1270 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1271 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1272 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1274 * Higher serial baud rates
1276 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1277 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1278 to achieve all of these rates.)
1282 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1283 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1286 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1288 * New native configurations
1290 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1291 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1292 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1293 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1294 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1295 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1296 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1300 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1301 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1302 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1303 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1304 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1305 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1306 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1307 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1308 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1309 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1310 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1312 * New debugging protocols
1314 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1315 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1316 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1317 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1318 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1319 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1323 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1324 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1329 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1330 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1332 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1334 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1335 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1336 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1338 * Live range splitting
1340 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1341 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1342 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1346 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1347 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1351 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1352 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1353 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1358 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1363 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1364 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1365 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1366 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1367 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1368 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1372 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1373 the symbol at the specified address.
1377 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1378 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1379 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1380 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1381 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1385 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1386 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1387 of most MIPS variants.
1391 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1392 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1393 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1397 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1398 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1399 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1400 the possible architectures.
1402 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1404 * New native configurations
1406 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1407 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1408 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1409 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1410 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1411 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1415 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1416 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1417 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1418 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1419 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1421 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1425 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1426 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1427 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1428 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1429 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1433 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1435 * Windows 95/NT native
1437 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1438 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1439 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1440 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1441 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1443 * dont-repeat command
1445 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1446 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1447 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1448 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1450 * Send break instead of ^C
1452 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1453 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1454 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1456 * Remote protocol timeout
1458 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1459 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1460 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1462 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1464 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1465 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1466 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1467 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1468 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1470 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1471 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1472 automatically on hpux10.
1474 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1476 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1478 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1480 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1481 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1482 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1483 every character. The default value is 1050.
1485 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1487 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1488 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1489 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1490 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1491 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1492 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1494 * Speedups for remote debugging
1496 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1497 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1498 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1500 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1502 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1503 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1505 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1507 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1509 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1510 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1512 * Remote targets use caching
1514 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1515 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1516 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1517 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1518 off' turns the the data cache off.
1520 * Remote targets may have threads
1522 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1523 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1524 gdb/remote.c for details.
1528 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1529 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1530 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1531 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1532 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1533 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1534 sequence is something like
1536 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1538 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1542 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1543 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1544 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1545 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1546 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1547 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1548 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1549 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1553 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1554 but does simplify configuration and building.
1558 GDB now supports hpux10.
1560 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1562 * New native configurations
1564 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1565 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1566 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1567 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1571 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1572 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1573 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1574 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1577 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1579 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1580 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1581 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1582 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1583 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1585 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1587 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1588 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1591 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1593 To execute the command use:
1596 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1597 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1598 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1600 * New `if' and `while' commands
1602 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1603 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1604 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1605 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1606 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1607 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1608 if the expression is zero.
1610 * Fortran source language mode
1612 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1613 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1614 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1615 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1618 * Better HPUX support
1620 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1621 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1622 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1623 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1624 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1630 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1631 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1637 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1638 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1641 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1642 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1644 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1646 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1647 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1648 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1649 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1650 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1651 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1653 * New DOS host serial code
1655 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1656 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1659 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1661 * New "complete" command
1663 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1664 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1666 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1668 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1669 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1671 * Breakpoint hit counts
1673 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1674 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1675 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1676 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1677 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1680 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1682 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1683 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1684 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1686 * Shared library breakpoints
1688 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1689 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1691 * Hardware watchpoints
1693 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1694 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1696 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1700 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1701 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1703 * Improved Irix 5 support
1705 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1707 * Improved HPPA support
1709 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1711 * New native configurations
1713 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1714 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1715 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1716 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1720 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1721 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1724 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1726 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1727 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1731 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1732 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1734 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1736 * Irix 5 is now supported
1740 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1741 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1742 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1743 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1744 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1747 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1749 * User visible changes:
1753 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1754 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1755 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1756 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1757 debugging info for the mips target).
1759 * DEC Alpha native support
1761 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1762 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1763 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1764 Alpha-specific notes.
1766 * Preliminary thread implementation
1768 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1770 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1772 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1773 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1776 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1778 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1779 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1780 call methods, ...etc.
1782 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1784 * User visible changes:
1786 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1787 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1788 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1789 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1791 Filename completion now works.
1793 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1794 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1795 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1797 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1798 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1799 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1800 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1801 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1805 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1806 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1809 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1813 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1814 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1815 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1819 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1820 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1821 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1822 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1823 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1827 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1828 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1829 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1831 * New targets supported
1833 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1834 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1835 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1836 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1837 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1839 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1840 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1841 GO32 memory extender.
1843 * New remote protocols
1845 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1847 * New source languages supported
1849 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1850 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1851 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1854 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1856 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1858 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1859 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1860 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1861 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1862 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1863 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1865 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1867 * Faster and better demangling
1869 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1870 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1871 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1872 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1873 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1874 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1877 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1878 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1879 compiler does not actually implement.
1881 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1883 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1884 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1885 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1886 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1887 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1888 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1891 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1892 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1894 * Improved configure script
1896 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1897 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1898 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1899 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1901 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1902 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1903 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1904 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1905 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1906 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1908 * Documentation improvements
1910 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1911 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1912 before submitting changes.
1914 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1915 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1916 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1917 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1918 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1920 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1921 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1922 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1923 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1924 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1925 around this problem.
1929 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1930 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1931 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1934 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1935 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1937 * New native hosts supported
1939 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1940 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1942 * New targets supported
1944 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1946 * New file formats supported
1948 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1949 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1953 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1955 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1956 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1958 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1959 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1960 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1962 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1963 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1965 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1966 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1967 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1970 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1971 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1972 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1973 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1974 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1976 * Internal improvements
1978 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1979 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1981 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1982 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1983 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1984 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1985 shared code that handles any of them.
1987 * New command line options
1989 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1993 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1994 General Public License.
1996 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1998 * Host/native/target split
2000 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2001 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2002 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2003 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2004 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2006 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2007 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2008 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2009 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2010 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2011 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2012 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2014 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2015 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2016 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2018 * New hosts supported
2020 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2021 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2022 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2024 * New targets supported
2026 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2027 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2029 * New native hosts supported
2031 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2032 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2033 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2035 * New file formats supported
2037 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2038 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2039 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2043 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2044 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2045 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2047 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2049 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2050 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2051 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2052 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2056 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2057 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2058 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2060 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2064 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2065 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2068 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2069 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2071 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2072 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2073 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2074 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2075 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2076 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2078 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2079 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2080 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2081 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2085 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2086 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2087 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2088 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2089 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2091 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2092 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2093 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2094 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2098 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2099 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2100 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2101 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2102 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2103 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2104 each instruction being stepped through.
2106 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2107 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2109 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2110 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2111 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2112 processor with a serial port.
2116 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2117 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2118 supported, and what files each one uses.
2122 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2123 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2124 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2125 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2127 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2128 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2129 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2130 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2134 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2135 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2136 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2137 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2138 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2139 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2141 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2144 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2146 * Better support for C++ function names
2148 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2149 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2150 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2151 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2152 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2154 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2155 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2156 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2157 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2158 for the list of formats.
2160 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2162 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2163 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2164 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2165 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2166 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2167 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2170 * New 'maintenance' command
2172 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2173 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2174 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2176 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2177 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2178 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2179 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2180 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2181 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2183 The following commands are new:
2185 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2186 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2187 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2189 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2191 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2192 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2193 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2194 read after argv processing.
2196 * New hosts supported
2198 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2200 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2202 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2203 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2204 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2205 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2206 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2209 * New targets supported
2211 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2213 * More smarts about finding #include files
2215 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2216 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2217 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2218 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2219 the one that contains your sources.
2221 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2222 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2223 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2225 * Interesting infernals change
2227 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2228 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2229 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2230 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2232 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2234 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2235 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2236 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2238 See the ChangeLog for details.
2240 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2242 * New machines supported (host and target)
2244 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2246 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2248 * New malloc package
2250 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2251 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2252 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2253 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2254 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2255 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2259 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2260 'help info proc' for details.
2262 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2264 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2265 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2268 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2270 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2271 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2272 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2273 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2274 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2275 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2277 * Cross byte order fixes
2279 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2280 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2282 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2284 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2285 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2286 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2287 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2288 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2289 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2290 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2291 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2292 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2293 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2295 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2296 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2297 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2298 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2300 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2301 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2302 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2305 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2307 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2308 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2309 shared across multiple host platforms.
2311 * longjmp() handling
2313 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2314 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2315 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2316 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2320 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2321 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2326 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2327 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2328 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2330 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2332 * New machines supported (host and target)
2334 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2336 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2337 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2339 * New machines supported (target)
2341 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2345 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2346 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2347 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2349 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2350 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2351 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2352 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2353 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2356 * New features for SVR4
2358 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2359 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2360 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2362 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2363 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2364 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2366 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2367 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2369 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2371 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2372 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2373 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2374 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2375 same code linked statically.
2379 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2380 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2381 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2382 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2383 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2384 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2388 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2389 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2390 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2393 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2395 * New machines supported (host and target)
2397 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2398 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2399 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2401 * Almost SCO Unix support
2403 We had hoped to support:
2404 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2405 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2406 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2407 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2409 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2411 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2412 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2413 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2414 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2419 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2420 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2421 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2425 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2426 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2427 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2429 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2431 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2432 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2433 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2435 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2436 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2437 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2438 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2441 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2442 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2443 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2444 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2447 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2448 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2451 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2452 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2453 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2456 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2458 * Improved configuration
2460 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2461 Porting BFD is simpler.
2465 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2466 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2467 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2468 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2472 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2474 * New host supported (not target)
2476 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2479 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2481 * Multiple source language support
2483 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2484 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2485 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2486 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2487 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2488 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2492 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2493 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2494 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2495 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2497 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2498 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2499 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2501 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2502 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2506 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2507 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2508 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2509 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2512 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2514 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2515 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2516 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2517 examining core files.
2521 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2524 * New machines supported (host and target)
2526 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2527 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2528 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2530 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2532 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2534 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2536 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2537 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2538 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2540 * New remote interfaces
2546 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2550 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2552 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2553 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2554 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2555 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2556 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2557 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2558 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2559 stub on the target system.
2561 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2563 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2564 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2565 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2567 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2568 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2571 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2573 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2574 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2576 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2577 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2578 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2580 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2581 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2582 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2583 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2585 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2586 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2587 it is already running. Default is ON.
2589 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2590 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2591 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2592 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2595 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2596 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2597 or the value of the environment variable
2600 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2601 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2604 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2605 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2606 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2608 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2609 history expansion will be performed on
2610 command line input. The default is OFF.
2612 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2613 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2614 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2616 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2617 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2618 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2621 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2622 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2623 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2626 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2627 ``set width'' instead.
2629 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2630 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2631 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2632 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2634 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2637 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2640 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2643 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2646 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2648 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2649 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2650 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2654 * Support for Shared Libraries
2656 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2657 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2658 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2659 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2660 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2661 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2662 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2663 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2665 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2666 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2667 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2669 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2674 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2675 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2676 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2677 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2678 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2679 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2681 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2683 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2685 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2686 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2687 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2690 * C++ multiple inheritance
2692 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2695 * C++ exception handling
2697 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2698 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2699 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2702 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2703 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2704 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2706 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2707 current stack frame.
2710 * Minor command changes
2712 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2713 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2714 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2716 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2717 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2718 frames without printing.
2720 * New directory command
2722 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2723 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2724 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2725 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2726 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2728 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2730 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2733 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2734 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2735 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2736 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob